The Annals of Darkness: Light's Growth
by Shire Folk
Summary: Part III. The pieces position themselves for what will be the greatest conflict since the Keyblade war. Darkness troubles hearts of many, including Sora's. None will be able to escape the conflict against Maleficent. Light prepares, and Darkness gathers.
1. Origins

_I'm back, I'm back. Hold your applause please. Anyways, I've been working on a couple of projects since I left at the end of __**A Week of Troubles**__. Firstly, I've been going through the first half of __**The Beginning**__ and rewriting and editing most of the chapters in it so that it compares favourably with my current writing ability and also so that errors in continuity are fixed. Secondly, I've been working on this, and I've put a lot more work into this story than most of you are aware of, and more work than I had even considered putting into it when I started. So because I've been rewriting half of the first story, I've debated with myself whether or not to just overwrite each chapter with the new one, or submitting it as a new story with the changed content._

_In case anyone wants to know, __**my**__ theory about Xion is that she is a second Nobody to Kairi, created when Kairi's heart first left her body to go to Sora's. Gaping flaw, what was Xion then created out of?_

_Anyways, now I'm going to do what I did at the start of the last one, and give a review of the story of the story so far:_

_Doug and Bob are metropolitan policemen with a difference. Doug likes nothing more than jumping into little cocktail frocks, while Bob fixes his hair for a night on duty. Still as they aren't in this story we won't give their last names._

_The __**real**__ story of the story so far (excluding __**The Beginning**__):_

_Sora, Kairi, Ninquemon, and Luinmon arrive in the hospital in Radiant Garden on Friday, September the 19__th__ with Sora's uncle Sal, his aunt Victoria, his cousin Sade, and Cossex from Destiny Islands. Sora and Kairi are both unconscious, and Sora is missing his left arm._

_Riku, Yuffie, and Max, who were last left off with on the 16__th__, were still in Gaul and looking for the missing wielder of the keyblade, Asterix, who had been captured by heartless the night before. They trashed two Roman camps before Asterix escaped from Totorum and reached them on the night of the sixteenth. A battle ensued the following morning between the village of indomitable Gauls and the heartless and heartless-turned legionaries. The Centurion of the camp, Newyearus, had given himself over to darkness, but his heartless was defeated by the heroes of light. Riku, Yuffie, and Max left Gaul on the 18__th__ with Asterix, Obelix, and Obelix's dog Dogmatix in tow along with a menhir and a barrelful of magic potion. On the night of the 19__th__, they received the message that Sora and Kairi had returned to Radiant Garden, in a bad state, and changed course immediately for Radiant Garden._

_King Mickey meets with Leon and Urophi Magellan (Twilight Town's mayor) on the 16__th__, and together they begin planning for their forces. King Mickey leaves though with Donald and Goofy on the 17__th__ for a world called Ant Island, because it has fallen under the threat of heartless attack. They reach the world on the 19__th__, but shortly after making friends with Flik and the others, they get the message of the arrival of Sora and Kairi in hospital, and wing it to Radiant Garden._

_Roxas, Naminé, and Axel were already in Radiant Garden's hospital from the time they fought Nixion in Twilight Town on the 14__th__, and are therefore already present when Sora and Kairi arrive._

_While unconscious, Sora and Kairi both have a future time-skip episode, where they appear in a forest and witness a scene with several young adults and a warrior in armour. They discover that some of the young adults are their children, thirty years in the future. In this time-skip episode, Sora feels mournfully at the loss of his left arm, and helplessness and self-pity overcome him enough to make him lose faith in his ability to protect those he loves, and as such he loses the confidence he needs to summon the keyblade. Near the end of the time-skip, they and two of the young adults are attacked by giant spiders, and are rescued by a woman in shining armour who tells Sora to remember who he is, and follow his heart, because if he strays from the path his heart would take him down he would lose Kairi forever._

_Both Sora and Kairi wake up in the early-morning of the 20__th__, and it is revealed to all and to a frightened Sora that he still cannot summon the keyblade. He breaks up with Kairi because he feels he can no longer protect her. It is decided that Sora needs a new arm to help him get back on his feet, and he needs to go somewhere to help him regain his confidence and the keyblade. In the meantime, he spends his day moping and talking to some of his friends before a couple of agents from an organization called FIST (Federal Investigative Service Team) questioned him on the battle in Destiny Islands and loss of his arm. Agent Rachel Quin also planted a bug in the room while they were there._

_Naminé, Roxas, and Cid left Radiant Garden in the morning of the 20__th__ for a world called Amestris, where they would find automail mechanics who would make Sora a new arm._

_Kairi meanwhile, had been having misgivings of her own at the power of Maleficent, and lost all hope herself. Deeming it necessary, she called Maleficent to come to Radiant Garden just past midnight, so in the early minutes of Sunday the 21__st__. It was her intention to give herself up to Maleficent and become her captive in the hope that she would leave the worlds alone if she did so, and so that it would light a fire under Sora and he would come and rescue her again. Maleficent did not take the bait, and decided to kill her slowly instead. Kairi put up a fight, but was nearly killed by the witch who completely outclassed her before being rescued by Riku, Sora, Aiwemon, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Soronmon, and Aerith._

_On Tuesday the 23__rd__, Sora's automail was complete, and he left that night for the Pride Lands. Just before leaving, the remaining six princesses of heart arrived in Radiant Garden as Naminé had been told by the goddess Thessaura to bring them all together. However just after Sora left with King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket, Kairi was placed under arrest for the crimes of treason and assault._

_For two days Sora frolicked in the Pride Lands (explaining away his now automail left front leg by saying that it was a freak accident and not saying anything more), before meeting Zira on the 25__th__, and getting himself grounded at Rafiki's tree for going to the Outlands and into danger. Just after being saved from Zira by Simba though, Simba names Sora his brother, which makes him the Prince of Pride Rock, illegitimate heir though his title may be, as Kiara is still the true heir, and now his niece. On the 26__th__, while grounded, Sora is allowed to leave Rafiki's tree by the mandrill himself, who was using a plan concocted by the spirits of Mufasa, and Sora's own deceased mother Anne. He and the female gazelle Swara (whose name is actually Swahili for Gazelle) who he made friends with in his first day in the Pride Lands searched for and found Kiara near the borders of the Outlands with the cub Kovu moments before the two cubs became surrounded by heartless and nobodies. Sora finally overcame his insecurities about being able to defend those he loved without the keyblade and leapt into action, fighting with the tenacity and weapons of a lion, his claws and teeth. His crest of Valour glowed during his actions and the keyblade returned to him, whereupon he slew the remaining enemies with ease before seeing Xarcs, Scar's Nobody, who Sora mistakenly informs of Nixion, prompting the lion nobody's departure to find the former fayth of Ixion. That night he was comforted by the spirit of his mother after Rafiki had gotten Sora to realize who he is the same way he did with Simba._

_While Sora was in the Pride Lands, Kairi was having to deal with a member of the Anti-Monarchist Party of Radiant Garden, who beat on her while interrogating her on what happened on Destiny Islands and the battle she had had with Maleficent. The man, Frederick Mahoney, turned out to be the prosecutor against her in the coming trial while Kairi's defence attorney was Peter Banning, freshly grabbed from the world that shares a special link to Neverland. The trial commenced on the 26__th__, and at the end of the first day's proceedings Kairi and the other wielders heard in their hearts to roar Sora gave to proclaim the return on his keyblade._

_The 27__th__ heralded the return of Sora to Radiant Garden with the keyblade, and the subsequent end of the trial by having Naminé show Sora's memory of the battle on Destiny Islands with those in the courthouse. The case was ended with Kairi being found completely innocent on all charges. All persons then went to the castle postern, and they suddenly found themselves on a platform where Thessaura was waiting for them._

_And so this is where this part of our story now begins..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, Tarzan, Nightmare Before Christmas, Digimon, Transformers, Tom Marcinek, FMA, or anything except my own original characters._

-A-D-

**The Annals of Darkness**

**Part III: Light's Growth**

Chapter I: Origins of the Keyblade, and the Keyblade War

Sora watched as Kairi, Naminé, and King Mickey all fell onto one knee in front of the Goddess of Light, sitting upon the high throne she was upon. He drew his astonished eyes up to the woman upon the throne, her brilliantly white robes and staff contrasting greatly with the azure eyes that gazed down upon him.

Sora's feet collapsed on their own accord and his knees dropped onto the platform next to Kairi, but Sora did not notice and did not drop further, his eyes solely focused on the Goddess that sat upon one of the eleven thrones. He frowned slightly, there was something very familiar about her voice, like he'd heard it before somewhere. Something shifted on his left shoulder and Sora looked in that direction to watch as Aiwemon steadied himself on his body.

"Warn me next time you're going to sink to your knees Sora," the bird digimon said, getting his balance back. "I almost fell off."

"Oh, sorry Aiwemon," Sora apologized. He saw Kairi's head turn up towards him slightly with a tiny smile upon her face and Sora grimaced at her.

"Rise Kairi, Naminé, Mickey Mouse," Thessaura said, a smile painting her face as well as she gazed upon the large assembled group. "You are among friends and equals here; there shall be no need for kneeling now." Kairi, Naminé and King Mickey all rose from their knees, and at least Naminé was about to say something even as she swayed on her feet from weariness when another voice spoke up.

"Hey, what's going on?" spoke a young boy's voice.

"I'm not sure bro," said another, older youth. Sora and Kairi looked at each other and frowned. They knew those voices.

"T.K.?" Sora asked. "Matt?"

"Keys is that you?" came the voice of the female digidestined who shared Sora's name.

"John what is this place?"

"Pocahontas?" Kairi asked quizzically.

"Okay now this is freaking me out."

Riku looked up at that voice and turned towards Yuffie and Max. "Was that Sam Witwicky?"

"Indeed it was Riku." Sora turned around at the same time as Riku to see a very large robot with a blue head looking down at them, with three other giant robots standing around him.

"Hello Optimus Prime," Riku said, his voice showing Sora that he was a little unnerved that the Autobots should happen to be here too. The different people on the platform began looking around anxiously as Thessaura only smiled broadly from her position on her throne.

For several minutes everyone on the platform flowed towards or between the wielder of the keyblade that they knew, and introductions were made until everyone at least had some sense of everyone else's name. The eight princesses of heart (Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Kairi, Naminé, and Snow White); their assorted escorts (Penelope, Prince Phillip, Prince Alain, Gaston, Lefou, Prince Charming, Aladdin, Abu, Genie, Iago, Carpet, and Prince Ryan); Sora, Riku, Roxas, Sal, Sade, Sikora, and Victoria from Destiny Islands; King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, Queen Minnie and Daisy from Disney Castle (King Mickey was both disturbed and delighted that his wife had been brought into this, while Donald was attempting to hide from Daisy, having forgotten about another date); Master Yen Sid from his tower near Twilight Town; Jiminy Cricket from Town of Wishes; Merlin, Tom Marcinek, Squall 'Leon' Leonhart, Yuffie Kisaragi, Aerith Gainsborough, Vincent Valentine, Barret Wallace, Cid Highwind, Shalua Rui, and Tifa Lockheart from Radiant Garden (to Tifa's disappointment, Cloud did not appear to be there); Yuna, Rikku, and Paine from Spira; Peter Banning (Pan) from Neverland; Mulan, Mushu, and Cricky from Land of Dragons; Hercules, Philocetes, Megara, Pegasus, and a large man with a curly white beard, orange skin, and strong chin wearing a purple robe that Sora had not met before from Olympus Coliseum (he was Zeus, Hercules' father and King of the Gods of Olympus); King Triton in a sphere of water from Atlantica; Jack Skellington from Halloween Town; Simba from the Pride Lands; Tarzan and his wife Jane Porter from Deep Jungle; Pocahontas and John Smith from the New World; the digidestined and their digimon partners (Sora Takenouchi and Biyomon, Yamato 'Matt' Ishida and Gabumon, Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi and Tentomon, Joe Kido and Gomamon, Mimi Tachikawa and Palmon, Takeru 'T.K.' Takeishi and Tokomon, and Aiwemon and Menelmon) from the Digital World (Tai and Agumon were strangely missing, Sora would have to ask them about those two later); Tron from Space Paranoids; two mice known as Basil and Dawson from a world called Baker Street; Sam, Mikaela, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Ironhide from Earth; a teen in red and a gold crown named Emperor Kuzco and a large man in a brown cap and green poncho (or something of the like) called Pacha from Kingdom of the Sun; a large collection of bugs from Ant Island, an ant called Flik, a stick bug called Slim, a fat caterpillar named Heimlich, a male and rather aggressive ladybug whose name was Francis, a preying mantis named Manny, a black widow spider named Rosie, two pill bugs known as Tuck and Roll, a moth called Gypsy, and a dung beetle called Dim; Winry, Den, and Pinako Rockbell, Edward and Alphonse Elric, and Major Alex Louis Armstrong from Amestris; Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix from Gaul; and lastly there were Axel, and a returned Cossex. Sora was very glad that his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood were not here as well, as all of this would go over their heads and destroy the innocence the creatures had.

One hundred and twelve persons or creatures stood on the platform, which had expanded greatly to accommodate the number present while still having the eleven silver thrones that towered up to the height of Optimus Prime. The expanded platform also gave Sora and Kairi plenty of room to stay away from Rosie and the other bugs from Ant Island. Sora was generally fine with the other bugs, but spiders absolutely terrified him, even though he was confident that Rosie was a very nice person. Kairi was scared into whimpering at the sight of any of the bugs, especially since they were her size or bigger.

"But Kairi," Sora Takenouchi had said when asking her about this. "You're fine with Tentomon and Kabuterimon."

"He's a digimon, they're bugs," Kairi answered, her voice slightly hysterical. She then turned towards the group from Ant Island and said as calmly as she could, "no offence."

"None taken," answered Francis, looking frightfully at Biyomon, Menelmon, and Aiwemon, "we're scared of birds."

There was a slight rumble and Sora looked towards the Goddess of Light as she sat upon the silver throne and he watched as two pillaring thrones formed near it, one made of clouds, the other of coral and blue stone. Zeus and King Triton took their seats on those thrones and looked at each other.

"Triton old boy," said Zeus. "It's been a long time since we've seen you on Olympus. Poseidon's been wondering what you've been up to."

"I've been a little too busy dealing with the affairs of my world," replied King Triton from within the sphere of water that surrounded him. "I'd rather not venture out from it much, though I do not understand why we have all been called to this place."

"Before we touch up on that," said Thessaura, as her gaze shifted away from the sea king, "I believe that Sora has some news for us."

Sora looked at the Goddess in confusion for a second and then he felt something nudge his back. He looked behind him and found that it was Simba's muzzle, with the lion king smiling at him.

"Oh right," Sora said, loudly enough that all the others could hear. "I'm now an uncle."

He could immediately feel the eyes of all of his friends and the friends of his friends looking upon him for a few second before they strayed towards Roxas and Naminé, who were both blushing now that almost all the attention was being drawn towards them. Only Jiminy, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Thessaura were not looking at the pair, as they were the only ones who knew exactly what Sora's comment meant.

"Na-Naminé," Kairi stuttered, unsure of the words coming out of her mouth, "is there something you and Roxas would like to share with us?"

"I'd rather hope that there would be something Roxas might like to share with me," Naminé said, looking at the blonde boy next to her while she folded her arms. "Because if Sora's an uncle, where's the baby?"

Roxas helplessly floundered for a few seconds, a string of incomprehensive words and half-statements escaping his lips while he tried to figure out just what Sora was talking about, and how he could get out of being in trouble with Naminé without doing anything. Sora finally decided to rescue his brother with a laugh that drew everyone's attention back to him.

"I'm an uncle, to Kiara," he finished.

"To Kiara?" Kairi asked, looking at him with a queer look in her eyes. "Simba's daughter?"

"How?" asked Alice.

"I took him in while he was in the Pride Lands," said Simba, "and named Sora my foster-brother to give him the protection of the pride from the Outsiders."

"So now I'm Kiara's uncle," Sora continued, "and guess what else this means, being the brother to the King of Pride Rock?"

"You're a prince," answered Naminé in an awed voice.

The word 'prince' echoed as most looked at Sora with astonishment. But there was only one person he would suffer his eyes to look at. Kairi was staring at him like she had never stared at him before, and that made Sora uneasy. There was no glimmer of hope in her eyes, no sparkle to reveal how much she loved him, no indication whatsoever that she was even glad that he'd said that.

"Kairi?" Sora asked uncertainly. "Are- are you okay?"

"Sora," Kairi's lips said slowly in a quiet voice that kept him rooted to the spot, "are you really?"

Sora nodded his head slightly. "Yes."

Kairi was motionless for a second, and then her body trembled for the most fleeting of moments before she had given a cry of joy and leapt onto his startled and completely unprepared body, bringing him onto the ground with her as the princess of Radiant Garden's lips connected with those of the prince of Pride Rock.

Sora didn't remember that they were surrounded by close to a hundred others, didn't remember that they were in a very compromising position; didn't remember that every eye had turned onto them. All he knew was that he was a prince and a beautiful princess was kissing him. One of his hands went to Kairi's head, the other to her back, and pressed her closer to him as he let himself go into that kiss, doing his best to show her without words that he loved her.

"That's one problem gone then," said Riku as he watched the moment from above the two wielders as they lay plastered to the platform's top. "Sora's a prince; he can now marry Kairi when he gets the courage to go down on one knee."

Sora and Kairi instantly broke apart and scrambled to their feet, both of them blushing something awful. In their haste to express their love for one another in the joy that eventually they'd be able to spend the rest of their lives together they had both completely forgotten that they were not alone. Sora did not believe that he was at fault though. Whenever Kairi kissed him everything else melted away, leaving only him and Kairi together. There were no keyblades when they were together; there was no Maleficent, and no darkness, only light.

Light shone from the tip of Thessaura's staff and all attention was directed to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but another voice spoke before she could.

"You're not about to start without us, are you Thessaura?"

Bright light shone around the remaining ten thrones, and when Sora opened his eyes again after closing them to prevent himself from being blinded he found that each one was now occupied. In the throne to Thessaura's right (excluding the one of cloud which Zeus now sat in) there sat a thickly built, incredibly muscled man in a full suit of shining white armour and a plumed helmet with black horsehair. A longsword in its scabbard was sheathed to his left hip, and a circular shield and an array of different weapons were piled at the base of his throne. His helmet hid his grizzled black hair and partially restricted sight of his thick, bushy beard that extended half a foot down his front. His eyes were the very same colour of Thessaura's.

Next to him was another man. His skin was tanned to bronze and his face and body were strong. Dressed in rich robes of red, purple, and gold, the man wore a crown of golden stars that softly shone overtop of his wise grey eyes and caramel hair. He held a golden sceptre in one hand.

Next to him was a woman, beautiful brown hair resting on her shoulders that were clad in a silver and gold top ending an inch above her navel and with sleeves halfway down her upper arm. Her legs were adorned in the lower half of a silver dress that flowed down to her feet clad in white sandals. Her amber eyes shone with a clairvoyance that slightly unnerved Sora, and her white skin was rich and healthy.

Next to her was another man with long white hair that looked as if it had just recently been wet. He wore long robes of turquoise and his skin had a slightly grey tint to it, as if it had been underwater for a while. His eyes were green, and a long spear leaned against the base of his throne.

Next to him was a woman in brown and green, hair the colour of a raven running down to the small of her back in a long circular tail, a circular earthy forest green clasp keeping it all together close to the end of the tail. Brown boots were upon her feet. Her eyes were brown and cool over a calm face, while gloves of supple brown leather rested on her hands. A brown quiver was near her throne, long arrows with black fletching sticking out of it, and against the quiver there was a simple longbow of yew.

To her right was a large and thick man with curly dirty-blonde hair. He had a very round and joyful face, a large and bulbous nose protruding slightly over a double chin. He alone wore a toga, and that was purple. Sora would have very much preferred that he was not in a toga, for it revealed a great amount of the god's fat and flabby body. A golden cup was in his right hand, and a wreath of laurel leaves was set around his curly hair.

To his right was another male god, whose robes were white and gold. His hair was the colour of yellow sand, and his silver eyes shone with an ethereal light. A staff of dark wood was in his hands, but there was a ball of light set in its clutching top that shone with a soft, soothing light.

Next to him was a male god with a handsome face and short brown hair. His eyes were green, and he was dressed in a black and white suit, with a pair of very shiny black pointed shoes on his feet. On one arm of his throne was a skull, and in his left hand there was a can of diet pop.

To his right was a goddess who in had exquisite red hair drawn beautifully into a knot with a golden butterfly brooch on the back of her head. She wore a dress of light green that extended to just above her ankles, and near the base of her throne was a basket of apples.

On her right and Thessaura's left beyond Triton there was another woman, who had blonde hair much like Thessaura's, except it was all drawn into a tight knot to the back of her head, and eyes exactly like Thessaura's and the god kitted out for battle. She was not as richly garbed as the Goddess of Light, or any of the other Gods that had appeared on the thrones. She was garbed instead in a simple white blouse and a pair of black pants with a brown leather smock covering her front. Her hands were not as delicate as any other goddess, they were calloused and rough, with hard skin that was cracked in some places. On her lap rested a thick hammer that had obviously seen much wear.

Sora looked around at them all nervously, especially at the one on Thessaura's right. He looked ready to kill something at a moment's notice. But he looked once more at Thessaura and he felt his fears and nerves being calmed by the light coming out of her staff.

The Goddess of Light was looking around at the other divine beings herself, specifically at the god with the sceptre in his hand. "_Havarelnyë, _Wagneir."

"Oh dispense with the Quintessence Thessy," said the god in the armour who sat aside Zeus, his voice rich and thick with kind gruffness. "Most of the people here can't even understand it. Let's just speak in a tongue that they know."

A thin blush of embarrassment appeared on Thessaura's cheeks and she looked angrily at the armoured god. "Rathgar! I thought I mentioned to you not to call me by that name while we entertain the-"

"You never did Thessy," interrupted the goddess in the smock next to Triton, smiling smugly at the Goddess of Light.

Thessaura's attention was then directed towards that goddess instead. "Please stop calling me that Tylythia," she said, trying to maintain a tentative hold on her dignity.

"Are your siblings suddenly not allowed to call you by the friendly nickname we have had for you for the last two thousand years Thessaura?" asked Rathgar, taking off his helmet and letting it rest on his knee while he shook his mane of black hair. He grinned at her.

"Yeah," Sora said unexpectedly. "We call Kairi 'Kai' all the time, no matter who is around." He turned slightly and placed an arm on her shoulder.

"Isn't that right Kai?" Riku asked, placing his arm on her other shoulder. Kairi groaned and Riku and Sora gave each other high fives with their other hands.

"Never matter," said the goddess dressed like the woods, her voice strong and swift. "Allow us to introduce ourselves to you, wielders of the keyblade, princesses of heart, and your friends."

"I wouldn't exactly call Gaston and Lefou friends," Prince Alain muttered under his breath.

"I am Wagneir," said the god who held the sceptre in a powerful voice, "King of the Ancient Gods, and Lord of the Skies and Thunder."

"I am Shankela," softly said the woman next to him with a voice that held much mysticism behind it. "I am Queen of the Gods, and Prophecy and Fate are mine."

"And I am Oberian," said the god with wet looking hair. "The Seas are my dominion."

"I am Olina," added the goddess who sat beside him, "Goddess of the Forests and the Hunt."

"And I," the large god who wore the toga said emphatically, raising his golden cup with a shake of his wrist in which a little red liquid spilled out of, "am Marenk, God of the Vine and Wine! -hic-!"

The other gods and goddesses looked at him with disdain for a few seconds before the god to the drunkard's right raised his staff of dark wood with the white orb atop it slightly. "I am Heith," he said, "God of the Dead." Sora and Kairi looked at him nervously for a second while the god in the suit next to him sat up straighter in his seat. They had just gone through Sora's memory of defeating a different Lord of the Dead.

"I'm Cruse," said the smartly dressed god, stroking the skull with one finger. "The Arts are mine."

"That's our kind of professional!" Manny said, looking at Cruse with respect. The god took a sip of his diet pop and looked towards the goddess to his right.

"I am Aienith," said the beautiful goddess in her green dress, "Goddess of Husbandry and the Home."

"I am Tylythia," quickly remarked the goddess to Thessaura's left, "Goddess of the Forge."

"Thessaura," proclaimed the Goddess of Light, "Goddess of Light and Healing."

"And I am Rathgar," boomed the armoured god. "I am the God of Battle and Sport. Thessy and Tyly are my sisters, and thank you again Tyly for the nice shield you made for my birthday last week."

"You're welcome brother," said Tylythia, shaking her head slightly.

"I am sure you are all wondering why you are here," Thessaura said. Many replies were voiced back to her in affirmative tones.

"I have a question," Gaston said loudly. "Why should I care?" The next instant he found several weapons of differing varieties pointed at his throat.

"Because they're gods," Prince Alain answered in a dark and warning tone as his rapier slid next to Gaston's skin.

"Alright calm down pretty boy," Gaston muttered, pushing the blades away from him with his thick arms.

"So why are we here?" Naminé asked tiredly, leaning on Roxas for support. She was still very tired after manipulating so many memories. "I know that you told me to gather the other princesses of heart Thessaura, but why? And why is everyone else that we've met on other worlds here too?"

"Wielders of the keyblade," Wagneir said, forcing eyes to him as he avoided Naminé's questions. "Summon your weapons." Flashes of light revealed the presence of the keyblades in the hands of the wielders. King Mickey held the keyblade of the realm of darkness, the Reverse Kingdom Key, in Riku's more than capable hand there lay Way to the Dawn, and Naminé held Island's Fire in her limp grasp, not bothering to bring out the shield she also wielded. To both of Roxas' hands came Twilight Thorn and the Oblivion. To Asterix's call came Indomitable, and within Kairi's hands she held the Oathkeeper, while Sora held Remembrance in his right hand.

"There are currently seven wielders of the keyblade in the realm of light," Tylythia said. "But it was not always so, and it will not always be so."

"There are six who stand here who are among the Nine," said Shankela. "Six among those here who are Wielders of Power."

"Six?" King Mickey asked, looking around quickly. "Who are they?"

"Three of them have already started to use their power," Rathgar said. "But, unfortunately for you Mickey Mouse of Disney Castle, you're not one of the six."

Sora saw King Mickey's ears droop slightly in disappointment. But the revelation that of the people upon the platform six of them were Wielders of Power was still very big news.

_The powers of three have already started to awaken,_ Sora thought, looking down at Remembrance. He thought of its name, and closed his eyes when he remembered when he called it. _The silver fire, was that one of the powers?_

Sora must have gasped in his revelation, because when he opened his eyes the others were looking at him. Deciding it would be best not to beat around the bush, Sora looked up at Rathgar. "Am I one of them?"

"Why do you ask, Keyblade Master?" Rathgar returned.

"When I was just in the Pride Lands," Sora explained, "I fought a number of heartless and nobodies to defend my niece and her friend, and one of my own friends. While I was fighting, I summoned this keyblade, and some of the attacks I used were silver. What was that?"

"Your power is awakening," Olina answered, causing Sora to turn around and forcing him to look past Ironhide to get a look at her face.

"You are the Crown Star Wielder of Twilight Sora," Tylythia said.

"Twilight?" Roxas asked, looking in confusion at Sora. Sora looked back at his brother. It didn't make sense to him that he'd be Twilight either. Twilight made more sense for Roxas. He had been a nobody and born in _Twilight_ Town; his keyblade was called _Twilight_ Thorn. Why should Sora be the wielder of Twilight?

"Then who is the other wielder whose power is awakening?" Jasmine asked as Sora and Roxas jointly contemplated Sora being Twilight.

"The other wielder princess Jasmine is one of your fellow princesses of heart," Shankela said. "Princess Kairi Talerith, you are the Crown Star Wielder of Light."

Kairi blinked a few times before shaking her head with a slight smile. "How did I know that I would be light?" she asked rhetorically.

"Ya know one of the things I don't get Donald?" Goofy asked.

"What's that Goofy?" Donald asked, a slightly exasperated sigh in his voice.

"What's the difference between Sora and the others?" Goofy asked, placing a finger to his chin in thought. "I mean, we know that Sora's the chosen master of the keyblade and all... but since keyblades choose their wielders, does that mean that King Mickey and Riku and Kairi are all chosen masters too? And why is it that we call Riku a keyblade master while Sora is _the_ keyblade master, and Asterix is just a keyblade wielder?"

"The answers are all within the keyblades themselves Goofy," said Master Yen Sid.

"And the questions are about to be answered," Wagneir said. He looked towards Thessaura, Rathgar, and Tylythia and nodded his head.

Thessaura dipped her own head, and Sora grasped Kairi in surprise as the platform beneath them vanished.

"Ah!" Kuzco yelled, "What's happening?"

"Thousands of years ago," Thessaura began, her voice becoming a haunting tonic that kept Sora's attention even as many of the people on the platform faded from Sora's sight, leaving only the princesses of heart, wielders of the keyblade, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket, Aiwemon and Menelmon, and Thessaura alone, "all of the worlds were connected as one great world that was bathed in the light."

The darkness that was beneath Sora shattered in a sudden light, revealing a far green country beneath him, with a sea off in the distance. The sky around them was no longer black, and was instead the regular robin's egg blue of the sky in the daylight. There was a large city upon the land, with a great white castle sitting directly beneath them and astride the city. Many other cities and castles were set and scattered upon the lands, farther or nearer off than the one beneath them, a couple were close to the sea, but all of them seemed quite peaceful and filled with light just as Thessaura said.

"The people's hearts were all filled with light," continued Thessaura, "and all was peaceful and well. But eventually darkness started to creep into the hearts of men, and they began to fight over the light and destroy each other as the darkness spread."

The scene changed horrifically below them. The light upon the land was gone, as the sky had turned to a dark cloudy night. The grasses and forests and cities were burning beneath them, spiralling columns of smoke coming into the sky like the coils of undulating snakes in the fiery light from the burning lands beneath them. Screams rang up from the bloodstained world, and Sora tried to force himself to look away, but found himself too horrified not to.

"The world fell into darkness, torn apart by greed, lust, anger and hatred, and we gods wept for our people, but were unable to do anything about it, having already agreed not to personally interfere in the affairs of the world beyond certain bounds. The darkness grew, and it seemed to us that our creation would be destroyed by itself. But there were some who were still able to see the light, some who did not want their world to end and fall into darkness. The children of the world still held onto their light in their hearts."

Many tiny pricks of light began to glow from the ground of the dark world, cracks of fire now beginning to surface as the world tore itself apart. The lights shot off from the world and through the clouds into the stars, many tiny pinpricks of light forming among those lights in the heavens. The dark world beneath the group broke apart with the departure of the lights, and pieces left to follow them.

"From the remains of their one world, the light in the hearts of children rebuilt it as hundreds of different worlds, each filled with varieties of people, powers, and creatures created from the innocent imaginations of those children. After those worlds had been created, all of the children lost interest in each world, and left them to their own devices. They came together and formed one more world, one where they would live and abide in the light together. Those children were the forbearers of the Ancients, the Cetra they are also called, of whom your friend Aerith is the last of."

"Aerith is descended from those people?" Donald asked quickly in astonishment. Thessaura nodded her head but did not elaborate.

"We gods were disturbed about the threat of the darkness on the hearts of men," Thessaura continued as the scene shifted so that they were all simply standing in the midst of the cosmos, thousands of stars twinkling behind them. "We had not foreseen that the darkness in the heart could grow strong enough to destroy the world, and even though the children of the world were successful in halting the darkness, we knew that it would never again be gone, and that it would once more gain hold of the hearts of men and try to destroy and ravage what had now become the many hundreds of worlds created from the one."

"It was actually my brother Rathgar who devised an idea of how to combat the threat of darkness. Create a weapon of light that would be wielded by those of strong and good hearts, those who would fight to keep the forces of darkness at bay; these weapons would be our way of intervening so that catastrophes like what happened to the world would never arise again. He confronted Tylythia and myself and proposed it to us first, to see what we would think, and both of us were intrigued by the idea before we together brought it before Wagneir and the other gods. After little debate, it was accepted. However, what took many years of debate was to what kind of weapon it would be, how much power would be imbued within it, how many of these weapons there would be, and exactly what qualities should be looked for within the hearts of the wielders."

"During this time, it was discovered by Heith and myself that even the new worlds created by the children had hearts of their own, and that there were pathways towards the hearts of these worlds. At the same time, Olina discovered that there was an entire realm of darkness that had formed parallel to this, our realm of light. At the time the hearts of the worlds were again filled with light, but we all agreed that if darkness came again from the realm of darkness, that the darkness would try to corrupt the hearts of the worlds themselves to darkness, and destroy them. We realized that if this situation should occur, then the wielders of the weapons should be the ones to seal the pathway to their world's heart, and that there should be at least one wielder to every world."

"So you needed something to seal the keyhole to the heart of a world then?" King Mickey asked, looking at his keyblade.

Thessaura nodded. "Yes, we needed a weapon that could lock the pathway to make it inaccessible. There was much debate again for how this could be accomplished. Olina thought it best to shoot an arrow into the keyhole, my brother thought of bashing it closed with a hammer, but it was surprisingly Marenk who came up with the simplest idea, and the one we all accepted. Why not use a key to lock the path?"

"Tylythia began forging them at once, and the first one she made was the Kingdom Key, the first keyblade. Although the Kingdom Key was not given as much power as we would later imbue within the blades, it was directed to choose its master using all of the qualities we wished for a wielder of the keyblade."

"And what- what were those qualities?" Sora asked hesitantly. The Kingdom Key had been the first keyblade to come to him when Destiny Islands were being destroyed, and it had been the first to come back to him just the day before in the Pride Lands.

Thessaura smiled at him. "Your heart already knows Sora, for it fulfills them all. A desire to protect the innocent, safeguard those you love, resistance to use the power given in a manner that is inherently evil; and most important of all: a willingness to help those in need."

"So in essence," Alice said, looking at Sora, "a valiant and chivalrous heart." Sora blushed slightly and placed his hands on the back of his head. Kairi giggled slightly and kissed him on the cheek.

Goofy laughed. "That's Sora alright, ahyuk!"

"Even though it does get us into some tight spots sometimes," Donald grumbled.

"Hey," Sora said whilst grinning and coking his head to the side, his hands still tied in his hair on the back of his head in a usual pose for him, "what tight spots have we gotten into that we haven't been able to get out of?"

Donald was silent for a few seconds before he emitted a look of triumph. "You still haven't done number three on your checklist."

Sora blinked and laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with closed eyes. Donald was referring to the checklist he'd composed on their second adventure after waking up in Twilight Town. It read as follows: Number one: Find Riku. Number two: Come back home to Kairi and Destiny Islands. Number four: Defeat Organization XIII.

Number three was: Ask Kairi out on a date. And it was something he still hadn't actually done!

"What was number three?" Jasmine asked, looking at Sora in curiosity.

"Never mind," he said, "it doesn't matter right now, right Thessaura?"

"Very true Sora," she said, nodding her head and inclining to continue. "The Kingdom Key, and all keyblades since, was crafted in the forge of the gods, using techniques known only to Tylythia. Great magic lies within it, and the power to unlock the strength within the heart of the one who wields it. Of course, the keyblade can also open any lock, and seal any door. Even without holding the keyblade in your hands, after a keyblade has chosen you as its master, your heart will always be your greatest weapon."

"It was you!" Sora exclaimed suddenly. He knew he had heard her voice before, but it had always been in his head at the time. "You were the one! Yours was the voice I'd been hearing when I had that dream, when I fought the Darkside on the platform, when I first got the keyblade! It was you the whole time!"

"Yes Sora," Thessaura said, smiling. "It was always me. Rathgar, Tylythia, Heith, and myself are the gods most tied to the keyblades and their wielders. Rathgar gives a wielder physical strength and endurance and longer life beyond any normal being of their race. Tylythia grants the wielder their weapon and the ability to unlock the power sleeping within their heart. I speak to the heart and look after them in life so that they may fulfill their destiny and reach the peak of their power and do good; and Heith takes care of your soul and heart in the afterlife, in Kingdom Hearts."

"Kingdom Hearts!" cried Donald.

"Yes Donald, Kingdom Hearts," explained Thessaura. "Kingdom Hearts holds the spirits of all the departed wielders of the keyblade who did good in the realm of light, which is why Kingdom Hearts itself is light. But Kingdom Hearts is also a doorway to the realm of darkness, and if one attains Kingdom Hearts through evil means, the powers of darkness open themselves to that person. Such is what has transpired, and Maleficent holds powers of darkness far greater than what she should hold for one of the realm of light."

"But let me continue my tale. After the Kingdom Key was forged, it lay dormant in a special room of the armoury, built just for these keyblades. We at first wondered if the requirements we had set on the wielders were too strict, for the keyblade had not gone to one it sensed able to be its master. Tylythia forged new keyblades, ones of different shape and power, with different keychains that went to each individual keyblade, but still they lay dormant and unmoving within the armoury upon their stands. The majority of keyblades take the appearance close to that of a sword, but they can take the shape of anything from whips to bows to musical instruments depending on what Tylythia forged them as. Then darkness began to creep back into the hearts of the creatures of the world, and the Kingdom Key, the first keyblade, chose its first master from amongst all the people of the worlds nigh on twelve thousand years ago." Sora looked down at his keyblade in amazement. The keyblades themselves were thousands of years old! How old must this keyblade that he held in his hand, this keyblade that was made especially for him, how old must it be?

"We spoke to the first keyblade master," Thessaura continued, "and explained the purpose of the weapon to him, a humble mouse. We explained about the other worlds, and the darkness that had first come and destroyed the world, and that there may be other wielders of the keyblade out amongst those worlds as other keyblades chose their masters. It was a lot for him to take in, and he believed at the start that he was not ready for such a responsibility, but that if the keyblade believed that he had what it took, then he would do his best. Together with his friends and other wielders that began to arise he defeated the gathering darkness and defended the worlds, but it was not completely defeated and would never be subdued forever. Agents of the darkness remained and cropped up to try and wreck havoc and destroy the worlds again, while the uncoordinated, mindless forces of darkness continued constantly, and the few wielders we started with soon began to feel overwhelmed and strained by the toll that fighting constantly across a thousand worlds was taking on them. So Tylythia continued, forging more keyblades until there was a number that was close to five for every world, but the keyblades did not always find masters, there were not enough people who fit the qualities we'd chosen."

"It was then that we made our greatest mistake," Thessaura said regretfully. "We decided that as long as the keyblades were able to find wielders who had strong hearts and at least two of the qualities we had agreed upon, the worlds would be fine. This worked well for many hundreds of years. Keyblades would appear to those who needed them to fight evil whenever the balance was threatened, and many of the wielders became celebrated heroes across the worlds as the darkness and the evil powers that tried to use it were kept in check and subdued time after time."

"But there were quite a few instances in which a wielder of the keyblade who had started out well became corrupted by the power that had been granted to them, and tried to use darkness and the powers of the keyblade that had chosen them for evil purposes. When I would learn that darkness had corrupted that wielder's heart, we gods would meet with the current chosen master of the keyblade and discuss the situation with the keyblade master to see if there was a way to turn the wielder back to the light. If we found that there could be no way, then it was the duty of the other wielders to subdue the rogue, and we would banish the fallen wielder into the realm of darkness."

"As all this was happening, we gods rarely interfered, and left the decision making to the leaders of the worlds and the wielders of the keyblade. Over time, as the number of rogues increased and the realm of darkness began to become a prison, we decided to stop interfering entirely except to banish wielders and grant them our power if the situation called for it. An organization, called the Chasers Organization formed, and its headquarters was set on the world of the Cetra, for they were all still good people who bathed in and enjoyed the light, and their hearts were free from darkness. A good number of them were keyblade wielders themselves, and felt a strong sense of duty in being wielders of the weapon created by their gods."

The star-spangled spacescape that they were standing in shifted, and now they appeared to be near a string of high buildings of yellow brick with roofs that were red. They appeared to be in a courtyard of sorts, grey cobblestone beneath them with a splendid water fountain and gardens of beauty rivalling those in Radiant Garden set around the courtyard. The Sun was shining in the sky, and birds were singing in trees nearby as white clouds floated across the peaceful skies above them. People milled about, men and women and youth, most of whom were human but there were a few that were definitely not human. One of them looked human, but his skin was entirely blue, which sent curious thoughts through Sora's mind. Hades had taken to looking like a being like this when he had put on the guise of Sir Sedah. Were Ebuniks and Grascora actually real? Whatever the case, all of them had a crest somewhere on their dress that showed the Kingdom Key displayed over a silver teardrop shield, the top of which was not round, but in three points with the metal curving between them.

"The Chaser Knights as they were commonly called were militaristic in their organization. When a new wielder of the keyblade was found, they were inducted into the Chaser Knights as a Keyblade Initiate, and began a life that was of devotion to the service of the light and all that was good in the worlds. As they progressed in skill and strength, they became an Acolyte, until they gained the respectful rank and title of Keyblade Wielder. It was the Wielders that were assigned to protecting the worlds from harm and the threat of darkness and evil forces, while the Initiates and Acolytes spent their first several years with the keyblade in training under the Masters. A Wielder could later become a Weapons or Mage Master depending on which area they studied while not defending the worlds from darkness if they were so inclined to continue their training. A full Master was one who was greatly proficient in the both the physical use of their keyblade and in the use of magic. The head of the Chasers was always the chosen master of the keyblade, and was referred to as the Grand Master of the Keyblade. There were none of higher power than the Grand Master, and his decision was final. However militaristic it seemed, many of the Chaser Knights, no matter what level, did also have personal lives, and would settle down and lead relatively normal lives except for when duty called upon them."

"There can only ever one chosen master of the keyblade at a time. The one to whom the Kingdom Key appears before all other keyblades, the one who wields the Kingdom Key. They may attach other keychains to the Kingdom Key and change its shape and name, but they still wield the Kingdom Key. The chosen master of the keyblade may not start as the strongest of the wielders, but none can ever take their keyblade from them completely, and the keyblade will never wholly forsake them no matter what situation they are in. The Keyblade's Chosen Master has within them the strongest heart of all their fellow wielders, and holds sway over all keyblades, for they are the epitome of what embodies a keyblade wielder. Every chosen master has known this from the first until the last Grand Master of the Keyblade and leader of the Chaser Knights. And now you know as well Sora."

"Thanks," Sora replied, a little confused about all the information that he was taking in. Aiwemon appeared to have tuned it out and was looking out into the sky as if itching to fly into it. Jiminy was near Sora's foot, scratching furiously into his journal with a pencil as Thessaura spoke. Kairi and many of the others were watching and listening to Thessaura intently, and Asterix and King Mickey were both nodding their heads as if they'd known all this information about this organization already.

"What about me?" Roxas asked. "Sora's not the only one who then wields the Kingdom Key. So do I. Since I was Sora, does that make me the chosen master of the keyblade as well?"

"You are a most peculiar oddity Roxas," Thessaura said, causing Roxas to avert his eyes in an anxious manner. "Because you were born the nobody of the chosen master of the keyblade, the Kingdom Key will still come to your call, even though you yourself are not the keyblade's chosen master. It would seem that because of your special connection to Sora, that you would be something similar to an understudy, or a backup chosen master of the keyblade if you will."

"So I'm Sora's number two?" Roxas asked for clarification. Thessaura smiled and nodded her head in confirmation. Sora clapped Roxas on the back.

"I knew there had to be a reason for keeping you around," he said. "Who else could be me if I do something stupid and Kairi kills me?"

Roxas gave a dry laugh. "If Kairi kills you what's to say that she's not going to go out and kill the _other_ you, being ME?"

Naminé giggled. "You're hair's a different colour," she said, entwining her fingers in his angular blonde locks. "And I'd pacify her enough so that I could keep my toy."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "So I'm a toy now am I?" he asked. "Well then, I think that this toy wants to play a little." He cupped Naminé's tired chin in his hand and began to ease her lips towards his.

Riku groaned and nudged Roxas slightly, but it was enough to send the former nobody tumbling to the ground. "Cut it out Roxas," he said before looking at Thessaura curiously. "What was that you mentioned about a mistake?"

Thessaura sighed as Roxas glared at Riku and rubbed his chin. "As I mentioned before, wielders went rogue as they allowed the darkness and evil intentions to control their actions, and abused their powers. We exiled many of these wielders to the realm of darkness. The first one of them held the Reverse Kingdom Key, which took you for its new master, Mickey Mouse."

The King looked in surprise at the keyblade he still held and Thessaura smiled slightly. "Do not fear. Keyblades themselves could never be evil nor can they turn those who they choose to be their masters to evil. But once we exiled these wielders to the realm of darkness we paid little attention to them, until we learned that their keyblades had gone with them. Wagneir himself investigated the matter personally and found that in the realm of darkness, surrounded by the power that they had chosen, those exiled wielders had become peaceful once more and lived comfortable lives in the parallel worlds of darkness, inhabited by people who dwelt in the realm of darkness completely parallel to our realm of light. And so we left them to their own devices and allowed them to keep their keyblades, which stayed in the realm of darkness after they passed on, and did not let them enter our minds anymore, apart from meaning that Tylythia would have to forge a new keyblade for every one that had been banished with its wielder to the realm of darkness."

The scene shifted once more, and now the group was once more amongst the stars.

"But then tragedy struck," said Thessaura. "With the Chaser Knights watching over the worlds on their own initiative and power, we, _I_, neglected my watch on the hearts of the wielders, and fifty years ago the worst slipped through after attaining a keyblade: Xehanort."

All attention was immediately returned to Thessaura at the mention of his name. Sora and Riku and Kairi looked at Thessaura in stunned horror. Xehanort, _the_ Xehanort, the man who had become both heartless and nobody and had tried to take Kingdom Hearts twice had held a keyblade? As the seconds passed by Jiminy's pencil's scratching stopped and it became poised and ready for Thessaura to continue. Now they were getting into the recent history, now they were delving into the events which would lead to what nearly all of them knew about.

"Xehanort was not always called Xehanort. His name when he received the keyblade was Nhaerto, and he started like any other Initiate," Thessaura explained. "Plucky and adventurous, courageous and filled with ideas and fantasies about saving the worlds like the wielders before him who, in his eye, had been lucky enough to be the ones to defeat an awesome evil that had tried to destroy the worlds. But he quickly became different from the other young keyblade initiates. He was far more powerful and skilled for one of his age, just passed eight. I should have mentioned before, but keyblades tended to appear to their masters at a much younger age than before they appeared to you. Nhaerto was a very quick study and capable of learning and mastering in a time frame rarely seen."

"As he increased in skill and power, his heart began to grow greedy and lustful for power, but he was a very good actor, and he fooled close to everyone. By the age of eighteen he had attained the rank and power of full Master, something rarely seen. He began to become obsessed with power, and felt that the Chasers were weaklings and holding him back from reaching his full potential. When he was twenty-five he was already deep in studies of the darkness of the heart, and had opened his heart to the powers of darkness. We didn't know, for my watch had grown lax over the years, and it was not unknown anymore for a wielder to use the powers of darkness in defence of the light. Such was the path of Balhafa, the first Wielder of Dawn. But Nhaerto had opened his heart to darkness to such a degree that he was able to enter the realm of darkness itself, and once in there he took on the guise of Xehanort, and gathered to him the exiled and new wielders of the keyblade that lived and fought within the realm of darkness. He formed them into an army, and showed them how to once more enter the realm of light before leaving for our realm himself."

"For twelve long years he watched and waited and studied, going only occasionally to the realm of darkness to train them and inform them of the Chaser Knights, their strengths and weaknesses, and the worlds of the realm of light. And when the wielders from the realm of darkness first struck it was at the headquarters of the Chaser Knights itself. Many wielders were caught unprepared and unnerved, and most importantly of all, unwilling to fight against other wielders of the keyblade. But Xehanort played his part and fought against the wielders of the realm of darkness, appearing to kill them while only wounding them."

"The Chasers' headquarters and academy was destroyed, and many wielders and most of the young ones were killed suddenly, as well as a great many of the Cetra. The Grand Master and many of the different Masters made it out, including Xehanort, but loses were high and aggravating, and the world of the Cetra was completely destroyed. The wielders of the realm of darkness called in their army. The keyblade wielders of the realm of light regrouped, and went to each of their homeworlds to enlist their support. So began the keyblade wars."

"That was twenty-one years ago," Thessaura said. "The war lasted for three long years, and by the end of it, many of the wielders of the keyblade had perished. The Chaser Knights were all but extinct, replaced by the organization known as Star Command that had been created to oversee the areas where the dwindling Chasers could not. The realm of light was victorious, and the last of the wielders from the realm of darkness duelled with the last Grand Master of the Keyblade in an epic duel of Kingdom Key against Reverse Kingdom Key. Both perished after the fighting in their respective realms."

"Xehanort had known all along that the realm of light would be victorious, but he knew that even with his power he could not take on the Grand Master who had the support and aid of dozens of other masters and hundreds of wielders by himself."

"So he created a war to destroy that support," Sora growled, "to make himself the most powerful wielder in existence so that none could stop him."

"Correct Sora," Thessaura said, nodding. "The war ended almost nineteen years ago now, and by the end of it many of the worlds had begun to distance themselves from the other worlds, especially those worlds that had sided with those from the realm of darkness. This suited Xehanort, and the apprentice he had taken on during the keyblade wars, and over the next decade they studied further into the darkness in the heart, specifically the hearts of worlds and Kingdom Hearts itself. Xehanort learned that the souls and hearts of the wielders of the keyblade had entered Kingdom Hearts, and so knew that because of his war, it was brimming with power. He hunted down the remaining wielders of the keyblade until there were only six left against him and his apprentice. Those six were Master Walt and his three apprentices, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, yourself Mickey Mouse, and you Asterix."

"Little had been revealed to anyone of what Nhaerto had actually been doing or where his allegiances lay, so Master Walt was troubled by the apparent disappearance of Master Nhaerto and almost eleven years ago sent his three young apprentices to look for him. During their search, Xehanort and his apprentice found Master Walt, and killed him. Master Walt's apprentices found where Xehanort had been staying, and the vast horde of his research data as well as his notes and journals over the past years, and discovered everything. They rushed back to their Master to find him dead and a message left behind for them. The three remaining Chaser Knights rushed to a special world known only as The Forgotten Crossroads."

"The Forgotten Crossroads?" Donald asked.

"When Tylythia forges a keyblade, it is placed within the a room in the armoury of the gods to await the wielder it shall choose. After that wielder has passed on, the keyblade goes to The Forgotten Crossroads to await another to call their master. It was in this graveyard of keyblades that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus fought Xehanort and his apprentice in an attempt to bring him to justice for his crimes."

"What happened?" Kairi asked, a quiver in her voice as if she already knew the answer. Sora placed an arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"They were defeated," Thessaura said regretfully. "Ventus was frozen by Xehanort's magic, and died soon after. Aqua herself lost the will to live after Ven's departure and died of a broken heart; and Terra-"

"Was found by me," King Mickey spoke up.

"By you Your Majesty?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes," King Mickey answered. "I found Terra on the battlefield there, one arm frozen and his heart filled with anger at Nhaerto. He told me everything he could, and told me where I could go to find all the information I needed. The only thing I did not know until now was that Nhaerto was Xehanort. Not even in his notes did he mention the name change."

"But before you left Terra and found Xehanort's research," Thessaura continued, "Xehanort used his keyblade to reveal to him Kingdom Hearts, and was about to take its power when at last, we deemed it necessary to intervene ourselves. We charged Kingdom Hearts itself to defeat Xehanort, and in its power Xehanort's apprentice was killed and destroyed completely. Xehanort himself had his appearance changed and his memory of his past life completely erased, and was marked so that no keyblade would ever come to call him its master ever again. He was transported to a different world where he became a scientist on the workings of the heart under Ansem the Wise."

"What happened in Radiant Garden?" Kairi asked. "Because according to this, around that time was when-"

"An assassin under contract from an underground rebel group in Radiant Garden, I believe you know who they are princess, entered Radiant Garden and its castle. Your parents and older brother were slain by the assassin, though your father and his bodyguard put up a valiant fight, and your mother was able to get you away to Ansem the Wise, who whisked you off world personally just as Xehanort opened the door to darkness that had appeared in the laboratory."

"And Ansem the Wise brought you to Destiny Islands," Sora said, squeezing Kairi comfortingly as his arm was still wrapped around her shoulder. "Brought you to us."

"He took you to a little-known backwater world that knew of the events that had transpired in the recent decade, but had never had a wielder before and did not partake in the keyblade wars," Thessaura said, smiling at the looks of indignation on Sora, Riku, and Kairi's faces at hearing their home being called such.

"It's not a backwater world," Kairi said. "It's a tropical island paradise!"

"Except when you want to get off of it," Riku said guiltily.

"What happened to Terra?" Snow White asked.

"He passed away too," King Mickey said in a sorrowful voice. "His body and heart couldn't take the toll from the battle and losing his master and two best friends, and he departed."

"And so that left only Mickey and Asterix as the last wielders of the keyblade for ten years," Thessaura said. "And no keyblades appeared before another person, as now it was uncertain even in their eyes who could be trusted to wield them. In the meantime, Ansem the Wise took control of Radiant Garden and led it well for some months, and Xehanort delved once more into darkness and swayed Ansem's other apprentices to open their hearts to darkness. They deposed Ansem the Wise and Xehanort took up his master's place under Ansem's name. Ansem became trapped in the Realm of Darkness by Xehanort's doing, and learned to use it as a tool to escape to try and plot his revenge on his apprentices. Soon after deposing Ansem though, Xehanort's heartless, Xemnas, and the other starting nobodies of the early Organization XIII, left Radiant Garden to Maleficent when she came, and the rest you all know."

"Not quite," Riku said. "I'm the Rose Star Wielder of Dawn, Sora and Kairi are the Crown Star Wielders of Twilight and Light, what are the Legendary Wielders of Power anyway and how are we different from a regular wielder of the keyblade?"

"I was hoping that you would ask about that," Thessaura said with a smile. "The Nine Wielders of Power: the Crown Star Wielders of Light, Twilight, and Midlight, the Shield Star Wielders of Dusk, Moon, and Star, and the Rose Star Wielders of Dawn, Night, and Sun, are each more powerful than any previous full Master of the keyblade, except for Xehanort himself, and just shy of the power contained within the heart of the chosen master of the keyblade. Each specific power is very strong against any force, but the wielders can only arise from special circumstances that cause that power within their heart to awaken. Those of the Crown Star share a special bond with the type of crown pendant that Sora wears, and there hasn't been one that hasn't had a crown like that somewhere on them at some point in their lives. The Shield Star Wielders and Rose Star Wielders share an affinity with a shield or rose, though I cannot tell you more, as there has only been one Rose Star Wielder before and never a Shield Star Wielder. The Star comes from the fact that they are all wielders of the keyblade, and so they all travel amongst the stars. Together, the Nine have the ability to summon forth the greatest light and power of good and imbue it within a person, making the person the most powerful vassal of light ever."

"However, none of you are at your full strength, and you must first foster, nurture, and train your power until you reach the point of an internal test that is called 'The Point of Ascension'. To pass is to have ascended and to be granted full control of your power, even though it will not be at its full strength either. To fail is death."

"So..." Roxas said, looking over at Sora, Riku, and Kairi, "The Legendary Wielders of Power, are über powerful."

"Yes," Thessaura said, "When at their full strength. But they can still be defeated, as Balhafa and the previous Wielders of Light have been. Remember that, all of you. You are mortal, and not invulnerable, nor invincible no matter what power you hold. The realm of light cannot afford for you to die before your destiny is fulfilled or Maleficent defeated."

The platform appeared beneath them again, and Sora looked around as all the others appeared on it with them, including all of the other gods and goddesses.

"You have all been told the same things," Wagneir said. "This is how we are intervening this time, providing those of today with knowledge that had been lost."

"They could have asked me!" Merlin said, huffing slightly in indignation.

"Now it is time for you to return to your worlds," Olina said. "You were all called here because you have all had relations with a keyblade wielder, and few of you barely knew what it was. Now you all know, in the chance that a keyblade should choose you as its wielder."

"Give Maleficent hell from me, will ya?" Rathgar asked. "Since I can't go and personally clobber that foul grease stain."

"Rathgar," Heith said, shaking his head.

"Hey, I'm just trying to get them fired up," Rathgar retorted, jamming his helmet back on his head. "And you guys might want to get going. I don't think she's been as idle and cozy about building her _supreme fortress_ as she's been saying."

"Right," Sora said, nodding his head as he began to feel a force pulling on him. "We won't let you down."

-A-D-

Kairi was surprised to find that she was not back in the garden-filled postern of Radiant Garden, and was still surprised that the other seven princesses of heart were with her. Thessaura still sat in front of them with Tylythia by her side. Kairi looked around. It was just the two goddesses and the princesses of heart.

"What now Thessaura?" Naminé asked, now leaning slightly on Kairi as her Roxas was gone. "Can't we go? I want to sleep."

"There are a few more things that we must discuss in private," Thessaura said, a warning tone in her voice at Naminé's lacklustre remark.

"Princesses," said Thessaura, "You must take part in this campaign too."

"What?" Cinderella asked. "We have to fight as well?"

"There are only seven wielders of the keyblade," Tylythia said. "You by no means _have_ to fight, but whilst Kairi and Naminé fight with their keyblades anything you can do to take the pressure off of them helps. The light in your hearts is a powerful weapon against the deepening darkness, and there are a few weapons I forged in the early days before Marenk said 'If you're going to lock something why not use a gosh darn key?' that could seal keyholes."

"What are they?" Jasmine asked quickly, moving to stand beside Kairi. "Aladdin and Sora, and now Kairi have fought on my behalf for too long. I want to help."

"And I will help too," Alice said, her tiny feet echoing as they slowly clacked to the ground so that she was on Naminé's right. "I may not like fighting much, but my sister and professors have been tutoring me a great deal on warfare as of late, and I think I may be of use there."

"And I will come too," Belle said, standing behind Kairi. "The darkness can only shroud light, not destroy it. I won't forget those words I told Sora."

"Maleficent has wronged me many times," said Aurora, shaking her head and holding a hand to her heart. "I cannot let her go by unpunished if you say there is something I can do about it."

Snow White and Cinderella looked at each other for a couple of seconds before they too nodded and proceeded to step up alongside the other princesses.

Thessaura smiled. "That is good, very good. There may be a chance that Kairi will be able to get through to fulfill her destiny after all."

"What?" Kairi asked suddenly, her eyes narrowing slightly on Thessaura in confusion. She saw Tylythia looked mournfully at her, but dismissed it for a second as Thessaura opened her mouth.

"_The Heart of Light of a Knight of Great Valour, the Seventh Princess of Heart shall win. The child of their love's endeavour, Light of Evil's Bane lies within._ You are not the one referred to in Shankela's prophecy Kairi, because you are the one who will defeat Maleficent," she said, "but you will die in the process."

-A-D-

_Hey __**Krystal Lily Potter**__, how's THAT for being evil to Kairi?_

_For all of you that are about to abandon this fic I have a few words for you to try and hold you! When have I ever gotten them into a situation that I haven't been able to get them out of, AND, when have I ever been predictable?_

_Just to mess with your heads._

_Oh, and I did not mention the Unbirths because I have no idea what they are and I don't want to put up a theory six months before the Japanese get the game and totally destroy my theory, meaning I'll have to come back here and change it._

_I'm also going to go back to the old review reply system. It takes less time to get back to you. Plus, I want your feedback on something and I already have one poll up on my profile and I can't put up another right now. Right now I've got this rated at T (Ages 13+), but there is also M (16+). This is a War, this has the military in it, this has action, violence, and death (not main character death except for, possibly, one), this has torture, this has heavily implied sex (though none of it is written out I'm not writing lemons!), and this has a good amount of swearing and f-bomb dropping later._

_By all accounts this should get itself rated into M because of all the stuff that's going to happen. However, rating it M means that a great number of people who read these fics will not see it because they won't automatically see it; they'd have to change the preset ratings listing. So I'd have a smaller audience. Should I rate this M as it rightly deserves despite the lower reader count?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	2. Anniversary

_So here we go, the second chapter of __**Light's Growth**__._

_Also, I'm a little surprised. In all the chapters I've ever submitted, only one has gained more reviews than the previous chapter, and that was Chapter XXXI of **The Beginning** titled: **Going Digital**. Great job everyone! I thank you all._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or anything that I use in this work of fanfiction._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter II: Anniversary

Kairi looked forward in horror, her feet frozen to the spot. She wasn't consciously aware that the platform she was standing on dissolved or that she was now looking at blue cliffs and pristine white castle walls. In all honesty, Kairi didn't care. The goddess she had just learned existed barely over a week ago, the goddess of light who had helped her heart resist Maleficent's darkness, the one she had thought she could believe in, had just shattered her world and broken her heart.

In order to defeat Maleficent, she was supposed to sacrifice herself.

"So why did you guys take longer to come back?" Goofy's voice suddenly penetrated through Kairi's ears. She turned around from her position behind all of the other princesses of heart, even Naminé as the girl no longer appeared tired at all. "Was there something more that the gods had to tell ya?"

"We've been told and decided that we're going to help too," Jasmine answered, speaking out first and taking a small step towards the rest of the group.

"You're not fighting Jasmine," Aladdin said quickly.

"Aladdin," Jasmine grumbled with her voice low.

"It's way too dangerous Jasmine," said Aladdin emphatically. "I don't want to see you hurt."

"I think you might actually want to listen to him on this one princess," Iago said. "You haven't really been around the heartless before."

"That doesn't matter," Jasmine said heatedly. "You can help teach me to fight Aladdin, and I can still use the light in my heart as a weapon against the heartless. And, we'll have Genie with us, and he's fought against the heartless too!"

Aladdin stared at Jasmine and looked back at Sora for support for his argument that Jasmine shouldn't be fighting. Kairi smiled slightly as Sora looked at her and shrugged. "I learned long ago that even though you can argue all you want, a princess of heart who wants to help will help no matter what you say; they especially will if they love you and don't want to see that you got hurt either."

"Then I guess there's no point in me trying to convince you otherwise Belle," Prince Alain said in defeat, looking at his princess.

"There is always hope that she will not agree to this madness," Gaston said suddenly, getting down on one knee in front of Belle. "Let me fight in your stead Belle, and show you who is really more suited to be your suitor."

"If you fight, Gaston, your heart will fall to darkness and we'll have to kill you," Belle said in disgust, snatching her hand back from the man and striding to Prince Alain. "Besides, I just couldn't be deserving enough to have a man as handsome and great as you."

"Alice, you will not partake in this foolishness," the girl's much older sister Penelope said. "A weapon is not meant for the hand of a lady."

"Not all weapons are sharp and pointed sister," Alice said. "Furthermore, I have no intention of fighting myself anyway. I plan to use my heart and mind to think, plan, and query."

"Your what?" Tom asked.

"She means she wants to plan strategy," answered Cid. "You don't look like much kid."

Penelope bristled. "My sister is being taught by some of the finest minds in our kingdom!" She snapped at Cid. "Do not doubt her intellect, simpleton."

"So you approve then?" Alice asked slyly.

"As long as you are not waving a stick around like a barbarian," Penelope answered, giving Cid a chaste glare, "I suppose I shall be able to cope with the thought."

"Don't doubt kids either," Peter Banning said. "The Lost Boys and I were kids, and we beat the pirates time and time again, and captured a fair number of Indians in my time."

"Alright alright, I see yer point," Cid grumbled, shaking his head and chewing on his toothpick.

"Then I suppose the rest of you will do what you can as well then," Axel said, looking over the other princesses of heart. Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White nodded their heads and Prince Charming, Prince Phillip, and Prince Ryan all looked at each other with reluctance in their eyes.

"Well I don't know about you Mr. Asterix," Obelix said, looking at his tummy. "But all this listening has made Dogmatix rather hungry. I think we should go and find him something to eat wouldn't you agree?"

Asterix laughed. "Yes of course Mr. Obelix, we should go and find Dogmatix something to eat, and we might as well get something for your stomach while we're at it."

"Well only if it isn't too much trouble," Obelix said politely, his tongue already going over his lips underneath the Gaul's great bulbous nose.

"Maybe we should too Kairi," Sora said, coming up to place his gloved left hand on her shoulder. Kairi looked at it for a moment while Sora continued to talk. "If we don't count that one day, then today is our one month anniversary, so maybe I could take you out to dinner to celebrate."

Kairi dismally thought that there was no possible way she could celebrate being together with Sora anymore.

She lightly took his hand off of her shoulder and looked into his eyes. They were so hopeful, and so blue, it was breaking her heart to just look at them while her mind continued to grind on the thought that she would be taken away from those eyes.

"No Sora," she said, trying to be gentle, "yesterday was our one month anniversary, not today. I want to include that day."

"But Kairi-"

Kairi cut him off. "I'm sorry but I just can't do it tonight Sora. It's too much to take in at once. I-I need tonight to think about some things, okay?"

She bit her lip when she saw that Sora was visibly disappointed, but he sighed. "Yeah, you're right Kai, it _is_ a lot to take in. Maybe we should all take tonight off to think about this."

_We're all going to be thinking about the future tonight,_ Naminé made mention to Kairi. Kairi nodded slightly and began walking through the postern towards the castle's front gates. She heard but also did not hear the chatter behind her about everything they had seen and heard while talking to the gods; she really didn't notice anything at all, lost in though and struggling to keep her tongue under control.

"Princess Kairi?"

Kairi looked up suddenly as she was addressed by a different voice. She had led them into the castle without even knowing it and a servant girl; it looked like it was that girl Agatha actually, had just asked her a question that she hadn't heard.

"Uh, pardon me?" Kairi asked uncertainly, not certain in the least of what the girl had said.

"I asked if you would like me to inform Kensworth that you have arrived and are ready for dinner, your highness," Agatha said, her voice having gained a little more strength and fortitude since the last time she had addressed the auburn-haired princess.

"Yes," Kairi answered somewhat absently. "Yes, tell him we're here, but I don't think I'm ready to dine yet. I would like to take a shower first, our dungeons aren't _that_ accommodating."

Agatha smiled slightly. "As you wish milady. Shall I prepare a room for Master Sora as well?"

Kairi paused for a second and looked at Sora. In all the time they'd spent in Radiant Garden recently, Sora had been stuck in hospital or in the Pride Lands, and hadn't had the pleasure himself of living in the castle. "Yes, prepare a room for Sora too please."

"As you wish milady," said Agatha before she rushed off in her heels. Kairi noticed a sudden familiar pressure on her shoulder and turned slightly to see Menelmon smiling worriedly at her. Kairi gave the bird digimon a smile to ease her worries and stroked her feathered head comfortingly while Kairi herself already felt dead inside.

"Roxas, you show Sora around," Naminé said quickly as she looked around at the party who had followed them. The princesses of heart and their escorts (since it made sense because they were all staying in the castle as guests), Sora and Roxas (of course), Sade, Sal, Sikora, and Victoria, Peter Banning, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket and Max, Riku, Yuffie, Aerith, Tom, and Cid (Leon, Shalua, Barrett, Tifa and Vincent had all said something about having work to do), and Mulan, Mushu, Cricky, and Axel. The table would be full tonight.

Kairi didn't pay attention and silently made her way through the castle's white and brightly lit corridors to the main stairs. Up and up those stairs she went until she reached the castle's third floor, whereupon she quickly strode through it until she reached her room in the castle, the third door down on the right hand side in that corridor. Naminé's room was one further down, and she had learned that Roxas' was just the one before hers, with an empty room at the start of the corridor just past the first bathroom, and two empty ones past Naminé's before the bedchambers of the now deceased King and Queen.

Kairi opened her door and entered her room, quickly and quietly closing the door behind her. Without warning to Menelmon an angry and melancholy cry bawled out of her lungs and she flung herself onto the four-poster, the beginnings of tears already starting to leave her eyes.

Kairi punched her pillow and sobbed. It wasn't fair! IT JUST WASN'T FAIR!

_Kairi I'm coming in._

The auburn-haired princess was barely aware that her former nobody had just spoken to her when the door swiftly opened and Naminé came in, quickly followed by the other six princesses of heart, Mulan, Aerith, and Yuffie. Aurora came in last and quickly closed the door.

"What are you all doing here?" Kairi asked, rubbing her eyes on her teddy bear and the sleeves of her red sweater, trying her best to hide that she had been crying. She failed miserably, but none of them answered her.

"Flora, Fauna, Merryweather," Aurora called softly. At once the three good fairies appeared in sparkles of pink, green, and blue, their tiny wings beating busily to keep them all of two feet aloft.

"Yes dear?" Merryweather asked. "Do you need anything?"

"We'd like to be able to talk without anyone listening in," Jasmine answered. Flora looked around furtively.

"Ah yes," she said wisely. "Even walls have ears as we say."

On the other side of the door, Roxas, Axel, Tom, Riku, Aladdin, Genie, Donald, Aiwemon and Sora were trying to eavesdrop. It had been suspicious to them that most of the girls (since Sora and Roxas' aunt and cousin, and Alice's older sister had neglected to follow) had gone into Kairi's room. "Damn," they all whispered simultaneously before breaking off and going separate ways, Sora specifically being called away by Agatha and a male servant towards the single empty room at the start of the corridor.

Flora made a little Victorian house appear in the corner and Merryweather waved her wand as Fauna locked the door with magic. All the persons present including Menelmon shrunk down to the size of cell phones and appeared inside the house, crowded around a circular glass table with three chairs set around it. Flora took one look at Kairi's eyes before she immediately bustled around towards a tea kettle while Fauna gently coaxed Kairi into a chair.

"What's up Kai?" Yuffie asked. "You can't be upset about all that keyblade history. Though with all that melodrama that Cruse guy was using I just wanted to kill him."

"The history of the keyblade isn't making Kairi upset Yuffie," Naminé said sadly, shaking her head and leaning against a counter.

"Maleficent is what's making Kairi upset," explained Belle. Flora began pouring cups of tea for everyone and offered one to Kairi first. The girl took it and held it in her hands. They had begun to feel so cold.

"Oh, I'd like to turn her into a little old hop-toad," Merryweather said, bouncing onto a chair's top and balancing perfectly as she sipped her tea.

"Merryweather!" Flora scolded.

"Well it would make me happy," Merryweather excused. "And would probably make Kairi happy too."

"I would think that being with Sora would really make Kairi happy," Aerith said, holding onto her tea.

At the mention of Sora's name, Kairi's previous sadness turned to anger. "It's not fair!" she yelled suddenly, finally being allowed to yell without the fear of Sora overhearing her. "It is not fucking fair!"

"Kairi do not swear at us!" Alice said sharply, voicing the opinion of the group. "We know you aren't normally this vulgar when you talk."

"I don't give a fucking damn!" Kairi retorted. "You aren't the one who is supposed to _die_ to defeat Maleficent Alice!" Silence met Kairi for a few seconds and her anger subsided. Kairi shook her head and rested it in her hand as her elbow came down to the table, her tea left on it. Shame welled up in her that she should let her temper get the better of her tongue now.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to snap like that."

"It's okay Kairi," Naminé said sympathetically, placing a hand on Kairi's shoulder. "I would have reacted the same way if it was me instead of you." Kairi smiled slightly and looked at Naminé in amusement.

"You were me," she said with a raised eyebrow. "Of course you'd do the same." Naminé smiled back.

"One of the good things about having been your nobody then, right?" Kairi shook her head and sighed again.

"A prince," she said quietly. "Sora's a freaking prince now. Things were just starting to look up, and now I have to go and ruin all of our plans by dying to bring peace."

"Hold on," Mulan said quickly. "You're supposed to die in order to defeat Maleficent?"

"It's apparently my destiny," Kairi muttered. "At least according to Thessaura and Shankela it is, and I suppose that they would be the ones to know, being the Goddesses of Light and Prophecy after all."

"So what are we worrying about then?" Yuffie asked.

Everyone looked at the kunoichi in disbelief.

"How can you just accept it like that?" Aerith asked. She was angry that the friend she'd just spent a lot of time and effort on keeping alive had been told that she was going to die, and amazed that Yuffie could simply accept it.

Yuffie held up her hands. "Don't bite my head off right now," she said hastily, "I'm just looking at it as it is. If it is Kairi's destiny to die bringing down Maleficent, then you're going to make it one wicked final battle before you kick it right?"

"I guess so," Kairi said, looking down. Yuffie's thoughts were strange, but they were also true. When it came down to it, Kairi knew that when the time came she would make sure she gave one last 'Hoorah!' in the fight.

"Do you only care about the fight looking cool?" Naminé asked. "What about Sora? If Kairi dies, what about him? And what about me?" she added to herself in a quiet undertone.

"Well we can't tell him that his girlfriend is going to die," Yuffie said simply, not having heard Naminé like Kairi did. "If we do, then Sora's going to go angsty again and he's not going to let Kairi go anywhere, and that'll drag us on for forever."

"You are right about that," Belle said.

"Yuffie's right about more than that," Aerith said in a sigh, now coming to the support of her friend. "If it is Kairi's destiny to die to bring peace and end Maleficent, then who are we to try and stop it?"

"So are you saying I should just call Maleficent here again and try to end it all now?" Kairi spat angrily. She didn't like the fact that they were all discussing her death right in front of her, even if it was her who was upset and started it in the first place.

"Kairi no!" Menelmon said quickly, landing on Kairi's shoulder again. "I just found you two weeks ago; I don't want to die so soon."

"You don't want to die?" Cinderella asked.

"When a digidestined dies, so does their partner digimon," Menelmon said. "If Kairi dies, I don't just get my data reconfigured and become reborn in Primary Village like the other digimon in the digital world, my data is deleted entirely, and I will cease to exist as much as Kairi would."

"We're not saying right away," Yuffie said hastily. "Rushing it won't help, and avoiding it won't either. Just let it come when it comes."

"But we don't know when that will be," Snow White said apprehensively. "We don't know how much time Kairi will have."

"Does it matter?" Kairi asked, resting her head in her hand once more. "I'll die, and leave Sora, Riku, you Naminé, and everyone else behind."

"Then I guess the time you have left is very important then dear," Fauna said, patting her back in between her shoulder blades.

"But what will you do with it?" Merryweather asked.

"What would I do with it?" Kairi asked in confusion. She stopped, thinking suddenly. Those words rang a bell somewhere in her memory. She knew that they were from something, but just where she had heard them before was eluding her for a moment. "What would I do with it?" she repeated to herself, looking down and frowning somewhat. Her eyes brightened suddenly as she remembered.

"_Skydiving,"_ she sang suddenly, _"I went Rocky Mountain climbing; I went two point seven seconds, on a bull named Fu Man Chu. And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I watched an eagle as it was flying. And he said someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying."_

Kairi stopped and smiled slightly. "I guess the time I have left is important," she said. "If I die, well, then I die."

"All death is certain," Flora said sombrely.

"Yes, well," Kairi said hesitantly, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, "I'm going to enjoy the time I have left then."

"Starting with supper!" Menelmon announced, looking down at her stomach. "If they're already eating, then Aiwemon, Keys, Donald and Roxas have already eaten everything!"

Kairi laughed, and she amazed herself that she was even able to laugh. Who would have guessed ten minutes ago that she would be accepting the fact that she was doomed? Maybe because it had mostly been that Yuffie and Tim McGraw had changed her outlook on the whole situation. Instead of dying and leaving everyone behind, she was going to live and bring as much light into their lives as possible, leaving only fond memories instead of broken hearts behind.

"No Menelmon," she said. "I'm not going to start with supper." Her digimon partner looked at her in shock for a second, and then Kairi scratched her legs through the pair of black jeans she was wearing. "I'm going to have a shower and shave my freaking legs until they're so smooth your hand could just slide right off of them! Where's my razor?"

Laughing gaily, the three good fairies waved their wands and they all returned to their normal sizes, all once more in Kairi's room.

"I've noticed Riku and some of the other guys scratching their legs a lot," Yuffie said absently. "Do you think that they itch?"

"Of course they itch," Naminé said, rolling her eyes. "But do you think that the thought of shaving their legs to keep them from itching has ever entered their minds? Nooo."

"The day that a man shaves his legs willingly is the day that a woman no longer feels pain in childbirth, or utters death threats to their husband while in childbirth," Belle said. Kairi laughed and left the room first of them all after snatching her pink razor and strawberry scented shaving gel and moisturizing lotion. Immediately, she looked to her left and saw Sora leaving the first of the bedrooms in the corridor. That was all she needed, to be third in line for the royal bathroom at the end of the corridor behind both of the boys. At least she wasn't in Naminé's position, Naminé was fourth.

That was, she was third and Naminé was fourth if they weren't able to make it before the boys first.

_I hear ya Kairi,_ Naminé said, knowing Kairi's thoughts. _Oh speak of the devil, he's going for it!_

Kairi focused her eyes on Sora, and they narrowed with the way that Sora had turned his body towards the doors for the bathroom at the end of the corridor. Kairi decisively sprang into a sprint to beat her prince to the room that right now was her top priority. "Sora!" she called out, putting a tone of distress into her voice in the spur of the moment.

In an instant Sora had whipped around and he held his keyblade in his right hand, ready to take on anything. "What is it?" he barked, his eyes scanning for an enemy that was not there. Kairi hid her smirk and ran right past him to the door of the bathroom.

"Nothing, thank you," she said, opening the door and slamming it shut behind her. Sora looked at the closed door in confusion for a second before realizing that Kairi had just duped him.

"But Kairi!" Sora whined loudly, coming up next to the door as his keyblade vanished. "I need to go."

"And I need to have a shower and shave!" Kairi retorted through the thick wooden door.

"Well I need a shower too!" said Sora in an angry pout. "I've been a lion for the past three days and four nights!"

"I'm more important!" Kairi replied.

"Why?" Sora demanded.

"Because I'm a princess, that's why!"

"Well... I'm a prince!" Sora challenged.

"I'm older!"

Sora was about to retort again when he felt a hand touch his shoulder and he spun around to see Naminé frowning at him.

"Go down that way," Naminé said, pointing in the opposite direction of the door her sister had just vanished into, "and follow the hallway until the second last door on your left. That's the only other bathroom in this corridor."

"Why are there only two bathrooms but like, ten bedrooms?" Sora asked in a vain grumble, his feet already carrying him down the corridor.

Kairi sighed and smiled from the other side of the door to the bathroom she had entered. One of the reasons why there were only two, technically three because of the small one in the bedchambers of the King and Queen, was because they were so massive, and divided into three separate rooms themselves, so Sora could have come in anyway. There was a small hall which Kairi stood in now, painted in a light blue with scenes of tropical skies and beachfronts hanging on the walls in beautifully detailed brushstrokes. Three doors of ash wood were standing in a line in front of Kairi down the hall, so that if she turned to her left the three doors would be on her right. On their brass doorknobs were signs to take inside with the occupant to specify whether they were occupied and so another should keep out, or if they were occupied and if another dared to enter they would be roasted upon a spit and cubed with a dull knife.

When Kairi entered the door of her choice, she put out the one with the jagged cooking utensil before locking the door behind her just to be sure.

Once inside the room Kairi reasoned that the room's interior had to have been created with magic, because there was no possible way that a room this big could have existed in the space provided without magical interference. The walls of the room were a sea green, and a gigantic painting of a beautiful group of mermaids lazily sitting on a few rocks was suspended on the wall above a circular bathtub that truly looked more the size of a small pool, and in the shape of an extravagant and very large white hot tub. Glowing white orbs were set atop the ceiling. There was a nicely sized white counter that stunned Kairi with a sink of silver and a perfectly clean and dazzling circular mirror just to Kairi's right. A toilet that appeared to be made of solid gold sat beside the counter, and on Kairi's left there were wicker baskets. The floor beneath her feet was stone, covered partially by a plush red rug. Beyond the counter and toilet was a translucent glass screen with a sliding door, which concealed the bathpool as Kairi had just begun to call it, and the shower that emerged from the wall just feet away from an edge of the bathpool. The idea behind it was that you could take a shower and become clean, and then take a dip into the bathpool where a lush amount of scented, moisturizing, and conditioning cleansers would make you smell and feel divine.

It was, in essence, the perfect bathroom. The kind of bathroom where you could spend half of the afternoon inside of it, and you wouldn't care. It was a bathroom of royalty after all.

_Naminé,_ Kairi thought suddenly as she took in the sight before her eyes, _Why didn't I care about all of this before I went riding with Sade and Sikora? This is heavenly!_

_I know,_ Naminé replied, something like the sound of a moan in her voice, _I'm in the room next to you, and the water just feels so good._

Kairi frowned slightly. _How did you...?_

_I didn't stop to gawk for a minute,_ answered Naminé. _I just went in._

Kairi took no further words from her sister and quickly, yet carefully, placed her razor and lotions on the counter before shucking off her clothes and haphazardly placing them in the wicker basket to her left. Her razor and products were back in her hands as she quickly strode into the bath part of the actual bathroom and slid the sliding door shut beside her. The stone floor in the entrance part was cold on her bare feet, but the white-tiled floor of the section she was now in surprised her that it was _heated_. Fluffy pink and white towels were stacking in iron racks against the wall to Kairi's right, but she avoided them and went towards the bathpool, where there was only one brass nozzle. Kairi looked at it curiously. The tub was at least ten feet deep in the middle, and its radius alone was three times Kairi's height with her arms outstretched over her head. For only one nozzle to fill it quickly would be extraordinary!

But still, Kairi put down her razor and skin care products and reached her slender hand for the tap and twisted it. At once water began to pour out, but it wasn't a gushing torrent like Kairi would have expected, and it wasn't all from the one nozzle either. Rivulets of water began to pour out of holes in the sides of the bathpool while a steady stream flowed out from the tap. Kairi watched in amazement as the bottom of the pool began to fill rather quickly, the water level rising at a rate that she wouldn't have thought possible. What was even more surprising was that bubbles that were slightly more pink than clear were forming within the pool of water, the faint scent of strawberries rising from them along with the steam from the hot water.

When the pool was full (which actually only took about three short minutes), Kairi shut off the tap and tested the water's temperature with a cautiously approaching toe. The water was quite warm, a little too warm for her liking, so instead of slipping into the water Kairi went to examine the showerhead that was fixated a few feet away from the pool's edge. She turned on that tap, and recoiled instantly at the cold water that assaulted her body. But it was gone an instant later, replaced by a rush of warm liquid that made Kairi give a soothing moan of contentment.

She would never understand why the act of taking a shower relieved so much stress and pressure from her limbs. For as much dirt, grime, dried sweat and dead skin that she scraped away while under the running warm water (the temperature of which had increased to make it somewhere between warm and hot), she also felt an ache soothed, a worry removed, a fear nullified. The only things in her mind were the water and her body, which she would pamper in this bathroom until it was clean and fresh.

By the time she had turned the showerhead off, her legs were smoother than she'd reckoned they'd ever been before, and her scalp itched from the force that she'd scraped the dandruff away from it with. Tucking a tuft of it behind her head, Kairi turned her head and body to the still bubble-filled the pool. She smiled and whooped in excitement before stopping herself and gaining a serious expression on her face.

"Princess Kairi Talerith," she said aloud in the low, quiet voice of an announcer, "born in Radiant Garden, raised in Destiny Islands. Here, at the finals of the Olympic diving competitions, she is about to attempt a three hundred and sixty degree twist and triple somersault for the gold medal. High degree of difficulty." Kairi leapt high into the air and came back down, her body twisting at the start in a complete rotation before she evened it out and tucked into three somersaults before coming out of it and straightening out just in time to plunge into the water.

Or, at least that's what she imagined herself doing. In reality, even though from the height of Kairi's jump the dive she had announced was feasible, Kairi was in no way an Olympic athlete, and she was just barely able to do a sloppy twist of one hundred and eighty degrees before doing a single somersault and plunging into the water in a cannonball. She swam a little underwater before turning back to the surface and breaking it with a laugh.

"Yes!" she declared to the empty room, devoid of anyone to actually grade her. "And the judges award her a perfect ten each, absolutely flawless performance by the princess of Radiant Garden." Kairi smiled to herself and laughed a little, playing with the bubbles.

_You feel quite proud of yourself,_ Naminé's voice sifted through her mind, and she could tell by the only half-interested tone that her sister was still relaxing within her own bathpool. _What happened?_

_I just did a perfect dive and awarded myself the crown for being the best diver in all recorded history,_ Kairi answered, sending Naminé the equivalent of a mental laugh. _I suppose the only thing that could have made it better would be if Sora had seen me._

_You're naked,_ Naminé remarked in a sigh. _Sora's nose would be bleeding permanently if he only had to opportunity to see you now. And if he's decided to take a shower and bath himself seeing how these bathrooms are, then you'd probably give anything to see him right now._

Kairi blushed furiously. _Na-Naminé!_

_You can't hide all of the thoughts you've had from me Kairi,_ Naminé replied smugly. _I know what some of those dreams and fantasies you've had entail, and in vivid detail. You're worse than a boy sometimes._

_I don't see you denying anything about you and Roxas,_ Kairi bit back.

Naminé's answer came back with the same degree of smugness it had previously held. _Fantasies between me and my beloved Roxie? Sorry Kai, but you're never going to see those unless I decide to include you in them._

Kairi groaned slightly. _Nami, I don't care if you decide to include me in them, I DO NOT want to have the image of a naked Roxas engraved in my head._

_No, you'd rather have a Sora instead of a Roxas, so how do you think I felt when I was stuck in your head and you were dreaming about that stuff?_

_Not my problem Nami, you don't have to endure them anymore._

_Oh shut up Kai,_ Naminé came back playfully. _At least I can do more than just envision the crap in my head._

Kairi tilted her head enquiringly as she floated absently in the bathpool. _What do you mean? You haven't actually-?_

_No silly reddie, I can draw them if I like._

_Don't call me reddie or I'll call you blondie!_

_You wouldn't dare..._

_Give me an excuse Nami,_ Kairi warned. _Just one excuse and I'll be calling you blondie for the rest of your life._

_Then I'll have to repay the favour Kai,_ said Naminé, _or should I say reddie?_

_Hey how long do you think we should stay in these bathpools anyway?_ Kairi asked, changing the subject as she quickly flipped over and dived slightly to swim a little underneath the surface.

_Bathpools?_

_Well, they are like bathtubs, but they're closer in size to a small pool, so I've started to call them bathpools._

_That's genius Kai,_ replied Naminé, _but I think we should just wait until someone comes to inform us that dinner is ready._

Kairi returned to the surface and wiped the water out of her eyes as she frowned. _But, I locked the door, and I'm completely-!_

_Oh come on Kairi,_ Naminé said without worry. _Only a girl would put out the 'roast you on a spit' sign. So only a female servant would dare to unlock the door and come in. Besides, if it is a guy, once he takes one look at the clothes in the basket, he'd know to get out or he's really dead._

Kairi giggled slightly. _You are right about that Naminé._

Silence passed between their minds for the next few minutes, and Kairi took the opportunity to lather some of the scented bubbles and their soap as well as a few more of the lotions over her skin. She felt calmed and comforted as the fragrance of strawberries from all around her with the slight undertone of vanilla centred in her hair wafted into her nose. Her scents were back.

"Hm," she whispered to herself. "I wonder... since I _did_ keep Sora from taking me out, what should I wear tonight? Oh!"

_Naminé,_ she thought suddenly. _I have a brilliant plan for tomorrow._

-A-D-

Sora sat at the dinner table on the second floor of the castle in the dining room, drumming his fingers on his automail arm impatiently as he stared at the open doors to the room that mocked him from across the table. He had refused being placed by the head of the table as Kensworth had insisted, and had also declined sitting where he had sat previously, two chairs down from the head's right. Instead, he sat on the left hand side of the table, facing the door with his back to the windows, and was five seats down. Donald, Aiwemon, Goofy, and King Mickey were to his right (in that order), and Roxas sat on his left. Most of the others who had come into the castle with them were also at the table, except for Abu, Iago, Carpet, Mushu, Cricky, Axel, and Mulan. Axel had, according to Roxas at least, taken Mulan out for dinner, and Mushu was probably entertaining the other four somewhere.

"What's taking them so long?" Donald asked, his impatience getting the better of him. He had been told that dinner would not be served until both princesses had arrived, a fact that was made perfectly clear by the smells wafting in from the adjacent kitchen doors, and the absence of food on the table, though there was no end of finery.

Sora was just glad that it was Donald who had said it instead of him, as he had been thinking the exact same thing. Once he had seen the bathrooms up in that corridor it had taken him a while to get out of enjoying his shower, after he had quickly run around and found Winry at Merlin's house to learn that it was very safe for automail to be submerged in water and that it wouldn't rust. But he could not imagine just how much time it had to take for Kairi and Naminé to get ready for something as simple as dinner. He himself had found a nice white collared linen shirt with three buttons, black pants, a belt, and white socks waiting for him when he got out of his shower. He didn't think that the look really suited him and his angular spiky hairstyle, but after both Aurora and Belle told him that he looked handsome in it, with their respective princes nodding behind Aurora and Belle, his doubts had been slightly relieved.

Roxas' doubts had also been eased, for he had found himself in very similar attire, except that his purple and gold cape showcasing him as a knight of Disney Castle was clasped around his neck. Riku had it the easiest of the three of them. While he too was a keyblade master, it was not expected of him to look anything more than what he normally dressed in, as he did not have any station of being either a prince or knight, or being in love with a princess to bring up his standards of dress.

"I dunno know Donald," Goofy said, looking past Aiwemon to see his white feathered friend. "Maybe they got caught up doing something."

Aladdin looked out towards the doors and Sora glanced at him as the young man from Agrabah quickly looked towards him with a broad smile on his face. "They're coming," he said, "and you two had better watch out, 'cause they look good."

"So that's what was taking them so long," Sora grumbled. "They were busy getting dress-"

His tongue failed to continue speaking words as Kairi and Naminé walked past the open doors and into plain sight directly in front of him. Naminé was dressed in a golden bronze shirt with short sleeves that went three quarters of the way down her upper arm, her legs covered by a skirt that was the colour of yellow sand that rippled slightly all the way down to her mid-shins. Kairi was in a light red sleeveless shirt that was starting to border towards pink, a pair of tight white jeans and held up by a black belt. Around her neck hung the crown pendant that Sora had given her for her sixteenth birthday, and from the distance Sora was just barely able to see the outline of the heart in its centre. He wondered when it had gotten a new chain for it to hang from, given that the chain had shattered while Kairi was under Maleficent's control.

"Whoa," was the word spoken simultaneously from both his mouth and Roxas', each of their eyes devouring their respective princess of Radiant Garden. Sora blushed when he realized what he had said, and when he noticed Kairi and Naminé glancing at each other and giggling slightly. He must have looked pretty stupid, but he didn't care. To him, Kairi looked stunning, although if he thought about it, he figured that no matter what Kairi was wearing she would look stunning, her gorgeous indigo eyes, pretty smile, and shimmering hair could make any outfit look good on her.

Speaking of her hair, Sora's eyes followed the slightly bobbing mass of it as Kairi and Naminé engaged Kensworth in some meaningless conversation about starting dinner now. It really _did_ seem to shimmer in the light, and it was vibrant and appeared to have become quite soft and smooth. He was already twitching with the desire to hold Kairi in his arms and run his fingers through that hair of hers, to get lost in a little world of fantasy where there was only him and her in a landscape of soft blue loveliness and light, where the only thing he could smell and taste and touch and kiss was her.

"Sora," Donald said, snapping the keyblade master out of his trance with a shove, "where did you go?"

"Wha?" Sora replied, not even finishing the first word of his question in his state.

"Aw come on Donald," Goofy said. "You know that Sora gets like this whenever Kairi is around."

"That's not true," Sora refuted quickly. "It's only when Kairi enters that my brain goes to mush. Hey Donald! Look! The food is coming!"

He had no idea that Kairi's plans for tomorrow involved him and her more or less alone for the whole day.

-A-D-

When Sunday, the 28th of September dawned in Twilight Town, it was to find the world's mayor, Urophi Magellan, already wide awake. He had been so for several hours in the night after the sun had set, and had woken up early from a fitful sleep. The sun of Twilight Town was in twilight throughout the day as it rolled across the southern expanse of the horizon until sunset, to which it would actually set until morning came and it would rise in the east again. Urophi looked off to the east from the window in his study, the rays of dawn just peeking over the horizon.

His heart warmed at the sight of the sun's greeting, the sound of the twittering birds welcoming a new day filling his ears with their music. Twilight Town's mayor sighed and took a sip of his coffee as he sat, dressed in a white shirt and mahogany jacket over a pair of dull grey pants and white socks. He ran a hand through his balding ginger hair and looked down at the paperwork on his desk.

It had been years since Twilight Town had taken part in the keyblade wars. Their wielder Caleb was gone, so there was no one man who was currently the viable candidate to lead them into battle. But that wasn't the current problem. With training and natural talent, leaders could be made as well as born.

"There are too few of us," he said quietly, standing up and looking at the sunrise, taking another sip of his coffee, "Too few of us from Twilight Town to hold back this storm."

It was true; one glance at his paperwork told him as much. While there was a great patriotic fervour that was sweeping through both Twilight Town and Radiant Garden from being under attack, there were still too few that were signing up to enlist. That was not to say that there were not many people enlisting, the lines stretched out of recruitment offices, it was just that he could still recall the old days.

In the keyblade wars, when Caleb and Twilight Town's officers had led their forces, they were part of a much larger army made up of companies, battalions, and regiments from hundreds of different worlds. Twilight Town had been agreed upon to be an auxiliary, a support force, and had provided the men for a regiment's worth at the time: four battalions, or twelve companies. Back then there had been roughly ninety-eight fighting men in a company (with nine men in a section, a staff sergeant to lead each section, three sections in a platoon, a sergeant first class to advise the platoon leader (who was an officer), three platoons in the company, and the executive and commanding officers of the company), and that had meant roughly two hundred and ninety-four fighting soldiers and officers employed in a battalion. Multiply that number by four, and you got one thousand one hundred and seventy-six fighting soldiers. If you included the commissariat, as well as the administrative staff and officers in battalion and regimental level, that brought the total up closer to the fifteen hundred in the military that Twilight Town had kept to over the years.

On paper and in conversation that sounded like quite a force, but when compared to the numbers that Maleficent and her possible allies had, as well as the numbers that had been involved back during the keyblade wars, Twilight Town's current force was one thousandth of their enemy's figures at best. But even so, it really was the only force that had been actively trained and maintained over the past years amongst Twilight Town, Radiant Garden, and Disney Castle. The only current force for the forces of light that Urophi Magellan could consider being stronger than Twilight Town's military would be the combined strength of the keyblade wielders, and Star Command.

Shaking his head, Urophi looked away from the rising sun and sipped his coffee. He gathered his papers into his briefcase, donned his auburn leather shoes, and began the morning walk down to his office.

_There has to be a way,_ he decided as he passed by a few of the other early-morning commuters. _There has to be some way that we can make this work. We need ships and pilots; we need staff for the ships. There has to be armour, and there has to be supplies and sufficient training and kit for the men. And we need a mounted force for where the infantry won't cut it and the armour can't manoeuvre. And we need to make sure that we have groups ready to use magic in both defensive and offensive situations._

He groaned as he opened the glass door into city hall. _This is going to take a lot of work._

"Mr. Magellan."

"Hm?" Urophi looked up at the woman who had spoken. She was of average height and size, a little on the thin side perhaps, but healthy. Her blonde hair was short and only reached her chin in length at the longest, the hair parted and tucked behind her ears. A thin pair of brown framed rectangular glasses was set over her turquoise eyes, and her lips were the red of a cardinal. A blue business jacket hung on her shoulders over a white button-up collared shirt. A skirt of medium length was fitted around her slender hips and her feet were in black heels. She was Halen Jopty, age thirty-six and single like Urophi, and was Twilight Town's deputy mayor.

"You're in early Miss Jopty," Urophi said.

"So are you Mr. Magellan," replied Halen, her light and comforting voice betraying a note of tiredness.

"Couldn't sleep last night?" Urophi asked, beginning to move towards his office.

"No, you?"

"Could barely get a wink of it," answered Twilight Town's mayor. He sighed and his briefcase felt heavy in his hand. "I've got to contact King Mickey today, and we need to authorize the placement of that basic training camp."

"The council is worried," Halen said, walking next to him. "They're concerned about having a soldier who has had little combat experience leading the troops."

"I'm confident that General Berger will do fine," Urophi replied. "He's got a good head on his shoulders and fine officers under him. He's been taking the reorganization and break-up of the 1st quite well."

It was true. The organization of Twilight Town's 2nd Division (the division that was being created to hold all of the recruits) was being created from the organization of the 1st Division (which constituted of the one regiment that had been broken into two regiments of three battalions of two companies each) to provide better cohesive unity amongst those from other worlds that would be joining in the war to come. It was Urophi's plan to contact his majesty King Mickey and for the two of them to talk to the leaders of the varied political parties in Radiant Garden in order to find a way to train and organize this 2nd Division from Twilight Town that was about to begin basic training into the starting division of a United Forces army. Right now, a number of officers had been transferred from the 1st to the 2nd in order to provide training and leadership for the dis-jointed units that were being formed in the mash-up of military efficiency. And depending on the number of recruits that did sign up for all three of their worlds, the 1st might end up getting broken up itself to serve duties on ships instead of seeing any action.

The troubling thing for Urophi was that so much was riding on Radiant Garden's elections on the fifteenth of October. He knew that Ralph Manish was sympathetic to their cause, and if elected he would most assuredly join them and plan with them, and he was popular too. But the other parties presented a problem, for he wasn't sure if any of them would go for anything as crazy as merging the people of three worlds together and trying to bring them into a cohesive fighting force.

"They are worried about General Berger though," Halen continued. "You are the last of any officers who took part in the keyblade wars to still be serving in Twilight Town's interests at this time, and the others are trying to stay in obscurity, going about their daily lives. You did command a company after all, and you know strategy."

"So they want me to lead?" Urophi asked, surprised. "I'll have to think on this. Maybe the folks at Star Command will help me to decide tomorrow."

"You are leaving for Star Command Urophi?"

"Tonight," he answered. "We have to meet with Commander Nebula and the keyblade wielders to figure out just what our position right now is, and to see if Maleficent is cooking anything up."

"Well be safe then," she said, looking down at her watch. "Looks like it's time to get to work."

Urophi groaned and opened the door to his office to which they had been standing beside for several seconds. Sometimes he felt his job was giving him too much stress. He believed that this was one of those times. But, once his door was closed, he smiled. He _lived_ for the adrenaline rush that being confused without knowing everything that was going on gave him. Just like back on the battlefield with his men...

-A-D-

Sora and Kairi were down in the depths of the castle in Radiant Garden, walking its corridors as Sora navigated their way to what had formerly been Ansem the Wise's study. As it was Sora who was navigating, the pair had found themselves hitting dead ends three times before Sora actually found Ansem's study.

"I told you I'd find it," he said proudly after entering through the door, looking to his right to see a restored painting of Ansem the Wise resting on the wall behind the desk that was gathering dust. Kairi held back a sarcastic comment for a quarter of a second before she decided that it would be better to tease him.

"Yeah, eventually," she said, cocking her head to the side as she stood beside him in her red sweater and black jeans. Sora gave a slight laugh.

"Give me a break Iri," he said, using his nickname for her as the two of them were alone, "I've only been here like, four times or something."

"Wouldn't four be enough?" Kairi asked, watching as Sora stretched his arms underneath his auburn leather jacket. Sora looked at her and smiled.

"No," he answered. "The fifth time and the first with a princess in company, is enough for me to remember."

"Especially since this day for the two of us is because we both forgot our one month anniversary," Kairi said, coming up to him and giving him a light kiss.

Kairi had come up with this plan the previous day while she was in the bathpool, and told Naminé all the details while Sora had been playing a game of poker. She would keep Sora occupied all day long, and Naminé, Roxas, and Sora's family would use this time of his absence to get him birthday presents, since Sora's and Roxas' sixteenth birthday was coming up on the twenty-fourth of October and no one knew how long they'd be able to be in town for since they'd be leaving for Star Command with King Mickey the next day. The king had warned them that anything could happen once they were at Star Command, so they might as well enjoy their final day on Radiant Garden for the moment.

And that had fit in perfectly to Kairi's little scheme of keeping Sora occupied and to herself while his birthday presents were bought in secret.

"And because Roxas and Naminé managed to sneak out without telling us to see a movie after forgetting _their_ one month anniversary themselves," Sora added. "Funny, given that the four of us share the same day."

"Forget about them right now," Kairi said, making her voice a little bit more of a purr in his ear. "Right now, it's just the two of us." Sora smiled and took his gloves off to run his fingers, both flesh and metal ones, through her hair while he lightly kissed her neck.

"I like the sound of that," he whispered while drawing Kairi's head into the crook of his neck. "But you still want to actually meet Tron don't you? It could be fun."

Kairi sighed and withdrew slightly. "I thought you were lazy."

"Only when I want to be," Sora said, smiling.

"Well I want you to be lazy now," Kairi pouted, puffing out her chin. Sora laughed and shook his head.

"C'mon, let's just go and see Tron," he said. "And after that, I know the perfect place to be lazy all afternoon long." Kairi smiled and followed Sora as he began walking towards a metallic corridor the exited Ansem the Wise's study. Kairi stopped in her tracks when she saw the large computer terminal, to which Sora strode up to without a worry. Kairi wasn't quite as confident as he was, given the stories he had told her about when he first went to Space Paranoids, and looked anxiously to her right to see the big circular red light and the machine that would turn a person or object into data and bring it into the world.

Kairi heard a tap of a key on the keyboard and looked at Sora, who immediately began speaking to the computer. "Hey Tron, what's up?"

"Greetings User Sora," Tron's voice said, coming from the speakers in the computer. "I do believe that the sky is what is up."

Sora shook his head and Kairi could see a smile on his face as she came up next to the keyblade master. "No Tron, 'what's up?' is a saying we users have that generally means 'what is going on?'. A lot of the time, another user will reply with the words 'nothing much', and then they will actually say what they were doing."

The computer was silent for a second and Kairi looked at it quizzically before Tron's voice came back. "Oh, I see Sora. Can you ask me the question again please?"

Sora chuckled slightly to himself. "Sure. What's up Tron?"

"Nothin' much," Tron replied, "just organizing files from before Maleficent took over Radiant Garden into a new system of categorization based by date and content and deleting any corrupted files that cannot be recovered, while also backing up all available information in Ansem the Wise's research data."

Kairi giggled at the look on Sora's face after Tron finished speaking; there was a slight twitch in his facial muscles.

"Oh is someone with you Sora?" Tron's voice asked. "Judging by the vocal pattern, I would guess that User Kairi is there as well."

"Yes Tron Kairi's here," Sora said, quickly giving his head a shake to rid it of the spasm.

"Hello Tron," Kairi said, looking down at the computer's screen. It seemed somewhat strange to her. She was saying hello to a program inside of a computer, and she couldn't actually see the face of who she was greeting. All she could see was a desktop picture of a palm tree on a white sandy beach with rolling blue waves rolling out to the horizon.

"Greetings User Kairi," said Tron. "What brings her royal highness and my friend Sora down here?" Kairi opened her mouth to answer but Tron suddenly cut her off. "Forgive me, I meant to say, what's up Kairi?"

Kairi's smile couldn't contain her laughter the spilt out from her mouth the second after Sora began to chuckle. She looked mischievously at Sora for a few seconds after her laughter had subsided before looking down at the console.

"I think the sky's what's up Tron," she said.

"Kairi!" Sora moaned.

"Sora there appear to be some discrepancies between what you told me what the standard user reply is and User Kairi's answer," Tron said, sounding confused.

"She's playing a joke on me," Sora answered, crossing his arms and pouting.

"Why?" Tron asked. "Is there something you have done Sora?"

"No," Kairi answered simply. "It's just something girls do to their boyfriends when celebrating their one-month anniversaries."

"Then congratulations are in order," Tron said, his voice now sounding happy.

"We actually came here to say hello to you in person Tron," Sora said before Tron could begin speaking again.

"Well, you know how to work the digitizer Sora," Tron said. "I'll be waiting for you in the I/O Tower."

"Right, the I/O Tower," confirmed Sora, his fingers already flying over the keyboard. "We'll see you there."

"I/O Tower?" Kairi asked, trying to look over Sora's shoulder. "Input/Output Tower?"

"Yep," answered Sora. "Exactly that. It's the physical place inside of the computer where programs and patches are downloaded to or uploaded from. We've used it a few times to save Radiant Garden before. Okay, here we go." He nodded at Kairi and moved over to stand in front of the giant red light at the back of the room. She glanced around quickly before moving to stand next to him.

"What are we do-" Kairi began, but she was unable to continue her sentence as a beam of light suddenly struck her in the back. Kairi felt her entire body freeze completely, she couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't even blink. All Kairi found herself able to do was stare ahead at Sora while he had a slight smile permanently placed upon his lips. The beam of light that had struck Kairi began to move, and suddenly she felt it at the top of her head, but what scared her was that as it began to move, she began to feel that the part of her body it had just moved over was no longer there. Within three seconds of indescribable terror, Kairi lost consciousness.

-A-D-

When Kairi came to she was standing in front of a yellow and green terminal, a metallic bluish grey, and curved landscape around her, as if she were on the inside of a cable. Also in front of her was a man who looked to be out of some kind of science fiction movie. He was dressed entirely in drab grey, with glowing blue lines weaving around his clothes in circles and other patterns that suggested electrical wiring on the inside of a computer. She felt that there was something like a helmet on her head, and that her clothes had gone from being smooth into something more... like solid blocks.

"How'd you like the trip Kairi?" Sora asked from next to her. Kairi looked at him and paused slightly as she took in his new outfit, and the fact that his hair and skin had turned grey.

"Never again Sora," she said quickly, a free hand going up to her hair. "I felt like I was going to die back there!"

"Well your hair looks dead," Sora replied, chuckling slightly. "Or, at least it looks different." Kairi felt her eyes widen and she yanked the strand of hair she was holding in front of her. She couldn't keep herself from shrieking in horrified surprise. Her beautiful auburn hair, her vibrant and healthy red hair that she had become so proud of, that was in her opinion one of her defining features that Sora truly loved and enjoyed to play with in his fingers. Her gorgeous red hair...

...had become blue. And it wasn't just her hair that had surprised Kairi enough for her to shriek. The skin of her hand had also turned into a drab grey, and so had her red sweater and her black pants, both of which as she had previously felt had taken the appearance of being put together by a set of children's plastic toy building blocks. She was disturbed that there were so few curves in her clothing.

"Are users always this fidgety and frightened Sora?" Tron asked, looking towards the keyblade master. "You, Donald, and Goofy sure weren't."

"I don't know Tron," Sora replied. "I think only the girls are the ones who care that there isn't much colour or style here."

"You could have _warned _me about all of this," Kairi fumed, crossing her arms and trying to wave her _blue_ hair out of her face.

Sora blinked. "Did you _not_ see the pictures that Jiminy took while we were helping Tron out here?"

Kairi looked down ashamedly. "Well, I did. I just didn't think that my red hair would become blue."

Sora looked at Tron for a second before placing a hand on Kairi's shoulder. Kairi looked up at it. It was his left hand, and the automail looked exactly the same as it had outside. "Kairi," Sora said, forcing her eyes to come to his. They were the same cerulean as before too, and even around all of that grey skin they comforted her in their permanence. "You're hair is still as lovely no matter what colour it is because it is on you. The only think that would irk me is if you started to smell different."

"So," Kairi began anxiously, "you like it?"

Sora was silent for a second and had placed his hands to his chin. "Well..."

"Sora!" Kairi yelled. "You just said that-!"

"I like red better," Sora finished, smiling at his girlfriend. "But blue is fine for a while. Hey, would you like to try a cycle race?" Kairi looked at Sora in confusion while Tron laughed and began punching up the commands on the terminal to take them to the Game Grid.

-A-D-

As the hours of the late morning passed, Kairi began to enjoy Space Paranoids and took to racing on the cycles in the game grid with a gusto that amazed Sora. He at first had found it quite funny that Kairi was so distraught about her hair and outfit, and while it was a little strange and unbefitting for her to have blue hair, in this world it suited her nicely, and red would have just appeared out of place.

Besides, he'd had bad experiences with programs that took on a red tint in Space Paranoids, Commander Sark, the MCP, and a certain swath of heartless to name a few.

Sora even grinned as Kairi became so confident at racing that she told both him and Tron that instead of racing against them (because according to her Sora kept cheating) she'd like to face several comps, all of which would be on the hardest difficulty Tron could put up. Tron had looked sceptically at Sora at first.

"She's the princess," Sora pointed out, and so Tron had been obliged to put Kairi up to it.

It was a harrowing moment for Sora, to watch Kairi being smashed into the giant walls of the racetrack so often, but he knew that she wouldn't actually be harmed, since Tron was in control instead of the now de-rezzed Commander Sark and MCP. But no matter how many times Kairi lost, she would not give up, which also amazed Sora.

But Kairi's continuous playing also gave Sora ample opportunity to talk to the computer program that had become his friend, and eventually Sora's mind took a turn when he asked Tron something.

"Pictures of the King and Queen?" Tron asked, wrinkling his brow in a user-like gesture of confusion. "Yes, actually I was just filing those right before you and Kairi arrived. There are quite a few of the photographs that aren't of just King Raithen and Queen Keila though."

"What do you mean Tron?" asked Sora.

"Many of the photographs also have images of Prince Raifeor, Princess Kairi, or the former Queen Kai in them as well."

Sora looked at Tron in surprise. "Queen Kai?" he gasped. "Would that be Kairi's grandmother?"

"Yes she was," said Tron, nodding his head. "Is genealogy a hobby of yours Sora, or just a passing interest?"

"So she was named after her grandmother," Sora muttered to himself, looking down. His eyes were moving about between his shoes, not really taking in anything or listening to Tron as he thought about what the new MCP had just told him. He looked up suddenly.

"Tron," he said. "Is it possible for you to put a shortcut to the folder on the desktop of Cid's computer in Merlin's house and print off a note for him to tell him that I need access to that folder when I ask for it?"

"Why yes Sora," Tron said, scratching his head, "but, why?"

Sora blushed and looked away from Tron. "I've just been thinking," he said. "Kairi and I are celebrating our one month anniversary of getting together today, two days after it actually was our one month anniversary! And, I know that it's pretty early, but King Mickey could be right when he said that this could be our last day in town for a long time and I suddenly thought, 'what if we don't make it back in time for Christmas?' I wouldn't have time to get Kairi anything, well, anything that she'd actually really like at least, because Donald and Goofy were right when they said that Kairi would like anything I gave her 'cuz it's from me-"

"Sora you're suffering from something I believe Users call rambling," Tron said, cutting him off with a slight chuckle. Sora stopped and blushed further, not that it could be noticed by the grey skin he had when in Space Paranoids.

"Sorry," he said, turning around and looking at Tron. "I just- I just want to do something special for her. Kairi deserves more than just a simple gift."

"I'd say so," Tron said suddenly. "No user has ever beaten this level before."

"Wha-?" Sora asked, turning around quickly to look at the course. His eyes scanned it for a little while before noticing that Kairi was at the finish line, just getting off of her cycle. It seemed ready to fall apart at a moment's notice, but there were also piles of wreckage all around the track from the cycles used by the game grid's AI controlled racers.

Sora raised his eyebrows as he caught sight of Kairi smiling at him and doing a little victory dance with the Oathkeeper out. She sure had done a number on the bots.

-A-D-

Not long after that they bid Tron goodbye and left the system. Sora looked on at Kairi in amusement while they stood in Ansem's study as she started stroking and fondling her hair with one hand, and wrapping her other arm around herself and hugging her soft sweater. "Good to be back Iri?" he asked.

"You have no idea Sor," Kairi replied in part of a moan of contentment as she squeezed her midriff. Sora raised his eyebrows.

"Sor?" he asked. Kairi opened her eyes and slid up next to him, cupping a hand underneath his chin. Sora smiled at the touch of Kairi's soft hand against his face and pressed it up against it, letting her rub his cheek a little. He just noticed that there was a little hair on his cheek, and he liked the feel of her hand rubbing it.

"Well you have your little nickname for me," Kairi said softly, her face coming closer to his. "Can't I have a pet name for you too?"

Sora pecked Kairi's lips in a gentle smooch and smiled wider at her. "So I'm your pet now am I princess? I thought I was your prince?" Kairi flicked his nose slightly.

"No silly Sora," she said. "You are my lazy bum of a knight in not so shining armour. Being a prince is just a nice touch."

"But I'm not a knight," Sora replied, still smiling.

"You are to me," Kairi said, giving him another kiss. Sora wrapped his arm around her as Kairi leaned against him, and her hand started to rub his upper torso from overtop of his black cotton t-shirt that was underneath his open auburn leather jacket. "But... didn't you say that you knew the perfect place where the two of us could be lazy together?"

"Oh yeah, I did say that," Sora said, drawing the recent memory out of the halls of oblivion. "But wouldn't you like to eat first Kairi? Wait, actually, we can stop by for lunch while we're there. I'm sure he won't mind too much."

Kairi withdrew slightly from Sora and looked at him curiously. "Who won't mind?"

"You'll see," Sora replied, leading her out of Ansem the Wise's study.

"Come on Sora," Kairi said, following very closely. "Who won't mind?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Sora replied back in a sing-song voice.

"Tell me!" Kairi whined. Sora felt Kairi throw her arms around his neck and felt the sudden weight dragging him back a step.

"Answer's no," he replied. Kairi suddenly jumped and Sora had to move his arms quickly to catch her as she began using him for a piggyback ride. He grunted slightly as he shifted to accept the weight.

"Tell me!" Kairi insisted, her head now next to his.

"Still not going to," said Sora, shaking his head. "Even if I have to carry you all the way to the Destiny Islands and back I'm still not going to tell you who it is."

"You're no fun," Kairi pouted as Sora kept on walking, carrying her.

"You're getting a free ride out of it," Sora pointed out. He grinned at Kairi and caught her smiling at him.

"That's true," she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Sora paused for a moment to reposition Kairi on his back and started off again, smiling at his girlfriend's giggling at him still insisting to carry her even though it only started with her pestering him.

Although Sora had been horrible at navigating the way to Ansem's study, he knew the way out into the sunshine of the castle postern off by heart, and soon that sun was beating down on them while a slightly chill wind blew. Sora dropped Kairi onto the ground right beside a bed of pink tulips, laughed, and took her hand.

"Where are we going Sora?" Kairi asked as he continued to lead her.

"I said that I wasn't going to tell you Kai," he replied, "it's supposed to be a surprise." He watched Kairi grimace before he noticed her smiling at a young man who had just waved at her. Sora frowned at him, and the boy was quick to hurry on his way.

"Sora," Kairi said disapprovingly, "why did you do that?"

Sora grunted slightly and turned his head away from her as she walked next to him. He didn't really want to answer that question. But Kairi appeared to not want to relent at anything today, and her tone took on one of amusement as she whispered in his right ear, "Could it be that you're _jealous_ Sor?"

Sora groaned and tried to block out her giggling by humming something in his head to take his mind off of the subject currently at hand. It worked for a few seconds before the non-existent resistance from Kairi's hand suddenly increased dramatically as she stopped in her tracks.

"That isn't-?" she asked, her indigo eyes wide.

Sora froze. He had desperately hoped that Kairi wouldn't have heard his humming or that if she had that she wouldn't recognize the song. He realized now that he was a fool to have thought that. This was Kairi he was talking about, this was a _girl_! Of course she would know the song!

If word got out that Sora actually _liked_ that group, his reputation would be ruined and he'd be the joke of all their friends! He'd be the one to whom all the pranks and jokes were pointed at, and his life would be ruined! All because he liked...

"No no no!" he said quickly with a furious blush. "It's this new rock song I heard on the radio yesterday. You know, the one that goes '_Duuunn duuunn dun dun dun dun duuunn duuunn. Duunn dun dun dun duunn duunn_'. It's really cool."

"Oh really?" Kairi asked. Sora's face fell. He could tell right away that Kairi saw right through his lie. "So... who's this new song by, and what did you say it was called again?"

"Uh..." replied Sora, rubbing the back of his head. He sighed and hung it, to which Kairi immediately began giggling.

"_Don't go wasting your emotion,"_ she started to sing, standing right in front of him and bending her head down so that he was forced to look into her eyes. _"Lay all your love on me..."_

"Alright fine!" Sora said furiously. "It's ABBA, alright! There, I said it. I like ABBA!"

"It's alright Sora," Kairi replied humourously.

"No it isn't alright," Sora said, "'Cuz now that song is stuck in my head!"

"Really?" Kairi asked. Sora just grimaced at her and pouted his lip. This was all her fault anyway for pressing him and for smiling at that one guy. He quickly glanced around, there was no one else there, no one coming either, just him and Kairi. He looked back at her, still grimacing at her curiously mischievous expression.

"_I wasn't jealous before we met,"_ he started to sing, now seeing that Kairi had suddenly started to smile broadly;_ "now every man that I see is a potential threat._

_And I'm possessive, it isn't nice;  
You've heard me saying that fighting was my only vice._

_But now it isn't true;  
Now everything is new.  
And all I've learned,  
Has overturned,  
I beg of you!"_

Kairi's smile was infectious, Sora realized. He just couldn't keep himself from smiling when her lips were turned up so sweetly, so invitingly. She had come closer to him while he sang, and her arms were now around his neck and her hands were linked between his shoulders. She was too close, and her eyes were sparkling playfully at him. He tried to peck her lips but was stopped suddenly by a finger from Kairi.

"_Don't go wasting your emotion,"_ Kairi sang before he could kiss her, _"lay all your love on me."_ She retreated away a few steps from him, smirking the whole while as Sora found himself entranced and captivated by her voice. Curse ABBA, curse Kairi, curse this song.

But by the Gods he _loved _this feeling racing through him! He could not help enjoying himself while being together with Kairi in these gardens all by themselves. Her mouth opened once more and Sora found himself entranced again.

"_It was like shooting a sitting duck.  
A little small talk, a smile and baby I was stuck.  
I still don't know what you've done with me;  
A grown-up woman should never fall so easily._

_I feel a kind of fear,  
When I don't have you near.  
Unsatisfied;  
I skip my pride;  
I beg you dear!"_

Sora came forward towards Kairi. She was such a cunning and playful vixen. Right through the singing she had been swaying her hips and motioning towards him with her finger. He wanted her, he wanted to be close to her and kiss her. But he was having too much fun listening to her voice and watching her to silence it, and so that was why he started to sing again. Damn how addictive ABBA was.

"_Don't go wasting your emotion,  
Lay all your love on me.  
Don't go sharing your devotion,  
Lay all your love on me."_

Kairi smiled a bit more and moved back towards Sora. Sora's smile increased again as her hands came towards his chest while they came close together. Kairi's eyes danced in front of him.

"_I've had a few little love affairs,"_ Kairi sang, turning around so the backs of her shoulder blades rubbing against Sora's abdomen, _"they didn't last very long and they've been pretty scarce."_

"_I used to think I was sensible,"_ returned Sora, his hands snaking Kairi's swinging hips with his own moving in time with them, _"it makes the truth even more incomprehensible."_

"'_Cuz everything is new,"_ they both sang, Kairi turning around and placing a hand to his chin again while Sora's left hand stayed on her hip and his right moved to the small of her back, _"and everything is you. And all I've learned, has overturned, what can I do?"_

"_Don't go wasting your emotion,"_ sang Sora earnestly as Kairi turned around swiftly and began walking away, _"lay all your love on me. Don't go sharing your devotion, lay all your love on me." _Kairi suddenly turned around again and looked straight at Sora, only moving back towards him slowly.

"_Don't go wasting your emotion,  
Lay all your love on me.  
Don't go sharing your devotion,  
Lay all your love on me."_

Sora took Kairi into his arms again as she reached him, and surprised her when he suddenly spun her around and dipped her, his lips already overtop of hers in a kiss. Her hand was stroking his face again, and his nose was flared as he inhaled the soft scents of vanilla and strawberries. His mind reeled, and all he could think about was how wild Kairi was driving him.

"I love you Iri," he murmured through kissing her, voicing the only possible symptom he knew of for his current condition.

"I love you too Sor," whispered Kairi, pecking his lips again, "but would you mind putting me back on my feet?"

"Oh! Sorry." Sora blushed slightly as Kairi giggled again while he put her back onto her feet. She took two staggering steps forward and he took one after her in case she needed some support. But Kairi gave a shuddering laugh that stopped him and turned around.

"So where are we going for lunch again?" she asked, her hand sliding back into his.

"We're going to-" replied Sora before he stopped, frowned, and then grinned. "You almost had me there Kairi."

"Aw shucks," Kairi pouted, waiting for Sora to lead her out.

Sora started walking once more and took them down the roads and streets of Radiant Garden, and they were both silent, content with the memory of what they had just shared while they walked hand in hand, until they reached the First Borough.

"You know what I miss?" he asked aloud. Kairi looked at him quizzically.

"Hm?"

"About life on the islands?" Sora clarified, looking back at her. Kairi shook his head and he continued. "I miss my guitar."

"That old acoustic guitar of yours?" Kairi asked. "You miss that?"

"Well I miss playing it," Sora answered. "It really was all I could do for me and Roxas to keep our sanity during that week we were grounded."

"What about all your video games?" Kairi asked, her tone one of curiosity. "Surely you could have played those?"

"Playing video games for a week is not as easy as you think Kairi," said Sora as they came up to the door of Merlin's house. "You can get bored pretty easily if you aren't addicted to the game you are playing. And I can't write anything decent and reading sometimes made me tired."

"Reading can make anyone tired Sora," replied Kairi as her boyfriend opened the door.

Cid was sitting at his computer, and he had turned around as soon as he heard the door open. "Hey Sora," he said, chewing on his toothpick, "I got this note here from Tron saying-"

"Not now Cid," Sora cut him off, leading Kairi to the left towards Merlin's side of Merlin's own house. Kairi looked quizzically at him, but Sora ignored her for the moment and brought Kairi before a pedestal upon which lay a book.

The Book of Pooh to be precise.

With quick hands, Sora reached out and opened the book. He ignored Kairi's sudden exclamation of surprise when a bright light started to shine from the book's centre and engulfed them both.

-A-D-

When the light subsided, Sora found that Kairi was clinging to him tightly with closed eyes. He looked around for a moment and sighed in contentment when he saw the beautiful trees of the Hundred Acre Wood swaying slightly in the blustery wind around him and Kairi as they stood on a dirt path through the woods.

"You can open your eyes Kairi," Sora said through a slight chuckle. He realized that Kairi had been going through a lot of firsts today: her first trip to Space Paranoids, her first cycle race, and now her very first visit to the Hundred Acre Wood. He knew that he'd told her about both of course, but it was one thing to talk about Pooh Bear and the others, and another thing to actually meet them.

He shook Kairi slightly when her eyes refused to open, and at once her eyelids flipped up to reveal the indigo underneath. She looked around with slightly wide eyes. "This is, nice actually. Much better than Space Paranoids."

Sora laughed slightly and started moving forward down the dirt path. "Come on Iri, you can't start comparing one world to another just by a first impression."

"Well I like it already," Kairi replied, moving quickly to catch up to him. Sora smiled and shook his head as they approached a bend in the road, and Sora thought he could hear the sound of singing coming from beyond the bend, but he definitely knew he could hear something that wasn't singing.

He could hear something colliding with the ground, something springy.

To Kairi's utter confusion Sora quickly jumped off to the side of the path just as they rounded the bend, and he laughed and turned around when he heard Kairi give a slight 'oomph' of surprise when something collided with her. He watched as she rolled over on the ground before stopping with a small orange creature with black stripes and a tail overtop of her. Sora held back his laughter at the look on Kairi's face concerning where the creature's front two paws were and with how close his face had suddenly come to hers.

"Hullo," said the creature, "I'm Tigger! That's T-i-double guh-er! That spells Tigger! And uh, who might you be?" Tigger asked, looking curiously at Kairi. "Definitely haven't seen you around here before. Haven't bounced you before either, I'd have remembered having bounced on someone who had two pillows on 'em before."

Sora laughed and declared his presence while Kairi's face flushed a confused and indignant shade of red. "You just bounced my good friend Kairi Tigger," he said. Tigger spun around.

"Hoo hoo hoo!" he laughed, bouncing onto his tail. "Why it's my good buddy Sora. How's your bouncin' been coming along?"

"Fair enough," Sora replied, smiling, "but I could never bounce as well as you Tigger."

"Too true," Tigger said, laughing slightly. "But you try your best can keep up with a Tigger, and that's what's important even for non-Tiggers."

"What is a Tigger anyway?" Kairi asked, getting back up onto her feet with her face still red.

"Allow me to explain, oh red non-Tigger," replied Tigger. He bounced up high into the air on his tail before landing on his feet. He grabbed his tail and held it in his hands like a cane.

"_Oh the most wonderful thing about Tiggers: is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made outta rubber; their bottoms are made outta springs. They're bouncy bouncy, trouncy flouncy, funfunfunfunfun!"_

"_But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is he's the only one!"_ said Sora, pointing at Tigger.

"_I'm the only one!"_ Tigger finished. "Hey, nice improv there Sora. Are you sure you haven't been bouncing?"

Sora shrugged. "I could bounce over to Rabbit's."

"Hoo hoo," Tigger said, creasing his forehead and wriggling his paws. "Is that: a _challenge_?"

"Maybe..."

"Hoo hoo hoo! It looks like a non-Tigger is getting too big for his bouncin' shoes!"

"Try to keep up!"

And with that both Tigger and non-Tigger Sora started bouncing away down the path, with a very confused Kairi following in their wake.

-A-D-

_And that's the end of it. Seriously, that's the end of this chapter. Tigger and Sora. Tigger happens to be my all-time favourite character from Winnie the Pooh, with my older sister by seven and a half years loving Pooh and my twin sister loving Piglet._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	3. Star Command

_And now we hit chapter three, starting to get into the groove of the whole thing now. You can also expect updates from me either on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays._

_BTW, if anyone actually remembers the show and movie _Buzz Lightyear of Star Command,_ you will notice that my Star Command looks different. That's because I wanted it to be different, and I find it looks much cooler. It took me AGES to find a shot of Commander Nebula though._

_Disclaimer: I don't own it… and this time I really wish I did. Why? Because I put in what would have been the greatest Fighter-Interceptor ever, had the project not been scrapped by Diefenbaker! If you don't already know what I'm talking about, you will later in the chapter._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter III: Star Command

Sora found himself being rudely awoken from his state of dreaming the next day by Aiwemon. His partner digimon was shaking him gently with his small wings and muttering insistently that he had to get up. Sora wholeheartedly disagreed and showed it with the way he turned back into his pillow. He had been having such a nice dream too, more like a memory really. It had been the memory of the previous day after he and Tigger had bounced against each other to Rabbit's house, where Tigger won by several seconds. He and Kairi had joined Rabbit and Pooh (who had also dropped by) for lunch, and afterwards they had helped Winnie the Pooh get honey from his favourite honey tree before the two of them collapsed underneath the shade of the large tree on the hill and just laid down together and watched the sun dip lower and lower before it finally set.

Sora smiled. Yesterday had been a wonderful day, but some of the servants had apparently spied on them in the postern and when they got back to the castle they both had to endure Kensworth and Helia starting to sing _Mamma Mia_ off-key as soon as they entered through the front doors together.

Apparently the two of them were rather like King Raithen and Queen Keila had been when they were young. Sora later found out that that was true when he sneaked out with Cid, Riku, and Roxas to go to Cid's computer in Merlin's house. There were a lot of pictures of the departed King and Queen together as young lovers all the way through to being husband and wife and mother and father, which made Sora confident that Kairi would love her Christmas present when the big day eventually rolled around.

"Wake up Sora," Aiwemon said, shaking a little more earnestly.

Sora rolled over a bit more and gathered the dark blue fleece blankets around him tighter to make it more comfortable. "Five more minutes Aiwë."

"Sora, don't make me use my talons," Aiwemon threatened. Sora groaned and lazily opened his eyes.

"Okay fine I'm up," he said, throwing the covers off with his automail arm. He had found that the metal kept itself quite warm while underneath the blankets with him, so it wasn't uncomfortable to place both of his hands to his face and rub it. "What time is it?"

"Time enough that King Mickey has asked that everyone who is going to Star Command meet him in the castle's entrance hall," Aiwemon answered.

"What without breakfast?" Sora asked, slapping the sides of his face to wake himself up.

"If there is still breakfast left," Aiwemon muttered, glancing at the clock. Sora followed his gaze and his eyes bugged out.

"It's past ten already!"

-A-D-

King Mickey looked around anxiously at the group assembled by him in the entrance hall of the castle. He had himself, Donald, Goofy, Max, and Jiminy Cricket, Axel, Mulan, Mushu, and Cricky, Kairi, Menelmon, and Naminé, Sir Roxas, Riku, Yuffie, and Tifa, the princesses of heart and those they brought with them, Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix, Winry, Pinako, Major Armstrong, Den, Edward and Alphonse Elric, and he also had Tom and Sora and Roxas' family, Sal, Sade, Sikora, and Victoria. Peter Banning had left the previous night to return to his world and family.

The only ones missing were Sora and Aiwemon.

King Mickey heard the scampering of feet off to his left and he looked past the golden fountain of the mermaid to the hall on the castle's east wing. Sora was scrambling down it, his jacket haphazardly thrown on over a black t-shirt and the top button of his jeans undone. His crown pendant was flapping against the black background it was overtop and his silver Crest of Valour was hidden underneath the shirt. He was busy trying to get his brown gloves on his hands while two pieces of buttered toast loaded with creamy peanut butter were clutched between his teeth. Aiwemon was flying along next to him.

King Mickey smiled. It was quite a humourous sight to see the Keyblade Master in such a state of early-morning rushing disarray.

Sora mumbled something that was muffled by the two pieces of toast that took up the expanse of his mouth as he approached.

"Swallow before you talk Roxas," Axel said. "I don't want bits of Keyblade Master food and spittle landing on my cloak." Sora removed the toast from his mouth and gave Axel a retort before biting down on one of the slices of toast.

"Now that we are all here," King Mickey said. "I think we can head off." He motioned, and the group started to make its way over the polished white floors of the entrance hall towards the front doors of the castle.

"Sora you need to wake up earlier," his aunt Victoria said, coming next to him, "breakfast is important."

"I know Auntie Victoria," he said in a moan. "But sleeping is important too, especially for someone like me."

"Someone like you?" Sade asked humourously.

"I'm still growing Sade," answered Sora thickly, through a bite of his toast. "I need my sleep."

"Well you don't need beauty sleep and that's for sure," Roxas said, rubbing Sora's head roughly. "You're never going to be as handsome as me."

"Well how was your date with Naminé yesterday blondie?" Sora asked, rolling his eyes.

"It was nice," Roxas answered. "You and Kairi?"

"Nice," replied Sora.

Sikora turned around and started walking backwards as the sun momentarily began blinding Sora. "You guys are so dumb. Is that all you can say?"

"Well what would you like us to say?" Sora asked in indignation before taking a bite of his toast to stave off answering further.

"Yeah," Roxas said, coming to his brother's defence. "You want us to say something along the lines that our girlfriends are the funnest, funniest, cutest, and most beautiful girls there ever were and that we fell in love with them all over again yesterday?"

"Smooth Roxas," said Axel. "You just helped your cousin's case."

"Was it true though?" Mulan asked simultaneously with Jasmine.

"Instead of asking us about Kairi and Naminé," Sora said quickly. "Why don't we ask Donald about Daisy?"

"Wak?"

"Yeah bill-beak," Mushu began, laying atop Mulan's shoulder. "How's your relationship with the girl duck?"

"Daisy?" Cinderella asked.

"Daisy is Donald's very special sweetheart," explained Goofy.

"Oh Donald," Snow White cooed. "You never told us you had a sweetheart."

"It wasn't something we needed to talk about," Donald grumbled, folding his arms over each other. Sora laughed. Donald was always prone to forgetting about his dates with Daisy, which made her angry at him, which continually made him want to avoid the subject. He could tell that the court magician loved her, and he'd seen Daisy's eyes and knew that she loved him, but with how often Donald forgot about a date he was surprised that she was still seeing him. There had to be enough that went right for the spark between the two of them to have stayed.

Sora glanced over at Kairi as she walked with Naminé and the other princesses of heart and smiled. He knew that they had rekindled and flared that spark yesterday. Sora looked towards Riku and Yuffie for a second before he gazed in front of his feet again.

He did a double-take. "Riku! Your hair is silver again!"

Riku paused for a second while everyone looked at him. "Yeah, I finally stopped putting a little bit of blue dye into it," he answered. "It was getting too hard to describe what colour my hair was to everyone." Sora laughed and shook his head.

They had to make a quick stop by the castle stables on the way over to the gummi hangar where the _Avenger_ the _Highwind_, and the _Hunter_ were. His relatives had to pick up the four chocobos they had brought with them. It had been decided that they were going to be going back to Destiny Islands after going to Star Command to see Sora and Roxas off. Sade and Sikora had missed a whole week of school, and the rest of the chocobos were probably very stressed at not having any contact with humans apart from the few stable hands that worked on the ranch for Sal and Victoria.

When they reached the base where the gummi hangars were, it was to find that the _Highwind_ and _Hunter_ were already out on the flight line and flanking, but still being dwarfed by, the massive _Avenger_, King Mickey's ship looking far too much like a replica of an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars for it to have been anything else. Anyone who hadn't seen the _Avenger_ before stopped dead in their tracks and stared at it in awe. Even the few gummi mechanics that Radiant Garden had, all of them having been trained by Cid Highwind, were shaking their heads in disbelief at the _Avenger_.

Sade's chocobo started to snort and buck his head as he tried to lead it towards the enormous white vessel. "Easy now Beaky," he said, his gloved hand held fast on the reigns as he restrained the beast. "It's just a ship, it'll be over soon. Soon you'll be back on the islands and you'll be having the best oats this side of Will's farm. What do you say?"

Beaky the chocobo looked at him for a second before letting out a great 'Kweh!' of excitement. Sora laughed as he watched Sade's grip slacken on Beaky's reigns as the yellow chocobo reared up its head. In another moment Sora's mouth had dropped open as Beaky began pulling his master towards the ship in a rush, with Sade's laughed coming back to them on a wind.

"I don't know about you," Genie said, "but that ain't no ordinary spring chicken."

They split up into three groups. The majority of them would go aboard the _Avenger_ with King Mickey, while Sora, Riku, and Kairi, along with Donald, Goofy, Max, Jiminy, and Yuffie would board the _Highwind_, and Roxas, Naminé, Axel, and Tom would take the _Hunter_. The _Highwind_ and _Hunter_ would follow the _Avenger_ and provide escort to the vastly larger vessel, not that it really needed it.

Sora strapped himself into the pilot's chair in the _Highwind_'s bridge, Donald and Goofy taking their respective places to his right and left as they had before on their last journey together. Donald opened up a communications link with both the _Hunter_ and _Avenger_ and Sora spoke.

"We're ready whenever you are your majesty." As he spoke his hands were already flying over the controls to power up the engines.

"We're good to go over here too," Axel said.

"Just give us a minute fellas," spoke King Mickey. "It takes more time to get the _Avenger_ ready than your ships."

"It's because your ship's so much bigger Your Majesty," said Goofy.

"Well it'll come in handy when we actually have a fleet," answered King Mickey. "So we'll have one cruiser already done and ready. All we'll need will be a crew to keep her running smoothly all the time instead of having her sit on dry docks for ages. Okay, engines are warming up fellas. We're ready to go now too. All ships prepare for liftoff."

"Alright here we go," Sora said. The three ships on the flight line began to lift off of the ground, the blue lights from their engines flaring as each of them shuddered slightly upon overcoming the gravity of the world. The _Avenger's_ nose started to turn skyward slowly, slowly gaining a little bit of height to avoid crashing its aft end into the ground. Sora and Roxas in the _Highwind _and _Hunter_ duo kept the speeds of their ships in check as they gained altitude, waiting for the large triangular vessel to bring up its angle so that it could climb faster. It took a few seconds, but soon the _Avenger_ had increased the angle that pointed it into the sky and she began to gain on the _Highwind_ and the _Hunter_ until the two smaller ships were in front and above the white capital ship, keeping pace and staying in a protective escort formation with it.

"Nicely done Your Majesty," Axel's voice came in on the communication's channel.

"Thanks Axel," replied King Mickey. "Now let's get over to Star Command. I'm sending you the coordinates now."

The screen in front of Goofy blipped and Sora looked over at him as the anthropomorph began to speak. "We've received the coordinates King Mickey; I'm setting a course for Star Command now."

"Course for Star Command set," Roxas confirmed. "Ready when you guys are."

"Be in for a long trip guys," King Mickey said. "Our worlds are in a relatively sheltered and far-off corner of the galaxy, Star Command is much further in. Prepare to jump to warp space on my mark."

"Standing by," Sora answered, his fingers twitching as he held them above the button to activate the _Highwind_'s warp drive.

"Now!"

"Punch it!" Axel said. Sora jammed his whole fist down on the button. At once all the stars around them turned into blue streaks and the whole world around them became a swirling blue portal as they travelled through warp space towards their destination.

Sora unbuckled himself from his seat, Donald and Goofy doing likewise, and the three friends left the bridge and into the ship's lounge. The couch was already occupied by Riku and Yuffie, with the girl looking a faintly queasy. Sora remembered Yuffie saying that she got airsick, and it appeared that it really only happened rarely, because Riku was looking at Yuffie with concern rather than sympathy. Also on the couch sat Kairi. Max was in a comfy chair, and Jiminy was on the chair's armrest. Aiwemon and Menelmon were nowhere to be seen, but that would likely change soon after they'd explored the gummi ship for the first time. Goofy's son was staring at the blank and black screen of the television, and Jiminy was writing something in a tiny book that Sora recognized as his journal.

The Royal Chronicler looked up as Sora entered with Donald and Goofy and called towards him. "Sora! You and Kairi really must tell me everything that has happened since you both left Disney Castle," he said, pointing at his journal. "I've missed quite a lot of entries to the journal, nearly an entire adventure already."

"Okay Jiminy," Sora said, plopping down on the couch next to Kairi. "Come over here, and Kairi and I will tell you everything. I've already told you most of what happened in Neverland. Max, help us out."

-A-D-

Tidus sighed as he sat atop of the roof of the house in Twilight Town he and his mother lived in. The new subdivision of Sunset Terrace where they were was quite nice, not nearly as good as the islands, but it was still a nice place to live. It had turned into late afternoon after school had ended, and he was waiting atop his roof for the other islanders who had come to this world after the fall of Felra.

He had finally found a great use for the flat-topped roofs that connected nearly every house on the street, apart from just sitting and watching the sunset with Wakka and Selphie. His mother didn't think it was a very good idea, nor did she think it was safe at all, but she did give in in resignation at the sad fact that he and many of his friends that came with them from the islands would be going off tomorrow to their basic training, and they did need the practice after all.

That was why Tidus was sitting beside a blue Struggle bat, watching the nearly continuously setting sun while he waited for everyone else to arrive. He had quickly and on a spur of the moment organized the small group of them into a tournament to see who among them was the best melee combatant before they would leave for their training in the morning.

Unfortunately, they still had schoolwork to do while they were training, but Tidus wouldn't tell his mother that he was shoving it off to the side in lieu of safer (yet truly more dangerous) tasks.

"Hey Tidus!" Tidus turned his head to see Wakka approaching from the roof of the house to his right. He heard another call and smiled as Selphie suddenly sat down next to him on his left.

"Hey there Selphie," he said.

"Hi Tidus," replied the brown-haired girl, seeming to bounce slightly as she leg her legs dangle over the rooftop. "So, is it just us from the islands or what?"

"Yep," Tidus confirmed, "Just those of us from the islands: me, you, Wakka, Jeff, Anar, Isil, Kia, and the others." Wakka sat down next to them and pounded fists with Tidus as the three of them waited for the others to arrive. The Struggle bat that Selphie had was lightly bobbing in her hand.

"I never thought that I'd be doing something like this in my life."

"Huh?" Tidus asked, looking curiously at Selphie.

"It's like we're joining the Guardians or something," she said, looking towards both Tidus and Wakka. Tidus nodded his head. The Guardians were an organization back on the islands that kept the cities, towns, and people safe from the fiends that wandered the islands. They unfortunately hadn't been too much of an asset when Cossex attacked, not having had a clue what the Heartless or Nobodies were.

"Guardians," Wakka grunted slightly. He looked at Tidus and the two of them shared a smile.

"Guardians of High Summoner Yuna unite!" Tidus said, giving Wakka a high-five.

"What are you two talking about?" Selphie asked, granting both of them a look of confusion.

"Just something we did when we were on another world when the islands fell into darkness Selphie," Tidus replied quickly. "There was nothing big about it."

"Just saved the world and all that jazz," Wakka added, smiling broadly at the girl, "you know, hero stuff." Wakka's grin quickly left his face as Selphie struck the top of Tidus' head with her bat.

"You mean you guys were off adventuring without me?" she asked, her face livid enough to scare Tidus. "Why didn't you tell me? Kairi at least _knew_ that Sora and Riku were off saving the worlds!"

"We didn't want everyone to think that we had gone crazy!" Tidus explained in a very quick breath, his arms over of his head to try and fend off another assault. "I ask you Selphie, before we knew about Sora, Riku, and Kairi, would you have believed us if we told you we had been transported to another world and saved it from evil?" Tidus opened his half-closed and cringing eyes and peered through his flailed arms to look at Selphie. She had put down her Struggle bat and was looking off to the twilight sun.

"No," she said at last, looking down regretfully. "I wouldn't have believed you."

"There, problem solved yah?" Wakka said. "If you want Selphie, we can tell you all about it later yah, even the crush old Tidus here had." He shoved Tidus on the shoulder and the boy with dirty-blonde hair grimaced at the red-haired blitzer.

"Wakka," he hissed. Tidus suddenly felt two light hands on his shoulders and he knew instantly that Selphie was standing behind him now.

"Ooh," she giggled. "A crush huh? So who was it?" Tidus forced himself to hold back a gasp and quickly glanced at Selphie's face before blushing and looking down at his dangling feet. She was smiling, but her eyes were closed so he couldn't see if there was anything in them. He suddenly found himself in a very awkward position. He had loved Yuna, and he knew that now. But he did not understand his relationship with the energetic girl behind him, who was lightly shoving his shoulders back and forth and moaning for him to tell her who he had had a crush on.

He would almost have said that his relationship with Selphie was like Hayner's with Olette, except Hayner had actually gathered up the courage to ask her out.

Tidus looked back at Selphie for a few seconds, just looking at her in the yellow dress she was wearing. Her green eyes were very prominent when they had opened up once more, and they were looking at his curiously. "You remember that girl Yuna back on Radiant Garden?" he asked.

Selphie nodded. "Yes. Ooh! That's who it was huh?"

"Yah, he had a crush on Yuna," Wakka said, laughing slightly. "And she had a crush on 'im. And the two of them even _kissed_!"

Tidus expected Selphie to squeal and start pestering him for details, what he did not expect was to feel his back collide painfully with his own roof and for the brown haired girl to scream, "YOU DID WHAT WITH HER?"

He sensed Wakka scrambling out of the way and Tidus looked sheepishly at Selphie like he was caught in a trap. The previous bout of anger she'd had after finding out that they'd gone on adventures, which he had known had really been at least somewhat playful was completely dwarfed by this. Selphie was terrifying him right now. Her green eyes were on fire, almost unearthly in appearance.

"Would it help if I said that I no longer loved Yuna that way?" Tidus asked quietly through a forced grin.

Selphie's anger dissipated and she cocked her head at Tidus in confusion. "Huh?"

"She's just a friend to me now Selph," Tidus continued. "It was simple infatuation, nothing more."

"Then this calls for celebration!" Selphie said excitedly. She left Tidus scratching his head and looking at Wakka in confusion before she quickly returned with four bars of sea-salt ice cream.

"Uh, why celebrate?" Wakka asked as he took his bar of ice cream.

"Because now there won't be some other girl dragging the three of us down," Selphie said happily, licking each ice cream in turn as she held one in her left hand and the other in her right.

"What about Wakka and Lulu?" Tidus asked in passing.

"Hey, nothing happened between me and Lu," Wakka said quickly. "We just became close friends ya."

"Close friends," Tidus snorted. "Yeah right, you were never apart from her."

"Well you stuck close to both Yuna and Rikku," Wakka retorted.

"What's this about Rikku?" Selphie asked, looking at Tidus. "Don't tell me you had _two_ girlfriends you polygamous pervert."

"I didn't!" Tidus exclaimed, looking at Selphie in feigned shock that she'd even think that. "Rikku's just a good friend that I got along well with. And she was the one who saved my life when I first dropped into Spira."

"So you owe your life to a girl..." Selphie teased, shoving him slightly with her shoulder since both her hands were occupied.

"Hey my ice cream!" Tidus shouted, watching as the bar of blue left his grasp and tumbled to the ground beneath them. "Thanks a lot Selphie."

"Hey!"

Tidus turned his head to see that Anar, Isil, Jeffery, Kia, and a number of older teens and the few adults that felt bothered enough to join in the competition clambering up onto the crisscrossing network of flat square roofs along the street.

Tidus smiled and grabbed his Struggle bat before he got to his feet. It looked like it was going to be a promising evening.

-A-D-

Sora yawned and looked out from the bridge of the _Highwind_ in as they came out of warp space. Many hours had passed by while they travelled, and he, Kairi, and Max had told Jiminy and the others everything that had happened to them since they left Disney Castle. Aiwemon and Menelmon came back from exploring the ship just after they had finished talking about how they had been captured and subsequently escaped from captivity in The Castle That Never Was, and so they were present to help explain in a bit more detail to Jiminy about the Digital World and the digidestined. Likewise, Riku and Yuffie explained everything that had happened since Sora and Kairi had left Destiny Islands. It was hard for all of them when they came to the part of the destruction of the city of Felra, but apart from that most of them were able to keep the sorrowful emotions in check. Donald and Goofy also told them of the few worlds they had been to, some of which surprised Sora. The tale of Basil of Baker Street interested him and that of the quite fearful and emotionally unstable Emperor Kuzco was only able to make him laugh. After the storytelling was done, he had taken a nap, from which he had only recently awoken from.

Sora frowned slightly, and then his eyes snapped open and he leaned forward, blinking and pinching himself to make sure he wasn't still asleep.

"Whoa!" he said, awestruck. He quickly shook his head frantically and punched a button to turn on the intercom.

"You guys had better come up to the bridge to see this," he said. He removed his thumb from the button and rubbed his eyes again just as frantic footsteps heralded the arrival of the rest of them.

"Wow," Yuffie's voice carried the collective thought of the group. Always before when Sora had come out of warp space it was to see a world before him, this time there was a different surprise in store for him. In front of the _Highwind_ stood a building constructed entirely in space, and a massive one at that. The only words one could use to describe it would be that it was a space station alright. The white structure towered over the _Highwind_, even the _Avenger_ for that matter. Its top was a circular dome that would not have looked out of place on a mushroom, and it had a cylindrical body that stretched downwards. From the cylindrical shaft there were numerous spires that stretched out, a few large ships (not as large as the _Avenger_ but still sizable) attached to these spires, their function obviously that of docking with vessels. Sora couldn't gauge their exact size, but when he looked at the distance reading that _Highwind_ was giving him he couldn't help but gulp. They were undoubtedly easily four times the size of the _Highwind_, but then, his gummi ship was very small and rather like a shuttle of sorts when compared to the _Avenger_.

He almost wondered aloud how many ships the size of his could be fitted into that place, but was stopped by the sudden siren of an incoming transmission. He looked to Donald Duck and the court magician pressed the button to broadcast it through the bridge.

"Do you see the size of that thing?" Roxas' voice asked. "It's freaking _huge_!" Sora looked again and noticed that they were receiving another transmission, two actually. He looked at Donald again and again he complied and patched them through.

"Unidentified ships," a male voice warned sternly, "this is _Left_enant Commander Neil Solar, Captain of the _SCS Judicator_. You have entered a restricted area. Please throttle down and state your intentions. If you do not comply, we will open fire."

Sora tensed nervously as one of the larger vessels that was not docked with the massive space station began to turn towards them while he killed his engines and brought his ship to a halt. The ship was rounded slightly in the front of the centre, with a visible view screen showing that that was the bridge, the view screen continuing even to the ship's top to give officers a view close enough to having a bubble cockpit like in the _Highwind_. The ship's fuselage was rectangular (apart from the curve at the front) and thin, but only thin by the standards of the ship's size, it was still easily three times as thick as the _Highwind_'s complete height. About halfway down the ship the sides of the fuselage began to curve outwards in a half-ellipse shape before driving back forward in two arched wings that steadily narrowed until they became pointed and tipped in a battery of heavy cannons. The rear portion of the wings was as wide as the rest of the ship, but the front tipped with the powerful weaponry was quite thin in comparison. From the _Highwind_'s position, Sora could make out three red rectangles painted across the top of the off-white ship's fuselage, and two blue arrowheads with rounded tops painted above the curves in the wings. The blue glow from the ship's engines was barely visible beyond the empennage.

In all, the unknown ship was probably around four hundred metres long from bow to stern, thirty to thirty-five metres in height, and a little more than three hundred metres from the edge of the starboard wing to the edge of the port wing.

Sora took all of this in within three seconds, gulping again when he realized that the batteries on each wingtip were one and a half times as large as the ship he was piloting, and it was probably packing other weapons that he couldn't make out from this distance. He took one glance towards the _Avenger_ and felt his confidence grow slightly. No matter how menacing or powerful this unknown ship coming towards them was, the sight of the Imperial Star Destroyer replica (all one point six kilometres long with over a hundred hidden weapon emplacements of it!) gave him a little more courage. He shook his head slightly when he heard a voice come in over the com channel.

"This is King Mickey Mouse, of the _DCS Avenger_," King Mickey said.

"This is Keyblade Master Prince Sora, Captain of the _Highwind_," Sora said, making dead sure that his voice was steady.

"This is Keyblade Master Sir Roxas Dual Blade, Captain of the _Hunter_," Roxas' voice came on.

"We are carrying the Princesses of Heart, the Wielders of the Keyblade, and the Princesses of Radiant Garden," King Mickey continued. "We also have a meeting with your Commanding Officer, Commander Nebula."

Either the station or the ship, whichever it was that had hailed the three of their ships (Sora assumed that it was the ship, given that the Lieutenant Commander had said _SCS_ _Judicator_, which he took to mean Star Command Ship _Judicator_), stayed silent and Sora quickly looked past _Avenger_'s hull towards his brother's ship. There had been a barely perceptible quiver in Roxas' voice.

_You okay bro?_

_I'm sweating bullets over here Sora_, Roxas replied. _The shields on our ships are nothing to be laughed at, but that thing looks like could take us out in one hit with those cannons, shields or no shields!_

_If it turns ugly, we'll just have to avoid the big guns and hit it from every other direction,_ Sora replied. _And pray that we don't get hit too hard by something else if it's got more guns than that. Plus, I think the _Avenger_ could handle it by herself._

_Yeah, but she can't handle the rest of them by herself now can she?_

_Well no..._

"What are they waiting for?" Kairi whispered anxiously. Sora noticed her eyes locked on the ship that had halted more or less in front of them, eyeing them behind its massive light-blue tinted view screen that kept them from seeing inside but no doubt let those on the inside see them. Sora figured that it was probably a ruse. There was no way that the bridge for a ship that size would be that noticeable and easy to attack, not to mention quite so large. There had to be a smaller section of it that was the true bridge, but it was blended in so well it was impossible to determine where it was.

The voice came back and Sora instantly looked towards his console. "Our apologies Your Majesty, Masters. _Highwind_ and _Hunter_, you are cleared for landing in hangar bay fourteen. _Avenger_, you will be escorted by the frigate _SCS Judicator _while you dock at sector C-3. _Highwind _and _Hunter_, you will both be shown the way in by a fighter escort."

"Thank you," Sora said, his nerves leaving him as he throttled the ship up again. "Roxas, stick with me so we can find this hangar, all right?"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Roxas replied over the radio as the _Hunter_ began moving to form up on Sora's wing. "You know, we're all going to need call signs sooner or later."

"It's an honour to see that there are still wielders," Lieutenant Commander Solar said again over the radio as the two small ships flew straight past the now manoeuvring frigate. Sora glanced down out of curiosity and noticed that the _Judicator_ had four large engines on her stern. Making a small noise to himself out of satisfaction for finding out that tiny tidbit of useless information, he turned his attention to trying to find this docking bay on the massive space station, or at least, the escort that was supposed to take them to the hangar bay. A new blip came up on his sensors and Sora looked down. Two smaller craft than the _Highwind_ were approaching from the front. Donald noticed they were being hailed and opened up yet another channel.

"_Highwind, Hunter_ this is Abel Four," a female voice said over the radio. "Can you see us?"

"She sounds young and hot," Riku whispered to Sora. Glancing slightly back at Kairi, who appeared not to heard, Sora nodded his head marginally.

Sora looked away from Riku, frowned, and checked his instruments again. "Well, on my sensors I can, but I can't quite, oh there you are!" Sora said as he suddenly spotted two white dots coming towards his and Roxas' ships. He strained his eyes for a moment to see what they looked like, but then his eyes found it easier when the two fighters whizzed right past. He still didn't get a clear look, but as soon as the one on his left had come to his level and slowly began to pass him, he got a good look at the fighter.

"Whoa!" Roxas said.

The fighter was sleek. The front of its cone was black, which lead up slightly to a small concealed cockpit at the front of the fighter. Just to the side and below the cockpit the circular cone stopped as the fuselage added in a small rectangular addition that stretched the whole length of the craft, and Sora could see the tips of the cannons in it. At the top of the fuselage there were delta wings that had become part of the fighter itself, and a tail that stretched up at the back at a one hundred and thirty degree angle. Two thick black engines glowed blue at the back of the fighter craft. Apart from the front of the cone, the fighter was entirely white. Sora was also able to spot an ensign on the side of the fuselage in front of where the delta wings spanned out over the craft, and on either side of the wings. The ensign was a blue circle with a white interior, a red maple leaf in the centre. (A/N 1)

At first, Sora thought that he'd never seen anything like it before, and then he thought that it looked a little bit like a paper airplane. But it didn't matter to him. The craft was absolutely beautiful and looked like it would be a thrill to fly in!

"Roger that _Highwind_," Abel Four's voice said, the pilot in the fighter to his left nodding her head at him from underneath her white helmet and giving him a thumbs up sign. "We'll lead you in."

"Thanks," Sora replied, adjusting the _Highwind_'s course slightly to follow. "Hey, what do you guys call that interceptor you're in?"

"This bird?" Abel Four asked, a bit of pride more than evident in her voice. "Well, her designation is the F-105, but we call her the Arrow."

"The Arrow..." Sora said, sighing with a smile on his face as he looked at the craft that was about a third of the size of the _Highwind_.

"Snap out of it Sora," Naminé sang over the radio. "You can gawk at the ship with Roxas later. First you need to land safely."

Sora blushed both at Naminé's words and the laughter that was coming from the others on the bridge with him. The only one that he could say wasn't laughing was Max, as he too had been staring at the beautiful fighter with itching fingers.

"Hello _Highwind_ and _Hunter_," another voice said, this one male and sounding like the pilot was in his early thirties. "This is Abel Five speaking and Abel Four and I will be your escorts this evening. To your left you will see the empty depths of space, lit up by a marvellous turquoise aurora. On your right you will see a blue nebula, within which lies an odd formation of solid matter in the form of purple rock formations that look _extremely_ uncomfortable to crash into and an asteroid field. We recommend not going in there if you wish to come out alive. If you turned around and looked behind you, which you will not do since we are on a schedule, you will see the continuation of the beautiful aurora that is to your left. In front of you is the wondrous space station that is Star Command. No photographs until landing has commenced please. Our estimated time of arrival is three minutes. Thank you."

"Abel Five what was that?" asked Abel Four in a humourous tone while Sora and the others sniggered in laughter.

"Well I'm so bored lieutenant," Abel Five replied. "This is the most exciting thing that's happened since the scrap with that flight of Heartless ships four weeks ago. It's been dull ever since."

"Well things are bound to get interesting soon Abel Five," Goofy said, "we're here now."

"Yeah," Donald added. "Things always start to go screwy whenever we show up somewhere."

"Never fails," confirmed Sora.

"Well," Abel Four replied, "let's hope they don't get too far out of hand."

"We can handle it," Sora said nonchalantly.

"And if he can't," Axel started speaking over the radio, "_we_ will. By the way, what are your guys' names anyway?"

"Lieutenant Dreyson," Abel Four answered.

"Lieutenant Patteson," replied Abel Five.

"Well I'm Axel, got it memorized?"

"Here we go again," Roxas muttered in a slightly audible undertone over the radio just as Axel was saying his catch phrase.

"Say Abel, I mean uh, Lieutenant Dreyson, can I ask you something?" Axel asked.

"Sure thing Axel," the lieutenant replied.

"If you looked into a mirror and held up eleven roses, what would you see?"

Sora nearly closed his eyes and held onto his smirk if for nothing else than to keep himself from laughing at Axel. It was a good pickup line, but the chances of it actually working were slim. Kairi's hand was quaking against his shoulder as she restrained her giggles, Aiwemon and Menelmon were looking quizzically at each other, and the others were all waiting with breath filled with withheld laughter for the female pilot to reply. All except for Jiminy, he was already laughing quietly and rolling on Sora's other shoulder.

"I don't know," Lieutenant Dreyson replied in an unmistakably clueless tone, "a bouquet missing one of its dozen roses?"

"No," Axel answered, "you'd see twelve of the most beautiful things in the world."

There was a very pregnant pause, the only noise in anyone's ears the sound of the engines, as everyone's breath was held.

Abel Four's voice broke the silence first. Sora nearly lost his mind at how shy it now sounded. "Thank you. That's really sweet of you Axel."

It had worked! That finally put a one on the scoreboard underneath Axel's name.

"You're welcome," Axel said. "You have a pretty voice you know."

"You really think so?"

"Are you trying to get 'er into your pants Axel?" Tom asked.

Axel's reply came back irritatedly. "No I'm not. Are you saying that she doesn't have a pretty voice?"

"Well, yeah she does 'ave that."

"What about you Roxas, do you think her voice is pretty?"

"If I say yes, Naminé will hit me."

"No I won't Roxas."

"Okay. Then yes. You have a pretty voice lieutenant. Ow! Naminé!"

"I lied."

Kairi laughed next to Sora and leaned her head against his shoulder. The activity on the other gummi ship sounded quite entertaining.

"Do you think her voice is pretty Sora?" Kairi asked innocently in Sora's ear. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Kairi..."

"I want to know Sora, and I think the lieutenant wants to know what the Chosen Master of the Keyblade thinks," Kairi persisted. "Right lieutenant?"

"I- I'm not used to this kind of attention miss," the female pilot stuttered while her wing mate laughed. "But, I do suppose that it would be nice to know."

Sora sighed and looked at Riku. They grinned at each other before Sora spoke. "Riku and I have decided that your voice is not pretty Lieutenant Dreyson," he said. He paused for a second while everyone was silent. "We think you sound hot!"

Sora quickly twisted around in his seat to the best of his ability with his restraints on and grasped Kairi's arm as it moved on a collision course with his shoulder. "But no girl is as cute, pretty, hot, gorgeous, or beautiful as you are Kairi," he whispered before giving her a kiss on the lips.

"Attention flirters," interrupted Lieutenant Patteson, "we are approaching hangar bay fourteen."

"Star Command to Abel Four and Five, thanks for bringing them in," an older male voice said, coming onto the radio. Sora realized that he must be the controller for the hangar bay. "You are dismissed."

"Roger that Star Command," Abel Four said, "Abel Four rejoining formation."

"Abel Five rejoining formation," said her wing mate. "Hey Axel, I think you owe us a drink or two."

"Buy your own Patteson," Axel laughed. "The only ones I'm buying drinks for tonight are me and the beautiful Lieutenant Dreyson, got it memorized?"

"I think I'll take you up on that offer Axel," Abel Four said over the radio. "How's tonight at nine sound?"

Sora looked at Donald and the duck obliged in shutting off that channel. He was already receiving docking instructions from Star Command and it was getting a little bit difficult to try and listen to the man while the two pilots in their beautiful fighters kept bantering with Axel.

-A-D-

Commander Nebula was a man who liked paperwork as much as fire likes water. The two of them just don't work well together. This is why the CO of Star Command began rubbing his grey moustache that shot far beyond the sides of his head excitedly with his dark skinned hand, his arching grey eyebrows that also stretched beyond normal limitations of how far off the side of a head an eyebrow should grow twitching slightly above his black eyes. He could now put that whole stack of paperwork that he hadn't bother to touch all day even though he knew he should have behind him.

Urophi Magellan of Twilight Town was already seated at the briefing table, and he had already conferred with the Commander that he was more than content to sit in and listen to the briefing rather than take an active part in it. His only interest at the moment was what they knew, and discussing other matters between himself, King Mickey, and the Commander when the three of them could speak in private together.

The door to the briefing room opened and he stood up in his white and green suit, a set of golden wings painted on the front of the white chest armour of a space ranger. Into his office entered a variety of people, a large mouse the first one to enter. Commander Nebula smiled and stepped past the long oval table to shake hands with the mouse. "It's good to see you again Your Majesty."

"How ya doing Commander?" King Mickey asked.

Commander Nebula chuckled slightly. "I wish the paperwork would stop coming in. Ah, Wielder Asterix. It is nice to see you again too."

"Likewise Commander Nebula," Asterix said, taking off his winged helmet and dipping into a sweeping bow. "What do you have for us?"

"Before we start the briefing, why don't we introduce everyone?" Commander Nebula asked, looking around at everyone in slight confusion even through his smile. He raised a hand towards Twilight Town's mayor. "I'm sure some of you have met Urophi Magellan, mayor of Twilight Town before."

"I haven't ," a boy with spiked brown hair said. "Nice to meet you."

"Wonderful to see all of you," Urophi said, nodding his head.

"Now we'll introduce everyone with us," King Mickey said. "These six here are princesses of heart. This is Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice. Uh, these are the people they have brought with them: Aladdin, Genie, Abu, Carpet and Iago with Jasmine, Prince Alain with Belle, we uh... told Gaston and Lefou that they couldn't come in with us, Prince Philip with Aurora, Prince Ryan with Snow White and Prince Charming with Cinderella, and this is Penelope, Alice's older sister."

"Very nice to meet you Commander," Penelope said.

"The pleasure is all mine Madame," replied Commander Nebula, nodding his head.

"And these are the others," King Mickey continued while the people he mentioned already took seats. "Major Armstrong and Edward and Alphonse Elric, they're alchemists, and Winry and Pinako Rockbell and their dog Den, automail mechanics, all from Amestris. This is Mulan, her Guardian Dragon Mushu, and her lucky cricket Cricky from Land of Dragons."

"It grieved me to learn that your world was lost my lady," said Commander Nebula, bowing to her in respect. "It will be avenged."

"I know it will Commander," Mulan said as she bowed back. "I refuse to let Maleficent and the Heartless get away with this."

Asterix continued with the introductions. "This is my best friend Obelix and his dog Dogmatix. Make sure that you have the galleys cooking boar. This is Axel."

"Yo!" Axel said, raising a hand.

"Axel?" Commander Nebula asked in surprise. "As in Number VIII of the late Organization XIII?"

"Don't worry Commander," Axel said nonchalantly. "I play on the side of the good guys."

"When it suits you," A boy with spiky blonde hair muttered through a grin.

"You're a good guy Rox," Axel said. "So that will always make me a good guy. Got it memorized?"

"This is the Captain of my Knights," King Mickey continued, "and my court magician, Goofy and Donald. This is Goofy's son Max, this is Jiminy Cricket from Town of Wishes and these are Tifa Lockheart, Tom Marcinek, and Yuffie Kisaragi from Radiant Garden, and the twin princesses of Radiant Garden and the other two princesses of heart: Princesses Kairi and Naminé Talerith."

"An honour to meet you both, Your Royal Highnesses," said Commander Nebula, dipping his arm under his abdomen and bowing in front of both sixteen year old girls. Kairi blushed and Naminé giggled and it took a second for both of them to curtsey in return.

"This is Menelmon," Kairi said, motioning towards the small bird on her shoulder, "my digimon partner."

"Hello," Menelmon said. Commander Nebula smiled and took Menelmon's wing in his hand and shook it gently.

"Hello Menelmon."

"And these ones here are Master Riku," continued King Mickey, "and one of my knights, Master Sir Roxas Dual Blade. Both are from Destiny Islands."

"Two Keyblade Masters from Destiny Islands," Commander Nebula said in awe. "That is something."

"Well technically all five of us are," the boy with gravity-defying chocolate hair said, smirking.

Commander Nebula frowned at him. There was something similar about this boy to him. He knew he hadn't seen him before in his life, or anyone who looked like him. He figured he must have glanced over a description in his paperwork somewhere. "And who are you?"

"I'm Sora," the teenage boy replied. "I'm Prince of Pride Rock and the Chosen Master of the Keyblade, also from Destiny Islands. Kairi's lived on the islands for most of her life, and so Naminé is also technically from there as well, given that she and Roxas used to be Kairi's and my Nobodies. And this is Aiwemon, my digimon partner," he added cocking his head to the shoulder upon which another bird, this one with brown feathers and a white-feathered head, sat.

Commander Nebula smiled and gripped Sora's hand. "The Chosen Master of the Keyblade huh? Who'd have thought that _you'd_ be the one to save us all twice?"

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.

"I'm just joking," Commander Nebula asked. "I've learned by now to never judge a person by their size or age. And I've been briefed on all of you, good job kids. So who are the rest of you?"

"These are our relatives," Roxas answered. "Sora's and my uncle Sal, our aunt Victoria, and our cousins Sade and Sikora."

"Hello sir," Sade said suddenly, his back arching backwards in an attempt to make it completely straight and his arm coming up in a salute.

Commander Nebula frowned at him. "One, you came to attention wrong. Two, you aren't even standing at attention properly. Three, your salute is wrong too. Four, you aren't in uniform. Five, we're not wearing headdress, so you wouldn't salute anyway. Six, you aren't in the military so why are you attempting to salute me?"

Sade slumped while laughs at his expense ensued and rubbed the back of his head. Commander Nebula softened up and chuckled himself. "Seven, I like your enthusiasm, but let's start the briefing shall we?" Those who were still standing took their seats around the table and Commander Nebula watched their seating patterns, mentally smiling at the arrangements that took place. He couldn't help but notice that the Keyblade's Chosen Master has holding the hand of the red-haired princess of Radiant Garden under the table. Giving his head the most minute of shakes while still keeping his smile only a figment in his mind, he tapped a button at the head of the table.

A small device built into the table in the shape of a pyramid immediately came to life, beams of light coming from it and striking both a screen at one end of the room and creating a floating hologram of a map of their spiral galaxy above the device. Commander Nebula watched with satisfaction at the awed looks of everyone present apart from King Mickey and Asterix.

"Cool," Axel said, nodding his head.

"Here's where we are," Commander Nebula said, pointing at the floating holographic galaxy, the map itself changing by rotating and zooming until it reached the point her was talking about, "Star Command, a little close to the interior edge of this arm. Down in this arm of the galaxy are the worlds you have visited before Sora: Radiant Garden, Destiny Islands, Twilight Town, Disney Castle, Agrabah, Deep Jungle and the like. You'll notice how they all form a kind of close-knit group with how close to each other they are, with a number of worlds around them that you haven't visited from what I can tell. Town of Wishes, The Big Top, and Sherwood Forest are among them. Over here is the Earth that has the Autobots on it, which you know about Master Riku, quite a distance from your home I'd say, and Gaul lies over in this arm, as you are well aware Wielder Asterix."

"That's right," Asterix said, nodding. "You sure travelled around a lot Riku."

"Hn," Riku said. "No wonder it took days to reach each of them then."

"We weren't using the _Highwind_'s warp drive either Riku," Max reminded him.

"If you hadn't used your warp drives it would have taken you at least three weeks to make it here from Radiant Garden instead of ten hours," Commander Nebula said. He looked to the map again. "From what little intelligence we have on Maleficent since we downsized our espionage group we know that she is here," he pointed to a point deep within an arm that was on the complete opposite side of the galaxy from where they were, "in a land known as Mordor, on a world called Middle-Earth."

"Right," Naminé said, nodding slightly. "Master Yen Sid told me and Roxas a bit about that world. And we've told the others what we remember of what he told us. She's allied with someone named Sauron right?"

"I can't confirm that," Commander Nebula said, "unless you have other sources. All we know is that this is the site where she _is_ building herself a fortress, and working on some other plan, what it is we don't know. The enemy presence was tight and our best rangers barely made it out without being captured or killed just to bring us this tidbit of information. Our network as I mentioned before is very weak. The numbers of Heartless present is unknown, but Captain Lightyear said that there were millions there, so any attempt to attack her now would be suicidal for anyone. He might have been exaggerating, but it is still too dangerous to attack."

"Okay," Alice said.

"Anything else we should know?" Aladdin asked.

"Yes actually there are a few more points I would like to make," Commander Nebula said. He looked over at the screen and the insignia of the soldiers that came to Radiant Garden with Maleficent appeared. "Our analysts have looked over the emblem you sent to us Your Majesty, and we have tracked down where it is from." The image on the screen changed to a picture of a bald man with a small brown beard that wound around his mouth with a tiny goatee flicking the air underneath his chin. His black eyes gazed into each of them.

"This is Kane," Commander Nebula said. "He is the leader of a terrorist organization on one of the worlds called Earth, this one having been designated Earth E, or Earth Echo. His organization is called The Brotherhood of NOD, or simply put, NOD or The Brotherhood. Their strength is unknown, but they are well equipped and according to our data have numbers that make our own seem very small. Their preference in weapons is mostly limited to projectile weaponry: guns and missiles mostly, while it is also known that they have tanks at their disposal and have an affinity for some forms of highly advanced stealth technology. About Maleficent's other known allies we already know as much as we can about them. Nixion, Pete, Hämsterviel, Jadis of Narnia, Sauron, as you have said Princess Naminé, all are dangerous except for Pete, though he likely is stronger now."

He looked back to the map and had it bring up the arm of the galaxy that all of them were from. "There are also a number of worlds close to your homes that are currently under the threat of Heartless attack. If anything is to be secure, these worlds must be protected and their keyholes sealed."

"Do we know any of them?" Sora asked anxiously.

"None of them have been visited before by you or anyone here with you except for His Majesty King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, Master Sora," Commander Nebula answered. "Amestris, Ant Island, Atlantis, and the Great Barrier Reef. Maleficent seemed to have a thing with 'A's this time around. But, these are the only worlds currently under threat, and the threat I should mention is light."

"Light or not light," Ed said quickly, "my world is being threatened. Al, we have to get back there."

"We'll go too Ed," Naminé said. "Roxas and I went to get Winry and you all came along with her, we should be the ones to bring you back to your home."

"And you also have to seal the keyhole," Goofy said. "That way the Heartless won't be comin' back to try and destroy your world."

"Yuffie, Max, Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix, and I were already heading for Atlantis when we found out that Sora and Kairi were both placed in hospital in Radiant Garden," Riku said. "We'll go to Atlantis."

"And we were in Ant Island," Donald added.

"So we'll check it out again and seal its keyhole," said King Mickey.

"So does that give us the Great Barrier Reef?" Sora asked.

"No offence Sora," Jasmine suddenly said, "but I think I'd like to try Aladdin's and my hand at this."

"Jasmine?" Sora asked in disbelief. "_You_ want to go to a world with Heartless."

"I'll never be able to get better if I don't live with the danger like you and Aladdin have Sora," Jasmine said. "And besides, I have this." Jasmine closed her eyes and held out her hand. There was a flash of light and a two-foot long falchion appeared in her hand.

"Is that a-?" Aladdin asked.

"No," Jasmine said, staring at the weapon in her hand, the blade of which was a bronze colour. "This is not a Keyblade. This is a weapon that I was holding in a dream I had last night, where I was on a lot of different stained-glass platforms, and forced to fight shadows. Thessaura's voice told me that it is much like a Keyblade, though its powers are less and it cannot lock or unlock any lock. It can still seal keyholes though."

"This is definitely interesting," Riku said, nodding his head slightly as her weapon vanished. "So Jasmine and Aladdin will go to the Great Barrier Reef."

"I'll go with them," Tifa said, interrupting Riku. Eyes strayed towards the woman and she placed her hands on her hips. "Well, Jasmine needs someone else to teach her how to fight doesn't she?"

"I guess so," Aladdin said, scratching his head. "And if you can keep Jasmine from being hurt Tifa, that'd be great."

"Aladdin..." Jasmine sighed.

"I'm worried Jasmine," he said. "Ever since Cossex started showing up, I've been more worried about you than I've ever been. This is getting big."

"And I'm a big girl Aladdin," Jasmine retorted, "and not just another helpless princess. It was my light that kept you safe when Cossex came the first time, and it will be my light that will keep the darkness from beating us again." Aladdin came up at a loss for words and groaned, shaking his head at Jasmine's victory.

"Asterix," King Mickey said, looking at his friend from years before. "Would it bother you if I asked if you and Obelix could go to Disney Castle to help train my people for battle? They could really use your experience."

"Asterix," Obelix said quickly, "do they have boar there?"

"Yes we have boar," King Mickey replied.

"We'll do it!" Obelix said happily, his tongue already smacking his lips. "I've always wanted to impart my knowledge of thumping Romans to others."

"Yeah, generally the Romans themselves," Max said while smiling.

"Well I can't help that it's so much fun," Obelix said.

"Axel," began King Mickey.

"You want me and Mulan to go to Twilight Town if it isn't too much trouble to help out Urophi and his boys like we did for Tidus' gang," said Axel.

King Mickey looked taken aback for a moment. "Well, yes, that's the idea." King Mickey looked at Urophi, who had been silent throughout the whole briefing. "Do you have a problem Mayor Urophi Magellan?"

He shrugged and leaned forward slightly. "Some of the officers might have a problem but I don't. Anyone who has any real combat experience will be a valuable asset amongst the training staff. But what I'm really afraid of is that we're going to need most of our men working on building or manning ships instead of ground forces."

"That is a distinct possibility," Commander Nebula said in a sombre tone.

"We'll also need some people to help teach our guys how to fly," Magellan continued, looking at Commander Nebula. "Do you think you can scrounge up some pilots for us?"

"I'll set up a meeting with my Squadron Leaders tonight and pitch the idea to them and get them to canvas their men. Anyone who will want to go will be assigned first thing in the morning."

"We'll need simulators," Magellan began.

"You'll get them," Commander Nebula assured. He looked at King Mickey quickly before the monarch could begin to speak. "And I'll ensure that your mechanics get the schematics and technical documents to the F-105 and B-40."

"What about capital ships?" King Mickey asked.

"We'll worry about those after Radiant Garden's elections," Urophi said.

Axel stretched his arms behind his head and glanced at the hero of China, "You up for training newbies Mulan?"

"I will train them as Shang trained us, and I trained the girls in my village," Mulan answered.

"Well then, we accept Your Majesty," Axel said.

"And the rest of us will go back to our worlds and wait until the day we're needed," Belle said, looking at the rest of the princesses of heart, all of whom nodded except for Kairi.

"So where does that leave us?" Aiwemon asked, looking at Sora.

"Uh, I don't know Aiwemon," replied his partner.

"We _did_ unlock that one gateway before we left the Digital World for Destiny Islands," Kairi said, remembering back that far. "Could we check out that world Sora?"

Sora frowned. "Wait a second. Why are we still unsealing gateways to pathways between worlds when it looks like we can already travel from any world to any other world without doing that? Have the worlds all become connected again?"

"The worlds have never truly been completely disconnected from each other," answered King Mickey. "Some of the gummi routes we've used recently have been forgotten pathways that were never sealed off. But now with the amount of Heartless and darkness that has flown from the Realm of Darkness into Maleficent, it appears that all barriers have shattered for good."

"All the worlds are open," Commander Nebula said. "So if you and Princess Kairi feel that you need to go to this world that you have unlocked a pathway to, Master Sora, I say that you should follow your heart's command and go."

"Then it's all decided," King Mickey said. "Tomorrow we'll split up and go our separate ways. When you're done at the world you go to, meet back here before deciding where else to go."

"We'll furnish you all with supplies as well," Star Command's CO said. "Communicators, canteens, and new magical clothes that will change your form and their own shape when you arrive on worlds appropriate. I think you know Flora Fauna and Merryweather."

Sora smiled. "Yeah, we know those three."

-A-D-

Seeing Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather again in the morning was much like Sora had expected from his previous experience with them as they stood in the hangar bay where they had landed the _Highwind_ and the _Hunter_. Each of them had selected a different design for everyone, or at the least had decided on a different colour of the same outfit a person was wearing. Flurries of blue, pink, and green sparkles shot from their wands or the clothes of the person who was stuck under their scrutinising gaze as each took a shot at changing colour.

Sora yawned and placed his hands behind his head in his trademark pose. He'd had it easiest, the three good fairies had remembered the first time they had made clothes for him and had simply remade his old black outfit for him. The only difference was that he'd requested that his hooded vest become a jacket instead, that his fingerless gloves be full gloves, and that he had a pair of boots on instead of sneakers. He was still self-conscious about his automail left arm, and preferred that it would not be seen by anyone until he had come to trust them enough with his secret. Jiminy was resting contentedly in the hood that he had grown familiar to lying in, and Sora knew for a fact that the Royal Chronicler was not about to be left behind by him on this journey.

Sora looked again at the group in front of the three good fairies. It appeared that the only ones they were actually making or remaking clothes for were him, Kairi, and Naminé. The rest all got to keep their old clothes with an added wash of magic in them.

"Are they always this fussy?" Aladdin asked Aurora, looking at the woman in her beige dress as another flurry of green assaulted a frustrated Naminé.

"For years," she giggled.

"Will you three just do it together like you did for Sora?" Riku asked after another minute of watching Naminé's turquoise shirt and white jean shorts change colour and style for the twelfth time. The three good fairies looked at Riku in annoyance for a second before waving their wands together, the streams of magic blending into one.

"Thank you Riku," Naminé said exasperatedly, looking over herself with a semi-pleased face. Sora leaned forward in interest to get a better look at her. Her former white sundress was underneath a yellow top that stretched from the middle of her bust to just a few inches beneath the base of her bosom, silver flames accenting it and it was edged in black. There was a black hood attached to the back of the yellow top, passing over her sleeveless shoulders. A black strip of fabric covered her hips before melding into a miniskirt of the same yellow as the top. Silver designs once more accented it, and since her back was turned to Sora, he was able to see a crescent moon with two wings on the side of it spanning the bottom of the crease in the back of it, two small silver flames coming down on either side from the black fabric that topped it. Her boots now went a quarter of the way up her slender shins, and were again the yellow of above, mixed with black on the heel and ankle. Zippers were on the side of the boots, the zipper shaped in the emblem of Organization XIII.

_Naminé is hot Roxas._

_Thank you, I know. I'll be sure to tell her that Sora._

The girl in question looked uncertainly at Roxas and Sora saw his brother smile broadly. "Beautiful," was the first of three words that left his lips, "and hot." Naminé smiled back at Roxas. Now that she was facing Sora, he could see that the circlet that had wound around her forehead was gone, the sky-blue gemstone that had been set in its centre now hanging from a necklace.

"We have one more thing for you dear," Flora said, inclining her head at Merryweather. The fairy in blue stepped up to Naminé and gave her something. Naminé summoned her Keyblade into her right hand and switched the keychain on it. There was a bright flash and Sora looked at the new blade Naminé now held. The keychain was the same as the emblem of the nobodies and Organization XIII, and that theme was evident in the Keyblade's design. The guard was a dark blue ring, an amethyst stone set in the front. The metal of the Keyblade was mostly silver in colour, and curved around in two different bands to form an empty hollow in the shape of the emblem of Organization XIII. The lower band then had its outside edge curved slightly inwards before jutting out and shrinking slowly to a sharp point. The upper band bent into something of an 'X' shape with the lower part of the 'X' melding into a solid line that ran parallel to the inside edge of the other band. The upper part of the 'X' was wide and like a bat's wings, with the hollow on the inside in the shape of a heart. The rim around the heart was pink, and the pink had seeped into the surrounding metal before fading back to the silver.

It was an intricate Keyblade and it made Sora stare at it for a few minutes just so that he could make sure he understood what he was seeing. What he did see though was Naminé's smile.

"Nobody's Pride," she said aloud, looking at her new Keyblade. "That is your name." Hs then looked at Kairi as she dismissed her Keyblade. "Your turn to deal with them sis."

Kairi groaned at Naminé's giggle and stepped forward to be inspected by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Roxas gave Naminé a little kiss on the cheek which caused her to giggle slightly louder. The three good fairies looked at each other before waving their wands at Kairi.

She was back in her old white blouse and pink dress with the black hood. She had kept her boots from before though, except instead of them being white, they were now pink.

"Well that sure is anti-climactic," Sora heard Kairi mutter as she looked over herself. He laughed and came up to her before kissing her cheek.

"You still look lovely though," he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the back of her neck. He could feel a shiver run down Kairi's spine at the touch of his lips there and made a mental note to remember that spot.

"Is everyone ready?" King Mickey asked, coming into the hangar bay, accompanied by Commander Nebula.

Sora nodded his head and swung around, still holding Kairi in her arms and causing her to shriek slightly as he picked her up to bring her with him. "I'm ready whenever Kairi's ready to conjure our portal out of here," he said over Kairi's laughs at what he had just done. It was true, they had been given their communicators from Star Command and canteens the previous night, been taught how to use the communicators, and Sora's pockets and Kairi's purse were stuffed full of Hi-potions and ethers. Everyone else who was going adventuring right now was ready too. Sora had passed the _Highwind_ over to Max, who would be captain of the vessel while he went with Riku and Yuffie to Atlantis.

Kairi waved her hand and a shimmering portal of light opened up in the hangar bay a few feet away from them. Sora gave his girlfriend another kiss on the cheek and was about to enter it before he stopped.

"Sora?" Donald asked, seeing him cease moving. Sora pretended as if he didn't hear Donald and turned around, jogging towards a small group of four people instead.

"Bye Uncle Sal," he said, giving his uncle and godfather a hug. "Bye Auntie Victoria."

"Goodbye Sora," his aunt said, hugging him like he was her own son. "Be careful and stay safe."

"I will," Sora mumbled. He then turned to his two cousins. "Bye Sade, Sikora."

"Bye Sora," Sikora said, giving her older cousin a hug.

"See you around Sora," added Sade, shaking his hand after Sikora was finished. "You will make the festival right?"

"Of course I will!" Sora said. "I've never missed one yet. Well, apart from being asleep through the last one."

"That's because we've celebrated your birthday for the past three years the day of the festival," Sade said, shaking his head. "Take care."

Sora nodded his head and waved goodbye to all of them once more before he gave Roxas a brotherly pat on the back and pounded fists with Riku. He entered the portal with Kairi, who had just finished up saying her own goodbyes. Aiwemon and Menelmon flew in after them and Jiminy Cricket scrambled up onto Sora's shoulder just as the portal closed behind them.

"Wow," he said, looking at the landscape lit by starlight. "And so begins another adventure."

Within minutes of the portal closing, ships began leaving Star Command, taking their occupants towards adventures of their own.

Radio chatter could be heard from between the occupants of two of the ships, a small fighter and a larger ship that was flying along next to it. "You're still coming with us then?"

"Of course I am Axel," Lt. Dreyson said. "Someone needs to teach those Twilight Town boys how to fly."

"Won't you get into trouble though?" Axel asked.

"I have three days' leave," she answered. "I volunteered and my CO's already assigned me along with two others from our squadron and there are six more from the other two squadrons coming. I'm leaving early with you guys because of my leave. And, I don't think you'd be able to keep yourself out of trouble with Mushu around you, got it memorized?"

"You know," Axel said after a moment, "I think you're the only person I've met besides me who that line suits."

-A-D-

_And so __**The War**__ begins..._

_(A/N 1): I don't care that I rarely do these little Author's Notes, I just had to put one in. That Interceptor is Canadian and I am making **damn** sure that everyone realizes it!_

_I still believe that there is a CF-105 Avro Arrow hidden somewhere in this country, and that one day the Arrow program will be re-instated. However, there is no such aircraft as the B-40 and its designation is solely because there were forty chapters in __**The Beginning**__ and this is really the beginning of __**The War**__, so that's why._

_For Naminé's outfit and Keyblade go to DeviantArt and search the words Naminé Master Keyblade. It's the first picture._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	4. The Inn of the Prancing Pony

_**YES!**_

_You've all known that this was coming, but you all have no freaking idea how long I've waited to get to this part! I've wanted to write this part of the story ever since the second or third week of when it was still called __**The Fire in His Heart**__. I'm not even sure how many of you are still reading who can remember when it had been called that. So for those of you who don't know, it would be around the tenth of March, 2007 that I began to figure LOTR into this._

_I'm glad I didn't do it back then, because even now my own writing is nowhere near close to measuring up to the greatness that is Tolkien. Anyways, at least I wasn't like other authors that would be like: 'I want to do this, so I don't care! The next chapter I write is going to deal with this world and nobody is going to stop me!'_

_Actually, that's not quite true. You see I found myself on November 12, 2008 at work, unable to continue writing on __**Chapter XXI: Remembrance**__ of __**A Week of Troubles**__, during my break since I'd left my USB key that held the portable version of the story at home on top of my laptop. I had been thinking about Tom Bombadil during this day, and possibly using him as a summon that would be no surprise to anyone who read the books. He'd go to Riku, who we all know hates singing, and it would force Riku to sing the rhyme Tom Bombadil teaches the hobbits in order to summon him. You know the one, the one that goes like this:_

_Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!  
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,  
By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!  
Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!_

_Riku would then be forced to listen to old Tom singing and such while vanquishing enemies._

_But I digress. It was on that day that I decided to just screw it since I was bored and already on a train of thought centred around LOTR, that I would just begin writing the chapter now. So right now while I type this, I am only slightly unsure of which chapter number of __**Light's Growth**__ it belongs to, however I already have known the title and plot of the whole chapter for a long time. I'm not using the title used in the book (though very similar) to go a little bit further in avoiding copyright laws. Although, I _am_ stealing the dialogue that Tolkien wrote where I can because I would rather not paraphrase his spoken words._

_Problem being, since I am set to heavily follow the books, it's hard to write as I do without a copy of Fellowship of the Ring at my side right now to reference just what the Bree-land looks like…_

_This chapter is the one that makes me seriously consider bumping it up to M right now. Please tell me if you think that it deserves that rating. I myself think this chapter is about 14A for a movie rating, but we don't have 14A now do we?_

_And I am eternally grateful to __**fuzzynavaljewelry**__, who pointed out to me a horrendous error I had made. As such, part of this chapter has been edited from its original form._

_Disclaimer: I do not own, nor profit from, nor hold the rights to distribution of: Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Digimon, or The Lord of The Rings. I would never, __**ever**__ pretend that I held the rights to my absolute favourite series of fantasy novels. This is solely for entertainment value only._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter IV: The Inn of the _Prancing Pony_

Sora and Kairi stepped out of the portal of light as it shimmered behind them, Aiwemon and Menelmon flying in beside their partners before the portal closed. They found themselves standing on a road that stretched beneath their feet. In front of them, off in the distance there was a hill with a large village on its western flank.

Sora groaned and stretched tiredly while his stomach growled. "Finally!" he exclaimed. "It's only taken us," he looked at his watch, "eleven hours of walking! What gives?"

Sora looked over at Kairi before he could make out any details of the village as she gave a sudden gasp, and was surprised to see her dressed differently than she had been when they'd left. Her form hadn't changed, but instead of the pink outfit she'd had on when they left, she was now dressed in a maroon leather jacket (he was sure he could see a bit of wool lining it) with a dark brown hooded cloak clasped around her neck. Dirt-brown breeches were revealed from underneath the jacket, and the boots she wore which had previously been pink were now a dull black. Her hands had become covered by reddish-brown gloves. She was standing up with her back a little straighter than he was used to seeing her, and there was suddenly a pack on her back.

"Kairi?" he asked, remarking at her sudden gasp. "Are you okay?"

Kairi murmured something in a low tone that was inaudible to Sora, though he thought for sure he caught the word 'set' at the end of her sentence. Her head swivelled towards him and she took pause. Sora looked blankly at her for a second before realizing that his own garb had changed. Instead of the black clothes he had worn before, he found that it had been replaced by a tan coloured jacket instead. He could feel the wool lining on the inside of his jacket (adding to why he suspected there to be wool lining Kairi's) from underneath the thick black cotton long-sleeved sweater he wore, that was in turn preceded by a white linen shirt. The first of the tops he felt were done up with buttons, while the jacket was tied up. A pair of pants, matching Kairi's, were on his legs with his digivice clipped to his right hip and concealed by the jacket. Underneath his pants he could feel warm long johns. His boots had turned to the same dull black that made up Kairi's as well. He could feel the chain of his crown pendant around his neck, letting the jewellery flap down overtop of his jacket, while his crest hung against his chest underneath the linen shirt closest to his skin. His brown gloves that concealed the automail of his left arm hadn't changed. He could feel a hooded brown cloak's weight around his shoulders, the silver clasp that held it together pressing against his neck slightly. He bucked his shoulders to put it back down his front further, and that's when he felt the weight of the pack on his shoulders as well.

"Where'd these come from?" Aiwemon asked, pointing his wing at the pack on Sora's back as he landed on the boy's shoulders.

"Honestly Aiwemon, I have no clue," Sora said, shrugging the pack off of his shoulders and placing it onto the ground. "But, we might as well see what's in it since it sure felt like there was stuff inside." Kairi slowly followed suit and placed her pack on the ground as Sora opened the flap on his.

"Let's see," Kairi mumbled aloud while Sora kept a mental tally while he rummaged. "Spare clothes that look like these, the communication device Star Command gave each of us, dried fruit, water canteen, munny pouch, some stuff that looks like flint and tinder, a hatchet… bread? And on the outside… oh, it's those bedrolls we conjured up in the corridor of light back in the New World."

"You've got bread?" Sora asked, looking up at Kairi quizzically. She nodded and fastened the top back up again. "That's odd," Sora said, doing the same before slinging the pack back onto his shoulders, "because I have meat in mine, and some metal pans, plates, and utensils and the box with the pixie dust in it. Everything else is basically the same. Hey have you looked inside your munny pouch? Instead of munny beads it's filled with a bunch of gold, silver, and copper coins." He didn't mention that he also had the photo album he was making for Kairi for Christmas in there.

"Really?" Kairi asked in feigned interest, straightening herself out while facing the direction of the settlement. "Well, we might as well get to that village and find a place to spend the night. It's already getting close to dusk."

"Right," Sora nodded, starting off before her. "And if we find an inn, there will be food too. I'm _starving_!" He glanced at Aiwemon on his shoulder and Menelmon on Kairi's. "Uh, Aiwemon?"

"Yes Sora?" Aiwemon asked, looking at him with his green eyes.

"Uh, given the way that Kairi and I are dressed," Sora said, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably with a hand, "I don't think that the people of this world would necessarily greet us without a lot of questions we really wouldn't like to answer if they saw you or Menelmon, and knew that you could both talk."

"Don't worry Keys," Menelmon said. "We'll fly high enough above you guys so that no one will notice us."

"But our secret is going to get out eventually right?" Aiwemon asked. "So we won't have to be apart the whole time?"

"The first chance we get to tell people about you two or until it becomes unavoidable, we will," Kairi said, giving Menelmon a hug. "Until then, could you both simply watch over us from above and follow and make sure we don't get hurt?"

"Okay Kairi," said Menelmon, withdrawing from the hug. She turned her brown eyes towards Aiwemon's green ones. "Come on Aiwemon, I want to feel this world's wind beneath my wings. They haven't had a good stretch for far too long."

"I'll give them a good stretch," Aiwemon challenged, taking off with a sharp thrust of his wings and cutting Menelmon off before she could get free from Kairi's shoulder.

"No fair!" Menelmon exclaimed. "Get back here Aiwemon and meet your digi-maker!" Sora heard Aiwemon laugh and watched the two digimon soar up into the reddening sky. He was glad that Aiwemon hadn't accidentally pierced anything with his talons when he quickly took off, those claws were sharp!

"And I'll keep outta sight like I usually do," Jiminy said, clambering up from Sora's hood to his shoulder. "So you don't need to worry about me Sora."

"Well," Kairi said slowly, sliding up next to Sora as Jiminy popped back into the folds of the hood, "shall we go on?" Sora nodded and started off once more, Kairi staying at his side. He looked at her in concern for a second. She wasn't breathing like she normally did. It was shallower, and her face was turning a little red. Sora was then distracted when he realized that she was once more the same height as him, but he was sure that he had grown a bit taller than her! He was damn positive that he was the taller one!

Kairi caught his scrunching face with a glance and raised an eyebrow in interest as he stared at her. "What?" she asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Well that hair on your upper lip makes it look like you have a moustache, but I thought for sure I was taller than you."

Sora received two quick punches on his side for his comment.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing the spot. They didn't really hurt, much; he'd endured far worse blunt attacks like being smacked in the face by an entire building.

"Don't ever say I have a moustache again Sora!" Kairi whined, pouting and folding her arms. "And that peach fuzz that you call a beard is starting to get a little darker too you know."

"You really think so?" Sora asked, rubbing his gloved right hand over his jaw.

"Give it another few months," Kairi said, "maybe by Christmas you'll have to start shaving."

"All right!" Sora said, pumping his fist. Kairi giggled at his reaction and Sora continued. "Riku's already shaving Kairi, I want to start shaving too."

"You're forgetting Sora," Kairi said, still smiling. "Riku's already seventeen."

Sora's face beamed. "Right! That means that technically, _I_ will have started shaving earlier! Ha! Take that Riku!" He fake punched the air and laughed again while Kairi just shook her head. He turned his attention to Kairi. "But I still thought for sure that I had grown taller than you."

"What, do you think that just because I'm sixteen I have to have stopped growing by now?" Kairi asked, folding her arms and walking backwards in front of Sora.

"Well no-"

"Or do you think that because I'm your girlfriend you automatically have to be taller than me?"

"No I just-"

"Or could it be that you find girls who are taller than you intimidating?"

"No!" Sora said forcefully before Kairi could cut him off again. "I just can't kiss taller girls as well as those who are my height or _slightly_ shorter."

"Aw," Kairi cooed, allowing Sora to walk to her and cup her chin into a soft kiss. They broke apart and continued walking side by side towards the village, the Sun's red light casting long shadows in front of them and bathing the hill in its glow.

"Are you sure that you're okay Kairi?" Sora asked, looking at her again. She still seemed a little breathless, and all that they had been doing really was walking. It almost looked like she was in pain, but if she was she was hiding it very well.

"I'm sure Sora," Kairi said definitely, nodding her reddening face.

"Well you don't look fine," Sora persisted. Kairi scowled slightly.

"I'm fine," she said pointedly, though her breathing was still shallower and more ragged than Sora would have liked. "Now could we just drop it?"

Sora looked at her with a little bit of hurt in his eyes at the hostility in her voice. He seemed to have struck a tense nerve with Kairi right now, but he was confused as to what it could have been. She certainly wasn't helping him out. "Okay Kai," he said quietly.

Kairi sighed slightly a minute later as they continued their walk towards the village. "I'm sorry Sora, I shouldn't have snapped at you there."

"It's okay," Sora said. "I shouldn't have pestered you. If something's bothering you, come to me when you're ready." He looked at her. "Just don't make me worry too much about you, okay?"

Kairi smiled slightly, even though Sora noticed that her breathing was still far from normal. "I can say the same thing about you."

On the hill's western side and running in more than a half a circle from the hill and back to it there was a deep dike with a great hedge on its inner side. The road that Sora and Kairi were travelling on passed over this by a causeway, but where it pierced the hedge it was barred by a great gate. There was also a gate running out of the village's southern corner where the road ran out. Lodges for the gatekeepers had been built just inside them. There was also another road running north that crossed the east road right at the westernmost end of the village and dike, and from what little Sora could see of it he could tell that it was covered with grass and was probably ill-used.

Kairi took a quick look at Sora and his clothes again as they got closer to the village before stopping him. Sora looked at her in confusion.

"What?"

Kairi grimaced. "Your hair will make you stick out like a sore thumb," she said. Sora balked at her.

"My hair?" he asked incredulously. "Your hair if I may remind you is a shade of red! And your face is red as a tomato."

"_My_ hair isn't spiked halfway from here to Neverland," Kairi returned, ignoring the tomato comment.

Try as Sora might, over the next three minutes he could not convince Kairi that his hair was fine, and so he was forcibly led off the side of the road by Kairi to have the gel magically siphoned out of his hair, and his chestnut locks cut to an acceptable length instead of two drapery curtains.

Sora grumbled, but his head had never felt lighter with at least two pounds of hair removed and no bangs passing down the middle of his forehead.

The Sun was finally dipping beneath the horizon and the waning moon was out and visible when Sora and Kairi reached the west gate, finding the gatekeeper just closing it. He stopped when he saw their approach and opened it up again.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"I am Sora and this is Kairi," Sora answered for them, staying on the causeway outside of the gate as the man's posture hinted that they should stay put for the moment. He could feel Jiminy scrambling out of his hood and into the pack on his back. "We are travelling, and wish to spend the night here."

"Not from around here, not by their talk," the man said, softly as if speaking to himself. "Up from the Greenway I suppose." He then moved aside in a gesture that Sora took to mean that they could pass.

"We don't often get young people travelling the roads on foot," the man went on as they paused by his door. "If you'll pardon my wondering, where might you be travelling to?"

"Away east," Kairi supplied quickly, given that they had taken the road towards this village in an eastern direction, since the sun was behind them. The man nodded in polite curiosity.

"Well if it's lodgings you want, _The Pony_'s where you should go," the gatekeeper said. He gave them directions to the inn and bade them goodnight, and Sora and Kairi took their leave in the direction he specified as he closed the gates.

The village itself had some hundred stone houses that were mostly sitting above the road, nestled into the hillside with their windows facing west. However down on the road where it swept to the right to go round the base of the hill, there was a large inn. Sora and Kairi walked up a gentle slope as they passed by some detached houses, taking in the sight and feel of this village in the Sun's fading golden light as it glanced off the windows.

The inn was tree stories tall and looked pleasant enough on the outside. There was a front on the road and two wings running back on land that had been partially cut out of the hill so that the second floor windows were level with the ground. There was a wide arch leading to a courtyard between the two wings, and on the left under the arch there was a large doorway reached by a few broad steps. The door was open and light was streaming out of it, as well as the sounds of a song being sung by the patrons of the inn. Above the arch was a lamp and beneath it a sign swung. The sign bore on it a fat white pony rearing on its hind legs; and over the door was painted in white letters: THE PRANCING PONY by BARLIMAN BUTTERBUR.

Taking the sounds coming from inside as encouragement, Sora smiled at Kairi, who hesitantly smiled back, though she looked more than a little breathless. It seemed like a nice enough place alright. He strode in through the open doorway with Kairi just on his heels and nearly bumped into a short fat man with a bald head and red face. He was wearing a white apron and was bustling out through one door and into another, carrying a tray of foaming mugs.

"Can we-" began Sora.

"Half a minute if you please!" shouted the man over his shoulder, vanishing through a door into a babel of voices and puff of smoke. Sora felt a hand on his shoulder and he noticed that Kairi was steadying herself on him. Sora frowned. Just walking to the inn from the portal shouldn't have taken so much out of Kairi, should it? They'd been walking all day and she was never this tired earlier. Sora was forced to forget about Kairi's ailment for a second as a moment later the man was back and wiping his hands on his apron.

"Good evening master," he said, addressing Sora, "and what would you be wanting?"

"Rooms for two," Sora replied before chancing a glance at his completely empty stomach. "And supper too if we can get it. Would you be Mr. Butterbur?"

"That's right!" the man said proudly. "Barliman is my name. Barliman Butterbur at your service! You're not from around here eh?" he asked. "Up from the Greenway?"

"Uh," Sora replied.

"Well," Barliman continued, "I've only got one room left for the Big Folk, since I doubt you'd like a hobbit room. Otherwise I don't think we'd be able to house you. There's a large bed or we can make it two if you'd be more comfortable. Now may I ask your names?"

"I'm Sora, and this is Kairi," Sora answered, indicating each of them. He looked at Kairi in concern as she attempted to pant against his shoulder. For some reason she wasn't able to breathe as deeply as she should be able to.

"Very nice," Barliman said, ignoring Kairi. "I'll be sure to ask you again about the beds when I've had time to think. I'm run off my feet; I'm that busy. The inn's not seen a crowd like for long enough, but I'll see what I can do for you. It never rains but pours as we say in Bree."

"Hi! Nob!" he yelled. "Nob! Where are you, you woolly-footed slowcoach? Nob!"

"Coming sir! Coming!" A rather short person that Sora noticed was just a little bit taller than Swara had been cheerily bounded into the room from out of the door. He stopped short upon seeing both Sora and Kairi and stared at them with great interest. Sora felt Kairi shift uncomfortably behind him.

"How many beasts might you need stabling, Master Sora?" Butterbur asked politely.

"Uh," Sora answered.

"We... don't have any," Kairi spoke up in a wheeze, getting fed up with not talking. "We travel... by foot."

"Is that so Miss Kairi?" Mr. Butterbur asked curiously and concernedly, noticing for the first time the lack of energy in the teenage girl, looking at the two with wonder. He shrugged it off and turned to Nob. "Well go about as normal Nob, double sharp! Thistlewool's been looking for more pipe weed!" Nob trotted off into the gaggling voices and smoke with a grin.

"Now what was I going to say?" Mr. Butterbur asked, tapping his forehead. "One thing drives out another, so to speak. My head's going round, I'm that busy. There's a party that came up the Greenway from down South last night, and that was strange enough to begin with. Then there's a travelling company of Dwarves going west come in this evening, and now there's you. You're lucky there's only two of you or I doubt we could house you. You were asking for supper right, and wanting it as soon as can be I expect? This way now!"

He led them down a passage a short ways before opening a door, Kairi hanging onto Sora for support the whole way. "Here is a nice little parlour!" he said. "I hope it will suit you both. Excuse me now, I'm that busy. No time for talking. I must be trotting. It's hard work for two legs, but I don't get thinner. I'll look in again later. If you want anything, ring the hand-bell and Nob will come. If he don't come, ring and shout!"

At last he left the two teens and shut the door, leaving Sora at least feeling quite breathless as if he had been the one doing all of the talking. Butterbur seemed to be able to keep up with an endless stream of talk no matter how busy he might be. Sora looked around the small and cozy room. There was a nice round table in the middle, already set with a white tablecloth and on it was a hand bell. There was a bright fire burning in the hearth with a number of low and comfortable chairs set around it.

Sora approached one of these chairs and set his pack down beside it before dropping into its soft cushions. Kairi limped to a chair just a little ways away from his and let her pack slip from her shoulders before leaning against the back of the chair, still trying to wheeze air into her lungs.

"So what do you think Kairi?" Sora asked, inclining his head towards the closed door. He heard Kairi's wheezing and looked at her in concern again. "Kairi... I know you don't want me to, but I am going to ask you again, are you okay?"

"I am fine Sora," she said raggedly, her face still brightly shining in the firelight. She made a weak smile and looked at him. "But, Butterbur could use a lot of exercise." Sora smiled at that.

"Yeah but, he's polite and seems nice and hospitable anyways," he said.

"If talking until tomorrow is being hospitable," Kairi answered, smiling back. Sora continued smiling and glanced into the fire for a few seconds. It was nice and warm, and the flickering light it gave along with the soft crackle of the burning wood gave him peace.

"Do you remember that plan we had?" Sora asked slowly, looking up at Kairi. She looked at him curiously from her leaning position and Sora went on. "The restaurant we decided a while ago to open when all of this was over and our lives had settled down?"

Kairi's eyes widened in remembrance and Sora looked into the fire again. What he didn't see was how sad those indigo irises of her became after he looked away. "What if it was an inn instead?" he asked.

"That'd be wonderful Sora," Kairi's voice drifted over to him. "We'd just have to make sure that you don't drown everyone out with senseless talking about how busy you are." Sora chuckled slightly and ran a hand over his head.

"I still can't believe you cut my hair!" he said, looking at her again.

"Oh don't be such a baby about it Sora," Kairi said, smiling deviously at him. "You look nice with short hair."

"But I liked my spikes," Sora whined, passing a hand through the airspace that would once have been occupied by his masses of hair. He looked at Kairi again and noticed that she was leaning more heavily against the chair's rest.

"And I'd rather prefer that we didn't attract too much attention to ourselves," Kairi continued breathlessly.

"Kairi, Kairi, Kairi," Sora said, shaking his head in disappointment and concern. "Have you learned nothing from me?"

"What?" Kairi asked, both affronted and curious.

"World adventuring and progression is linear," Sora explained. "We arrive on a world, attract attention to ourselves, and before even a day goes by we've found the people we wanted to find and get caught up in a massive web and story that takes us through the world before eventually fighting the main boss and then sealing the keyhole or unlocking a gateway. Then it's off to the next world. It's that simple."

"So there's a reason you ran around like an idiot when you were with Donald and Goofy?" Kairi asked, a hint of amusement in her weak voice.

"Yes," Sora replied proudly. Kairi couldn't help but laugh at his answer. Sora fell silent for a moment, just enjoying the sound and feel of the fire crackling. Kairi's laughter, however faint, was still an enjoyable sound to his ears.

"I can't breathe!" Kairi suddenly said. Sora whipped his head around and stood from his chair, staring at his girlfriend as her eyes went wide in panic. She was trying desperately to breathe, but it seemed that no matter how much she gulped in air that it was never enough.

"Kairi?" Sora asked fearfully. Her indigo eyes rolled in their sockets and she began to fall in what seemed slow motion. "Kairi!" He dashed towards the falling princess and caught her in his arms.

Sora's blue eyes scanned Kairi's face for any sign to show him what was wrong. He felt panic begin to rise in his heart as he saw that she wasn't breathing. There had to be a cause... right? Kairi didn't have asthma, so there should be no illogical reason for her to suddenly become unable to breathe right?

Acting on instinct, or a gut feeling, Sora was unable to tell, he began to quickly untie her jacket, cursing every time his fingers stumbled on the knots. It looked as if it had been on tight, and so he hoped that by loosening it, or in the extreme case, taking it off, that it would help Kairi breathe. But as the jacket loosened, he could see that it wasn't the cause of Kairi's predicament, and she still wasn't breathing!

Sora tossed her jacket aside as panic and adrenaline coursed through his blood. He no longer understood why he was doing what he was doing as he quickly grabbed the bottom of Kairi's thick purple shirt that was underneath the jacket and yanked it over her head and off of her body. She was wearing a white linen shirt underneath that, like he was, and once he had removed the purple shirt he understood the cause, somewhat.

_Are corsets really _that_ tight?_ He asked himself, staring at the crimson undergarment with black trim and laces as it clamped to Kairi from under the arms to her hips underneath the white button-up shirt. Shaking his head, yet still knowing in the back of his mind what he was doing, he attacked the buttons with his fingers, undoing the shirt as quickly as possible. Once it was undone, he drew it down past her shoulders, leaving his girlfriend's prone abdomen exposed.

_Well well well,_ Anti's voice sifted through his head. _What have we here? Are you trying to deflower your pure princess Sora?_

Sora bit back the retort he would have given his Anti-form with a shake of his head. He wasn't worth the trouble. Kairi still wasn't breathing, and there wasn't any time for him to flip Kairi over and try to untie the strings. That might only make it worse!

Blushing furiously, Sora whispered, "Forgive me Kairi," as he summoned silver Remembrance into his hand. He was also forced to pull a little on her pants to get all of the corset's coverage into view. Taking great care while still working as quickly as he dared, he dug the tip of the sabre-like Keyblade underneath the bottom black trip of the undergarment, winced once, and slashed.

The corset ripped in two as easily as if he were slicing through the air, the Keyblade shearing through the whalebone boning. At once its pressure was released from around Kairi's torso and her eyes flew open, choking and gasping as oxygen flooded into her lungs while the corset lay on both sides of her half-naked body.

Sora's cheeks flushed even more and he found his eyes unable to leave Kairi's body, until, that is, Kairi's indigo eyes looked up and Sora drew his onto hers.

His Keyblade vanished and he prayed while Kairi lay there looking so vulnerable. One arm moved to cover up her exposed flesh.

Sweat was already beading on his face as Kairi opened her mouth. "Sora?" she asked hesitantly, her other arm grasping for her opaque purple sweater to cover herself up more.

Sora began to laugh nervously while Anti laughed insanely in his head. He was feeling very, very uncomfortable, and the feeling of his pants getting tight as his hormones began to race did not help him at all.

"It's the only thing I could think of!" Sora explained quickly, waving his hands in front of himself and shying his head away so that if Kairi was going to hit him it would only be against his cheek. "You had fainted and stopped breathing and—" he ceased as he felt something light and soft, and warm, touch his cheek.

His eyes sought Kairi in pure confusion as she sat in front of him, the purple sweater still held in her left hand to conceal her bare torso as the white shirt hung around her shoulders. She was smiling gratefully at him, and it was her lips that had just brushed his cheek in a kiss.

"Thanks Sora," Kairi said, giggling slightly. "You probably just saved my life."

Sora blinked at her in confusion before giving her a cheesy smile and wrapping an arm around her back. He could not believe his luck. He'd gotten to see what nobody else his age and gendre had seen and he was no worse for wear. "Anytime Iri," he chuckled, holding her close.

That's when Kairi's fist connected squarely between his legs.

"Never do it again!" she said, quietly, her voice dripping with the threat of death as Sora dropped onto the ground like a stone. His legs were hunched together and both of his hands had flown towards his family jewels while his eyes were shut tight in excruciating pain.

"The pain you are currently experiencing is nothing compared to what I was going through for the last hour," Kairi explained calmly, tossing the rent corset that she was confident she was never going to wear again anyway into the fire. She began to button her white linen shirt back up while she continued; Sora was far too busy writhing in testicular pain to pay her body any attention. "Imagine lying face-down on a hard surface and then having someone stand on the small of your back. That's what it felt like to wear that stupid thing."

Sora crawled back into his chair as Kairi pulled her sweater back on, the boy breathing heavily. "I never knew you had a birthmark on the left one Kairi," he wheezed.

"Do you want me to kick you this time?" Kairi flashed, annoyed.

"No!" Sora said quickly. "It's just that you're so beautiful it popped into my mind."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Kairi returned icily.

Sora sighed shakily and pressed a hand over his head. He was still throbbing in pain down there.

It took a few minutes for the pain to die down, and by that time it seemed as if Kairi's anger had abated as well. Her face had softened and she had squirmed her way into the chair next to him. "I am grateful though," she said, softly, lacing her fingers into his hand. Sora smiled and squeezed her hand slightly while Kairi rested her head on his shoulder. "So just try not to make a habit out of tearing my underwear to pieces, or I may have to take disciplinary measures."

Sora gulped and nodded his head. "Yes Iri," he croaked.

The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes, watching the fire burn in front of them while they simply enjoyed the closeness of the other. Neither of their famished stomachs disturbed the moment for them, since they both knew that moments like this might be scarce in the days ahead when Maleficent allowed her hordes to rage out across the galaxy.

There came a quick knock on the door and Kairi instantly flew out of Sora's seat and towards her own comfy chair by the fire, the cushions of which were now cooler than the one she had vacated, lest anyone get the wrong idea. The servant Nob came bustling in with candles and a tray with two plates upon it.

"Will you be wanting anything to drink master and mistress?" he asked. "And shall I show you your bedroom while your supper is got ready?" Sora looked at Kairi.

"Well, what do you have to drink?" he asked.

"_The Pony_ has a very excellent brew master," Nob replied.

Sora looked at Kairi again. She shrugged.

"Why not?" she said, "it'll give us something to kick-start this adventure." Sora gaped at her for half a second before smiling and shaking his head.

"If you want to Kairi," he said in disbelief, rising from his chair.

Nob then proceeded to show the both of them the room that they'd be spending the night in. Butterbur had forgotten to ask them if they wanted two beds or just the one, so they found, thankfully, that there were two beds within the room (he must have also forgotten when he asked them that there were already two beds within the room and he had never given Sora room enough to answer). The rather small servant Nob also showed them an adjoining room with wooden tubs filled with steaming hot water.

They had both washed, redressed, and returned to the parlour, and were feeling quite refreshed when Nob returned and brought both of them foaming mugs before bustling back out to attend to other matters. Sora stared at the golden-brown liquid underneath the foam with apprehension. He could barely remember the last taste of alcohol he'd had, the rum in Port Royal, but he did remember that he didn't quite like the burning feeling it had given him when it touched his tongue and went down his throat.

He looked at Kairi, who was also looking into the mug of beer and muttering to herself why she had decided that she wanted to get a mug of beer in the first place. She looked up at him and they shared half-hearted and sheepish smiles with each other.

"To new adventures," Sora said, raising his mug and remembering why she had wanted it. Kairi touched her mug to his.

"Starting with this one," she said. "Which has already been an adventure for both of us in a manner of speaking."

They both laughed, but before Sora brought the mug to his lips he looked squarely at Kairi. "If we end up liking this, and have too much, and we do something we might regret later, it's your fault."

Kairi giggled slightly. "Okay Sora." Both brought the drinks to their mouths at the same time.

Sora's eyes widened when the flavour hit him. He could barely taste the alcohol over the overbearing flavour of gingerale. He had no idea that it would taste this good. At once his sip started to turn into a draught, but he was at least careful to make sure that he didn't slop ale all over himself. He had taken off his jacket, cloak, and outer black sweater so all he was left in was the white one (that Kairi had helped him get out of and back into, feeling a little bit sorry for what she had done to him), and it would not have done well to have it stick to his arm and reveal the metal underneath.

"This is good," he said emphatically, coming out of his drink for air and letting it clink onto the table. He looked at Kairi, she was nodding, also having removed her outer layers, but she hadn't obeyed the urge to try and drown herself in the ale and instead continued to sip it in her hands.

"I am so glad that those two told me a few things about drinking," she said offhandedly, taking another sip of the gingerale tasting ale.

"What?" Sora asked, his mug still sitting on the table. His head was starting to feel a tiny bit funny so he decided to wait a minute before taking after Kairi to gently sip at his drink. Kairi proceeded to tell him about the two women she had had guarding her while she was in the cell in Radiant Garden's castle dungeons, and the advice they had given her on drinking.

Right after she had finished talking Mr. Butterbur and Nob came in again, carrying with them trays loaded with enough food to sate both of their appetites. Before Sora had time to blink the table had been laid with hot soup and meats, blackberry tart, fresh loaves of bread, slabs of butter, and ripe cheese. Any misgivings he and Kairi might have had about the inn or Butterbur's hospitality were quickly erased as the aroma from the table wafted up into their noses.

Nob soon left but the landlord hovered round for a little while by the door as they both began eating in earnest. As he prepared to leave them, seeing that they both found their dinner more than satisfactory, he turned around again as Kairi posed a question.

"Mr. Butterbur," she asked politely, "I hope I'm not being rude, but what exactly is Nob? I've never seen a person so small before."

"He's a Halfling Miss Kairi," Butterbur answered, "or a Hobbit rather, as they prefer to call themselves. Rather curious folk they are, compared to us that is if you get my meaning. Around here in the Bree-Land we call them the Little Folk just as they call us men Big Folk. If you'd like more information on hobbits those in the company would be happy to tell you, if you have a mind for listening until the Sun rises again in the morning that is. But, as you please! Ring the bell if you lack anything."

When Barliman had closed the door behind him Sora took another sip of his ale and looked at Kairi. "Hobbits huh? Never heard of a hobbit before." He looked towards his pack that had lain on the ground exactly where he'd left it. "Jiminy, would you like to join us for supper?"

-A-D-

Their stomachs filled to the brim, and with the last of their mugs of beer drained to one last toast to 'New Adventure', Sora and Kairi did decide to take up on Butterbur's offer to join the company after three quarters of an hour of steadily devouring every morsel upon the table. Jiminy said that he'd stay by the fire and review the notes he'd made in his journal, since a good deal of their unnecessary but pleasant discussion during dinner had been on the adventures they'd had so far.

The company was in the big common-room of the inn. Sora found that the gathering there was both large and mixed, as soon as his eyes adjusted to the light in the common-room. This came mostly from a roaring log-fire as the three hanging lamps in the room were dim and veiled in smoke. Barliman Butterbur was near one of the benches, talking with some of the men there. On the benches were various people: men of Bree, a collection of local hobbits (chatting amongst themselves), people that were possibly a foot taller than the hobbits with great bushy beards (Sora assumed that these people were Dwarves), and some other strangers that were harder to make out in the shadowy corners.

As soon as the two adventuring Keyblade wielders entered there was a chorus of welcome from the Bree-landers. Sora noticed the strangers looking curiously at them, but shrugged off the bad vibes he was getting from their looks in favour of listening to Butterbur, the landlord now attempting to introduce them to everyone. He caught many names, but they came at him in such a whirl he was unable to match a name with a face. He did get the point across that the men of Bree had rather peculiar names with a botanical theme: Appledore, Thistlewool, Ferny, Rushlight, and Goatleaf to name a few. Some of the hobbits also had similar surnames. There were a fair number of Mugworts there, but the majority had names along a different theme such as Banks, Tunnelly, Longhole, Underhill, and Sandheaver.

Since Kairi had wanted to learn more about hobbits in general, the two of them directed themselves to the hobbit-folk, who were at first a little intimidated by their size, especially since Sora and Kairi both had the faces of ones so young (which they were) and they were already on par in height with many of the full-grown men of Bree. But soon the teens' kindness and curiosity won them over and the two youths found themselves caught in a whirlwind of talk and explanations of hobbits and their antics and activities. Sora soon found himself at a bit of a loss, but gathered enough of his wits about him to remember that hobbits liked birthday parties, at which the host was the one who gave away presents, and that they loved eating, six meals a day or more if they could have them. They enjoyed a good smoke, and usually lived to be a hundred or older (which surprised him). He also figured out from the look of the hobbits that they were talking to that they generally had mousey brown and curly hair, liked dressing in bright colours, notably green and yellow, and that their faces were good-natured as a rule, a little broad, bright eyed and red cheeked. They also tended to laugh and make small jokes and jests quite often.

Sora smiled at Kairi. Despite their very small size, Sora had never seen a more cheerful and joyful people, and was quite glad when he noticed that three more hobbits were joining the company and he and Kairi hailed them with as much gusto as the others did. Barliman introduced the three to the company as Masters Gamgee, Took, and Underhill from a place known as the Shire. By now though, Sora and Kairi had had their fill of hobbit talk and had learned enough to know that the Shire was a land not too far to the west populated entirely by hobbits, and politely excused themselves from the company of the Bree hobbits to make room for the Shire hobbits, who found themselves engrossed in conversing with the hobbits of Bree. Watching the hobbits with nothing short of amusement, Sora turned his attention away from them slightly to listen to the rest of the talk of the company.

The men and dwarves were muttering about things far less cheerful than the hobbit-folk. It appeared that there was trouble down south, and it looked like some of the strange men who had come up the Greenway (the grass-covered road that Sora had seen before entering Bree), were on the move, and looking for new lands to settle in. The Bree-folk were sympathetic, but appeared not ready to take a large number of strangers into their small lands. Sora and Kairi shared a sad look with each other. The story sounded a little familiar to them, what with the refugees that had fled Felra and Destiny Islands itself at King Mickey's behest to go to Twilight Town and Radiant Garden.

One of the southerners, however, made both of them frown. He was a squint-eyed, ill-favoured man, who was foretelling that more and more men from the south would be coming up north soon. "If room isn't found for them, they'll find it themselves," he said loudly, his tone making Sora struggle not to look at him in disgust, "they've a right to live, same as other folk."

"Can you believe that guy Kairi?" Sora asked his girlfriend quietly, taking a sip of another ale he'd gotten from Butterbur. When Kairi didn't answer he looked at her. "Kai?"

"That man," Kairi answered, motioning with her also mug-filled hand, "do you remember Old Barliman (she'd recently taken to calling him that after hearing the hobbits reference him as that so many times) introducing him to us Sora?" Sora looked past her at the shadows near a wall she was pointing to. A strange weather-beaten man was sitting there, smoking a long and curiously carved pipe. A tall tankard was in front of him and he took a sip from it and stretched his legs a little bit, revealing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen a lot of wear and were caked and stained with mud. A travel-stained cloak of dark green cloth was wrapped close around him, and despite the heat of the room he had the hood drawn up, overshadowing his face, but Sora could still see the gleam in his eyes.

Shaking off the feeling of seeing a person with a hood over their face reminding him of Organization XIII, Sora shook his head 'no', and took another sip of his drink. The man seemed to be the only one apart from the hobbits listening intently to the hobbit-talk, of which the Underhill from the Shire was no longer a part of. Sora had heard something about him and his companions travelling east to research the hobbits living outside of the Shire and that this particular hobbit was planning on writing all of his findings in a book. Seemed like a scholar to Sora, but he decided not to judge the book by its cover.

"I wonder who he is." Kairi asked, still talking about the man in the corner. He certainly didn't look like the Bree-folk, even sitting down you could see that he was taller than those of Bree. Sora nodded and breathed that he'd like to know too, taking one more sip from his mug as he held it in his left hand.

Sora froze once it was at his lips. He'd barely been able to hear a tiny click, but knew at once what it was. He had forgotten that his automail made sounds as it moved. He'd have to be more cautious in the future and keep all his layers on while in this world to diminish the noise that it would make until it wasn't perceptible.

The man in the corner suddenly looked towards them, and Sora realized at once that he had caught both of them looking at him. But with a wave of his hand and a nod the man invited them over to his table. Smiling sheepishly at each other, Sora and Kairi both moved over to his table. As they drew near he threw back his hood, revealing a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey, and in a pale stern face a pair of keen grey eyes.

"I am called Strider," he said in a low voice, "and I am pleased to meet you Master Sora and Miss Kairi, if Butterbur got your names right."

"He did," Kairi replied. Sora could tell that there was a slight note of discomfort in her voice, and he shifted almost imperceptibly closer to her, feeling a little uncomfortable under the stare of Strider's eyes himself.

"Nice to meet you too Strider," Sora said, trying to be friendly. "So, why is it that Barliman didn't introduce you to us like he did everyone else?"

Strider gave a dry chuckle. "Does my appearance not speak enough? I am a Ranger, and those of my kind are left much by ourselves in Bree. We are tolerated here, but not particularly loved by the Bree-folk." He fell silent for a few seconds, and his eyes once more became intently focused on the hobbits.

"Why are you so interested in the hobbits?" Kairi asked, looking towards the group herself.

"You were inquisitive yourself earlier were you not Miss Kairi?" Strider asked, looking towards her with a slight smile. Kairi smiled sheepishly and Strider puffed on his pipe. "My interest in the hobbits is no concern of yours, but perhaps you might tell me what brings you to _The_ _Pony_ this night."

"We're adventuring east," Sora said, sticking to their earlier story, "and wish to see the world."

"A journey on foot?" Strider asked, looking at Kairi curiously, "with a girl?"

Kairi bristled. "What's that supposed to mean? I can handle myself thank you."

Strider chuckled. "Forgive me Miss Kairi, I meant no offence. If the fire like that in your hair doesn't leave you I suppose you two may be able to do well on your own." He then looked back towards the company at the lone Underhill from the Shire, who had just had words with Butterbur. Sora thought that it sounded something like he was asking about Strider, and just noticed that the hobbit was looking at their tiny gathering. Much like Strider had invited the two of them over, he nodded and waved his hand to show that it was fine for the Underhill to come over as well.

"I am called Strider," the man said again as the hobbit drew close and sat down, "and the three of us are pleased to meet you Master—Underhill, if old Butterbur got your name right."

"He did," replied the hobbit, replicating Kairi's words earlier.

"Well Master Underhill," said Strider, "if I were you, I should stop your young friends from talking too much. Drink, fire, and chance- meeting are pleasant enough, but, well- this isn't the Shire. There are many queer folk about. Though I say it as shouldn't, you may think," he added with a wry smile. Sora looked curiously at Kairi at Strider's words. "And there have been even stranger travellers through Bree," he added, seeing the hobbit's face.

Sora glanced at Kairi. Strange was a word that accompanied both them and their enemies. If any had seen Heartless or Nobodies, strange would definitely be a way to describe them. They mutually nodded their heads in unspoken agreement, knowing the other's thoughts. They would stay in this world a little longer, as goings on here had just grown interesting enough to keep them from going back to Star Command.

Sora looked back at Strider, and saw that his attention was fixed on the young Master Took from the Shire, who was giving a comic account on a farewell party of one Bilbo Baggins. He was currently giving an imitation of a speech, one line of which caused Sora to chuckle slightly to himself in laughter. He'd have to find an opportunity to say those words at one point himself, 'I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.'

Underhill suddenly leapt onto a different table closer to the gaggle of hobbits and began speaking, drawing Sora's attention to him. The Keyblade Master frowned. The young Shire hobbit must have been speaking about something that Underhill would have preferred to keep quiet. Some of the company laughed and clapped, thinking at the hobbit had had as much ale as was good for him.

"We are all very much gratified by the kindness of your reception," Underhill said, fumbling on his words a little, "and I venture to hope that my brief visit will help to renew the old ties of friendship between the Shire and Bree." He hesitated and coughed, Sora seeing the signs of one who would like to say more, but cannot find the words.

"A song!" a member of the company called for. "Sing us a song Master Underhill."

Sora smirked at Kairi and a song began to run through his head even though he wasn't the one who was called to sing. While Underhill faltered for a moment, unable to come up with a song, Sora leaned in close to Kairi, clapping her mug with his own.

"_Don't go wasting your emotion,"_ he serenaded in a whisper. Kairi smirked and giggled slightly, striking his mug back.

"_Lay all your love on me,"_ she replied. She laughed a little as Sora lightly kissed her neck, ignoring the flickering glance Strider sent their way. And then Master Underhill began to sing a song about an inn.

"_There is an inn, a merry old inn  
beneath an old grey hill,  
And there they brew a beer so brown  
That the Man in the Moon himself came down  
one night to drink his fill._

_The ostler has a tipsy cat  
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;  
And up and down he runs his bow,  
Now squeaking high, now purring low,  
now sawing in the middle._

_The landlord keeps a little dog  
that is mighty fond of jokes;  
When there's good cheer among the guests,  
He cocks an ear at all the jests  
and laughs until he chokes._

_They also keep a hornéd cow  
as proud as any queen;  
But music turns her head like ale,  
And makes her wave her tufted tail  
and dance upon the green._

_And O! the rows of silver dishes  
and the store of silver spoons!  
For Sunday there's a special pair,  
And these they polish up with care  
on Saturday afternoons._

_The Man in the Moon was drinking deep,  
and the cat began to wail;  
A dish and a spoon on the table danced,  
The cow in the garden madly pranced,  
and the little dog chased his tail._

_The Man in the Moon took another mug,  
and rolled beneath his chair;  
And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,  
Till in the sky the stars were pale,  
and dawn was in the air._

_Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:  
"The white horses of the Moon,  
They neigh and champ their silver bits;  
But their master's been and drowned his wits,  
and the Sun'll be rising soon!"_

_So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,  
a jig that would wake the dead:  
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,  
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:  
"It's after three!" he said._

_They rolled the Man slowly up the hill  
and bundled him into the Moon,  
While his horses galloped up in rear,  
And the cow came capering like a deer,  
and a dish ran up with the spoon._

_Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;  
the dog began to roar,  
The cow and the horses stood on their heads;  
The guests all bounded from their beds  
and danced upon the floor._

_With a ping and a pang the fiddle-strings broke!  
the cow jumped over the Moon,  
And the little dog laughed to see such fun,  
And the Saturday dish went off at a run  
with the silver Sunday spoon._

_The round Moon rolled behind the hill,  
as the Sun raised up her head.  
She hardly believed her fiery eyes;  
For though it was day, to her surprise  
they all went back to bed!"_

Sora and Kairi listened intently and almost tried to sing along, for the tune was simple and they were able to pick it up quite easily. But as they did not know the words they waited for the hobbit to finish and clapped and applauded with the rest. He had a good voice, they agreed, and called with the rest for another rendition of the song.

"Where's old Barely?" some asked. "He ought to hear this. Bob ought to learn his cat the fiddle, and then we'll have a dance."

"Once more Master Underhill!" Sora called, raising his mug towards the hobbit on the table. "Sing it again!"

The hobbit started to enjoy himself after the Bree-folk had pressed another drink on him, and started his song again with many voices joining in. Kairi's lovely alto sang out above the rest and gave those who were not putting in their rougher and deeper voices something to listen to. The hobbit began dancing atop the table, and when he came a second time to _the cow jumped over the Moon, _he jumped into the air. A little too vigorously though, for he came crashing down into a tray full of mugs, slipped, and rolled off the table with a crash, clatter, and bump!

Sora instantly began to laugh at the hobbit's misfortune while Kairi laughed slightly as well, and then their laughter died on their lips and they stood upright from their chairs in surprise. The singing, crashing, and bumping hobbit had vanished without a trace!

They looked at each other and Kairi shook her head. "No way," she said quickly through the tumult of voices yelling for Barliman. "No. There's no way he could have- wait! Do you feel that?"

"Shush," Sora said quietly, glancing around as Kairi shivered. Things had just become _very_ interesting. He waved off the alcohol in his system and shook his head to clear it. He could sense something unseen moving close by him. Kairi, who had had a little less to drink than he had, sat back down again, her eyes closed. Sora looked at her and sat next to the princess of heart. He closed his eyes again and quickly allowed his mind to wander, feeling for the presence of life that he'd felt in the Pride Lands. He looked up at the corner next to Strider and opened his eyes. The hobbit reappeared there, but that wasn't why he was looking in that direction. He'd just felt something very small, but with greater darkness and evil within it that he had never sensed before, or cared enough to sense. Whatever it was, this hobbit felt fair and relatively untainted by what evil it was he carried.

"Well?" Strider said as the hobbit reappeared. "Why did you do that? Worse than anything your friends could have said! You have put your foot in it! Or should I say, your finger?"

"I don't know what you mean," replied the hobbit.

"How did you do it?" Kairi asked, looking at the hobbit.

"That is not your concern, go," Strider said, his tone of voice revealing that he did not trust them in this and they were not welcome at this moment.

"Fine," Sora grumbled, rising from his seat and taking another draught from his mug. "Come on Kairi." She stood up next to him, stared at the hobbit for another second, and followed Sora as he left the table in the corner. The two Shire hobbits that had entered with Underhill were now alone, the rest having vacated them in suspicion that their companion was a travelling magician of unknown power and purpose. Sora and Kairi steered clear of them as well and went to a separate corner by the fire.

"Something's fishy about this," Sora muttered, leaning against the wall. "Did you sense the darkness around that hobbit?"

"I felt it," Kairi said, nodding and drinking to alleviate a renewed shudder. "But it doesn't have hold of his heart. The darkness isn't in him, but it taints his hands. He carries something evil and powerful with him."

"I thought so too," Sora said, nodding and drinking. "But I can't feel it anymore. Can you?" Kairi turned her back to the wall and leaned against it next to him. She dipped her head and sighed.

"No," she answered. "It's gone. I thought I'd still be able to sense it, because of how sensitive my heart is to darkness, but I can't feel it."

"Well this definitely makes things weird," Sora said. He watched the clamouring of the Bree-folk around Barliman and listened to Underhill's explanation that he hadn't vanished, but had merely rolled under the table to have a word with Strider in the corner. Sora scoffed his head at that. He had turned invisible, and he knew it.

"Do you know how he did it?" Kairi whispered. "It didn't feel like he was using magic."

"Could it have been the way you can turn yourself invisible?" Sora asked quietly, looking at her as the common room quickly began to empty of patrons. Kairi shook her head.

"I don't think so." Sora nodded and took another sip of his ale. He looked into the bottom of the mug and swirled it a few times before draining the last in one draught.

"I think three is enough for a first time," he said, holding his empty mug lightly in his gloved and concealed automail hand. Kairi looked down into her own before she too drained her mug.

"We shouldn't be sick, or have hangovers in the morning from only three," she agreed, now holding her mug in both of her hands. Sora carefully moved his arm to set it down, his ears straining to see if he could hear his automail clicking away since the volume in the common-room had diminished drastically. Many of the company had left the inn, and within another few minutes, it was practically empty apart from themselves, the three Shire hobbits, Strider, and Barliman. Sora noticed that Strider was watching both him and Kairi curiously while their attention was still on Mr. Underhill, who was finishing up his affairs with the landlord about getting the ponies of his and his companions ready in the morning. Butterbur hurried out, and the three hobbits left the common-room, and Strider followed silently in their wake.

Sora tapped Kairi on the shoulder. "We have some eavesdropping to do. Can you make us invisible?"

Kairi nodded. "Hold my hand," she instructed. Sora did, and Kairi let her eyes flutter closed for a few moments. Sora couldn't tell if anything was happening, but Kairi squeezed his gloved right hand to indicate that she was done.

They both stayed silent and as quietly as possible left the common-room to go down the hall they had seen the hobbits and Strider leave by. They paused by every parlour door for several seconds to listen for voices on the other side, inching as silently as they could from one door to the next, always dreading that the sound of their breathing was too loud.

Sora stopped and Kairi came close, their hands still held so they could both be cloaked from prying eyes. He fingered towards the door they were against. He had heard Strider's voice.

"I will tell you what I know, and give you some advice – but I shall want a reward."

"And what will that be, pray?" asked Underhill.

"No more than you can afford," Strider answered. "Just this: you must take me along with you, until I wish to leave you."

"Oh indeed!" Underhill said in surprise. "Even if I wanted another companion, I should not agree to any such thing, until I knew a good deal more about you, and your business."

"Excellent!" said Strider. "You seem to be coming to your senses again, and that is all to the good. You have been much too careless so far. Very well! I will tell you what I know, and leave the reward to you. You may be glad to grant it, when you have heard me."

"Go on then!" said Underhill. "What do you know?"

Sora looked at Kairi with interest. She looked back at him, a small smile on her face. This sounded like it was going to be something worth snooping on.

"Too much; too many dark things," Strider answered grimly, "But as for your business..." His voice paused and instantly Sora froze and held his breath, being very careful not to move his left arm to avoid the noises it would make. Kairi had placed her free hand to her mouth and was keeping her breath in while her head was dipped down and her eyes closed in concentration on keeping the illusion that they were not there. The door opened and Strider looked out, his eyes passing over the place where they were hidden twice, before he quickly closed the door.

"I have quick ears," he continued, Sora and Kairi sighing as loudly as they dared in relief, "and though I cannot disappear, I have hunted many wild and wary things and I can usually avoid being seen, if I wish. Now, I was behind the hedge this evening on the Road west of Bree, when four hobbits came out of the Downlands. I need not repeat all that they said to old Bombadil or to one another, but one thing interested me. 'Please remember,' said one of them, 'that the name of _Baggins_ must not be mentioned. I am Mr. Underhill, if any name must be given.' That interested me so much that I followed them here. I slipped over the gate just behind them. Maybe Mr. Baggins has an honest reason for leaving his name behind; but if so, I should advise him and his friends to be more careful."

"I don't see what interest my name has for anyone in Bree," Underhill, or rather Baggins said in an angry tone, "and I have still to learn why it interests you. Mr. Strider may have an honest reason for spying and eavesdropping," Sora and Kairi looked at each other and blushed, "but if so, I should advise him to explain it."

"Well answered," Strider laughed. "But the explanation is simple: I was looking for a Hobbit called Frodo Baggins. I wanted to find him quickly. I had learned that he was carrying out of the Shire, well, a secret that concerned me and my friends. Now don't mistake me!" he suddenly cried as if something was happening. "I shall take more care of the secret than you do. And care is needed!" His voice lowered, and Sora leaned in a little closer. "Watch every shadow! Black horsemen have passed through Bree. On Monday one came down the Greenway, they say; and another appeared later, coming up the Greenway from the south."

The four were silent on the other side of the door, and Sora glanced at Kairi. Black horsemen didn't sound like Heartless, and it certainly didn't sound like they had acted like Heartless, but there was still a shiver of unknown fear that went down his spine when Strider mentioned these riders.

"I ought to have guessed it from the way the gatekeeper greeted us," the hobbit Frodo Baggins, Sora assumed, said. "And the landlord seems to have heard something. Why did he press us to join the company? And why on earth did we behave so foolishly: we ought to have stayed quiet in here."

"It would have been better," Strider agreed. "I would have stopped your going into the common-room, if I could; but the innkeeper would not let me in to see you, or take a message."

"Do you think he-" began Frodo.

"No, I don't think any harm of old Butterbur. Only he does not altogether like mysterious vagabonds of my sort. Well I have a rather rascally look, have I not?" Strider asked. "But I hope we shall get to know one another better. When we do, I hope you will explain what happened at the end of your song. For that little prank-"

"It was sheer accident," Frodo interrupted.

"I wonder," said Strider. "Accident, then. That accident has made your position dangerous."

"Hardly more than it was already," Frodo replied. "I knew these horsemen were pursuing me; but now at any rate they seem to have missed me and to have gone away."

"You must not count on that!" Strider said sharply. Sora leaned in closer at the tone of his voice. "They will return, and more are coming. There are others. I know their number. I know these Riders. And there are some folk in Bree who are not to be trusted, Bill Ferny, for instance. He has an evil name in the Bree-land, and queer folk call at his house. You must have noticed him among the company: a swarthy sneering fellow. He was very close with one of the Southern strangers, and they slipped out together just after your 'accident'. Not all those Southerners mean well; and as for Ferny, he would sell anything to anybody; or make mischief for amusement."

"What will Ferny sell, and what has my accident got to do with him?" Frodo asked. Sora looked at Kairi again and shook his head. The hobbit was either stupid, or purposefully not understanding where Strider was going with this.

"News of you, of course," answered Strider. "An account of your performance would be very interesting to certain people. After that they would hardly need to be told your real name. It seems to me only too likely that they will hear of it before this night is over. Is that enough? You can do as you like about my reward: take me as a guide or not. But I may say that I know all the lands between the Shire and the Misty Mountains, for I have wandered over them for many years. I am older than I look. I might prove useful. You will have to leave the open road after tonight; for the horsemen will watch it night and day. You may escape from Bree, and be allowed to go forward while the Sun is up; but you won't go far. They will come on you in the wild, in some dark place where there is no help. Do you wish them to find you? They are terrible!"

Sora looked at Kairi again as Strider paused. In his face was a look that clearly said, 'this sounds like an adventure all right.'

Kairi returned with another look. 'These riders sound _bad_ though...' was in her face, there was also a small bead of sweat on her brow.

"There!" Strider cried suddenly from across the door, drawing both of their attentions towards eavesdropping again. "Perhaps I know more about these pursuers than you do. You fear them, but you do not fear them enough, yet. Tomorrow you will have to escape, if you can. Strider can take you by paths that are seldom trodden. Will you have him?"

Sora leaned in closer, his head now hovering almost against the door, as another silence fell and the hobbits appeared to be thinking. He wanted to know if Strider was going to be going with these small creatures from the peaceful land of the Shire. They certainly hadn't appeared up to the task of avoiding the phantom images his mind was conjuring. He had only seen a horse a few times, when he was in Land of Dragons, and the thought of a person robed all in black and riding the black-haired creatures was a chilling one.

"With your leave Mr. Frodo, I'd say _no_!" Master Gamgee suddenly broke out. "This Strider here, he warns and he says take care; and I say _yes_ to that, and let's begin with him. He comes out of the Wild, and I never heard no good of suck folk. He knows something, that's plain, and more than I like; but it's no reason why we should let him go leading us out into some dark place far from help, as he puts it."

"No," Frodo said slowly. "I don't agree. I think, I think you are not really as you choose to look. You began to talk to me like the Bree-folk, but your voice has changed. Still Sam seems right in this: I don't see why you should warn us to take care, and yet ask us to take you on trust. Why the disguise? Who are you? What do you know about- about my business; and how do you know it?"

"The lesson in caution has been well learned," Strider said. "But caution is one thing and wavering is another. You will never get to Rivendell-"

Sora stopped listening as Kairi suddenly squeezed his hand tightly. He turned around sharply and his ears suddenly picked up the sounds of footsteps down the hall. Both he and Kairi pressed themselves against the wall, and he looked back. Barliman Butterbur was coming down towards the parlour with Nob and candles, Nob carrying cans of hot water, but out of the corner of his eyes Sora could see that Kairi was sweating, and that she was trying hard to keep her breathing quiet and steady.

Butterbur passed right in front of them, and paused for a second. Sora sucked in his gut and held his breath, Kairi doing likewise right next to him even though she was shaking slightly. Sora could feel her cold hand though the brown glove on his right hand. Nob glanced curiously at the apparently blank section of wall where they were hiding in plain sight.

Butterbur shrugged and knocked on the door before opening it. "I've come to bid you good night," he said. "Nob! Take the water to the rooms!" Nob hurried away down the hall and Butterbur went in and shut the door. Before he could eavesdrop again, Sora looked to Kairi.

"I can't concentrate anymore," she whispered ashamedly, almost hysterically. "My mind is getting fuzzy, and I can't keep it up."

"It's okay Iri," Sora said comfortingly, wrapping his arms tenderly around her. "It has to be the alcohol. No more drinking before casting magic for either of us."

"Alright Sora," Kairi replied in a very quiet voice, still shaking from the toll taken on her body. "I won't be able to in a few days anyway."

"Huh?" Sora asked in confusion. Kairi gave him a significant look and he remembered. "Oh, _that_." Kairi nodded and turned first towards listening at the door again.

"-hobbits of the Shire," Butterbur was saying, "and for one by the name of Baggins in particular."

"And what has that got to do with me?" asked Frodo _Baggins_.

"Ah! You know best," said the landlord in a knowing tone. "I won't give you away; but I was told that this Baggins would be going by the name of Underhill, and I was also given a description that fits you well enough, if I may say so."

"Indeed! Let's have it then," Frodo interrupted.

"'A stout little fellow with red cheeks,'" said Mr. Butterbur. "'That won't help you much Barley,' he says to me. 'But this one is taller than some and fairer than most, and he has a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye.' Begging your pardon, but he said it, not me."

"_He_ said it? And who was he?" Frodo asked.

"Ah! That was Gandalf, if you know who I mean. A wizard they say he is, but he's a good friend of mine, whether or no. But now I don't know what he'll have to say to me, if I see him again: turn all my ale sour of me into a block of wood, I shouldn't wonder. He's a bit hasty. Still what's done can't be undone."

"Well what have you done?" Frodo asked. Sora looked up slightly in thought. He though he remembered Roxas saying something that Yen Sid had told him about someone named... he couldn't remember but the man was supposed to be a wizard and the name Gandalf rang a bell somewhere in his memory.

"Where was I?" Butterbur said to himself before snapping his fingers. "Ah, yes! Old Gandalf. Three months back he walked right into my room without a knock. 'Barley,' he says, 'I'm off in the morning. Will you do something for me?' 'You've only to name it,' I said. 'I'm in a hurry,' said he, 'and I've no time myself, but I want a message took to the Shire. Have you anyone you can send, and trust to go?' 'I can find someone,' I said, 'tomorrow, maybe, or the day after.' 'Make it tomorrow,' he says, and then he gave me a letter."

"It's addressed plain enough," said Barliman, obviously reading off of the letter that was likely still in his possession. "Mr. Frodo Baggins, Bag End, Hobbiton, in the Shire."

"A letter for me from Gandalf!" cried Frodo.

"Ah!" Barliman said. "Then your right name is Baggins?"

"It is," said Frodo, "and you had better give me that letter at once, and explain why you never sent it. That's why you came to tell me, I suppose, though you've taken a long time to come to the point."

"You're right, master," Barliman said, "and I beg your pardon. And I'm mortal afraid of what Gandalf will say, if harm comes of it. But I didn't keep it back a-purpose. I put it by safe. Then I couldn't find nobody willing to go to the Shire next day, nor the day after, and none of my own folk were to spare; and then one thing after another drove it out of my mind. I'm a busy man. I'll do what I can to set matters right, and if there's any help I can give, you've only to name it."

"Leaving the letter aside, I promised Gandalf no less. 'Barley,' he says to me, 'this friend of mine from the Shire, he may be coming out this way before long, him and another. He'll be calling himself Underhill. Mind that! But you need ask no questions. And if I'm not with him, he may be in trouble, and he may need help. Do whatever you can for him, and I'll be grateful,' he says. And here you are, and trouble is not far off, seemingly."

"What do you mean?" asked Frodo.

The landlord lowered his voice. "These black men," he said. "They're looking for _Baggins_, and if they mean well, then I'm a hobbit. It was on Monday, and all the dogs were yammering and the geese screaming. Uncanny, I called it. Nob, he came and told me that two black men were at the door asking for a hobbit called Baggins. Nob's hair was all stood on end. I bid the black fellows be off, and slammed the door on them; but they've been asking the same question all the way to Archet, I hear. And that Ranger, Strider, he's been asking questions too. Tried to get in here to see you, before you'd had bite or sup, he did."

"He did!" Strider's voice suddenly rose up. So he had been hiding somewhere within the room. Sora had wondered why he had been silent so long. "And much trouble would have been saved, if you had let him in, Barliman."

"You!" Barliman yelped in surprise, "You're always popping up. What do you want now?"

"He's here with my leave," said Frodo. "He came to offer me his help."

Butterbur did not sound pleased by this. "Well, you know your own business, maybe. But if I was in your plight, I wouldn't take up with a Ranger."

"Then who would you take up with?" Strider asked. "A fat innkeeper who only remembers his own name because people shout it at him all day? They cannot stay in _The Pony_ forever, and they cannot go home. They have a long road before them. Will you go with them and keep the black men off?"

"Me? Leave Bree! I wouldn't do that for any money," Mr. Butterbur said in a very scared voice. "But, why can't you stay here quiet for a bit, Mr. Underhill? What are all these queer goings on? What are these black men after, and where do they come from, I'd like to know?"

"I'm sorry I cannot explain it all," replied Frodo. "I am tired and very worried, and it's a long tale. But if you mean to help me, I ought to warn you that you will be in danger as long as I am in your house. These Black Riders: I am not sure, but I think, I fear they come from-"

"They come from Mordor," Strider said in a low voice. "From Mordor, Barliman, if that means anything to you."

Neither Sora nor Kairi could hold back their gasps. Mordor was a name they _did_ remember, even if only from the briefing at Star Command yesterday. They were too loud though, and the door was flung open, spilling both teenagers onto the floor. Sora felt a pair of strong hands grab him roughly and throw him into the room, his back connecting with a chair in the corner. A moment later he felt a little air get pushed out of his lungs by something that landed on his stomach.

"Sorry to drop in on you," Kairi groaned, half to Sora and half to the others as she lay overtop of his abdomen.

"What were you doing?" Frodo asked angrily as the door was closed again. Sora looked up at him, surprised that he wasn't actually looking up, but more... level to gaze into the hobbit's eyes.

"Just passing by," Sora said, his voice still showing the slight pain from the collision with the chair, "then we heard voices and stopped to listen."

"And how much, pray tell, did you hear?" Frodo asked.

"Uh... everything," Kairi answered, "Frodo Baggins."

"How Miss Kairi?" Barliman asked. "I did not see you."

"We're good at hiding," Sora answered, smiling sheepishly at Kairi. Strider did not look amused at either of them, and Sora looked away, discomforted by the ranger's gaze.

"We will decide what to do with you eavesdropping troublemakers later," said Frodo. He looked towards Barliman. "Are you still willing to help me?"

"I am," replied the innkeeper. "More than ever. Though, I don't know what the likes of me can do against, against-"

"Against the Shadow in the East," said Strider quietly. "Not much, Barliman, but every little helps. You can let Mr. Underhill stay here tonight, as Mr. Underhill, and you can forget the name of Baggins, till he is far away."

"I'll do that," Butterbur said. "But they'll find out he's here without help from me, I'm afraid. It's a pity Mr. Baggins drew attention to himself this evening, to say no more. The story of that Mr. Bilbo's going off has been heard before tonight in Bree. Even our Nob has been doing some guessing in his slow pate; and there are others in Bree quicker in the uptake than he is."

"Well, we can only hope the Riders won't come back yet," Frodo said.

"I hope not, indeed," said Butterbur. "But spooks or no spooks, they won't get in _The Pony_ so easy. Don't you worry till the morning. Nob'll say no word. No black man shall pass my doors, while I can stand on my legs. Me and my folk'll keep watch tonight; but you had best get some sleep if you can."

"In any case we must be called at dawn," said Frodo. "We must get off as early as possible. Breakfast at six-thirty, please."

"Right! I'll see to the orders," Butterbur said. "Good night Mr. Baggins- Underhill, I should say! Good night- now bless me! Where's your Mr. Brandybuck?"

"Brandybuck?" Kairi asked, looking at Sora. He shrugged.

"I don't know," Frodo said anxiously, ignoring Kairi's question. "I am afraid he is out. He said something about going for a breath of air."

"Well, you do want looking after and no mistake: your party might be on holiday!" the landlord said. "I must go and bar the doors quick, but I'll see your friend is let in when he comes. I'd better send Nob to look for him. Good night to you all!" Butterbur gave Sora and Kairi a final curious and suspicious look before at last he left.

Sora looked mournfully at those still in the room before he noticed that Frodo was still holding the letter in his hands. "Well," he asked, "are you going to open it?" The hobbit gave him a sour look and Sora wormed his right arm out from under Kairi and pointed at the letter. Still looking at Sora, Frodo opened the letter, and read it before passing it to his other two companions.

"Really old Butterbur has made a mess of things!" he said. "He deserves roasting. If I had got this at once, we might all have been safe in Rivendell by now. But what can have happened to Gandalf? He writes as if he was going into great danger."

"He has been doing that for many years," Strider said.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were Gandalf's friend at once?" Frodo asked, turning thoughtfully to Strider. "It would have saved much time."

"Would it?" Strider asked. "Would any of you have believed me till now? I knew nothing of this letter. For all I knew I had to persuade you to trust me without proofs, if I was to help you. In any case I did not intend to tell you all about myself at once. I had to study _you_ first, and make sure of you. The Enemy has set traps for me before now. As soon as I had made up my mind, I was ready to tell you whatever you asked. But I must admit," he added with a queer laugh, "that I had hoped you would take to me for my own sake. A hunted man sometimes wearies of distrust and longs for friendship. But there, I believe my looks are against me."

"They are- at first sight at any rate," Master Took laughed in relief after reading Gandalf's letter. "But handsome is as handsome does, as we say in the Shire; and I daresay we shall all look much the same after lying for days in hedges and ditches."

"It would take more than a few days, or weeks, or years, of wandering in the Wild to make you look like Strider," he answered. "And you would die first, unless you are made of sterner stuff than you look to be."

The Took subsided; but Master Gamgee did not appear to be daunted by Strider's words, and eyed him dubiously. "How do we know you are the Strider that Gandalf speaks about?" he queried. "You never mentioned Gandalf, till this letter came out. You might be a play-acting spy, for all I can see, trying to get us to go with you. You might have done in the real Strider and took his clothes. What have you to say to that?"

"That you are a stout fellow," answered Strider, "but I am afraid my only real answer to you, Sam Gamgee, is this. The only spies that _I_ can see here in this room are these two over here, and that if I had killed the real Strider, I could kill you. And I should have killed you already without so much talk. If I was after the Ring, I could have it– NOW!"

He stood up, and it appeared to Sora as if he were seeing Strider for the first time. He seemed to grow taller, in his eyes there was a light, keen and commanding. Throwing back his cloak, he laid his hand on the hilt of a sword that had hung concealed by his side. Sora did not dare to move, only to keep his mouth foolishly agape at the man in front of him.

"But I _am_ the real Strider, fortunately," he said, looking down on them with his face softened by a sudden smile. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will."

They were all silent for a time, and Sora turned his head to Frodo as the hobbit hesitantly began speaking. "I believed that you were a friend before the letter came, or at least I wished to. You have frightened me several times tonight, but never in the way that servants of the Enemy would, or so I imagine. I think one of his spies would- well, seem fairer and feel fouler, if you understand."

Strider laughed. "I see. I look foul and feel fair. Is that it? _All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost._"

"Did the verses apply to you then?" asked Frodo. Sora looked at him in confusion but his look went unnoticed, as his presence mostly had been. "I could not make out what they were about. But how did you know that they were in Gandalf's letter, if you have never seen it?"

"I did not know," Strider answered. "But I am Aragorn, and those verses go with that name." Sora looked sharply back at him as he drew his sword out of its scabbard, and he saw with surprise that the blade was broken a foot below the hilt. "Not much use, is it Sam?" Strider asked with a smile, "but the time is near when it shall be forged anew."

Sam kept silent.

"Well," Strider continued, "with Sam's permission we will call that settled. Strider will be your guide. Now we must decide what to do with these two young spies here." He looked directly at Sora and Kairi, as she still laid over him mostly in the position she had been left in, her back across his lap with her shoulders propped up by her elbows so she could look around.

"Do they feel to you, Frodo, what you imagine an agent of the Enemy would feel?" Strider asked. Sora looked hopefully at the hobbit, but his face was pensive.

"No," he replied after a moment. "Neither of you feel foul, rather, you both feel very fair. Almost as fair as Gildor and his kin felt."

_Of course we do,_ Sora thought inwardly while he concealed a smile, not really caring about who this Gildor was. _I'm the chosen master of the Keyblade and Kairi's a princess of heart. How much fairer can you get?_

"We were just curious and got caught snooping," Kairi said sheepishly, looking at Sora.

"That you did," Mr. Took said.

"We aren't enemies in case you want to know," Sora added. "We've never even heard of this Ring that you've mentioned, but we have heard of Mordor so we were surprised by it."

"Well we cannot leave you here, in hopes that you will not be discovered by the Enemy's spies," Strider said. "You have learned too much."

"So what do you plan to do with us?" Kairi asked. Strider and Frodo shared a glance.

"You said you were adventuring east yourselves, did you not?" asked Strider. Sora and Kairi nodded and Strider looked to Sam, who grumbled but held his tongue.

"Then you shall accompany us as well," Strider continued regretfully. "I had hoped that ones as young and innocent as yourselves would not be forced to go into such danger, but there it is. We shall have a rough road tomorrow. Even if we are allowed to leave Bree unhindered, we can hardly hope now to leave unnoticed. But I shall try to get us lost as soon as possible. I know one or two ways out of Bree-land other than the main road. If once we shake off the pursuit, I shall make for Weathertop."

"Weathertop?" Sam asked. "What's that?"

"It's a hill, just to the north of the Road, about half way from here to Rivendell. It commands a wide view all round; and there we shall have a chance to look around us. Gandalf will make for that point, if he follows us. After Weathertop our journey will become more difficult, and we shall have to choose between various dangers."

"When did you last see Gandalf?" asked Frodo. "Do you know where he is, or what he is doing?"

Strider gave Frodo a grave look. Kairi made some movement and Sora nudged Kairi and she grunted and got off of him to his left, finally. "It looks like we're getting more of an adventure than we bargained for Kai," he mumbled while Strider began talking about the last he had seen of the wizard. Kairi nodded and drew in a ragged breath, her eyes closed.

Sora looked at her anxiously. He removed his right glove and touched Kairi's flushing cheek. Sora quickly withdrew the hand and gasped in shock. Her skin felt cold as ice!

"Kairi," he said concernedly.

"I don't feel so well Sora," Kairi said, shivering and drawing her arms closer to her body. "I feel cold, and I don't know why. Even though the fire is right there, I don't know why I'm not feeling as warm as I should be."

Sora placed his arm comfortingly across her shoulders, hoping that the heat from it would be enough to help warm her up. He looked up and found the three hobbits and Strider looking at the two of them curiously. Frodo looked at Mr. Took and the other hobbit quickly went and gathered a blanket from the pack that was his in the room. He gave it to Sora, and the Keyblade Master master tenderly wrapped Kairi up in the blanket that was far too small.

"Sora..." Kairi mumbled, her eyes still closed and her head tilted down, "so cold..." Sora took her left hand in his right and gave it a gentle squeeze. It worried him that Kairi's body was getting so chilly when all evidence supported that she shouldn't be cold at all. It couldn't be the alcohol, he'd never heard of it doing this.

He suddenly heard a door slam and the sound of hurried footsteps, but Sora did not draw his eyes away from the sick angel at his side until he saw another hobbit enter with Nob. He shut the door hastily and leaned against it. Sora stared at him in alarm at his sudden entrance before he gasped, "I have seen them, Frodo! I have seen them! Black Riders!"

"Black Riders!" cried Frodo. "Where?"

"Here. In the village. I stayed indoors for an hour. Then as you did not come back, I went out for a stroll. I had come back again and was standing just outside the light of the lamp looking at the stars. Suddenly I shivered and felt that something horrible was creeping near: there was a sort of deeper shade among the shadows across the road, just beyond the edge of the lamplight. It slid away at once into the dark without a sound. There was no horse."

"Which way did it go?" Strider asked, suddenly and sharply.

The hobbit started, noticing him for the first time, his eyes also quickly found Sora and Kairi. "Go on!" urged Frodo. "This is a friend of Gandalf's and these two are unwitting, innocent spies that we've picked up. I will explain later."

"It seemed to make off up the Road, eastward," the hobbit, who Sora now assumed as he delved into Butterbur's parting remarks was Mr. Brandybuck, continued. "I tried to follow. Of course, it vanished almost at once; but I went round the corner and on as far as the last house on the Road."

Strider looked at the Brandybuck with wonder. "You have a stout heart," he said, "but it was foolish."

"I don't know," said Brandybuck. "Neither brave nor silly, I think. I could hardly help myself. I seemed to be drawn somehow. Anyway, I went, and suddenly I heard voices by the hedge. One was muttering; and the other was whispering, or hissing. I couldn't hear a word that was said. I did not creep any closer, because I began to tremble all over. Then I felt terrified, and I turned back, and was just going to bolt home, when something came behind me and I... I fell over."

"I found him, sir," put in Nob. "Mr. Butterbur sent me out with a lantern. I went down to West-gate, and then back up towards South-gate. Just nigh of Bill Ferny's house I thought I could see something in the Road. I couldn't swear to it, but it looked to me as if two men was stooping over something, lifting it. I gave a shout, but when I got up to the spot there was no signs of them, and only Mr. Brandybuck lying by the roadside. He seemed to be asleep. 'I thought I had fallen into deep water,' he says to me when I shook him. Very queer he was, and as soon as I had roused him, he got up and ran back here like a hare."

"I'm afraid that's true," the hobbit confirmed, "though I don't know what I said. I had an ugly dream, which I can't remember. I went to pieces. I don't know what came over me."

"I do," answered Strider. "The Black Breath. The Riders must have left their horses outside, and passed back through the South-gate in secret. They will know all the news now, for they have visited Bill Ferny; and probably that Southerner was a spy as well. Something may well happen this night, before we leave Bree."

"What will they do?" Sora asked. "Will they attack the inn?"

"No, I think not," Strider said. "They are not all here yet. And in any case that is not their way. In dark and loneliness they are strongest; they will not openly attack a house where there are lights and many people- not until they are desperate, not while all the long leagues of Eriador still lie before us. But their power is in terror, and already some in Bree are in their clutch. They will drive these wretches to some evil work: Ferny, and some of the strangers, and, maybe, the gatekeeper too. They had words with Harry at West-gate on Monday. I was watching them. He was white and shaking when they left him."

Sora sighed in relief that Strider thought that they would not attack the inn and looked at Kairi again. Her condition hadn't improved, and he couldn't really have said that he'd had a hope that it would. It seemed that these Riders were more dangerous than they'd thought, and had strange powers of darkness that affected their hearts. Of course Kairi would be far more sensitive to them than anyone else, given the nature of her heart. But he couldn't tell them that, not yet.

"We seem to have enemies all round," Frodo said dismally. "What are we to do?"

"Stay here, and do not go to your rooms!" Strider said. "They are sure to have found out which those are. The hobbit-rooms have windows looking north and close to the ground. We will all remain together and bar this window and the door. But first Nob and I will fetch your luggage. Sora, fetch yours and Kairi's and return here." Sora nodded and let go of Kairi's hand.

"Don't go," she said in a pleading whisper, her hand reaching out for his again. Her eyes were closed, but she didn't need to see to know where he was. Sora looked anxiously at her and knelt down in front of the princess.

"I'll be right back Kairi," he said. "I promise." He kissed her forehead in quick farewell and Kairi's eyes opened. Her cheeks were still flushed and the indigo that looked at Sora was filled with fear and worry.

"Just hurry," she said. Sora nodded and rose to leave.

He reached the room they had quickly, and gathered up their jackets and outer shirts that they had left there before heading down to the parlour. He knocked on the door to let Jiminy, since the cricket was still in there, know that someone was coming in, and opened the door.

The fire had burned quite low and was now small glowing embers, giving the area by the heart a deep reddish glow while the rest of the warm parlour was bathed in darkness. Sora closed the door behind him and summoned his Keyblade. He tapped the door with the star-tip of Remembrance and heard with satisfaction the sound of the door locking. Nodding to himself, he looked at the fireplace. He raised his right hand. "Fire." A ball of hovering flame formed above his palm and he flung it at the fireplace, whereupon light flooded all through the room once more.

"Jiminy," Sora called quietly. The cricket popped up from the flap that kept Sora's pack closed and Sora sighed in relief, seeing that he was still here.

"What is it Sora?" Jiminy asked as Sora came closer to him.

"Where's that communicator from Star Command?" Sora asked. Jiminy dove back in and after a second reappeared with the device. It was shaped somewhat like a baton, except it widened beyond the hand-grip to reveal a screen. Sora pressed his thumb to a red button and held it down for two seconds to activate it before rummaging through the menus to locate the number for Roxas' communicator. Tapping the screen to initiate a call, Sora dialled the volume down and went close to the fire.

Several seconds later the screen flared to life again, his brother looking at him from the screen. "Hey Sora," he said.

"Hey Roxas," Sora replied, smiling. "Hey, uh, we have a problem."

"We do?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, you know the world that Kairi and I decided to go to yesterday/today because we wanted to check it out?"

"Yes..."

"We're in Middle-Earth," Sora said. "The one world we did _not_ want to wind up in!"

"Well then get out of there before Maleficent find you!" Roxas said, looking at Sora in distress.

"We can't," Sora answered, "even though she hasn't found us and we haven't heard a word about her."

"Why not?"

"Because Kairi and I got caught snooping, so now we're stuck on an adventure here," said Sora. "And it feels like it's going to be a long one."

"Sora..." Roxas grumbled.

"Listen, Roxas, we'd leave now if we could, but we can't. And we don't want to let anyone know that we aren't from this world, so we're keeping Jiminy, Aiwemon, Menelmon, the Keyblades, and my arm a secret. So, can you call everyone and tell them not to call us."

Roxas sighed. "I don't like this. I guess you haven't met Gandalf yet or been to Rivendell so you could let your secret loose?"

"No," Sora answered. "The guys we're with are looking for this Gandalf, he's missing, and they are on their way to Rivendell, so I guess we're headed that way too."

"I'll tell everyone Sora so don't worry about that. Take care."

"Yeah, you too. Bye. Love you bro."

Roxas paused for a moment before he frowned. "What is it Sora?"

Sora looked at Roxas with a hurt expression. "What? Do I need a reason to tell my brother I love him?"

"Unless you've suddenly become a homosexual incestuous ape, yes," Roxas said

Sora couldn't help but break his façade and laugh. "No asshat, I'm still straight as a needle! Though you might need to take another look between Naminé and me just to make sure."

"Why look at you?" Roxas asked.

"Bro, some people are just naturally good looking."

"Yeah, that's why it looks like your spikes finally up and left you with what remained of your dignity." Sora laughed, but his laugh quickly died though as he sighed.

"It's Kairi," he said at last. "Something's wrong."

"What?" Roxas asked.

"I'm not quite sure," Sora answered. "But, there are these Black Riders that Strider and the hobbits, I'll explain all about them when we're free to talk, keep mentioning. They appear to be very dark beings Roxas, and they're nearby from what has been said. Their presence has been affecting Kairi's heart because she's so sensitive to darkness, she's grown so cold and I'm worried about her, _and_ about keeping our secret and interfering if there aren't any Heartless around this area."

Sora placed his fist to his chin in anxiety, and his eyes must have shown his thoughts because Roxas began to speak sympathetically. "You'll both make it through this Sora. Just keep your spirits up, for both our sakes. We're brothers now, even though we're both learning what it means to be brothers and I'm still dealing with actually feeling emotions of my own."

Sora looked down and sighed again. "I've been away from Kairi for too long already."

"Yeah," Roxas answered. "Take care of her Sora. And... I love you too bro. Later."

Sora whispered, "Yeah. Later Roxas," cut the connection and let the screen die before he shoved it back in the pack. Sora stopped before he would have put the flap back down on the pack and grabbed the communicator again. He went through the same procedure he had with Roxas and waited for the screen to life again.

Once more it did and Riku appeared on the screen this time. "What's up Sora?" he asked.

"Argh," another voice suddenly and excitedly put in before Riku was shoved slightly over to the side to reveal that it was Yuffie speaking, "miss us already? Whoa! What happened to your hair, your high-and-mighty-ness, argh?"

Sora smiled and couldn't keep himself from laughing. "Argh, that I do matey. And Kairi cut my hair so we could disguise ourselves better argh."

Riku looked between his girlfriend and Sora, a peculiar expression on his face. "Why are you two talking in pirate voices?"

"Argh," Yuffie said, roughing Riku's shoulder a little, "that I don't quite know."

"Argh, she's right," Sora added, "argh."

"Okay enough pirates," Riku said, in annoyance. "What's up Sora?"

Sora sighed and looked down slightly as his smile slipped off his face. "Kairi and I have wound up in Middle-Earth."

"Ar-what?" Yuffie yelped, ceasing in mid-pirate. "But bad news Maleficent is there."

"She's in Mordor," Sora said, "but from what I can tell we're nowhere near there, so she probably doesn't even know that we've shown up on this world."

"Then you should get out before she finds you," Riku said. "We know that she's too powerful right now for the four of you to take on."

"We can't really get out," Sora answered.

"Why not?" Yuffie asked. "Wait, where's Kairi? Can't we talk with her about this too?"

"Kairi can't really come to talk right now," Sora muttered after a moment of silence.

Riku's eyes began to narrow. "Don't tell me she got captured again."

Sora shook his head. "No. She didn't get captured, but there are these Black Riders that we've found out about. It sounds like they're agents of dark evil or something, and they're close by. Their presence is affecting Kairi's heart, and she's gone cold, and I mean _really_ cold. I need to get back to her; I said I wouldn't be long."

"Where is she?" Yuffie asked.

"Right now we're in an inn," Sora said. He huffed slightly, "A merry old in. And we got caught snooping on a conversation between a Ranger known as Strider, the inn keep, and a few hobbits, their business dealing with some ring that these Black Riders appear to be searching for. So we're stuck going with them to a place called Rivendell."

"Hobbits?" Yuffie asked.

"Little short people," Sora answered, "but there's more to them than that."

"Oh so they're about your height," Riku joked.

Sora laughed darkly. "No, they're like, two to three feet tall. Anyways, just thinking about them now makes me want to get to Kairi again. Her heart isn't taking the presence of the Black Riders well."

"Alright Sora," Riku said seriously, nodding.

"And it would be best if you didn't call either of us because we're trying to, you know, keep the fact that we aren't from here under wraps," Sora added, remembering it. "I'll find a window to contact you again if anything else comes up."

"Okay then Sora," Yuffie said. "Be safe."

"We'll try," Sora answered, nodding to Riku in goodbye before turning off the communicator.

Sora placed the device back into the pack and shuffled some stuff around so that it would be hidden. He put on his outer black shirt, buttoned it up, and bundled the remainder of his and Kairi's other outer clothing and cloaks in his arm before hoisting his pack onto his back, grasping Kairi's in his other hand.

"Come on Jiminy," Sora sighed, awkwardly summoning his Keyblade again to unlock the door. He banished the magical weapon again before opening the door and with a wave of his hand let the fire that he'd sent to the fireplace die, so that the embers were as undisturbed as before, if a little hotter.

When he returned to the room it was to find Strider waiting at the door for him. He nodded for Sora to enter and then shut the door behind them. They piled the bags and gear on the parlour-floor and pushed a low chair against the door and shut the window. Strider built the fire up and blew out all the candles.

The hobbits lay down on their blankets with their feet towards the hearth, which Sora noticed were bare of shoes but heavily covered on the upside with brown hair. Strider settled himself in the chair against the door, and Sora moved Kairi over to a clear section near the fire, placing a blanket underneath her and both their cloaks and another blanket over her. She was still very cold. For himself he set no spot to rest, and was only marginally aware of Strider's eyes resting on him.

The hobbits still talked for a little, and Sora joined in when he could, for Meriadoc, or Merry, as was Mr. Brandybuck's first name, still had several questions to ask. But Sora's chief concern was Kairi, and paid little attention apart from learning that Mr. Took's first name was Peregrin, or Pippin.

The hobbits slowly drifted off into sleep, but Sora could care less. Kairi had passed into sleep herself, but the coldness that plagued her would still not pass. Even her belly was cold still. Sora felt so helpless and knew that he would get no sleep tonight.

"You care very much about her," Strider said suddenly from the door, "do you not Sora?"

"She's a very dear friend of mine," Sora replied, not thinking about his words. "Even though she says that I'm strong," he shook his head, "I don't know what I would do if Kairi were gone. I'm not sure if I could go on living like I do." Strider nodded and said nothing more.

Sora looked at him for a moment before he laid down next to her and wrapped himself up in the cloaks and blanket she was under. Kairi shivered and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. Kairi unconsciously clutched at his shirt with her hands and brought him and his heat closer to her. Sora looked anxiously at her and kissed her cheek before pulling her a little closer with both of his arms, rocking her slightly.

_Kairi, what have we gotten ourselves into?_

-A-D-

_And the end of the first chapter in Middle-Earth. For those of you who don't like the books, tough luck, I love them; and they are what I am going to be using. But don't despair. Middle-Earth will be broken up amongst the other chapters and characters, because I know not everyone likes Lord of the Rings. But when it comes, I shove it down your throat!_

_Much like I do at the end of EVERY CHAPTER!_

_And for those of you wondering, beer doesn't actually taste like that. It's an acquired taste and to me right now it tastes awful, which is why I stick to regular alcohols like Vodka and Rum. However, traditional, __**original**__ Irish Ale does taste like gingerale._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	5. The Lost Empire

_And now we take a break from __**The Lord of the Rings**__, mostly, and follow instead Riku, Yuffie, and Max._

_But there is something else I must address. As we all know, the Nobody Cossex who was formerly under Maleficent's employ is the Nobody of a warrior named Devona from the Kingdom of Ascalon in the world of Tyria. Since the name Devona is in no way resembling Cossex, would you like me to change her name entirely from the story so that she is now called Doxanve, or change her background to the OC character I created specifically for the purpose of naming Cossex whose name is Cesso? No matter what though, Nixion will stay the same._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Disney, Kingdom Hearts, or anything except for my OCs and master plot._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter V: The Lost Empire

The _Highwind _sailed through the rifts of warp space, its engines brimming with blue fire that streaked through the stellar landscape. Everything around it was nothing more than a mass of blue light, folding and unfolding around the red and yellow gummi ship as it traversed through the space in what appeared to be serene peace.

On the interior of the gummi ship however, it was far from peaceful. Although the inhabitants of the gummi ship had left in the morning, well-fed and ready for the beginning of a new adventure, it was now a little past noon and the morale of the three occupants had deteriorated to the sound of rumbling stomachs.

"Are you telling me that the only thing you were able to pick up from Sora and Kairi was how to cook eggs?" Yuffie asked for the fourth time, glaring at Max from the couch as a movie played on the TV to pass the time.

"For the last time, yes," the boy answered emotionlessly, his eyes stuck on his shoes. "I didn't really care enough to _learn_ how to cook, I was content enough eating the stuff they cooked, which by the way, was usually awesome."

"Don't remind me of how good Sora's cooking is," Riku groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I do not want to be reminded of that right now."

"Didn't they stock any frozen dinners or anything?" Max asked suddenly, looking up from his shoes.

Riku shook his head 'no'. "I checked already, no frozen dinners or anything in the freezer."

"What about soup and sandwiches?" Yuffie asked quickly. She suddenly froze and four eyes turned onto her for a second before there was a collective groan.

"How could we have forgotten about the basic sandwich?" Max asked, almost laughing as he bounded off of chair. Yuffie snatched the remote faster than Riku's eyes could see and flicked the movie on 'pause'.

"Come on Rik," she said, winking. "We have sandwiches to chow down on!"

"I don't care if it even _is_ filled with sand," Riku said, remembering an incident as a child between him and Sora, "just as long as it's food, I'm game right now."

"A sandwich made with sand?" Yuffie asked, giggling slightly. "Sounds like something I'd do."

"Yeah well you'd better not," Riku snorted. "I've had enough of those to last a lifetime."

"Really? How many?" Yuffie asked.

Riku looked her dead in the eye. "One." His raven-haired girlfriend laughed and Riku shook his head. "Trust me. One is enough to last a lifetime. However, Sora's had about three, all because he got me that one time. But, he learned the lesson to never fiddle with my lunch on the play island again."

Yuffie smirked and rushed in front of Riku before stopping. She pointed her finger at him accusingly. "You were a devious little tyke weren't you?"

Riku laughed. "Isn't everyone, oh great ninja Yuffie? I'm sure that we were pretty tame compared to you."

Yuffie had just enough decency to giggle ashamedly. "Well, when you put it that way, I was known as the 'Terror of Traverse Town' when I was little."

"That sounds like you," Riku said.

"Hey what do you mean by that?" Yuffie asked, stopping him again as Riku continued to try moving towards the kitchen (where Max was probably already halfway through his first sandwich).

"I mean that you wouldn't be able to last _one_ day without playing a joke on someone," Riku said, looking down on her with a smirk.

Yuffie folded her arms and allowed him a sly smirk. "Is that a bet Riku?"

"Fifty munny says that you can't," Riku said, extending his hand.

"How about this," Yuffie countered. "If you're right, and I can't, which by the way, I _can_ go a day without pulling a prank on someone, then I'll do anything you want for a whole day of your choice."

Riku's eyebrows rose, "And if you prove that you can't?"

"Then you're my slave for a day," Yuffie said, smiling wider now. "Well Riku, do you think you can handle it?"

Riku held his tongue for a second. He had just been presented with the opportunity for his girlfriend to become his complete slave for a day of his choosing. He could save and bank that for some day in the future when he really needed it, or if he so chose he could let his youthful hormones influence him it push the date up to give him imminent carnal satisfaction.

On the _other_ hand, if he lost the bet, one day could be completely ruined, or it could also provide him with the satisfaction he might have gained if he won the bet. It was a possible win-win situation.

"Done," he said another second later, extending his hand for a second time. Yuffie took it.

"A pleasure my future slave," Yuffie said, shaking it slowly while their eyes were upon each other's. Riku couldn't quite figure out what it was that was in Yuffie's dark brown eyes, but she already had to be planning the sort of things she'd have him do when she won.

_If_, Riku reminded himself while a smirk forced its way onto his face. _If she wins._

"Hey are you guys coming or what?" Max's voice trailed through the corridor to them.

"You bet we are," Yuffie called back. She twisted around, the two black trails from the back of her headband faintly striking Riku with how quickly she turned. In another half-second she had vanished in a puff of black smoke before quickly reappearing ten metres down the corridor in another puff. Riku's feet started to follow quickly as Yuffie vanished and reappeared again, right as he had caught up to her. This time when she reappeared it was right in front of the kitchen's entrance. She smiled innocently at Riku before she bounced slightly to her left and ambled into the kitchen. Riku sighed and followed her in after a two seconds worth of catching up.

-A-D-

A cloaked figure moved with impunity underneath a dark and dreary sky. Around him were many thousands of black creatures with brightly glowing yellow eyes, most of them wearing some form of iron armour. They stood tall, over a foot taller than the cloaked man, and growled slightly as they performed tasks they had been set, many of them carrying some kind of digging tool, or varied amounts of rock and dirt in carrying devices in their arms. Around them were tens of thousands more black creatures, far smaller though, many of them reaching the average height of a young man, with others standing only half as high.

_So the bumbling idiot has returned,_ thought the man, giving the sight of the creatures no thought, _it appears he has done well... for once._ He took a deep breath in and his nose underneath his hood twitched. _Ugh, this place still smells of orc._

The cloaked man turned slightly towards what looked like a freshly bored cavern entrance in the base of a mountain. He turned his yellow eyes skyward from underneath his black hood for a second. The skies above him were dark as night, a product of the ash, flame, and smoke that poured out of the great mountain of fire that was in this land, and yet it was also lit by a faint and gloomy, eerie red light. He dropped his eyes again and kicked at a small black rock that had been missed by one of the working creatures when they had been excavating the entryway. Not pausing after kicking at the rock, he swiftly entered the cave.

The man quickly made his way down into the tunnels that had been, and were still being, dug underneath these mountains. His path was lit by torches and iron wicker cauldrons filled with fire. Around some of these almost caged fires there were small gatherings of beings. Some of them were soldiers in black and red body armour; others were creatures opposite to those black ones that scurried around like working bees, excavating, digging, and moving rock like there was no other purpose in life, they were silver creatures that stood around and chatted amongst themselves in their own telepathic manner. Some that the cloaked man passed by were sharpening weapons in the low firelight, others were simply lazing around, while a few more were watching a few creatures garbed in blue, shod with iron shoes and oversized helmets over their black heads, bright yellow eyes shining out while red claws grasped hold of beams of wood to support the tunnels.

The man stopped for a moment at the junction as he heard the sound of some kind of futuristic plasma cannon being fired far down the tunnel the creatures with the wooden beams were going down. He flipped down his black hood to reveal his silver hair, gelled into many vertical spikes, and looked at the three silver creatures that were quivering almost in anticipation.

"Do not go after the Heartless," he ordered in an emotionless tone. "We will work and fight alongside them." The silver creatures nodded and one of them sat down, drawing a long sword that crackled with lightning. It pulled out a rock, and set to work grinding it along the edge of the blade. When it looked up again from behind its masked head, the cloaked man was gone, further down the tunnel.

He passed by another three junctions, the work on different tunnels branching off of each junction having gone only so far as to still be within ten metres of the intersection, before he reached his destination. It was the first actual room that had been carved into the rock beneath the world's surface. It was about twenty metres long, and fifteen metres wide. Three more tunnels branched out of it, one on each of the room's sides, and one at the back. The man had travelled down to reach the room, and the tunnel on the sides continued down, while the tunnel at the back of the room rose up, a clever trick to confuse infiltrators. Inside the room was a long, black wooden table with several seats around it. Only a couple of these seats at the table were currently occupied. At the head of the table sat a sorceress, her pale green skin sucking in the light of the torches and cauldrons that lit the room while the black horns on her head cast dreadful shadows into the corners. A hunched raven sat on her shoulder, leering at everyone and everything. A black staff with a green orb on its top was resting within her right hand. Leaning against the table to the right was a large, fat, cat-like creature with a pug face. Seated at the table, about halfway down on the left hand side was an abnormally sized white rodent that looked mostly like a rabbit, red eyes angrily glaring at two creatures that stood about a metre and a half between the rodent and the sorceress. The first was about nine feet tall, bipedal, and looked whale-like. The second was a small yellow creature on the whale-creature's shoulder, eating a sandwich. The rodent was yelling at the two creatures.

"—failed at every chance to capture a single experiment, even _with_ the Heartless working with you, you stupid and incompetent pile of excrement!"

"Hey what am I?" the yellow creature atop the speechless whale man asked. Before Hämsterviel could answer, he looked at the sandwich he had just taken a bite out of. "Ah, PB&J: simple, but always effective."

"You wouldn't even make a meatball of a Heartless, insufferable fruitcake!" Hämsterviel said.

"I don't know whether I should be relieved, or offended," Six-two-five answered, placing his hands to his sides, the sandwich resting on his left side.

The sorceress looked up at the man's entrance. "Ah, Nixion," said Maleficent. "Come and join us. It will at least give me some... sensible company." The Nobody nodded and moved into the room, the eyes of most of its occupants following him.

"I mean, _fruitcake_? Come on pal," Six-two-five continued unabated. "At least have some decency when you're insulting me."

"I have unleashed a small amount of Heartless to the worlds as you ordered Maleficent," Nixion said, preferring to remain standing as he moved beyond Pete to become the closest one to the witch. "They are to be left unsupervised?"

"The Heartless work best that way," Maleficent answered. "Let them follow their instincts, gathering hearts with which to build my army."

"Very well," Nixion said, nodding his head. "With your permission then, I'd like to explore some of the worlds."

Maleficent raised an eye in interest. "Do you plan to continue your hunt for Cossex?" Nixion shook his head.

"No," he answered. "Cossex is of no concern to us anymore. I have sensed something, and it makes my mind feel somewhat curious." He looked at Maleficent and she nodded at him to continue. "It feels like the powers of nothingness are stirring. There are a few strong Nobodies that have started to act up. I can feel them, and, with your permission, I'd like them to work under me."

Maleficent was silent for a few seconds in thought, and Nixion was confident that he could see the cogs in her mind turning. He knew before she answered that she would relent and allow him to seek out and bend these Nobodies to his will, all in her name. Having several Nobodies instead of just one would wreck havoc on the nerves of the Keyblade wielders, still so soon after having dealt with Organization XIII. And Nobodies are so much stronger than her flesh and blood allies such as Hämsterviel.

"It would also permit me to make a greater impact on our little war," Nixion added in a sincere tone. "Taking more of the mundane burden from you, my Mistress, so that you can continue your studies and experiments on that unstoppable Heartless of yours while your terrifying fortress is still under construction."

Maleficent looked up slowly and he knew that he had her. "Very well Nixion, you are free to go. However," she added, "I would like to see each of these Nobodies myself after you have found them, to see if they are fit to serve under my grand General." Nixion smiled slightly and nodded before a portal of darkness opened over him and he vanished within its depths.

Maleficent chuckled to herself as she watched him go. Nixion was a very able being, but like all Nobodies he still hungered for his heart, even if he would never admit it. She could see that with a few strong Nobodies under his command, as well as all the lesser Nobodies, he would wield full control over a dominant arm of her army, and could likely stage a rebellion if he wished.

She smiled. The only problem to any mutinous thoughts he might have included that she had placed her darkness within him. It made him stronger, but it also guaranteed his loyalty to her. She would never be defeated so long as her darkness resided within her subservient subordinates and her allies. It was as much a contingency for her security as it was a boon to their powers.

"By the way," Pete suddenly spoke up, drawing her attention towards him. "How did I do Maleficent? Do you like the Heartless I brought ya?"

"You have done well Pete," Maleficent said, causing him to smile proudly. "Better than I had ever imagined you would do. And now I have another task for you."

Pete thumped his chest. "You can count on me Maleficent!"

Maleficent smirked slightly. "I only hope so. Our ally Sauron has his servants abroad, searching for the merest of trifles: a simple gold ring. I want you to join them on their search."

"Do you want me to find that there ring?" Pete asked, looking at Maleficent in surprise. He suddenly laughed. "Not a problem Maleficent. Just leave everything to me."

"No!" Maleficent said earnestly, causing Pete to back up a step in fear. The whale-man and Six-two-five also seemed unnerved at her anger. "You are to watch and observe them. It is their responsibility to find this ring, and you will not interfere except to aid them. Do not summon Heartless unless it is absolutely necessary. We don't want to diminish our numbers so quickly now do we?"

"What if I meet those kids with the Keyblades?" Pete asked.

"You won't," Maleficent said. "They're off on the other side of the galaxy, likely wallowing in despair. I have defeated their princess and the Chosen Master of the Keyblade three times now. Their spirits have broken. They will not be troubling us now."

"Alrighty then!" Pete laughed. "See ya later." He opened up a corridor of darkness and was halfway through it before he poked his head back out. "Uh, by the way, just where can I find them?"

"The Nine are scattered," Maleficent said, "but they are somewhere in the world's northwest, in Eriador." Pete nodded and left, the portal closing behind him.

Maleficent turned to look towards Hämsterviel and the two that he had brought with him. "Do not worry about Gantu and the experiment Doctor; I believe I have a use for him, in a few days time." She chuckled a little more in an undertone while looking at the whale man, and he looked at Experiment 625 with a little bit more than anxiety.

-A-D-

The three on the _Highwind_ ate between two or three sandwiches apiece, and that proved to be enough food to sustain them for the few more hours before the siren began to blare that they were arriving at their destination. The three went up to the bridge and strapped themselves in. Max was in the captain's chair, as had become his custom when Sora wasn't aboard, Riku was seated at the console to his right, and Yuffie was at the one to his left.

"What have we got?" Riku asked, looking over at Yuffie. She scrunched her face as she looked at the readings on her terminal.

"Looks like water," she said.

"Then let's go swimming," Max said.

"None of us know any magic to transform us Max," Riku said.

"Our new duds should to the job," Max reminded him, waving a hand over his red shirt and jeans. "Remember what the fairies told us?"

"He's right on that Riku," Yuffie said, looking a little apprehensive at the readout on her screen. "But don't you think we should take the ship in first, just to be on the safe side?"

"I agree with Yuffie Max," Riku said. "We don't know what's down there. The _Highwind_ should at least offer us a little protection. If it is only water, then we'll get outside and explore."

Max was quiet for a second before he nodded. "Alright, then let's take her in!" He grabbed the wheel and pushed it in. The _Highwind_ reacted magnificently, her nose quickly dipping as Max dove the ship down and into the world.

Yuffie's stomach lurched and a hand came to her mouth, her eyes having grown wide. "Stupid motion-sickness," she moaned out of a pair of pale lips. The _Highwind _lurched as it suddenly struck into water in a blast of light, and Yuffie grew paler.

Riku looked outside of the bubble viewport in awe as they floated beneath the waves. They appeared to be near the bottom of an ocean, massive pillars of rock rising around them in great columns. He had lived by the oceans for all of his life, and had seen things beneath the shallows for as far out as he'd dared to swim, but never anything like this. He found that he couldn't say anything for a few moments, humbled by the depth of the seas and might of the rocks near its base.

"Nothing here," Max said, looking around as well. Yuffie sighed and looked up. Riku looked over at her. She was very pale, but her face was already beginning to fill with relief.

Riku's seatbelt strained as he was suddenly thrown into it, the ship rocking violently. A metallic screech filled his ears and he searched for the location of the sound, his eyes scanning upwards. A massive creature that he was just able to detect was made of metal swam over them through the dense waters of the ocean's bottom. The creature's movement pointed the _Highwind_'s nose down, and as it dove past them Riku saw something.

"What is that?" he asked, his voice strained from the pain caused by his seatbelt keeping him from colliding into his console or the wall of the bridge.

The metal creature was heading straight for a long cylindrical ship that was travelling near the ocean's base. The ship at least appeared to be peaceful, or at the very least, docile, given the way that it was purposely moving in a straight line.

"Looks like a sub," Max said, ignoring Yuffie's moans of extreme discomfort. Riku watched as the metallic Leviathan continued to dive before changing its course and starting to ascend. It crashed into the end of the sub with its rising torso, sending the ship spinning.

"It's trying to sink it!" Max exclaimed. "Well we'll see about that!" He sent the _Highwind_ into the dive it was already on just as the ship the Leviathan was trying to sink began to level out. The Leviathan batted at the submersible with one of its claws before swimming past it again, readying itself to ram the craft again.

"Would you shoot the thing?" Riku asked agitatedly. He did not like sitting at this console on the bridge of a gummi ship watching another ship getting mauled by a mechanical lobster!

"I can't get a clear shot!" Max replied, manoeuvring the _Highwind_ to try and get the best angle on the constantly moving machine. "I don't want to hit the sub."

There came to Riku's ears the sound of a click and sliding leather. "I'll be in the bathroom," Yuffie quickly moaned in a panicked voice before she dashed off the bridge. Inertial dampeners meant nothing to her stomach.

Max overshot the Leviathan without firing a single cannon round, and was forced to swing around again just as the creature latched onto the sub with its claws. Almost at once there came a multitude of small plumes of water from the side of the submarine and Riku feared that the ship was already being destroyed, but from each plume a small ship with a yellow viewport in the shape of a shell streamed out. Riku could just barely see that each one was armed with a number or small torpedoes. The sub pods dove out and performed Immleman turns in the water to bring them to bear upon the Leviathan that held their mother ship captive.

"Fire!" a male voice suddenly said over the _Highwind_'s radio. Max brought their ship up high and above the sub pods as the small vessels fired their torpedoes at the Leviathan. He aimed the cannons directly at the creature's back.

"This is Max, Captain of the _Highwind_," he said over the radio as the torpedoes neared their target. Riku looked at him in confusion but Max continued. "Requesting permission to join in battle to save your ship."

"Permission granted son," the voice said. "Help out our sub pod crews."

Max didn't answer with words, but instead jammed his thumbs down on the red triggers on the top of the wheel that Sora had often jammed his fingers down on. Blasts of blue energy instantly erupted out of the cannons mounted underneath the _Highwind_, and struck against the Leviathan at the same instant as the torpedoes from the sub pods. Watery explosions from the detonation of the weapons marked them striking their target, and the Leviathan let the large sub go free.

"Riku take the lasers," Max said, indicating his console as he twisted the _Highwind_ around to follow another sub pod that was heading after an erratically swimming Leviathan. Riku looked blankly at his console for a few seconds. He had never been in combat on a gummi ship before, and to admit the truth he barely knew how to actually fly the things, no matter what he had boasted to Donald. Nearly all the controls were completely foreign to him and most of what had been told to him about gummi ships had been technical and scientific data that his brain wasn't quite ready to comprehend and so went in one ear and out the other, complete gibberish.

"Uh..."

"Damnit! What is that?" A sub pod pilot asked suddenly as the Leviathan had turned on a craft in front of that sub pod, a bright blue laser streaking out of its mouth and destroying the other pod.

"Oh crap," Max muttered, watching as one of the Leviathan's claws spun out and crushed another pod into the rock walls lining the battlefield. Torpedoes streaked through the water towards the mechanical creature from the submersible and exploded directly upon contact with the face of the machine, but it swam on ahead, completely unharmed and unfazed by the devices that had struck it. Riku looked down at the Leviathan as Max fired another salvo of cannon fire at it. The machine jerked from the impact as it fired another laser blast out of its mouth. Boiling blue fire cleaved right through a section of the hull of the large submersible and the ship jerked upwards from the force of the blast. Before Riku was able to determine anything else, the Leviathan changed course and started coming straight for the _Highwind_, the red eyes and mechanical screech sending a shiver of fear through him.

"Riku, the lasers," Max said tersely.

"Yeah, about that," the Keyblade Master answered. "How exactly do I do that?"

"WHAT?" Max asked in surprise, rolling the _Highwind _enoughto the right so that when he pulled up she'd make a smooth arc down to the side to slip past the oncoming Leviathan. Goofy's son allowed himself a quick sigh. "Okay. There's a touch button on the screen that says 'Manual Targeting System', press that with your finger!"

Riku did as Max instructed him and his screen quickly changed to a view of the exterior of the underbelly of their ship's hull. The console opened up in front of Riku and a black joystick with a grey trigger button on the underside of its head. Riku quickly grabbed hold of the joystick and looked at the screen again. There was a blue targeting reticule on it.

"Now find that thing and shoot at it!" Max said, manoeuvring the _Highwind_ to bring it in line for another attack run on the Leviathan, more bright blue energy blasts causing the seawater in their path to boil instantly before striking the mechanical lobster. Riku worked his joystick, but it was a little disorienting for a few seconds as Max moved the ship. Finally he found the target, and jammed his index finger on the trigger. At once six streaking rays of lazed light shot out from the _Highwind_'s underbelly, and bent and twisted their way towards the Leviathan. Riku smiled when he saw bright yellow explosions erupt into being on his screen when the lasers struck, dead on target within half a metre, but his smile vanished as the Leviathan screamed again and burst right through, firing its own laser at them!

The _Highwind_ rocked violently and spun wildly in the water as the beam of intense blue energy struck the ship. Max was only just able to get her back under control before they would have crashed into the rock wall. Riku searched frantically for the mechanized beast again to try another shot.

"Shields are down to sixty-two percent," Max reported in shock. Riku looked up at him for a second and then looked out of the ship.

"The sub is sinking!" he said. "Well that's a little redundant, I mean it's listing!"

Max shook his head and steered the _Highwind_ towards the listing submersible. "We're bugging out. Riku, try and get a few more shots off at that thing to cover us and any survivors." A couple more torpedoes fired from the few remaining sub pods struck against the Leviathan, but now it turned its attention towards the seemingly lifeless submarine, sinking down to the ocean's depths. Riku lined up the targeting reticule with the Leviathan's head and squeezed the trigger. Six more arching blue lasers streamed forth from the gummi ship's underbelly and struck against the creature's forehead. It jerked down slightly from the force of the strike, but the head came back up again with a screech and a roar, another blue ray of energy erupting from its mouth.

Riku whipped his head up to see the ray piercing through the midsection of the sinking submarine. An instant later there was an explosion near the stern of the vessel from underneath a fin-shaped tail. Three smaller craft drove their way out from the ship and began fleeing from the submarine and away from the Leviathan. The _Highwind_ streaked after them with four remaining sub pods right in front of them just as a forth escape vessel was leaving the submarine. Unfortunately for it, the submarine erupted into a fireball almost immediately after the craft left, and it got caught in the blast. Its hull unable to take the damage, water leaked in to the boiler, and the craft blew up.

The Leviathan plunged through the fiery wreckage and debris as if it was not even there.

The _Highwind_ rocked from the detonation of the submarine. "Shields are down to fifty-eight percent," Max grumbled, "transferring all power to aft shields." Riku fired another blast of lasers at the Leviathan, but its effect was still as inconsequential as before.

A new voice, female this time, came in over the radio. "All craft, make your mark twenty degrees down angle."

"What?" another voice asked, probably one of the helmsmen of the other craft. "Twenty degrees down angle?"

"Twenty degrees down angle, aye," Max said, bringing the _Highwind_ down to dive. Riku stopped trying to shoot at a machine that his weapons couldn't bring down and looked out of their bubble. Their reason for going down was likely the crevice that they were heading towards.

"I'm behind you!" came the words of someone else.

Riku turned off the manual targeting. There was no point anymore. He was glad he did that when he heard an explosion from behind them. Another one of the escape or sub pods must have been destroyed.

"He's on my tail!"

"We're getting killed out here!"

Riku unbuckled himself from his seat and quickly stood up as the _Highwind_ rocked again. "I'm going to check on Yuffie," he said to Max before leaving the boy, and the bridge, to his piloting. If there was anyone who would be able to get them through the crevice alive, well... he'd just have to hope that Max was up to the challenge.

Riku quickly strode up to the room that was Yuffie's aboard the _Highwind_ and went in as the pneumatic door opened for him with a _whoosh_. The room had not changed colour in the weeks since Kairi had called it home. Its walls were still a soft pink, something Riku would not have expected. He heard a sound coming from the bathroom to his right, like something hitting water, and his feet carried him into the room with an anxious look upon his face.

Yuffie was terribly pale, and her hands were clenched onto the sides of the porcelain bowl that was less than a foot from her face. A dribble of saliva and sick from her stomach was hanging from her bottom lip. She was panting heavily and her eyes were opened wide.

Riku knelt down behind her and sympathetically wrapped his arms around her abdomen before placing his head on her shoulder. He was surprised that his heart was clenching so tightly seeing her in such a state. He had never felt this anxious around her before.

Yuffie sighed slightly. "I had hoped that you'd never see me like this," she struggled to say.

"Oh Yuffie," Riku said, one of his hands leaving her heaving chest to come to the side of her head. "You shouldn't try to hide something like this. We're probably going to be using gummi ships for months."

"Then I'm staying at home," Yuffie moaned. "If the Heartless want to fight me, they can come and get me themselves."

"You're fine when Max isn't throwing the ship into walls of rock," said Riku. Yuffie was about to say something more when the ship suddenly shuddered again and she retched, except barely anything was able to come out, her stomach already having been emptied. Yuffie gasped for breath when the fit ended and, after a moment's indecision, Riku began stroking her back soothingly.

"It hurts," she whispered quietly. Riku said nothing, just continued to wordlessly comfort her with his presence and his hands.

"I think we've stopped," he said after a while. Yuffie nodded and slowly she started to get to her feet. Riku helped steady her and when he was sure that she was standing by herself again he quickly got her a glass of water. She thoroughly rinsed her mouth out with the first glass, and drank the second. By the end of her drink, she was no longer as pale as before, and she had even managed to smile slightly.

"Come on Riku," she said. "Let's get going." Riku nodded and slowly started after her, amazed at the change. Already she was bouncing back as if the motion sickness had never come on. He didn't think he'd ever seen someone recover from even sea-sickness that quickly before.

_You truly are amazing Yuffie_, he thought privately as he left her room, the kunoichi already running towards the bridge. He picked up his pace and followed her up.

Riku stopped and looked outside of the ship as soon as he was able to see out of their bubble. Max had brought the ship out of the water and onto hard, dry, land. There was only one of the larger escape craft left, as well as only one sub pod. There appeared to be some kind of road though at the _Highwind_'s base, and it led up into the mouth of an imposing and slightly frightening stone statue of a fish.

Max unbuckled himself from his seat and smiled weakly at Riku and Yuffie. "We just got out of there guys," he said. "Fortunately, the ship didn't sustain any physical damage, but it's going to take a while for the shield generators to cool down enough to bring them back to full strength."

"How much did we get away with?" Riku asked, realizing the instant after he asked that he really didn't want to know the answer.

Max answered before he could recall his question. "Two percent," he sighed.

"Well we still got away right?" Yuffie asked, smiling nervously. "So why don't we go out there and meet the guys we got away with? There could be Heartless around, remember?"

Riku nodded. "Yuffie's right. We're here to seal the keyhole and protect this world from the Heartless. And since they feed on hearts, we're going to need to protect the survivors of that sub until we find the keyhole and I can seal it." Max nodded and rose from his chair.

"Then there's not a moment to lose," he said. "Are both of you ready?"

Riku smirked confidently. "Heartless? I was born ready Max. They aren't about to best me."

Yuffie was already rolling her shuriken around her hand, deftly withdrawing and placing her hand back inside to continue rolling it. She twisted her wrist and grabbed hold of it before quickly spinning it into the air and catching it. She flashed a smile. "They haven't met The Great Ninja Yuffie before."

Riku laughed as Max mumbled something about going to find his scabbard, since it had his sword in it and it was really uncomfortable to sit down and fly a ship with a sword strapped to your back.

Within five minutes though, he had found it, and the three of them were quickly gathering any supplies they had been provided that they might need into packs that had been lying about in the _Highwind_. In some of the packs they found supplies that had been left behind by Sora, Donald, and Goofy, just a potion or ether here or there.

Max lowered the landing ramp, and the three of them walked down it into the cavern with the packs on their backs. Riku was the only one who appeared unarmed of their trio, as Yuffie was still carrying her shuriken in her right hand, her palm gripping the pink ribbon that was wrapped around one of the spokes.

The escape pod and sub pod that they had gotten away with had both come up to the shore, and a number of trucks, other vehicles, supplies, and people had come out of them. Currently they were all standing on the waterside. A round helmet was overturned in the water with a single lit candle in it, and it was lazily floating away. Riku, Yuffie, and Max approached the edge of the circle of possibly twenty people sombrely, trying not to make as much noise as possible or to intrude their tribute to their fallen comrades.

A well-built older man whose hair was turning grey and who had a strong voice that Riku recognized as being the one who Max had asked permission to join battle from began to speak from the front of the crowd. "Seven hours ago, we started this expedition with two hundred of the finest men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left. I won't sugar-coat it gentlemen, we have a crisis on our hands. We've been up this particular creek before and we've always come through, paddle or no paddle; I see no reason to change that policy now. From here on in, everyone pulls double duty. Everyone drives, everyone works." He turned and looked at a thin spectacled man with brown hair who was holding onto a leather-bound tome.

"Looks like all our chances for survival rest with you Mr. Thatch," he said. "You and that little book."

"What are you talking about?" Yuffie asked suddenly, drawing attention to the three of them as she hefted her shuriken onto her shoulder with ease. "You've got us too."

"We're all gonna die," an elderly woman in brown fatigues and a helmet said. Yuffie frowned at her and the man who had been speaking turned to look at them.

"And who might you be little lady?" he asked.

Riku backed up a pace just for safety's sake as Yuffie's head whipped towards him so quickly he thought that she had to have cricked her neck. "_Little?_ We're the guys that just risked our necks to try to help save your lives."

"Yuffie," Max said, "You didn't do anything. You had motion-sickness and were puking your stomach out the whole time."

Yuffie gasped and grabbed Max's shoulders and placed his head right in front of hers, her brown eyes burning red, "He didn't need to know that little part Max."

"Oh so you're the one who talked to me on the radio," the man said, looking at Max. "I don't think that I quite expected your appearance though. Nice ship by the way, but who knew that we'd be getting help from a bunch of kids?"

"Kids!" Yuffie asked, her hands shaking violently. "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Great Ninja Kisaragi Yuffie! I could cut you with my knife and be standing back here before you could even feel the pain."

"Yuffie please stop," Max said weakly, his eyes rolling around in dizzying circles while she continued to grip his shirt, her shaking hands tossing his head around.

"Enough Yuffie," Riku chuckled slightly, lightly grasping her hands and prying them from the helpless teenage anthropomorphic dog. "I think he knows who you are now."

Yuffie pouted and folded her arms. "Oh alright Riku. But I'm still going to sneak up on him when he least expects—" She stopped and froze, her eyes suddenly latching onto the man with the book and glasses. Riku looked up at him. The first man had said that his name was Mr. Thatch, and already Riku could tell why Yuffie's lips and shoulders were quivering. Glasses, a book, very thin, large forehead, lacking in the muscular department... he had to be an academic.

A nerd seemed to be a more precise judgement. Riku could see that it was taking all of Yuffie's willpower to not do something degrading to him.

"If you do it Yuffie," Riku reminded her in an almost sing-song, teasing atmosphere, "then you're going to lose our little bet and you'll wind up my pet."

"Does inexplicably scaring him out of his pants count too?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Riku.

"Dammit," Yuffie said. "And your attempt at poetic rhyming didn't flatter you much."

"Shut it," Riku retorted. "I'm not a poet, it just came out that way."

"What are those two talking about?" The man with grey hair whispered to Max. The boy rolled his eyes.

"Oh okay. So they're dating each other right," Max began explaining, "and earlier today around lunchtime, Riku started saying something about giving his friend Sora three sandwiches made with sand in them back when they were little kids. And then it went on to somehow get into a little bet between them. Since Yuffie's a ninja, and she has the mental maturity of a seven-year-old, Riku bet that she wouldn't be able to pull a prank or joke on someone for a whole day. The loser has to be the winner's complete and total slave for a day specifically chosen by the winner."

"Sounds like they're serious," the man said, placing a wide-brimmed uniform hat on his head. "Well Max," he said, "I'm Commander Rourke, and you and your friends are welcome to join us."

"Sure," Max said, shaking Rourke's hand. "Glad to be of help." The Commander turned his arm towards a woman with blonde hair and a mole on her left cheek just underneath her eye.

"This is my friend and subordinate," he continued, "Lieutenant Helga Sinclair."

"Max," Helga said, extending her hand and shaking his. "You sure have some piloting skills."

"Thanks," replied the boy as he let go of her hand.

"I just hope you don't start thinking that you're going to be a rapper when you're older," Yuffie said, still talking with Riku behind Max, Rourke, and Helga.

"Well if I ever got good enough to spit out rhymes," Riku replied, "I'm pretty sure that most of them would end up being about you."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," Yuffie retorted.

"Maybe I could find some way to make it up to you," said Riku in a lower voice, "maybe I'd know what to do if you are able to win our bet."

"There's no way I'm losing to you Riku," growled Yuffie. "That prize is going to be mine."

"Naminé lost to me," Riku chuckled, walking past her to stand next to Max.

"That was in a fight Riku," Yuffie retorted. She vanished in a puff of black smoke to the amazement of Rourke, Helga, and the other crewmembers of the sub there, and then reappeared in another cloud directly in front of Riku, her finger up in his face. "Or is it that you think you can take on my ninjitsu and win? Huh, Mister Keyblade Master?"

Riku was silent for a few seconds. "Forget it," he said lightly, walking right past a stunned Yuffie towards one of the parked trucks. Yuffie's mouth dropped and she rushed after him.

"Alright people saddle-up," Commander Rourke said. "Lieutenant, I want this convoy moving five minutes ago."

"Moliere you're on point," Helga ordered as crewmen started to move to the various vehicles. "Go Vinnie! Audrey take to the oiler; you know the rules, I want you fifty yards behind that truck at all times. Packard put out that cigarette."

A horn started to honk and Riku looked away from the truck he and Yuffie had gone to, with Max quickly bringing up the rear, and saw the Thatch man excitedly squeezing the side horn on one of the trucks before Commander Rourke came and removed it from the vehicle.

Riku looked into and around the inside of the truck for a second before he came to a terrible realization.

"Do any of you guys know how to drive?" he asked, turning around and looking at Max and Yuffie.

"You mean you can't?" Yuffie asked, raising an eyebrow as she clambered over him to get into the truck. "You're seventeen, why the heck can't you?"

"There aren't a heck of a lot of cars on Destiny Islands Yuffie," Riku quickly answered back, his cheeks flushing a little from embarrassment. He looked towards Max, but the boy quickly started shaking his hands with a deer-in-headlights look on his face.

"Don't look at me," he said. "There's no way my dad would let me anywhere near a car. I'm even surprised that he can keep his eyes open when he watches me fly the gummi ship."

Riku nearly jumped a foot into the air when Yuffie blasted the horn attached to the side of the truck. The horn was right next to his ear. "Come on slowpokes!" she roared, laughing in her driver's seat. Max (after he had recovered from the shock of Yuffie) chuckled a little to himself and came up next to Riku.

"She got you on that one, ahyuk." Max froze and looked to Riku again. The Keyblade Master looked curiously at Max.

"What?" he asked, a little loudly. Max furrowed his eyebrows.

"I said, 'she got you on that one, ahyuk.' So do you think you could—?" Max pointed to his cheek and Riku nodded. He slugged him with a right hook to the chin and Max began rubbing the spot soothingly. "Thanks."

"WHAT?"

"I said, ah never mind Riku," Max groaned, grabbing the older and larger boy and pushing him into the truck beside Yuffie. Riku buckled up and looked at the grinning young woman as Max made his way around the front of the truck to the other side.

"You just lost," Riku said, his voice still loud enough so that his ringing ears could hear it.

"WHAT?" Yuffie asked, looking at him angrily. "I didn't—!"

"You blew a horn right in my ear!" Riku answered. "You lost." Yuffie grimaced and looked at Max as he swung himself into the truck.

"What do you think Max?" she asked. "Did I just lose the bet?"

"Ya did Yuffie," Max answered bluntly. The kunoichi groaned and banged her head on the steering wheel for a second. Riku looked at Max and they shared a high-five behind Yuffie's back while the eighteen-year-old fumed.

"Are you sure you can drive a truck Yuffie?" Commander Rourke asked, coming over to make sure that they were okay.

Yuffie snorted. "Better than either of these bozos here," she replied. "Thank you Leon for being in government," she added, looking up with a slight smile on her face.

"Hey, what is this expedition for anyway?" Riku asked as Rourke prepared to leave. He turned around.

"We're all the way down here to find the lost empire of Atlantis."

-A-D-

_So what do you think? I know it's a bit shorter than normal, and a lot shorter than the last one, but I want to split these things up as much as I can._

_But, they are looking in the completely wrong direction. All evidence points to the Minoans as being the Atlanteans and the Minoan city on the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea as the city of Atlantis. The thing was, it was built on top of an active volcano, which is still active today, and has reached about the size that it was when it had its last massive eruption that buried the city on Santorini in ash like Vesuvius did to Pompeii, and caused massive tsunamis that ravaged the Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas, and the island of Crete, where the Minoans' great city of Knossos was._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	6. Bug Problem

_I have just decided that since there are going to be a lot more chapters in this than there even were in __**The Beginning**__, that I am going to update as frequently as possible to try and get through this. Otherwise, by this time next year I will still be on this part of the story when I want to already be somewhere else._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Pixar, or anything in this work of fanfiction that is not of my own creation._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter VI: Bug Problem

The afternoon sun's rays filtered on a soft breeze through the tall buildings of a city to strike the scarlet-red hair of a boy holding a broom in front of a small shop. "Stupid cleaning," he was muttering to himself, "why is it that I always have to clean in front of the shop?"

"Well, it is our job," a girl with black hair and pale cheeks answered meekly from beside him, holding a broom of her own that lightly swayed to and fro to sweep clear the dusty path in front of the store.

"Ah come on!" the boy replied hotly. "They're keeping me cooped up here when I could be out there fighting stuff! Didn't you watch the show? I'm a celebrity fighter now! A defender of the city!"

The girl looked up in thought and placed a finger to her lips. "But I thought the ratings were so bad that the networks cancelled it."

The boy growled and dropped his broom before rushing straight for the girl and rubbing her head and hair with his fingertips, forcefully. "Shut up," he said over her protests, "those network idiots wouldn't know true talent if it struck them in the face!"

"Ow, stop it, stop it!" the girl whined as the boy continued his assault. "We'll get in trouble if we're caught not cleaning!"

"Ah stop whining," said the boy. "I'm not cleaning 'cause I'm not scared of him."

"Excuse me," another voice said, "but is the owner in?"

The boy ceased his torturing of the girl and looked up. Standing in front of both of them was a tall old man. His grey hair was thick and coarse and his beard was long. His eyebrows were furrowed and the skin of his face was lined with the many years he'd lived. Blue robes flowed down from his shoulders to his feet, and on his head was a broad and pointed blue hat.

The scarlet haired boy rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Yeah he's in the back. But I don't know what you'd want to see him for."

"Thank you," said the man, who quickly walked past them. He paused and looked at them. "Shouldn't you both be cleaning?"

"Who do you think you are to tell me how to do my chores?" the boy grumbled.

"But you should be cleaning," said the girl, supporting the man's statement. The boy's fist came straight across and struck the girl in the cheek. She rubbed it softly with her hand while she just looked at the impulsive boy. She was very used to this.

"I'll clean when I feel like cleaning," he said, no trace of sympathy or regret in his tone.

The old man raised an eyebrow and turned to face the boy. He stretched a hand into the sleeve of his robes and withdrew a short brown wand. He flicked it at the boy faster than the eye could see. The boy gasped in surprise as his arms suddenly crossed behind him and bound themselves to each other and to his back.

"What the—?" he asked, turning his head to look at the old man. He just stood there, smiling overtop of his bushy grey beard. The boy sighed, but smirked. "Aw, too bad. I just started to feel like cleanin' up, but now it looks like I can't with my arms stuck behind my back like this."

The old man flicked his wand again and the boy's arms relaxed. He grabbed his broom and started sweeping with a scowl. The old man stuffed his wand back into the sleeve of his robes and opened the sliding door to the front of the shop. Just before he entered though, he heard the boy muttering something about baseball.

Inside it looked like most other convenience stores. There were rows of shelves, all of them stocked full of bags of chips, candies, magazines, and foodstuffs. In front of the old man past two of the shelves that faced one another there was a slightly raised platform with a white mat on it. On the mat another man who appeared to be in his early to middle thirties sat cross-legged. He wore a robe himself and a bucket hat that cast his eyes and a little of his sand coloured hair into shadow.

"Well hello there," the man said over the sound of the tinkling bell. "It's been a long time since I've seen you around here, Master Yen Sid."

The old man chuckled and strode up to the platform to stand in front of the sitting man. "Yes, it has been a while hasn't it?"

"What can I do for you?" the shopkeeper asked, placing his chin on his knuckles. "We just got in a shipment of fresh milk."

"Actually I came here to ask a favour of you," said Yen Sid.

The shopkeeper was silent for a few seconds. He closed his eyes. "Oh?" The man stood up onto his feet, wooden sandals strapped to them, and grabbed a cane with a curved handle that had been lying next to him.

"And what kind of a favour would that be Yen Sid?"

"Perhaps we should discuss this in your back room?" Yen Sid asked, motioning towards the sliding door behind the manager.

"Of course," said the man in an airy tone. "Who wouldn't want to discuss secret stuff in secret? Follow me." Master Yen Sid stepped up onto the platform and followed the man into the back, the living area of the store.

The shopkeeper led him into a room with a low round table in it, several white mats set around him. Both men went to mats opposite one another and sat down comfortably. A tea kettle was on the table, as well as two cups.

"If I didn't know you better," Master Yen Sid said, looking at the kettle that still steamed as the man poured both of them piping hot cups of tea, "I'd say that you were expecting me."

"It's a good thing that you know me better then," replied the man, handing Yen Sid his teacup. "So," he continued as the sorcerer took an experimental sip of his tea, "what really brings you into this neck of the woods?"

Yen Sid delayed for a few seconds by sipping his tea. It had been brewed rather well. "As I told you, I came here to ask for a favour."

The man smiled and placed his elbows on the table, his chin resting on his knuckles once more. "That's the way it is then? Why should I give you this favour?"

"There are a few young people I know that I believe would interest you greatly," Yen Sid explained simply. "I would like you to come with me in about a month so that you could meet them yourself."

The man smiled and withdrew a little so that he could sip his own tea. "And why would they interest me?" the man asked honestly, smiling and keeping an air of little interest. "You haven't given me any reasons here Yen Sid." His wrist flicked and he picked up a stick that had been on the table, snapping it open to reveal a fan. "I do have this shop to run after all, I can't go running around to other worlds whenever I want."

Master Yen Sid looked down slightly. "I see," he said. He stood up. "Well I'm sorry that you're not interested. I guess I'll go see if someone else would like to meet the wielders of the Keyblade. Thank you for the tea."

"Hold it," the man said, snapping the fan back into its condensed form. Yen Sid stopped and smiled unseen. "Keyblade Wielders?"

Yen Sid turned around and his smile remained visible. "I thought that you were not interested. Could it be that you've changed your mind?"

"You never gave me a reason to be interested Yen Sid," replied the man, smiling with the fan open again. "This changes everything."

Yen Sid sat down again. "So will you come?"

"That depends..." the man sighed. "Why do you really want me to come with you?"

"When I come to get you," Yen Sid answered, avoiding the question in absolute certainty that the man would come with him, "make sure that you bring that cane of yours. And your friend can come along as well, if it interests her."

The man chuckled slightly and picked up his teacup. "So you want us to train them then? Why not just bring them here? I do have the facilities you know."

"They need to be close at hand," Yen Sid replied as the man took a draught of his tea. "If a situation were to arise during their training, it would take too long to come and find them here."

The man set down his empty teacup with a hard _clink_. "Alright. I'll do it, and I'll see if she's interested as well. However," his shadowed eyes shone out from underneath his hat, "I get to train them _my_ way."

Master Yen Sid nodded. "That's why I came here." He looked at the teapot and raised his hand. It slowly rose into the air to hover. "Here, have another cup. It is your tea after all."

-A-D-

The Sun's light was fading as King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy walked beneath the tall blades and stalks of grass and other plants that grew on the ground of the raised island near the ant colony where their friend Flik lived.

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, walking along, "I wonder how everyone is doing?"

"Better than I am," Donald replied, "I don't like the way I look here."

"Huh?" Goofy asked, turning his long cylindrical body around as he hugged the ground, the hundreds of legs of his bronze millipede body turning him slowly.

"Come on Donald," King Mickey laughed as he buzzed around on his honeybee wings. "It isn't so bad here."

"Right Your Majesty," Goofy added. "Unless Pooh Bear saw you, ahyuk. He'd probably follow you home and eat your honey for the rumbly in his tumbly."

"Can you imagine what would happen if my nephews saw me like this?" Donald asked, fluttering his large wings agitatedly from behind the two feelers poking out of the top of his head. "Although Wendy would probably try to cuddle me."

King Mickey flew up to Donald and 'sat' in front of him in the air. "Being a butterfly isn't a punishment Donald."

Donald grunted. "Maybe to you it isn't," he grumbled, giving the darkening sky a glare.

The three of them trudged on underneath the grass as the sun continued on its westward descent, bringing the shining stars and moon, that three nights previous was full, into their beautiful splendour. King Mickey was unused to walking as a bee, and so half the time he either hobbled in a sort of waddle, or he took to his wings and buzzed about four inches or so off the ground.

By the time that they had reached the colony, the sky was already filled with its darkness, lit by the eerie and awesome silver light from the heavens. But the grounds of the anthill were filled with light being reflected off of the golden, red, brown, and yellow leaves that had been stuck into the dirt by their stems. Tiny, glowing mushrooms brought light down to the base of the earth, and illuminated the creatures there. Music sifted through the night's cool breeze into the ears of the three warriors from Disney Castle.

There was a party that was raging in full swing at the ant colony, the many hundreds of ants arrayed around in a long conga line, drinking or eating at bars that had been built along the sides, gathered in a ring and watching an elder ant do push-ups with a single hand, doing the limbo with Slim the stick bug as the limbo rod, or otherwise dancing or celebrating.

"Sure looks like a swinging shin-dig," Goofy said, coming in sight of the celebration.

"I'll say," Donald added. A couple of ants noticed their arrival and gave a cheer, which in turn was noticed by several more, and then more and more began cheering.

"They look happy to see us," Mickey said, smiling and waving as he buzzed in on his honeybee wings. He pumped his fist at a small group of the ants and they cheered with him. Landing, Mickey looked towards the blue dung beetle Dim, who was launching the ant children onto a sticky spider's web with his wings, the act reminiscent of children on other worlds getting into suits of Velcro and throwing themselves at a Velcro wall.

"What's the party for Dim?" Mickey asked.

Dim chuckled slightly. "The bird's done."

King Mickey smiled. "That's great," he said. "So Hopper and his grasshoppers won't be able to come around and keep stealing all the ants' food now, so long as they're able to scare them away with the bird."

Dim smiled. "Yep." He looked over to a corner where the other 'warrior bugs' were starting to close in on, the ladybug Francis still with his Blueberry troop. Dim looked around him, there were no more kids left to fling. "Come on Mickey," he said, nudging towards the corner.

"Blueberries," Francis began the precautionary section of the command, "dismiss!" The troop of young girls broke off and ran to join in the party, already laughing and talking. "And uh, quit beating the boys up," he added to them as an afterthought. He sighed as the Donald, and Goofy gathered with them with Rosie the black widow spider, and Mickey joined in with Dim.

"Those little raisins to grow on you," he said quietly, looking at the retreating Blueberries with sad eyes.

"Hey guys," Flik said, coming over to them, "some party huh? Is that grain dip fresh or what?" He leaned in and began whispering to the group. "Okay, I told everyone that you're going to be stationed deep in the Command Bunker. Party dies down, I sneak you out the back way, and you're out of here forever!"

Mickey looked at Donald and Goofy sympathetically. The three of them were the only actual warriors of the group, and it was all because of a big misunderstanding.

The colony of ants lived year after year, working tirelessly at collecting food for the offering during the spring and summer. The offering was a gift they gave to a gang of tough grasshoppers led by their leader Hopper, so that the grasshoppers would protect their colony from bigger bugs that might choose to take advantage of the ants, and either kill or eat them mercilessly. This summer, Flik had developed yet another one of his inventions to try to help the ant colony to make their lives easier. This time it had been a device that strapped to an ant's back that would cut down an entire stalk of grass, harvest the seeds, and then fling away the now useless stalk. However, when the grasshoppers arrived and Flik tried to harvest the seeds from his invention, the stalk-flinging device that was a part of it activated, knocking all of the food of the offering into the stream, never to be seen by ant or grasshopper again. The grasshoppers broke into the anthill, terrorized the ants (especially the Princess Atta), demanded that they still pay tribute that they failed to pay, except doubled now, and left with the warning that they'd be back when the last leaf fell.

Because of Flik's actions, he was about to be... well, no one actually knew what they had been going to do with Flik because he was so incompetent in just about everything, but before the council had decided he suggested that they send someone out to find bigger bugs to help the ants out by fighting off the grasshoppers. At first it didn't look like they were going to go with it, but then they did.

Except, all that Flik was able to find was a bunch of circus bugs that were in the middle of a warrior act to try and save their skins from a bunch of tough flies. He didn't know that they were circus bugs at first, but after he brought them back to the anthill, and they were witness to a dramatic and hastily drawn-up play that focused on killing the grasshoppers with every single one of the warriors dying, the circus bugs let Flik in on their secret and were trying to leave when they were attacked by a bird and numerous Heartless in the shape of flies.

It was at this point, that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy first arrived in Ant Island. The Queen's youngest daughter, Dot, had tailed Flik and tried to follow him after the warriors by using a dandelion seed, but she only attracted the attention of the bird. She fell from the dandelion seed and was caught by the male ladybug Francis, but he was injured in the fall they had to the ground. Flik and the others were cornered by the fly Heartless, but with a little bit of encouragement from the efforts of King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, they were able to rally together and come up with a plan to distract the bird and save both Dot and Francis while Mickey, Donald, and Goofy handled the Heartless. They got them out safely, and the curious colony, having witnessed the majority of the event, applauded loudly for them.

While Francis was just beginning to recover after meeting the Blueberry troop, who honoured him for saving their youngest member by changing their bandanas to resemble the pattern on a ladybug's wings and made him their honourary den mother, Flik came up with an idea on how they could get rid of the grasshoppers without the circus bugs having to fight at all, and without having them reveal their secret so that no one would know that he screwed up again. At first, Manny would not hear a word of it, until two young boys came in and asked for their autographs. Manny became rather proud at that point and (to Mickey's humour) told them when they at first they could not read his autograph, "That's _Major_ Manny young cadet!" and in a whisper that Mickey caught, "I outrank everyone here, remember that." Afterwards he became very agreeable to Flik's plan.

It detailed that they build a bird, a bird that could be controlled from the inside. They would hoist the bird up and hide it above the anthill, high in the tree. When Hopper and his grasshoppers arrived, they would launch the bird, and scare them away for good. It was a sound plan, and if the grasshoppers did come back, all they would have to do would be to launch the bird again and scare them away once more. King Mickey hoped that eventually the ants would be able to figure out a way to keep Hopper away for good if the bird began to fail.

Unfortunately, neither he, nor Donald or Goofy was able to stick around for the construction after Princess Atta made a speech to the colony announcing the plan. It was then that they got the call that Sora and Kairi were in hospital, and they had to leave. They were able to truthfully give a reason though for their departure, unlike Flik's previous hastily concocted one about some kind of war. King Mickey had said that some warrior friends of theirs had been injured in a battle, and they were going to visit them to make sure that they were all okay.

Which brought them back to tonight's party. They had arrived just in time for the bird to be finished, and now it seemed that with that done, Flik was going to sneak the 'warriors' out of the colony so that they would never be around to reveal that he screwed up.

"Dim don't wanna go," Dim spoke up in a saddened voice. Flik's eyes grew a little wider.

"Well if Dim stays he's going to need me here," Rosie said. "He's not fully trained. I mean housetrained," she corrected hastily.

Dim chuckled slightly as Francis scratched the back of his head. "I uh... I kinda promised the Blueberries I'd teach 'em Canasta."

Gypsy waved her hand slightly. "It seems we've been booked for an extended engagement," she said in a pleased voice. Tuck and Roll, the pill bugs, came up to Flik, one of them on the other's head, and the top one kissed him on both cheeks.

King Mickey laughed slightly and looked at Princess Atta as the next-in-line made her way over to them. "Would you look at this colony?" she asked in disbelief. "I mean would you _just look_ at this colony? I don't even recognize them!" Mickey looked over to the elderly ant doing push-ups with one hand and saw the queen watching him with interest.

"And I have you bugs to thank for it," Atta continued, drawing his attention back to her, "so, thank you." Mickey smiled and looked at Donald and Goofy, smiling as well. But the princess wasn't finished yet. "And uh, thank you for finding 'em, Flik."

Flik's head suddenly turned around and one of his straight antennae got itself caught in one of Atta's curled antennae. Embarrassed, Flik freed both of them. "I think I'd better go check on the bird," Atta said, still giggling slightly from embarrassment as she walked past them. She turned around. "The bird's this way."

Flik laughed slightly while a peculiar look took hold of his face and he rambled in a low and slightly incoherent tone. When he noticed that everyone was staring at him he looked at them in surprise. "What?"

"Gawrsh Donald," Goofy said. "It looks like Flik's all twitter-pated."

"Twitter-pated?" Francis asked, looking over at him.

"Yeah," Goofy said.

"Like Sora and Kairi are," Donald answered.

"Oh yes," Manny said, remembering the scene with the gods that they had taken part in, "those two lovers who were scared of us all."

A horn started to blow and Mickey looked away from Manny and towards the hollow in the tree where the call was coming from. The party died down instantly as the call went out.

"Get to your positions people, hurry!"

"To your posts!"

"Battle stations everyone!" Atta ordered from the air as ants formed up into their different sections and began marching up the tree. "This is not a drill. Come on everyone, you know your jobs! Let's GO! GO! GO! GO!"

More light suddenly streamed onto the ground and a large cookie box on wheels being drawn by a pair of millipedes galloped its way in front of the anthill. Reigning in the millipedes was a small flea who sat on top of the cookie box.

Mickey felt movement behind him and noticed that the circus bugs immediately rushed behind the leaves that stuck out of the ground to try and hide.

"Greetings and salutations!" the flea said, bounding around on top of his cookie box as the ants gathered around him. "Bo bap a do, and how do you do? I am the great P.T. Flea. I'm in need of your assist-, oh let's just cut to the chase," he shrugged. "Look, I've been going from anthill to anthill; I'm looking for a bunch of circus performers, have you seen 'em?"

Two fireflies flew out from behind the cookie box and unfurled a sign, one that depicted each of the circus bugs in the flea's act!

A good number of the ants gasped and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy moved closer to get a better look. The sign certainly portrayed the different bugs alright; it even had Francis juggling, a skill he was particularly proficient in and proud of, even for a clown.

"Wait a second," the elder ant who was doing push-ups said as he held his cane to the poster. "Ain't that Staff Sergeant Slim?"

"NO!" Flik suddenly shouted, jumping in front of the poster and trying to cover it up. It was a futile effort though, as the sign was just too big. It did not stop his continued ramblings at trying to get rid of the flea or at trying to convince everyone that the warrior bugs were not the circus bugs everyone thought that they were.

It was just then that P.T. Flea turned his frowning face around and saw a large leaf with legs underneath it trying to walk away. "Hey!" The two fireflies turned their glowing behinds onto the leaf and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, as well as a number of the ants of the colony, walked past the cookie box to see P.T. Flea removing the leaf from overtop of the 'warrior bugs'.

"Oh guys," P.T. Flea said desperately, ignoring their continual attempts to shush him, "I've been looking all over for yah. 'Flaming Death' is a huge hit! I'm serious! Word of mouth got around, and the next day there was a line of flies outside the tent. It went on forever; it must have been a foot long!"

"Shh! P.T.!" Slim hissed, noticing along with the rest of them that the colony was starting to gather around them.

"So I figured it out," P.T. went on unabated, "you guys burn me twice a night, I take a day off to heal, and then we do it all over again! We'll be the top circus act in the business!"

"You mean," Atta asked in shamed shock, "you're not warriors?"

"Are you kiddin'?" P.T. asked. "These guys are the lousiest circus bugs you've ever seen, and they're gonna make me rich!" He grabbed Tuck and Roll and hugged both of them as the whole colony gasped.

"You mean to tell me that our entire defensive strategy," Thorny, one of the ants on the council, asked indignantly, "was concocted by _clowns_?"

"Hey hey hey hey," Francis said, holding his hands up, "we really thought that Flik's idea was going to work."

The ants gasped again as Francis let it slip, and one of the fireflies turned his light onto Flik, so that the hapless ant was now also in the spotlight under public scrutiny.

"Oops," said Francis.

"Tell me this isn't true," Princess Atta said as she came up in front of Flik, her exterior a difficult one to make out, but her voice pleading him to tell her that it was all a big joke.

Before Flik could answer with anything resembling coherent thought the members of the council began to speak. "This couldn't have come at a more inopportune moment," said Mr. Soil. "The last leaf is about to fall."

"We haven't collected any food for the grasshoppers!" Dr. Thora stated.

"If Hopper finds out what we almost did," Thorny moaned, clutching his head in his hands.

"Hopper is not going to find out!" the Queen interrupted. "We are going to hide all this, and pretend it never happened!" She turned around and pointed at the circus bugs. "You bugs were never here, so I suggest you all leave."

"It's not their fault," Donald said. The Queen then turned and looked at Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.

"You three knew about this, didn't you?" she asked.

King Mickey looked away ashamedly. "Gosh, we never thought it would come to this," he said, rubbing his head.

"You're the only three warrior peas in the circus pod aren't you?" asked the Queen, coming closer to them.

"Well don't ask me," P.T. Flea said. "I've never seen 'em before. Could be from another circus of nitwit nuts for all I know."

"Who are you calling a nut?" Donald jabbered, fluttering his way over the ants to stand angrily over the flea. "We're heroes!"

Goofy chuckled slightly in good humour. "Ju—"

"Say 'Junior Heroes' you big palooka and I'll let you have it on principle," Donald cut him off angrily, drawing his staff and letting a ball of flame shoot out of the wizard's hat on the tip. Goofy hopped on all of his many tiny feet an inch to the left, avoiding the tiny fireball that Donald had purposely misfired an inch away from Goofy anyways.

"Say that's pretty good," P.T. Flea said, rubbing his chin with a scratchy hand as the ants drew slightly away from Mickey and Goofy as well. "How'd you like to be part of my act, Flaming Death?"

"I'll show you Flaming Death!" Donald said, storming around to face the flea.

"Donald!" King Mickey reprimanded, buzzing in front of his court magician on his wings. Donald laughed sheepishly and shrunk down slightly at the stern look on the bee's face.

"Sorry Your Majesty," he said nervously, "guess I got a little carried away."

"You did Donald," Mickey said, his wings still buzzing as he hovered in the air in front of Donald, ignoring the looks of the ants and the circus bugs at Donald's slip-up of revealing that he was a king.

"Aw don't be so hard on him King Mickey," Goofy said, coming up to the two of them. "Donald hasn't had Sora around to argue with for a while. He just needs to let off some steam."

"Maybe so Goofy," answered Mickey, still showing Donald his displeasure at the act he almost committed, "but that still doesn't mean he can let it off on those who don't deserve it. The Heartless and the grasshoppers are the ones here that do."

"You're a _king_?" Thorny asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Flik interrupted before Mickey could answer. "A king! You see, a king endorsed my plan! The bird will work."

"The bird?" asked the Queen, looking at Flik in disgust. "Even if Mickey wasn't a king, I never thought I'd see the day when an ant would put himself before the rest of his colony."

"What?" Flik asked, shaking his head in confusion.

"The point is, Flik," continued his queen, "you lied to us."

"No no no no," Flik tried to explain, "I—"

"You lied to her Flik," Princess Atta said accusingly, pointing her finger at him and striding angrily towards him, "you lied to her; you lied to the colony; you lied to _me_! And like an idiot I believed you."

King Mickey looked at Flik in sympathy as the ant melted under Atta's look of betrayal. Flik's tongue seemed to be tied in a knot as he tried to answer for himself. "But I—I was just afraid that if you knew I'd gotten circus bugs..." Flik sighed and looked down in rejection, his voice could barely be heard now, "I just wanted to make a difference."

"I want you to leave Flik," Atta said just as quietly. "And this time, don't come back."

Flik looked up in surprise for just a moment before his head lowered again in submission. His shoulders slumped and his head drooped as he turned away from the princess. His mood became their mood as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy joined their friend and started ambling away into the night with the circus bugs. P.T. Flea was the only one who didn't appear as downhearted as the others, only muttering 'tough crowd' before having his millipedes start pulling on his circus cookie box.

Far above them in the light of the moon, the last leaf on the tree broke from its branch and lazily began to float to the ground with the silent sound of doom.

-A-D-

Fog settled in on the anthill throughout the night and into the morning. The ants of the colony were gathered in front of the offering stone and leaf, many of them having worked tirelessly through the night. They were wet with the moisture in the fog-filled air around them, the danger of their work increased when they could scarcely see in front of their faces, heavy pieces of grain and berries held above their heads. Trips and falls were many, and Princess Atta's anxiety increased with every second as one more ant came in and flung a piece of food in for the offering.

"That's it?" she asked Thorny desperately as the last ant came in. She looked at the pile she and Thorny were standing beside; it was hardly half the height of the offering that Flik had lost all those weeks ago. "But there's got to be more food on the island!"

"If we give up any more we'll starve," Thorny answered in a sigh.

"Hopper won't accept this!" Atta moaned frightfully, looking through the fog. She jerked her head up as she heard the sudden roaring sound of beating wings.

The grasshoppers were here.

-A-D-

Donald grumbled in the Sun's light as he tagged along behind the circus, his beautiful butterfly wings folding and unfolding as he flapped them in the air. Flik hadn't said a word since they'd left the anthill, and for the most part, neither had they.

Donald swung a white-covered hand at a blade of grass he fluttered past, taking a little comfort in knocking it aside for a second. He was fuming inside that Princess Atta could do such a thing to his friend. Flik had only wanted to help after all, and the Bird was a very smart idea; he didn't think even _he_ could have come up with as good an idea to scare the grasshoppers away.

But there was more that was troubling him. King Mickey had been contacted by Riku during the night and told that Sora and Kairi had found their way onto Middle-Earth, and that they were now stuck there. It didn't sit well with Donald that one of his best friends was supposed to sit tight on a possibly very dangerous world and hope that he and his girlfriend would not be discovered by Maleficent, and that he and Goofy were millions of miles away and unable to protect him like they'd promised before.

Goofy plodded along on the ground beneath Donald, looking up at his friend in concern. He hadn't seen Donald this angry since the time that Huey, Dewy, and Louie had eaten all his ice cream, stained one of his spellbooks with the ice cream, and snapped one of his favourite staffs in half.

"There's gotta be something we can do!" Donald said at last. "Who knows what is happening to the ants now?"

"There's nothing we can do Donald," Mickey answered, walking on the ground next to Goofy as he went along just behind Dim who was just behind the circus box. "If we go back and fight the grasshoppers, that'd be meddling, and that's somethin' we just can't do."

"But what if the Heartless are with 'em?" Goofy asked. "Would it be meddlin' then?"

"You do have a point there Goofy," Mickey said, looking at the Captain of his Knights, "but there's no reason to suspect that the Heartless are even there in the first place."

"You never know your majesty," Donald muttered from the air.

Francis looked at them from the open box that the other bugs, including Flik, were riding in. Standing up from the pencil he had been sitting on, Francis beat his wings and approached them. "Look Donald, you want to go back and fight right?"

"You bet I do!" Donald replied angrily. "I want to give that princess a piece of my mind! She's nowhere near as nice as Kairi is."

"But the only way we'll be able to go back is if Flik decides to go back," King Mickey interjected. "It's the only way that we'll be able to help without meddling, even with the Heartless around."

"Well we're gonna try and cheer Flik up," Francis said, looking at the moping ant as he sat on the edge of the open box. "Maybe then he'll decide to go back."

"Good idea," Goofy said.

"Good luck," said King Mickey, giving Francis a pat on the back. The ladybug nodded and flew back onto the box. Donald watched as he, Slim, and Heimlich tried to cheer Flik up with a slapstick comedy routine (Francis slapping Slim, a stick bug), but it didn't do anything to change the moping frown on Flik's face.

Donald sighed and looked down at Goofy and Mickey, each of whom looked at Donald with the same expression of annoyance at the poor quality of the gag.

Donald's feelers twitched as he heard a yell back behind him. He turned around and his mouth opened wide when he saw the tiny figure of the Queen's youngest daughter Dot flying towards them. Dot was a queen ant so she did have wings, but she was so little and young that she had so far been as unable to fly as any of the other ants.

"Flik wait!" Dot cried, flying on her tiny wings towards the circus train filled with amazed insects, arachnids, and other bugs, "Flik!"

"Dot?" Flik asked, standing up, "you're flying!" Dot flew right past Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Dim, and Tuck and Roll as the two pillbugs rode on Dim. "What are you doing here?" Flik asked, catching the young queen ant as she flew into his arms.

Donald and Mickey fluttered and buzzed into the back of the box while Goofy worked his many, many legs to get close enough to listen well. Mickey came up next to Flik and Dot as he placed her on the floor of the box, the girl panting and wheezing from lack of breath.

"You... have to come back," Dot said slowly, her eyes dim and lost from a need for rest. She shook her head and widened her eyes as her purpose came back to her. "Hopper moved into the anthill, and his gang's eating _everything_!"

"Not all the food!" Heimlich moaned.

"But it isn't just that," Dot continued. "Hopper's got these other bugs too, not just the grasshoppers."

"Other bugs?" Mickey asked. "What did they look like?"

"They were all black," Dot answered, "and they looked a little like praying mantises, with bright yellow eyes."

"Heartless," Mickey said grimly, looking at a nodding Donald.

But Dot wasn't done. "And I heard a grasshopper say, that when they're finished eating the food, Hopper's gonna squish my mom!"

"Oh not the Queen!" Heimlich said.

"We've got to do something!" Rosie said quickly, placing one of her hands to her mouth. "Come on guys, think!"

"The bird!" Gypsy said suddenly, a bright look on her face.

"Yes," Mickey said, smiling. "The bird will work."

"It's perfect," Slim announced.

A pessimistic voice broke through their sudden euphoria. "The bird _won't_ work." Donald turned with the rest of the bugs to look at Flik.

"What are you talking about? The bird was your idea," he said.

"But," Dot spoke quietly as she brushed past Francis' legs, "you said that—"

"Forget everything I ever told you, alright Dot," Flik answered. "Let's face it, the colony is right I just make things worse. That bird is a guaranteed failure," he spat angrily. His eyes quickly turned sad and he looked down again as he sighed, "just like me."

"You listen to me my boy," Manny said quickly, "I've made a living out of being a failure; and you, sir, are _not_ a failure."

"Oh but Flik you've done so many good things," Rosie added encouragingly.

"Oh yeah?" Flik asked in a sarcastic tone. "Alright, show me one thing I've done right."

"That's easy," Donald said quickly. "You've... uh..." He placed a finger to his chin in thought for a few seconds. It was a lot harder to think of something that Flik did right than he thought.

"Us," Dim answered after a little while.

Flik looked up slightly in confusion as Manny smiled hopefully at him, holding onto his wife Gypsy's hand. "Dim is right my boy. You have rekindled the long dormant embers of purpose in our lives."

"And if it wasn't for you," Slim added, "Francis would never have gotten in touch with his feminine side."

"Oh yeah!" Francis retorted, flying up to Slim's face with a clenched fist. "Well—" he stopped and sighed before looking at Flik with acceptance, "you know what? He's right."

"Lieutenant Gypsy reporting for duty," said Gypsy, taking a step towards Flik and giving him a fake salute.

"Kid, say the word and we'll follow you into battle," Francis added.

"You've got to do what your heart is telling you Flik," said Mickey.

Manny nodded. "We believe in you my boy."

"Show 'em that you're a winner not a quitter," Goofy said.

"Flik, please?" Dot asked.

Flik looked at all of them for a second before sighing and looking away from them all. Mickey's feelers drooped and he looked at Donald in resignation for a moment.

"Y'know," Mickey whispered, "Flik's acting just like Sora did when he lost his confidence in himself."

"Seems everyone's been losing a bit of esteem," Donald agreed solemnly. He quickly gave a 'Wak!' of surprise when little Dot angrily stormed over him, knocking Donald to the ground.

"What was that for?" he asked grumpily, glaring at Dot's back as the little queen ant buzzed her wings and took off from back of the box.

"She's behaving a bit like Kairi did a while back," Goofy noted, watching with the others as Dot flew around for a little bit. "Gawrsh, she even _sounds_ like Kairi might have sounded like as a little girl."

She suddenly dipped low to the ground before zipping her way back to the box, a small rock clutched in her hands. She strode past Donald, who still glared at her for knocking him over, and straight up to Flik, whose eyes and body were still turned away from everyone in silence. Dot plopped the rock down on the pencil next to Flik with a loud thud, causing him to turn and look at it while the princess took a couple of steps back.

"Pretend it's a seed, okay," Dot said seriously, her little hands on her hips.

Flik blinked a couple of times as he looked at the rock, and Mickey saw his eyes turn hazy for a second as he remembered something that had probably happened between him and Dot, a bit of advice he might have given her perhaps. The lowering Sun's light came into the circus box and Mickey smiled as it struck Flik's face. His eyes had turned bright and a glow that had nothing to do with the Sun came into his grey-blue cheeks.

"Thanks Dot," Flik said, looking at her and smiling slightly. Dot smiled and quickly came up to him, allowing Flik to wrap her up in a loving hug.

"Hey what's with the rock?" Francis asked Slim out of the corner of his mouth.

"Must be an ant thing," Slim answered back.

He let go of Dot and stood up, the same stubborn determination in his eyes as had been in them for most of the time that Mickey had known him. "Alright, let's do it!"

"That's the Flik we know and love," said Gypsy as Francis began to clap.

"We're on!" Manny announced while Donald jumped up and cheered.

"So, what do we do first?" Rosie asked. Flik's answer was a sly grin.

-A-D-

P.T. Flea sat at the front of the circus train of two boxes, being pulled by his two harnessed bronze millipedes. His life was really looking up. He finally had a successful act, even though it would cause him great personal injury every time they would do it, and those clowns of his were going to make him filthy rich! It even made him sing.

"Bugs will pay, big bucks to see, a bonfire that is staring me!" he sang to himself and the air in front of him, swaying the reigns of his millipedes. Wings buzzed next to him and he looked as Francis flew in front of him.

"P.T. look!" Francis said excitedly, pointing behind him, "MONEY!"

"Where? Where?" P.T. asked quickly, always looking for free money. What surprised him was that instead of money, Rosie was standing on top of the box behind him. As soon as he saw her, she instantly went into action, spinning web directly at him!

His yell of panic was the only sound that escaped his lips before he became covered in a cocoon of spider's web.

As soon as P.T. Flea was all wrapped up, Flik took control of the reigns. "Alright," he said, steering the millipedes around, "back to the Island!"

-A-D-

It was now dark and the waning moon was shining down on the anthill over a starry sky, belying a feeling of peaceful tranquility over the land. Down below against the dirt, the grasshoppers and Mantis Heartless were abusing the ants of the colony as the insects gathered the rest of the food on their island.

Unknown to the grasshoppers or Heartless, a small group of bugs were hiding on a hill, covered up by fallen leaves. "They're rounding everyone up," Flik said, taking a look at the scene through a device that would magnify things he fashioned using a blade of grass and a bead of dew; he called it a telescope. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy weren't about to tell him that it had already been invented on a host of other worlds using much more durable materials.

"Those are Heartless all right," Goofy said, looking at the black mantises through another telescope that was being held by Mickey. He winced as he saw one of them knock an ant to the ground with its arm, snarling at the poor creature. Goofy's vision was suddenly impaired and their cover exposed as one of the circus fireflies accidentally shined his light on their position.

"Hey," Francis hissed quickly, "turn your butt off!"

"Do you think they saw us?" Donald asked, ducking underneath his leaf again as he peered out into the darkness after the firefly hastily doused his light.

"Doesn't look like it," Rosie answered, "none of them are coming this way."

"Oh no!" Flik said, looking at another area. "They've finished collecting the food. We've got to get the Queen now!" He pushed off his cover and looked at the others. "Once she's safe we move on Gypsy's signal."

"Right," Mickey said, nodding his head. "Donald, Goofy, let's go." They nodded and silently followed King Mickey, who strode away on his feet instead of his buzzing honeybee wings to keep quiet. Flik and Dot broke away from the circus bugs and went off into the forest of grass, while Francis, Manny, Slim, and the others went to the circus train.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy crept around the line of grass, keeping out of the moonlight as much as possible. All of the ants of the colony except for the Queen and Princess Atta were kept together on a side of the anthill, a few feet away from the table of feasting grasshoppers and Hopper, guarded on the sides by only a few of the bigger and intimidating grasshoppers, backed up by a good number of Heartless. Each of the Mantis Heartless was in the shape of a praying mantis like Manny, except they were one and a half times his height, and as black as night with glowing yellow eyes. Their sickle-like claws were long and sharp.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy split apart without a sound, each of them hiding in the shadows around the group of ants, grasshoppers, and Heartless. Mickey had his back to the tall tree that housed the bird and was closest to the head table where Hopper kept the Queen and Atta, Donald was hiding about sixteen inches to his right, and Goofy was just behind the anthill, more or less directly across from Mickey, but Mickey was the only one who had sight of the head table and the events that would unfold in front of it.

Mickey felt a slight tap on his back and looked behind him to see Flik standing there with the Blueberry troop and the couple of boys that they hung out with. According to Dot, they had been able to sneak away to their clubhouse built underground from the inside of a stalk of grass before the grasshoppers and Heartless could have rounded them up.

"You guys ready?" Flik asked. Mickey could feel a slight trace of anxiety in his whisper and noticed the same sliver of nerves in his eyes when the ant looked at him.

Mickey nodded. "Don't worry about us," he whispered back, "Donald, Goofy, and I have handled much worse than this before." Flik looked at him believingly and Mickey placed a hand on his shoulder. The inventor ant nodded and without another word stole off towards the base of the tree.

Mickey looked back towards the gathered ants as a loud voice and drum roll began to pilfer through the quiet night air. "Ladies and gentlebugs, larvae of all ages, rub your legs together for the world's greatest Bug Circus!" Circus music began to play into Mickey's ears as the circus train drove right along the side of the anthill between the grasshoppers and the guarded ants, the bugs of the circus sitting or standing on the top of the box, all of them waving and smiling cheerily as Slim drove the millipedes onwards. Both fireflies had their rear ends to the sky, acting as super trouper stitch lights and Dim plodded on behind, dragging the turkey baster cannon behind him.

"Wait a minute!" yelled a large and mean-looking grasshopper that Mickey took to be Hopper. He stood up from his seat at the head of the head table and glared at the circus, the music drooping and the bugs trying not to look at each other uncertainly. "What's going on here?" Hopper asked, slowly drawing his questioning glare towards Princess Atta.

"Well..." Atta answered slowly, "uh..."

"Uh, yes," Slim improvised, chuckling nervously, "we were invited by, Princess Atta, as a surprise for your arrival!"

Hopper looked at the circus bugs impassively for a few seconds. "Squish 'em."

The mouths of the circus bugs dropped exponentially as the grasshoppers seated at the table instantly rose onto their wings menacingly. Dim backed up nervously and sat suddenly on the cannon. With a plop the pillbug cannonballs Tuck and Roll came barrelling out, striking the side of the box and ricocheting out in front of Hopper. A spotlight from one of the fireflies instantly turned onto them as the tarantula that played music for the circus began playing the violin and xylophone simultaneously.

"Hey!" they both said, unfurling at once and beginning to dance in the Russian style, singing in their gibberish, Yiddish-sounding language to accompany them. Tuck started dancing around by himself in a circle while Roll stopped and glared at him. As soon as Tuck was facing Roll again, Roll angrily muttered something and slapped Tuck in the face, ending the tarantula's sudden energetic xylophone solo. Both of them quickly began to vehemently argue with each other in front of Hopper, words not enough for the brothers to solve the difference (as they never are), causing their many hands to start flying between them both as they began to wrestle and writhe on the ground in a rather embarrassing display.

"Now _that's_ funny," Hopper said, deadpanning his words. His grasshoppers instantly settled back down onto their perches, laughing hysterically at the fight between the two pillbugs. "I guess we could use a little entertainment," Hopper shrugged with something reminiscent of a smile coming onto his face. He sat back down again and put his feet up. "Looks like you did something right for once, princess," he said, glancing at Atta.

Slim dropped down from the top of the circus boxes and laughed nervously. "On with the show!"

Mickey heaved a sigh of relief as Rosie and Dim came on, Rosie using a whip to 'tame' Dim as Tuck and Roll rode on the circling and roaring dung beetle. Getting Hopper to accept the circus had been the most tentative part of the plan; now that it was going swimmingly with Hopper's dimwitted and pleasantly nice brother Molt exclaiming childishly that he loved the circus, Mickey looked behind him at the trunk of the tree to watch as Flik and the kids started the climb up the tree to the bird.

_Come on_, he thought as he turned his eyes to look at the ants, Thorny and the other council ants noticing the climbing Flik, _hurry!_

"From the most mysterious regions of uncharted Asia," Manny's voice proclaimed as he came into the spotlight wearing a white turban cap on his head while Dim pushed a white cardboard box in behind him, "I give you, the Chinese Cabinet... of Metamorphosis!"

Manny closed his eyes and placed his fingers to his temples, swaying slightly as he walked forward. "Utilizing psychic vibrations, I shall select the perfect volunteer."

Molt's arm was nearly being strained out of place as he emphatically expressed a desire to be picked. "Ooh ooh, pick me! Pick me! No! Come on, I'm asking you with my brain!"

"Aha!" Manny said as he stopped directly in front of the Queen. He held out his hand and his voice showed how well he could act surprised and pleased at the same time, "Why, Your Majesty..." he said leadingly.

"Me?" asked the Queen as she took his hand.

A foul and unkempt grasshopper that was sitting next to her suddenly burst his head forward like an overprotective guard dog and snarled viciously at Manny. "No no, Thumper," Hopper said quickly, "let her go." Thumper slid back as Manny gracefully helped the Queen past the blade of grass in front of her and Hopper continued, chuckling. "Maybe he'll saw her in half."

Manny led the Queen towards Dim, speaking in his mystic tone the whole while. "As you ascend the dung beetle to the unknown, put your trust in the mysteries that are beyond mere mortal comprehension!"

"Ooh, this is gonna be good," Hopper said as Dim walked off after dropping the Queen inside of the box.

Mickey watched and listened, every fibre of his being tensing in readiness and his right hand already extended outwards, the muscles within it taught. The Queen was now safe, having been snuck out by Dim instead of dropped into the box as expected. Soon they would receive the signal and spring into action.

He glanced behind him at the tree in anxiety. The bird was the key to their plan, it would fall apart otherwise. It was the distraction that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy would need if they were going to storm the Heartless guarding the ants of the colony. He had already discussed with Flik that their timing needed to be synched, it wouldn't work at creating the havoc needed if they were off by even a few seconds.

Mickey would wait for the bird before leaping into action, and he was the only one of his group that could see the coming signal, so he was the one who would act to signal Donald and Goofy to attack.

"I call upon the ancient sentuon spirits," Manny asked mystically, spinning the box around, "to inhabit the body of our volunteer!"

"Transformation," he chanted. "Transformation. Transformation!"

Mickey looked up at the sky as Manny did his emphatic act, and noticed a slight rumble in the air as clouds began to gather over the mysterious moon. _He's good,_ he thought in awe, glancing at the praying mantis.

"And now," Manny finished, "insecto transformatus!" He brought his hands up and the lid of the box burst open as Gypsy flew out and spread her wings wide, scaring the grasshoppers for a second by the pattern of large owl eyes. She turned around and revealed to them the beauty she had in her pretty eyes and the inside of her wings, striking the grasshoppers with wonder and awe. Gracefully she flitted down to bow beside her husband, her wings opening and closing.

King Mickey's eyes widened slightly and he looked behind him at the tree. _That's the signal Flik!_

He held his breath, waiting with growing anxiety for every second he could not see the bird swooping down out of its perch in the tree's high hollow. In his heart Mickey could feel the familiar clutch of dread. Something had gone wrong.

"Wait a minute!" Hopper yelled at the circus bugs as they began pushing away the empty cardboard box. "Where is she?"

Manny began to babble something as he slowly began backing away from the incensed insect. "I'm sorry," Gypsy said sternly, coming to his aid and standing in front of him with outstretched wings and arms, "a magician _never_ reveals his secrets."

"That's very true Hoppie," Molt said reasonably. "I mean where would the mystery be if we all knew how it was—" Hopper chucked a piece of grain at his head without looking and Molt's arms went together to his knees. "Shutting up."

Mickey glanced back at the tree, his nerves and brain racking him. There was still no bird. Something had definitely gone wrong. He looked around in confusion as thoughts swirled through his head, too quickly for him to snatch any one of them and examine it thoroughly. The circus bugs were getting into trouble, Hopper and the other grasshoppers were now advancing upon them, and for some reason the bird wasn't flying down to them. Their plan was crumbling; he had to do something!

In a quick shimmer of light, the Reverse Kingdom Key appeared in Mickey's right hand. The next instant was a blur as he buzzed his honeybee wings and flew out of his cover towards the crowd of ants guarded by Heartless and grasshoppers. The golden sharp point of his Keyblade came down against a claw of one of the mantis Heartless, hewing the appendage off and letting it vanish back into darkness. The Heartless attempted to spin around, but the King of Disney Castle was too quick and would not give up the advantage that he had gained. Before the mantis could counterattack Mickey had already sliced off half of the other claw with a quick slash upwards. Mickey's golden Keyblade then sunk its way straight into the gut of the Heartless before being quickly withdrawn. He somersaulted through the air while the creature shrieked slightly in pain and with a final act plunged his Keyblade into the head of the Heartless. It vanished in a puff of darkness an instant later, its tiny captive heart rising into the sky.

His entire ambush had lasted only three seconds, and he was able to quickly take down another Heartless with two quick strokes to the front and back as he buzzed down the fringe towards where Donald would be emerging from. A third fell in front of him as Mickey pointed his Keyblade into the night sky and with a yell of, "Thunder!" a bolt of lightning fell from the heavens to descend and split its way straight through the denizen of darkness.

Mickey smiled as a sound struck his ears. At the same time as when his bolt of lightning cracked its way through the Heartless, illuminating everything in a sudden burst of light, the scream of a shrieking bird sounded from above him. Flik had been delayed, but now he and his bird were on the scene.

The colony of ants all noticed the bird at the same time, and with a mighty cheer broke out towards the anthill as a single mass, running over the two grasshopper guards that remained at their head and giving the grasshoppers a feeling of hysteria and panic as the ants surged like a rolling sea before breaking apart into a general mob. The circus bugs looked at each other in excitement for a second before they too joined the ants, the fireflies acting once more as super troupers in lighting up the skies above. They screamed and ran around in mock panic and fear, spreading disorder among the grasshoppers as some took to the skies and fled while the bird flew overhead and swooped down upon the throng of moving insects. Hopper huddled and cowered behind his brother Molt every time the bird passed by.

The Heartless had sensed the presence of the Keyblade the moment King Mickey had called it into his hand, but they were too slow to act, and caught off guard by his sudden onslaught. Their confusion only increased as the ants made a run for it and Donald flew out into the mass at the rear of the group with a circle of blazing fireballs surrounding him. His fires burned into the Heartless and caused them to back away for a second, a second the duck-turned-butterfly would not give them. He did not miss a single step and worked quickly, casting spells with frightening speed. A shard of ice left his wand to run a mantis through the belly, followed quickly by a streaming fireball to its face. The Heartless burst apart on contact with the fireball, but Donald was already onto the next adversary, his eyes burning with a passion for his work. He had learned while battling with Sora that he had to act quickly, or the Keyblade Master would defeat a lot of the Heartless himself.

A mantis came up behind Donald and reared its claw back for a strike, but the butterfly spun and jumped into the air while fluttering his wings. Donald extended his staff once more and three bullets of ice shot out of the brown wizard's hat that topped it and struck the Heartless one by one before a quickly arching column of lightning burnt a hole through its disappearing abdomen.

Goofy was a little slower on the uptake, but when he did finally reach his side of the conflict he charged straight in with abandon on his many tireless legs. His shield was on his forehead, and without hesitation he dove straight into the legs of a mantis, knocking it down before running it over with each and every one of his hundreds of legs. The Heartless' body could not withstand the trampling, and so disintegrated into darkness as the Captain of the Royal Knights rode it down. More Heartless hissed and charged back at Goofy, but he was so low to the ground that none of them could strike him before getting rammed and trampled to oblivion.

Disney Castle's King buzzed about on his wings as he fought against the Heartless still in front of him. He came down with a swing of his golden blade like against the first he had encountered, and like before the severed appendage degraded into darkness. The creature hissed at him and lashed out with its other claw. Mickey twisted around in the air as the sickle claw screamed over his head by the smallest of margins. He could even taste the tip of the Heartless' claw with his nose when he inhaled during that tense moment. With a quick flick, Mickey plunged his Keyblade into the neck of the Heartless before severing the head, sighing with grim satisfaction at the pink heart that rose from the defeated Heartless.

In the midst of the milling mob, Slim had gathered a few of the insects together with a stock of berries and they had smeared them over their bodies to resemble their blood. With another shriek the bird swooped down again and Slim made a jumping motion and gave a cry of pain as it passed just over his head. He clutched his head with his hands and ran staggeringly towards Hopper and Molt. "My eye!" he cried, revealing his 'wound' and grasping at Hopper, "help me!" Hopper screamed and ran away from him.

Slim gave a sudden cry of genuine pain and grabbed at the nearest ant that was running amok. "Ow, help me," he pleaded painfully. "I got berry juice in my eye! It stings!"

Hopper ran around the crowd of bugs, but each group he ran into all reached desperately to him for help, sporting wounds of more and more gruesome nature. He turned away from a few that had despairingly bloody chest wound and ran into the caterpillar Heimlich, decapitated but still moving. Shrieking in uncontrollable panic, Hopper fled from the caterpillar with flailing arms.

As such, he did not see Heimlich's head pop back up to lick away some of the berry flesh from his face. "Mm, poisonberry," he said, delighted.

King Mickey met up with Donald and Goofy just as the three of them dispatched the last of the Heartless, and together they broke into the milling mob as well. Donald smeared berry onto Goofy's side and a little went onto his own chest and they ran amok together, scaring grasshoppers into hysterics. Mickey huddled near the circus train and laughed watching them. He hadn't seen the two of them having so much fun since the last time all three of them had gone on a fishing vacation together with Minnie, Daisy, and Max, a fishing vacation that was rudely interrupted by Mortimer Mouse. All three of them had a wonderful time making Mortimer think that the lake was haunted, and scaring him away had been the most enjoyable week off Mickey had ever had.

He was broken off from his memories when the circus train was suddenly struck by the bird and scattered across the field. Circus equipment scattered everywhere, and P.T. Flea was freed from his cocoon of spider webs. The flea screamed as he saw the bird, but a cry of distress from Gypsy drew his attention away from the horror towards a tragedy. His magician Manny was on the ground with a gaping wound in his chest, a pool of blood spilt onto the ground beneath him.

"There goes my magic act," P.T. moaned. He spotted the matchbox and jumped directly onto it. "Flaming Death!" he shouted, striking the match.

"No!" Mickey yelled, rushing on his wings towards the flea, "P.T. stop!"

But the flea didn't listen and jumped instead onto a tube filled with lighter fluid, dropping his burning match into the stream of flammable liquid. It burst into flame just as the diving bird passed through it, and the dry leaves of the bird's tail caught the flames and held them.

"Ha ha!" P.T. cheered, "a direct hit!"

"Do you realize what you've done?" Mickey asked, reaching the flea too late to stop him. "Manny's fine, the bird is a fake!" P.T. looked at Mickey in horror for a second as they watched the bird begin to spiral out of control before being let free from its chord and crashing into the ground on the side of the anthill. The ants all gasped and quickly rushed towards the bird in anxiety, Princess Atta in the front.

Coughing and spluttering, the girls of the Blueberry troop filed out of the bird's open mouth and quickly gathered around Atta alongside the burning bird. "Where's Dot?" Atta was asking, gathering them all up with her arms, "has anyone seen Dot?" Mickey flew in next to Atta.

"There," he said, pointing at the mouth of the bird as Dot emerged. She instantly began rushing towards her older sister, but a hand snatched her up by her head with a quick jerk. More Heartless appeared in swirls of darkness and stood menacingly in front of the ants as an enraged Hopper held onto the youngest princess.

"Whose idea was this?" he roared, his grip on Dot's little head tightening as he glowered into the mass of ants behind his Heartless and remaining grasshoppers. Hopper turned. "Was it yours, Princess?" he asked fiercely, stomping his way towards Atta.

"Just get behind me girls it'll be okay," Atta said, standing protectively in front of the Blueberries and trying to keep face in front of a very angry Hopper. Mickey stood defiantly by her side, his Keyblade in his hand in the hopes that it would remind Hopper that Atta was not alone.

"Leave her alone Hopper!"

Hopper twisted around as Flik emerged from the burning wreckage of the bird, his left eye bruised and bloody from the crash. "The bird was _my_ idea," he answered courageously, "_I'm_ the one you want!" Hopper stared at Flik and dropped Dot from his grip, snapping the fingers on two of his other arms simultaneously.

The rabid grasshopper Thumper burst in from the grasshopper ranks and startled Flik for a second before a leg came out in a lightning kick, tumbling Flik onto the ground. He got back on his feet, spinning his head around as Thumper moved too quickly for him to catch sight of, circling the ant and scaring him as Flik could only ever get a glance of Thumper before he leapt away again. Another kick came crashing in on Flik's back and the ant rolled on the ground, Thumper surrounding and howling at him. Three more agonizing, wince-causing kicks struck Flik across the rocks and dirt before Hopper snapped his fingers again and Thumper ceased.

"Where do you get the gall to do this to me?" Hopper asked, continually glaring at the battered and bruised Flik as he took two steps closer to him.

Flik eyed Hopper and raised himself slightly off the ground. "You were, you were gonna squish the Queen."

"It's true," Dot added, looking up at her stunned sister.

Hopper rolled his eyes. "I hate it when someone gives away the ending." He waved his hand and Thumper kicked Flik across the ground again. "You piece of dirt," he spat. "No, I'm wrong. You're lower than dirt, you're an _ant_!"

Hopper looked up from the injured Flik lying on the ground. "Let this be a lesson to _all_ you ants," he said, watching as their legs quivered in fright, "ideas are very dangerous things. You are mindless, soil-shoving losers! Put on this earth, to serve us!"

"You're wrong, Hopper."

Every eye turned once more to Flik, as the bruised ant got to his feet with all the strength he had left. His eyes burned brightly and his face was set defiantly against Hopper, even as his voice showed the pain he was in. Even Hopper was surprised that Flik even had the strength to continue to stand against him.

"Ants are not meant to serve grasshoppers," Flik declared in a raspy voice. Hopper glowered at him and began approaching Flik again while the ant continued to speak, his voice losing its pain and gaining strength. "I've seen these ants do great things. And year after year, they somehow manage to pick food for themselves _and_ you! So, so who is the weaker species?"

"Ants don't serve grasshoppers!" Flik finished. "It's you who need us!"

Mickey looked around at the ants of the colony, as each and every one of them began muttering to each other behind the Heartless that stood between them and Hopper and his gang of grasshoppers. A small smile came onto Mickey's face as his grip on his Keyblade tightened.

"We're a lot stronger then you saw we are," Flik said as Hopper looked at him in confusion. Flik's eyes slowly grew wide. "And you know it, don't you?"

Flik fell to the ground again as Hopper struck him with an arm. One of his feet came to rest on Flik's head, preparing to squish the life out of the insignificant ant that dared to defy him.

Wings buzzed and fluttered and legs steamed forward as Atta, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy sprang in front of Hopper, defending Flik with their lives. The grasshopper chuckled. "Well, princess..."

"Uh, Hopper," Molt began nervously, "I uh, hate to interrupt, but uh..." Hopper turned and looked past his Heartless that stood between the ants and him. The hundreds upon hundreds of ants of the colony had chiselled looks of determined anger into their faces, a vast army of ants that finally understood that individually they were too weak to fight grasshoppers, but together they were strong.

"You ants stay back!" Hopper roared in warning. The ants and their phony warrior bugs all linked arms with one another, preparing themselves.

"Oh this was such a bad idea," Molt said, backing away with the rest of the grasshoppers as they felt the fear that their leader did not express.

"You see Hopper," Princess Atta said in a dangerous tone, "nature has a certain order: The ants pick the food, the ants _keep_ the food; and the grasshoppers... leave!"

The ants charged the Heartless that stood in their way, trampling the mantises before any of them could react in time. Mickey leapt in with his Keyblade to finish them off as they lay on the ground while Donald and Goofy helped lead the charge against the grasshoppers.

"Charge-a!" yelled Tuck and Roll on the side of the anthill, leading a group of ants that cartwheeled down the anthill.

"Where are you going?" Hopper roared as his grasshoppers fled past him. "They're just ants!" Hopper fell to the ground as Tuck and Roll bounced against his head, the cartwheeling ants spinning over him before the rest of the mob ran him further into the dirt.

Dot was running in the mob of ants too, and she met resistance in front of her. Thumped dropped in, exacting a shriek from the young ant princess before she smacked him in the face. "Bad grasshopper, bad grasshopper," she reprimanded, "go home!" Thumper extended his wings and arms and shrieked at her, but Dot held her ground against the creature that had once scared her and placed her hands to her hips and matched him with an intimidating frown as Dim jumped in behind her, roaring in anger. Thumper's eyes shrunk to the size of pinheads and he turned tail, barking in fright as he took to the skies after nearly all of his fellow grasshoppers.

"Come back here you cowards!" Hopper yelled as all the bugs converged on him. "Don't leave!"

"To the cannon!" yelled Donald, making sure he had a piece of Hopper in his hands. Hopper began to yell and flail under the grasp of twenty different bugs, but not even his powerful wings could get him free of their grip. He was shoved into the cannon underneath the offering stone, and P.T. Flea standing atop his drum rolling tarantula signalled Dim, who flew onto the offering stone and looked down at Hopper, laughing and waving a foot at him.

Hopper looked back at Flik in amazement as the ant saluted him. "Happy landings, Hopper."

"Have a nice trip!" Goofy added.

"And we won't see you in the fall," Donald jeered.

Dim was preparing to jump down onto the cannon to shoot Hopper away when there was a sudden flash in the sky and a roll of thunder. Mickey looked around at Donald and Goofy in confusion. There was a faint sound in the air that he couldn't quite place at the moment.

Flik, though, was able to place the sound and turned around to face the colony in panic. "RAIN!"

When the ants had previously broken out of being held by the grasshoppers and Heartless with the assistance of the bird and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, they had exuded an air of practiced panic and chaos. There was no such acting this time, for they were all truly terrified as they scattered and tried desperately to get into the anthill before a falling drop of rain would land on them.

Mickey kept close to Donald and Goofy, observing the action of the ants with anxiety. Hopper was still here, and they running for cover instead of dealing with him first. A drop of rain fell dangerously close to Flik and knocked him onto the ground. Princess Atta knelt down next to him and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy quickly went towards him to see if he was alright, but a yell from Dim distracted them. Mickey spun around to watch in horror as Dim fell onto the ball of the turkey baster, shooting one livid grasshopper out of his confinement and straight towards the one ant that had ruined the entire way of life he had created over the past several years.

"Flik!" cried Atta, helpless to do anything but watch as a streaking Hopper knocked her aside and grabbed the ant she knew she had fallen for before taking off into the stormy night sky.

"Quick!" Mickey said, his wings already buzzing as he lifted from the ground. "We've got to go after them!"

"Right behind ya Your Majesty," Francis said, flying past King Mickey with Slim in his arms.

Heimlich roared in determination as Dim took off with the fat caterpillar clutched underneath him, Rosie, Tuck, and Roll standing on Dim's shell. Donald fluttered past King Mickey after Francis, but the former mouse stayed buzzing an inch of the ground for a few seconds, scanning.

"Goofy!" he exclaimed, finally spotting his Captain and rushing towards him. "I need you to make sure that the ants are safe inside the anthill. If any more Heartless show up, you know what to do."

"Done and done Your Majesty," Goofy answered confidently. Mickey nodded and took off after the others.

The howling wind and pouring rain tried their best in the darkness of the night to keep them off of their chase, but even so the bugs were small enough to avoid the deadly drops and continue after the fleeing Hopper and his captive as he tried to get away through the leafless branches of the tree.

Francis and Slim were forced to fall back, as during the chase Francis accidentally ran into a stick and Slim got stuck, causing Francis to grab hold of another stick that was only slightly reminiscent of Slim's shape. The ladybug stayed behind and urged the others onwards, not helped by Slim's comment of 'I'm the only stick with eyeballs!' when it was raining!

"Get him!" Heimlich ordered from Dim's clutches as the dung beetle kept pace behind Hopper. Rosie picked up Tuck and Roll and bound them together to her with her sticky webs. She threw the two pillbugs at Hopper, and both of them landed perfectly on his head and started grabbing at his feelers. Hopper roared as his senses all started to be disturbed by the tampering of the two tiny bugs, and dove straight through a narrow opening in the branches. The opening proved to be too big for Dim to fit through, and too strong for him to break through it as he crashed into the branches in his attempt to follow Hopper. His sudden stop forced Tuck and Roll back off of Hopper to dangle by Rosie's webbing.

"It's up to you now!" Rosie yelled over the wind as Donald and Mickey passed by the stuck dung beetle.

"No problem," Donald said proudly, "we're heroes!" And he tore out of the tree's branches with his king at his side.

Both bee and butterfly weaved their way through the pouring rain after the grasshopper, their faces showing their resolve to get Flik back and end Hopper for good as they chased him in the open sky. Mickey barely noticed that the grasshopper was missing his left antenna, but ignored that small victory of Tuck's as his grip tightened on the golden Keyblade that was still in his hand.

With a yell of, "Light!" the King of Disney Castle swept his blade in front of him. The Reverse Kingdom Key's golden tip glowed blue for an instant and many tiny light blue balls of magic spewed out from the blade's tip. They spiralled towards Hopper, barrelling through the raindrops they hit and evaporating the liquid instantaneously as the magic made contact.

Hopper glanced back at the last second after hearing Mickey's cry and veered to his right, glaring at the King. He let Flik dangle for a second and snapped the fingers of one of his hands.

A great mass of darkness formed in front of Mickey and Donald and both of them stopped in their tracks. Hopper smiled as from the cloud of black and purple a large airborne Heartless appeared. The Heartless was both massive and fearsome, six large clawed purple legs jutting out from its bronze carapace. Its massive beetle wings were unfolded and beating rapidly in the air, the sound of their beating cadence drowning out the howl of the wind. Shining bronze mandibles clacked together behind two crescent horns in front of a black head, round yellow eyes shining above a thin red frown upon the Beetle lookalike's face.

Hopper chuckled a little to himself at the frowns that formed on Mickey's and Donald's faces as they stared at the Heartless he had brought out, but his chuckles were lost when a blur of purple flesh collided with him from behind and the ant he held captive was no longer in his clutches. Princess Atta had rescued Flik. Hopper roared and gave chase to the heir to the colony, speeding off through the driving rain.

Donald was about to go after him when Mickey stopped him. "We have to let Hopper go Donald," the King ordered, "this Heartless is more important. Watch out!" Mickey and Donald dived to the right and left respectively as the Heartless screeched and flew straight at them, its curved horns on the sides of its head glistening with a coat of rainfall.

"How about some magic ya oversized dung wad?" Donald asked angrily, raising his staff in front of him. "Fire!" Two small fireballs formed in the air in front of Donald and blasted straight for the Heartless' back. The Beetle roared and climbed, avoiding the fiery projectiles as a bolt of lightning flashed in the clouds overhead.

"Aw phooey," Donald muttered, watching as it turned around slowly in the air above them. King Mickey nodded and beat his own wings rapidly to ascend to the level of the flying Heartless. He tried to get close enough to the Beetle to attack its vulnerable underbelly, but the six clawed legs of the Beetle thrashed while the Heartless' powerful wings beat loudly and with increasing power, lifting the Heartless higher. It quickly became all Mickey could do to simply avoid being struck by the wildly moving legs, driving him back down.

And still the wings thrummed louder.

The wind began to increase in its intensity as the Heartless soared ever higher and Mickey's small bee body was pushed back through the gale towards where Donald still fluttered, avoiding the massive raindrops that would have made it more difficult to fly.

"Wak!" Donald said loudly, pointing towards the Beetle. Mickey looked up as his honeybee wings buzzed and frowned. Energy was gathering at the head of the Heartless as its wings drowned out all other sound. Braying wildly it swung its head from side to side and two crimson sickles of light flew off of the horns on the side of its head towards them. Mickey and Donald swerved out of the way of the attack, but the wind that followed it drove them still further away from the Heartless.

"Coward!" Donald grumbled, pointing his staff at the Heartless as it began to crackle with lightning. "I'll show ya! Thundaga!" A bolt of crackling, jutting lightning burst from the brown tip of Donald's staff with a roar of thunder. It broke through the wind and sizzling made its way through the rain. The Beetle attempted to dodge, but this time Donald's spell hit its mark, striking the Beetle's carapace on its side, just above the vulnerable underbelly.

Mickey's eyes narrowed when he saw the exoskeleton at that part crack.

"Here I go!" he exclaimed, beating his wings faster and shooting up towards the Heartless. More crimson energy gathered in front of its head and its horns swung from side to side again, both sickles aimed at the little King. Mickey readied his golden blade as he sped towards the attack, and the weapon burned with light. Just before the first crimson crescent was about to cut into the buzzing bee, Mickey raised his countering Keyblade and stopped dead in his movement as the energy struck against his blade.

Mickey tightened his grip and gritted his teeth as the second one slammed against his defence after the first. He felt himself being pushed back by the attack as his arm struggled to hold his Keyblade steady in face of the onslaught of energy. The sweat on his forehead began to evaporate as the energy from the attack released itself as heat, both sickles flaring and dimming as they strove to break through his counter. Nearly all that Mickey could see in front of his face was the hostile red light breaking against the white light streaming out of his golden Keyblade that was all between him and intense pain. His Keyblade was being pushed back. Slowly, it was bending in the face of the violent flashes of energy it was pressed against. But hidden just beyond in the crimson, Disney Castle's King could still see the faint outline of the massive Beetle Heartless, watching.

Mickey placed his other hand on his Keyblade's hilt and took a deep breath. His shaking hands steadied as he glared at that faint outline. His Keyblade ceased its retreat and slowly began to make headway against the attack as it turned it back.

Mighty was the yell of King Mickey Mouse as with a sudden surge of strength his Keyblade sliced through both crimson sickles, a curved blade of light soared up towards the Heartless. The Beetle shrieked and used its bottom four clawed legs to block the attack while Mickey sped in on his own wings. Massive leg came down as Keyblade came up, and both were stopped by the strength of the other. But Mickey would not relent and withdrew his Keyblade to block the swing of the other front leg while his crescent of light continued to hold the other four legs.

Nearly all sound was drowned out of Mickey's ears by the ceaseless beating of the Heartless' wings. He flipped in the air to dodge a slice from another one of the legs and his Keyblade struck against the inside of the right horn as the Beetle threw its head to one side to catch him. Not even the buzzing of his own wings reached his ears as his body was struck down by the side of the other leg.

The Heartless' wings thrummed again as Mickey's head spun for a second from the strike it had suffered. He looked up and saw all four legs that had been held in place by his attack stretch outwards and break the curved blade of light. The Heartless screamed and another blast of wind pushed Mickey back to Donald, who caught him.

"I think I've got it," Mickey groaned as Donald let go of the honeybee. "It's its wings. They're the source of its power. If we can take out its wings, we can bring it down."

"Got it," Donald said, raising his staff. He fluttered up high into the air to hover directly in front of the Heartless. "Hey you big palooka!" Donald yelled, drawing its attention as Donald conjured a jar into his hands. "Look what I got! I got a jar o' dirt, I got a jar o' dirt, I got a jar o' dirt," Donald placed a hand onto the lid, preparing to open it, "and guess what's inside it!"

Donald flung open the lid and yelled, "Blizzaga!" From within the jar of dirt came a rushing horde of spears composed of ice, their sharp points breaking through the falling drops of water as they streamed towards the massive Heartless. Its carapace that protected its wings while they were furled up rose in front of the wings and shielded them from the icy spears that would otherwise have shredded them to useless fragments. The spears of ice still barrelled out of Donald's jar, breaking upon contact with the Heartless' body, their sharp points shattering with every hit, but also cracking the armour that shielded the Beetle's vulnerable body.

"Light!"

The tip of Mickey's Keyblade shone with blue light as it twirled in front of him from behind the Heartless, whose sole target had been Donald and surviving his icy barrage. A dozen tiny spheres of blue light streamed from the Reverse Kingdom Key's tip and twisted their way straight to the wings of the Beetle Heartless. Where they struck, they obliterated themselves in bright explosions, setting fire to the adjoining sections.

The Heartless screamed and writhed in agony as it began to sink to the ground. Mickey glared at it as it began to limp its falling way towards the trunk of the tree. Donald's jar of dirt had vanished, and the duck was sending bolt after bolt of lightning at the retreating Heartless, breaking large chunks of its armour off and exposing the purple body underneath it.

Mickey clenched his Keyblade and blazed after the Heartless, miraculously avoiding all of the falling rain as he dove straight at his target. The Beetle Heartless landed on the trunk of the tree and turned its mammoth head towards the tiny honeybee coming after it. It roared and its horns began to vibrate as more crimson energy began to pool in front of its head between the horns.

King Mickey's Keyblade glowed white again as he pooled his own energy into the blade. The Heartless roared and fired its energy straight at the King in a condensed beam; Mickey yelled and slashed his Keyblade down the moment before the beam struck.

As before, Mickey was held in place for a moment, but then the clash of the energies became too great and the skies were rent by the light and flame produced by the erupting ball of fire from the encounter.

Donald dove down to try and get out of the way, but he was still forced to shield himself with a reflect spell to survive the blast without injury. Even so, his shield was pressed down into the branches of the tree and collapsed. Donald felt his back ache at him as he lay against the branch, but his grunting eyes looked only towards the trunk above him where the meeting of his King and the Heartless had taken place.

The light from the explosion was still there, shining in brilliance against the stormy night sky before it faded away to reveal the Heartless...

...with King Mickey's Keyblade embedded in its head.

King Mickey smirked and withdrew his blade from between the yellow eyes of the Heartless and buzzed down and away from it, swinging himself into the hollow of the tree that had held the bird. As such, he did not see the Beetle Heartless' legs quiver and shake before they lost their grip on the tree and began to fall, the Heartless vanishing into darkness in the air and a large pink heart rising into the sky.

Donald cheered and beat his wings rapidly to follow his King into the tree's hollow just as a blue light began to faintly glow from it. "You're okay!" Donald cheered, grabbing King Mickey into a hug. His King didn't answer and Donald let go of him, looking at him in puzzlement. Donald's gaze strayed and his eyes went wide as he stood beside the weary figure of King Mickey, still holding his Keyblade in his hand. At the core of the tree's trunk, the shining blue outline of a Keyhole had appeared.

King Mickey raised his Keyblade and three golden stars swirled into existence in front of it before a bright arrow of white light shot out of the Keyblade and into the Keyhole. The entire hollow began to glow with bright blue light for a few seconds before the light dimmed and the sound of a lock clicking into place could be heard. The Keyhole dissolved away, leaving only an imprint of itself against the wood of the trunk.

Mickey and Donald turned at the sound of wings and saw Atta carrying Flik enter into the hollow.

"Hopper?" Donald asked.

"Eaten by a bird," Flik answered. "The Heartless?"

"Gone," Mickey answered brightly. "And we just sealed the Keyhole. They shouldn't be bothering you guys too much anymore."

"So what are you going to do now?" Atta asked. "Since it looks like this fight's now over, we don't need warriors anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Donald asked. "I want to see the circus act before we go."

Mickey laughed. "I guess we can hang around for a couple days before we hit the road." Donald, Flik, and Atta all smiled and the four of them made their way down to the anthill, where a hero's welcome awaited them.

-A-D-

_GOD! It took me forever to find my muse and get through writing this. But, I loved writing it._

_I hope you guys haven't found that I'm too out of touch with my boss battle writing skills. Heck, I just realized that I actually wrote this one like a Kingdom Hearts world!_

_Anyways, leave a review if you are so inclined._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	7. A Fish Called Nemo

_(The scene is a sunny park with small pockets of trees growing tall amidst the field of grass. In the midst of this field rests a banner on two poles that says 'Happy Anniversary!' Underneath the banner stands a table with a large cake, burgers, burger buns, condiments, plates, and plastic forks upon it. A black garbage bag sits open-mouthed beside the table's right side and on the left is a sizzling barbeque. Underneath the table are two coolers filled with snow and ice, keeping assorted cans of pop cool. Around the table are Shire Folk, Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Naminé. Shire Folk has a slightly greasy flipper in his hands. Roxas is lying in the shade underneath a tree, only the crumbs of his slice of cake on his plate beside him, and Yuffie is spread out on the grass on the towel in her shorts and a grey tank-top with an angled mirror, tanning. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Max are all playing with each other and Pluto with a Frisbee. Axel is in the tree that Roxas is lying under, eating a bar of sea-salt ice cream. Mulan is resting underneath another tree with Mushu, Cricky, and Asterix, who has his helmet slouched over his eyes and a piece of grass in his mouth. Next to them is __**Goldpen**__, Shire Folk's older sister by two minutes. Obelix is teaching Dogmatix a trick with a ball. Aiwemon and Menelmon are flying up in the sky.)_

_Shire Folk: "Okay everyone. I have a big announcement to make. Two days ago, Wednesday, March 4__th__, 2009, was the day that reached the two-year anniversary of the start of this fic, way back when it was first titled __**The Fire in His Heart**__. I would have finished the chapter for Wednesday, but due to circumstances beyond my control, such as the weather, I wasn't able to."_

_Sora: "Wow... two years already? And you've barely been able to write a month and a half of our lives in that time."_

_Shire: (Grumbling and flicking the flipper in Sora's direction) "Quiet you... or you're not getting another burger."_

_Sora: "Not fair! Aiwemon stole my last one before I could eat it!"_

_Aiwemon: (From above) "Keep your food better guarded when you've got a hungry digimon partner Sora!"_

_(Riku grabs a can of gingerale from the cooler and raises an eyebrow as he looks around. The snap-hiss sound of the can opening is heard before he takes a sip from it.)_

_Riku: "Where'd you get the snow from anyway? It looks like it's the middle of summer."_

_Shire: (Shrugging and pulling out his cell to get the time while looking at the burgers still on the grill [my watch died]) "I've got probably fifty-sixty centimetres of it piled up outside of my house right now since it's the start of March. And it snowed again on Tuesday so I would have ended up with another two that I'd have to shovel off, but it got up to plus three on Wednesday (good weather for the anniversary) so it melted since it was so warm out. I was even outside in just a t-shirt and a pair of jeans because it was so hot. However, we're in for more cold weather as well as rain and freezing rain starting Thursday. Plus, it did snow again so I did have to shovel the new layer of ten centimetres off the driveway."_

_(The eyes twitch on the faces of all the Islanders)_

_Sora: "But how? Are you living in some winter wasteland or something? I don't think I even saw that much snow in Christmas Town. And what the heck is freezing rain?"_

_Shire: "I'm Canadian dipshit. I can handle minus twenty; minus thirty degree weather with over a foot of snow on the ground. Minus ten though, that's warm. And I only live in the Edmonton area. It would really suck if I was living in Vancouver or Montreal. They got loaded with snow this winter. And freezing rain is super cooled rain that freezes as soon as it makes contact with a surface that it rains on, even skin."_

_(Goldpen sniggers slightly from underneath the trees with Mulan, Mushu, Cricky, and Asterix.)_

_Sora: (Snorting) "Sucks to be you. We live on tropical Islands."_

_Shire: (Under his breath.) "You won't be saying the same thing when you're on Charadhras The Cruel."_

_Kairi: (Giggling without hearing his words) "Don't tease him so much Sora. He might sick _Ichigo_ on you."_

_Riku: (With a sly grin) "Which Ichigo would you be referring to Kairi?"_

_Naminé: (Cutting Kairi off) "Well, since he's lied to everyone about Kis—"_

_Shire: (Slapping hand over Naminé's mouth and muffling out the rest of her words) "Naminé! That's a secret!" (Looks at cell again) "Time to flip."_

_Sora: (While Shire is flipping burgers) "One that will stay secret no longer." (Cupping hands over mouth) "Hey everyone! He's lying! He really __**does**__ like Bleach! Those three back there with Master Yen Sid were Jinta, Ururu, and Urahara Kisuke!"_

_(A white bandage suddenly poofs into existence and wraps around Sora's mouth. Its end unravels until it's in Shire Folk's hand.)_

_Shire: (Sighing) "You and your big mouth Sora."_

_(He yanks the ribbon and Sora plummets onto his back on the ground, his arms grasping at the bandage to get it off.)_

_Shire: "Well, since the cat's out of the bag now, literally in a way... I leave you all to imagine how much fun Kisuke and Yoruichi are going to have with them."_

_Kairi: (Taking pity on Sora and removing the ribbon from around his head) "You know, he could still sick Ichigo on you Sora." (She giggles again slightly) "But I'm sure you'd like that wouldn't you?"_

_Riku: (Sniggering at Shire) "Now I get it. She isn't talking about Kurosaki Ichigo, Kairi's talking about Momomiya Ichigo."_

_(Shire Folk's face turns bright crimson)_

_Shire: "Wha—what to do mean? Who's Momomiya Ichigo?"_

_(Naminé gasps before hiding her face behind her hand in a fit of giggles)_

_Naminé: "I don't believe it. He likes Tokyo Mew Mew."_

_(Shire Folk's face becomes a deeper shade of red)_

_Shire: (Angrily) "So what? It's cute, deals with an important world issue, minus the aliens, and reminds me of Sailor Moon without having to go and watch Sailor Moon!"_

_(Over at the tree with Axel in the branches and Roxas on the ground in the shade)_

_Axel: (Looking over) "What do you think they're talking about over there?"_

_Roxas: "Shire Folk likes a cute anime or something, so they're making fun of him. And you're dripping ice cream by the way."_

_Axel: (Looking at his ice cream) "Crap."_

_(Back at the table and grill)_

_Sora: "You were going to sick Mew Ichigo on me? Actually... that wouldn't be all that bad."_

_Kairi: "Sora..."_

_Sora: "You can't deny that she isn't cute Kai, especially with those ears and tail of hers."_

_(Kairi looks and grumbles in Shire Folk's direction and he smiles.)_

_Shire: "Alright, I'll give him a taste of what's to come."_

_Sora: (Confused) "What's to come? What are you talking about?"_

_(Wind picks up and swirls around, forcing the eyes of everyone except Shire Folk to close. When they open them again, the same man who talked to Yen Sid in Chapter VI is standing before them. A sword with a hilt in the shape of his cane is in his hand.)_

_Sora: "Huh? Urahara?"_

_(Goldpen hears Sora mention the name and looks up from underneath the tree. Her blue eyes grow wide from underneath her brown, currently dyed red, hair.)_

_Goldpen: (Squealing slightly in delight) "Hat 'n Clogs!"_

_(Kisuke's eyes see Sora and they flash underneath the shadows caused by his hat.)_

_Urahara Kisuke: "Awaken, Benihime, The Red Princess."_

_(Sora's eyes go wide as Urahara's sword transforms suddenly and he bolts away from Kisuke.)_

_Naminé: "Since Sora's running away, I guess I'll do the disclaimer. Shire Folk does not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, whatever... or anything else that is associated with something that has a ™ on its name." (Smirking while looking at Sora) "That'll teach him to start thinking about a girl with the genes of a cat in her instead of you Kairi."_

_(Sora screams as he's running away from Kisuke. Benihime cuts right through the trunk of the tree that Roxas was resting under. Axel drops his three-quarter eaten ice cream bar as the tree starts to sway with him still in the branches and he dives out. Roxas looks up slightly and notices the tree beginning to topple onto of him, and screams before rolling to the side just in time. Dogmatix can be heard howling.)_

_Roxas: "You idiot Sora! Can't you let your twin relax after three slices of cake and a double burger in peace?"_

_Sora: "Can't talk, gotta run!"_

_(Roxas is about to retort again when Axel lands on him after his leap of faith.)_

_Axel: "Thanks for being here for me Roxas."_

_Roxas: (Groaning) "Bullshit, I'm never breaking your fall again."_

_(Sora leaps over Yuffie as she's tanning on the grass. She puts down her mirror and lowers her sunglasses to watch as Urahara jumps over her as well. Yuffie sighs as Sora finally plucks up the courage to summon Remembrance to his hand and begins to duel with Kisuke. Her mirror is now on the grass now as she gets to her feet, her hands going into one of the pouches over her shorts. She looks up again as Sora and Urahara are now by another two trees and brings her hands out of the pouch, a kunai between each finger. Yuffie yells and flings the kunai at Sora and Kisuke Urahara. Each tiny knife cuts into their clothing and sticks them to the trees.)_

_Yuffie: (Pointing her finger at them.) "How can you two even think of fighting at a time like this? This is the first time I've been able to get a decent amount of Sun in a while, and it will be a long time before I'm able to again what with Fall and Winter rolling as soon as we get back into the story! Give me a bit of peace here!"_

_(Sora and Kisuke look blankly at each other.)_

_(Back at the table and grill, everyone is howling in laughter.)_

_Shire: (Wiping away a fake tear) "Oh, wait. Before you all go off to read, I have some shameless advertising to do. First off, __**Elvenlord and the Keyblade Wielder **__would like me to advertise his fic, __**Rise of the Chaos Knights**__, set twenty or so years after the events of KHII, and featuring their children."_

_Shire: "Also, you should seriously read **Genesis of Destiny**. It's freakin' awesome! And REVIEW! **SirAngelo** wants reviews! Oh, and a special note to **Reduxer**, I looked at your profile and I completely agree with you. Any pairing with Kenpachi Zaraki in it is too scary to think about." (Goldpen shudders after hearing this.) "And I implore you all to go back and reread **Chapter IV: The Inn of the **_**Prancing Pony**_. There was something very wrong with it that was pointed out to me by a fellow author. It has since been corrected. And by the way, you only need to read the first half of the chapter, not all of it. And the new addition is FUNNY, so go back and read it just for a quick, cute laugh. Now, on with the fic!"_

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter VII: A Fish Called Nemo

When Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, Iago, Abu, Carpet, and Tifa all got onboard of the gummi ship entrusted to them, coincidentally named _Sultan_, Aladdin was almost as excited as when he had attempted to tie the knot with Jasmine in the first week of that month. This was going to be the first time that he would fly something other than Carpet. Their ship actually looked a little bit like one of the towers of the palace in Agrabah. It was white and tall, with a domed cockpit like on the _Highwind_ resting atop the ship. The ship itself was roughly fifteen metres high, cylindrical in shape, and the colour of an egg. Ten metres up, two off-white wings jutted out from it, cannons held in place underneath the wingtips and at the base of where they merged with the fuselage. Two engines were positioned on the back of the fuselage behind the wings, and their blue glow illuminated the space behind them.

"Okay..." Aladdin said, his voice betraying a slight note of anxiety as he sat in the pilot's chair. His eyes scanned the controls in front of him, trying to understand them.

"Are you sure you can fly this thing Al?" Genie asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"Of course I can Genie!" Aladdin responded irritatedly. "If Sora can fly one of these, how hard can it be?"

"I don't know..." Jasmine said nervously, looking at the panel in front of Aladdin, and the other two currently empty panels and chairs for the ship's two co-pilots. "I heard Donald saying that Sora crashed the _Highwind_ into Deep Jungle when he first took the wheel."

Aladdin chuckled anxiously and looked at his fiancé. "Re-really?" He looked back at the controls while Abu looked at him from on his shoulder. "Maybe I should take a rain check."

"Need help Aladdin?" Tifa asked, coming up a spiral staircase onto the bridge. Aladdin didn't answer and Tifa came right up behind him and pushed her finger into a button. A low thrum began to rumble into their ears as the engines warmed up. Tifa smiled at Aladdin and he laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head before getting out of the pilot's chair. It didn't look like he'd be flying around in a gummi ship by himself any time soon.

"And who ever said that a woman couldn't fly?" Tifa asked rhetorically as she sat down in the pilot's chair. She cracked her knuckles and went to work. The engines flared into life and the ship sped out of the hangar after the red and yellow _Highwind_.

"So uh, what are you doing Tifa?" Genie asked, looking over her shoulder in interest as they slowed down in space.

"I'm rerouting everything," she answered simply. "Since I'm the only one here who can fly this thing, thanks again Cid, I've got to handle every system personally since none of you know how to yet."

"Well then why are we just standing around?" Aladdin asked. "Teach us."

Tifa smiled again and looked back at him and Jasmine while Abu nodded his furry head and said something in his cute voice that sounded like 'uh-huh'. "Don't worry, I will," she answered, "just as soon as we're in warp space, I'll teach you everything you need to know."

"Thanks," Jasmine said. Tifa nodded and went back to work for another minute before the ship suddenly accelerated and they blasted into a blue portal that opened in front of them.

"Tifa," Jasmine said, looking at the landscape that was warp space with only a small amount of apprehension. She had only seen it a few times. "Can I ask you something?"

Tifa swivelled around in her chair and smiled again. "Ask away."

"Why exactly did you come with us?" Jasmine asked. Tifa kept her smile, but her eyes closed and she looked down slightly.

"I'm looking for someone," she answered.

"Who?" asked Jasmine.

"Cloud."

"You're looking for weather?" Genie asked, turning himself into a big blue cloud. Lightning bolts flashing and rain pelted them from his body for a few seconds before he turned back into his Genie self.

Tifa smiled slightly, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Not really. Now come on Al, you said you wanted to fly this thing right?"

-A-D-

It was hours before they reached the world known only to them as 'The Great Barrier Reef', but in that time Tifa had shown Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie just about everything she knew about how to fly a gummi ship. She admitted that what she knew was a bit limited, since she had never been forced to fly one into battle against the Heartless or Nobodies, and had never really been under any sort of stress when piloting.

Once they dropped out of Warp Space, Tifa left the flying to Aladdin, casually observing over his shoulder to see how well he was doing. Aladdin was a little nervous, what with Tifa's eyes watching over him, and the ship was a little shaky as he flew it, but only just a little bit, so small you could barely notice its shaking unless your stomach belonged to one Yuffie Kisaragi that is.

"Good job Al," Tifa said as he brought the _Sultan_ into orbit around the world, which appeared to them as several pieces of brightly coloured coral woven together in a blue ocean. "That was probably a thousand times better than the first time Sora flew a gummi ship."

Aladdin smiled and looked over at Genie. "So, what does the computer say about the world Genie?"

"Oh you're going to LOVE it Al!" Genie exclaimed. "Imagine, just for an instant, a world beneath the waves of an entire ocean! More water than you've ever seen before in your life!"

"Really?" Jasmine asked. "Our first new world and we get to swim?" She looked at her fiancé and smiled. "I'd say we're lucky Aladdin."

"I would too," Al agreed. "Only... I wonder how Abu, Iago, and Carpet are going to take it."

-A-D-

"I'm not going!"

"Come on Iago," Tifa said, bending down to look at the obstinate red parrot and cocking her head to the side. "It'll be fun."

"Look, I'm all for water as much as the next bird," Iago said, holding his hand of cards in his wings as he sat at a table with Abu and Carpet, a green visor on his head as they basked only in the light from the single overhanging light bulb. "But if the whole world is an ocean, then count me out. I don't take too kindly to getting my feathers waterlogged until I'll need Jasmine's blow-dryer for three hours to get them dry." He looked at his cards: four of hearts, four of spades, six of spades, seven of diamonds, and eight of clubs, and tossed five blue chips into the currently nearly empty pot, filled only from their ante. "I'll bet you chumps twenty-five munny."

"How about you Abu?" Aladdin asked his friend as the monkey gave his five cards a hard look from underneath his red visor. "You want to come with us?" Abu looked up at Aladdin, shivered and chattered something. Al sighed. "Okay, you don't have to come."

"And I think we'll leave rug-man here to look after these two," Genie said, watching the game from the darkness of the room's ceiling. Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa nodded, and the four of them left the room, the door _whooshing _closed behind them to leave the three card players illuminated only by the one bulb.

Iago huffed. "Glad those bozos are gone." He looked at Abu. "Hey monkey, we're waiting on you. Call, raise, or fold."

Abu chattered back. "_I'm thinking_." He looked at the pot, looked at his cards again: five of clubs, five of diamonds, five of hearts, three of clubs, and Queen of spades, and licked his lips. "_Call_," he said, flicking five chips into the pot before looking expectantly at Carpet. The rug sat underneath his blue visor, looking as stern as possible without a face. He was tapping the table with one of his tassels. Abu and Iago looked at each other before looking back at Carpet. He probably had the _best _poker face anyone had ever seen.

"What do you think they're going to find on the world anyway?" Iago asked as Carpet called.

Abu began chattering. "_Probably just a bunch of little fish._" Iago huffed and discarded his four of hearts.

Carpet dealt him a new card and he spoke up. "Nah, I bet they'll find a shark or something." His eyes gleamed. Five of spades. That gave him a straight, high card eight. Not too shabby.

Abu shuddered, dropping off his three of clubs. "_I hope that Aladdin doesn't meet a shark_."

"Oh yeah," Iago drawled while protectively holding his cards to his chest. "You wouldn't get your favourite bananas if Al bites it would you?"

Abu growled slightly, which turned into a faint chuckle as he saw that Carpet had dealt him the Queen of diamonds. Three fives and a pair of Queens, a Full House. He would have liked that last five, but a Full House was still a high-ranking hand. "_You sure that there isn't any treasure for you to snatch under the sea_?"

"My beak ain't quivering when I think about that world," Iago shot back as Carpet took a leap of faith and dealt himself the maximum three new cards. "My beak only quivers when it's smelling loot, and right now it's quivering a lot monkey!" He eyed the pot greedily and put in two black chips. "Fifty munny! Remember monkey, the max bet is a hundred in case you want to lose a bit more..."

Abu grimaced and chattered angrily. "_I'll see your fifty and raise another fifteen you bluffing pigeon!_"

"Hey! No need to bring out the _P_ word mop-for-fur!" Iago retorted as Abu's chips flew into the pot. Both of them glared at each other as Carpet called and Iago disdainfully added another fifteen into the pot to match the bet.

"Alright, show 'em fuzz-brain," Iago challenged in a sweet tone, confident in his victory. He plopped his straight down on the table and began moving a greedy wing towards the pile of chips, grinning underneath his green visor.

"_Uh-uh-uh_," said Abu. "_Don't touch my money feather-head_." His Full House landed on the table to Iago's horror and disbelief and his arms began moving towards the pile, a cheeky grin on his face.

"What!" Iago asked, staring at Abu's revealed hand. "There's no way! That's impossible!" Abu sniggered.

Carpet's tassel slapped the simian's hand away and a startled Abu and fuming Iago looked at the rug as Carpet flung his hand down onto the table. Ten of clubs, Jack of clubs, Queen of clubs, King of clubs, and Ace of clubs. Royal Flush!

Carpet wrapped himself around the pot and brought it towards him. Abu began chattering angrily and incoherently while Iago grabbed his feathers and shouted as they began ripping out. "That's not fair! I shoulda won! Look at this! Look at this! I'm so ticked off, I'm moulting!" He glared at Carpet.

"Laugh while you can Taj Mahal reject, I'm taking my money back this hand!" He flipped one white chip representing one munny in for the ante.

"_Uh-huh!_" Abu agreed, flipping another one in as well. They looked at each other and nodded. They'd take Carpet down. Carpet made a motion that seemed to be laughter and flipped his ante into the pot before he began dealing again.

-A-D-

While the card game between the three non-humans continued in the _Sultan_ above them, Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, and Tifa had all beamed down onto the world, immediately confused by the forms they now took. Aladdin floated upside down, a blue spot over his eyes while the rest of his body was yellow: a Lemon Butterfly Fish. His tiny purple hat was sitting upside down on his head. Jasmine's head was pointed downward as she took the form of a blue Queen Angelfish. Tifa stayed upright, her extravagant black fins and tail spread out behind her body of a Siamese Fighting Fish, and Genie was swimming about energetically as a Flying Fish.

"Uh, what just happened?" Aladdin asked, looking up at the surface while he floated upside down.

"I think that this is the magic that Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather put into our clothes," Tifa said, looking herself over and giving her tail an experimental twitch.

Jasmine turned around slowly in her angelfish body. "Well whatever they did," she said, finding it odd that she need only look out of one eye the was isolated on one side of her body to get a good look at her, "it certainly is different."

Genie suddenly zipped up from beneath them in excitement, his fins and tail darting quickly to propel his sleek body forward as quickly as possible. "Woo-ho!" he yelled, the wake of his passage flipping Aladdin over so that he was finally oriented the right way.

"Thanks Genie!" Aladdin said, smiling as he fluttered a little bit with his small yellow tail.

"No problem Al," Genie assured him. "But I got to wonder," he said, looking around quizzically. "If this place is called the Great Barrier Reef, there sure seems to be a big lack of reef."

Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa looked around the area that they were in, getting used to their new bodies as they did so. Genie was right. For all the beautiful coral that had shown up on the gummi ship's screen as an icon when they first looked at the world, there was nary a piece of thousand-year-old living-on-top-of-dead coral polyp life in sight. All that they could see as the group of four hung near the surface of the water was the big blue ocean stretching out in every direction, and the sandy seafloor far beneath them.

"That's strange," Tifa said quietly. "Why would we end up here?"

The eyes on Aladdin's yellow body grew very wide as he looked in a different direction. "Watch out!" he yelled, diving towards Jasmine and grabbing her fin with his own. Tifa and Genie looked and all four of them dove quickly just as the rotor blades of a speeding white boat passed overhead.

"Haven't you ever heard of a cage pal?" Genie yelled after the boat as it vanished from them in a swirling whirl of bubbles. "You coulda killed my buddies over here!"

Black spheres appeared around the group suddenly, signalling the arrival of creatures that Aladdin, Tifa, and Genie were all too familiar with. "I think these guys have a better chance of that Genie," Aladdin said, looking at his yellow fin in surprise as his scimitar suddenly appeared in it.

Green Heartless appeared from out of the swirls of darkness that surrounded them from every direction except for above. They looked like alien divers, tiny little propellers on their head and green tanks strapped to their backs. In their webbed hands were green harpoons.

"Hey I remember these guys," Genie said, looking at the Screwdivers with nostalgia while Jasmine's bronze falchion appeared in her fins in front of her. "Oh it makes my heart yearn for the old days."

"Genie..." Jasmine said anxiously, looking around at the twenty or so Heartless that surrounded them, "could you remember that we're supposed to be fighting them?"

Tifa glanced over at the Princess of Agrabah. "Are you sure you're okay Jasmine?"

Jasmine shook her head. "I'm not sure. This is my first time, and it's not really the best form for my first fight wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah," Tifa agreed, looking back at the Heartless. "But if you get overwhelmed, you were saying something about your light back at Star Command yesterday."

Three of the Heartless that were facing Jasmine broke formation and streaked towards her before the Princess of Heart could answer. She let out a short gasp and fluttered her way to her right, avoiding all three of the Screwdivers as they only lunged in straight lines. She quickly slashed out with her falchion and struck the trailing Heartless across the back. It jerked as the cold steel cut into it and Jasmine was able to cut at the Screwdiver again, this time across its left arm. This time the Heartless answered by swinging its harpoon in front of it. Jasmine gasped slightly as the weapon came towards her and she closed her eyes in fear, holding her falchion out in front of her.

_CLANG!_

Jasmine opened her eyes as her fin shook and her mouth opened in surprise as her eyes took in the sight of the harpoon flailing out to the Screwdiver's side.

_I... I blocked it?_

Jasmine's face hardened slightly and she pointed her falchion right at the faltering Heartless. If she could defend herself against its attack, then she could attack it; she could kill it. At the tip of the bronze blade held in her fin, a small sphere of light was forming, her falchion itself beginning to glow. "Light!" Jasmine cried, making sure that her weapon was still pointed at the Heartless. The ball of light condensed itself in, and shot straight off the tip of the weapon in a straight beam. The light pierced the Heartless directly in its middle and the Screwdiver dropped its harpoon before its webbed hands grasped at the hole in its chest. It stayed in that position for only a second before a quick third jab from the Arabian Princess' sword severed its ties to the world and it vanished into darkness.

Jasmine smiled and whooped in jubilation. She had bested a Heartless. She had beaten one of the creatures that had plagued her world and had been used in plots to take over the universe. A creature of darkness had fallen at her hands, _hers_!

"Aladdin!" she exclaimed, looking towards her beau, "did you see..." her voice trailed off and her eyes widened, her mouth opening wider. Aladdin was rapidly dashing about after each Screwdiver he was able to set eyes on, the scimitar in his yellow fin a flurry as the Agrabah street rat outdueled and cut into the Heartless. Jasmine's eyes strayed and she saw that Genie had transformed out of being a flying fish and into a mix between himself and an octopus, his eight tentacles spinning around and around with blasts of magic zooming out of their tips and off his fingers while his laughter echoed. Tifa's black fins burst powerfully around her body, striking against the Heartless with crushing blows that sent them either wheezing or spinning out of her way as the lithe female fish spun and swum out of the way of the diving Screwdivers.

Jasmine gulped slightly and looked back at her falchion. She had her work cut out for her if she was going to reach the level Aladdin and Tifa were at. And Genie... well, Genie was a class all of his own. Phenomenal cosmic power was something that was hard to match.

Jasmine gasped and was broken from her reverie as a harpoon grazed her left flank from a Screwdiver that dove in from above and behind her. She winced and placed a fin against the cut that was allowing some of her red blood to mix freely with the ocean's water. The Screwdiver spun around after its successful strike against her and pumped its arms and legs in victory.

Jasmine fixed it with a cold stare and raced after it. Her bronze falchion came down wildly in a strike aimed at the Screwdiver's head. It swam to the left and she missed, noticing with fear that its harpoon was shooting out towards her. It almost touched her, and she only counted the miss on how she had tilted her body from the exertion of her attack. She made a stab with her blade as the Heartless was momentarily defenceless and found satisfaction in the way it sunk into the side of the Screwdiver. It recoiled instantly to the touch, but Jasmine had been close enough for her falchion to cut deep enough that its recoil only worsened the damage it sustained from her weapon. She pulled the blade out and quickly slashed it diagonally across the Screwdiver's chest before bringing it back in the opposite direction through its black face.

The Heartless vanished in a cloud of dark smoke and Jasmine cringed, feeling the pain again from the wound she'd suffered. She heard Aladdin call her name and turned to see the butterfly fish swimming anxiously towards her. Genie had just eradicated the last Heartless in a blast of blue energy, and Tifa was swimming towards her as well, a worried look on her face.

"Are you alright?" Aladdin asked, looking at the ripped scales in concern.

"Yeah," Jasmine answered shakily, "I think so anyway."

Tifa shook her head. "It doesn't look too bad," she announced as a green glow began to come from one of her black fins. She placed the fin against Jasmine's injured side and the princess grunted slightly from the pain. "Cure." The ache eased as a green glow engulfed her side and Jasmine looked down at it, noticing that the flesh and sky-blue scales were now as good as new.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at Tifa. She nodded.

"Not a problem," Tifa answered, returning the smile. Something caught her eye and Jasmine turned around to get a look at whatever it was. A small fish was muttering the word 'no' over and over again, his volume increasing with each consecutive 'no'. His orange, white, and black body was racing towards them.

"Wonder why he's in such a hurry," Genie said, watching him. The clownfish appeared completely oblivious to their being there as his tail flicked rapidly from side to side, his eyes wide with only deepest fear.

"No, NEMO!" he shouted, racing right through them.

"Nemo?" Aladdin wondered aloud, looking at the other three. Jasmine and Tifa shared confused looks with each other while Genie just scratched his head with one tentacle, the suckers of which stuck onto his head.

The clownfish stopped on a dime at the sound of Aladdin's voice while Genie struggled in an Italian accent with his tentacle to try and get it unstuck from his head. The clownfish quickly swam back towards their group of four. "Did any of you see a boat pass by?" he asked, his voice sounding more than just a little frantic.

"A boat?" Genie asked, now using two more tentacles to try and free himself. "Yeah we saw a boat, violator on boating regulations that guy is."

"You saw a boat?" the clownfish asked excitedly, his eyes lighting up. "Can you tell me which way it went?"

The four of them looked at each other rather questioningly. In the confusion of the Heartless attack, it didn't look like any of them remembered the direction the boat went off in. And Genie was still trying to free himself from himself.

When they all failed to answer, the clownfish broke down in front of them. His expectant smile dropped off his face into a frown of sadness, and if fish could cry he looked like he was just about to.

"Don't worry," Jasmine said quickly, swimming up to him. "We'll find out which way the boat went."

"We will?" he asked.

"Yeah," Tifa added, letting a fin droop over him to comfort him. "There's got to be plenty of fish beneath us that saw the boat and remember which way it went."

"You're right," the clownfish said slowly, looking at both of them. Jasmine and Tifa both gasped as with surprising suddenness and strength he grasped both of them by their fins and dragged them down to the sea-floor behind him. Genie was finally able to get his tentacles off of his head and each other before following a swiftly moving Aladdin down after the clownfish.

"Has anyone seen a boat?" the clownfish started asking as he swam, dragging Tifa and Jasmine along with him, into the traffic of many fish amongst the sandy sea-floor, small rocks and formations of bright coral scattered over the silted bed like yellow dandelions on a green lawn. "A white boat? They took my son! My son! Please!"

"Watch out!" a voice suddenly called as a Regal Blue Tang crashed into the clownfish. The clownfish, Jasmine, and Tifa all careened out of control after the impact, striking a purple rock embedded in the ocean's floor.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin gasped, rushing towards her and Tifa as they lay moaning on the sand. "Are you both alright?" he asked quietly, watching restlessly as Jasmine and Tifa shook themselves and blinked.

"I'm okay Aladdin," Jasmine answered shakily. She waved herself around a little more before looking at him and giving Aladdin a comforting smile.

"I'm fine too," Tifa said.

"Well that's good," Genie said, swimming up to them. "You might have just become another couple of snacks that smile back if you weren't."

"Sorry!" the female blue tang called, swimming out of the traffic to see if they were okay. "I didn't see you." She began to swim closer and Jasmine looked at the clownfish. He was still lying just above the sand, muttering woefully and frantically. "Sir?" the tang persisted, coming even closer as concern began to flow into her voice. "Are you okay?"

"He's gone, he's gone," the clownfish was murmuring as the tang tried to comfort him. Jasmine looked at Aladdin, Genie, and Tifa. He seemed lost. "No, no, no they took him away! I have to find the boat!"

"Boat?" the tang asked. "Hey I've seen a boat!"

"We did too," Genie said excitedly. "But we can't remember which way it went."

"It passed by not too long ago," the tang continued while everyone's hopes suddenly soared.

"A white one?" the clownfish asked, looking up. The tang held out a fin to the clownfish in greeting.

"Hi, I'm Dory," she said.

"And I'm Genie," Genie said, swimming up to her and shaking her fin enthusiastically with his hands. "Nice to meet you Dory."

"Well hi there Genie," Dory said pleasantly. "Nice to meet you too."

"Now is not the time for introductions!" the clownfish said quickly in an irritated voice. "Where did the boat go? Which way?"

"Um," Dory said, thinking for a second, "it went um... this way! It went this way! Follow me!"

"Thank you!" said the clownfish in relief. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," Dory answered as they all followed her through the ocean.

After several seconds of following the clownfish, Jasmine became confused. "Um, Genie," she asked uncertainly, "why are we going with them?"

"The Sora theory," Genie answered.

"The what theory?" Tifa asked.

"The Sora theory states that the best way to determine what is needed on a world when the Heartless or Nobodies are present is to either find trouble or wait for trouble to find you," Genie explained, turning around and swimming backwards with his eight pulsing tentacles. "Named after our good buddy of course, since he's the one that trouble always finds."

"Well," Aladdin chuckled. "Trouble does always seem to find Sora no matter where he is."

"And now it's found us," Jasmine agreed. "I wonder what the clownfish meant when he mentioned his son."

It was then that Dory started to weaved around slightly in her swimming, but as soon as she caught sight of the clownfish following her, and the group of four following him, she stiffened.

"Huh?" Tifa said, looking quizzically at Dory. She spotted them again and her movements suddenly became evasive, streaking off in different directions and weaving around the rocks on the ocean floor.

"Hey wait!" the clownfish called, shooting after her.

"Oh boy," Tifa muttered, speeding up to follow them. "Something tells me that something is wrong here."

The group of four sped off after the clownfish and Dory, manoeuvring their way amongst the rocks at high speeds as they zipped around and around them in the chase. Dory suddenly stopped and turned around angrily just as all five fish had caught up to her.

"Will you quit it?" she asked.

"What?"

"I'm trying to swim here," she continued angrily. "The whole _ocean_ not big enough for y'all? Do have a problem or something? Huh? Huh? Do yah? Do yah? Do yah?" She took up a kind of fighting stance. "You want a piece of me? Yeah, yeah, ooh I'm scared now!"

"What?" Aladdin asked, confused. The clownfish turned around in surprise.

"What are you all doing here?" he asked.

"What happened to your son?" Tifa asked in sincere concern.

"Stop following me okay!" Dory said, cutting off any answer to Tifa's question.

"What are you talking about?" the clownfish asked in confusion. "You're showing me which way the boat went."

"A boat?" Dory asked. "Hey, I've seen a boat. It passed by not too long ago. It went uh... this way! It went this way! Follow me!"

She started swimming off in the same direction she had been leading them before and everyone looked at each other in annoyed confusion.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" the clownfish yelled, cutting Dory off as the others came in behind her. "What is going on? You already told me which way the boat was going!"

Dory's excitement from the boat vanished and she seemed to deflate. "I did? Oh no..."

"If this is some kind of practical joke then it isn't funny," continued the clownfish impatiently, "and I know funny. I'm a clownfish!"

"No it's not," Dory said apologetically. "No, really it's not. I'm—I'm so sorry. See, I suffer from short-term memory loss."

"Short-term memory loss," the clownfish repeated in annoyance. "I don't believe this."

He started to swim away but Dory quickly cut him off. "No, it's true I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family." She became puzzled. "At—at least I think it does. Hm... where are they?" She looked back at the clownfish and smiled meekly. "Can I help you?"

The clownfish's face showed how perplexed he was about Dory's behaviour. "Something's wrong with you. Really. You're wasting my time. I have to find my son." He started to swim away when he found himself facing three smiling rows of massive sharp teeth in the mouth of a Great White Shark.

Genie yelped and transformed into a flounder and dropped onto the sandy sea floor. "If he can't see me, he can't eat me," Genie muttered, forgetting that his entire body was blue and so easily visible. Jasmine gasped and Aladdin and Tifa both swam protectively in front of her, though they were both glancing anxiously at each other despite their determined faces.

"Hello," the shark said, watching as the clownfish shuddered in petrified horror.

"Well hi!" Dory said optimistically, smiling, genuinely _smiling_ at the creature that was a metaphor for death of thousands of fish their size every week.

"Name's Bruce," said the Great White, extending one of his fins towards them in greeting. When they all failed to respond with anything except fear he backed off a little. "It's alright, I understand. Why trust a shark?" He whipped around suddenly and slammed his teeth shut only a hair's breadth away from them. The clownfish hid behind Dory and Aladdin and Tifa both backed up slightly, keeping themselves between the shark that was now laughing at his own prank and Jasmine. Genie looked up from the ocean bed in curiosity.

"So," Bruce continued, still smiling at their little group. "What are bites like you doing out so late eh?"

"Nothing," the clownfish said. "We're not doing anything; we're not even out."

"Great!" Bruce said. "Then how'd you morsels like to come to a little—a little get-together I'm having?"

"You mean like a party?" Dory asked.

Bruce chuckled. "Yeah, yeah right. A party. What do yah say?"

"A party!" Genie exclaimed, leaping up from the floor and turning into a blue remora. He latched onto Bruce's underbelly. "I love parties! Come on Al, just this once, please?"

"That sounds like a great idea," Dory agreed, nodding up and down. Aladdin, Jasmine, Tifa, and the clownfish looked sceptically at each other. "Sounds like fun right guys?"

"I don't know," Jasmine said quietly.

"Parties are fun," the clownfish began hesitantly, backing away, "and it's tempting. But we really can't because—"

"Oh, come on," Bruce said, swimming behind them and catching them all in his big fins, "I insist."

"Well, okay then," Tifa said nervously, glancing at her friends in the fin and giggling apprehensively to try and stave off the fear. She really wished that Cloud was here right now.

Bruce swam with them held against his monstrous fins and Genie attached to his underbelly for some time, the water darkening around them as less and less of the Sun's light became able to filter down as it set into night above the ocean's surface. They all kept silent, Dory and Genie the only ones to not hold onto a sense of foreboding dread.

"Hey look! Balloons!" Dory exclaimed as Bruce led them over a ledge. "See, it really is a party." Tifa gulped as she looked at what Dory called balloons. She wasn't exactly sure what the black floating spiked balls, restrained from drifting up to the surface only by their thick iron chains, were. But they did not look too friendly at all.

Bruce chuckled as he swam amongst the mines, being careful not to touch any of them. "Mind your distance though. Those balloons can be a bit dodgy. You wouldn't want one of them to pop."

Slowly, a darker and larger form could be made out in the midst of the underwater minefield. Resting against the ocean floor was a wrecked submarine, appearing to still be mostly intact apart from the gaping hole in its side, likely caused by a depth charge from a destroyer in an war many years ago.

"Anchor! Chum!" Bruce called out as he approached the wreck. Tifa looked into the hole in the submersible and quivered slightly when she saw the forms of a Mako and Hammerhead Shark swimming within the sunken hull.

"There you are Bruce," the hammerhead said, "finally."

"We've got company," the smiling Great White said, indicating the fishes in his fins.

"Well it's about time mate," the hammerhead said.

"We've already gone through the snacks and I'm still starving," complained the mako shark, pushing against the hammerhead to get a bit closer to Bruce and the fishes he had brought with him.

"We almost had a feeding frenzy," continued the hammerhead.

"Come on let's get this over with," said the mako shark, his and the hammerhead's mouths opening wide to reveal rows of teeth sharper than knives.

Tifa gasped and shook slightly, but then steadied herself. If these sharks wanted to eat her, they'd have to work very hard for their meal. She wouldn't allow herself to die before she'd found Cloud.

Bruce then surprised her by swimming past his two shark buddies and dropping them all, including Genie, off between the two sharks and slapping a bell with his fin. He swam up in front of a podium composed of a rusted sink and began to speak.

"The meeting has officially come to order," he said, "let us now say the pledge." He and the two other sharks raised their left fins while Aladdin, Jasmine, Tifa, and the clownfish all looked at each other in confusion. Dory and Genie raised their fins as well, just to go along with the crowd. "I am a nice shark," the sharks recited, "not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food."

"Except stinking dolphins!" the hammerhead spat. Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa all sighed in relief. There'd be no reason to fight their way out of this one.

"Dolphins!" the mako shark agreed, "Yeah. They think they're _so_ cute. Oh look at me, I'm a flipping little dolphin, let me flip for you. I know something."

The hammerhead laughed and Bruce continued. "Right then, today's meeting is Step Five: Bring a Fish Friend. Now do you all have your friends? Anchor?"

"Brought mine," the hammerhead, Anchor, answered, lifting a fin to reveal a tiny yellow fish who was quivering madly with fright.

"Hey there," Dory said in a friendly way, waving her fin at the little guy.

"How 'bout you Chum?" Bruce asked.

Chum looked around nervously. "Um, I seem to have, uh, misplaced my friend." A fish skeleton slipped out from his teeth in front of the clownfish as he finished speaking and the clownfish gasped before Chum slurped it back into his mouth. It could have been there for months, weeks, or only minutes, none of them knew.

"That's alright Chum," Bruce said, not seeing the skeleton slip-up, or Anchor's friend making a successful bid for freedom. "I had a feeling this would be a difficult step, so you can help yourself to one of my friends."

"Oh thanks mate," Chum said, wrapping his fin around the clownfish and bouncing him slightly. "A little chum for Chum eh?"

"I'll start the testimonies," Bruce began. "Hello. My name is Bruce."

"Hello Bruce," Chum and Anchor said.

"It has been three weeks since my last fish, on my honour, or may I be chopped up and made into soup," declared Bruce.

They all began to clap. "You're an inspiration to all of us," Chum said.

"Amen to that," agreed Anchor.

"Right then," Bruce started enthusiastically, "who's next?"

Dory's fin immediately went up. "Ooh, ooh! Pick me! Pick me!"

"Yes, the little Sheila down the front," Bruce said.

Dory 'whooped' and quickly swam up to the podium as Bruce swam past her to take his place with the others. "Hi, I'm Dory."

"Hello Dory."

"And uh well," Dory began, a little at a loss for words. "I uh, I don't think I've ever eaten a fish." The sharks were silent for a second before Chum and Anchor began clapping.

"Wow that's incredible!" Chum said.

"Good on yah mate!" encouraged Bruce.

Dory sighed and wiped her forehead with her fin. "Phew, I'm glad I got that off my chest."

"Alright, who's next?" Bruce asked, looking around.

"Ooh!" Genie said, bobbing up and down in the water. "I'll go! I'll go!"

"Well come on up then," Dory said, smiling as she and Genie switched places. Aladdin and Jasmine looked at each other. They knew how this was going to turn out.

"Hello everyone," Genie began. "I'm Genie."

"Hello Genie."

Genie seemed to sigh and wilt a bit. "There are two confessions I am afraid I have to make to you all. The first is that I am a legendary Geniefish."

"A Geniefish?" Anchor asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of those."

Genie poofed off the podium and in front of Anchor. "Well you're hearin' about 'em now. Simply rub-a-dub-dub the magic lamp and out I spring to grant my master their three dearest wishes!"

"Any three wishes?" Chum asked enthusiastically. Genie poofed in front of him. Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa were all shaking their heads while the clownfish seemed to be almost scared out of his mind.

"Not quite my short-finned friend," Genie said, looking as he usually did, except smaller, and leaning against Chum's side while examining his nails. He poofed again to be on Chum's other side. "Three shall the number of wishes a Geniefish shall grant, and the number of the granting shall be three. Four shall the Geniefish not grant, neither grant thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out." He poofed again.

"And ixnay on the wishing for more wishes," Genie said sternly. "We don't do that."

"Anything else?" Bruce asked, smiling.

"There are a few provisos, and some quid-pro-quos," Genie continued, counting on his fingers.

"Like what?" Anchor asked.

"Rule #1: I can't kill anybody. _So don't ask._ Rule #2: I can't make anybody fall in love, with anybody else. Rule #3! _I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty picture; I don't like doing it!_"

Genie poofed back up to the podium. "Other than that, they had it. That is until my last master, my good buddy Aladdin over there, I love you so much Al, used his third wish to free me from my servitude." Genie poofed back into a remora and attached himself to Bruce's underbelly again.

"And my second confession," Genie said, "I have never, ever made shark fin soup."

The three sharks smiled. "Anybody else?" Bruce asked, looking around. He spotted the clownfish underneath Chum's body. "Hello how 'bout you mate? What's your problem?"

"Me?" the clownfish asked. "I don't—I don't have a problem."

"Oh, okay," Bruce said before looking at his fellow sharks. "Denial." He slapped the clownfish up to the sink podium with his fin, and the little guy began shaking with nerves. "Just start with your name," Bruce said encouragingly.

"Okay..." he said anxiously. "Um, hello? My name is Marlin; I'm a clownfish."

"A clownfish?" Chum asked eagerly. "Really?"

"Go on," Bruce added as the three sharks piled around Marlin, "tell us a joke."

"I love jokes," Chum said to himself.

Marlin seemed a bit unsure of himself for a second before he chuckled very slightly. "Well I do know one joke that's pretty good." He cleared his throat. "There's this mollusc, and he walks up to a sea cucumber, normally they don't talk, sea cucumbers, but in a joke _everyone _talks, so, the sea mollusc says to the cucumber..." He trailed off and his eyes became distant as he looked off above them. Tifa looked at Jasmine, was this part of the joke?

"Nemo," Marlin finished, swimming up.

Chum started laughing. "Nemo... Nemo..." he stopped and frowned. "I don't get it."

"You know for a clownfish he's not all that funny," Genie said.

"No no he's my son," Marlin answered, swimming up and slightly out of the sub's hull. They all swam a little bit after him, Dory, Jasmine, Tifa, Aladdin, and Genie more than the sharks, going so far as to follow Marlin right up to a diver's mask that was sitting on a metal spire. "He was taken from me by these divers."

"Oh you poor fish," Dory said, coming up behind him. Jasmine and Tifa settled in beside him while Aladdin and Genie hung back a little. So this was Marlin's story.

"Humans," Chum said in irritation, "think they own everything."

"Probably _American_," Anchor agreed.

"Now _there_ is a father," Bruce said emotionally, "looking for his little boy." His voice began to become strained. "I never knew my father!" The big Great White Shark, one of the most well-known and revered hunters of the aquatic world, began to cry and his mates brought him into a group hug.

"Damn," Marlin whispered as he looked at the mask's back. "What do these markings mean? I can't read human."

"Well then we need to find a fish that can read this," Dory said, snatching the mask. "Look! Shark!"

"No no! Dory!" Marlin warned as Dory swam back down with the mask, trying to get the attention of the sharks. The clownfish began grappling with her over the mask as Dory attempted to ask the three sharks if any of them could read human.

Jasmine swam between both of them. "Stop fighting you two," she said sternly, holding her fins out between both of them as she floating between the mask's strap and its goggles. Her voice had held that note of authority she barely ever was forced to use, the note she had learned to use from a very little age and inherited through being born and bred the Princess of Agrabah.

Marlin and Dory instantly let go of the mask. However, the simple physics of their pulling on both portions of the diver's mask caused Marlin's section to strike Jasmine's left side and send her off to the side of the sunken submarine.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin and Tifa both cried, swimming towards her.

"I am so sorry," apologized Marlin as he came closer in concern, Jasmine muttering the word 'ow' repeatedly as a fin went to her side. "Are you alright?"

"Maybe," Jasmine replied, smiling slightly to show him that he was forgiven. She removed her fin and her smile dropped away in place of a frown as a little bit of blood began to rise. "Dang," she muttered. "The wound reopened."

"I'll fix you up again," Tifa assured her.

"Wound?" Bruce asked, hovering over them. "What would you get a wou—?" He ceased in his questioning as the small amount of leaking blood entered his nostrils. Bruce sniffed hungrily and his pupils dilated until they took over nearly the entirety of his eyes. "Ooh... that's good."

Anchor and Chum gasped and looked at each other. "INTERVENTION!" Both sharks slammed into Bruce and forced him against the wall just before he would have snapped Marlin, Dory, Jasmine, Aladdin, and Tifa all in his mouth in one gulp.

The fishes except for the sharks instantaneously became terrified, far too terrified for even Tifa to begin contemplating fighting back. They had never seen a shark truly wish to devour them before, and since their first time was with the infamous Great White, retreat was the only thought on their minds.

"Just a bite!" Bruce roared while his friends restrained him.

"Will you hold together mate?" yelled Anchor.

"Remember the pledge!" Chum pleaded. "Fish are friends, not food!"

"Food!" Bruce screamed, breaking free of the smaller sharks and diving towards them again.

"Not today!" Genie said quickly. He suddenly transformed himself into the figure of a human with black hair, white shorts, and red boxing gloves. His accent changed as he clocked Bruce with an uppercut right jab. "I did it!" he declared, holding his arms up in victory as Bruce flew upwards to slam against the top of the submarine.

"Genie less Rocky more running!" Aladdin yelled, scooping the mask up with Marlin as all of them dove down through a grate.

"Oh right," Genie said, swiftly turning himself into an eel and sliding along after them. It took only a couple of seconds for Bruce to bust down the grate.

"I'm having fish tonight!" he yelled, shooting into the submarine's underbelly after them.

"Remember the steps mate!" Chum yelled hopefully, trying still to get Bruce back to his senses.

The fishes fled from Bruce through the hull of the submarine, screaming as they went. Aladdin and Marlin were stuck carrying the mask while Dory, Jasmine, Tifa, and Genie were all following around them. Jasmine was still leaking tiny drops of blood from her wound since Tifa had not yet managed to find the time to heal it and the strain on her body from such rapid swimming was enough cause to force the wound open even further.

"You okay?" Tifa asked loudly over their screaming, watching the slight trail of blood flow from Jasmine, only driving Bruce crazier.

"I will be as soon as we get far away from here!" Jasmine replied as they slipped up through another grate to get into a hallway. Bruce's dorsal fin burst each grate off of its hinges from underneath them as he followed, driven insane by his bloodlust.

"G'day," he said, smiling from beneath them before breaking through another one of the iron grates. His tail drove wildly through the water as the fishes in front of him swam faster.

"Quick!" Aladdin said, "into that room!"

Bruce's teeth snapped shut behind them and he yowled, missing one of them. Their tails twitched frantically as the group sped to escape past the steel door. Blood still leaked from Jasmine, and Bruce only became wilder as his dilated eyes grinned at them in insane lust.

Finally they got into the room and Genie slammed the door shut behind them, Bruce crashing into it with an echoing _BANG!_

Marlin left the mask to be held by Aladdin and quickly swam around, searching for an exit from the bunkroom while Tifa healed Jasmine of her reopened wound with another cure spell. "There's no way out!" Marlin exclaimed in hysteria. "But there's got to be an exit!"

There was another loud _BANG_ as Bruce beat his massive body against the steel bulwark. "Who is it?" Dory asked.

"Dory help me find a way out!" Marlin said.

"Sorry, you'll have to come back later," Dory continued, "we're trying to escape." Bruce crashed into the door again as Dory swam away and a restraining bolt flew out of its socket.

"It doesn't look like there's a way out," Aladdin said dismally, looking with Marlin although his mobility was limited by carrying the mask.

"Hey look at this," Dory said, floating near a hatch and a wheel that had the word 'ESCAPE' written on it in red letters. "Escapé. I wonder what that means. It's funny, you know it's spelt exactly the same as the word 'escape'."

Marlin grabbed her and the others followed quickly up the open hatch just as Bruce was able to wrench the door half-open. "Here's Brucey!"

The fishes rose up out of the sub wreck into the open ocean again and heaved a very quick and quiet sigh of relief that they now had more room to flee in. Marlin stopped and looked at Dory. "Wait a minute, you can read!"

"I can read?" Dory asked herself quickly. "That's right, I can read!"

Marlin quickly grabbed the mask from Aladdin and held the back of the band in front of Dory. "Quick, read this now!"

The metal hull of the submarine was rent with a terrible sound as Bruce burst in from the bunkroom they had just escaped from, nearly catching Marlin in his teeth. As luck what have it, only the mask became ensnared instead of the clownfish, but they put it out of their minds as the need to run again forced them to swim away from Bruce.

"He really doesn't mean it mate!" Anchor yelled, struggling with Chum to go after Bruce as they swam away screaming, "he never even knew his father!"

"I never knew _my _father either!" Aladdin yelled with closed eyes. "But neither I was ever this crazy!"

"What are your guys' names anyway?" Marlin asked, looking over at them as they fled over the side of the submarine.

"Aladdin!" "Jasmine!" "Tifa!"

"Nice to meet you!" Marlin huffed as they swam underneath and around the bow of the submarine; always just a hair's breadth away from Bruce's gnashing teeth. "I just wish it were under better circumstances!"

"Us too!" Tifa said, leading the way into torpedo tube number two. Bruce dove after them, but his size forced him to continually ram his nose and jaw against the steel, unable to seize the fishes.

"It's blocked!" Marlin said, the armed torpedo that was still in its tube ramming against the pin that kept it down with every crash Bruce made against the tube, revealing the mask stuck in his teeth every single time.

"Sorry about (_BOOM_) Bruce mate," Chum said, poking head in to look at the trapped fishes between Bruce's rams.

"(_BOOM)_ He's really (_BOOM_) a nice guy," Anchor insisted.

"I need to get that mask," Marlin said in determination.

"Why _that_ mask?" Genie asked. "Couldn't we get a mask that didn't involve being eaten?"

"That mask belongs to one of the divers that took my son, Nemo," Marlin said. "I need _that_ one!"

"You want that mask?" Dory asked in confirmation. Marlin nodded very quickly and Dory slammed her body against the pin, freeing the torpedo. Dory and Genie positioned themselves on its round head as if riding it, while Marlin, Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa all flattened their bodies against it, as they felt that the torpedo was bringing them to their impending doom as Bruce's mouth opened wide to accept them.

The torpedo slammed into Bruce's mouth and wedged its way in, keeping him from closing his jaw or swallowing. "Quick!" Marlin said, capitalizing on their status of not yet being dead. "Get the mask!" Dory and Aladdin snatched it out of Bruce's teeth and dove back into the safety of the now empty torpedo tube, the others quickly following in their wake.

Just as all of them were clear, Bruce was able to fling the torpedo out of his mouth and into the underwater minefield. "Oh no..." Anchor said, watching it begin to descend with anxiety.

"Bruce..." Chum added worriedly.

Bruce sniffed and his pupils returned to normal, the bloodlust and frenzy he had been under abating. "What?" He turned to figure out what they were looking at and his eyes grew wide as he noticed that the torpedo he had just discarded was about to drop onto one of the explosive mines.

"SWIM AWAY! SWIM AWAY!"

Dory poked her head out with the mask still on as all three of the sharks fled for their lives. "Aw, is the party over?"

The torpedo made contact with the mine with the teensiest _ting_.

And then the sea exploded in fire.

-A-D-

_Wow, so here we have a chapter that does not feature a single wielder of the Keyblade at all, unless we count my ridiculous author's note at the start._

_Remember to check out the stories I mentioned above, and drop reviews for them as well as my own._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	8. Emotion's Hardships

_She said I didn't have to give her a shout out, but I will anyway. It was __**fuzzynavaljewelry**__ who helped me out for the change I made in Chapter IV, and she runs a pretty damn good story herself. Check it out if you have the time, and the brain capacity to understand physics._

_MAJOR WARNING! I am about to do something that I have not done for many, many chapters, and even then, not in the exact style as before. That, and foul language, repeatedly bad foul language, so we go to M this chapter._

_And Darth, I didn't ask, but I'm going to steal the line Kairi uses whenever she goes into her Angelic Form for Naminé when she goes into _her_ Angelic Form. Hope you can forgive me._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Tom, and Fullmetal Alchemist... yada yada yada..._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter VIII: Emotion's Hardships

Resembool was a quiet rural village, far enough away from the larger cities and towns in Amestris that it was rarely merited to be of any great significance. Its citizens liked it that way. They were pretty much left to themselves by the State Military and were granted a large amount of personal freedom in their out-of-the-way village. The only downside to being several days away from Central by train was that there were not very many of the best luxury items to be had like in the larger towns and cities of the world.

But, that fact never truly minded any of those who lived out in the quaint and quiet village. There was usually something interesting to the rural folk that was always going on, even if it were just a few of the old inhabitants coming back.

Which was why it was such a surprise when there came a loud rumbling thunder late one night; and there was hardly a cloud in the sky to cause a storm. From the depths of the sky, only a few saw the light that came from the descending blue gummi ship, christened _Hunter_.

"There it is," Winry said from within the cockpit where Roxas was flying the descending ship. "There's our home. There's Resembool!"

"Glad to be back Winry?" Alphonse asked.

"Don't get me wrong Al," Winry said, looking at the suit of armour, "seeing Radiant Garden and Star Command was great; the mechanics there really know their stuff, but nothing beats coming home."

Roxas glanced out of the corner of his eye as he flew the descending ship to the ground. Ed's face was pensive and hard to read as he quietly spoke the words, "Yeah, home." The blonde alchemist folded his arms and looked up slightly. "We're leaving in the morning Al."

Alphonse's armour creaked as he turned to look at his older brother. "What? Why brother?"

"Have you forgotten Marcho's letter?" Ed asked. "We have to go to Central remember, to check out the library."

"Do you really have to go Ed?" Winry asked as the ground came closer. "Couldn't you stay a few more days?"

Ed shook his head. "Sorry Winry," he told her, "but we have to get to Central as soon as possible now. I'd have liked to go as soon as my automail was finished, but we couldn't just let you go off somewhere with people we didn't know."

"Ed," Naminé asked slowly. "Aren't you worried about the Heartless? You said so yesterday at the briefing."

"I don't believe in 'em," Ed supplied with a shrug.

"But brother," Al asked in surprise, "why don't you believe them?"

Ed was silent for a second before he answered. "I've been thinking," he explained, "and the only thing I have to go off of that they exist is the word of all of you and your friends Naminé, and your word just isn't good enough for me. Sure, you, Roxas, Tom, Sora, Kairi, Riku, and King Mickey are all strange enough to make your story seem plausible, and it would be pretty hard to fake Radiant Garden, Star Command, those gods and that Maleficent, but until I see a Heartless or Nobody with my own eyes I don't see why I really should believe you or your alchemy."

"I believe them brother," Al said quickly, "and they've proven that what they use isn't alchemy. It _is_ magic."

"Oh please Al," Ed said, "you're just a kid, stop believing in these fairy tales."

"Edward," Major Armstrong began. "I believe that you should listen to these people and their gods. They do not appear to be the people that would willingly deceive us."

"Not you too Major," Ed said, looking at the man in the blue uniform. "I can't believe you."

Armstrong's head lowered slightly. "Oh can't you?" He suddenly threw off his tunic and proudly began flexing his muscled body right there. "Does _this_ look like the body of a man who would so willingly be fooled by such beautiful faces? See how these muscles ripple with the truth of their plight, _feel_ the strength they hold, chiselled and formed into this beautiful shape in the name of justice and in the service of the State! This perfect body is the proof that they speak words of truth! And it is our duty as Alchemists of the State to put these Heartless down before they can harm the defenceless masses. No, this heart, soul, and body are all confident that they are honest."

"Hey cut it out!" Ed said, trying to shove the shirtless Major off of him as the man pressed his rippling muscles against the young State Alchemist's face. Naminé could only gawk and drool at Major Armstrong's body with a vacant look on her tilted face.

The ship gave a loud _BANG_ as Roxas touched down hard on the ground. Naminé fell out of her seat, Ed crashed onto the floor, Al stumbled slightly and caught Winry as she began to fall, Den fell onto his belly. Tom's curse drifted from the cabin beneath and in front of them from when he fell off the couch and onto his face.

Pinako and Armstrong stood steady through it all, Armstrong still striking a dramatic pose.

Tom suddenly teleported onto the bridge in a flash of energy. "What the bloody 'ell mate?" he yelled in Roxas' ear. "Why'd you crash the stupid ship?"

Roxas only grunted in an answer as he rose from his pilot's chair and stalked past them all. He snorted disdainfully as he saw that Naminé was still lying on the ground, and her eyes were centred solely on the body of Major Armstrong, a small puddle of drool on the floor beneath her.

"I'm going to train in the simulator," Roxas told them darkly, walking down the stairs off of the bridge. "Don't disturb me."

"That was cold," Winry said, folding her arms in front of her and staring at the retreating Roxas in a pout.

"Indeed it was Miss Winry," Armstrong said, turning around. His eyes spotted Naminé on the ground, her blonde hair now starting to absorb a little of her drool, and he looked at her uneasily as her eyes hungrily devoured his muscular body.

"Princess Naminé," he asked, "is something wrong?"

Naminé instantly snapped out of her trance and blushed horribly. She got onto her feet and backed away, looking down at her yellow sneakers in shame. "N—no, nothing is wrong," she stuttered, embarrassed.

_Damn it_, she thought quietly. _Why did I have to go and make myself look like such an idiot? Roxas probably hates me now for gawking at him like a little schoolgirl! But... it's not like Armstrong isn't attractive. His muscles are so—No Naminé! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts Naminé!_ _You love Roxas and don't care that he's just as scrawny as Sora is! It's the beauty of the heart that matters, not the beauty of the body._

"Come on Winry," Pinako said quietly, her scrutinizing eyes upon the blonde princess, "let's go back inside and have dinner. You can cook tonight."

"Alright Granny," Winry agreed. "And I can finally test out that new oven I invented just before we left!"

"You, Al, and the Major are welcome to stay the night Ed," Pinako continued as Winry left. "You can be back on your way to Central in the morning if it's really what your heart is telling you."

"Enough of this stuff about hearts," Ed said tiredly. He smiled. "But alright, we'll stay for one more night. Come on Al, Major."

"Right," Armstrong said, nodding as he followed the other two alchemists out. He paused and looked back at Naminé. "Have a good night, Princess Naminé."

Naminé gasped and looked up, but when she did he was already gone.

Pinako took a long puff through her pipe and let it out of her mouth, creating a small cloud of smoke in front of her that dispersed quickly. "If you're worried about Roxas don't be," she said suddenly, attracting Naminé's attention. "He's just jealous of the Major, as any young man would be. Even your sister Kairi, as in love with Sora as she is, couldn't keep her eyes from fondling Major Armstrong's chest."

"So, just give him time to let off some steam?" Naminé asked the elder woman. Pinako nodded.

"Precisely," she told Naminé. "It'll all have died off in a day or two. Well, good night Naminé, Tom."

Pinako left, which left only Naminé and her bodyguard in _Hunter_'s cockpit. Tom looked at Naminé with slightly concerned eyes. He sighed. "Don't worry about your knightly boyfriend, Naminé. I'm sure Pinako's right."

"So then what do I do?" Naminé asked, looking up at him as if lost.

Tom shrugged. "I don't know. Read one of your girly Harlequin books or something—" Tom froze for a second and his head whipped towards the doorway. "Manchester City just scored! Sorry, gotta run! So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen adieu!"

An instant later he had teleported out of the bridge and back into the cabin, the sound of his victorious roaring sifting through to reach the lonely princess' ears. Naminé was slow to move, her mind still filled with depressing, self-hating thoughts. Eventually she was able to work her way down the stairs from the bridge and turned to her right to look into the cabin, where Tom was sitting and cheering on his football team from the couch she had conjured back when she and Roxas had gone to Radiant Garden from Disney Castle, only half an hour after Roxas had been knighted by King Mickey.

Naminé shook her head. No, she couldn't go and read one of _those_ romance novels as Tom had suggested. Not so soon after having done what she did. She wasn't sure if her heart could take it.

Radiant Garden's second princess slowly ambled away from the cabin and into her own room in the ship. It was rather difficult, to have two rooms but three people aboard the ship. She assumed that that would mean that Tom would either be forced to sleep on the couch or that she and Roxas would end up sharing a room.

She leaned against the wall on the inside of her room, not courageous enough to fall onto the bed whilst thinking. She didn't quite trust herself not to fall asleep.

_Is this really how shame feels like?_ Naminé asked herself, dipping her head down again, _this self-hating feeling? If it is, then I don't like feeling it. I don't know how Kairi and everyone else can handle feeling this._

She was quiet with herself for a few minutes, and eyed the bed with its white sheets in front of her and the little stuffed black chocobo on it with longing that she hadn't known before. Naminé just wanted to drop onto that soft bed and clutch that plushie to her chest while waiting for sleep to come and claim her, and hopefully ease away her guilt.

She was about to, but stopped herself. How would she be able to face herself, or Roxas, again if she was such a coward that she couldn't even try to do anything apart from sleep to lessen her heart's newfound turmoil? She reached out and grasped the little comforting chocobo anyway and kept it close. "Come on Roxie," she said quietly to herself, having previously named her little stuffed animal after the object of her affection, "I need some ice cream."

She found her way to the kitchen without disturbing Tom; it wasn't really difficult in the first place, it would have taken an earthquake like Roxas crashing the ship again to distract him from his football. What he saw in that game Naminé would never know. She took after her Somebody and was a diehard Blitz girl to the end.

Within seconds the chocolate fudge ice cream was out of the freezer and the whole box was within Naminé's one-armed clutch while the other arm held her little Roxie and a spoon from which she was eating the ice cream straight out of the carton from. She didn't care, nor realize, that she was only finding a source of comfort that wasn't all too different from depressed sleep, the ice cream simply tasted _sooo_ _good_ as tiny tears of self-loathing squeezed their way out of her eyes.

-A-D-

Angry yells issued from Roxas' mouth as Twilight Thorn and Oblivion were held in his grasp. He was in the middle of a rocky canyon in the failing light of the sinking Sun. The Sun's red-orange light glinted off of the fresh grey rocks that seemed to amplify the sounds of Roxas' two Keyblades as they cut and stabbed in angry fury at the swarm of Neoshadows, Armoured Knights, Surveillance Robots, Large Bodies, Bookmasters, and Morning Stars that trickled their way into the canyon towards the Keyblade Master.

Roxas had been at this for half an hour already, and his heart was still clenched tightly in the grips of jealousy towards the muscles of Major Armstrong. His only thought was centred around getting stronger; a more manly physique with which to impress Naminé. He knew that was the reason why Riku had hordes of screaming fangirls. Not only was he simply attractive, but Riku had the muscles that Sora and he didn't have, muscles that caused girls who had never seen someone as strong as Armstrong to drool and faint whenever Riku would slightly waft his silver hair out of his eyes with a casual flick of his arm.

Twilight Thorn's silver bayonet sliced across the chest of a Neoshadow an instant before Oblivion followed through, cruising from head to waist as Roxas twisted his body around to bring Twilight Thorn to block against an Armoured Knight's sword while Oblivion cracked straight through its chest.

If Naminé wanted muscle, Roxas thought grimly, then he'd train until he was at least as ripped until Riku was. It didn't matter that he was already far stronger than he looked, or that he knew deep in his heart that Naminé would still love him no matter how he looked, it was the way he looked that mattered now to him and his emotions. He wanted to impress her.

Red lasers from one of the Surveillance Robots burned into his back and Roxas stumbled slightly from the blow. He turned and glared at the Heartless as it hovered in the canyon above the heads of the Heartless between it and him. Snarling, Roxas jumped into the air and threw Twilight Thorn at the Heartless, then twisted and struck Oblivion against the spinning yellow fists of a Morning Star.

_Who is Armstrong to go around flaunting his physique,_ thought Roxas as he recalled Twilight Thorn to his hands from the sparking body of the Surveillance Robot and began to attack the Morning Star in earnest, _I'm a Keyblade Master, I'm freaking in love with her! Doesn't he know that he's causing faithful girls to go bad?_

Roxas paused in his thoughts and went on the defensive, blocking and parrying the attacks of the Armoured Knights. _Faithful? When have I ever thought of Naminé as a dog? She's not like anything I can claim ownership of, she's her own person now and has her own thoughts, feelings, and dreams, and her own free will to be with whoever she chooses._

Roxas grimaced again and held the sword of an Armoured Knight between both of his Keyblades before piercing it with Twilight Thorn. Oblivion came off the top of the Heartless' sword and cleaved through the shoulder while Twilight Thorn's bayonet sliced from its point of entry out to the left side. The Heartless vanished and Roxas turned around and swiftly took down three more Armoured Knights behind him.

_But damn that Armstrong! Why does he have to be so flipping ripped! I want Naminé to lie against my muscled and bare chest and snuggle tiredly against me with a soft smile on her face too! Wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking about? No use worrying about it now, that fantasy is already in there to join with the other ones._

Twilight Thorn dived into the head of a Neoshadow and Roxas jumped up and above a sprinting Large Body, twisting around in his jump to slice both of his Keyblades through the Heartless' vulnerable back. It turned around and punched him into the rocky canyon wall before Roxas could counter. The blonde's head swam for a second as the sudden pain drew a grunt from his lips. He opened his eyes and quickly rolled off to the side as the Large Body made a move to crush him between its physically untouchable front and the canyon. Four more quick strikes from his Keyblades and the Large Body fell into simulated darkness. The Sun was still setting in the west.

"I'm jealous aren't I?" Roxas asked the dropping star, not expecting to receive an answer. He glanced back out of the corner of his eye and crossed his weapons over his chest. Flames started to spring into existence around the two Keyblades, wreathing the two weapons in heat.

"Dual Strike Fire Raid!" Roxas yelled, spinning around and throwing both of his Keyblades off like Frisbees into a rank of advancing Neoshadows. Both of his weapons spun through the air like disks, their own whirring accompanied by the rush of blazing fire. The fires that ensnared them jumped from the blades and onto the surface of whatever they whizzed over. Whether it be Heartless, grass, or stone, paths of roaring flames sprung into existence within the canyon in front of Roxas until it looked like a wildfire was ravaging a forest.

Roxas' Keyblades soared back into his hands and he grasped Twilight Thorn in front of him in the left and Oblivion over his head in the right. He shook his head and looked down, panting. Fire magic was the only type of magic that he could really use effectively, and that was probably due to his friendship with Axel that he lacked an interest in the other types of magic, be it elemental or otherwise. Even though Sora knew, Roxas still didn't actually know how to conjure anything, or even how to use the simplest of Blizzard spells.

Three Bookmasters soared out of the inferno in front of the Keyblade Master and Roxas looked up at them. Each of them started to glow blue and a bullet made of pure ice began to crystallize in front of their enchanted magic books. Roxas dove out of the way of the first one, wincing as he scraped his shoulder against a rock that was in his way, and quickly rose to bat the other two bullets away.

Roxas frowned as his pocket began to ring and vibrate and he held out a hand to the Bookmasters. "Can you guys hold on a sec?" he asked as his Keyblades vanished from his hands, "I've got to take this call."

The three Bookmaster Heartless glanced at each other and nodded after a few seconds. Roxas sniggered slightly in amusement (only in the simulator would a Heartless obey the command of a wielder of the Keyblade), and pulled the communicator he'd gotten from Star Command out of his pocket.

"That's odd," he said, looking at the screen. "It's from Sora." He placed a hand to his chin before pulling it back, aghast. "Crap, I'm sweating! I don't want him or Kairi to get the wrong impression, or to find out that I'm angry at Naminé for eating that meatloaf Major with her eyes. They'll just laugh at me! Okay... time to put on my _cool_ face."

He took a couple of quick, deep breaths, and wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his purple knight's cape before smiling and answering the call. "Hey Sora," he said as the screen came to life, showing his brown-haired brother in some kind of dim firelight in what looked like a wooden room.

"Hey Roxas," replied Sora, matching his smile. "Hey, uh, we have a problem."

Roxas' smile left his face, but he didn't frown yet. _Tough luck bro, so do I,_ he didn't say, opting instead for, "We do?"

"Yeah, you know the world that Kairi and I decided to go to yesterday/today because we wanted to check it out?"

Roxas nodded his head and the corners of his mouth began to twitch. He started to get a foreboding feeling about where this conversation was going. "Yeah..."

"We're in Middle-Earth," Sora told him, "the one world we did _not _want to wind up in!"

_Shit._ _And I thought that I had it bad._

"Well then get out of there before Maleficent finds you!"

Sora shook his head. "We can't, even though she hasn't found us and we haven't heard a word about her."

Roxas almost growled. "Why not?"

"Because Kairi and I got caught snooping, so now we're stuck on an adventure here," answered Sora. "And I think it's going to be a long one."

This time Roxas did grumble. "Sora..."

"Listen, Roxas, we'd leave now if we could, but we can't. And we don't want to let anyone know that we aren't from this world, so we're keeping Jiminy, Aiwemon, Menelmon, the Keyblades, and my arm a secret. So, can you call everyone and tell them not to call us?"

Roxas sighed. When Sora put it that way, that it really wasn't much of their choice to be stuck on some adventure deep in the heart of enemy territory, of course he'd call everyone to make sure they didn't get caught and imprisoned, or worse, killed. But if he _was_ in Middle-Earth, then Roxas was curious about one thing that Sora hadn't mentioned yet. "I don't like this. I guess you haven't met Gandalf yet or been to Rivendell so you could let your secret loose?"

"No," answered Sora. "The guys we're with are looking for this Gandalf, he's missing, and they are on their way to Rivendell, so I guess we're headed that way too."

Roxas sighed inwardly and wondered if Sora was any good at covert operations. As far as he knew from the memories of his Somebody that he'd inherited, Sora wasn't all that good at sneaking around. But he was good at keeping certain secrets, and that was really what he had to do now, he supposed. "I'll tell everyone Sora, so don't worry about that. Take care."

"Yeah, you too. Bye. Love you bro."

Roxas jerked his head slightly and paused at the comment. What the heck was going on for Sora to say something like that? "What is it Sora?"

Sora looked hurt. "What? Do I need a reason to tell my brother I love him?"

"Unless you've suddenly become a homosexual incestuous ape, yes," Roxas answered, rather proud of his off-the-cuff comeback.

_Sora's too goofy to even keep a straight face for his retort,_ thought Roxas as he saw Sora buckle and laugh.

"No asshat, I'm still straight as a needle! Though you might need to take another look between Naminé and me just to make sure."

Roxas wanted to tell him not to bring up Naminé and her cheating indigo eyes right now, but he didn't want to let on the fact that he was angry at her. "Why look at you?" was what he settled on.

"Bro, some people are just naturally good looking."

_Lame._

"Yeah," Roxas fired back, "that's why it looks like your spikes finally up and left you with what remained of you dignity."

Sora laughed, but his laugh died quickly to be replaced by a faint sigh. "It's Kairi, something's wrong."

Roxas narrowed his eyes. Of course. There always had to be _something_ going on between him and the red-haired princess. But the tone his voice had taken wasn't one that suggested romantic troubles like Roxas was currently having, it was worried. Wasn't too unnatural for Sora to be worried about Kairi, but the way he said it made it seem like the root fear was more sinister in nature than his simple anxiety about protecting the object of his affections from mindless Heartless.

"What?" Roxas asked in a slow voice and low key.

"I'm not quite sure," Sora answered. "But, there are these Black Riders that Strider and the hobbits, I'll explain all about them when we're free to talk, keep mentioning. They appear to be very dark beings Roxas, and they're nearby from what has been said. Their presence has been affecting Kairi's heart because she's so sensitive to darkness, she's grown so cold and I'm worried about her, _and_ about keeping our secret and interfering if there aren't any Heartless around this area."

Roxas watched as Sora placed an anxious fist to his chin. So there was some darker reason to his being worried about Kairi. And these Riders did sound a little creepy and unnatural. Roxas looked at Sora's eyes and instantly knew that he was thinking about, and what he needed to hear. Roxas softened his voice. "You'll both make it through this Sora. Just keep your spirits up, for both our sakes," he added, _because I can't keep mine up when I'm tainted by jealousy and don't know how to deal with it,_ he did not add.

"We're brothers now," Roxas continued, keeping that angry edge out of his voice, "even though we're both learning what it means to be brothers and I'm still dealing with actually feeling emotions of my own."

Roxas hoped that his words got through to Sora and that he hadn't sensed the suppressed emotion within his voice as the boy with light brown hair looked down and sighed. "I've been away from Kairi for too long already."

"Yeah," Roxas agreed quietly, realizing that the conversation was drawing to an end. "Take care of her Sora. And... I love you too bro. Later."

Roxas didn't know why he said it, but as soon as the words left his lips he knew them to be true. He did love Sora. Not in _that_ way of course, definitely not in the manner he loved Naminé that's for sure, but with the nearly unbreakable love that brothers and sisters had between each other. The tough, sentimental, and understanding love that was only rarely ever really expressed but always present.

He didn't hear Sora's last words as the other boy cut the connection on the communicator. But when he looked back he saw that the screen had gone blank. Scowling at his brother's bad luck, Roxas stowed the communicator in his pocket again, did two quick push-ups and got back to his feet, his neck rolling as both his Keyblades came back to his hands in flashes of light.

"Now then," he said, addressing the Bookmasters and other Heartless that remained in the canyon as the flames he had cast had died, "where were we?"

-A-D-

It was easy to tell the next morning that the tension between Roxas and Naminé likened to a giant wall being placed down between them. It hadn't started out that way when each of them woke up. Both of them had decided that they needed to apologize to one another as soon as they saw the other over breakfast.

That didn't happen.

One look at Naminé brought the angry feelings of jealousy back into Roxas' heart, and one look at Roxas brought the shame back into Naminé's. She, though, had still been willing to try and make up for her actions the previous night, but Roxas tuned out everything Naminé said with detached arrogance.

Ignoring Naminé proved to be a mistake, because it only made her angry at him. And instead of wanting to apologize to him again, Radiant Garden's blonde Princess only felt the desire to either rip off his pig head, or play his game right along with him out of spite.

And everyone else was caught in the middle between the two vindictive Keyblade bearers. And it really didn't help that Major Armstrong felt the need one more time to flex his muscles as they all bid goodbye to Winry, Pinako, and Den.

"Okay," Tom said with his arms behind his back, looking casually over his shoulder, "I know that we're supposed to be lookin' for the bloody keyhole and the Heartless, but why are we following 'em?"

The three of them were only about five paces behind Edward, Alphonse, and Armstrong as they walked along Resembool's rural dirt road through the different fields towards the far-away train station.

"I don't know," replied Roxas reproachfully, "maybe Naminé wants to get another look at Armstrong's abs."

"Tom, will you please tell Roxas that the size of his muscles have never been the issue," Naminé said coolly.

"Tom, will you please tell her Highness that it isn't proper etiquette for a princess to drool."

"Tom, will _you_ please tell the Knight that his behaviour is too uncouth for his title."

"Tom, would you please tell her Royal Pain in the Butt that in the future she should keep her eyes shut when shirtless men are in present company!"

"Tom, would you please let Sir Ass Face know that he's being an idiot!"

"Tom, would you please inform the Princess of Voyeurism that she's the same!"

"Tom, would you please inform Sir Bull-Headed that at least I don't need to stalk around people who are shorter than me in order to feel better about myself!"

Veins snapped in the heads of both Tom and Ed.

"Who are you calling so short you could squash with your pinkie finger!" Ed roared, turning around and making a lunge for both Naminé and Roxas as his brother restrained him.

"That does it!" Tom spat at the same instant. "Bloody 'ell! I'm nobody's messenger, and I don't care if I am your bodyguard, you two are just rearing to cut each other up ain't you?"

Roxas and Naminé stopped for a second and looked at each other before promptly looking away.

"Bitch," Roxas muttered under his breath.

"Brother-lover," returned Naminé.

"Truth doesn't hurt."

"Truth means you screw him."

"Fuck you!"

"Oh you'd like to do that yourself wouldn't you?" Naminé yelled, turning around with loathing in her burning red face.

Roxas' own face twisted around. "Sorry, I don't do brothel princesses."

"You BASTARD ROXAS!" snarled Naminé as her Keyblade, Nobody's Pride, appeared in her hands. She didn't even allow her shield to come, so intent on her weapon instead of her defence.

"You want to?" Roxas asked with a maniac grin on his face as he slowly backed away, jerking his torso down and to the sides as Naminé slashed at him. "Then come and show me what you've got, amateur!"

"I'll show you who the n00b is!" Naminé yelled while swinging her blade down just as both of Roxas' Keyblades appeared in his hands. Oblivion blocked it above his head, and Twilight Thorn came out from in front to cut across Naminé's torso. She lifted her Keyblade off of Oblivion and leapt back just in time, only suffering a rip to her white dress in-between the yellow top and bottom. The shield Roxas had given her appeared in her left hand and she stared daggers at the other blonde.

"See," Roxas said, pointing Twilight Thorn at her exposed skin, "only a whore who'd never touched a sword before would have let that happen."

"It was a cheap shot brotherfucker!"

Roxas started to run towards Naminé, both his Keyblades by his sides and grating against the dirt ground. "All's fair in love and war bitch and right now this is WAR!"

Alphonse looked lost as he, Ed, Armstrong, and Tom all watched the two loving blondes battle each other on the road. "Brother why?" he asked, "why are they fighting each other? Aren't they in love? Brother? Brother answer me!"

"The world is a crazy place Al," Ed answered slowly, though the shock was clearly evident in his own voice. "But it has to be crazier than I thought for these two to start fighting each other."

Tom shook his head to clear it of the shock while bolts of lightning crackled from a sky that was beginning to quickly darken. The wind began to pick up as he strode two paces towards the closer, Roxas, who had just used Oblivion to guard against a thunderbolt Naminé had sent from the sky.

"I'm not a damn sitter!" he yelled over the rising wind. "So both of you stow it and apologize to each other!"

"I'm not apologizing to anyone blinded by envy!" Naminé told him.

"And I'm not going to be sorry to someone whose eyes are clouded to what's in front of them!" Roxas retorted.

"Can't you at least be civil in this?" Ed asked.

Another voice spoke up behind them. "Civil huh? Don't hear that word much from you Fullmetal."

The three watching the fight turned around to see a man with short black hair in a blue uniform looking at them. Around him were several other people with rank, and behind them looked to be about a section's worth of soldiers "Colonel Mustang," Ed muttered, glaring at his superior, "what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting your tushy and boots back at your gig in East City?"

"Watch it Edward," said a uniformed woman with long blonde hair tied into a knot, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. She then caught sight of the duelling teenagers. "More friends of yours Fullmetal?"

"Sorta yeah," Ed said dismissively, turning to look back at Roxas and Naminé. "Hang on a sec, I'll put a stop to their stupid lovers' quarrel." Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. The ground at once crackled with blue lightning that raced along the road towards the two wielders of the Keyblade. Both of them stopped as they felt the ground rumble underneath them, and quickly yelped in surprise as two giant hands made out of stone rose from the ground and flattened them against the road beneath and between their massive fingers.

"Get this thing off of me Ed!" Roxas ordered, his chest flat against the ground with both his Keyblades in his hands and pinned in place underneath stone fingers. Dirt was already laced over his face and white clothes, and dimming the gold trimming on his cape. "I'm gonna rip out her dirty, filthy, promiscuous, cheating little heart!"

"Tough talk for someone who's been fisted to the ground Roxas!" Naminé yelled in retaliation as her shield lay sprawled on the road and her own blade pinned underneath her body. Her face was smudged with dirt too.

"You're one to talk Namibitch!"

"Up yours Roxass!"

"Doesn't look like it took the fight out of them Ed," said another man in a blue uniform and the rank to show that he was a 2nd Lieutenant as the two blondes continued to insult each other. He had short blonde hair and a cigarette in his mouth. "You sure it's a lover's quarrel?"

"They do not appreciate the beauty that is love," Major Armstrong said with a glint in his eyes. "Then I shall show—"

Tom teleported to the top of Major Armstrong's head and grabbed it in his hands, not caring about the shocked looks he had just received from everyone who had not seen him do it before. "No you don't you big oaf!" he said, causing enough of a distraction to keep the Major from tossing his tunic off again. "You're the bloody reason they're fighting in the first place!"

Armstrong grabbed Tom by the scruff of the neck, and with very little effort, held him out in the air in front of him. "I am?" he asked, confused.

"Yes you are!" Tom answered, his arms and legs making movements to try and get him freed while still catching nothing but air. "If you 'adn't have tossed your shirt off last night and started rubbing your muscles around then Naminé wouldn't 'ave ogled you. And if Naminé 'adn't ogled you there would 'ave been no reason for Roxas to get jealous and for 'er to later feel ashamed of ogling you. And because both of 'em were Nobodies, they're still getting used to 'aving feelings and emotions of their own. You put 'em both on overload damn it and now they're fighting 'cause they can't cope!"

"You have dirt on your face!"

"You smell funny!"

"You lick dogs' balls!"

"You only wish you had balls!"

Armstrong dropped Tom onto the ground and the Brit started rubbing the dirt off of his green trench coat as he stood up again. "They've only been at it two bloody hours and its driving me insane! And the worst bit is: West Ham United beat my Manchester City last night!"

"I'm not sure I quite understand," said another 2nd Lieutenant, this one with silver hair.

"Don't worry about it Lieutenant Falman," Riza Hawkeye said, looking down and sighing slightly, "I don't get it either."

"Enough about them," Edward Elric said impulsively, "what are you all doing here anyway Colonel?"

"Looking for you Fullmetal," Mustang answered simply.

Ed paused for a second. "Me?" His face hardened. "Why would you be out looking for me? Aren't I too short to see under your paperwork?"

"Settle down Ed, there's no need to bite my head off," Mustang returned in a calm voice. "Rumours of strange black creatures in this area have reached Central, and all the higher-ups there are still spooked about the Alchemist Killer running around. Hughes informed me because this was your hometown after all, and I would have had you look into it before you went back to Central."

"Witch!"

"Pig!"

"Lecher!"

"Boar!"

"Charlatan!"

"Hyena!"

"But," Colonel Mustang continued in a louder voice so as to be heard over the squabbling Keyblade Bearers who hadn't heard a word of what he said, "we haven't been able to contact you or Major Armstrong. All the contacts we had said that you did arrive in Resembool, but no one had seen you leave and there was no word of you arriving in Central."

"So you came here to make sure I wasn't shirking off my master's leash is that it?" Ed asked.

"Flat-chest!"

"Cocksucker!"

Mustang evaded Edward's question and looked instead at the two trapped blondes. "Wow," he remarked without emotion, tightening his right glove, "they sound pissed." He looked up at them again from underneath his short black hair and rubbed his fingers together.

Blue lightning raced over a red marking on his white glove. An instant later the argument between Roxas and Naminé died out for a second as there came a loud snapping sound and a sphere of air above them burst into flame in a powerful explosion.

"What the heck?" Roxas asked, backing his eyes away as they were blinded from the light.

"Colonel Roy Mustang," Edward said as both of them attempted to get a look at the Colonel, "the Flame Alchemist."

"The Colonel's gloves are made of a special material, called ignition cloth," a male Lieutenant with short orange hair explained, "he rubs his fingers together and that creates a spark."

"Then he uses alchemy to change the oxygen density of the air," added a spectacled male Sergeant Major with black hair. "And the spark ignites the hydrogen in the pocket of oxygen."

"Bombs on command," Mustang concluded. "Thank you Breda, Fuery."

"So what?" Naminé snapped, her anger at Roxas now being directed towards the Flame Alchemist. "So you can have a bomb whenever you want, big deal!" She let her Keyblade vanish from underneath her body and called it instead into her empty left hand. Naminé grinned at the startled looks on the faces of the State Military personnel. She had since thought of a name for the fire spell she had used against Riku during their recorded duel, and used it now as she flicked her Keyblade in Mustang's direction, "Devil's Lash!"

Fire rippled and coiled from Naminé's Keyblade, filling the empty outline of the symbol of the Nobodies and the late Organization XIII and stretching out through the tiny gap between the pieces of metal into a flaming whip. Since she wasn't left-handed and wasn't trained to use her left arm accurately (not to mention having barely whipped anything at all with even her right arm), when she cracked her whip at Roy Mustang she missed all of his retinue by a mile, but it still unnerved them to see the whip made entirely of flame.

"What kind of alchemy is that?" Riza Hawkeye asked with wide eyes.

"And without a transmutation circle either," remarked 2nd Lieutenant Havoc, chewing on his cigarette. "The girl's good. But where did that funky sword come from?"

"It appeared out of a flash of white light," 2nd Lieutenant Falman answered.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye's right sir," Sgt. Major Kain Fuery said with an amused smile, "you need to lighten up a little."

"That wasn't alchemy."

Colonel Mustang's staff looked at him. "Sir?" asked Hawkeye.

Mustang's eyes narrowed on Naminé as the whip dissolved into nothing and she clutched her weapon tightly in her left fist. "That wasn't alchemy. That was something else."

Al took a step towards the Colonel. "It's magic sir."

Mustang looked at him as the wind blew around them again. Ed sighed and began to mutter to himself while he looked up grimly at the gathering dark clouds. "What was that Alphonse?" Mustang asked.

"Exactly what Alphonse said sir," Major Armstrong agreed. "It is what these three young people call magic."

Tom shrugged and sighed, noticing that Roxas and Naminé had started to bicker again. "Great, looks like I get to be the one to—" he froze and his eyes grew wide in horror.

He had just seen something none of the others had seen, not even Roxas who should have seen it with how close he was. But neither he nor Naminé were paying any attention to their surroundings, so intent on their venom-laced tongues. A two-dimensional inky black figure was quickly creeping its way along the road behind Naminé's trapped right side, two piercing yellow eyes gaping out of the darkness on the road.

The horrifying thing was, it was already nearly on her and coming out of the ground when Tom spotted it.

"Princess Naminé!" Tom shouted.

His cry broke through to Naminé's ears and she blinked angrily before looking around. Her anger vanished faster than light to be replaced by uncontrollable panic and terror as her eyes met those of a Neoshadow, already with knife-sharp claws raised to strike her. Naminé jammed her eyes shut and cursed herself a thousand times in the span of a second. She was angry that she'd let her anger at Roxas ignoring her get the better of her. Furious that she'd traded such hurtful insults with him. Livid that she had been so concentrated on making his life a living hell right now that she hadn't been paying any attention to the mission at hand, and now she was going to pay the ultimate price for it, her heart and her life.

But there was a bright flash of light that burst through her eyes and she was compelled to open them when a gurgled gasp of pain reached her ears.

Tom was there, between her and the Neoshadow. Both of his arm blades were out and stabbing into the Neoshadow's shoulders. He was hunched over on bent knees in front of her, and his breathing was ragged as if he felt very cold.

"You're both stupid you know that?" Tom said. Naminé gasped as she heard the pain in his voice while he and the Heartless stood in that stance. He coughed, and his image grew bleary as tears began to cloud Naminé's eyes. "But, being stupid is all part of being 'human, eh. Sora and Kairi would tell yah so, anyway, and there'll be others to 'elp you get through pesky emotions."

Tom coughed again, and he swayed slightly on his bent legs. "Me dad was your dad's bodyguard," Tom continued in his cold and shuddering voice. "He died trying to protect 'im. It's only natural that I should die to protect you too, right?" Tom managed a shaky laugh and glanced back at Naminé.

_No,_ Naminé thought, her mind racing as she heard and saw the splatter of Tom's red blood fall onto the ground between his legs. _No, this can't be happening!_

"Funny really," Tom continued, looking away as he leaned forward slightly, drops of rain beginning to fall. "I wouldn't 'ave thought that it would 'appen so soon." His arm blades pierced further into the Neoshadow's shoulders as his forward lean slowly began to degrade into a fall. "So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen adieu."

Tom's arm blades fell back into his wrists and the strength of the British mutant's feet left him, and he crashed onto his knees. Thick, hot, red blood came out from the wound in Tom's chest as his torso began to fall to earth amidst the newly falling rain.

The Neoshadow's clawed hand retreated from within Tom's body and held its prize above its head, inspecting the crystalline heart with unfeeling yellow eyes. After a second's examination, the heart vanished in darkness, and Tom's body disappeared in several tiny trailing orbs of golden light, slowly sifting their way upwards.

"Tom..." Roxas' voice croaked, a Keyblade-laden arm reaching out towards the place where their companion had vanished.

Colonel Mustang was the first one to snap out of the horrified trance that they'd all fallen into, and quickly rubbed his fingers together before the rain would make him useless. A bomb of flame exploded directly over the Neoshadow, reducing the creature of darkness into tiny wisps that would be blown away by the wind.

Naminé and Roxas didn't notice, as they both had their eyes fixed on the ground beneath them, their Keyblades gone and fists empty. It wasn't supposed to be this way. They weren't supposed to lose people to the Heartless they were supposed to _save_ people from them! And even worse to bear was that it was one of their own that they'd lost. True, Tom hadn't wielded a Keyblade, they hadn't known him too long and he had been a bit of a pain, but he had still been a good friend damn it!

Roxas brought his head up as his blonde hair and forehead began to get sullied by the newly forming mud on the ground, and his red eyes met Naminé's. The guilt of their actions, sparked by his own jealousy, became a mammoth pit in his stomach and a clog in his throat as held-back tears of shame and loss burned his eyes. If he hadn't have been so obsessed with his physical appearance, if he hadn't had rebuked Naminé's first attempt at reconciliation, Tom might have still been alive.

"This is all my fault," he muttered guiltily. Naminé looked inquiringly at him, and Roxas told her his reasoning.

"No Roxas," she said quickly. "If I hadn't been so bitchy about the way you were acting, we might have been able to—"

"That's enough, both of you!" said Colonel Mustang sharply. Both blondes tried their hardest to look at him. "You let your emotions dictate your actions and rule your decisions, and your petty bickering lands the blame on both of you. But he's gone, so there's nothing more you can do about it except move on."

Naminé and Roxas both gasped as they heard a tiny voice mutter, "What happened to him?"

The voice came from Edward Elric. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, his wet braid coming around and slapping him in the face. Ducking his head, the Fullmetal Alchemist ran straight at the hand that had Roxas pinned, clapping his hands together along the way. He placed both palms on the stone hand and freed the Keyblade Master only to grab him by the shoulders and bring his face within inches of his own.

"What the hell just happened?" Ed roared, shaking the other blonde by the shoulders.

"That was a Heartless Ed," Naminé answered quietly, causing Edward to freeze in his tracks, "and it just took Tom's heart."

Ed's hands went limp and he dropped Roxas without realizing it, his eyes wide and staring at Naminé. "That was... that was one of the Heartless you told us about?"

"Brother...?" Alphonse asked, taking a step towards Ed.

"Al," Colonel Mustang spoke quickly, "what are the Heartless?"

"Well uh..." Al stuttered, placing a hand behind his helmeted head. "You see, they're uh..."

"They're creatures of darkness," Roxas answered, getting to his feet and rubbing his eyes with his arm. He removed his arm and looked at the Flame Alchemist while his shoulders still shuddered and his heart still squeezed in grief and shame. "They are born out of the darkness in people's hearts, and their only instinctive command is to travel the many worlds in the galaxy, feasting on the hearts of all living things and turning them into more Heartless with every heart they seize."

"But, the thing that that... Heartless pulled out of the kid with the accent didn't look like a heart," Breda said.

"I think he means the spiritual heart," Riza said. "Well, am I right?"

Roxas nodded.

"And there are supposed to be more Heartless in Amestris right?" Edward asked, finally understanding and comprehending everything that he had been told and seen over the last week. "And they're around here?"

The rain slowly stopped as Naminé opened her mouth, still sprawled on the ground beneath the stone hand that Ed had created to pin her down. "Have you forgotten Ed? The worlds are alive themselves, which means that they too have hearts. And can you get me out of this thing please?"

Ed blushed slightly. "Sorry, I'll be right over." He clapped his hands together and there was a flash of light as he placed them on one of the stone fingers and it melted back into the ground.

Al gasped and Ed looked at him. "What is it Al?"

"Brother, the keyhole!" Al answered.

"That's right," Roxas agreed. "It must be around Resembool somewhere."

Mustang's eyes narrowed. "Keyhole?"

"The pathway to the heart of a world," replied Roxas. "It has to be sealed by one of these." He held out his hands and both of his Keyblades appeared within them.

"Again with the funky swords," said Jean Havoc, looking at them with interest.

"They're called Keyblades," Naminé said, slowly coming up to stand next to Roxas, her own Keyblade coming back into her right hand. "They have the ability to open or seal any lock or gateway, including the gateway to the heart of a world."

"Why do you guys keep going on about this 'a world' stuff?" Breda asked, scratching his orange-haired head. "You can't mean that there's more than one world right? Wait..." he stopped and his face suddenly became scared. "If there is more than this world then that means that you're aliens!"

Roxas and Naminé shook their heads and looked down. "The only one slightly alien was Tom," Naminé whispered quietly so that only she and Roxas could hear, "and now he's gone."

Both of Roxas' Keyblades vanished and his right arm wrapped around her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry for the way I acted and treated you Nam. You deserve better than that."

"And I apologize for how I acted and treated you Roxas," Naminé sighed, allowing his gesture to become a hug as she turned to wrap both her arms around his torso and press herself close to him. "And I take back every nasty thing I said to you. You're my strong Roxie and I love you; you're the only one I'll ever want no matter how beefy another guy is."

"We'll seal the keyhole and get the Heartless for this," Roxas said, looking into Naminé's eyes, "and we'll do it together, for Tom's sake if nothing else." Naminé bit her lip and the sadness in her eyes was replaced by determination.

She looked at her shield as it lay on the road and summoned it back onto her left arm, not even smiling at the looks of interest she gained from the Colonel's retinue. Naminé looked back at Roxas and gave him a questioning glance. "Sir Roxas, when you said together," she asked, "did you mean 'side-by-side', or '_together_'?"

Roxas looked up slightly before slowly bobbing his head. "I believe I meant '_together_', my Princess." Tiny smiles flickered onto their faces for an instant.

"Huh? Ma'am, do you know what they're talking about?" Sergeant Major Kain Fuery asked, looking at Lieutenant Hawkeye. She shook her head 'no'.

Naminé closed her eyes and a sky-blue jewel that was set inside of a silver necklace hanging around her neck began to shine with a bright light. Roxas began to glow with a golden radiance, and then he suddenly disappeared as the golden light shot into Naminé. Two blue orbs of light broke out of the jewel and zipped around Naminé's sides to strike her in the back just underneath her shoulder blades.

Naminé opened her eyes. "Angels in flight!" A bright flash of white light spewed from her body, forcing closed the eyes of the Alchemists, officers, and enlisted men, who had (like good soldiers) kept their mouths shut well enough that only their closest buddies could hear them so that the higher-ups could get things done.

When the light faded, Naminé looked clearly at Colonel Mustang, Edward Elric, and their retinues. Her hood had turned white, along with the black portions of her top and skirt. The yellow of her top and skirt had become gold, as had the four-pointed emblem on her shield, which had changed from turquoise to white. In her right hand rested Twilight Thorn, and from her back the soft, feathered white wings of an angel had grown.

_Man, they look surprised,_ Roxas said from within her. Naminé nodded and smiled slightly.

_They sure do,_ she replied. Naminé turned around and looked over her shoulder.

"Well?" she asked, breaking through their trances with her voice, "are we going to find the keyhole and get rid of the Heartless or not?"

"Right!" Mustang said, glancing at the State soldiers behind him. "Squad, move out!"

Naminé nodded and gripped her Keyblade in her right hand. Her wings propelled her into the sky as the clouds still hovered ominously overhead.

_Tom,_ she thought, _we're going to get them for this. We won't rest on this world until we've found the keyhole and taken down every last Heartless here._

Thunder rumbled in the clouds above her and Naminé sighed. It promised to be a long, hard day.

-A-D-

_End Chapter._

_Yeah, Tom's gone... for now anyways._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	9. The Heart of Atlantis

_It's an odd coincidence. The chapter I go and kill off a protagonist (Tom), I get reviews from people who don't normally speak up as well as the regulars. I don't bite people, really. I like answering the reviews I get, and some of the reviews spark interesting conversations._

_Well, that's enough of that anyway. Let's get on to something different. I surprised you all last chapter with Tom's quite sudden demise, and I'm afraid to say that I am not out of surprises. And forgive me if I misspell anything, I don't know Latin yet._

_And one more quick note, I have become the boss battle writer and semi-beta for __**Elvenlord and the Keyblade Wielder**__, so if you want to look up more battles that I write but in a different context than from this, check his stuff out starting at the fifth chapter of __**Chronicles of Chaos: Order of Light**__._

_Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form, own nor pretend to own: Kingdom Hearts, Square-Enix, Disney, or any of the affiliate franchises with which this work of fanfiction has become relevant to._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter IX: The Heart of Atlantis

Riku, at first, had been shocked when he heard Commander Rourke state the fact that they were down in the bowels of the earth to find the lost ancient city, the legend of which was almost second nature to him. After all, his people on the islands passively worshiped some of the sea-gods and deities of the Greek Pantheon, and knew about the others even if they didn't bother to consult them on such trivial matters as good weather and fortune for a fishing trip a few miles offshore. Modern science was far more reliable in their eyes than the gods deciding to answer their meagre prayers.

Although sometimes with the way that the weathermen were, it never hurt and had never really gone out of style to whisper a hurried prayer and hope that the gods _were_ listening before they started a large undertaking. Poseidon himself was attributed the honour of giving the people of Destiny Islands the game of Blitzball many years ago. The whole legend and story was told every year at the Blitz Festival on the 27th of October, which during the last decade or so had still managed to keep a hold on its traditions. The only thing that had tweaked Riku's faith in the heavens now, though, had been the introduction to a whole line of gods who were more ancient than his own, and that _they_ were the ones who truly warranted his worship because they were the gods of his weapon, the Keyblade, had caused him a little discomfort.

Whatever the case of his uncertainties concerning his spiritual faith, the legend of the grand lost city of Atlantis had been engrained into his memory since before he could remember exactly when. It was almost like it was a myth that was genetically passed on rather than told in stories.

As soon as Rourke had walked away, Riku's interest and curiosity had peaked. Normally, he was never the one to come up with a venture this crazy. Sora would... actually, he _was_ the one who came up with the hair-brained schemes (such as the raft to take them to other worlds), Sora and Kairi would just lazily plod along half a step behind him to help and support him, as little as possible in the former and as much as they could in the latter, simply having fun doing anything that wasn't work while Riku did it all.

As it was, Yuffie saw Riku's aqua eyes gleam at the prospect of finding the lost city. "You're excited then Rik?" she asked.

Riku turned to look at her. His ears were still ringing a little from the horn blast right against them, but he had still heard her quite well. "Yeah," he answered, smiling at her. Yuffie smiled back and quickly started the truck and put it in gear.

"Let's move out people!" Helga ordered from the truck she and Rourke were in, with her driving of course.

The convoy started to move out slowly, and at a pace that Yuffie called a 'parking lot'. This was chiefly caused by the truck at the head of the convoy, Milo Thatch's. As smart as he was in varied subjects, driving a truck was beyond his capabilities. However, they gave him the benefit of the doubt and a half an hour at the head to try and learn _how_ to drive on his own.

Yuffie swore that in that time she had only been able to move her vehicle roughly fifteen metres. It was the worst traffic jam she'd ever seen, not that there were very many traffic problems on the streets of a world that only provided cars for the bureaucrats and members of government. However, the odd chocobo-drawn cart or carriage would occasionally take a corner too fast and tip over onto the side, and that would cause a bit of a jam before it would be able to get righted again, or a wheel would break or there would be any number of low-tech causes to make not travelling by foot a headache.

Once they'd had enough of Milo's abysmal driving though, they were able to solve the problem by taking a rope and hitching his vehicle to the back of the digger, a large vehicle with a bore on the front to drill through any substances that they would encounter.

It was pretty difficult for the first few hours for Yuffie to keep her eyes on the ancient highway that they were driving on, for all around them were columns and works of stone that had stood the testament of time, carved intricately into shapes beyond normal reasoning or possible ability. The gaping mouth of the fish-carving they first passed through was just an example of some of the wondrous structure that awaited them as the convoy drove along the highway over crevices so deep the bottom couldn't be fathomed, or along underground streams with cascading waterfalls of fresh, pure water.

And they were guided the whole way by Milo James Thatch, and his little book called: The _Sheppard's Journal_.

Unfortunately, while the book had all the answers, Milo wasn't always a hundred percent accurate in extracting them. He was closer to being ninety-nine point seven percent accurate in the information he was using to guide them along the path.

That point three percent he was off came from one small foray at the road when it diverged into two paths into the different eyes of a human's head rock carving.

Yuffie drummed her fingers on the edge of her steering wheel. Their truck had somehow managed to wind its way up to the front of the convoy, and she was watching Milo impatiently. He had been studying his book for the better part of five minutes already, and she wasn't very patient while her vehicle idled.

Yuffie sighed and Riku placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him. "Calm down Yuf," he said humourously. "He's just making sure that he's choosing the right path for us to go."

"Well he could still hurry it up a bit," Yuffie answered, leaning back into her seat and folding her arms over her chest.

Max yawned. "Why bother?" he asked. "It's got to be, like, midnight or something by now. You've been driving for hours." He fiddled with the red ribbon that was tied around his forehead with half-closed eyes.

"Whatchya thinking about Max?" Yuffie asked, looking sideways at him as she sat in the middle with Riku on her right and Max on her left. It was the only weird truck of the bunch apart from the digger in terms of its layout. The steering wheel, gas, brake, and gear shift were all set in the centre instead of either the right or left side.

"My daydreams are none of your business Yuffie," Max sighed contentedly, slumping a little more into his seat while he fully closed his eyes.

"Ch," Riku grunted from Yuffie's other side, "Sounds like somebody's thinking about Roxanne. How was that shopping date of yours by the way?"

"I bought everything and carried her bags," Max answered gruffly. "But I earned a kiss on the cheek from doing so, so it was more than worth it." He kept his eyes closed and blew a wistful lungful of air out from his lungs. "When we're done all of this, I'm going to really ask her out."

Riku snorted. "Keep telling yourself that Max, Sora's been trying to do the same thing for about a month now and hasn't succeeded."

"That's because Sora speaks in horrible pirate voices," Max answered casually, putting his feet up on the dashboard and interlocking his fingers together on his lap. If he had a straw hat and a stalk of grass in his mouth, he'd have the image of the perfect slacker.

Yuffie groaned, remembering the conversation she and Riku had shared with Sora over an hour ago. The only good thing she could say was that they hadn't been found out yet. She looked up in front of her and saw that Milo had turned around, smiling, and was pointing off to the left one. "Finnaalyy," she said in relief, putting her idle truck in drive and stepping on the gas.

Max jolted as his feet flew off the top of the dash and he bolted upright in his seat. "Whoa!" He turned on Yuffie, rubbing a shaking hand over his startled forehead. "Warn me next time you do that Yuffie. I almost pierced my back into your weapon."

"That reminds me," Yuffie said, ignoring Max and looking at Riku with a grimace. "When do you want me to be your slave-girl?" she said unenthusiastically, rolling her eyes as she did so.

Riku grinned. "I'm going to wait and surprise you," he answered. "Sound fair, Great Ninja Yuffie?"

Yuffie only grunted in annoyance while Riku laughed and turned her eyes back on the road towards the left eye of the statue she was driving into. She felt Riku suddenly tense next to her and glanced at him. "Huh?"

"Darkness," Riku answered. "I can smell it."

"Where?" Yuffie asked, looking around.

"Right in front of us," Max answered, looking straight forward like Riku.

"The Heartless are here!" Riku told her, jumping out of her moving truck. Yuffie slammed on the brakes and put the truck in park.

"What are you kids doing?" Commander Rourke asked from his vehicle behind them. Yuffie grabbed her shuriken from behind her and leapt out of the truck after Riku while Max was on the other side, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword sheathed across his back.

"Just taking out an ambush!" Yuffie answered with a quick smile, turning and speeding up until she was beside Riku. His Keyblade appeared in his hand just as Max's sword gave a sharp ringing noise to announce him successfully drawing it from its sheath.

The three of them crested the lip of the highway and saw a small mass of Heartless in front of them. The Heartless they ambushed gave Yuffie disappointment. They were all weaklings. Only the diminutive Shadows, Soldiers, and blue Hook Bats with the red hooks they carried dangling from their claws. She didn't reveal her displeasure though as she leapt high into the air and threw her shuriken down into the horde.

She twisted around in the air until her head was pointed downwards and her right hand began to glow with white light. Yuffie's arms were crossed together above her head and the glowing from her hand broke into the space between her palms. She opened her eyes. "Thunder!"

Bolts of white-hot lightning coursed out of the light between her hands and sizzled down into the middle of the group of Heartless, electrocuting and incinerating any that the thunderbolts touched. Cracks of stone from the road broke off as missed lightning struck them instead, driving age-old dirt and dust into the air, stirred only further by the whirring of her spinning shuriken.

Yuffie's shuriken returned to her as she fell back to the ground and landed in a crouch beside Riku and Max, both of whom were amazed at the sudden display she'd just given. Riku shook his head as Yuffie stood back up, and readied Way to the Dawn before charging in on his own.

"Refraction Rays!" Riku yelled, swiping Way to the Dawn to the side. Small rays of golden light broke out of his Keyblade and instantly scattered into the throng of Heartless. They tore through the dark bodies of the Shadows and Hook Bats, dissolving them into faint ghosts of wisps of darkness, bright pink hearts rising from the clouds that revealed where the Hook Bats fell. Some of the sterner Soldier Heartless were able to withstand being run through by the golden rays, but with massive tears in their bodies and some of them missing entire limbs they certainly seemed far less intimidating.

Riku slashed Way to the Dawn through one of the Soldiers from the fringe that had charged at them, and survived. Riku's silver hair glinted in the pink light from the released heart over the cloud of darkness as he raised his left hand up with an open palm. All the tiny golden rays made wide banking turns either into the air or through the remaining Heartless to accumulate into a single sphere of brightly shining gold right in the centre of the remaining throng. Riku yelled and quickly turned his open palm into a tightly clenched fist. The golden sphere exploded in a great flash and wave of energy, incinerating the Heartless and creating a shallow circular crater in the ground about a foot deep with a small two-foot radius directly underneath where the golden sphere had stood.

"Huh," Riku said, smiling slightly at the crater while the only remaining Heartless were those on the very fringes of the mob, "it looks like I've gotten a bit stronger since Gaul."

"Yeah yeah yeah yeah," Max muttered, twirling his sword around his fingers by the hilt. "You guys and your magic crap. Shut up will yah? You're leaving hardly any for me to take care of."

"Well then would you like to finish them off?" Yuffie asked, poofing next to them in a cloud of black smoke. "Or would you like me to do the honours?"

"Riku's already killed his fair share," Max answered looking at the multitude of pink hearts that were rising into the sky before vanishing in flashes of light, "so how about just you and I tackle them Yuffie?"

Yuffie laughed slightly and rolled her neck while swinging her shuriken around in a circle off to the side. "Sounds like fun."

Riku watched from the sidelines with a smiling face as Yuffie and Max finished off the remaining Soldiers and Hook Bats. All of the Shadows that had been part of the group had been unable to sink into the ground in time to avoid his Refraction Rays attack, and so there were no more of them to deal with.

But behind his smile, Xehanort's Heartless was whispering words in his ear: words of him coming out of the shadows in the depths of his heart to rise again, stronger and more powerful than ever before. When his fourth coming came and he presented himself, he _would_ plunge all worlds into everlasting darkness.

Riku only smiled a bit wider and disagreed. He was finished. Riku was no longer his pawn to be controlled by the darkness, and neither would he rule the darkness. He had chosen to take the road to Dawn, from the darkness and into the light of day, the light of his friends and...

_No_, Riku thought, dipping his head in thought, _I'm still not sure_.

It took all of one minute for Yuffie and Max to dispatch the last of the Heartless, and as soon as they had, Yuffie was clapping both Max and Riku on the backs. "Ooh yeah! We rock!"

Her smile and laughter was infectious, causing Riku to yawn dramatically and drape his arm over her shoulder. "No sweat, nothing to...it..." He trailed off as he looked up at the road and saw the Commander, as well as Lieutenant Helga Sinclair, Milo Thatch, their geologist and rabid digger affectionately called 'Mole', their doctor Joshua Sweet, mechanic Audrey Ramirez, the chef Cookie, communications specialist Packard, and demolitions expert Vinnie, all staring at them in awe.

Yuffie cocked her head to the side while her shuriken was still held lightly in her right hand and her dagger back in its sheath. "What are you all looking at?"

"I didn't know that the three of you could fight, lit—I mean Yuffie," Commander Rourke said.

"Well now you know," Max answered, placing his hands behind his head as he sheathed the Defender back into its place. "Any problems?"

"Are any of you hurt?" Sweet asked.

"Not a scratch on me," Yuffie declared proudly, reaching the same level as the line of others in the expedition. She looked towards the trucks. "So, what do you say we keep going huh?"

"Uh, actually Yuffie," Milo began, albeit a little nervously, "I was looking at the _Sheppard_ upside-down. We're supposed to be going the _other_ way."

Yuffie's eyes went wide with disbelief. "You mean we just fought and smacked down an ambush of Heartless because we were goin' the wrong way?" she asked. When Milo nodded slowly, Yuffie folded her arms over her chest and stuck out her lip, looking off to the side. "Then I used my materia for nothing," she pouted.

She kicked the ground and stalked past the others towards their truck. Riku and Max looked at each other and were about to follow when Commander Rourke stopped them. "What was it she was talking about when she mentioned 'Heartless'?"

"They're creatures formed out of the darkness in the hearts of all living things," Riku answered seriously. "Really, they are darkness made real, and they are terrible things. They scour the worlds, searching for hearts upon which to take and turn into more Heartless. They obey whoever's the strongest in the area, totally and completely obey, but they would never obey the wishes of me anymore, or of those who fight against them."

Riku left it at that, and quickly moved away from Commander Rourke with Max in tow. Milo and the others moved off to their own trucks, but Rourke and Sinclair stayed looking at the ground where the battle had just been fought.

Commander Rourke replaced his wide-brimmed hat upon his head and looked at his subordinate with curiosity. "One hundred percent loyalty huh?"

-A-D-

"Materia?" Riku asked, sitting next to Yuffie in the truck. His teeth were chattering violently and he shivered terribly, rubbing his partially gloved hands over his bare arms and occasionally blowing against his fingertips before hiding them inside of his armpits. Nearly two full days had passed since they arrived and joined the members of the expedition to Atlantis, and the memory of the battle had remained in everyone's minds as if their memories were sliced open and the battle placed inside by a scalpel. But Riku had not worked up the curiosity until now, when they were freezing cold in a pile of snow and ice, to ask Yuffie about materia.

"Condensed magical energy in the form of a ball that can be absorbed by the human body," she rattled off through the cold as if it was a textbook definition. "The introduction of materia into the body grants the being in question abilities that they previously would have required study or training to use effectively. Through usage, the materia grows stronger in its potency, but also becomes more unstable, increasing the risk of materia failure or self-detonation. Such self-detonation can cause either major or minor bodily harm to the wielder of the materia and those around them, or in the cases of extremely rare and powerful materia, death and cataclysmic releases of energy, the effects of which being unknown. Materia failure is the result of the magical energy stored within the materia to not reach the required amount to activate it due to unstable fluctuations of power, and so causes the materia and its abilities to fail and become useless. Materia self-detonation is the opposite, the energy overreaching the required level, causing undue stress on the materia's physical properties, and releasing the excess energy in an explosion of the materia crystal."

"Sounds like you read that out of a textbook," Max said, raising his eyebrows and slapping his sides.

"I did," Yuffie answered dryly, "eight years ago."

"And you remembered it?" Riku asked incredulously.

"I was Traverse Town's greatest Materia Hunter thank you very much," Yuffie answered quickly. "I had to know as much as I could about materia."

"So do you have a fire materia stashed around somewhere?" Riku asked, briefly taking his hands out again and rubbing his arms. Milo was busy consulting the _Sheppard_ again to choose which of three caves was the correct one to go through, and taking his own damn sweet time at it!

"Sorry Riku," Yuffie told him, "the only one I've got on me is my thunder materia. The case filled with the rest of my materia is back at home in the apartment."

"You think Riku and I could borrow some when we get back?" Max asked through clenched teeth. "Might be good for us to use some conventional magic right?"

"Nobody touches my materia but me," Yuffie snarled quickly. "And why don't you guys just learn magic on your own?"

"Because that sucks, and we could ask you the same thing," Riku answered.

"I've got materia so I don't have to learn magic," Yuffie fired back. "And I have my ninjitsu, so I don't even _need_ to learn magic."

"Hey, looks like Milo's figured out the way to go," Max said, pointing at the vehicles in front of them starting to move.

"Good, let's get out of this stupid snow!" Riku said, giving the snow around them an icy glare.

Yuffie pumped the gas and started following the convoy. "What's wrong with snow?" she asked. "We get it every winter in the Garden."

"It's too damn cold is what it is," Riku told her. "I've only seen snow and ice once before, and that was on the Tung Shao pass in Land of Dragons, and that time was plenty enough. We don't get snow on Destiny Islands, except occasionally up on the mountain peaks. It's never chilly enough to keep it hanging around, and we don't frankly care. We like to be warm."

"But having fun in the cold is so much fun!" Yuffie insisted, having said the word fun twice. "You can catch snowflakes on your tongue; build snow forts, snowball fights..."

"Cuddle up with each other under a blanket in front of a fire while sipping hot chocolate," Max continued. "I hope I'd get to do that with Roxanne this winter after building the biggest snowman ever together."

Riku snorted. "Or you could freeze to death."

"Oh stop being such a pessimist Rik," Yuffie said in annoyance.

"So is she your girlfriend or not?" Riku asked Max, slapping his arms now with his palms.

"We're kinda iffy on that right now," Max said quickly. "Give us a bit more time, okay? And at least let me see her a few more times before I have to answer that question."

They were quiet for a few seconds, the silence being muffled by the crunching of the snow underneath the tires and the thrum of the engines of the vehicles around them.

"But being warm on tropical islands is fun too," Riku said suddenly. "Sand castles, sun tanning, water fights, swimming, or just napping on the beach like Sora likes to do."

"Can you build a shelter out of sand?" Yuffie asked.

Riku blinked a couple of times and looked at her quizzically, "A what?"

"_Can you build a shelter out of sand_?" Yuffie repeated, patronizingly slowly. "Like, can you dig a cave into the sand that will stay up on its own and keep you warm, or can you make a trench in the sand to keep you out of the wind?"

"I've never really tried," Riku answered with a shrug. "The sand I know is usually too... well, soft and sifting to be able to make a cave out of it. Finally we're out of this damn cold!"

The truck had just passed through the entrance to the cave they were going into, and apart from the snow dragged in by the vehicles in front there was very little snow on the highway that they had once more found. It was already warmer from just entering the cave, and Riku's long hair was already starting to thaw out.

Riku hopped out of the truck and started walking alongside it in a power-walk. "I need to keep my muscles warm and blood pumping," he explained when Yuffie looked at him with a curious glance. "I've been too cold for too long."

"Suit yourself lightweight," Max snorted, leaning back in his seat in the truck while Yuffie scooted over a smidgeon to give both of them more room.

It was another two hours of almost uneventful driving and walking after that. They struck a roadblock along the way and were forced to dig their way through it with the digger. The funny thing happened to be that when it broke down before it could really start digging was that it was Milo, not the sixteen-years-of-age female Spanish mechanic Audrey, who was able to fix it. After Vinnie had mentioned that he didn't have enough explosives to un-roadblock it, Riku had been asked if he'd be able to blast through it with his powers that he'd demonstrated two days previously, but he'd declined since it would take hours and more energy than he had to get through.

Finally, they reached a vast open cavern with a stone bridge across a chasm, with a large stone lantern carved into the ceiling, glowing green.

"This is it," Milo said, looking between the _Sheppard's Journal_ and the lantern. "It's gotta be."

"All right," Commander Rourke said. "We'll make camp here."

Riku looked up at the glowing lantern in the cavern's ceiling carved from a massive stalactite. "Why is it glowing?"

"Tch," Mole replied, his French accent always discernible, "it is the natural phosphorations."

Vinnie pointed up at it with a little bit of disdain. "That thing is going to keep me up all night."

"It sure is one big old night-light," Yuffie sighed, glancing at the lantern.

"I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep anyway," Riku said dismissively, shaking his head. "After all, we're in the lost city of Atlantis tomorrow, right?"

"Sure looks that way," said Max.

Riku shook his head and looked at Yuffie. "And here I was, hoping that we'd be able to get to Atlantis in time for our one-month anniversary. But, that was yesterday."

"Hold on a sec," Sweet said, looking at the two of them, "back up. Are you two kids married?"

Max burst out laughing while Riku's and Yuffie's eyes became as wide as dinner plates.

"Married?" Max guffawed. "Are you kidding? They've just been boyfriend/girlfriend for a month and a day, that's all."

"Really?" Dr. Sweet asked, reaching for his medical bag. "You know, I haven't done any physicals on you three since you got here." He pulled out a handsaw and said, "Ain't no time like the present."

"Uh-oh," Riku said, eyeing the saw along with Yuffie and Max.

"Beauty isn't it?" Sweet asked, looking at the saw. "The catalogue says it can cut through a femur in twenty-eight seconds. I'm hoping I can cut that time down in half."

Before anyone had the time to say 'stethoscope', Doctor Joshua Sweet had put one on and shoved a thermometer in Riku's mouth, pushing him out of the way of everyone else into a tent that someone had only just finished setting up four seconds ago.

-A-D-

Supper was as usual as all their meals had been since the expedition started. Since they were all prepared by a Tennessee hillbilly (aka Cookie) whose four basic food groups consisted of beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard, it was as greasy and fattening as mashed globs of pork and brown beans sautéed and boiled in whiskey and melted pork fat could be. The only thing that could have made the food more bearable to anyone who still retained their taste buds would have been if the alcohol in the whiskey wasn't always boiled away during the cooking process. At least then it would have given them a buzz to take their minds off of the food.

"For appetizers," Cookie began, serving his slop from his red pot up onto their tin trays as Riku, Yuffie, Max, Sweet, Mole, Audrey, Packard, and Vinnie sat in their customary circle around a fire burning inside of a metal can to keep them warm, "Caesar Salad," he plopped some brown mash onto Sweet's tray, "Escargot," Audrey, "Oriental Egg Roll," Mole received that one, "Sushi," Max, "Chicken Fingers," Vinnie, "Samosas," Packard, "Mozzarella Cheese Sticks," Yuffie, "And Fried Dumplings," Riku.

"I wanted the escargot," Mole said quietly, looking at Audrey's tray as Cookie went over to where Milo was sitting by himself.

"Knock yourself out," Audrey muttered, switching trays with Mole without enthusiasm.

Riku looked down at the brown stuff on his tray and tentatively prodded it with his spoon, "This looks even less edible than usual."

"Just don't tell Cookie that," Packard said, puffing on a cigarette. "He'll only think you're complimenting him."

Max shrugged his shoulders and began to eat the stuff with his spoon. He and Mole were the only ones who didn't seem to have any qualms with the food.

"It's wiggling!" Yuffie said in a quiet, yet high voice.

"Scared of the food Yuffie?" Riku asked, trying to stir it around with his spoon to make his 'dumplings' less viscous and easier to scoop up.

"Unless it's Jell-O, food shouldn't move after you touch it," she replied.

Sweet looked over at where Milo was sitting by himself. "You know, we have been pretty tough on the kid, why don't we cut him some slack?"

"Yeah you're right," Audrey agreed. She turned her head over to look at where Thatch was sitting and reading the _Sheppard_ while eating. "Hey Milo! Come sit with us!"

"Really?" Milo asked, snapping the book shut and coming over with his tray. "You mean you don't mind?"

"Nah," Audrey continued. She indicated a vacant rock, "park it here."

"I swear, it's making faces at me now," Yuffie muttered, staring into her food.

Milo didn't hear what she said, and most of them weren't even paying attention to her anymore as the linguist and cartographer came over. "You know it's an honour to be included in your—" His praise of their group was cut short when there suddenly came a loud, and very rude and vulgar noise when he sat down. The culprit was a whoopee-cushion quickly planted by Mole.

"Ah, forgive me," he said immediately after being chastised, "I could not resist."

Yuffie looked up from the food, which she was now convinced was demon-spawn telling her to kill her friends, and gave Riku an annoyed look. "I don't do anything to prank the nerd, yet I still lose the bet and end up your slave for a day! What's up with that?"

"You pulled a prank on Riku," Max answered, still eating the slop while the others were only a little enthusiastic about it, "_that_ is how you lost the bet."

Riku swallowed his spoonful of mashed pork and beans and looked at Milo. His book was once again open. "Don't you ever close that thing?" he asked. "You're almost as bad as my friend Lindsey was."

"Yeah you must have read that thing a dozen times by now," Sweet added.

"I know," Milo explained, frowning at the book, "it just, it doesn't make any sense. See in this passage here, the _Sheppard_ seems to be leading up to something it calls 'The Heart of Atlantis'. Now, it could be the power source the legend had referred to. But then it just, it cuts off—it's almost like there's a missing page."

"What power source?" Riku asked. "The legend I know doesn't mention anything like that."

"Well what do you remember?" Milo asked him.

Riku shrugged a little bit. "That the lost city of Atlantis was built in a circle of many rings and was highly advanced. The buildings glistened like polished silver in architectural shapes that are beyond description, water flowed between the rings of the city with ships of every origin imaginable, and that it was a place of peace."

"Yes, but the reason that Atlantis and her people were so advanced in medicine, technology, science and architecture was because of a power source that was more powerful than steam, or coal," Milo continued. "And we're here to find that power source and bring it back up to the surface."

"Kid, relax!" Vinnie said. "We don't get paid overtime."

Max looked up. "We're getting paid for this?" he asked.

"I don't think _we_ are, unless you count this food as pay," Yuffie added in an undertone.

"Didn't you snatch _any_ of the munny that the Heartless dropped Max?" Riku asked.

Max placed his spoon back down on his tray and began fiddling around in the pockets of his jeans with his hands. "Yeah I grabbed some, but we had to split it all three ways right? And those Heartless were kinda stingy when it was divvyed up." He pulled out a wool pouch, untied the string on top, and poured a few of the yellow-blue munny beads into his hand and began to count them.

"What are those?" Vinnie asked.

"It's called munny," Max answered, "m-u-n-n-y. It's the type of money/currency that our worlds use, and the Heartless generally are packing a little around wherever they go. Why though is beyond me."

"Maybe they feel like it's supposed to be a reward for whoever defeats them," Yuffie asked.

"Never heard of a Heartless being generous to anyone before," Riku snorted.

"That was still a pretty amazing power of yours Riku," Milo said. "But hey, that's what this is all about right? You know: discovery, teamwork, adventure... unless maybe you're just in it for the money?"

The answers that all came back to Milo were money, except for Riku, Yuffie, and Max, who kept their mouths shut. "Well I guess I set myself up for that one," Milo said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Is there something wrong with your neck?" Sweet asked, getting up to take a look.

"Oh? Yeah, I guess I must've hurt it," Milo answered. Sweet took Milo's head in his hands and quickly cracked the academic's neck in two different directions. "Better?" he asked.

Milo rubbed the base of his neck and his eyes opened wide in amazement. "Yeah! Hey, where'd you learn how to do that?"

"From a Navaho Medicine Man," Joshua Sweet answered.

"Get out."

"Born and raised with 'em," explained Sweet. He pulled an old photograph out of his tan jacket and handed it to Milo to look at. "My father was an army medic; he settled down in the Kansas Territory after he met my mother."

"No kidding?" Milo asked.

"Nope. I've got a sheep skin from Howard Yu, and a bear skin from old Ironcloud," he said, pulling the necklace he wore with both skins on it to show them. "Halfway through medical school I was drafted. One day I'm studying Grosz Anatomy in the classroom, and the next, I'm sowing up Roughriders on Sam Wan hill."

"Main course," Cookie said enticingly, coming up on them suddenly. Each and every one of them, including Max but excluding Mole, offered various excuses as to why they couldn't eat more. Yuffie and Audrey both used the excuse of watching their weight to keep them from having more. Yuffie still wouldn't have touched her food despite her own protests if Riku hadn't pointed out that she hadn't eaten in a day and they were far away from the _Highwind_, where none of them could cook anyway.

"Oh don't you worry," Cookie said, walking away, "it'll keep, and keep, and keep."

"Thank God I lost my sense of taste years ago," said Packard. She and the rest proceeded to dump what was left in their trays into the fire, which was immediately put out with a rising cloud of smoke in the shape of a mushroom.

"I think his cooking might have military potentials," Max said, his eyes watching the mushroom cloud.

"Yeah, we poison the other guys with it," Vinnie agreed.

It was scarcely fifteen minutes after that under Rourke's order, relayed by his subordinate, Helga, that they were to pitch their tents and set up camp. Riku, Yuffie, and Max had been provided with the only spare tents that the expedition had, which totalled to two. So while every original member of the expedition had their own tent, the three off-worlders were forced to have two people share and give one their own tent. Yuffie was the one who had her own, and Riku and Max shared, as was only natural given that there was only one female in their little group. The arrangement hadn't fit either Riku or Max too well the first night after their battle with the Heartless, and it still annoyed them two nights later. They'd already changed into their sleeping attire, which for Riku was just his boxers and a large t-shirt of a dull red. Max also had a dull coloured t-shirt, but he was also wearing long black flannel pyjama pants.

"Aren't you going to pitch up your tent?" Vinnie asked Milo, looking at his abysmal attempt in disdain.

"I guess I'm still a little rusty," Milo apologized as the demolitions expert set about fixing Milo's tent, "I haven't gone camping since, well I guess since the last time my grandpa took me."

"I never got to meet your grandfather," Audrey said, looking at Milo from the entrance to her tent. "What was he like?" Vinnie left Milo's tent, now properly set up, and started for his own.

"Where to start?" Milo asked rhetorically as he laid out his sleeping bag. "He was like a father to me. My parents died when I was a little kid, and he took me in." His eyes then smiled and he chuckled slightly.

"What?" Yuffie asked, looking over from where she was already lying on her own sleeping bag inside her tent.

"I was just thinking," Milo answered. "One time, when I was eight, we were hiking along this stream, and I saw something shining in the water. It was a genuine arrowhead. Well, you'd have thought I'd found a lost civilization or something the way Grandpa carried on about it. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that the arrowhead was just some shale mixed with zinc pyrite that had fractured into an isosceletic triangular."

"That is so cute," Mole commented, wearing a pair of striped red, white, and blue pyjamas in the colours of his nation, France, and carrying a grey stuffed bear, before walking past.

"Say Audrey," Milo began, "no, no offence or anything, but how does a teenager become the chief mechanic of a multi-million dollar expedition?"

"Well I took this job when my dad retired," Audrey explained pleasantly while taking off her boots, socks, and putting her sleeping bag into her tent. "But the funny thing was that he always wanted sons, right? One to run his machine shop, and the other to be middle-weight boxing champion, but he got my sister and me instead."

"So what happened to your sister?" Riku asked, looking past Max's ears to look at Audrey's tent.

She popped her head back out. "She's 24-0, with a shot at the title next month. Anyway, I'm saving up so my pappy and I can open another shop."

Milo smiled and looked off as Packard started to walk past them in a bathrobe, a pillow and magazine tucked under her arms. Her hair was all tied up in rollers and green mud was on her face. "Forget your jammies Mrs. Packard?"

"I sleep in the nude."

Milo's, Riku's, Max's, and Yuffie's jaws dropped open and their eyes widened in horror. A set of black sleeping eye masks landed in front of each of them. "You're going to want a pair of these," Sweet explained, having tossed them, "she sleepwalks."

"Argh my skull!" Max groaned. "You gave me bad mental images."

"Riku," Yuffie said quickly as she vanished into her tent. "I am forever recanting my previous policy. So when we get back to Radiant Garden eventually, you won't have to sleep on the couch anymore."

"What's Radiant Garden?" Milo asked.

Yuffie's head reappeared at her tent's entrance, now wearing a light blue tank top on her chest and a pair of pink flannel shorts. There was red writing on the back of the shorts, but what it said, no one but Yuffie knew. "Radiant Garden's the world that I'm from," Yuffie answered, resting the side of her raven-haired head on her hands as she lay down on the top of her sleeping bag. "It was attacked by Heartless back when I was little, and our enemy Maleficent took over the place eleven years ago. Then just over a year ago our friend Sora took Maleficent down and my friends and I have been helping to rebuild the world, which is coming back on its own too. It's a really beautiful place, and I live in an apartment that Leon and Riku got for me."

"Just you?" Milo asked. "No family or friends or anything?"

Yuffie giggled slightly and looked in Riku's direction. "Well, Riku over there's been mooching at my place while he's in the Garden, but that's okay since he helped pay for it. But..." her voice became a little sad and she looked away from the others, "I don't have any parents anymore. My mom died during the Heartless attack, and my dad was killed by a gang of idiots in Traverse Town about a year before Sora showed up. My dad was the one who taught and trained me in ninjitsu since I was three, and I've been a ninja fighting Heartless and helping to rebuild the Garden with my friends ever since."

"What about you Riku?" Audrey asked.

Riku was slow to answer. He was slightly afraid that they'd shun of him because of what he'd done, but if his best friends could forgive him, why wouldn't Milo and the others? "I'm from an island called Felra, on a world called Destiny Islands," he started. "My two best friends are Sora and Kairi, and they're the biggest pair of love-struck saps you'll ever lay eyes on. About a year ago, I had convinced both of them to help me build a raft with which to go to other worlds, because in my heart I felt that our little chain of islands was like a cage. I wanted to go to other worlds, because Kairi was originally from another world herself, even though she couldn't remember a thing about that place."

"She's the crown princess of Radiant Garden," Yuffie piped in quickly, "in case you want to know."

"I built the raft myself," Riku continued hastily before someone could break into his story, "and Sora and Kairi spent most of the time goofing off and playing with our other friends. But when it was done, I opened the door to the heart of our world. I let the darkness into my heart, and let the Heartless come to the islands. They devoured the heart of our world, and destroyed it like so many others had been over the years."

He told them of his tale up to this moment in time, even in brief it still took a while, and when he was finished the others were staring at him.

"And for me," Max began, rolling over onto his side, "I come from a place called Disney Castle. Goofy's my dad and my best friend PJ is Pete's son. I'm really just coming along for the ride."

Vinnie shook his head and lay on his back with the mask already over his eyes. "Well as far as me goes, I just like to blow things up." Sweet came over and pulled on the mask.

"Come on man, tell the kids the truth." He let go of the mask and they smacked Vinnie in the face before sliding down onto his neck.

Vinnie sighed. "My family owned a flower shop. We would sell roses, carnations, baby's breath, you name it. I can even tell just by looking at you what your favourite flower is." He looked up and glanced between Yuffie and Riku. "For instance, both of you are rose people. Yuffie, you like red roses best, while you like pink ones Riku. And Max, you like hyacinths."

Riku blushed and ducked his head underneath his silver bangs, hiding his aqua eyes and pink face. He didn't want to admit that it was true.

"What about me?" Milo asked.

"Marigolds," Vinnie answered. "And I'm a petunia person myself."

"Anyways, one day I'm making about three dozen corsages for this Prom, you know, the ones they put on their wrist, and... everybody, they come, 'Where is it? We needs it. Does it match my dress?' It's a nightmare. Anyway, I guess there was this leak next door of gas or what. BOOM! No more Chinese laundry. Blew me right through the front window." Vinnie turned around and lit a match in his gloved hands. "It was like a sign from God. I found myself that morn."

They all looked as there was the sudden sound of digging, and the sight of Mole twisting himself down into a hole of dirt that he'd dug. The light on his head turned off and his creepy laughter seeped out of the hole to their ears.

"What's Mole's story?" Milo asked.

Sweet looked at him. "Trust me on this one. You don't want to know. Audrey, don't tell them. You shouldn't have told me, but you did, so now I'm telling you: you don't want to know." He picked up his lantern and blew out the flame inside of it. "Goodnight everybody. Sleep tight. Riku, don't go bringing the Sun up before we wake or anything."

"Har har," Riku laughed at Sweet's jest at his powers of Dawn, grabbing the lantern and blowing it out. "Goodnight."

"Night Riku," Yuffie said from across, kissing her palm and blowing it to him. Riku caught it on his finger and pressed it to his lips before kissing the finger and blowing it back to Yuffie. She shivered as she received the kiss on her cheek and then blew out her own lantern.

As the darkness overtook them, Max leaned his head closer to Riku and whispered, "Do you really like pink roses?"

"Shut up and go to sleep, dog-boy."

-A-D-

Their sleep was interrupted by a sudden flash of heat from above them, and the bright glow of light into their eyes. "Whas—?" Riku started to ask, opening his eyes. They widened exponentially when he saw that the entire camp was ablaze, and they gained an extra fear when he very quickly discovered that his own tent, as well as Yuffie's across from them, were on fire as well!

Riku snatched his pack from where it lay just next to him and yelled Yuffie's name to wake her up, kicking Max while he was at it. The young kunoichi groggily came to consciousness while Max yelped with eyes snapping open.

"What's goin' on?" Yuffie asked blearily. Milo ran past them all suddenly, yelling the word 'Fire!' as Riku got out of the tent, his pack slung over his back even if he was still simply wearing a pair of grey boxers and red t-shirt. The whole area was lit up by tiny, glowing yellow-green insects that flew around. Anything they touched seemed to light on fire, and Riku was already hot enough just from how close the flames were to him that he didn't need to be torched himself.

Almost immediately afterwards, the entire camp had woken up and was out of their tents with whatever kit they could grab, foregoing all personal appearance for the moment. Except for Packard, who, thankfully, had woken up in time that her constant foreboding sense of dread had permitted her to get fully dressed.

"There's no time to fight this!" Commander Rourke ordered, taking command away from Lieutenant Sinclair as she tried to get the fires extinguished. "Everyone into those caves now!"

His orders were followed at once, every man and woman and Max diving into trucks and vehicles to get across the bridge that spanned the chasm. The fires had grown too intense for anything to fight now. Their entire camp and even a few of the vehicles had broken out into flame.

It was rather bad luck that one of the trucks that had caught fire also happened to be carrying enough oil to run the entire convoy, and that it was surrounded by very dry, hot, and burning air.

Riku, Yuffie, and Max had all huddled in the back of one truck with Milo and Audrey, but when that one truck exploded so close behind them at the base of the bridge Riku had the Guardian come out of his body and form a protective shell around them all, just to be on the completely safe side.

What the Guardian couldn't protect though was the supports of the bridge where the oil truck exploded. With them severely weakened, and with the weight of the digger as well as about seven other trucks and jeeps of varying size and mass, the stone bridge was unable to take the load and began to crack before giving way completely to drop all of them down into its chasm.

The fall wasn't nearly as bad as Riku had thought it would be. When the bridge dropped, it had slammed them down onto a steep and slippery rock slope. So, instead of the endless fall broken only by the crunch and splat at its end, it turned into the scariest going-backwards-down-a-waterslide event of his life. When it did come to a crashing end in the pitch black darkness it still wasn't so bad. All he needed to do to express the dull pain in his body from after he'd been thrown out of the back of the truck was groan. He'd landed on something soft that had cushioned him slightly, so he praised his luck. However, his legs were being crushed by something, making him stuck in place, so he didn't praise his luck that much.

Commander Rourke's voice came out of the dark. "Alright, who's not dead? Sound off."

The groaning commenced at once, Cookie mentioning something about poison in his keister. Riku gasped in surprise when he realized that the soft thing he had landed on was not an object, but a person. It was still dark, so he couldn't see, but he knew for sure from the voice that he'd just landed overtop of Yuffie!

Rourke turned on a headlight, casting light into the region. "Audrey," he ordered, "give me a damage report."

"Not as bad as it could have been," she replied. "We totalled rigs two and seven, but it looks like the digger will still run. Lucky for us we landed in something soft."

"That is ash," Mole said. "We are standing in the base of a dormant volcano."

"Is that so?" Rourke asked. He glanced around and spotted Riku and Yuffie. She was on her back facing up, and he was facing down, holding his chest above her with his arms on the bed of ash. His feet and thighs were both stuck underneath the fallen body of the cab of a truck, and her legs were pinned underneath his calves. Both of them were staring at the other with wide, stunned, eyes. "Well, it seems like our younger companions landed in something a little softer than ash wouldn't you say?"

"This isn't funny!" They both shouted with furiously red faces.

"Would somebody get this truck off of me?" Riku asked. "It's starting to hurt a little!"

"Hold on," Sweet said, coming up and looking critically at Riku. "That thing is over your legs; they should be crushed and you should be screaming in pain."

"I'm made of stronger stuff than that," Riku answered. "I've had whole skyscrapers and buildings crash into me. I can handle a little thing like a truck lying across my legs until you guys can get it off."

Helga fired off a signal flare from a gun into the shaft of the volcano, ignoring Riku and Yuffie.

"Wow," Max said, looking up above them at the volcano's shaft as the flare continued upwards and ignoring the plight of Riku and Yuffie like most everyone else was. "It just keeps on going doesn't it?"

"Maybe that's our ticket out of here," Vinnie said.

The flare struck something and exploded, revealing rock at the top.

"Or maybe not," replied Helga.

"The magma has solidified in the bowels of the volcano," Mole explained, "simply blocking the exit."

"I get the same problem with sauerkraut," Packard said.

Sweet, who had been the only one trying to move the truck off of Riku's legs, and failing epically, stopped and looked at Mole. "Hold on. Back up. Are you saying this whole volcano can blow up at any time?"

"No no no no," Mole said dismissively, shaking his head. "That would take an explosive force of great magnitude!"

All eyes, even Riku's and Yuffie's in their confined state, turned towards Vinnie, who was busy trying to repair a time-bomb that had dropped in the crash. He spotted their gaze and smiled guiltily. "Maybe I should do this later huh?"

Rourke shook his head and looked up at the shaft again. "If we could blow the top off of that thing, we'd have a straight shot out to the surface. What do you think Mr. Thatch?"

Milo didn't answer.

"Mr. Thatch?" Rourke asked again, looking around. Flashlights came on and it became quickly apparent that Milo wasn't anywhere nearby. "Spread out," Rourke ordered. "Let's mobilize people, find Thatch." The remaining men and women of their convoy nodded and quickly began to leave the area to look for the missing Milo Thatch.

"Um, hey!" Riku called as everyone left. "We're still stuck here you know!" His calls though, were not heeded due to a dismissive shake of Commander Rourke's head. Max even sniggered and said, 'Have fun you two!' before leaving to help search for their guide.

Mole got into the digger and started driving it in front of everyone in the search party, breaking through any rocks in their way to make room for the three currently usable trucks that followed after while everyone else came along on foot beside them. Max always held one hand ready to reach for his sword in case any Heartless decided to show up now.

"Look!" Audrey said, pointing, "there he is!" She frowned. "But why is he running from us?"

"No time to ask questions," Helga said. "After him."

"Right," Max said, picking up his pace to follow Milo as the man scrambled over rocks and through the underbelly of the volcano as if he was the one chasing somebody. After a few minutes of following him they came out suddenly onto a ledge that was covered in green plant life.

Max was forced to stop and rub his eyes as he came out into the sudden brightness of the light of day. The mist from a great circular waterfall in front of him clung against his skin and roared in his ears. There seemed to be an entire island raised hundreds of feet higher than he was standing across a lava-filled chasm, and the whole island was overflowing with a perpetual waterfall.

After three days of dreary labour under the ground, the sight of pure light of day and the feel and roar of rushing water was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Sweet mother of Jefferson Davis!" Cookie exclaimed.

"It's beautiful," Audrey added. Max nodded his head.

Sweet clapped Milo on the shoulder. "Milo, I got to hand it to you, you really pulled through." They all wheeled around from the sight in front of them as a shrieking war cry sounded from their rear. Max's sword was already unsheathed and in his hands before he recognized that the spear-wielding creatures now surrounding them were not Heartless, but people wearing very large and intimidating war masks. "Uh, I take that back," Sweet added.

"Holy cats," Rourke said, his hand going for the pistol he kept on his belt at all times, "who are these guys?" he asked Milo.

"They've gotta be Atlanteans!" Milo said, smiling broadly at the prospect of meeting the people of the ancient city they'd been searching for.

"What?" Helga whispered. "That's impossible!"

"I've seen this back in the Dakota," Cookie warned. "They can smell fear just by looking at yah, so keep quiet."

"As if that wasn't an entirely pointless warning," Max muttered under his breath, his eyes watching their adversaries for any sudden moves.

Their leader suddenly lowered their spear and began to speak to them in a tongue that was completely foreign to Max's ear. He kept his eyes centred on the speaker, but out of his peripheral vision he could tell that nobody else near him understood what she (he loosely assumed she because the voice sounded a little more feminine) was saying.

Mole tugged on Milo's arm. "I think it's talking to you..."

The leader said something else and Milo found himself pushed forward slightly. He spoke slowly and painfully, trying to articulate his words in a language that he barely knew verbally. The leader passed her spear to one of her companions before taking her war mask off to reveal that she was indeed a she, and not a bad looking one at that, Max thought. Her hair was white, and her skin tanned. Gold earrings hung from the lobes of that organ, and a blue crystal was hung around her neck by a leather string. A long light blue skirt was wrapped around her hips, and her bust was covered by blue material of the same make. Max figured it somehow had to get more than a little warm down here for her to be dressed as such.

She looked at Milo curiously and began to speak again to him. Milo said something back to her which caused her to think for a second. She opened her mouth again and started in a different tongue, one which Max was at least able to almost recognize as Latin. Milo spoke back, and his suspicion that it was Latin was revealed when she said, "Essus lingue romaii?"

"Parlé-vous français?" Milo asked.

Her eyes brightened. "Oiu monsieur!"

"Ah!" Mole said quickly in delight. "She speaks my language. Pardon mademoiselle. Voulez-vous—" his voice trailed off into a whisper as she leaned in to listen. Her face quickly became one of disgust and she punched Mole straight in the face.

Max sheathed his sword and smiled while Sweet clapped. Anyone who punched Mole was a good person in his opinion. "I like her," Sweet said.

"About time someone hit him," Audrey said. "I'm just sorry it wasn't me."

The other Atlanteans removed their masks and started coming forward. Max was able to make out one of them saying 'Buenos Dias,' so some of them spoke Spanish at least along with their own language, Latin, and French.

"How do they know all these languages?" Audrey asked Milo.

"Their language must be based off a root dialect," Milo answered. "Just like the Tower of Babylon."

"Well maybe English is in there somewhere," Rourke said. He pushed Milo to the side and began to speak. "We are explorers from the surface world. We come in peace."

"Welcome to the city of Atlantis," the woman said, proving that they could indeed speak English just as well as another language. She came up and grabbed Milo's arm. "Come, you must speak with my father now."

"It sounds like she's moving things a little quickly," Max muttered to Audrey as the Atlantean woman started to take him across the bridge to the city. "She just met the guy and she already wants him to meet her dad." Audrey giggled slightly. Rourke slapped his head.

"Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "We forgot about Riku and Yuffie. Squad B, you and Max are to go back to the shaft and get those two free. Once they're clear, Max will bring them up into the city and you will salvage what you can. We'll rendezvous in twenty-four hours."

"Yes sir," Max said, heading back into the caves with the squad of men in their scary gas masks and trench coats. It took more time to make their way back to the shaft than it did to get to Milo, but Max froze as soon as they got near. He could hear _moaning_ coming from the place where they'd left Riku and Yuffie trapped. And he was suddenly unsure of whether or not he wanted to find them.

-A-D-

With Riku and Yuffie left completely alone in the bowels of the volcano, the ash walls and floor lit dimly only by the reflecting light of the headlight that Rourke had turned on from a broken truck.

Riku gulped and looked down at Yuffie's face, since she was far more interesting than the empty pit of a volcano. Yuffie, in turn, was looking up at him as Riku held himself up and over her body with his hands pressed against the floor.

They were both silent, just looking at each other's faces as their blushes slowly fluctuated between receding or growing as their thoughts swirled around in their heads. They were both trapped, in an awkward position, in their night clothes and underwear, and were going to be completely alone for who knows how long. Such thoughts were enough to get the blood pumping furiously in _anyone_'s body, let alone two teens aged eighteen and seventeen.

"So," Yuffie said after that first tense minute, "are you going to try moving that truck or what?"

Riku turned his head as far as he could to look at the truck. "Uh, I really can't."

Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "Why not? I thought you were a lot stronger than you looked."

"Well..." Riku started anxiously, looking off to the side. "I don't really have the leverage I need to try and move it Yuffie."

"Why don't you just use one of your Rays of Dawn to blast it away?"

"Because if I did that," Riku answered, "then the truck would explode and that wouldn't help either of us."

"You got that right," Yuffie sighed. She was quiet for another ten seconds before she looked up at Riku again. "You getting tired holding yourself up Rik?"

Riku suddenly began to sweat and he looked at Yuffie. "What?"

"We're the only ones here," Yuffie continued quietly, bending her chin down and having her eyes looking up at Riku's aqua ones. He couldn't help but realize that the way she was looking at him right now made her look even cuter than normal, "and... I wouldn't mind if you took a break from holding yourself up. You don't need to be so chivalrous when we're _this_ alone."

Riku cocked his head to the side and felt a blush rising again on his cheeks while his heart pounded in his ears. "Are you—are you asking me to lie overtop of you?"

Yuffie blushed and pushed her shoulders up slightly. Damn, she looked even _cuter_ now. The temptation to kiss her was beginning to get irresistible and it was all Riku could do to keep himself up. However, her lip stuck out suddenly in a pout. "No, pervert, I'm just saying that you look a little tense and it isn't good for your muscles to be locked up like that for however long it may take for them to get back to us."

"Of course I'm tense," Riku answered. "Our waists are only four inches away from each other! Why wouldn't I be tense?"

"Don't be such a tease and lie down already," Yuffie said. "It'll help you relax."

Riku shifted slightly and looked around uneasily. "I still don't know. Maybe I could try to—shift—a little—and we could get—free." He began to work his legs as he spoke, trying to get them off of Yuffie's own legs. He started to buck his legs as best as he could to create a bit of 'air time' from the truck so that he might be able to slip his legs out from over Yuffie's.

"Riku..." Yuffie began, eyeing the truck over them. It had been precariously perched on the rocks in the ash bed so that while its cab was indeed crushing their legs, the rear end of the truck was up in the air, leaning towards them, and held in place by a thin spire of rock.

Riku's bucking, however ineffectual and small it was at completing his desired objective, was causing the truck to shift, but sideways off of the rock keeping it from falling down on top of them.

"Riku..." Yuffie repeated, her eyes flicking between him and the rock a couple of times a second, hoping that he'd notice. But Riku had his head turned back, watching instead his knees pressed down into the ground while he kicked his legs behind him.

The truck was about to slip down and fall on top of them when Yuffie decided that she needed to take action to keep Riku from accidentally crushing them into an early grave. Swiftly, she grabbed Riku by the shoulder and pulled him down onto her lips.

Riku's eyes widened in sudden surprise as Yuffie kissed him, wondering what wonderful desire had taken over her, but after a few seconds he could no longer restrain the desire that had been afflicting him for the last several minutes and he allowed his elbows to slowly drop to the ground, so that he could slip his hand in underneath her head and tip her lips that little bit closer to his.

Their tongues occasionally flitted and danced in an intricate mix of saliva and pink flesh as their hands ravaged each other's cheeks, intense kisses coming one after the other in quick and ferocious lust until Riku was able to control himself and slow down enough to breathe and ask Yuffie a question. "So, what brought this on Fie?"

Yuffie smiled back up at him as he lay overtop of her, his body's closeness and his arm around her shoulders and softly cupping her head making her feel far more relaxed and at peace then while he was keeping himself up from fear of invading her bubble. She didn't even mind the new and unimaginative pet name he had made up for her on the spot.

Yuffie kissed her silver-haired boyfriend's nose. "Because you're an idiot," she teased, but in a sweet and succulent voice that made it hard for Riku to get angry at her.

He only smiled and nudged his nose against hers. "Maybe I should be an idiot more often then," he said, capturing her lips in a slow kiss.

The passing minutes seemed like hours to them as their passion slowly grew while keeping sinful lust in check. Their bodies moved without conscious thought as both of them struggled to get better leverage on the other to reach more sensual parts to kiss and play with.

Yuffie even forgot about how Riku's earlier shifting had been causing the truck to move ever so slightly off of the spire it was resting against.

When Max arrived after finally plucking up the courage to come and try to rescue them, it was to find their moans to be that of dull pain from the truck's side falling down on top of them before rolling off to the side, leaving both Riku and Yuffie free and clear, but aching in dull, throbbing agony.

-A-D-

The three of them had found their packs, changed privately back into their regular clothes in the back of a truck, and had made their way into the city before they met up with Rourke and the others again. Riku's hopes and imaginative fantasies about the city of Atlantis his legends had spoken of had all been dashed upon a rocky reef. While there was a city and many thriving people, and the palace stretched high into the sky, the city appeared to have been great once but was now decaying into ruin. Creeping vines grew into the crumbling stonework that he had hoped would be glittering like polished silver.

But, he reminded himself that the city was thousands of years old, and realized that no matter what had befallen it, it still looked pretty damn good for a several thousand year old ancient city that still had a people thriving inside of it.

Max, Sweet, and Audrey told Riku and Yuffie what they had missed while they were pinned together underneath the truck. And they finished telling the tale just as Rourke, Helga, and Milo descended the steps of the palace from having met with Atlantis' king. The Commander's expression was sour, as was Helga Sinclair's, and Milo appeared to be in depressed thought.

"So how'd it go?" Sweet asked. Rourke only stormed past for a few feet, not even making an indication to having seen Riku and Yuffie. They both raised eyebrows. Normally he would have made some kind of comment, and especially after the way they had been left alone, it would have been condescending towards them.

"Well," Milo spoke up, "the King and his daughter don't exactly see eye-to-eye. She seems to like us okay... but, the King I don't know. I think he's hiding something."

"Well if he's hiding something, I want to know what it is," Rourke said slowly, turning around and looking at Milo.

Helga looked slyly at her commanding officer. "Someone needs to talk to that girl," she said.

"I will go!" Mole volunteered.

"Someone with good people skills," Vinnie proposed.

"I will do it!" Mole insisted.

"Someone who won't scare her away," Sweet added.

"I volunteer!"

"Someone who speaks the language," Packard said, searching.

"For the good of the mission, I will go!"

Rourke patted Milo on the shoulder. "Good man Thatch, thanks for volunteering." Mole froze for a second before he instantly started bawling his eyes out.

Audrey smirked and elbowed Milo slightly. "Go get 'em tiger," she said before leading Mole away as he blew his nose into a surprisingly white tissue.

Milo looked around in bewilderment for a few seconds. "Uh, what just happened here?" he asked, looking towards Riku, Yuffie, and Max for answers as everyone else had already left to explore the city.

Yuffie rolled her eyes and sighed. "Milo, you just got volun_told_ to go talk to the girl."

"Voluntold?"

"Yeah," Riku said, catching on. He started to push Milo back up the steps to the palace's throne room. "Come on Milo, go on up and talk to her."

They hung back for a few seconds and watched as Milo slowly ascended towards the chamber. Max gave Riku and Yuffie a sideways look. "Anyone want to bet that he chicken's out?"

"Nope," Yuffie said.

"So we're going to go up and make sure he doesn't chicken out?"

"Yep," Riku answered.

Max took a step forward and laced his hands behind his head. He started to whistle as Riku and Yuffie followed half a pace behind. "Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to work we go!" Max started to sing quietly, whistling along.

"That's pretty good," Riku praised. "I commend you, but I've a better."

"Oh really?" Max asked in interest, "I thought you hated singing?"

Riku grunted slightly. "I may dislike to sing, but that doesn't mean I can't carry a whistle's tune."

Yuffie smiled for a second as they listened to his short whistling blasts before she opened her mouth and started softly, "_Always look on the briiight side of life,_" she then joined in whistling with Riku for part of the chorus, her head bobbing from one side to the other, before they both stopped, seeing Milo glaring down at them from twenty steps up.

They reached the top without further incident, and the four of them hung behind a carved support pillar in hiding as they waited for the girl to come out of the throne room, Yuffie and Max giving Milo a steady stream of encouragement while Riku leaned his back against the pillar and gazed into the sky.

After only a minute or so, the doors opened and the Atlantean woman came out. Milo turned back to where the other three were and started speaking to himself. "Okay Milo," he said in a hushed voice, "don't take no for an answer. Look I have some questions for you and I'm not leaving this city until they're answered. Yeah, that's good right?" He looked questioningly at them and Riku and Max both shrugged.

"Way to win the heart of a girl," Yuffie said nonchalantly, picking dirt out from underneath her nails with the point of one of her kunai as she leaned against the wall with Riku. Milo frowned at her and leaned out from behind their cover again, only the girl was no longer in sight.

Yuffie pushed herself off of the pillar and slowly ambled towards Milo. "And three," she began to count down, lazily swaying, "two," she cracked her knuckles and neck with swift movements, "one...!"

The Atlantean woman dropped in behind Milo and was about to wring his arm behind his back and slap her hand over his mouth when Yuffie had already done the same thing to her. "Hey Milo," she said. "I think I found her."

Milo turned around and Yuffie let the girl go. She gave Yuffie a strange look for a second as the kunoichi started picking dirt away from her nails with her kunai again. Riku chuckled slightly and Yuffie held her now cleaned hand out, open palmed, to Max. He shook his head, smiled, and slapped it.

Both Milo and the girl seemed unable to get a conversation going, as both of them had lost the element of surprise, and she appeared to have simply stolen what Milo was going to say in the first place and that approach _required_ a person to have achieved surprise.

Finally, the young woman just sighed exasperatedly and grabbed Milo's hand, saying, "Follow me."

"Have fun you two!" Yuffie called after them as she dragged Milo off.

The threesome stayed watching the young woman coercing Milo away for a few seconds before Max looked at Riku. "So now what do we do?"

Riku stopped leaning on the pillar and glanced at Max as his feet started to carry him to the lip of the stairs. "We start looking for the keyhole," he answered, "what else?"

They wandered the streets for the next several hours, running into various crewmembers and Milo with the girl, who they found out was named Kida, a few times. At one point by the docks they found Audrey and Cookie nearby to Milo and Kida, and the black-haired girl and chef were looking at a man sitting in a stall, blue tattoos on his arms and shoulder.

Audrey and Yuffie were both awed, and Riku privately began to wonder if it might merit to get a tat of his own. But Cookie said, "That's nuthin'," and pulled up his shirt. "Look here what I got! All thirty-eight United States. Watch me make Rhode Island dance." He slapped his belly and it began to jiggle like it was not flesh, but a thick soup.

That sight alone was enough to turn all four of their stomachs for the worse.

Throughout the process of washing the taste of puke out of his own mouth though, Riku was gaining a different outlook on the city. Sure, some of the stonework was crumbling... and not all of them could speak in his tongue even though most of them could, but nature was thriving along _with_ the city. Wherever he turned he could see a leafy green tree, or sight fish or crawfish or shellfish swimming in a river beside the road, or catch the sight of flowers growing atop the carvings in abandoned buildings or aesthetic structures along the roadside, and he could tell that back in the day the city was very beautiful and rich in its own right, but that now it had the ancient, reverent kind of beauty that filled the passerby with awe.

Even though they were supposed to be searching for the keyhole, their minds had been turned off of that objective and centred more around sightseeing and being tourists inundated into a culture that wasn't their own. Atlanteans kept coming up excitedly and talking to them, as guests of the city from the outside world, let alone from other worlds entirely, every member of the expedition was a person of interest.

They seemed to take a liking to Max especially of the group, since he was the most strange, and they kept offering him food and little trinkets until he said that his stomach was sated for a whole week and his pockets and pack were starting to bulge with souvenirs. The warriors that Max had encountered before with the rest of the expedition asked about his and Yuffie's weapons, and, delighted as they had been by the kind and gracious reception they had received even if the King wasn't too fond of them, Max and Yuffie consented to having a mock battle with the Atlantean warriors in an almost tournament fashion.

Riku watched with a smiling face for the half-hour that opponent after opponent came at Yuffie or Max on a wide street, attracting a crowd to the area. Yuffie did not use her materia, and none of the combatants used anywhere close to lethal force, but Max and Yuffie still trumped them all and carried the day. Surprisingly, none of the Atlanteans were bitter at their defeat, but rather took it all in stride and talked excitedly with their fellows about how they were eliminated, or how good Max and Yuffie were, treating it as a learning experience.

The silver-haired Keyblade Master asked one woman at a stall while the duels were going on and she gave him a bouquet of pink flowers. Once they were over, Riku came straight up to Yuffie to congratulate her and offered her the bouquet. She smiled shyly, knowing that he was doing this in front of a crowd even, took one of the flowers out of the bouquet and put it in her hair behind her ear as she had done with the rose he had given her in Gaul, smelled the rest of the bouquet, and gave Riku a kiss that lasted close to four seconds. Both their faces were considerably pinker after it had ended.

Milo and Kida rounded them all up and brought them to the house of one who Riku assumed was a long time friend of Kida's that sat on a small island. The house itself was something that Riku would never have imagined in his wildest dreams, looking more like a giant piece of pottery than a house. And yet, it was lit and warm, and the family of four with two little boys even had a pet lizard about four feet long, two feet big, and a faded blue colour with yellow stripes running over its back. They were still no nearer to finding the keyhole, yet... they didn't care.

"Now let me see if I have this right," Kida said over dinner as she sat next to Milo. "Cookies are sweet but yours is not. Sweet is kindly but that is not his name. Audrey is sweet but she is not your doctor. And the little digging animal called Mole, he is your pet?"

"Close enough," Milo answered.

Max, Riku, and Yuffie were sitting with Mole, Vinnie, and Sweet, and all of them were eating some kind of shellfish that had roughly twenty googly eyes and six armoured legs within its shell. Sweet, having been born and raised with Native Americans and being a hell of a good doctor even if he hated regular fish because of their taste, smell, and all the little bones, knew enough about shellfish to enthusiastically get through the meal where Vinnie looked less than enthusiastic.

"Don't forget to eat the heads," Joshua Sweet advised with a smile after slurping the meat out of the head of his own green crustacean, "that's where all the nutrients are."

"I'll take your word for it," Riku said, biting into it. Even being raised on islands he ate more regular fish than he did lobster or crab. It wasn't that he didn't like their taste, far from it, it was just that it was a delicacy saved for a special occasion. Shrimp, though, that was a shellfish of a different colour.

After dinner, Kida led Milo, Riku, Yuffie, and Max off to a pool at the base of a large stone temple-like building that they hadn't been to before. In the evening and falling night, it was lit up by the same yellow bio-luminescent insects that had flown through and torched their camp the night before. The remnant of a wall and some other fallen column was about the place where vines grew in abundance, and it offered the cool air of a serene and quasi-romantic place.

"You know, Kida," Milo began as they reached the place, Kida carrying a glass bulb on a stick, "the most we ever hoped to find was some crumbling buildings; maybe some broken pottery... And then we find a living, thriving society." He started to laugh slightly as he played with one of the bugs. "You know, these guys are kinda cute when they're not formed into a fiery column of death."

"We are not thriving," Kida lamented as Milo caught the firefly and placed it inside of the bulb she had brought. "Sure our people live, but our culture is dying. We are like a stone the ocean beats against. With each passing year, a little more of us is worn away."

Milo looked at her sadly. "I wish there was something I could do."

"I have brought you here to ask you for your help," Kida said, looking at Milo. She then looked past Milo. "But why did you three follow us?"

"Don't worry about us impeding," Yuffie said. "You do your thing and we'll do ours."

"And what _is_ your thing, exactly?" Kida asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"We're looking for the keyhole," Max piped up, examining a stone column from less than a foot away with a scrutinizing eye. He never expected to find it there, but he found it both fun and funny to act like his father for once, intently staring at nothing of any importance.

"The keyhole?" Kida asked.

"It's something that they have to do," Milo explained. "They're looking for the gateway to the heart of your world in order to seal it shut so that your world doesn't become completely destroyed by darkness or something? That about right Riku?"

"Sums it up pretty well yeah," Riku said, casually leaning against another wall and sweeping the area with his eyes.

Kida shook her head. "Whatever. Just do not bother us." She looked back at Milo. "There is a mural here, with writing all around the pictures."

"Yeah? Well you came to the right guy," Milo said, taking the lamp from Kida and planting it into the ground so he could look at writing on one of the fallen columns near them. "Okay, let me see. Let's start with this column right here..." he trailed off as he began to look anxiously between the writing on the column and Kida. She had stepped away from the column and him and into the water, and was in the process of taking off her skirt. "Uh, Kida...? What are you doing?"

"You do swim do you not?" Kida asked, turning around and dropping her skirt onto the stone steps that led into the pool. Riku's eyes widened only slightly in interest as they took in the sight of Kida in what amounted to a bit more clothing than a two-piece bathing suit before he looked at Yuffie as she leaned against a different column, opposite to him. She was watching, not Riku, but Kida with interest, smirking slightly at how manipulative she was.

"Oh I swim pretty girl," Milo said. He quickly realized his slip-up and corrected himself, "Pretty good, pretty good. Good. I swim good; pretty good."

"Good," Kida said, probably for no other reason than it was humourous that Milo kept repeated the word over and over again. Milo took off his shirt and pants to leave himself only in his boxers as Kida continued speaking. "It is a fair distance to where we are going."

Yuffie sniggered at Milo's physique only loud enough for Riku and Max to hear as he stepped into the water after Kida. "Ha ha. _You_ are talking to the belly flop champion of Camp Arman," he boasted, suddenly stopping in embarrassment as his boxers inflated into balloons, the air stuck because of the elastic band at the waist. Yuffie and Kida both giggled at his mishap as he pushed the air out into the water. "Come on, we're wasting time." Milo took in a deep breath and dove into the pool.

Kida waited with a smile and finger to her lips for a few seconds before Milo surfaced again. "Why don't you lead the way because... I have no idea where we're going." Kida smiled and took a breath before she dove, Milo following underneath the water an instant later.

"Don't worry Riku," Yuffie said as they both vanished beneath the pool, "you're much better looking than Milo is."

"Same to you," Riku said, looking over at her. They smiled at each other and both looked out amidst the ruins of this small area, lit by the fireflies. "You know, I don't think the keyhole's here," Riku admitted.

"I was just thinking the same thing," Max added, having stared at the same section of wall for the past twenty seconds. "You guys remember that 'Heart of Atlantis' thing Milo was talking about? I think that might be it." He straightened up and looked at Riku and Yuffie as they both started to come down the steps towards where he was.

"Well if it is, what do we do now?" Yuffie asked, looking at Riku. He was silent and pensive, hiding a smile behind a hand as Max, apparently stealthily, removed his shoes and socks and crept into the water, dipping his hand into it.

"I have an idea," Riku said at last, drawing the sentence out for as long as he could to hold Yuffie's attention.

"What?"

"Now!"

Yuffie whipped around just in time to catch a face-full of water that Max splashed in her direction. Yuffie gasped as the cool water stung her face. She growled playfully and shucked off her own boots, socks, vest, and shorts as Max and Riku laughed at her. Yuffie started to run to make a dive into the pool at Max as he relieved himself of his shirt and jeans, revealing his skin and thin coat of black fur. Riku was quicker than Yuffie though, and had already pulled off his vest, shirt, shoes, socks, and jeans just when she had started to run (it took her a while to unlace her boots), and so he was able to grab her by her waist and lift her into the air as he jumped into the pool of cool water.

She shrieked in both surprise and delight as the cool water struck them unawares and foamed and washed over all of them, soaking into the boxers of the boys and Yuffie's panties and black and white shirt. "I'm going to get you guys for this!" she said, rapidly splashing both of them with water.

"Argh!" Max laughed, reaching his arms up to defend himself from the frigid barrage. "We're under attack Cap'n Riku!"

"Then return fire First Mate Max!" Riku ordered before plunging underneath the water. Max looked lost for a second while Yuffie grinned victoriously.

"Ha!" she declared, continuing to splash Max with water. "It looks like your fearless Captain has—wha—_whoa_!" She shrieked suddenly as Riku grabbed her by the legs from underwater and yanked her down a little bit. Yuffie began to kick, but Riku moved his arms in tandem with her frantic retaliation. Max took the opportunity to begin pelting Yuffie with water and she cried out in laughter.

For close to a half-hour the pool was filled with their laughs and shrieks as they swam and played in the pool. Eventually Max was able to hear footsteps on the stone steps coming towards them and they stopped to look up. Commander Rourke was the one moving in their direction.

All three of them quickly blushed in embarrassment at their currently indecent state, and each of them wondered whether or not it would be better to get out so that they could get properly dressed, or to simply stay in the pool so as not to be forced to answer questions they'd prefer not to answer.

"Having fun kids?" Rourke asked, moving closer.

"Yes sir," Max said. "Is there a problem with that? We are free right now right?"

"No, no problem at all," Rourke said, coming up to kneel above the pool as they came closer to see what he wanted. "Actually, there's a question I wanted to ask you three."

"Really?" Riku asked. He sniffed the air. Something smelt a little... off.

"Just a trivial thing," Rourke said dismissively. "But, are you three willing to be one of us?"

"Us?" Yuffie asked. Rourke looked behind him, and in from the steps came Helga and the rest of the crew. From the faceless and masked men to their friends, all were armed with some kind of gun except for Sweet.

"What are you doing?" Riku asked quickly.

"You see Riku," Rourke began, "there's this thing here that's supposed to be an extremely powerful power source. And it's going to make us all rich."

"So you're just going to take it by force?" Yuffie asked angrily. "Why I oughta..."

"Uh-uh-uh," Rourke said, shaking his head, "forgetting something little lady?" He nodded his head behind him and they saw that two of the masked goons were holding onto her shuriken, dagger, and pouches, stripping her of her weapons.

"What about your materia?" Max whispered, noticing that a different goon was holding his sword.

Yuffie winced. "That's actually in my glove, which is over there with them," she answered back in a whisper. "Materia doesn't actually go _into_ the body you see, you just wear it on you."

"Which means that you're pretty much powerless," Rourke simplified. "So, are we all going to be on the same team?"

"Never," Riku snarled, Way to the Dawn appearing in his extended right hand. The Guardian reared out of his back and was ready to do whatever Riku mentally commanded it to do.

Rourke though, was not surprised by Riku's reaction, and had already countered it. With speed that astounded even Yuffie, he had pulled the girl out of the pool and held her head under his arm, his pistol out and pointed right against the pink flower she had put in her hair earlier. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Riku."

Riku stared at Rourke in shock for a second before he smirked. "Do you know who you're holding onto and who you're threatening?"

"I know exactly who I'm holding onto and threatening," Rourke answered. "But do you think that the Great Ninja Yuffie would be able to disappear from my grasp using her ninjitsu and defeat all of my men before she is turned into Swiss cheese? Or, do you understand that you aren't dealing with just me and my men?"

Swirls of darkness appeared around Rourke and shadows rose up from the ground as Hook Bats, Soldiers, Rabid Dogs and Shadows appeared amongst the men.

"You wouldn't—" Max said.

"Think about it Riku," said Rourke, not even addressing Max as he cut him off. "Are you ready to let your little girlfriend die and put the hearts of the Atlanteans at risk just to try and stop me?"

"Don't listen to him Riku," Yuffie said quickly. "Stop him, I'm not worth it!"

Riku lowered his head and was quiet for three seconds. "But you _are_ Yuffie," he said slowly, "You and the people of Atlantis. I can't put you all on the line like that." His Keyblade disappeared and the Guardian dropped back into his back. He gasped suddenly as he and Max were both yanked out of the water, and Yuffie was pulled up further. The three of them were then shoved into the arms of some of the crewmen, and kept at gunpoint as their arms and hands were wrung behind their backs.

"Some team we are," Yuffie muttered sarcastically, eyeing the Heartless milling about with the men in the light of the fireflies with nothing short of contempt. "And," she added quietly, batting a shy eye at Riku, "I am glad that you think I am worth it."

"It's not like there was ever a choice was there?" Riku asked. "I'd give my own life for either of you."

"Enough sentimental crap," Rourke said from where he hovered in front of the pool. "Our boy genius is going to be along shortly and we don't need him to hear you yapping."

"Shut up old man!" Yuffie snapped. She received a strike to the back of her head from a rifle butt for her comment.

"Yuffie!" Max and Riku said in stereo. Yuffie's head stayed down, her raven hair hanging in front of her face to mask her dark brown eyes that were currently seething.

Rourke simply muttered, "Kids," underneath his breath before waiting for Milo to return.

Scarcely five minutes later, the linguist burst out of the water. Rourke leaned in with a smile. "Did you have a nice swim?"

Milo looked around apprehensively. "Hey guys," he said in confusion, "What's going on? Why are Riku, Yuffie, and Max like that? What's with all the guns and...? Heartless? Guys?" Milo sighed before punching the stone in front of him. "I'm such an idiot! This is just another treasure hunt for you, you're after the crystal!"

"Oh you mean this?" Rourke asked, pulling a paper out of his boot. It was the missing page from the _Sheppard's Journal_ Milo was talking about!

"The Heart of Atlantis," Milo said in realization.

"Yeah, about that," Rourke began. "I mean, I would have told you sooner but that was strictly on a need-to-know basis and, well, now you know. I had to be sure you were one of us unlike these three." He extended his hand to Milo.

"Welcome to the club son."

Milo recoiled backwards and shook his head. "I'm no mercenary," he retorted.

"Way to go Milo!" Yuffie said. She took another rifle butt to the head. "I'm going to get angry if this keeps up," she muttered.

Kida suddenly surfaced near the side of the pool and was yanked out by the hair by one of the goons. Milo was about to react when three guns were placed in front of him. But Kida proved to be better than the goon and grabbed him by his helmet before throwing him over her head and into the pool. Two Soldier Heartless came up against Kida, and at first she was a little shocked by the creatures, but her shock vanished after a second as she kicked one into a column before punching the other one down to the ground. She got on top of its back and pulled out a dagger.

Rourke's pistol fired and a bullet struck the dagger Kida had drawn, knocking it clear out of her grasp. She glared at him as two more of his goons came up from behind and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders.

"Mercenary?" Rourke asked, looking at Milo again. "I prefer the term 'Adventure Capitalist'. Besides, you're the one who got us here; you led us right to the treasure chest."

"You don't know what you're tampering with Rourke!" Milo said, getting out of the pool.

"What's to know?" Rourke asked. "It's big, it's shiny, it's going to make us all rich!"

"You think it's some king of diamond; I thought it was some kind of a battery," Milo argued, "but we're both wrong! It's their _life force_. That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive. You take that away and they'll die!"

"Hm," Rourke murmured, passing the missing page to Helga, "well that changes things. Helga, what do you think?"

"Knowing that, I'd double the price."

"I was thinking triple," Rourke countered.

"Rourke," Milo began again, trying to get closer but being blocked by Vinnie, "don't do this!"

"Academics" Rourke said dismissively, waving him off, "never want to get your hands dirty. Think about it, if you gave back every stolen artefact from a museum you'd be left with an empty building. We're just... providing a necessary service to the archaeological community."

"Not interested," Milo persisted.

Rourke scratched his neck. "I gotta admit, I'm disappointed. You're an idealist just like your grandfather. Do yourself a favour Milo and don't be like him. For once, do the smart thing."

Milo only glared further at Rourke. Rourke sighed. "I hate it when negotiations go sour," he lamented. He snapped his fingers and one of the goons holding Kida knocked her to the ground, where she suddenly became surrounded by five Shadows as well as the goon holding the gun above her.

Rourke pulled the paper back in front of Milo as he looked between Kida and Rourke in horror and anger. "Let's try this again."

"And here's the part where we all cave," Max muttered quietly, glancing between himself, Riku, and Milo, and knowing that he would do the exact same thing were the girl to be Roxanne instead of either Yuffie or Kida.

And true to Max's words, Milo did cave.

"That's a good boy," Rourke said patronizingly. He glanced between Milo and the three he had captured earlier, and Yuffie glared through a pink face as she moved her legs to try and cover her damp underwear a little bit more so as to preserve her modesty. "Alright you lot, get dressed! We're going to pay a certain royal a visit."

-A-D-

The stone door to the throne room in the palace blew open, standing behind the hole in the stonework was the crew of the expedition and a multitude of Heartless; Vinnie was tossing a stick of dynamite up and down. "Knock knock."

"Room service!" Cookie added, cocking his double-barrelled shotgun at the two guards who stood in front of them.

Riku sighed dejectedly as he, Max, and Yuffie remained under guard with Kida. All four of them were too much of a liability. Milo was free since he wasn't able to fight. Despite the situation though, Riku was unable to help himself taking in the sight of the throne room. A pool of water lay in the centre of the room, tiny stepping stones creating a strange pattern between them and the throne, which lay under a canopy of brightly coloured fabric. Beside the stone throne wrapped in red fabric lay a bed, and Atlantis' old and aged King sat upon the throne.

The guards looked ready for a fight, but were unsure of how to proceed because Helga was holding Kida tightly with a pistol against the skin of her bare back. "Tell them to drop their weapons! NOW!"

The King spoke in his own tongue and the stone echoed the clatter of spears falling onto the ground.

"Spread out!" Helga ordered, "Search everywhere!"

Riku winced as vases and pieces of pottery smashed against the ground and into the shallow pool. Heartless and men tore down hanging tapestries and opened up chests, spilling their contents everywhere in their relentless hunt.

"You're not applying yourself son," Rourke told Milo sternly, holding the _Sheppard_ out to him. "There's gotta be something else."

"Well there isn't," Milo refuted, trying to shove Rourke away but failing. "It just says, 'The Heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her King.'"

"Well then maybe old King Cole here can help us fill in the blanks," Rourke pondered, striding purposefully up to Atlantis' now standing ruler. "How 'bout it chief? Where's the crystal chamber?"

"You will destroy yourselves," he warned.

"Maybe I'm not being clear," Rourke muttered. Riku and Kida both failed to hold back a curse at Rourke as he punched the old King straight in the chest, felling the man. Riku, though, found himself on the receiving end of a rifle butt.

"You're right Yuffie," he muttered dryly, "I may just get angry if this keeps up."

"I told you," she shot back.

Sweet knelt down to examine the aged king. He had sworn his oath. He was a doctor first and a treasure-hunter/adventure capitalist second. "Rourke, this was _not_ part of the plan!" he said, glaring at the Commander.

"Plans change doc," explained Rourke in an airy manner as he moved himself to sit down in the King's throne. "I suggest you put a bandage on that bleeding heart of yours, it doesn't suit a mercenary. Well as usual," he added, finally sitting down, "diplomacy is fail less. Now I'm going to count to ten," he continued, readying his pistol as the King was held up in front of him, "and you're going to tell me where the crystal is. One," he cocked his weapon, and the crewmates apart from Helga and Rourke's goons finally saw with shock just how far he _was_ willing to go. "Two. Nine. Te—"

Rourke stopped in his countdown and his eyes saw past the King. He glanced between the symbol on the front of the _Sheppard's Journal_ and the rocks in the pond and his eyes glittered with excitement. "The heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her King," he recited. "This is it!" he exclaimed, getting off the throne and throwing the book back to Milo, "we're in!"

"Rourke for the last time, you've got to listen to me," Milo pleaded. "You don't have the slightest idea of what this power is capable of."

"True," Helga admitted, keeping Kida at gun point as she shoved both the princess and the linguist after Rourke, "but I can think of a few countries who would pay _anything_ to find out."

"Is money all that matters to you?" Yuffie yelled.

"Will you keep quiet already?" Rourke snapped, finding a platform in the middle of the circle. He climbed on, and Helga, Milo, and Kida came on with him as it suddenly began to descend into a chamber below the throne room.

The four of them vanished from Riku's sight, and he glared past the Heartless at those he had believed to be his friends. "So you're really going to do this?" He asked, glancing at each one of them in turn. None of them returned or held his gaze, scowling.

A few minutes later Rourke, Milo, and Helga came back up with Kida. But as soon as they had returned Riku could feel a great power flood into the room, a power so strong it made his knees go numb as he looked at Kida with wide eyes. Her entire body had turned to crystal, and as she walked without a purpose, she was the one who was emitting the powerful radiance.

"We're heading out people," Rourke said, leading the crystallized princess out of the throne room. The men nodded and started to file out, but the Heartless remained within the throne room along with Sweet, who was tending to the King.

"Do you understand what you're doing?" Riku asked Rourke one last time as he was suddenly let free by the one guarding him. "You take her away and everyone and everything down here is going to die!"

"Oh I think they're all going to be Heartless before that would happen, and starting with you three" Rourke answered, making sure his men still kept their weapons trained on Riku, Yuffie, and Max to keep them from doing anything brash. The three could only glare at Rourke and his retreating men as he stood by the exit to the throne room, Yuffie's and Max weapons piled in a corner outside the room behind him.

"Now let's see," Rourke muttered in a mental checklist, "I've got the crystal, the cargo, the crew, the Heartless are going to take care of you... what am I missing? Oh yes," he slowly raised his pistol, "I remember now. We couldn't take that Keyblade of yours away and it kills Heartless right? Well, you are the one who wanted to die anyway so goodbye Riku."

Yuffie felt her heart freeze and her world stop as Rourke fired his pistol. Riku gasped and a hand clutched his stomach in sudden agony before he crumpled and fell onto the ground.

"Riku... RIKU!" Yuffie screamed. Rourke only smirked and walked away, a barrier forming at the entrance to the throne room behind him as he left.

"Riku no..." Max muttered, kneeling down next to him as the silver-haired boy coughed and spluttered, blood slowly seeping out of the wound in his gut and dribbling out of his mouth.

"Riku say something to me!" Yuffie pleaded desperately, holding his head up to try and look into his eyes. The aqua within them was slowly losing the light behind them as Riku's consciousness flickered.

"Yu—Yuffie."

Yuffie nodded while tears streamed down her eyes. "Yes, yes I'm here."

Riku grimaced in pain and his breath was catching as he mumbled the words, "The Heartless." His eyelids flickered closed, but right now Yuffie's thoughts were as far away from the beings of darkness that were slowly closing in around them.

"Riku! RIKU!"

Max quickly got Riku out of Yuffie's hands, afraid that she might do something to him that she would later regret, and laid him down on his back on a stepping stone.

The kunoichi's watered eyes became bleary as her mind gripped with the impossible. Riku couldn't be dead. He just couldn't! He was a Keyblade Master, he was the Wielder of Dawn; he was the one who had fallen into darkness and come back to use it for the light! And he was the one who she...

"Riku don't die on me!" Yuffie whispered pleadingly. "Please, please don't die." She got louder and shriller while her eyes became increasingly blurry from tears. "Riku if you die I'll never forgive you!"

"He's still breathing Yuffie," Max said, listening and feeling by Riku's mouth. "I think he's just fainted and gone into shock."

Yuffie wiped the tears away from her eyes and lowered her head. Her voice shuddered as she said the words, "Thank you."

Slowly, Yuffie got to her feet and her dark brown eyes darkened as she turned her gaze onto the Heartless that were slowly closing in on them. The two Atlantean Royal Guards were up by their fallen king with Sweet, who was watching the three with anxiety.

The air began to swirl within the room around Yuffie, an intense and angry energy stirring the air and water in the shallow pool. "This is not right," Yuffie growled. "What Rourke is doing is morally wrong. And now he's hurt the man I—he's hurt Riku all for money?" Her voice quieted. "I'm not going to let him get away with this, and I'm going to start by taking out these stupid Heartless he's allied himself with."

"But Yuffie," Max began quickly, looking at her in amazement, "what about your—?"

"I don't care if I don't have a weapon!" Yuffie snarled at him as the black tails on her headband blew along with her hair in the wind her righteous anger was causing. "I'll kill them all with my fists if I have to!"

Her shuriken outside of the barrier glowed with sudden golden light, and an instant later it had appeared within Yuffie's grasp. She looked at it in surprise, and gasped as it started to shine with bright white light. She nearly dropped it before the light died, and when it did Yuffie and Max both looked at what had been her weapon in surprise.

Yuffie's hand now grasped the black handle of a blade, pink ribbon wrapped around the grip. Its hilt was circular, and every ninety degrees a short black dagger came out of the side. One of the two that was in line with the grip that Yuffie's hand clutched onto was far longer than any of the others, but on its black sides it was decorated with four small splashes of colour in the form of blooming purple flowers. Near the end of the blade the shape of a smaller shuriken jutted out, one of its points a part of the sword's blade, the other three out in the air. On the opposite side, the black dagger that formed the pommel had a small silver chain attached to its point, and from that chain dangled a desert flower in full bloom.

The name _Flower of Wutai_ drifted into Yuffie's head and she jolted slightly in astonishment.

"A Keyblade?" she asked the air in front of her.

"Yuffie look out!"

She looked up at Max's voice and jumped out of the way as the Heartless all began to charge her. It really was a Keyblade, she realized, because otherwise the Heartless wouldn't all have suddenly started to attack her. Yuffie looked at her Keyblade as she held it in her grasp while she was airborne above the Heartless. It resembled the giant shuriken she had always held before, maybe that meant that it would act the same way. She gripped it tighter in her hand.

"Hiya!" Yuffie yelled, throwing Flower of Wutai down into the Heartless. Just as she thought, it spun rapidly around in a circle, exactly the way her shuriken had before. Her Keyblade cut deep gouges into the sides and faces of the Rabid Dogs and Soldiers, and tore right through the Shadows and Hook Bats. Yuffie alighted on the ground right in the middle of four Soldiers and tried calling her Keyblade to her hand by thinking about it. There was a bright flash of light and once more it was within her grasp.

One of the Soldier's lunged at her with a kick, but Yuffie saw it coming out of the corner of her eye and flipped away with one-armed acrobatics, twisting and throwing her Keyblade at the Soldier as she righted herself again in the air. Flower of Wutai spun around and around the group, its whirring black blade cutting the Soldier Heartless into ribbons and releasing four crystalline pink hearts into the sky.

The female ninja landed again, and instead of calling her Keyblade to her grasp, turned around and kicked a Hook Bat back into three other Hook Bats. A Shadow came up behind her and swiped out with a clawed hand that scratched Yuffie's back, drawing a started gasp of pain from her.

"This one's gonna hurt," Yuffie warned, holding her Keyblade up in her hand as she faced the Shadow. Flower of Wutai glowed with purple light and Yuffie threw it out to the side. Her Keyblade circled her body three times in quick succession, and ever Heartless caught in its path burst into clouds of defeated darkness. She grabbed her weapon out of the air again and tightened her grip on it as her eyes and senses scanned for any remaining Heartless.

She spotted a small gathering of two Hook Bats and Soldiers apiece and a Rabid Dog being the only remaining Heartless, and the five of them were heading straight for the currently unconscious Riku and defenceless Max.

Yuffie's left hand went through a quick spasm as she made a hand sign and she vanished in a puff of black smoke. She appeared an instant later in front of Max with Flower of Wutai held in front of her at an angle.

"You won't touch them!" she said dangerously, her dark brown eyes flashing daggers at the Heartless. They didn't understand, and didn't comprehend that doom was upon them.

The water beneath Yuffie rippled as she stood in it in her high beige boots. The air swirled around her again, and an aura of power began to emanate from her body. Yuffie could feel a sudden surge of energy. Her body was beginning to shake from it, the amount of energy she had even started to cause her pain. Yuffie grunted slightly as the pressure grew inside of her power, the energy straining to break free any way possible, even if it meant tearing her apart. She knew that if she didn't get rid of it, this sudden power would likely destroy her.

Yuffie roared and slashed Flower of Wutai down in a direction towards the Heartless. Her eyes widened slightly as a crescent of pure black energy flowed out from the obsidian shuriken-blade of her Keyblade. The crescent's trailing end was swept and pointed, almost like a bat's wing. Yuffie's eyes were barely able to take this in before it struck the first of the five Heartless and immediately scattered into a cloud of black smoke, the wisps of it looking like tiny dark creatures. The cloud engulfed the Heartless for a few seconds before it suddenly expanded and contracted rapidly, as if a hundred tiny dark explosions were taking place within it in the span of only three seconds. The bulging blasts ceased as abruptly as they started and the smoke faded away into the air, five tiny pink hearts floating up into the sky.

Yuffie's cheek felt the cool of the water splashing up from her knees before they even did as her legs buckled underneath her. Her Keyblade vanished in a shimmer of light. Yuffie shook her head. She had wanted to get rid of the energy, but she had also wanted to retain at least a _little_ so that she could still stand.

"What was that?" Max asked loudly, looking between the place where the hearts were swiftly vanishing and Yuffie was kneeling and panting. "What was that? What's going on?"

"Never mind that Max," Sweet said quickly, leaving Atlantis' King for a moment to come and get Riku, "we need to check him out first."

Yuffie slowly got to her feet and followed Sweet as he laid Riku down on the stone dais where the throne and the King's bed lay. The King was lying on his bed, and Sweet placed Riku on his back on the stone in front of the bed. He opened his medical bag and looked at Riku's bloody shirt.

"Good," he said after examining it for a few seconds, "the bullet didn't take any of it in with it. That's lucky."

"Huh?" Yuffie asked, looking up.

Sweet began to explain. "If the bullet had taken some of the shirt in with it then we'd have to search for the piece of cloth after we extract the bullet. If we left that in there and the wound closed, the cloth would fester and cause and infection, and he'd die."

"He'd—?" Yuffie asked fearfully.

Sweet smiled comfortingly at her. "Don't worry Yuffie. It's not a bad wound. I'll just get that bullet out, and sow him up. Riku will be up and about in a day or so, though probably less if he's anything like he's shown himself to be. Here, let me look at those claw marks on your back while I get this out."

Yuffie shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "I'll be alright, and Riku will be up sooner than you think if we give him some of the stuff we've got. Max?"

"On it Yuffie," he nodded, leaving the dais for the entrance. He returned half a minute later, all three of their packs and gear in his arms. His sword was once more sheathed across his back. Max dropped Riku's pack at his feet and handed Yuffie back her dagger, pouches that attached themselves to the front of her shorts through use of a belt, and her own pack. Yuffie belted the stuff back to her shorts and rummaged in her pack for a moment to grab a potion. She handed it to Max and he sprayed the green liquid onto the wound on her back for her.

Yuffie sighed in relief as the skin repaired itself swiftly over the scratch the Shadow had given her and the pain vanished. Sweet watched in amazement before he pulled the bullet out of Riku's chest with a sharp yank. He bandaged the wound up before he replaced Riku's shirt.

"When will he wake up?" Max asked.

Sweet shrugged. "Can't say. Probably in a few minutes or so. He was just in shock."

Yuffie nodded and sat down next to Riku for a few seconds. She glanced at him, and pulled his peaceful-looking silver-clad head onto her lap, her hazel eyes looking fondly down at his face as a finger played with his silver locks.

"You're going to be fine, you know that?" she asked him, never expecting him to answer since he was unconscious. As soon as she started to speak, Max and Sweet looked at each other and promptly went a few feet further away, bringing the guards with them. "You're going to wake up in a minute or two and ask us what happened, and I'm going to tell you that you're not the only Keyblade Wielder here and that I took out all the Heartless in the room. And then we're going to go down and stop Rourke together with Max and save Atlantis."

"But," she continued, an eye getting a little wet again as she remembered the moment he had been shot. "You had me really worried for a while there, more worried than when it looked like that missile blew you up in Mission City. I was so scared that you would never open those eyes of yours again..." her voice trailed off into a whisper as her hand that still played with his silver bangs felt his moist breath on its back. "I was so scared that I'd never be able to yell at you for almost dying again, and that I'd never had the chance to say—to say that I—that I..."

Her words were catching in her throat as she looked at the unconscious face of Riku, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to finish that sentence. She was almost one hundred percent certain that the feelings in her heart were true, but that tiny percentage that wasn't positive was keeping the words locked in the pit of her stomach, keeping them buried down. And then there was the fear, the fear of the unknown effect it could have on their relationship if she confessed and found out that Riku wasn't as sure as she was.

But it couldn't harm in saying it if he wasn't able to hear right?

"That you _what_ Yuffie?"

Yuffie blushed and gasped as Riku's eyes slowly opened to look at her. Her lip trembled as those same aqua eyes which she had seen lose the light within them gazed up at her and her raven hair. One of his hands came up to brush some of her hair away and gently hold her cheek. Yuffie cupped it in her own small hand, feeling the rough leather of the fingerless gloves she had given him for his seventeenth birthday through her fingers. She realized now just how lame a birthday present that was, even if it did keep his palms from blistering as he wielded his Keyblade.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" he said quietly, still gazing at her. He rubbed a tear away with his thumb and flicked at the flower in her hair with his finger. Yuffie smiled shyly while her face was still a subtle shade of pink. She couldn't remember a single time he'd said something like that, and it made her bubble with happiness.

"Never mind," Yuffie said quietly, referencing his previous question. "It can wait. You're here and alive, and that's all that matters now."

"So you're not going to yell at me for almost dying on you again?" Riku asked, a small smile working its way onto his face. Yuffie was too happy at the moment to even care that he was mocking her.

She giggled instead. "How much did you hear?"

Riku chuckled slightly and closed his eyes. "I think I started coming 'round at the part where a Keyblade chose you, and that you took down an army of Heartless."

"Then you remember the part about stomping on Rourke," Yuffie observed.

"After I give this cute ninja a kiss," Riku answered. His head started to rise and Yuffie's lowered, but before their noses were even able to touch Riku flinched and gasped, his head sharply looking down to gaze at his stomach, where the bullet wound still hurt.

Yuffie was disappointed for a second before her face brightened and she laughed. "Max!" she called, "Potion!"

Max tossed her one and started to come over. "So you guys are done your 'lovey-dovey' moment?"

Yuffie kept her smile as she unscrewed the cap on the potion bottle. "Not quite."

Riku recoiled and stared at the potion. "No way! I'm not drinking it!"

"Riku..."

"It tastes _awful_ going down Yuffie!" Riku retorted, backing away.

"But you're going to drink it because _I'm_ going to be your nurse for a day," Yuffie said, coming at him with the open potion bottle, "to square-off my debt."

"Uh-uh," Riku answered, scrambling away backwards on his bum. "That's for a day of my choosing, and I'm not choosing either today, or tomorrow. I'm stocking it for when I really need it, like a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card."

"Then I'm giving you a freebie," Yuffie said, still advancing towards the Keyblade Master. Riku snorted and Yuffie bent down to look at him curiously for a second. "Fine," she said airily, straightening up and turning her back on him, "then I guess you really don't want to go and cut up Rourke after all." She glanced behind her slyly, watching Riku squirm out of the corner of her eye, "Because you're not going down there to fight him unless you drink this potion."

She smiled as the bottle left her hand in the grasp of one that was far darker. The Guardian had burst out of Riku's waist and reared up to Yuffie's height from Riku's place on the ground, snatching the potion bottle out of her hand. Its body swivelled to being attached between the back of Riku's shoulder blades and it bent down to hand the potion to him before vanishing within his body once more. Riku downed the potion in one go and stood up, making a face of disgust.

"How bad is that thing for taste?" Sweet asked, looking at the now empty bottle.

Riku placed a finger to his chin in thought. "About four times better than Cookie's cooking."

Sweet winced. "Ouch, that bad huh?"

"How's he doing?"

Their heads turned as Milo appeared at the entrance to the throne room.

Sweet looked between the King and Milo while a sad look came onto his face. "Not good I'm afraid. Internal bleeding; there's not much I can do. Unless..."

"No," Riku said quickly, "a potion won't work fast enough to repair the damage. He's pretty far gone."

"What a nightmare," Milo said, coming up to the King as he lay on his bed. "And I brought it here."

"Nah, don't go beating yourself up," Sweet said. "He's been after that crystal since Iceland."

Milo looked sadly at the King for a second before his eyes brightened in an epiphany. "Crystal? Sweet that's it." He cupped the blue crystal that hung on a necklace on the King, like on all of the Atlanteans. "These crystals, they have some sort of healing energy. I've seen it work."

A hand suddenly clutched Milo's. "No," the King said. "The power of the crystal, and the magic of other worlds, is not enough to save me now. Where is my daughter?"

"Well she—she..." Milo wasn't quite able to describe what it was that had apparently happened to Kida to turn her into living crystal.

"She has been chosen," the King lamented, "like her mother before her."

"What?" Milo asked.

"In times of danger, the crystal will choose a host, one of royal blood, to protect itself, and its people. It will accept no other."

"What do you mean choose?" Yuffie asked. "Do you mean that it's alive?"

"In a way," explained the King, his voice growing a little raspier as he carried on. "The crystal thrives on the collective emotions of all who came before us. In return, it provides power, longevity; protection. As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own. In my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war, but its power proved too great to control. It overwhelmed us, and led to our destruction."

"That's why you hid it beneath the city," Milo said. "To keep history from repeating itself."

"And to prevent Kida from suffering the same fate as my beloved wife," added the King.

"What do you mean?" Milo asked as the King started to shift uncomfortably in his bed. "What's going to happen to Kida?"

"If she remains bonded to the crystal," he warned, "she could be lost to us, forever. The love of my daughter is all I have left. My burden would have become hers when the time was right. But now," he said, taking the crystal necklace off and presenting it before Milo, "it falls to you."

"Me?" Milo asked apprehensively. He took the necklace and his hand became clasped by the hand of the King.

"Return the crystal," he instructed, "save Atlantis, save my daughter!" His hand slowly slipped off of Milo's and returned to his chest to clasp the other hand before a look of everlasting peace overcame him.

Yuffie felt a frog in her throat and turned away from the scene before she could cry again. Why did things always have to turn for the worse before they could get better? She looked up as a shaft of light came into the throne room, lighting up the darkness in it. It was morning.

Sweet closed his medical bag and sighed deeply. "So," he said, standing up and looking at Milo, "what's it gonna be?"

"Excuse me?" Milo asked quietly.

"I followed you in, and I'll follow you out," said Sweet. "It's your decision."

"We'll follow you too," Riku said. "But it's still your choice."

"Oh my decision?" Milo asked sarcastically. "Well I think we have seen how effective my decisions have been. Let's recap: I lead a band of vandals to the greatest archaeological find in recorded history, thus enabling the kidnap and/or murder of the royal family. Not to mention personally delivering the most powerful force known to man into the hands of a mercenary nutcase, who's probably going to sell it to the Kaiser! Have I left anything out!"

"Well you did lead us down a wrong turn, introducing said nutcase to the Heartless," Yuffie said.

"And you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole," Sweet added.

"Thank you!" Milo said triumphantly with laced sarcasm, "thank you very much." He sat down and seemed to wilt, his face very lost and confused.

Sweet looked down. Milo had dropped the _Sheppard's Journal_. He picked it up, calmly saying, "Of course it's been my experience, when you hit bottom, the only place left to go is up."

Milo snorted weakly. "Who told you that?"

"A fellow by the name of Thadius Thatch."

Milo opened his eyes and looked at the glow of the blue crystal in his hands. A determined look came into his eyes and face and he snatched the necklace up and strode out of the throne room.

Yuffie smiled and high-fived Riku and then Max. "Ooh yeah!" she said, reverting back to her old excited self. "We're kicking some butt now!"

The three of them left the throne room right after Milo and Sweet to find the rest of the crew who they had considered to be their friends outside and waiting.

"Hey Milo where are you going?" Audrey asked.

"I'm going after Rourke," he answered.

"Milo that's crazy!" Audrey said.

"I never said it was the smart thing," Milo countered, "but it is the right thing."

Audrey sighed as he started to descend the steps. "Come on, we'd better make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"So did you guys all jump ship?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Vinnie answered as they followed Milo down the steps. "We've done a lot of things we aren't proud of like robbing graves, and plundering tombs; double parking. But this is just wrong you know?"

"We know," Riku assured him.

They found Milo two minutes later clambering onto what looked like a statue of an open-mouthed fish, that looked a little like a fat tuna. "Milo," Yuffie began slowly, looking over the statue, "what are you doing?"

Milo fished out the crystal. "Just follow my lead." He placed it in a slot atop the fish and it suddenly pulsed with blue energy, its eyes and mouth lighting up before beginning to hover.

"It's a vehicle," Max said, blinking rapidly to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Wow," Packard said, bringing her cigarette up to her mouth, "I'm impressed."

"It's simple," Milo explained as Audrey clambered up behind him, "all you've got to do is—"

She cut him off by waving his hand away. "Yeah yeah, shut up. We get it okay." She placed her hand down on the glowing blue pad in front of Milo.

"No no, wait!"

The fish suddenly lurched backwards quickly before smashing its tail into the rock behind it. The sound of the crash and tremor was heard all throughout the area, and the nearby Atlanteans looked up and began to gather.

"Gently," Milo told Audrey. "Gently!"

"Hey Milo," Vinnie said as two warriors came up close, "you got something sporty? You know, like a tuna, of a different kind?"

"How is this done?" an Atlantean asked, looking between the fish and Milo.

"All you gotta do is use the crystals," Milo said, looking at him. "Look, Kida showed me." He came up to a grounded small one that looked like a hammerhead shark. "Half-turn right, quarter-turn back, keep your hand on the pad."

"Saddle up partner," Cookie said, waving his shotgun as he sat on one of the machines, "bring jerky and ammo."

Within minutes they had gathered together a flight of the ancient Atlantean war technology, all being powered by the crystals the Atlanteans kept around their necks.

Riku was the only one in the group without a machine to fly, but that suited him and his golden Sun skates just fine.

"Alright this is it!" Milo said from his position in the lead on a hammerhead. "We're going to rescue the princess! We're going to save Atlantis! Or we're going to die trying! Now let's do it!"

"He's not the greatest in speeches," Riku called to Yuffie as he skated in the air alongside her ship.

"No," she reasoned, "but neither are you."

They flew over the water and across the lava-filled chasm to reach the wide hole created by the digger from the shaft. Milo was still in the lead, and he called back to them as they soared towards the shaft of the volcano. "Okay here's the plan. We're going to come in low and fast and take him by surprise!"

"Well I've got news for you Milo," Audrey said from the hammerhead she and Sweet were in, "Rourke is never surprised and he's got a lot of guns."

"Great, well do you have any suggestions?"

"Yeah," Vinnie said. "Don't get shot!"

"I can now join Sora in saying that that is sound advice!" Riku said. "It hurts like hell!"

"When did you get shot?" Packard asked.

"When you guys left the first time!" Riku answered.

She puffed on her cigarette from her seat alongside Cookie on their tuna. "We're all gonna die."

"There they are!" Milo shouted as they flew into the shaft of the volcano. Riku glared forward. In front of their little flight stood Rourke, Sinclair, and their men and Air Pirate Heartless. A large red hydrogen-filled zeppelin with several pods was expanded behind them, a steel pod chained to its bottom.

"We've got company!" Rourke yelled. His men immediately began to open fire against the Atlanteans and their ships, and the Air Pirates took to the skies against them on their purple wings.

Riku raced ahead of the other ships on his golden trails and the Guardian extended from his body to shield him from bullets. He really did not want to get shot again. Way to the Dawn came to his hand in a flash and Riku came alongside and sliced an Air Pirate cleanly in two. Another two Air Pirates fell from the sky into darkness as arrows fired from the bows of the Atlanteans assaulted both them and Rourke's men.

Hidden mortars opened fire behind rocky outcroppings of ash, and Riku swerved out of the way to avoid one that continued on to strike one of the tuna flying machines. It began to glow and sputter with violent blue energy before falling out of the sky and crashing onto a machine gun nest in a bright explosion.

Riku came around again and saw that the mortars firing were actually blue Cannon Gun Heartless, and that, actually, there weren't any of Rourke's men anymore. Riku growled. It sickened him that the Heartless were even stealing the hearts of the men allied to the one they had attached themselves to.

Riku flipped and dropped off onto the ground in the trench behind the Heartless, raising his hand. "Ray of Dawn!" His golden ray streaked off into the throng of the Cannon Gun Heartless taking cover and bathed the ash rocks in golden light from its detonation. A Cannon Gun flew out towards him from the blast and Riku embedded his Keyblade into it before taking off into the gully to track down the Heartless that hadn't been taken down by his earlier attack.

"Here comes more," Yuffie said, watching as many more swirls of darkness appeared in the skies around them. Blue single-wing Aeroplanes appeared from out of the swirls, each on with the neck, head, and legs of the cartoonish pilot Heartless (complete with yellow pilot's scarf and goggles). She smirked as her new Keyblade appeared in her hands. "Bring it Heartless, 'cause you're in for a world of Yuffie hurt!"

Thunderbolts barrelled off of her Keyblade as she enacted her materia, the streak of lightning missing her target twice and bursting the rock walls of the shaft before striking the Aeroplane Heartless she was aiming at and turning it into a puff of banished darkness with a crystalline pink heart rising from it.

The zeppelin began to lift off as ropes were cut by the propellers of two of the Aeroplane Heartless.

"Holy smokes!" Milo yelled, leaning back violently as the Aeroplane Heartless began firing the bullets in their cannons at the Atlantean craft. "You told me he only had guns!"

"What I said was he's never surprised!" Audrey retorted.

Bullets flew out of one of the Aeroplane Heartless chasing after Vinnie, striking his tuna craft. Vinnie ducked and his hand accidentally landed on the pad. Rays of blue energy suddenly streaked out of the gaping mouth of his craft and struck into one of the salvaged trucks. It pierced the gas tank and ignited the fluid, lighting the area up for a moment in a fiery explosion.

Vinnie smiled. "Okay, now things are getting good."

"You're telling me!" Max said from next to him with an insane smirk. "Now that I can fight back, watch me dogfight!"

"And seeing as how you're a dog," Vinnie said, looking over at the boy on the other ship, "that's supposed to be a pun right? It wasn't very good."

"Shut up and watch me make things go boom," Max answered, looking above him as two Air Pirates and an Aeroplane chased after two Atlanteans. He brought his ship up in an Immleman manoeuvre, making sure to clench his legs tightly against the sides of his tuna so that he wouldn't fall off, and set off in pursuit of the three Heartless. An arrow flew past his head after it missed one of the Air Pirates, and Max pressed down on the pad with his hand. He caught all three Heartless in the blue blast and smiled as they disintegrated.

"Yuffie!" Milo called, finding the flying kunoichi on the battlefield by the occasional shots of lightning she was firing off and the path of her Keyblade whenever she threw it. "Heads up! We can't let him reach the top of that shaft!"

"How do you propose we do that?" Yuffie asked from the hammerhead she sat in. "It's not like he's just going to stop if we hover above him."

"I'm working on it!" Milo told her. "Whoa!" An Aeroplane came up against him and Milo turned his hammerhead around, its body blocking the bullets being fired at him by the Heartless, which was destroyed several seconds later by the blue blast of an Atlantean coming to Milo's aid.

Riku was in the skies again, having dealt with all of the Cannon Gun Heartless upon the ground, and was twisting around in the aerial dogfight, firing off his Rays of Dawn at any target he could manage to get a lock on. Quite often they hit, and dealt instant death to the Heartless. In the cases where they didn't hit or exploded on their own just shy of the Heartless, the resulting shock was enough to buffet them long enough for Riku to get up close and finish them off with Way to the Dawn.

His eyes widened and he ducked underneath the rotating propeller of an Aeroplane Heartless that would otherwise have rammed into him and given him several cuts in his arms. His ears burned as an explosion happened right behind him and he dared to glance back. Vinnie was covered in soot and looking like he thoroughly enjoyed having just blown up the Heartless Riku ducked underneath.

Milo dropped in on their left and Sweet and Audrey were down on their right. "New plan!" Milo said. "Vinnie, you and me are gonna be decoys. Audrey, you Sweet and Riku are gonna fly up underneath that thing and cut her loose!"

"You're the boss!" Riku said. He pumped his legs and looked at Sweet and Audrey.

"Alright, let's do it!" Sweet said, nodding. Milo and Vinnie took off, attracting the attention of Rourke and his hand-held machine gun, and Helga with her pistol as both of them stood on the platform of the zeppelin. While they were both under fire, Audrey and Sweet brought their hammerhead in close to the pod where Kida was kept inside and Riku skated up and landed on top of it.

Sweet opened up his medical bag and Audrey pulled out the saw he had in there. She started to saw away at the iron chains keeping Kida attached to the zeppelin while Riku said "First Light's Fire," and engulfed his Keyblade in golden flames, the base of which being dark. He tried striking the iron chains with his flaming Keyblade and fully expected them to give way after the way that the simulated Charr Heartless' armour had when he had used the same move on the creature of darkness. But the iron held fast and he started to saw away with his sword right alongside Audrey, frustrated that it wasn't going faster.

"I thought you said that this thing could cut through a femur in twenty-eight seconds!" Audrey snapped.

"Less talk, more saw!"

Riku fell off of the pod as a bomb suddenly exploded on its side, causing it to sway dangerously. He looked up as he righted himself in the air and golden trails started to form around his feet again to see that Helga was dropping bombs off of the zeppelin at Audrey and Sweet. They got the message after the first explosion though, and were able to get back onto the hammerhead and fly out of there before they could be blasted into oblivion. But their work was still unfinished, Kida was still trapped and being hoisted away in the pod. Bullets screamed around Riku and he was forced to turn away to engage the Heartless that were still flying amok in the shaft.

Milo observed it all from a spot up above and he clapped his hands together. "Alright Milo, this is it. Any last words? Yeah, I really wish I had a better idea than this!" His stone hammerhead picked up speed as he dove down for the zeppelin and jumped out at the last second, grabbing onto a rope as his vehicle crashed into one of the contingent ballasts providing lift.

Rourke growled as the zeppelin started to fall. "We're losing altitude! Lighten the load!" Helga busily went about his orders, throwing anything and everything off of the platform to decrease weight.

"That's it," she said after tossing off a barrel, "unless someone wants to jump."

Rourke grabbed her by the shoulders. "Ladies first," he said before throwing her overboard. Helga grabbed onto an iron bar as part of the structure as she fell and transferred her downwards momentum into the opposite direction, coming back up and striking Rourke in the face with a leading kick.

"You said we were in this together!" she said angrily, kicking Rourke in the face again. "You promised me a percentage!" Rourke grabbed her next kick and brought her down to the ground.

"Next time, get it in writing!" he retorted, shoving her over for a second time. Miraculously she fell right through the rotors without being cut, but it was still a long fall. "Nothing personal!"

Milo then took the moment to achieve surprise and swing in on the rope he had grabbed, kicking Rourke down onto the second level just above the rotors while going down with him. Rourke got up and looked at Milo with something close to resembling amused anger. "Well I have to hand it to you, you're a bigger pain in the neck than I would have ever thought possible!"

Milo got up and made to punch Rourke, but the Commander grabbed his fist within his own significantly larger one, and punched Milo back with his own arm before kicking him into the railing. It broke when Milo crashed into it and jammed the rotor blades as the academic held onto the metal.

"I consider myself an even-tempered man; it takes a lot to get under my skin," Rourke continued as Milo scrambled to get onto the top of the pod, suspended by its strong chains to a ring beneath the currently blocked rotor blades, "but congratulations. You just won the solid gold Cupie Doll."

On the bed of ash in the volcano's base, Helga moaned from her fall and quietly praised how soft the ash actually was. Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out her flare gun and aimed it for the zeppelin.

"Nothing personal," she said, "but I'll see you in hell." She squeezed the trigger.

There's a funny thing about hydrogen. It's a very flammable gas. Everyone knows that a combustion reaction requires oxygen to burn, and that the products of that exothermic reaction are usually carbon dioxide (if a hydrocarbon is one of the reactants in the reaction) and water vapour as well as the released energy in the form of heat, and light. But if there is no carbon-based fuel, the hydrogen in the air will still combust and act as a reactant with the oxygen. And since hydrogen burns so rapidly, its initial combustion is that of an explosion. A small amount of hydrogen exploding from the heat of a flaming match can react with all of the oxygen within a 750mL beaker, putting out the fire after an instant.

Now imagine the very large shaft of a volcano, having been turned into an open system by the unplugging of its top leading towards the fresh air of the surface as well as a tunnel leading to a cavern with an almost inexhaustible supply of oxygen being created from the reactions in the leaves of the multitude of plant-life within the city of Atlantis. In this shaft, imagine a fabric vertical zeppelin filled with several cubic metric tonnes of hydrogen gas and a fireball the size of a dog racing towards it.

Oh yeah._** BOOM!**_

Milo's ears were nearly rent asunder as the entire zeppelin started to fall apart and burn to the ground in shreds of burning fabric as roaring flames rushed out in every direction, scorching the sides of the volcanic shaft into pure black and burning any Heartless still flying too close to the zeppelin into a blackened crisp.

Milo looked up from where he lay atop the pod where Kida was kept and his eyes grew wide in horror as Rourke started to descend past the stopped rotor blades towards him with an axe in hand.

Milo dropped down as Rourke swung, and he was barely able to stay on the pod as the axe cut into the glass portal. "Tired Mr. Thatch?" Rourke asked, bringing the axe up to strike again. While Rourke wasn't looking, Milo grabbed a piece of shattered glass, filled with the power of the crystal Kida had bonded with, and held it in his hand. "Ah, that's a darn shame!" Rourke grabbed Milo by the shirt and yanked him up above him. "'Cause I'm just getting warmed up!"

He held Milo above him, and was prepared to deal the death blow to the puny man, when Milo cut his arm with the shard of glass he had grabbed. Rourke gasped in pain and dropped Milo. The man of diminished stature started to climb back up to the stopped rotor blades as Rourke watched his own body turn into blue crystal in horror. An ethereal scream came from Rourke's mouth as his eyes turned completely yellow and the crystallization transformation was completed.

Milo breathed a sigh of relief from where he had perched himself on the ring beneath the blades as Rourke stopped moving. "Thank heaven," he sighed.

A blue hand grasped the ring where Milo was and the man jolted suddenly in panic as Rourke, completely crystallized and still as insane leered at him from behind inhuman yellow eyes.

"Milo!"

The spectacled man turned around to see Yuffie and Riku within the same hammerhead craft heading straight towards him. Yuffie yelled and threw her Keyblade straight for Rourke. The man made the mistake of looking as the spinning Flower of Wutai pierced into his chest.

"That's for shooting my boyfriend asshole!" Yuffie yelled at Rourke, her eyes blazing as they shot past.

Milo jumped and landed on the tail of their ship as Rourke screamed again and exploded suddenly and violently, thus ending the mercenary nutcase for good. The chains retaining Kida finally broke and the pod fell the few metres left to the ground, rolling until it came to a stop. Yuffie's Keyblade came back into her hand and she hovered their ship above the ground, the ships of their friends getting in close almost at the same time.

The flaming meteor of the wrecked zeppelin's remains crashed into the base of the volcano almost immediately after that, sending a tremor through the whole shaft as it began to crack with revealing red light.

"The volcano," Mole began, his voice becoming hysterical, "SHE AWAKES!"

"Hey," Vinnie said, holding up a lit stick of dynamite, "I had nothing to do with it."

"This here'd be a good place not to be," Cookie said, motioning that they should get out as Vinnie extinguished the sparks on the lit fuse.

"No wait," Milo ordered, "we've got to get her back or the whole city will die!"

Audrey took the chains that Milo had and hooked the pod up to Max's tuna as vents of steaming hot gas broke out of fissures all around them. "And if we don't get out of here _we'll_ die!"

"It's the only way to reverse this!" Milo argued.

"Can we just go?" Yuffie asked, looking at the hot gas vents with apprehension.

They took off, Max's ship dragging the pod behind it with Audrey and Milo on the tail. But they had scarcely gone fifteen metres when the ring suddenly snapped. Against protest, Milo leapt off of the craft and ran towards the downed pod, grabbing the hook of the chain and dodging the fissures of rising lava as he went. He wrapped the chain all around the pod and hooked it to itself before latching on and calling, "Go!"

It was then a race against the spewing lava, but fortunately, they were the faster, and made it back to the city before the lava could melt its way through the rock. The digger was totalled by the molten rock, but that was no longer an issue anymore.

Milo took a spear offered by one of the Atlanteans and began trying to pry off the hatch to the pod with it.

"The fissure," Mole said, "It is about to eject its pyrotastic fury!"

"Milo, Mole says the wall's going to blow!" Sweet translated.

Yuffie jumped out of her hammerhead and drew her Keyblade as Milo still tried to pry the hatch open. He saw her, saw the weapon, and back away a little. "I've always wanted to try this," Yuffie admitted. A beam of light shot from the black tip of her Keyblade and struck against the metal hatch. The entire pod melted away in a bright shimmer of light, revealing the form of Kida as a light blue crystal from within.

Once more the feeling of power flowed from the girl as she was revealed, and the carvings etched into the stones of the ground all throughout the city began to glow with bright blue light. The ground cracked beneath them and several glowing stone masks, each one carved to resemble the face of a king of the past rose into the sky along with Kida, the kings of the past hovering and circling her until they became a halo around a bright orb of light.

The light shot beams of energy into the seas close to the city, striking what looked like small rocks. But each rock it struck suddenly rose up and out of the sea to reveal that they were indeed giant statues of men, each one easily a hundred metres tall, Guardians of the city.

The hulking monoliths rose from their places of rest and strode to the edge of the cliff, disregarding any flying missiles of lava that struck them as nothing but trivial annoyances, but despite their own massive size, they all seemed very small in comparison with the ocean of lava frothing from the volcano across the molten chasm.

Each monolith clapped their hands together before spreading them out to their utter lengths, and in front of their hands a glowing blue shield of energy formed. Riku had never seen anything like it as the shields joined together and formed a resplendent dome barrier around them. It was reminiscent of the reflect spell, but far larger, and far more powerful. The sight of the lava racing over the dome struck both fear and awe into Riku's heart. He had also never seen a more terrifying, or beautiful sight.

The sea of lava spilled out and encompassed the entire dome before a beam of light shot out of the crystal and immediately chilled and hardened the lava into place as rock. They stayed in complete darkness, lit only by the light of the crystal and of the shield created by the monoliths for a few seconds. Then, the rock became pierced by energy flowing out of the shield itself, and it began to crumble and fall away, revealing the blue sky of Atlantis again.

The shield vanished and the waterfalls returned, breaking through the rock beside the monoliths to leave each of them standing as sentinels on tiny islands. Their mist and steam rose up again as before, and engulfed them all in sudden cloud.

A shaft of light pierced through the clouds and all eyes were drawn up towards it. Floating down to them in the shaft was Kida, completely as she had been before she joined with the crystal. Milo caught her as she came down to the ground.

Another light shone from where the crystal now revealed itself through the clouds, and it shone in the blue shape of a keyhole. Yuffie raised Flower of Wutai towards it and sealed the keyhole with the sound of a lock clicking.

Kida's eyes fluttered open in Milo's grasp and she looked up. "Milo?" He smiled and nodded slightly. Kida bit her lip and looked down at her hand. Inside it was a silver bracelet she had had as a little girl, a bracelet that had slipped off of her wrist when the crystal had chosen her mother.

She looked at him with sad eyes for a moment before her arms were around his shoulders in a hug.

"Isn't this sweet?" Yuffie asked Riku and Max, watching their reunion.

"Yep," Max said.

"Reminds me of earlier," Yuffie said, glancing at Riku. "You know, one person's life in jeopardy and all before coming back."

"Except Kida never had to force down a potion," Riku retorted.

"Hey, you wanted to fight," Yuffie reasoned helplessly.

"I know," answered Riku. He chuckled. "Thanks for making me take my medicine Nurse Yuffie."

"I'm still going to put you on bed rest until we get back to Star Command tonight," Yuffie told him, stretching. "After all, mission accomplished right?"

Riku laughed and looked at Milo and Kida holding hands while looking out over the city. "Yeah, mission accomplished. Finally."

-A-D-

_Now, just in case some of you were worried about Riku earlier, I'm not going on a killing of characters rampage. No protagonist death this chapter, but from this story is supposed to be a bit darker after all, so bad things happen during __**The War**__, but good things also happen._

_Now then, Yuffie has a Keyblade. If we recall from the first chapter, six of the nine Wielders of Power were present of the 100+ partakers. Would anyone like to revise their guesses as to who they are in light of the presence of the prospect of new wielders?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	10. Continuing Journey

_There is no pattern to the chapters. It looked like it for a while, but there is none._

_Emphasizing that point, we get to finish off our __**Finding Nemo**__ world!_

_Also, I would like to make it known that I have __**FINALLY**__ gotten around to reposting part of __**The Beginning**__, so the first three rewritten chapters are up on the site. If you are still able to review them, please review them. I shall be informing you all in the beginning author's notes in __**Light's Growth**__ as to when I have revamped each chapter in __**The Beginning**__ until I have finished working on rewriting the first twenty or so chapters. Maybe even some of the Atlantica songs will be changed too..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own plot and original characters._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter X: Continuing Journey

When Aladdin awoke, it was to find himself still alive, and underneath the ocean's waves as the yellow butterfly fish he had become. He sighed in relief that he hadn't been blown to pieces by the detonation of the minefield and opened his eyes.

He immediately gasped.

His body was pressed against the plastic of the diver's mask they'd picked up the previous night from inside the submarine. But what scared Aladdin was that he could see though the mask, and what he was looking at was a sight that terrified him. Below him, as far as his eyes could see, was a very big drop in the ocean, slowly drifting into complete and utter darkness.

"Whoa," he said quietly. He wiggled his fins and tail, getting up and out of the mask. It seemed like every single one of them had managed to fall asleep in it. Marlin and Dory were on opposite sides, Tifa was in the nosepiece, and he, Genie, and Jasmine had managed to form a line just above Tifa and between Marlin and Dory. Genie had become a very tiny version of himself in order to fit into the mask, and everyone except for Aladdin was still asleep.

He looked up and saw that the mask's fastening band was sitting near the end of a splintered piece of steel beneath the submarine, and that the submarine itself was precariously perched on the edge of the cliff, only a small amount of shifting weight would be needed to send it down into the abyss.

"Oh boy..." Aladdin said, looking at the massive steel construct as it was slowly tipping backwards and forwards like a see-saw.

He looked down as he heard groaning, and it was to see Tifa stirring in the black nose-piece of the mask. "Uh, my head," she said, slowly bringing a black fin to it. "Am I dead?"

"Not yet," Aladdin answered, swimming down slowly.

Wincing, Tifa looked up at him. "Aladdin? What happened? The last thing I remember, the minefield blew up when that torpedo hit one of them."

"That's as far as I remember too," Aladdin answered.

Jasmine and Genie both started to wake too, and they slowly filtered out of the mask to join Aladdin and Tifa as they floated just shy of it. Genie transformed back into being half himself, and half octopus again.

"Is everyone okay?" Jasmine asked, looking around at them all. She glanced down at her side and brushed a fin against where she had been cut by the Screwdiver Heartless the day before. The wound seemed to be completely healed this time, thanks to Tifa.

She looked at the other young woman. "How did you do that anyway?"

"What? The cure spell?" Tifa asked. She raised her left front fin and it began to glow with a slight green light where her black glove would have been if she was human. "Materia," she answered.

"Ooh," Genie said, looking at the glowing fin with interest. "It's been a long time since I've heard that word before."

"You know about materia?" Tifa asked, looking shrewdly at Genie.

"Of course!" Genie answered, "Had to learn all about 'em back in genie school. Mind you, it _was_ back in genie elementary school so my memory may be a little off."

"What is materia?" Jasmine asked.

"Long and pointless story short, condensed magical energy," Genie answered.

They heard a sudden gasp and turned around to see Marlin waking up, absolutely horrified by the dark chasm beneath them. He backed up, literally, and his eyes didn't lose their terror until they found the strap of the mask, which he then started pushing to try and get it off of the steel splinter.

"I don't think you should do that Marlin," Aladdin said quickly, swimming up to him.

"Why not?" Marlin asked irritatedly. Aladdin pointed a fin in the direction of the submarine and Marlin looked.

But it was too late. The shifting he had already started had done its job, and now the submarine was beginning to fall towards them from the edge of the cliff.

Marlin screamed and dove down beneath the mask. "Dory!"

"Sea monkey's got my money," Dory mumbled in her sleep.

"Dory you've got to wake up!" Tifa said, swimming down until she was right next to the Regal Tang.

"Yes I'm a natural blue," Dory muttered, still dreaming probably the most random dream ever.

"DORY!"

"Whah!" she screamed, bolting up and out of slumber in an instant. She popped right above the spire, taking the mask's band with her as it now rested on her head. Her eyes grew wide and she started to yell and panic as her eyes caught sight of the nose of the crushing submarine descending towards them.

They all screamed and swam away towards the opposite cliff from the submarine. In their state of panic it never occurred to any of them that if they simply swam to the side they would completely avoid being rammed by the falling submarine.

Whatever the case of their retreat, the submarine crashed into the cliff's side just above them, spreading a cloud of pulverized rock and dust into the water. They coughed and spluttered for a second before their faces were suddenly covered by gas masks Genie conjured. Marlin didn't even seem to notice, his eyes fixed in disbelieving horror at the prow of the submarine, just a foot above him.

"Wow," Dory said, "dusty."

Aladdin looked at her curiously, one of his fins taking off the mask Genie had placed on him. "Where did the mask go?" Dory blinked for a second. The eyes of the fishes slowly descended to see the mask dropping rapidly into the dark depths of the ocean, soon being lost to sight in darkness where the light from the Sun above the waves didn't penetrate.

"No!" Marlin yelled, zipping straight past them all in a dive as he chased after it. He vanished into the dark layer for only a second before he was seen again backing out of the void to latch onto a rock in the cliff near the edge.

Aladdin, Jasmine and Tifa swam down to where Marlin was and looked apprehensively into the darkness. Genie and Dory however, dove beyond them, singing slightly to themselves.

"It just keeps going on and on and on," Genie remarked from within the void.

"Yah it does, doesn't it?" Dory added. "Echo!" She and Genie swam back up. "What 'cha all doing?"

"It's gone," Marlin lamented, "I've lost the mask."

"Did you drop it?" Genie asked innocently.

"Dory dropped it!" Marlin retorted. "That was the only chance of finding my son, now it's gone." He looked down in hopelessness and the others looked glumly at each other.

Dory plucked her lips forward and slowly moved towards Marlin. Aladdin got one look at her before she began to speak, and he wasn't sure as to whether he should burst out laughing, or try and discover if a fish had the possibility to roll their eyes.

"Hey Mr. Grumpy Gills," she said. She smiled cheerily, "When life gets you down, you know whatchya gotta do?"

"I don't want to know whatchya gotta do," Marlin said darkly, glaring at Dory.

"_Just keep swimming,_" Dory started to sing, waving her fins in the waves, "_just keep swimming; just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim..._" She took Marlin's fin and began to take him down into the depths of the ocean, singing along the way. Genie was quick to follow her, singing gaily as well, and, looking apprehensively, the others dove after them.

The song got stuck in Aladdin's head as the darkness overtook his entire vision.

Aladdin was unable to admit to himself that swimming while completely devoid of light was not scary. It nearly terrified him that he was unable to tell which direction he was swimming in, even though he knew that he was still going down. A fin slid into his own and he nearly jumped, but eased when he heard Jasmine's whispered assurance that it was only her.

"Dory do you see anything?" Marlin asked.

She screamed. "Something's got me!"

"That was me, I'm sorry," Marlin apologized quickly.

"What? Who's that?"

"Who's that?" Marlin asked sarcastically, "who could it be? It's _me_!"

Dory's reply came back apprehensively. "Are—? Are you my conscience?"

"Yeah, yeah," Marlin answered while Aladdin felt his fears receding from the comedy duo of the blue tang funny man and clownfish straight man. "I'm your conscience. We haven't spoken in a while. How are you?"

"Can't complain," Dory told him.

"Good," Marlin said. "Now Dory I want you to tell me, do you see anything?"

"I—I see a light," Dory answered.

"A light?" Marlin asked.

"Yeah, over there." Aladdin looked around, and truthfully, he could see the light too, and he slowly made his way over to it. "Hey conscience, am I dead?"

"No, I see it too," Marlin said.

Each of them emerged from the shadows of the darkness to surround the light, glowing in the water. Aladdin felt all of the foreboding fears he had had melting away in the light as he gazed at it. He began to feel elated, as if this light was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life.

"I looks lovely," Jasmine whispered as they gathered around the light.

"I feel... happy," Marlin said slowly, "which is a big deal, for me."

"Is it a light materia?" Tifa asked with her head tilted to the side in complacency, "Because it looks like a light materia."

"What's a materia?" Aladdin asked slowly, still enthralled by the light in front of them.

"It's magic," Tifa answered in the same droopy voice.

"I want to touch it," Genie announced, raising one of his eight octopus arms towards the light. As soon as he made contact with it, it bounced away.

"Oh," Dory said in awe, watching with the rest as their eyes followed it as the light seemed to playfully bob away from them. "Hey, come back here."

"I'm gonna get ya," Tifa teased swimming after it slowly.

"I'm gonna get ya," Marlin repeated, none of them away that as the light slowly bobbed upwards that it was also lighting a very large fish in the shape of an Angler fish. "I'm gonna be your best friend..."

Marlin and the others stopped as soon as their eyes made contact with the monster, seeing its massive rows of sharp shredding teeth.

"Good feelings gone."

The light on the end of the Angler fish pulsed and the whole back of the fish lit up in fantastic undersea light. At the same time, several swirls of darkness appeared around the Angler, and three large bloated fish appeared with three Screwdivers attached to each of them: Aquatanks.

Genie's head became large as he screamed, "AH! Heartless Al!" and he dove down for a few seconds in sudden fright. Aladdin found his scimitar held in his fins as Jasmine's bronze falchion appeared in her own fins. Tifa tensed, ready for a fight, and Marlin and Dory swam away.

The Angler fish barrelled past Aladdin and Tifa after Marlin and Dory, and Aladdin found himself at a loss in the sudden darkness caused by the removal of the Angler Heatless' light. Only the faint outline of the Aquatanks and their held Screwdivers was visible, and the lack of any clearly defined sight unnerved him.

Aladdin shook his head and cleared his mind of those dubious thoughts. Adapt and overcome. He gave a battle cry and lunged forward at the nearest of the Aquatanks and slashed at its triple payload of Screwdivers. They recoiled from the touch of the cold metal of his sword and dropped off of the Aquatank, whizzing off into the darkness before Aladdin could either give chase or defeat any of them.

Tifa rushed in beside Aladdin at the Aquatank, and her black fins flew out against the larger Heartless' body in a fluid display of rapid and powerful blows to its body, pushing it back as Aladdin slashed into its body with his curved blade.

Jasmine gave a distressed cry and Aladdin whipped his yellow body around. In the low levels of light it was difficult to see where she was by the darker colours of her scales, and nearly impossible to see Tifa next to him, but he was still able to see her being surrounded by the other two Aquatanks, one of them having just nearly rammed into her with the yellow horn-like protrusion from its head.

Aladdin yelled her name and rushed to her defence, his scimitar slicing through the dark depths of the ocean's waters and into the nearest of the Aquatanks cornering the princess. His weapon weaved into and out of it with striking quickness as he stabbed at the Heartless. Tendrils of darkness leaked straight from the wounds he was causing and coursed into the dark ocean like thick blood. The Aquatank reeled away and struck Aladdin in the side with its massive chest, dazing him for a few moments.

That's when Genie came rushing back, soft bioluminescent light glowing all around him as he had transformed himself into the sleek and well-lit Flashlight fish. His head crashed into the Aquatank while Aladdin was still dazed, and the large Heartless was forced back by the force of the blow.

"But mommy," Genie muttered, stars appearing all around his head, as he looked around in a woozy manner with unfocused eyes, "I don't want to go to school today."

But Genie pushing the Aquatank back for those few seconds were all Aladdin needed to wave the blunt blow to his body away and to dive back at the large fish Heartless. His blade dove straight into the middle of the insignia on the chest of the Aquatank, and Aladdin ripped it up and to the right, a jagged wound tracing its path for but a moment before the creature was destroyed in a cloud of darkness. However, Aladdin found his victory short-lived as the three Screwdivers that had hung from the Aquatank's underbelly drove through the water, the propellers on the backs of their heads making horizontal plumes of bubbles behind them.

He watched as they headed straight for Jasmine, who was facing the wrong way with her attention directed entirely to the last remaining Aquatank while Tifa dealt with the three Screwdivers that had remained from the first Heartless that she and Aladdin had tackled. Aladdin worked his fin and tail as quickly as he was able to in order to get to the Arabian Princess before the Heartless could.

Jasmine worked oblivious to the danger at her rear, gaining a little more confidence with each stroke her bronze falchion made into the body of the larger Heartless. The strangely shaped yellow horn on its forehead glowed and Jasmine weaved slightly to the side as yellow bolts of lightning burst into existence around them. None of them struck her, but they induced a sudden fear in Jasmine. In a desperate act from her fear, she slashed her blade in the water in front of her, missing the Heartless entirely.

Light suddenly burst into her eyes from in front of her as her sword glowed with white light. From the edge of the blade the light burst out in a crescent as she made her desperate slash and it sliced clean through the Aquatank in front of her. It took a second for the Heartless itself to realize that it was defeated and to vanish in darkness, a crystalline pink heart rising from the sudden dark fog its body spawned. The three Screwdivers that had resided on its bottom burst into the water and streamed towards Jasmine.

She glanced at her still-glowing weapon and quickly brought it through the water to parry a horizontal strike against her from one of the Screwdivers' harpoons. Her eyes widened in surprise when her parry turned into a victory as the falchion cut the harpoon in two and drove through the side of the Heartless' head.

She heard the ring of metal behind her and quickly turned around to find Aladdin at her side, pinning down the three harpoons of three more Screwdivers that had been about to skewer her flank. Aladdin threw them off and the pair found themselves circled and trapped by the five Heartless.

"I think I may be getting the hang of this," she muttered warily, looking at the two Heartless in front of her as her side was against Aladdin's while he faced the other three.

"You say things like that _after_ we've already won Jasmine," Aladdin reminded her with a faint chuckle, "but in this case, it's okay."

A Screwdiver made a strike against Jasmine, slashing down towards her head with its harpoon. She dodged to the side at the last instant and stabbed her sharp weapon into its head as the Heartless came down, dooming it into darkness. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she jabbed her blade towards the third Screwdiver that had come off of her Aquatank. An arrow of light shot out and pierced the Screwdiver right in the chest. It clutched at the wound as thick tendrils of darkness leaked out and Jasmine raced towards it. Her blade snapped out and the Heartless fell to its knees, for one instant without a head, before it too vanished into darkness.

The three Heartless that faced Aladdin came at him all at once, but the street rat was too quick for their clumsy and uncoordinated movements. The three points of their harpoons became blocked at once by the flat of his scimitar. An instant later he moved his blade away only to drive it down against their three weapons. The Heartless lost their grip on their harpoons as he turned all three down, and they tumbled away to the ocean's floor feet beneath them. In two quick seconds Aladdin's scimitar had cut through the necks of two of them and darted into the face of the third. All three vanished into clouds of darkness while his scimitar was still embedded in the last one's skull.

"I think I am getting the hang of this," Jasmine repeated quietly, staring into the waters illuminated by Genie's light.

"Hey!" She turned around and saw Tifa swimming towards them. "Are you guys all okay?"

"Yeah," Aladdin said, "we're all fine."

"Wonder where Marlin and Dory went off to," Genie said, looking around, his luminescent body lighting up the immediate area around them.

"I don't know," Tifa sighed, "but I don't think we'll be able to find them unless we swim back up to waters where we can actually see."

"Good plan," Jasmine said warily, gazing into the darkness out of the range of Genie's light. "I don't want to see anything like that again anytime soon." Without any further comments, the four of them swam back up out of the darkness and into the blue waters of the chasm where the submarine rested with its prow against the cliff's wall.

Marlin and Dory, as it turned out, were swimming out of the darkness at the same time as they were, and quickly regaled their tale of tying up the vicious fish to a rock with the found diver's mask.

"And we know what the mask said!" Dory added excitedly, "_P. Sherman; 42 Wallaby Way; Sydney._"

-A-D-

The group swam on throughout the morning and into the afternoon, traversing the ocean's open waters calmly, but with an underlying sense of urgency and purpose. Heartless appeared sporadically, obliging them to halt for a moment while Aladdin, Jasmine, Tifa, and Genie dealt with them, and each encounter instilled a little bit more confidence in Jasmine's heart and put a little bit more experience underneath her belt. But, during the times where the Heartless weren't appeared and attacking, Dory and Genie held up a running conversation about _P. Sherman; 42 Wallaby Way; Sydney_ for so long that it grated on everyone's nerves so much that it irritated the very flesh underneath their scales until they nearly wanted to rip either Dory and Genie or themselves apart if they heard _P. Sherman; 42 Wallaby Way; Sydney_ one more time.

It was in one of these exasperated moments of annoyance that they ran into a large school of fish. "Excuse me," Marlin said politely, approaching them, "do you know how to get to—wait!"

Marlin dashed after them as they swam away with Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa hot on him, Dory and Genie slowly wafting along right behind them as their constant repetitions of the address drifting through their ears.

"Please just one question!" Marlin begged before sighing and stopping near a rock in the sand. "And they're gone again."

Tifa groaned. "Why are people so rude these days? If someone came by _my_ place and asked for help I'd 'ave given it."

Dory and Genie came up again, continuing their banter and Marlin sighed and turned towards the female fish. "Okay, alright," he said, gaining Dory's attention, "here's the thing. I just—I, I think it's best if I just—if I carry on from here by myself."

"Okay," Dory said, nodding obliviously while the others looked at him in shock.

"You know, alone," Marlin continued. "Without, without, well I mean not without you, but it's just I don't want you with me."

"Huh?" Dory asked, finally getting it.

"I don't want to hurt your feelings," Marlin said quickly.

"You want me to leave?" Dory pressed.

"Why?" Jasmine asked. "We're taking our time to help you find your son and you're just going to toss us away?"

"Well, I mean not, yes, yeah," Marlin said evasively and bluntly. "I just can't afford any more delays and, well, you're the kind of fishes that cause delays. And sometimes that's a good thing. There's a whole group of fish and they're delay fish."

While Aladdin, Jasmine, Tifa, and Genie were all simply annoyed at Marlin for being so stubborn and rude, Dory was taking it truly to heart and began to whimper with big, watering eyes. "You mean you don't like me?"

"No of course I like you," Marlin tried to apologize as Dory slapped her fins over her crying eyes and turned her back to him, "it's because I like you that I don't want to be with you. It's a complicated emotion." He looked pitifully at Dory and swam a little closer to the sobbing Regal Tang. "Oh don't cry, I like you."

"Hey, you!"

They turned around to see that the school of fish had come back and were staring at their small group and the little bit of drama that Marlin was causing.

"Ladies, gentlemen" one fish, supposedly the voice of the school, began, "is this guy bothering you?"

Dory turned and looked at them. "Um, I don't remember. Were you?"

"Yes," Tifa answered indignantly.

"No no no no," Marlin said hastily, "we're just—we're... hey do you guys know how I can get to—"

"Hey, bub! We're talking to the lady here, not you! Hey, you like impressions?"

"Impressions?" Genie asked elatedly, "I love impressions! I can do this really great one of a guy called 'Nixon'!" Genie suddenly turned himself into a man with a large nose and hair that was balding on the sides of his forehead. "Gentlemen," he began in a voice completely different from Genie's own, "take us to DEFCON 1. The communist threat to freedom is too serious to overlook any longer, as it's managed to get over my nose."

"I kinda like different impressions Genie," Dory said apologetically.

"Well then you're going to love this!" the speaker for the school said. "Alright gentlemen, just like in rehearsal." The cloud broke apart for an instant before they swam into a new shape. "So what are we? Take a guess."

"Ooh, oh, I've seen those," Dory said, looking intensely at the shape they took.

"I'm a fish with a nose like a sword," hinted the voice.

"Wait, wait, um..." Dory said, thinking.

"Swordfish!" Marlin blurted out in exasperation.

The school of fish all gave an 'aw' of disappointment and the voice spoke up irritably. "Hey, clown boy, let the lady guess." They swam apart and made a new shape. "Where's the butter?"

"Ooh!" Dory said excitedly. "It's on the tip of my tongue!"

"Lobster," moaned Marlin underneath a fake cough.

"Saw that," said the voice, referencing his cough. They took a new shape. "Lots of legs, live in the ocean."

"Clam!" Dory guessed.

"Close enough," answered the voice of the school, even though clam was about as far away from octopus as was physically possible. They changed shape again, this time into a mighty galleon firing off its cannons with one fish even walking the plank. "_Oh it's a whale of a tale until you land, a whale of a tail..._"

"They're good," Aladdin said, having watched the whole thing.

"We should have had them at our wedding," Jasmine added.

"Wouldn't have mattered," Tifa sighed, "what with it being crashed by Cossex and all."

Marlin finally burst. "Would somebody please give me directions?" he asked.

"Would somebody please give me directions?" the voice mocked, the school changing into a clownfish with a large open mouth.

"I'm serious," Marlin growled over their laughs, disguised or otherwise.

"Blah blah blah, me me blah, blah blah blah blah, me me me."

"Thank you," Marlin said, turning around and swimming away.

"Oh dear," Genie said, still as Nixon, tapping his chin with his finger. "I think the poor guy is being oppressed by something."

"I think you mean 'depressed' Genie," Aladdin said, swimming after Marlin with Dory and Tifa. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" Marlin repeated. "While those fish over there are doing their silly little impressions, I am miles from home, with a bunch of wakos that spend half their time fighting dark creatures, and a fish that can't even remember her own name!"

"Boy, I bet that's frustrating," Dory said sympathetically.

"Yeah," Marlin agreed. "Meanwhile my son is out there—"

"Your son Cheeko?" Dory asked.

"Nemo."

"Got it."

"But it doesn't matter," Marlin said dismissively, swimming away, "because no fish in this entire ocean is gonna help me!"

"Well we're helping you," Tifa said quietly. Marlin stopped.

"Wait right here," Dory said. She, Aladdin, and Tifa swam up to the school of impressionist fish. "Guys!"

"What? Is he bothering you again?"

"No no, he's a good guy," Dory explained. "Go easy on him, he's lost his son, Fabio."

"That's Nemo Dory," Aladdin said.

"Right, Nemo," Dory repeated, nodding. "Any of you heard of P. Sherman; 42 Wallaby Way; Sydney?"

"Sydney? Oh sure." They transformed into a figure of the famous Sydney Opera House in Sydney Harbour. "Why Ted here's got relatives in Sydney, don't you Ted?"

"Sure do."

"Hey Marlin," Tifa called, "They know Sydney!" Marlin gasped and quickly swam over.

"You wouldn't know how to get there would you?" Dory asked as Genie and Jasmine also came over.

"What you want to do is follow the E.A.C., that's uh, 'East Australian Current'. Big current, can't miss it. It's in... _that_ direction. You're going to want to follow that for uh—what do you guys think? About three leagues? And that baby's gonna put you right past Sydney."

"Great!" Marlin said. He latched onto Dory in a quick hug. "Dory you did it!"

"Oh don't mention it," Dory said bashfully as they all began to swim in the direction the fish were indicating by their shape of a large arrow, Genie now like an octopus again. "I'm just your little helper," Dory continued, "you know, helping along. That's me."

"Well listen fellas, thank you," Marlin said as they swam alongside the school.

"Don't mention it," their voice called back as they changed their impression into a clownfish with an open and smiling mouth this time, "and uh, loosen up a little all right buddy?"

"Oh you guys," Dory said appreciatively, stopping to bid them goodbye while the others carried on after Marlin, "you really nailed him. Bye."

"Oh hey ma'am, one more thing."

"Yes?"

The school of fish swam in front of Dory and changed shape one last time to make a trench. "When you come to this trench, swim through it, not over it."

"Trench, through it, not over it, I'll remember," Dory assured them as she swam through their little trench image and after the others.

They were only swimming for a minute or so after they left the school of impressionist fish when they ran into a very large, very deep, and very dark trench. Jasmine looked at it with apprehensive eyes. It did not look very safe, shrouded over in darkness as it was. It looked like the kinds of dark alleys in Agrabah that were unsafe for any without reputation or contacts in the shady underground to wander, except there were no visible fish here to haunt the trench.

"Nice trench," said Dory brightly while the others, even Genie, still looked at it with unease. "Okay let's go."

"I have a bad feeling about this trench," Marlin said, jutting forward to catch Dory and bring her back. "Bad trench, bad trench. Come on, we're going to swim over this thing."

"Whoa whoa partner," Dory said quickly as Marlin began to ascend. "Little red flag coming up. Something's telling me we should swim through the trench, not over it."

"Are you even looking at this thing?" Marlin asked her. "It's got 'death' written all over it."

"I'm sorry but I really, really think we should swim through it," Dory insisted.

"And I'm really, really done talking about this, over we go."

"Come on," Dory said, "trust me on this."

"Trust you?" Marlin asked.

Dory nodded. "Yes, trust, it's what friends do."

"Maybe she's right Marlin," Tifa said, looking towards the trench with reluctant resolve. "Besides, we _should_ be able to deal with anything inside the trench if it goes sour, right?"

"Yeah," Aladdin said, smiling. "We've got Genie with us. Right phenomenal cosmic power buddy?"

"You mean this little trench?" Genie asked, looking into the trench. "Pff, this trench is nothing. All it needs is a change in atmosphere. A few lights, a little paint, maybe some plants, and this thing's image will brighten right up."

"Hey Genie look!" Marlin said suddenly, pointing up. "It's a swimming pool!"

Genie abandoned his previous interior decorator thought and his eyes snapped up above them. "Where?"

"It's right over the trench," Marlin said excitedly, "come on let's go!" Genie laughed in delight and swam straight up with Dory, who wanted to know what a swimming pool was.

"Wait, Genie wait!" Aladdin yelled, rushing up after them. Tifa and Jasmine sighed and followed. Stupid, stubborn Marlin...

They rose over the lip of the trench and were treated to an expanse of ocean blue. Jasmine allowed herself to smile slightly. "It sure is nice up here," she said, looking around.

"Yes it is," Marlin answered. He gestured off into the distance. "And look, there it is, the current! We should be there in no time."

Dory smiled absently before she noticed a tiny pink creature in front of her. She swam up to it with a gushy face. "Hey little guy."

"And you all wanted to go through the trench," Marlin said, looking over his back at them.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Aladdin said. "I guess we didn't need to."

Dory was still near the tiny pink creature in front of her, a diminutive jellyfish. "I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine; and he shall be my Squishy. Come here Squishy, come here little Squishy." She began to make baby noises towards the little jellyfish as her fin approached it slowly. There was a jolt when she made contact with Squishy and her fin snapped back while Dory elicited a cry of pain.

The others all looked at her suddenly and Marlin's eyes widened. "Dory!" he exclaimed, rushing towards her, "that's a jellyfish!"

"Bad Squishy," Dory reprimanded the tiny jellyfish, "bad Squishy!"

"Shoo, shoo!" Marlin said, trying to get rid of it verbally before smacking Squishy away with his tail. Everyone else huddled around and Marlin and Tifa began to examine the small shock sting that the jellyfish had given Dory.

"It doesn't look that bad," Marlin announced after a few seconds of explaining to a questioning Dory that the jellyfish did indeed sting him, but because of his anemone home he was used to those sorts of stings, "you're going to be alright."

"Let's just be grateful that it was only a little one," Tifa said, moving back. Her eyes expanded suddenly and she gasped as she became the first to realize the change that had taken place while they were examining Dory's fin. They had become surrounded by a veritable forest of giant pink jellyfish!

"Okay, I was wrong," Aladdin said quickly, "we should have gone through the trench."

"Don't move," Marlin warned them, looking around at the wavy tentacles of the hundreds of jellyfish that had descended into their midst. They could no longer see the E.A.C., nor could they see the trench below them, or even the way out of this seal of pink jellyfish.

"This is very, very bad," Tifa mumbled, backing up next to Jasmine as they huddled together.

"Hey watch this!"

They all looked around at Dory as she started bouncing on the top of one of the jellyfish. "Boing, boing, boing!" She zipped around from the top of that jellyfish to another one.

"Dory! Don't bounce on the tops!" Marlin yelled, trying to come after her, "they will... not sting you! The tops don't sting you!"

"Really?" Genie asked quickly, watching Dory. "That gives me a great idea."

"It does?" Jasmine asked.

Genie nodded and changed himself out of being half an octopus into becoming a clownfish himself, except he was striped orange and blue instead of orange and white like Marlin was. He swam up to where Dory was bouncing on the top of a jellyfish, the others following him carefully so as not to get stung.

"Dory, I've got a lovely idea for a game," he said enticingly.

"A game? I love games!" Dory exclaimed. "Pick me!"

"We are going to have a race to the death," Genie explained, suddenly a game show host. "Whoever among us can hop the fastest out of these jellyfish will win this fabulous prize. Tell them what they're competing for Dan." Genie's voice then began to emanate all around them as a closed showcase appeared behind them, Jasmine and Tifa being the showgirl fish. "It's a week of luxury escape for two at the fabulous Kia Lua Resort!" The curtains opened up and there came the cheering of a studio audience as the showcase prize was unveiled. The showcase displayed pictures of this fabulous tropical ocean-front resort, beautiful palm trees and serene swimming pools in front of a pristine white beach. Women were getting manicures and facials in a spa, and men were receiving back massages from beautiful women. "The Kia Lua Resort, a five-star holiday get-away location in the Caribbean where any dream can come true. Take a dip in the pool or snorkel in the cool ocean waters on a stretch of prime interworldly renowned beach, or enjoy a few drinks with friends in the friendly atmosphere of the resort bar. Get a massage from the best in massage therapists or enjoy a relaxing trip to the sauna to revitalize your body and mind. Yes, the Kia Lua Resort, the perfect vacation destination for any couple."

"Ooh," Aladdin, Marlin, and Dory all said, looking at the showcase with awe. The showcase disappeared and Jasmine and Tifa swam back to the group, dodging the tentacles of one errant jellyfish that was in the way. Aladdin and Jasmine shared glances before giving Tifa a competitive look, which she returned. All three of them wanted to win that prize, whether it was real or not.

"And now, the rules of the game," Genie said, turning back into an orange and blue clownfish. "You can only bounce on the tops of the jellyfish, and cannot touch the tentacles. If you touch a tentacle, you will receive a nasty shock that will inform you that you have been disqualified."

"If only Aerith was here," Tifa whispered to Aladdin and Jasmine. "She could cast Null Shock on us and it wouldn't matter."

"Ready..." Genie began, raising his fin like it was a starting flag.

Everyone tensed.

"Hope you two don't mind me booking a vacation for me and Cloud after I find him," Tifa said.

"Set..."

"Sorry Tifa," Jasmine returned, "but you're gambling on the hope of taking my honeymoon away."

"GO!" Genie yelled, taking off first, already bouncing his head off of an inverted jellyfish. Everyone raced into the throng of jellyfish, all enthusiastically bounding off of the tops of jellyfish except for Marlin.

"Okay," he said to himself, glancing around anxiously just behind and to the side of Dory as she placed third after Genie and Aladdin, "we're cheating death now. We're cheating death but we're having fun at the same time. I can do this, just be careful."

"Yeah," Dory said, "careful I don't make you cry when I beat you!"

Marlin smiled and laughed, chasing after her, "I don't think so!"

Black and blue raced past him in a blur. "Too slow Marlin!" Tifa and Jasmine yelled simultaneously, shoving against each other in a violent contest. Marlin dove right after them as they and Dory fought valiantly for dominance of third place.

"Give it up old man," Dory said. "You can't beat evolution, I was built for speed."

"I don't care about evolution," Jasmine retorted as she bounced off three jellyfish in rapid succession, "I want the perfect honeymoon escape."

"Honeymoon?" Dory asked.

"Aladdin and I are engaged," she answered.

"But the question isn't when the wedding is," countered Marlin, "it's: are you hungry?"

"Huh, hungry?" Tifa asked.

"Yeah, 'cause you're all about to eat my bubbles!" Marlin raced ahead of them, bounding into the tops of jellyfish rapidly before making it out of the forest a few seconds later to see Genie congratulating Aladdin on winning the race.

"Woohoo!" Marling exclaimed, seeing the E.A.C. directly in front of them. "We did it, we did it, we made it out! Isn't it great guys?"

"Yeah, sure," Aladdin said, looking towards the forest of jellyfish instead of Marlin. "Where's Jasmine?"

Marlin's eyes widened and he looked back at the jellies. "They were right behind... oh no. Dory!"

"Jasmine!" Aladdin yelled, racing back into the cloud of jellyfish after Marlin with Genie at his tail. Their eyes searched the pink frantically, trying to catch any sign of the missing fishes. After what seemed like an eternity, they spotted all three of the girls caught in the large middle tentacle of one of the jellyfish. Together, Marlin, Aladdin, and Genie bolted right into the jellyfish's outer tentacles, ignoring the shocks they sustained from them, and grabbed the three females, their eyes already searching for a way out to safety.

"Did we lose?" Tifa mumbled, sounding very weary and close to sleep.

"No," Marlin whispered, "you're actually winning; all you have to do is stay awake."

"Stay awake?" Jasmine said quietly. "But I'd much rather sleep. I feel so tired."

"No Jasmine," Aladdin whispered, shaking, "stay awake for me, for us."

"Quick, Dory," Genie said, "where does P. Sherman live?"

"P. Sherman," she said in a very low and slow voice, "Wallaby Way, Sydney."

Aladdin spotted an exit splotch of blue ocean just as Dory finished speaking. "That's it!" he said, hugging Jasmine's limp body closer to his as he bolted off, leading the way for the three of them. They ignored the pains of the stings that they received as they clumsily batted into jellyfish tentacles, constantly telling the three girls to stay awake.

To their great misfortune, at the last instant before they would have made it out into the clear a jellyfish drifted up into their path. It was too close and too sudden for them to come to a stop, and so they ploughed right through the middle tentacle of the jellyfish. The shock coursed through their bodies with undeniable pain, but they could barely feel it, finding themselves overcome by a sensation of numbness and tiredness. They thought they saw something dark descending above them, but they were unable to discover what it was as their minds became even more fuzzy, drifting towards the unknowing bliss that is a loss of consciousness.

-A-D-

_Erg, this chapter gave me such a headache that I am not writing another chapter dealing with __**Finding Nemo**__ again. You're going to get a summary of what happens after this because it's just a very difficult world to deal with. There's only Marlin and Dory, and working a sudden group of four into that mix is hard._

_On a lighter note, SPRING IS FINALLY HERE! I've finally got +10 degrees Celsius weather! I can go outside and ride my bike, just go out with a t-shirt on, and look at the grass on my front yard. I could even start barbequing! It's great. Take that you people out in the East! You may have gotten spring before us in the West did, but now it's here and I'm going to gloat._

_But I still don't have a job and I have school in fall, so it isn't all good. Damn this recession..._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	11. Knives in the Dark

_I know that it's Good Friday today, and that this is a Palm Sunday song, but I've had it stuck in my head since last Sunday even though I wasn't at church to sing it (was bowling in a tournament), and now I'm going to try and get the first verse stuck in your heads. _He came riding on a donkey, he came riding into town; slow and easy, kind of lowly, he came riding with the dawn. His disciples walked beside him, staying close, a little shy; not too sure where he would guide them, on to live or on to die. But all the morning sang his praises, waking birds and dancing wind; here his is, the Son of David, riding on to take his throne.

_If that hymn is now stuck in your head and you want to find it, just go to Voices United and it is hymn number one hundred twenty-four (VU 124, and that's the red hymn book by the way). I'm not sure how many of you know this hymn, or hymn book, but it is a good one._

_Anyways... back to Middle-Earth with Sora, Kairi, Jiminy, Aiwemon, Menelmon, and Strider and the hobbits. You know, this is probably my favourite chapter in the whole six books._

_And for you who never read the books, there are not three, there are six. They were initially separated into three separate volumes of two books each titled 'The Fellowship of the Ring' 'The Two Towers' and 'The Return of the King' because there was not the capability at the time to print all six together in one book._

_There is one thing a person who is either nostalgic, nerdier than I, or just scrutinous, will notice as a difference between this and the book other than the paraphrasing or direct copying from the book and the obvious KH stuff. That is that on the fifth night when they are journeying to the Weather Hills after leaving the Midgewater Marshes, the book says thus: 'The moon was waxing, and in the early night-hours a cold grey light lay on the land.' When you reach that part in this chapter, or most any part that references the moon, you will notice that I say that the moon is waning instead of waxing. That is because for simplicity's sake, I have one moon that is on a lunar schedule that started with a new moon on the story's first day, and has gone through just over one and three-quarter cycles as of their fifth day out from Bree._

_Yes, I even plan for what phase the moon is in. Do I rock or what?_

_Disclaimer: Once again, I am not making any money from this; it is for the free entertainment of free peoples everywhere that read it._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XI: Knives in the Dark

Sora awoke suddenly from his slumber with a start. He did not know when he had drifted off to sleep, but he determined that it had to have happened when he wasn't looking. The first thing he saw when he woke was that he was still underneath the cloaks and blankets that he had placed overtop of Kairi, and that her head was turned towards his with peace and contentment blossoming out of her sleeping face. Sora shifted his right arm that her shoulders had pinned underneath her and placed his hand to her forehead.

Sora sighed and smiled. She was warm again, so that was a good sign. His ears picked up the sound of a cock crowing in the inn-yard and Sora looked away from his peaceful princess towards the window. Strider had pulled back the curtains and opened the shutters, letting in the first grey light of dawn and the cool morning breeze. The fire still crackled in the hearth, apparently having been tended. Sora looked at Strider and wondered if the man had even slept at all during the night.

Kairi moaned slightly in her sleep at the feel of the cool breeze and cuddled closer to Sora, one of her arms wrapping over him. Strider saw the shifting and look that Sora had given him an instant before Kairi came closer and smiled at him. "So how is our patient?" he asked quietly, his grey eyes filled with mirth at the sight of them.

Sora couldn't restrain a smile as he felt Kairi's closeness, the hand wrapped around the back of her head subconsciously playing with her hair. "She's better, definitely better."

"Of course I'm better you lazy bum," Kairi moaned quietly, revealing that she'd been awake the whole time. Her eyelids fluttered open and looked right into his eyes. She gave a tiny sigh and smiled slightly. "You know, I think I could get used to waking up like this."

Sora chuckled slightly and his cheeks reddened in embarrassment as he glanced quickly between her and Strider. "Kairi... not now. We aren't alone."

"Oh I don't care about silly Strider standing solemnly over there," Kairi said, nudging her head to where Strider had now raised his eyebrows. She sighed again and pressed her head right underneath Sora's neck. "And I'm not going to care until the hobbits are all awake. So be quiet Sora and let me sleep."

"You're doing most of the talking," Sora reminded her.

Kairi opened her indigo eyes again and looked up into Sora's cerulean ones. "Would you like me to do something else with my mouth instead then?" she asked, slowly rubbing a hand against his cheek. "And I was serious about your darkening hair by the way."

"It is best that you both get up now anyway," Strider said quietly, looking away from them. "The others are beginning to stir." Sora looked up at him for a second before glancing at the hobbits. Frodo's eyes were open and he was looking around a little bit, one hand up and rubbing his eyes. The two Keyblade Wielders shared a glance, and groaned slightly before shaking the last legs of sleep off and getting out of the mass of blankets and jackets that they had slept underneath.

Sora and Strider went around rousing the hobbits, and soon after Strider led them all to their rooms. The hobbits were glad that they had taken Strider's advice to stay in the parlour: the windows had been forced open and were swaying in the breeze with flapping curtains; the beds had been tossed about and the bolsters had been slashed and were scattered across the floor; the mop had been torn to shreds.

Sora and Kairi took the scene in with wide eyes as Strider left to fetch Butterbur and quickly went to take a look at their own room. They were dismayed when they arrived, finding it exactly as they had left it. If it weren't for having been discovered spying on Strider and the hobbits, or for Kairi taking such a chill, they could have spent a peaceful night in nice beds underneath soft sheets.

They returned to the hobbits' rooms just as Strider came back with the landlord. He looked dreadfully tired and hadn't slept a wink all night (or so he said), but he admitted that he hadn't heard a thing.

"Never has such a thing happened in all my time!" he cried, throwing his arms up in horror as he took in the sight of the rooms, "Guests unable to sleep in their beds at night, and good bolsters ruined and all! What are we coming to?"

"Dark times," answered Strider. "But for the present you may be left in peace, when you have got rid of us. We will leave at once. Never mind about breakfast: a drink and a bite standing will have to do. We shall be packed in a few minutes."

Mr. Butterbur left quickly to see that the hobbits' ponies were ready and to fetch them a 'bite', but he soon came back to the parlour where they had returned to bearing bad news. The ponies had vanished! The stable-doors had all been opened during the night, and they were gone: not only Merry's ponies, but every other horse and beast in the place.

Sora looked at Kairi as he noticed Frodo's crestfallen expression. They both shifted uncomfortably. Neither of them had truthfully been very comfortable with the prospect of riding on beasts of burden other than chocobos, not knowing how different they were or how the animals would react, but even less did they desire attempting to escape from a mounted enemy on foot. Of course, they knew that they didn't have any creatures to ride on anyway, as the ponies had only numbered at five and one of them was to carry baggage. They could use the last of the pixie dust to help them, or have Menelmon digivolve to Soronmon and carry both of them on her back, but that would reveal much more than they were ready to let on.

Strider's eyes swiftly passed over them for an anxious moment before he eyed the hobbits for a while, as if weighing up their strength and courage. "Ponies would not help us to escape horsemen," he said at length, "we should not go much slower on foot, not on the roads that I mean to take. I was going to walk in any case. It is the food and stores that troubles me. We cannot count on getting anything to eat from here to Rivendell, except what we take with us; and we ought to take plenty to spare; for we may be delayed, or forced to go round-about, far out of the direct way. How much are you prepared to carry on your backs?"

"As much as we must," Pippin said with a sinking heart, but trying to show that he was tougher than he looked (or felt).

"I can carry enough for two," Sam said defiantly.

"Can't anything be done, Mr. Butterbur?" asked Frodo. "Can't we get a couple of ponies in the village, or even one just for the baggage? I don't suppose we could hire them, but we might be able to buy them," he added, though there was a trace of doubt in his voice.

"If we have to buy them, I'll pay for them," Sora said, mentally remembering just how much munny he had and hoping that it had converted into enough coins to make buying a pack animal feasible.

"I doubt it," Butterbur said unhappily. "The two or three riding-ponies that there were in Bree were stabled in my yard, and they're gone. As for other animals, horses or ponies for draught or what not, there are very few of them in Bree, and they won't be for sale. But I'll do what I can. I'll rout out Bob and send him round as soon as may be."

Strider seemed reluctant. "Yes, you had better do that. I am afraid we shall have to try to get one pony at least. But so ends all hope of starting early, and slipping away quietly! We might as well have blown a horn to announce our departure. That was part of their plan, no doubt."

"There is one crumb of comfort," Merry said optimistically, "and more than a crumb, I hope: we can have breakfast while we wait—and sit down to it. Let's get hold of Nob!"

The hobbits began to busy themselves with finding the hobbit servant in the inn, who would undoubtedly be able to grant them a good breakfast to start off on. Sora gave Kairi a somewhat meaningful look and announced that he was going to hop outside for a breath of cool air while their breakfast was getting ready.

Sam looked at Sora's retreating back curiously as he left, like he was still having doubts about their company, and Kairi smiled at him. "Don't worry Sam," she said. "Sora's not going to be running off anywhere, and it does feel just a little stuffy here in the parlour with all of us in it." Sam grimaced but nodded his head in understanding.

Sora stepped out of the inn and into the morning light, taking in a deep breath of the cool air. It felt good: the breeze on his face running through his now short hair. He laughed when he remembered Kairi cutting it the previous evening, and reasoned that she had done well in doing so, even if it meant the loss of the spikes he had always felt a defining part of his style.

There were very few people on the streets this early in the morning, and that thought gave him a small measure of peace and comfort. Sora looked up into the sky for a moment. The sun was being covered by the clouds at the moment but they appeared to be breaking up. The wind that blew was cool and refreshing, and he heard a sound in it that was almost like the echoes of a horn blowing far off in the distance.

The flutter of wings reached his ears and Sora turned his head and smiled as Aiwemon alighted onto his shoulder. "Hey buddy," he whispered, rubbing the top of his partner's white-feathered head with a gloved finger, "how was your night?"

"It was okay, I guess," Aiwemon replied in a hushed voice as Sora strode around to the side of the inn. Sora looked inquisitively at him; the digimon wasn't looking into his eyes.

"What do you mean, 'you guess'? What happened?"

Aiwemon glanced around furtively, and as soon as he saw that they were in the clear his green eyes met with Sora's cerulean ones. "Menelmon and I woke up and saw these strange shadow things attacking the inn," he said.

Sora immediately tensed and held his arm out. Aiwemon hopped off of his shoulder and onto the offered arm. "What?"

"We both started to feel very cold," Aiwemon said, shuddering at the memory and averting his eyes from Sora. "They were shadowed, wearing all black. They broke into a room on the ground a few hours ago; and then left after only a couple of minutes. We didn't dare try to fight them without you or Kairi."

"Did they see you?" Sora asked nervously. Aiwemon looked back up at Sora to meet his eyes.

"No," he answered assuredly. "We were both high up in a tree."

"That's good," Sora said, smiling slightly. "Hey, you up for an adventure, partner?"

"I'm up for anything as long as I can still fly," he said proudly, beating his wings. Sora chuckled slightly and rubbed the top of his head. "By the way," Aiwemon added hopefully, "you wouldn't happen to have any food on you by any chance, would ya?"

Sora froze for a second and smiled sheepishly. Aiwemon face gave the impression that he was frowning at him as Sora began to speak. "Sorry Aiwemon, but I don't have anything on me right now. I'll tell you what though, I'll open the window in the room that Kairi and I got and leave some food in there for you and Menelmon, okay?"

"Why can't we just fly into the room and eat with you two?" Aiwemon asked, cocking his head to the side while he still appeared to be irritated.

"You remember what I just said about an adventure right?" Sora asked sheepishly. "Well, that's the reason. Kai and I got caught snooping last night, so we're going to a place called Rivendell with a group of four hobbits and a Ranger called Strider. So we're gonna be stuck eating breakfast with them so they won't suspect us as spies of the enemy."

Aiwemon sighed. "I guess we can't help it then. Wait, what are hobbits?"

"They're those little guys that are just a bit taller than you are," Sora teased, nudging Aiwemon's beak with his thumb.

"They'll think that I'm a giant if they see me as Ohtarmon," Aiwemon replied happily, smiling and hopping back onto Sora's shoulder. He rubbed his feathered head against Sora's cheek affectionately. "I'll go back and tell Menelmon. We'll see you again soon right?"

"Either Kairi or I will go into the room," Sora answered. "We'll leave something outside the window that will definitely let you know which room it is. And if we aren't able to see you face-to-face, you'll still be following us overhead and able to come down at night right?"

Aiwemon grunted. "Sure, but it doesn't mean I have to like spending the day away from you. It was bad enough when you were in the Pride Lands getting your Keyblade back."

Sora was about to open his mouth to retort when he sighed and closed it for a second. "Sorry about that Aiwë."

His digimon partner shook his head. "It's okay. Now hurry up and get that food, I'm hungry!"

Sora laughed as Aiwemon took off of his shoulder. "Alright, I'm going, I'm going!"

He went back inside the _Prancing Pony_ in higher spirits than what he had left it in. Aiwemon and Menelmon were both doing alright, even if they had gotten scared from seeing the attack on the inn the previous night. And with luck, they'd be able to see them one more time before they left in the company of Strider and the hobbits.

Kairi was waiting for him in the hall a little ways outside of the parlour. "So how'd it go?"

Sora's face kept its smile. "They saw the attack on the inn last night from a tree, but Aiwemon's ready for an adventure as soon as we're able to drop some food off in the room for him and Menelmon to eat."

Kairi smiled and placed a hand on her hips and shook her head. "He's still thinking with his stomach I see." Sora's stomach growled immediately after she said that, and both of them looked at it and giggled. "And so are you, Mr. Lazy Bum! Come on, Nob's already come and gone, and even after everything the Bree hobbits told us last night it looks like these Shire hobbits can eat as much food as Aiwemon or Gomamon can."

Sora's eyes widened. "Uh-oh, we may not get any breakfast at all then!"

-A-D-

There proved to be more than three hours' delay. Bob came back with a report that there was no horse or pony to be had for any love of money—save one. Bill Ferny had one that he might possibly sell. "A poor old half-starved creature it is," said Bob; "but he won't part with it for less than thrice its worth, seeing how you're placed, not if I knows that Bill Ferny."

"Ferny?" Sora asked, remembering the name from the previous night's eavesdropping. "But wouldn't the thing just run away with all our stuff or something?"

"I wonder," said Strider. "But I cannot imagine any animal running home to him, once it got away. I fancy this is only an afterthought of kind Master Ferny's: just a way of increasing his profits from the affair. The chief danger is that the poor beast is probably at death's door. But there does not seem any choice. What does he want for it?"

Billy Ferny's price was twelve silver pennies; and that was indeed at least three times the pony's worth in those parts. It proved to be a bony, underfed, and dispirited animal that nearly broke Sora's heart to look at, but it did not seem to be dying just yet. Sora looked into the pouch that had held his money, and found that the munny he had been carrying was definitely more than enough to buy the animal from Ferny. But Mr. Butterbur paid for it himself, and offered Merry another eighteen pence as compensation for the lost animals. He was an honest man, and well-off as things were considered in Bree; but thirty silver pennies was a sore blow to him, and being cheated by Bill Ferny made it harder to bear.

The fact that he came out on the right side of things in the end was only a trivial and unknown matter. For now, his money was gone for good, or for bad, and the innkeeper had other troubles to deal with. There was a great deal of commotion as soon as the other guests were awake and heard the news of the raid on the inn, commotion that Sora and Kairi steered clear of by having breakfast with their party and actually making it to the room they had gotten from Butterbur to pack while talking cheerily to their digimon partners (Kairi had created a small orb of light and had it hover dimly just above the window to let the digimon know which room it was). The southerners had lost several horses and blamed Butterbur loudly for it, until it became known that one of their own number had also disappeared into the night, and none other than Ferny's squint-eyed companion. Suspicion was immediately laid upon him.

Butterbur became riled up at that news. "If you take up with a horse-thief and bring him to my house you ought to pay for all the damage yourselves and not come shouting at me. Go and ask Ferny where your handsome friend is!" But it appeared that he was nobody's friend, and nobody could remember when he had joined their party.

-A-D-

It had become close to ten o'clock by the time they had all finished re-packing and getting together further supplies for the longer journey. Sora couldn't help but notice that his pack had become considerably heavier since they had arrived in Middle-Earth, and sourly attributed it to his size compared to the hobbits and Bree-landers and apparent strength. He knew he was still skinny, even though we was slowly building up a bit more muscle, and hoped that even though the weight of his pack was something he couldn't ignore, that he would get stronger through carrying it. Kairi's pack was also heavier, and she did not complain about it to anyone, though she did listen to Sora's thirty second long private rant about how he was being treated as a pack animal more than the pony.

All of Bree was buzzing with excitement before they took off. Frodo's vanishing trick; the appearance of the black horsemen; the robbing of the stables; and not least the news that Strider the Ranger and the two young giants (as Sora and Kairi had quickly become known to their chagrin due to their 'unnaturally tall bodies') having joined the mysterious hobbits, made such a tale as would last for many uneventful years. Most of the inhabitants of Bree and Staddle, and many even from Combe and Archet, were crowded in the road to see the travellers start. The other guests in the inn were at the doors or hanging out of the windows.

Strider had changed his mind, and he decided to leave Bree by the main road. Any attempt to set off across country at once would only make matters worse: half the inhabitants would follow them, to see what they were up to, and to prevent them from trespassing.

They bid farewell to Nob and Bob and Barliman Butterbur with many thanks, and Kairi and Sora thanked Nob personally for being the first hobbit they'd ever met and making such a good first impression of his people on them. Nob blushed at Kairi's compliment and shuffled his feet while he averted his eyes from them. "I hope we shall meet again some day, when things are merry once more" said Frodo to Mr. Butterbur. "I should like nothing better than to stay in your house in peace for a while."

Sora looked into the crowd for a moment as they left the inn before a slight feeling of anxiety crept into his heart and he gulped. Not all of the faces that peered out at him were friendly, unlike most of his time spent in other populated worlds like Radiant Garden, nor were all of the words shouted. But Strider seemed to be held in awe by most of the Bree-landers, and those that he looked at drew away with closed mouths, which kept the number of derogatory comments towards them down. Strider walked in front with Frodo; and next were Merry and Pippin; Sora and Kairi followed after them while Sam brought up the rear with the pony, which they had laden with as much of their baggage as they'd the heart to give it; but it already looked less dejected, as if it approved of its change in fortunes. Sam was chewing an apple thoughtfully. He had a whole pocket full of them: a parting present from Nob and Bob. "Apples for walking, and a pipe for sitting," he said. "But I reckon I'll miss them both before long."

Sora and Kairi quickly found out that the hobbits did not notice the inquisitive heads that peeped out of doors, or popped over walls and fences to get a better look at their strange party, as if the eyes of the onlookers didn't disturb them too much no matter how much the curious scrutiny made both the teenagers uncomfortable.

They drew near to the further gate, and Sora noticed with suspicious eyes a dark and ill-kept house behind a thick hedge, and it was the last house in the village. He thought he caught a glimpse of a man's squint-eyed face in the window, but he blinked and the face was gone. Another man was staring boldly at them from over the hedge. He had heavy black brows, dark scornful eyes; his large mouth curled into a sneer. He was smoking a short black pipe, which he took out of his mouth, spitting, as they approached.

"Morning Longshanks!" he said. "Off early? Found some friends at last?" Strider nodded, but did not answer him.

Sora scowled at the man as he looked at Kairi with a gleam in his eyes and stood a little bit more in front of her. The man shrugged and looked to the others. "Morning, my little friends! I suppose you know who it is you've taken up with? That's Stick-at-naught Strider, that is! Though I've heard other names not so pretty. Watch out tonight! And you, Sammie, don't go ill-treating my poor old pony! Pah!" He spat again.

Sam turned quickly, as they had passed him by during his talk. "And you, Ferny, put your ugly face out of sight, or it will get hurt." With a sudden flick that was as quick as lightning, and apple left his hand and hit Bill square on the nose. He ducked too late, and curses came from behind the hedge. "Waste of a good apple," Sam said, shrugging regretfully, and continued on. A slight smile came to his face when he barely heard Sora and Kairi trying and failing to repress laughter in front of him.

They at last left Bree behind them. Their 'escort' of children and stragglers got bored and tired by the time they reached the South-gate, and turned back for home. Sora looked up into the now clear sky as they walked upon the road, and smiled as he saw two shadows that looked like birds far above them. They were being watched, but by very friendly eyes.

Strider had them stay on the Road for a few miles, at a pace that kept Sora consciously aware of the weight of his pack. The Road bent back off to the left, curving back into its eastward trail as it rounded the foot of Bree-hill, and then it began to run swiftly downward into wooded country. Sora looked off to his left and saw distant houses and hobbit-holes of Staddle on the gentler south-eastern slopes of the hill; rising wisps of smoke came out of a hollow away north of the Road, showing where Combe lay; Archet was hidden by the trees.

After they had left Bree-hill standing proud and tall and brown behind them, they came on a narrow track that led off towards the North. "This is where we leave the open and take to cover," Strider announced.

"Great, then let's go hiking," Sora said, dropping his back off his shoulders for a second and taking off his cloak and jacket. He shoved the cloak into his pack as best as was possible (he no longer needed to be as careful as possible, as Jiminy was now hiding in a separate pocket of the pack), and tied his jacket around his waist by the sleeves. He looked up at Strider and the hobbits as they all looked at him quizzically. "What?"

"Not a 'short cut', I hope," Pippin said, looking to Strider instead of Sora while Kairi laughed at the confused look on her boyfriend's face. "Our last short cut through woods nearly ended in disaster."

"Ah, but you had not got me with you then," laughed Strider. "My cuts, long or short, don't go wrong." He looked up and down the Road. No one was in sight in either direction, and he led the way quickly down towards the wooded valley.

His plan, as far as they could tell without knowing the area, was to go towards Archet at first, but to bear right and pass it on the east, and then to steer as straight as he could over the wild lands to Weathertop Hill. That way, if everything went according to plan, they would cut off a great loop of the Road, which further on bent southwards to avoid the Midgewater Marshes. But, unfortunately, that meant that they would have to pass through the marshes themselves, and the way Strider described them did not encourage them.

For now though, the future marshes were out of their minds and the walk wasn't unpleasant. Sora even found that he was enjoying himself as they tramped through the woods. The Sun was shining, clear but not too hot in this fall weather; the woods were still leafy and full of colour, unlike a good number of trees in the gardens in Radiant Garden that had already lost their own leaves and were now bare. Strider confidently led them along the many winding forest paths, though if the hobbits had been left on their own they would assuredly have been lost, and his course was a wandering one at that, with many turns and doublings to throw off pursuit.

Sora nearly laughed and looked over his shoulder casually as Strider explained about the reasoning behind his caution. He wanted to throw off pursuit, but there were two creatures that Sora could nearly always catch a glimpse of silently following them, and he knew he could only see Aiwemon and Menelmon because they were letting him see them.

Whether it was through Strider's skill or some other reason, they saw no sign and heard no sound of any other living thing all that day: neither two-footed, save birds; nor four-footed, except for one fox and a few of squirrels. They made camp in the woods that night, and while Strider and the hobbits slept, Sora and Kairi rose from their feigned slumber to spend some time with Jiminy and their digimon partners. The moon's soft silvery light shone down upon them through the leaves in the trees, and they were able to feel at peace, huddled together underneath the forest canopy to look out at the few stars that were visible.

Aiwemon and Menelmon left their company to roost in a tree a little deeper in around midnight, barely in sight of the camp, and Sora and Kairi slowly drifted off to sleep, both tired, but neither feeling troubled as they had the previous night.

The next day Strider began to steer a steady easterly course, and the country around them stayed quiet and peaceful. And it was on this second day out of Bree that it hit Sora and Kairi like a freight train. They remembered what Dr. Fraiser had said to each of them, and it finally came true as aches that had been minor nuisances the previous day returned with a vengeful fury and their breath came in only slightly easier than it had for Kairi when she had been wearing the corset Sora had been forced to destroy. Their packs weighed heavily on their backs, the straps cutting into their shoulders and rubbing the skin beside their armpits raw (though Sora was annoyed that the metal plate that connected his automail was not attached appropriately to at least keep his left side free of the pain). Blisters appeared on both their feet, and they throbbed violently. The fact that the land was falling steadily comforted them only a little. They were healthy but _not_ in shape, and they were probably _not_ ready for a journey like this one. Both of them had grown soft, traveling and adventuring on the _Highwind_, and now they were paying the price for it.

The third day out of Bree saw them coming out of the Chetwood and into an expanse of flat and pathless wilderness, far more difficult to manage than the woods had been, and they were drawing near to the borders of the Midgewater Marshes. The aches in their feet and shoulders only grew worse, despite the slow lessening of the weight through eating the food they were carrying, but even then the rationing left them with meals that were much smaller than Sora or the hobbits would have liked (Sora spotted a snail at one point while his stomach rumbled quietly enough so that only he could hear it, and while no one was looking, he slurped the snail down. He was a little pale for a couple of seconds after having done it, and Kairi looked at him funnily after only spotting him toss the shell away without knowing that it was a snail's shell, but he got away with it. Timon did tell him that he needed to get conditioned to them after all). The hobbits too suffered, though not to the same extent as the two teenagers. But today, however, Strider did help them plod along as the ground became damp and boggy, pools of sitting water popping up occasionally as the clouds hovered overhead, and the hobbits had to place their feet carefully in order to stay dry-footed. Wide stretches of reeds and rushes grew around the pools, hiding cheerily warbling birds inside of them.

They made fair speed at first, but as they continued their progress became slower and more dangerous. The marshes were bewildering and treacherous, without permanent trails for even Rangers to find amidst the shifting quagmires. A sudden slip would send any of them dropping into muddy water deeper than the high tops of even Strider's boots. The flies began to torment them relentlessly, and the air was filled with clouds of midges that crept up their sleeves and breeches and into their hair.

"I'm being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"

"What do they live on when they can't get hobbit?" Sam asked, scratching his neck to rid himself of the tiny biting insects as he plodded along with the pony.

A red-faced Kairi slapped her cheek again to move some more of the midges out of the way. They were more persistent than mosquitoes, even if they were from the same family! "Let me burn them Sora," she whispered. "Let me burn them, let me burn them."

"That's something Axel would do, not you Kairi," Sora answered. He slapped at his right arm with his left, a little too strongly though, and forgetting the weight the hidden automail had, and nearly yelped in pain from his own hit. "Though," he added through gritted teeth, "that wouldn't be a very bad idea if it wasn't going to give us away. I just hope that _they're_ doing better than we are."

_They_, as it transpired, were doing much better than those on the ground were, snatching the clouds of midges and flies up in their beaks and devouring them hungrily. There was no danger of being spotted, as the eyes of Strider and the hobbits were all too fixed on the ground to worry about little Aiwemon and Menelmon.

The party spent a whole miserable day in this lonely and unpleasant country. When they finally stopped to make camp at night-fall, it was a sullen damp, cold, and uncomfortable little spot that could be said to be either sheltered, or surrounded by tussocks of reeds that were the home of demonic insects that were evil relatives of the cricket. Thousands of them haunted the reeds, and they squeaked all round, _neek-breek_,_ breek-neek_, unceasingly until Kairi and the hobbits were nearly frantic.

Before the hysteria had attempted to set in though, Strider had reluctantly agreed at the urging of Kairi and Pippin (who had both managed to become the wettest and most uncomfortable of their sorry lot), and Sora (who was concerned for Kairi's welfare) that they could attempt to light a small fire to try and dry off and warm up a little. The reeds were thick enough that a little light would not be well seen, and Strider doubted by this point that they were being pursued directly by the black horsemen, as their pony had had some trouble itself navigating with them.

There was little wood that they were able to find with the last remaining shreds of light in the marshes, and that that they did find was wet and damp, and was beyond their skill to kindle to blazing life. "Come on," Kairi whispered, watching as Sam continued attempting to light it. "Come on, fire!"

Sam's eyes widened in surprise at the last stroke of his flint as the kindling they had managed to form suddenly caught flame and brought flickering heat and light. Sora glanced at Kairi and almost imperceptibly shook his head, but even so he had a tiny smile on his face. Strider looked curiously at the fire for a few seconds, but dismissed it as the group's spirits soared and Sora and Kairi kicked off their boots to warm their feet and dry out their socks. That night they were still tormented to near hysterics by the Neekerbreekers (as Sam called them), but the lingering smoke from the fire that died within ninety minutes was enough to keep the pesky midges away.

The next day, their fourth out from Bree, was little better than the last, and they had no fire that night, for they could not persuade Strider in time to locate any source of fuel. Despite the hordes of midges that still pursued them, the Neekerbreekers had been left behind, and so there had been a small improvement.

Sleep did not come easily to any of them, and Sora lay on the ground underneath his bedroll, unable to close his eyes and drift off to a world without biting insects that wanted to steal his blood. He looked off into the distance, and it took him a few minutes before he realized that there was a light in the eastern sky, flashing and fading. It couldn't have been dawn, as that was still many hours away.

Grumbling slightly in interest, Sora kicked himself out from underneath the thick forest green blanket that composed his bedroll, and went to stand next to Strider, who had also risen, and was standing, gazing into the night.

"Can't sleep," he said, simultaneously answering Strider's slight glance and slapping away another flight of midges. "And there's nothing better to do." They watched the flashing light in the east for some time until they heard stirring behind them. Sora looked around and saw Frodo leaning up and looking past them to the light.

"What is that light?" he asked.

"I do not know," Strider answered. "It is too distant to make out. It is like lightning that leaps up from the hill-tops."

"It could be magic," Sora postulated, watching as another white flash came up into the distant sky.

"Why would you suspect that?" Frodo asked. "What would you know of magic?"

"More than you," answered Sora truthfully. "I've seen a little bit here and there, and I don't think that that looks like a lightning storm. So I'm guessing that it's magic."

"Whether it is, or isn't," Strider said uneasily, looking anew towards the distant hills in the east, "we'll know more once we reach Weathertop."

Frodo laid down again, and it was at least an hour later before Sora decided that he'd had enough watching the flashing light and being bitten by the buzzing midges. He laid back underneath his blankets and slowly succumbed into an uneasy sleep.

-A-D-

It was only a little before dawn when Sora and Kairi simultaneously awoke from their slumber and bolted upright in a cold sweat. The word "RIKU!" echoed out from both of their mouths and their eyes locked onto one another's in panic. They broke eye contact for a brief second to look around at their companions. Surprisingly none of them had woken up at the sound of their shout, and the flashing white light in the east had long since abated and Strider had gone to sleep.

Kairi placed a hand to her racing chest and looked at Sora. "Did you feel just now—"

"That Riku got shot?" Sora asked uneasily. "Yeah, I did; you?"

"Yeah."

Kairi got out from underneath her blankets and approached Sora to lay just next to him while overtop of his sleeping devices. "Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked after a few seconds, blinking away a tear.

Sora wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder and squeezed slightly. "Riku's tough," he answered. "He'll be alright. He's got Yuffie with him, so he's going to have to be alri—" He stopped and looked up suddenly. "Did you feel that?"

Kairi's eyes gained a little bit of confusion. "Feel what?"

"I—I felt something just now," Sora whispered. "Like a sudden power emerging somewhere. It feels as if there's a new Keyblade wielder amongst us."

Kairi's eyes widened in surprise and excitement and she sat up to look at Sora properly. "A new one?" she asked with her voice a little bit louder than before as the shock came out. It then became excited. "Who is it?"

"I'm not sure," Sora answered. He closed his eyes and took in a calming breath, steadying his heart's own excitement at the thought of another Wielder of the Keyblade with them. He was quiet for a minute as he allowed himself to become calm, and listen to the faint whisperings of his heart.

There came a sudden but faint surge and his eyes snapped open, fast and abrupt enough to make Kairi flinch. "Yuffie."

"Pardon?"

"It's Yuffie," Sora said, sitting up with eyes that were sparkling mysteriously. "Yuffie has a Keyblade now."

Kairi smiled smugly and placed a hand on her hip, her eyes looking out to the slowly rising Sun as she poked her head above the horizon. "Well how about that?" she said. "All three couples bear Keyblades. You and me, Roxas and Naminé, and now Riku and Yuffie."

"Maybe," Sora said slowly, grinning and rubbing his jaw, "but I got it firs—DAMN BLOODSUCKING VAMPIRE MIDGES!" He clapped his hands together in front of his face and killed about a tenth of a cloud that had just swarmed around him. Sora's cerulean eyes burned and fire quickly flared all around the two of them, incinerating the whole lot of flying insects into nothing more that blackened and burnt husks that crumbled into ash and drifted away in the faint breeze.

Kairi huffed as the others began to stir at his shout, and frowned at her boyfriend with an annoyed expression. "You think you're so great because you can do that whenever you want to, don't you?" she asked as the pony started at the sudden burst of sound. She got up and turned towards her own bedroll, preparing to pack it away and get some food out for their breakfast.

"What are you talking about Kai—" Sora stopped at the look that Kairi flashed him and he wilted slightly, realizing. "Oh, that."

They had breakfasted and were on their way again within an hour, and they had not gone far when they left the last straggling pools and reed-beds behind them. The land began to steadily rise in front of them, and off in the distance eastward they could now see a line of hills. The highest of them was at the right of the line and a little separated from the others. It had a conical top, slightly flattened at the summit.

"That is Weathertop," said Strider. "The Old Road, which we have left far away on our right, runs to the south and passes not far from its foot. We might reach it by noon tomorrow, if we go straight towards it. I suppose we had better do so."

"What do you mean?" asked Frodo.

"I mean: when we do get there, it is not certain what we shall find. It is close to the Road."

"But surely we were hoping to find Gandalf there?"

"Yes; but the hope is faint. If he comes this way at all, he may not pass through Bree, and so he may not know what we are doing. And anyway, unless by luck we arrive almost together we shall miss one another; it will not be safe for him or for us to wait there long. If the Riders fail to find us in the wilderness, they are likely to make for Weathertop themselves. It commands a wide view all round. Indeed, there are many birds and beasts in this country that could see us, as we stand here, from that hill-top. Not all the birds are to be trusted, and there are other spies more evil than they are."

_I know two birds that can be trusted,_ thought Sora, quickly looking up into the sky. He was barely able to spot the small speck of brown that was his digimon partner, and hoped that no one else saw him, but Menelmon was completely invisible to his eyes. He drew his gaze downward and looked anxiously at the hills in front of him. The sense of security he had always had before when adventuring with Donald and Goofy to almost any location had long since left him with Strider's words, and now he feared that there were unfriendly eyes peering at him kilometres away on those hill-tops.

"You sure do make me feel uncomfortable and lonesome Strider!" Sam said.

"What should we do?" Kairi asked, shifting only slightly towards Sora and glancing at him, giving Sora the impression that she was going to start speaking to him again after the little incident with the midges earlier.

Strider was slow to answer, as if he wasn't quite sure himself. "I think," he said slowly, "I think the best thing is to go as straight eastward from here as we can, to make for the line of hills, not for Weathertop. There we will strike a path I know that runs at their feet; it will bring us to Weathertop from the north and less openly. Then we shall see what we shall see."

They carried on all that day, until the chill and early evening came down. The days were shortening slowly, and out in the wilderness they were able to feel it more acutely than they would have otherwise. The land became drier and more barren; but mists and vapours enveloped the ground of the marshes behind them. The melancholy voices of a few birds were piping and wailing until the round red sun sank slowly into the western shadows; then an empty silence fell upon them.

They came to a stream that wandered down from the hills to lose itself in the stagnant marshland at the end of the day, and they went up along its banks while the light lasted. Night had already fallen when they finally halted and made their camp underneath some stunted alder-trees by the shores of the stream. Ahead of them against the dusky sky loomed the bleak and treeless backs of the hills. They set a watch that night, and Strider, it seemed, did not sleep at all. The waning moon cast a pale grey light upon the land, and Sora was glad when he was roused for his watch. He had been having a troubling dream dealing with Anti, and he hadn't liked the way his darkness had been talking.

The next morning they set out again soon after sunrise. The air was cool and frosty, and it was a little new for both Sora and Kairi to be able to see the plumes of their breath in front of their faces. This hadn't happened on Destiny Islands as far as they could remember, and the only other times it had happened were when they were in places that had snow on the ground such as the Tung Shao pass (for Sora), or Christmas Town (for both of them). The sky had become a clear, pale blue, and they all felt refreshed this morning, as if they had had a night of unbroken and untroubled sleep. Already they had gotten used to walking great distances on much less food than they would have thought barely enough to keep them on their legs (Sora hoped that Aiwemon and Menelmon were feeling the same way with whatever they had been able to hunt or forage while following, otherwise Aiwemon would have driven Menelmon crazy by now, which hadn't been the case the last time they had come close enough for him and Kairi to talk to them). The blisters had all vanished off of Sora's and Kairi's inexperienced feet, and the chafing that the straps of their packs had caused had gone down exponentially. They were both a bit leaner than before, which was a detriment to Sora since he'd been underweight already, but he knew that he had already gained more strength in his back and legs since leaving Bree, and the adventure was probably doing wonders for all their cardiovascular systems. He quietly whispered to Kairi after they had made all of these observations that she was looking even more beautiful and healthy than usual, and Pippin declared that Frodo was twice the hobbit that he had been.

Sora received a slow and lasting kiss for his comment while Frodo tightened his belt. "Very odd," he said, "considering that there is actually a good deal less of me. I hope the thinning process will not go on indefinitely, or I shall become a wraith."

"Do not speak of such things!" said Strider quickly, and with surprising earnestness.

They drew closer to the hills. They made an undulating ridge, often rising to almost a thousand feet, and here and there falling again to low clefts or passes leading into the eastern land beyond. Sora was able to see that along the crest of the ridge there were what looked to be the remains of green-grown walls and dikes, and down in the clefts there still stood ruins of stonework. By nightfall they had reached the feet of the westward slopes, and they camped there. They were six days out from Bree.

Sora had first watch that night, and Kairi was supposed to take watch after him. But when Aiwemon and Menelmon flew into camp he eagerly roused her so that they could both spend a few hours of the night with their partners. Both digimon had been doing well following them, and hadn't spotted any pursuit. They grumbled that they weren't finding as much food as they would have liked (the feeling being shared by all four of them), but they were all surprised that they were being sustained on such short commons, and their wings had never felt stronger. They left with hugs before Kairi's watch was over, and promised that they would meet the slower humans and halflings at Weathertop.

Sora's dreams were again troubled by Anti-Form that night; he seemed to be becoming very keen on taking possession of his body, almost like he was ready to fight against Sora for control, but lacking enough power to clearly be able to wrestle away control.

In the morning Sora acted like nothing was wrong, though he was sure that Strider and Kairi noticed something. It was quickly forgotten however, as for the first time since they left the Chetwood they struck a track that was plain to see. They followed it southwards as it ran cunningly through the hills, taking a line that seemed chosen to keep as much hidden from view as possible, both from the hill-tops above and the flats to the west. It dived into dells and hugged steep banks; and where it passed over flatter and more open ground on either side of it there were large boulders and hewn stone that screened them like a hedge.

"I wonder who made this path, and what for," Merry said as they walked along one of these avenues, where the stones were unusually large and closely set. "I am not sure that I like it: it has a—well, rather a barrow-wightish look. Is there any barrow on Weathertop?"

"No. There is no barrow on Weathertop, nor on any of these hills," answered Strider. "The Men of the West did not live here, though in their latter days they defended the hills for a while against the evil that came out of Angmar. This path was made to serve the forts along the walls. But long before, in the first days of the North Kingdom, they built a great watch-tower on Weathertop, Amon Sûl they called it. It was burned and broken, and nothing remains of it now but a tumbled ring, like a rough crown on the old hill's head. Yet once it was tall and fair. It is told that Elendil stood there watching for the coming Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance."

The others gazed at Strider. It seemed to both Sora and Kairi that he was knowledgeable in the history of this world (which now seemed to them to be much greater and richer than their own), as well as the ways of the wilderness. "Who was Gil-galad?" Merry asked. Strider did not answer him, as he appeared to be lost in though. Then a low voice murmured:

_Gil-galad was an Elven-king.  
Of him the harpers sadly sing:  
the last whose realm was fair and free  
between the Mountains and the Sea._

_His sword was long, his lance was keen,  
his shining helm afar was seen;  
the countless stars of heaven's field  
were mirrored in his silver shield._

_But long ago he rode away,  
and where he dwelleth none can say;  
for into darkness fell his star  
in Mordor where the shadows are._

Sora turned in amazement, for the voice was Sam's!

"Don't stop Sam," Kairi urged, smiling. "That was lovely."

Sam blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "That's all I know," he stammered. "I learned it from Mr. Bilbo when I was a lad. He used to tell me tales like that, knowing how I was always one for hearing about Elves. It was Mr. Bilbo as taught me my letters. He was mighty book-learned was dear old Mr. Bilbo. And he wrote _poetry_. He wrote what I have just said."

"He did not make it up," said Strider, ignoring Sora's tiny gag at the word 'poetry'. "It is part of the lay that is called _The Fall of Gil-galad_, which is in an ancient language. Bilbo must have translated it. I never knew about that."

"There was a lot more," said Sam, "all about Mordor. I didn't learn that part, it gave me the shivers. I never thought I should be going that way myself!"

"Going to Mordor!" cried Pippin. "I hope it won't come to that!"

"Do not speak that name so loudly!" Strider scolded.

They continued walking, and were quiet for a little while before a question that Sora had been mulling over in his head popped out. "I've been wondering," he said, "what is a barrow-wight?"

"A wight that haunts a barrow," Kairi guessed, smirking at Sora. He stuck his tongue out at her while Strider chuckled a little.

"That about fits it," Pippin said. Kairi giggled slightly at the look Sora gave her and rubbed a hand up her arm for a few seconds.

"It's getting cold," she said.

-A-D-

It was already mid-day when they drew near the southern end of the path, and in the pale clear light of the October sun they saw a grey-green bank before them, leading up like a bridge towards the northward slope of the hill. They decided to make for the top at once, while the daylight was broad. It was no longer possible to stay hidden, and they could only hope that no enemy or spy was watching them. Sora couldn't see anything moving on the hill, but he thought that he saw two specks, one dark and one light, sitting next to each other on one of the stones that ringed Weathertop's peak. But if Gandalf was anywhere about, there was no sign of him.

On Weathertop's western flank they found a sheltered hollow, at the bottom of which was a bowl-shaped dell with grassy sides. Kairi had grown colder, and there they left her, Sam, and Pippin with the pony, their packs and luggage. Strider, Frodo, Merry, and Sora went on to the top. After a half an hour's slow clambering climb Strider reached the crown of the hill; followed by Sora, Frodo, and Merry, both hobbits more tired and breathless than Sora, but he was still panting heavily and his nerves were a little rattled. The last slope had been steep and rocky, and he hoped that when he slipped up once that he had only imagined the clanging sound of his automail striking the rock, and that really it had been muffled by his jacket and sweater.

The top was crowned by a wide ring of ancient and crumbling stone-work, just as Strider had said, covered by age-old grass. Atop one of the stones two birds sat, watching them. One was hawk-like with brown feathers and a white head and bright, green eyes, while the other was the strangest that Strider or the hobbits had ever seen, a snow white beak with light blue feathers. Sora smiled from the back while the hobbits moved in front of him, and nodded his head at the two birds. He could tell that they were smiling back at the close sight of him, and that Menelmon was probably wondering where Kairi was, but neither digimon made to move from their perch atop the crumbling stone-work. Aiwemon looked down to the centre of the ring, and Sora followed his gaze. A cairn of broken stones had been raised there, blackened as if from fire. All round them the ground was burned to the roots and all within the ring the grass was scorched and shrivelled, as if flames had swept the hill-top.

When they stood upon the southern rim of the ruined circle they saw all round below them a wide prospect, for the most part of lands empty and featureless, except for patches of woodland away to the south, beyond which they caught here there the glinting of distant water. Beneath them, winding like a ribbon, was the Old Road, coming out of the West and running up and down until it faded behind a ridge of dark land to the east. There was nothing on it, and that comforted Sora for a moment. Sora looked further to the east and was filled with awe when he saw the mountains. The nearer foothills were brown and sombre, but behind them rose up valiant shapes of grey, and behind them rose taller still white peaks that were glimmering amongst the clouds.

"Well here we are," Merry said. "And very cheerless and uninviting it looks! There is no water and no shelter. And no sign of Gandalf. But I don't blame him for not waiting—if he ever came here."

"I wonder," said Strider, looking around them thoughtfully. "Even if he were a day or two behind us at Bree, he could have arrived here first. He can ride very swiftly when need presses." Suddenly he stooped and looked at the stone on the top of the cairn. It was flatter than the others, and whiter, as if it had escaped the fire. Strider picked it up and examined it, turning it around in his fingers.

"Gandalf is a wizard right?" Sora asked, looking at Frodo and Merry. When they nodded he continued. "Couldn't he have been here three nights ago when we saw all that flashing light?"

"It is possible," Strider said, still pouring over the rock. "This has been handled recently," he said. "What do you think of these marks?"

Sora peered over Frodo as the hobbit looked at the rock. He saw some scratches, but they made absolutely no sense to him. "There seems to be a stroke, a dot, and three more strokes," said Frodo.

"The stroke on the left might be a G rune with thin branches," Strider said. "It might be a sign left by Gandalf, though one cannot be sure. The scratches are fine, and they certainly look fresh. But the marks might mean something quite different, and have nothing to do with us. Rangers use rues, and they come here sometimes."

"What could they mean, even if Gandalf made them?" Merry asked.

"I should say," answered Strider, "that they stood for G3, and were a sign that Gandalf was here on October the third: that is three days ago now. It would also show that he was in a hurry and danger was at hand, so that he had no time or did not dare write anything longer or plainer. If that is so, we must be wary."

"Wait a second," Sora said, interrupting Frodo before the hobbit could speak. "You're date's off. That was the fourth."

"What?" Strider asked, looking at Sora curiously.

"Today's the seventh," Sora said, though he now began to feel confused. "Isn't it?"

"It's your reckoning that is off young Sora," Strider said, staring at him. "Today is the sixth of October."

Sora frowned. "But didn't we leave Bree on the first?"

"No," Frodo said surely, "we left Bree the morning of September thirtieth."

They were all silent for a few seconds, Strider, Frodo, and Merry staring at Sora, and Sora frowning in bewilderment at his boots. "I'm confused."

"I am not sure either," Frodo said, looking at the marks again. "I pray that it was Gandalf that made these marks, whatever they may mean. It would be a great comfort to know that he was on the way, in front of us or behind us."

"Perhaps," said Strider. "For myself, I believe that he was here, and was in danger. There have been scorching flames here; and the light in the sky three nights ago that Sora mentioned comes to mind. I guess that he was attacked on this hill-top, but with what result I cannot tell. He is here no longer, and we must now look after ourselves and make our own way to Rivendell, as best as we can."

"How far is it?" Sora asked, momentarily shrugging off his doubts about his own reckoning of time, and therefore the number of days until his sixteenth birthday, and looked off towards the mountains in the east. They appeared a long way off.

"I don't know if the Road has ever been measured in miles beyond the _Forsaken Inn_, a day's journey east of Bree," Strider answered slowly, coming towards Sora and clapping a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sora looked up to see the older man smiling at him. "Some say it is so far, and some say otherwise. It is a strange road, and fold are glad to reach their journey's end, whether the time is long or short. But I know how long it would take me on my own feet, with fair weather: twelve days from here to the Ford of Bruinen, where the Road crosses the Loudwater that runs out of Rivendell. We have at least a fortnight's journey before us, for I do not think we shall be able to use the Road."

"A fortnight!" Sora gasped. Strider nodded and Sora sighed, looking back down to the Road. "Damn," he muttered. "Then it doesn't matter who's right about what day it is today, I'll still have my birthday out here in the wilderness."

"Your birthday?" Strider inquired, looking curiously at him. Sora smiled slightly and nodded.

"Yeah, October twenty-fourth," he said. "I'll be sixteen."

"Sixteen!" Merry and Frodo gasped simultaneously. Strider said nothing but looked at him in amazement. He then smiled and chuckled and rubbed a hand through Sora's short and dirty hair.

"You are off on your reckoning again Master Sora," he laughed. "For if we were to spend a score of days, that is twenty, in the wilderness we would indeed reach Rivendell after your sixteenth birthday. As it is, a fortnight is two weeks, _fourteen_ days." Sora rubbed his nose in embarrassment and chuckled half-heartedly, one hand running through his short hair.

"Guess I'm a little young," he said, looking off to the west of the Road, back to where he and Kairi had entered this world. His eyes unfocused and he lost himself in his memory of their time at the _Prancing Pony_, and the good times he'd had in previous years at other birthday parties of his. He was jolted out of his reminiscing as Frodo suddenly gave a cry and grabbed Strider's arm.

"Look!" he said, pointing downwards.

At once Strider flung himself onto the ground behind the ruined circle, taking Frodo and Sora with him. Merry threw himself alongside. There was a shriek behind them and Sora turned his head to see Aiwemon flying off of the stone he and Menelmon had been perched on. The little bird digimon alighted on the stone that they were hiding behind and looked out to the Road. Menelmon joined him a second later.

"What are those birds?" Merry asked.

"They certainly do not behave like normal creatures," Strider said uneasily, glancing at them.

"Why are we hiding?" Sora asked.

"I do not know," answered Strider, "but I fear the worst."

_Fiends of darkness approach little Sora,_ Anti-Form cackled in his head. _Are you afraid of the dark?_

_Shut up Anti!_

Slowly they crawled out to the edge of the ring again, and peered out through a break between two jagged stones. The light was no longer as bright, for the clear morning had faded away and clouds that were bearing in from the East had overtaken and shadowed the sun as it began to set. Sora was able to see five black specks on the Road, two that had come from the East, and three that had come from the West. He couldn't make out their shape, but he understood from the chill in his heart when he looked at them that these were the Black Riders. However, with them he could just make out a figure that forced him to hold back his groan.

_What is that idiot doing here?_ He asked himself, spotting Pete amongst the Black Riders.

"Yes," Strider said, his eyes on the Riders and only them. "The enemy is here!"

They hastily crept away and slipped down the north side of the hill to find their companions. Before they left, however, Sora glanced back at Aiwemon and Menelmon. Aiwemon flew off of their perch and landed on Sora's left arm as he held it out for the bird digimon.

"There will be trouble tonight," he whispered.

"You can count on us to be a part of it Sora," Aiwemon replied.

-A-D-

The other three had not been idle while they had been gone. Kairi had busied herself to keep warm by tidying up their camp somewhat, tending to the pony, and exploring the dell. Sam and Peregrin had explored the surrounding slopes. Not far away they found a spring of clear water in the hillside, and near it footprints not more than a day or two old. In the dell itself Kairi had found recent traces of a fire, and some other signs of a hasty camp. There were some fallen rocks on the edge of the dell nearest to the hill. Behind them she came upon a small store of neatly stacked firewood.

"I wonder if someone has been here," she said to herself after finding the firewood, delighted that there would be a ready source of fuel if they were going to have a fire (and she dearly hoped so as she was feeling colder by the minute). Then she got an idea about her sudden chill.

_The last time I felt this way, it was because the black horsemen that were in Bree were near. So I can only assume that they're coming close again. If they do control powerful darkness that affects me more than others because I am a Princess of Heart, then maybe I'll be able to shield my heart from their darkness with light._

She looked around, Sam and Pippin were nowhere to be seen, and the others were still on their way up to the crown of Weathertop. The only witness would be the pony. Kairi closed her eyes and opened her palms in front of her. The last rays of light from the sun before the overbearing clouds overtook it streaked down onto her hands and formed a shining white mist. Kairi, still with closed eyes, ran her hands around and over it, forming its shape into a round hollow sphere. After a few seconds she dropped her hands to the side before placing them around the end furthest away from her, and pulling them back inwards. Kairi gasped as the sphere of light entered her chest, but she kept pushing the sphere in. She opened her eyes with another quick gasp as the sphere disappeared inside of her body, and she panted in a daze for a few seconds. Her body glowed for an instant, and then returned to normal. The chills were suddenly gone, and that disoriented her for a minute or so. But then Kairi smiled and went back to work.

When the others came back, Strider was greatly interested in their worldly discoveries. "I wish I had waited and explored the ground down here myself," he said before hurrying off to examine the footprints found by Pippin and Samwise.

"It is just as I feared," he said regretfully as he returned. "Sam and Pippin have trampled the soft ground, and the marks are spoilt or confused. Rangers have been here lately. It is they who left the firewood behind. But there are also several newer tracks that were not made by Rangers. At least one set was made, only a day or two ago, by heavy boots. At least one. I cannot now be certain, but I think there were many booted feet." He paused and stood in anxious thought.

"How can you tell?" Sora asked. Strider looked up from his musings and gave Sora a small smile.

"It is a skill passed down and learned over many years in the wilds Sora," he answered.

"Could you teach me?" Sora asked eagerly. Strider maintained his smile for a second.

"We shall see."

The hobbits ignored the little conversation between Strider and Sora and now looked at the hollow with great dislike. If their enemies were on the Road, only a few miles away, the sooner that Strider led them to a new place, the better.

"Hadn't we better clear out quick Mr. Strider?" asked Sam impatiently. "It is getting late, and I don't like this hole: it makes my heart sink somehow."

"Yes, we certainly must decide what to do at once," answered Strider, looking away from Sora and considering the time and the weather. "Well Sam," he said at last, "I do not like this place either; but I cannot think of anywhere better that we could reach before nightfall. At least we are out of sight for the moment, and if we moved we should be much more likely to be seen by spies. All we could do would be to go right out of our way back north on this side of the line of hills, where the land is all much the same as it is here. The Road is watched, but we should have to cross it, if we tried to take cover in the thickets away to the south. On the north side of the Road beyond the hills the country is bare and flat for miles."

"Can the Riders _see_?" Merry asked. "I mean, they seem usually to have used their noses rather than their eyes, smelling for us, if smelling is the right word, at least in the daylight. But you made us lie down flat when you saw them down below; and now you talk of being seen, if we move."

"I was too careless on the hill-top," Strider explained. "I was very anxious to find some sign of Gandalf; but it was a mistake for four of us to go up and stand there so long. For the black horses can see, and the Riders can use men and other creatures as spies, as we found out at Bree. They themselves do not see the world of light as we do, but our shapes cast shadows in their minds, which only the noon sun destroys; and in the dark they perceive many signs and forms that are hidden from us: then they are most to be feared. And at all times they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it. Senses too, there are other than sight or smell. We can feel their presence—it troubled our hearts, as soon as we came here, and before we saw them. Kairi was the first to feel them; they feel ours more keenly. Also," his voice sank to a whisper, "the Ring draws them."

"And they have another they can use as a spy," Sora said, looking at Kairi. "Pete's with them."

"Pete?" she asked incredulously. "What the heck is _he_ doing here?"

"Who is Pete?" Strider asked.

"He's a big, dumb, and mean oaf that can't even tie his own shoes," Sora answered. "But he's strong, and he's one of a few people I can think of that have it in for me and Kairi."

"You sure sound calm," Pippin remarked.

"Like Sora said," Kairi scoffed, moving a bit of her dirty auburn hair out of her eyes, "Pete's an idiot, and we are not scared of him."

"Is there no escape then?" said Frodo, looking round wildly. "If I move I shall be seen and hunted! If I stay, I shall draw them to me!"

Strider placed a hand comfortingly on Frodo's shoulder. "There is still hope," he said. "You are not alone. Let us take this wood that is set ready for the fire as a sign. There is little shelter or defence here, but fire shall serve for both. Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, but these Riders do not love it, and fear those who wield it. Fire is our friend in the wilderness."

"Maybe," Sam muttered. "It is also as good a way of saying 'here we are' as I can think of, bar shouting."

-A-D-

In the most sheltered corner of the dell they lit a fire and prepared a hot meal. They were all glad for it, as it was the first hot meal they'd had in a little while, and the air had grown cold. They all became aware of starving hunger, but they didn't dare make more than a frugal supper. Strider informed them that the lands ahead were empty of all save birds and beasts, unfriendly places deserted by all the races of the world. Strangers passed at times beyond the hills, but they were few and did not stay. Other wanderers were rare, and of evil sort: trolls might stray down from the northern valleys of the Misty Mountains. Only on the Road would travellers be found, most often dwarves, hurrying along on business of their own, and with no help and few words to spare for travellers.

"I don't see how our food can be made to last," said Frodo. "We have been careful enough in the last few days, and this supper is no feast; but we have used more than we ought, if we have two weeks still to go, and perhaps more."

"I'm sorry, but I was hungry!" Sora said, drawing a slight laugh from the others.

"Looks like we'll make it in time for your birthday Sora," Kairi said.

"Your birthday?" Pippin asked.

"I'll be sixteen on the twenty-fourth," he answered for the second time that day, and for the second time the jaws of two hobbits dropped. "Don't look at me like that," he said, wagging a finger at Samwise and Peregrin, "Kairi turned sixteen last month on the fifth."

"You're older than him?" Merry asked Kairi quickly, smiling but restraining his laughter until after she nodded.

"Hey, it's not funny!" Sora retorted, tossing a twig at the hobbit, the piece of wood nearly getting stuck in Merry's curly hair, but missing by an inch since hobbits were so small.

Strider was smiling and waited for the laughter to abate a little before he spoke. "There is food in the wild: berry, root, and herb; and I have some skill as a hunter at need. You need not be afraid of starving before winter comes. But gathering and catching food is long and weary work, and we need haste. So tighten your belts and think with hope of the tables of Elrond's house!"

It grew colder as the darkness came on, and peering out from the edge of the dell they could see nothing but a grey land now vanishing rapidly into shadow. The sky above them cleared again, slowly revealing a vast array of twinkling stars. They huddled close to the fire, wrapped in their blankets, the hobbits taking on every extra piece of clothing that they had, while Strider was content with a single cloak; and sat a little apart, drawing thoughtfully at his pipe.

Kairi was able to confidentially tell Sora when he asked about how she was doing that she had been able to erect a shield around her heart to keep her safe from the effect the Black Riders had. And it was not soon after this that Strider called Sora over to him.

"I fear that the enemy will attack this night," he said in a low voice, "and I am concerned about the safety of the hobbits and Kairi and their courage. Have you any skill with a blade?"

"I know a little bit, yeah," Sora answered, smiling inside and looking towards the longer sticks in the fire. "And you don't need to worry about Kairi. She can handle herself."

"I am not as sure as you," Strider said, glancing towards the girl. "The Riders are not to be taken lightly."

"Neither is Kairi," Sora answered with a wink. Strider opened his mouth and was about to say something, but then he closed it and shut his grey eyes, the faintest of smiles coming to his lips.

He drew in on his pipe and blew a smoke ring, opening his eyes and looking at Sora again. "You know her best, so I shall trust you in this. I only ask that you pay heed to my warning and be wary should the Riders come."

As night fell and the light of the fire began to shine out brightly Strider began to tell them tales to keep their minds from the fear of the Black Riders. He knew many histories and legends of long ago, of Elves and Men and the good and evil deeds of the Elder Days. Sora and Kairi listened side-by-side with rapt attention, awed by the tales that came from Strider's lips, and wondered how old he was and where he had learned all this lore.

"Tell us of Gil-galad," said Merry suddenly, when Strider had paused at the end of a story of the Elf-Kingdoms. "Do you know any more of that old lay that you spoke of?"

"I do indeed," answered Strider. "So also does Frodo, for it concerns us closely." They looked at Frodo, who was staring into the fire.

"I know only the little that Gandalf has told me," he answered slowly. "Gil-galad was the last of the great Elf-kings of Middle-earth. Gil-galad is _Starlight_ in their tongue. With Elendil, the Elf-friend, he went to the land of—"

"No!" Strider interrupted. "I do not think that tale should be told now with servants of the Enemy at hand. If we win through to the house of Elrond, you may hear it there, told in full."

"Then tell us some other tale of the old days," Sam begged; "a tale about the Elves before the fading time. I would dearly like to hear more about Elves; the dark seems to press round so close."

"I will tell you the tale of Tinúviel," said Strider, "in brief—for it is a long tale of which the end is not known; and there are none left now, except Elrond, that remember it aright as it was told of old. It is a fair tale, though it is sad, as are all the tales of Middle-earth, and yet it may lift up your hearts." He was silent for some time, and then he began not to speak but to chant softly:

_The leaves were long, the grass was green,  
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,  
And in the glade a light was seen  
Of stars in shadow shimmering.  
Tinúviel was dancing there  
To music of a pipe unseen,  
And light of stars was in her hair,  
And in her raiment glimmering._

_There Beren came from mountains cold,  
And lost he wandered under leaves,  
And where the Elven-river rolled  
He walked alone and sorrowing.  
He peered between the hemlock-leaves  
And saw in wonder flowers of gold  
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,  
And her hair like shadow following._

_Enchantment healed his weary feet  
That over hills were doomed to roam;  
And forth he hastened, strong and fleet,  
And grasped at moonbeams glistening.  
Through woven woods in Elvenhome  
She lightly fled on dancing feet,  
And left him lonely still to roam  
In the silent forest listening._

_He heard there oft the flying sound  
Of feet as light as linden-leaves,  
Or music welling underground,  
In hidden hollows quavering.  
Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,  
And one by one with sighing sound  
Whispering fell the beechen leaves  
In the wintry woodland wavering._

_He sought her ever, wandering far  
Where leaves of years were thickly strewn,  
By light of moon and ray of star  
In frosty heavens shivering.  
Her mantle glinted in the moon,  
As on a hill-top high and far  
She danced, and at her feet was strewn  
A mist of silver quivering._

_When winter passed, she came again,  
And her song released the sudden spring,  
Like rising lark, and falling rain,  
And melting water bubbling.  
He saw the elven-flowers spring  
About her feet, and healed again  
He longed by her to dance and sing  
Upon the grass untroubling._

_Again she fled, but swift he came.  
Tinúviel! Tinúviel!  
He called her by her elvish name;  
And there she halted listening.  
One moment stood she, and a spell  
His voice laid on her: Beren came,  
And doom fell on Tinúviel  
That in his arms lay glistening._

_As Beren looked into her eyes  
Within the shadows of her hair,  
The trembling starlight of the skies  
He saw there mirrored shimmering.  
Tinúviel the elven-fair,  
Immortal maiden elven-wise,  
About him cast her shadowy hair  
And arms like silver glimmering._

_Long was the way that fate them bore,  
O'er stony mountains cold and grey,  
Through halls of iron and darkling door,  
And woods of nightshade morrowless.  
The Sundering Seas between them lay,  
And yet at last they met once more,  
And long ago they passed away  
In the forest singing sorrowless._

Strider sighed and paused before he spoke again. "That is a song," he said, "in the mode that is called _ann-thennath_ among the Elves, but it is hard to render in our Common Speech, and this is but a rough echo of it. It tells of the meeting of Beren son of Barahir and Lúthien Tinúviel. Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was the daughter of Thingol, a King of Elves upon Middle-earth when the world was young; and she was the fairest maiden that has ever been among the children of this world. As the stars above the mists of the Northern lands was her loveliness, and in her face was a shining light. In those days the Great Enemy, of whom Sauron of Mordor was but a servant, dwelt in Angband in the North, and the Elves of the West coming back to Middle-earth made war upon him to regain the Silmarils which he had stolen; and the fathers of Men aided the elves. But the Enemy was victorious and Barahir was slain, and Beren escaping through great peril came over the Mountains of Terror into the hidden Kingdom of Thingol in the forest of Neldoreth. There he beheld Lúthien singing and dancing in a glade beside the enchanted river Esgalduin; and he named her Tinúviel, that is Nightingale in the language of old. Many sorrows befell them afterwards, and they were parted long. Tinúviel rescued Beren from the dungeons of Sauron, and together they passed through great dangers, and cast down even the Great Enemy from his throne, and took from his iron crown one of the three Silmarils, brightest of all jewels, to be the bride-price of Lúthien to Thingol her father. Yet at the last Beren was slain by the Wolf that came from Angband, and he died in the arms of Tinúviel. But she chose mortality, and to die from the world, so that she might follow him; and it is sung that they met again beyond the Sundering Seas, and after a brief time walking alive once more in the green woods, together they passed, long ago, beyond the confines of this world. So it is that Lúthien Tinúviel alone of the Elf-kindred has died indeed and left the world, and they have lost her whom they most loved. But from her the lineage of the Elf-lords of old descended among Men. There live still those of whom Lúthien was the foremother, and it is said that her line shall never fail. Elrond of Rivendell is of that Kin. For of Beren and Lúthien was born Dior Thingol's heir; and of him Elwing the White whom Eärendil wedded, he that sailed his ship out of the mists of the world into the seas of heaven with the Silmaril upon his brow. And of Eärendil came the Kings of Númenor, that is Westernesse."

As Strider was speaking they watched his strange eager face, dimly lit in the red glow of the wood-fire. His eyes shone, and his voice was rich and deep. Above him was a black, starry sky. Suddenly a pale light appeared over the crown of Weathertop behind him. The slim crescent of the nearly completely waned moon was climbing slowly above the hill that overshadowed them, and the stars above the hill-top faded slightly.

The hobbits moved and stretched, and Kairi snuggled a little closer to Sora, prompting him to lift his arm to wrap it around her. "Normally I'd leave it for Selphie or Olette to say something," she said, "but since they aren't here I guess it's up to me. Even if it had a sad ending, that was still a romantic story."

"I don't know if ours will come close," Sora said, squeezing her a bit to bring his girlfriend slightly closer. "But I hope it's good." She smiled and they leaned in to share a kiss.

A pug voice broke them apart before their lips could even brush. "Well well well, what do we have here? If it isn't the Keyblade punks, the princess and her chump boyfriend."

Sora's and Kairi's faces hardened and they looked towards the lip of the dell. Standing tall in the fire's light was none other than Pete. The hobbits all fell back, scared of the massive stranger, while Strider looked on in interest.

"Who are you calling punks?" Sora retorted. "We have names you idiot!"

Pete brought his hands back and recoiled in mock fear. "Ooh, still have a little spunk eh? And here Maleficent and I were, thinking that you'd be whining and crying your eyes out after gettin' flattened and losing your arm."

They smiled back slightly at Pete. "What are you talking about Pete?" Sora asked smugly, both of them rising to face him. He held his arms out to his sides. "See, I still have both my arms."

Pete gawked at him and lost his cool for a moment. "But—but she said, and you were, and her! Hadn't she—?" Sora and Kairi shook their heads, smiling at having duped him, and Pete let out a groan of frustration. "Nobody makes a fool outta me! And nobody messes with the Mighty Pete!"

"Buzz off 'Mighty Pete'," Kairi said. "You're way out of your league here, or do you forget the pounding you took the last couple of times we met?"

"When was the last time we met him?" Sora asked her in confusion.

"Uh... I think that was—yeah! It was on my birthday."

"Right, I remember now," Sora said before whispering, "and you made a cute lioness." Kairi giggled slightly.

"Hey what's the big idea?" Pete asked loudly. "What are you two loser whispering about?"

Kairi flashed him a glare. "Did you hear that Sora?" she asked, not taking her gaze off of a stoic Pete. "He just called me a loser."

"I think he also called me a loser too Kai," Sora said.

"I called both you and your princess losers!" Pete said. "Though I gotta say, you sure look like the homeless hobos you are now. Having dead parents and destroyed homes is a hard thing after all."

He struck a big nerve with both of them.

"Okay, you're dead now!" Kairi yelled, removing herself from Sora and getting into a fighting stance. She was glad that she was back almost to her previous strength and ability now.

Pete guffawed at them with his deep laugh. "You say that I'm outta my league here eh? Well maybe you're the twerps who are outta your league!"

"We'll see about that," Sora challenged. "Aiwemon!" A screech came from behind them and Pete looked up just in time to see two blue beams of light streaking towards him. Pete jumped and stumbled a little as they crashed onto the ground in front of his feet.

Sora smiled and looked at his digimon partner as the bird landed lightly on his left shoulder. He could tell that Strider, Merry, and Frodo were probably looking at the little guy in surprise, and that their eyes would switch between both Aiwemon and Menelmon as Kairi's partner landed on her shoulder. Sora did not regret calling for Aiwemon, as Pete's appearance had now made it unavoidable.

"Huh," Pete said, rubbing his nose. "So you had backup waiting in the wings eh? Well two can play at that—" he stopped suddenly and looked behind him, a mask of terror taking hold of his face. He quickly glanced back at Sora and Kairi, both looking at him in confusion. Pete fumbled for words for a second before his face became confident. "I gotta go," he said. "I don't have time to waste on punks like you, but I think these fellas here would be more than happy to oblige. Later losers!"

"Wait Pete!" Kairi called out. But Pete had already vanished into the night. Kairi growled and stayed staring at the spot where Pete had been standing. She was looking down, and her face was cast into shadow. Her hands were clenched into tight fists, and she was trembling.

"I hate this," she muttered, Sora noticing that her voice indicated that she was on the verge of tears. "I hate it every time they bring it up."

"Kairi," Sora said slowly, taking a small step towards her.

"I hate them for killing our parents," she continued, a sob coming out as Menelmon comfortingly wrapped a wing around her head. "I hate them for destroying our home. I hate them for making me—"

"It is not healthy to keep a strong hold of your hate Kairi," Strider said from where he sat, not questioning them on anything at the moment, but understanding that they needed to be comforted right now. "You must let it out."

Kairi nodded and gave another sob before she took a few deep breaths. She gasped suddenly and threw her head up, staring at the lip of the dell opposite the hill with wide eyes. "They're here!"

"Quick!" cried Strider as the hobbits huddled close to the fire, "get some of the longer sticks ready in your hands!"

Sora and Kairi backpedalled to the fire and crouched down, but grasped no burning brand of wood. Aiwemon and Menelmon fluttered a little, shifting from shoulder to shoulder in anxiety, ready, yet fearful as their partners were.

Slowly they felt rather than saw a shadow rise, one or more than one. Each of them strained their eyes and the shadows seemed to grow until there could be no doubt that there were three or four tall black figures standing on the slope, looking down on them. They were so black that they seemed like black holes in the darker shade of night beyond. Sora heard a venomous hiss of breath and felt a piercing chill in his heart, and the shadows advanced.

_Yes!_ Anti rejoiced jubilantly. _Here comes my salvation Sora, and your demise._

_Shut up Anti!_ Sora retorted, gritting his teeth and boldly glaring towards the foes in front of him despite the terror that was flooding into his limbs. Merry and Pippin had thrown themselves flat on the ground, and Sam had shrunk to Frodo's side as his master held closed his eyes and appeared to be grappling internally with some desire. Aiwemon nervously shuddered on Sora's shoulder, and Kairi and Strider both held looks of determination on their faces to match Sora's.

Three of the shadowed figures that were advancing suddenly charged forward for an instant before halting, and Sora could make out the sight of them now in the fire's light. There were five, two at the lip of the dell, and three coming towards them. They were robed all in black and bearing steel swords, while the lead one also bore a knife. Kairi's eyes had turned instantly to a spot in front of the lead one, and there came a sudden cry from that location as if underground or from a great distance of: "_O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!_"

A shrill cry echoed into Sora's ears and he saw the lead figure lunge forward with the knife it held. At last he could bear it no longer and roared in resolve. Silver Remembrance with its trails of gold and star key-tip flashed into his hands and he charged forward, Kairi beside him with the white of Oathkeeper and Strider after them with a flaming brand in each hand. Both digimon flew off of their partners' shoulders and into the air above them. Blue beams shot from Aiwemon's glowing eyes as he and Sora came on against the lead Black Rider.

The Black Rider fell back a few steps as Aiwemon's attack struck him in the chest, and he raised his sword up to defend himself against Sora's rising Keyblade. The ringing sound of the two weapons meeting filled the night air with the first sound of the clash. Neither combatant knew just who the other was, and if they had known, it would be certain that neither of them would have dared face off in battle until they knew more about their opponent. As it was, the Keyblade's Chosen Master: Sora, two-time saviour of the worlds, and the Crown Star Wielder of Twilight, duelled with the Dark Lord Sauron's deadliest servant: the Witch King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl, and greatest of the Nine.

But neither knew their opponent, and went into combat willingly, despite the terror within Sora's heart that the Black Rider's mere proximity inflicted. His silver Keyblade darted up towards the Rider's hooded face only to be knocked to the side by a parry of the Rider's sword. The dagger flashed out towards Sora's chest and he turned to the side, avoiding the blow. Sora placed both hands on the grip of his weapon and brought it down towards the Black Rider's head. It was blocked by the sword carried by his opponent and he swung Remembrance off to come in against the Rider's left side. The Black Rider twisted away from the attack and stabbed out to Sora once again with the dagger. Sora turned the strike away with a quickly intercepting Keyblade before raising it up to defend against a downward slash of his opponent's sword.

Sora backed away as the dagger came towards him again and he looked at the hobbits, cowering on the ground in fear. He looked back to the Rider and his resolve that he wouldn't let these beings of darkness hurt them coursed through his body like a tonic, diming the terror he felt. Against his chest he felt the Crest of Valour glowing brightly against his skin. A flow of rushing power surged into his limbs, and Sora cried out, "Valour!"

There was a bright flash of light and Sora now stood before them with a second blade, the Kingdom Key, in his hands. His cloak, jacket, and breeches had all become a bright crimson, and they were trimmed around the bottom edges and sleeves with patterns of black flames. The Rider he faced backed away from Sora for a moment, but Sora came on his adversary hard. Both his blades moved quickly to come on against the Black Rider, but they were blocked every time by the sword and dagger he fought against.

That didn't matter though, as he was driving the Rider back and away from the hobbits.

_NO!_ Anti roared within his head, tugging at Sora's consciousness. _I won't allow you to keep me locked away!_

Sora was forced to pause for a moment as his Anti-Form grappled with his mind for control, and the Rider saw his opening.

When Kairi had joined in battle with her snow-white Keyblade and Menelmon by her side she had struck quickly against the Rider she faced, drawing its attention towards her blade immediately with a quick thrust and slash. But after that she let her magic spill out, flares of fire spilling out of her hand towards the Black Rider. He reacted in fear and fled away from the sudden burst of flame from her hands and she raced after it, encountering a second and waiting Rider at the lip of the dell. The Oathkeeper moved quickly and Kairi grimaced as both Riders converged upon her, their swords clashing against her Keyblade as the girl spun and deked away from their bite. She heard Sora's cry of 'Valour' and spared only a glance towards him to see for the first time one of his Drive Forms. But the look was short-lived as she had to keep her attention towards her own two opponents. Fires formed around her white weapon, casting fear into the Riders and she drove the flaming blade towards them both, great flashes of light breaking out as her sword clanged with those of the Riders.

Suddenly her heart was filled with terror as a heart-wrenching, agonized cry broke into her ears. The voice was Sora's! She held the Oathkeeper aloft and it glowed brightly with white light. Both Riders she was facing held their swords up to shield them from the light and retreated.

Kairi turned quickly to look at Sora and saw the Rider he had been battling against withdraw a small dagger from Sora's right shoulder. She screamed his name and the Rider turned his head towards her. Fires burned in Kairi's eyes and she swung her Keyblade in the direction of their dark foe. "Firaga!" A sickle of flame burst off of the burning Oathkeeper and flew straight towards the Black Rider. A shrill cry pierced the night and their ears as the flames struck against its cloak and the Rider's garments burst into a fiery exposition. Wailing, the Black Rider retreated.

"Sora!" Kairi said, rushing towards him. He had fallen out of his Valour Form, and was kneeling on the ground. His left hand was clutching the spot where he'd been stabbed by the dagger, and his face was contorted in pain.

"Sora are you alright?" she asked, placing her hands around his shoulders as Aiwemon and Menelmon landed in front of them. The two digimon hadn't done much in the battle, and neither had they seen the opportunity to do so, it had been so quick.

Surprisingly, Sora violently threw Kairi's hands off of his shoulders with a shrug. "Get away from me Kairi!" he snarled. "All of you, hurry!"

"Sora what are you talking about?" Kairi asked, trying to place her hands on him again.

"No, Kairi! Just run! He's taking over, and I don't know what he's going to—!" Sora stopped speaking and his body froze up. Kairi leaned back in surprise and horror as quite quickly his body and clothes turned into the darkest obsidian. Remembrance glowed with a dark light and it turned into the Oblivion Keyblade. Slowly, he stood, the very tips of his hair turned into a shade of black as dark as the shadows they had just fought against.

Kairi took a step back in undulating terror as her eyes looked into the leering smile and pure yellow eyes of a face that only seconds ago she had known and loved, but was now nearly unrecognizable and evil.

"Hello Kairi," said Anti-Form. "I bet you've been _dying_ to meet me."

-A-D-

_(Laughing slightly) You should have seen this coming. If you didn't well, then now you know._

_If I can, I will try to have the next chapter done by Easter Sunday or Monday. I would like it to be done on the day of the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ (I'm Chrisitan, and Protestant, deal with it), but if I don't have it for Sunday I should have it sometime Monday._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	12. To the Ford of Bruinen

_I... I can't really think of anything to say today... except that even though this is the twelfth chapter of __**Light's Growth**__, in reality it is the seventy-fifth chapter of __**The Annals of Darkness**__. So congrats, you're reading seventy-five chapters in!_

_Oh wait, I was wrong. Scotland's Rink led by their Skip, David Murdoch, defeated the Canadian Rink led by Skip Kevin Martin in the 2009 Ford Men's World Curling Championships 8-6 on the final rock in the tenth end on Easter Sunday. Congratulations Scots! If there was ever a team that I'd want to beat Team Canada, it's you guys!_

_And I also apologize for the delay. I know that I said either Easter Sunday or Easter Monday, but I failed to reach both. The chapter grew longer, much longer, than I had anticipated, and I misplaced not one, but two crucial pen and paper documents for the story that I had foolishly not yet transferred onto the computer. (Bows head) Gomenasai!_

_But, we get something cool... so catch the reference(s) if you can!_

_**WARNING!**__ This chapter is the true first reason as to why we are now rated 'M'. Anti is the first thing that made me want to rate it 'M' in the first place. Anti-Form's personality and behaviour in this story is one of the real 'M' reasons! Roxas and Naminé's earlier swearing bout was just a precursor._

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is not original in this fanfic._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XII: To the Ford of Bruinen

"Sora?" Kairi asked with her eyes in with terror at the person in front of her. The smile he was sending her way made her feel frightened, and quite vulnerable.

"In a way," he answered, his voice different from the one she was accustomed to hearing leave Sora's lips. It was of a higher pitch than Sora's regular voice, and seemed maniacal in its nature. He grinned and began to walk towards her slowly, and she backed away herself with every step he took, the Oblivion darkly reflecting the light from the fire where the hobbits were still huddled. "You see Kairi," he continued, "I am Sora."

Kairi shook her head slowly. "No," she said, but her declaration sounded feeble in her own ears.

He laughed. "But I am your highness," he mocked, sweeping down in a bow while continuing towards her. "I am the darkness within Sora's heart. I am what he calls his Anti-Form. In that way, I am a part of Sora, so I _am_ him."

Kairi stumbled slightly on the slope of the dell as she backed away from Anti. Menelmon and Aiwemon flew up in front of her, halting Anti-Form in his tracks. "Don't come any closer Keys!" Menelmon cried, to the amazement of the hobbits.

Anti-Form laughed again as Kairi regained her footing and held the Oathkeeper out in front of her, pointing it at Anti-Form from between both Rookie-level digimon. "Or what?" he asked tentatively, taking a step forward. They all backed away again and he proceeded. "Or you'll attack me?" he mused. "You'd attack your beloved Sora?"

His eyes flashed blue and his body flickered back into the Sora's that they knew for an instant before returning to the black body and yellow eyes that was Anti-Form. Kairi's grip on her Keyblade became shaky and Aiwemon and Menelmon looked anxiously at each other as they hovered in front of Kairi.

"Sora?" Kairi whispered, her indigo eyes blurry with moisture. Anti-Form smirked wider and the Oblivion that he carried lashed out faster than any of them could react, striking the sides of both Aiwemon and Menelmon and knocking them away to the ground. "Menelmon!" Kairi shrieked, watching her partner fall to the ground.

"You know," Anti-Form said lightly, looking fondly at the dark Oblivion as Kairi's eyes turned back to him more fearfully than when she had faced Maleficent, "every other time that I was able to take control from him when he was Driving, I hadn't been able to use these. I had to use _these_!"

Kairi cried out as he abruptly swapped the Keyblade from his right hand to his left and swiped at her face with his now empty hand. She lost her grip on the Oathkeeper and collapsed onto the ground, her cheek stinging with pain. Something wet began to dribble down her cheek, and red liquid glistened on Anti's black gloved hand.

"I had forgotten how _good_ it felt to do that," he said insanely, licking Kairi's blood off of his glove. Kairi gasped in sickened terror at the being in front of her. This..._thing_ was inside of Sora, this was a _part_ of Sora?

He looked at her again and Kairi flinched and drew back in a primal defensive gesture into the slope. Anti-Form's voice filled her ears with its insane laughter again, and it brought more despair to her heart. "You know, I'm very glad you survived when I tried to choke you Kairi," he said, approaching her fallen form again. "And yes," he said when he saw her freeze, "that was me you saw and felt when the darkness from Maleficent's blade stuck Sora. And you saw what happened when you destroyed my arm, you destroyed your precious _Sora's_ arm as well!" Kairi watched him, frozen in fear, as he stabbed the Oblivion into the ground and threw off the obsidian cloak, jacket, sweater, and linen shirt before pulling off both gloves. The automail was completely revealed and was as dark as a shadow in a moonless night, reflecting Kairi's own terrified eyes back at her. The skin and hairs of his chest were completely black, but as he removed each article of clothing it returned to its previous colour, having left the darkness of the evil body behind.

Another cry of pain left Kairi's mouth as she was suddenly backhanded by the metal limb. And Anti laughed again, "But I have to thank you Princess Kairi, for the gift of this wonderfully powerful limb. Sora is a fool, _he _doesn't know how to properly use everything he has; from his power... to his woman!" He raked Kairi's face again, this time with the claws that came out of his right hand.

Her other cheek was bleeding now and he stood above her, and he smiled wickedly as the girl's blood dripped off of his claws. "You know," he said, slowly, and in a tone of voice that frightened Kairi even more, "I had planned on raping you until you were unable to move like the filthy whore you know you are and making you declare yourself to be my little slut and mine alone, but since you look so cute and sexy bleeding like that, I think I'll just kill you now."

"You're sick!" Kairi yelled, finally recovering her powers of speech.

Kairi flinched as the Oblivion appeared in his right hand again and he held it towards her throat, a serious look taking hold of his face for the first time.

"You want to die?" he asked, his voice low and his eyes cold and unfeeling. Kairi stayed silent for a few seconds and only stared blurrily up into those yellow eyes, completely frozen in place. She didn't know what to do! Everything seemed so distant and hopeless. He held her life in his hands, and there was nothing that she could do to stop him.

"Ice Feathers!" Menelmon cried. "Keen Sight!" Aiwemon yelled at the same time.

Anti-Form turned around at the sound of their voices and deked out of the way of the male digimon's attack, but three of Menelmon's feathers pierced his side and he winced only slightly, glaring at the digimon as thick drops of blood oozed out from between the freezing feathers.

"You pesky birds!" he roared, swinging the Oblivion at the two flying digimon. Tiny purple meteors blazed out of his Keyblade and swerved towards both hovering Rookies. But Aiwemon and Menelmon were both too small and too good with their wings to be hit by his attack, and they weaved out of the path of every single missile as Anti-Form continued to swing his blade towards them, unleashing wave after wave of the dark projectiles.

"Keen Sight!" Aiwemon yelled again, his eyes glowing a violent electric blue.

"No Aiwemon!" Kairi screamed frantically, "STOP!"

Aiwemon blinked for a second and his eyes returned to their normal colour. Unfortunately in the moment of his confusion, he was struck by one of Anti's dark blasts, and crashed to the ground.

"Why Kairi?" Menelmon asked loudly, concerned for her friend but still dodging the relentless blasts of dark energy.

Kairi looked down and nearly sobbed, her eyes stuck on the splotches of red blood on the ground, lit dramatically by the light of the fire. "You'll hurt Sora," she answered quietly. Menelmon looked at her in shock, and suddenly she too was struck down, in the back.

"Menelmon!" Kairi cried, looking towards her fallen partner. Both digimon were down on the ground, struggling to get back to their feet by feebly pushing up with their wings.

"Just you and me now again Iri," Anti said, his yellow eyes glistening mysteriously, mocking her with the special nickname Sora called her.

"Don't call me that," Kairi said quickly, her voice gaining a little strength as she held her hands out in front of her. Bright light began to shine in her palms and Anti laughed again at the determined look on Kairi's face as she stared at him.

"Go ahead Kairi," he urged, smiling cruelly at her. "Go on. Use your light against me. You saw what it did last time. Attack me with it; destroy me with it. I'll be gone forever. But not only that," he added, seeing Kairi's resolve to strike him with her light strengthening, "if you kill me now, you'll also kill your dear Sora!"

Kairi felt her limbs freeze again and the light that was glowing from her hands dimmed and flickered for a moment before dying out as her heart became clenched by fear. She couldn't do it. She knew that she wouldn't ever be able to attack Anti-Form if she'd be hurting Sora too; and after what she'd done the last time, she didn't know if she'd be able to go on.

"I can't," she sobbed, her tears finally falling down her cheeks, stinging the wounds on both sides of her face and mixing with the blood that still leaked out.

Anti looked at her in disdain as her arms were still extended towards him. "Why you still doing that Kairi? Do you not want those hands anymore?" Kairi gasped as her eyes noticed that the Oblivion was darting towards her. Kairi jammed her eyes shut and readied herself for the sudden excruciating pain that would be imminent.

But the pain didn't come. For several long seconds, the pain didn't come.

Kairi looked up and opened her eyes, surprised to see Anti standing ridged in front of her. A voice, Sora's voice, filtered into Kairi's mind.

_No,_ he said, _I won't—I won't let you hurt Kairi like that!_

"Shut up you!" Anti snarled. "This body is mine now. Do you hear me? MINE!"

_You're wrong Anti!_ Sora retorted. _This is __**my**__ body, and you—can't—HAVE IT!_

Anti gave a sudden shrill cry and reared his head back like he was in pain. Slowly his body began to lighten and gain colour, and the cry became deeper until it was Sora standing and yelling in front of Kairi. The Oblivion became the silver sabre Keyblade Remembrance once again, and Sora fell onto his knees, dropping his weapon and letting it vanish. He was sweating terribly and his naked chest was rising and falling slowly, blood still coming out of the three feathers that were stuck in his left side. Kairi's eyes strayed over his automail towards his right shoulder, noticing a dark wound there, before resting on his tired cerulean-blue eyes. He looked at her remorsefully for a second before glancing around.

"Kairi," he began, "Aiwemon, Menelmon, Merry, Pippin, Sam... I'm sorry." He groaned suddenly and collapsed onto his right side, unconscious.

"Sora..." Kairi whispered, her eyes widening, "SORA!" She dashed towards him and propped his shoulders and head up in her arms and lap. Menelmon and Aiwemon limped towards him as he lay across her, unconscious.

"Keys..." Menelmon muttered sadly, her wing straying over his face. Kairi sobbed for a second, but took a little bit of comfort that he was back to normal for now. She looked towards the hobbits for a second, and the three of them looked nervously back at Kairi. She shook her head and glanced back at Aiwemon and Menelmon.

"Come on," she said, "let's get him closer to the fire."

The three of them brought Sora towards the heat and light of the fire, and Kairi plucked Menelmon's three feathers that had pierced Sora's side out. His automail glimmered in the firelight, drawing looks of anxious awe from the hobbits. Kairi looked towards their packs and called, "Jiminy! Do we have any elixirs?"

The cricket popped out of his hiding spot in the pack and looked towards them, again surprising the hobbits. "Oh dear!" he exclaimed, hopping out and running past the fire towards them. "What happened to you guys?" He started for a second. "Why is Sora's automail showing, and why are you and Menelmon both out here Aiwemon?"

"It looks like the Anti-Form Sora told me about came out," Kairi said sadly, glancing down at him.

"Looks like it?" Menelmon said reproachfully. "Kairi _look_ at your face! Keys would never do that to you."

Jiminy looked sombrely at Sora. "Oh, so he's showing himself again is he?" Jiminy sighed. "I'll look around in the packs and bring you any if I find one. I think all we have are potions and ethers though."

"Thanks Jiminy," Aiwemon said appreciatively, rubbing his eyes with a wing while he looked at Sora. "Why didn't he tell me about this?" he whispered quietly, placing his white head down on his partner's chest, bare except for the now muted Crest of Valour and Sora's silver crown pendant.

Kairi looked around for a moment, and suddenly frowned. She looked at the hobbits, who did not seem quite as anxious now. "Where's Frodo?"

"He is here." Kairi and the two digimon looked up to see Strider coming back with the missing hobbit unconscious like Sora in his arms. Frodo was clutching something tightly in one hand, and Strider held the hobbit's sword underneath Frodo in one of his hands.

"Kairi I found one!" Jiminy said excitedly, popping out of Sora's pack. He spotted Strider and Strider spotted him, giving the cricket a curious look while he placed Frodo down by the fire. Strider's grey eyes looked towards Aiwemon and Menelmon for a brief second, and then Kairi's Keyblade as it still lay exactly where she had dropped it against the side of the dell. He held his curious gaze on Sora's automail longest of all and watched as Jiminy slowly came towards Kairi while carrying a bright golden bottle, looking anxiously at Strider the whole time. She took it from the cricket and looked up at Strider, her eyes pleading him to not ask any questions right now.

"Pile the fire high, and keep them warm," he instructed them before vanishing into the night. Kairi looked away from where Strider disappeared and towards the elixir in her hands. She looked at it for a second before a sound of angered sadness slipped out of her lips. Kairi took the golden stopper off the top of the bottle and looked inside at the golden liquid, swirling it around a little.

Kairi turned to look at Sora's unconscious face. He was breathing slowly and rhythmically, but his expression was that of pain. Blood was still oozing slightly out of the feather wounds, and the spot where he had been stabbed in his right shoulder was dark and also bleeding, but only just. She shuffled a little closer to his head and with one hand propped it up. She knew that the hobbits were looking at her and her gathering strangely, even as they tended to Frodo, but Kairi ignored them as she spoke softly, "Drink up Sora." She tipped the elixir bottle's mouth onto Sora's and the golden liquid began to flow over his tongue. Surprisingly, the liquid went smoothly down his throat and he unconsciously swallowed it until Kairi stopped pouring. She looked back into the bottle after she had stopped, placing his head down onto her lap while doing so. There was still about a quarter of it left.

Kairi made a face and braced herself for what it would taste like. The princess was confident that if it was anything like a potion, she'd feel horrible with the taste of it in her mouth until she'd be able to wash it all out with water from her canteen. Kairi tipped her head back and downed the last bit of the elixir down. Her eyes widened in surprise as the golden serum touched her tongue. It was warm, and held the sweet taste of honey, but it was also fiery like a hot pepper.

Kairi coughed a little bit from the bite it had after she had finished the last mouthful of the elixir. Already she could feel her cheeks growing warm from its healing properties and the skin around the cuts began to itch some. She resisted the urge to touch them as her body suddenly became flooded with a wave of energy that stole all the weariness and tiredness that had accumulated since she had woken up in the morning. Instead, she reached for her canteen and drank a long draught from it.

Kairi placed her canteen back on the ground beside her and gave the empty elixir bottle to Jiminy. He took it and looked solemnly between Kairi and Sora as his head lay upon her lap. Jiminy hopped on back to Sora's pack and placed the empty bottle back inside of it.

Merry and Pippin got up, to Kairi's immediate surprise and worry. But she needn't have done so as Pippin went into the darkness and helped Aiwemon and Menelmon in retrieving the clothing that Anti-Form had discarded from Sora's body while he had had control, and Merry set about putting more wood on the fire. Wordlessly, the one hobbit and two digimon brought back the articles and helped Kairi place Sora's jacket and cloak over him again. Jiminy emerged again from Sora's pack, struggling to drag the teen's blanket back with him. Merry (who was nearest), took the blanket from Jiminy and began to move to where Kairi was.

"Thanks," Jiminy said, looking up gratefully at the hobbit. The corners of Merry's mouth twitched up into a smile for a second before he handed the blanket to Kairi.

"Here," he said, finally becoming the first hobbit to speak since Pete made his appearance earlier. Kairi took it and smiled slightly, laying it over Sora along with his jacket and cloak.

"Thank you Merry," she said quietly, "and you too Pippin." All was silent for a minute before Kairi sighed heavily and hung her head in one hand. "I guess you have no reason to trust us now, with us hiding so much from you all." She glanced at Sam particularly while she said this, and his eyes were once again looking at her and Sora, and their new companions, with distrust.

"Well we did find you a bit odd," Pippin said, trying to lighten the dark mood for a moment. "But at least the secrets aren't dark secrets. Are they?" he asked Merry in a whisper.

Merry was about to open his mouth to answer when they heard a groan. Sora's head moved from side-to-side for a few seconds and his eyelids flickered open. He winced as the firelight struck them, but after a few moments Kairi was able to see the cerulean blue of them clearly. "Kairi?"

She smiled softly and noticed that her eyes were growing blurry again. Kairi gave a tiny nod as Sora raised his left hand up to touch her right cheek, his metal fingers running along the tracks of the dry blood. Kairi placed her hand over his and pressed the steel closer over the repaired cheek. "How you feeling?" she asked concernedly.

She saw Sora gulp anxiously. "Guilty," he answered, gently rubbing a tear that had fallen down Kairi's cheek away with his thumb. "Guilty for letting him do that to you, and call you those things."

"I'm fine Sora," Kairi answered, placing his hand down and shaking her head slightly. "Worry about yourself now." Sora looked away from her, his face pensive and lost in thought.

Jiminy sighed audibly and took his top hat off to wipe his forehead. "Well, we're certainly in a pickle this time Sora." Sora looked at him, surprised that the Royal Chronicler was out in the open. Aiwemon slowly came closer to the side of Sora's head and nuzzled his cheek comfortingly. He smiled slightly and moved his shoulder to let Aiwemon in underneath him, but gasped nearly as soon as he began to move it. His left hand flew to the place where the Rider's knife had stabbed him and he sat up quickly, his face twitching in pain as his blanket, cloak, and jacket fell off of him.

"What is it?" Pippin asked concernedly.

Sora blinked and stared at the hobbit. "You're speaking to us?"

Pippin shrugged. "There is no point not too," he said. "We've been travelling together since Bree, and we still have a long way to go by what Strider has told us." Sora continued to stare at Pippin for a few seconds and then he smiled slightly. Sora's gaze fell onto his shoulder and he lost his smile.

"It hurts," he whimpered.

Kairi felt her face go funny for a second, and she placed a clenched hand to her chin for a moment before bursting out into giggles. Sora looked at his girlfriend, affronted, but no words were able to escape from his flabbergasted lips. "Is that all you can say?" she asked, smiling. "That being stabbed hurts? Let's see, you've been: shot, pummelled, electrocuted, burned, cut, bashed, whipped, bitten, pierced by feathers now, and thrown into buildings."

Sora frowned at Kairi. "And what about you, my princess? I can remember a little of your not-so-spotless record: whipped, cut, electrocuted, ravaged by darkness, scratched, shot by an arrow, slammed into buildings, choked, and nearly drowned."

"Don't bring that one up," Kairi said quickly. She shivered and could almost feel the Kraken's tentacles around her body once more. They both paused and looked at each other. "Wow," Kairi muttered in realization, "we sure are reckless aren't we?"

"All because of our line of work," Sora sighed, looking at his shoulder again. He only now noticed something. "Wait a second, why am I shirtless?"

All of them started suddenly as Frodo sat bolt upright. "What has happened?" he asked wildly. "Where is the pale king?"

Sam's face beamed at his master. "Oh bless me you're awake!" he cried happily, laughing in joy. Merry and Pippin too came to Frodo, intensely glad that he had woken up at last, and Sora and Kairi couldn't help but smile weakly at the hobbit themselves even though both of them and their digimon had also been hurt.

Frodo looked at Sora and Kairi after gathering as much information as he could from Sam about what had happened since the vague shadowy shapes (as he had seen them) came into the dell, with Sam not telling him what had happened between Sora and Kairi and the other creatures, and Frodo's eyes swiftly passed from them to the two birds and cricket dressed in a tailcoat and top hat, to Sora's automail left arm.

"What happened to your arm Sora?" he asked, his gaze fixed on the steel appendage.

The fivesome sighed and hung their heads. "We'll explain later," Sora said quietly. "We'll explain everything later after Strider has come back."

"You should start explaining now," Sam said crossly, folding his arms and looking at them all. Clearly he was having doubts about them again.

There was a sudden sound from the other side of the dell and Sam and Kairi both stood quickly and protectively over their charges. Sam drew his sword (it was a dagger, but to a hobbit it was a sword), and the Oathkeeper vanished from where it had lain abandoned and reappeared in Kairi's hands as she called out, "Who's there?"

Strider appeared in the firelight and swiftly bypassed them to kneel at Frodo's side. "I am not a Black Rider," he said gently, "nor am I in league with them. I have been trying to discover something of their movements, and more about their companion Pete; but I have found nothing. I cannot think why they have gone and do not attack again. But there is no feeling of their presence anywhere at hand."

"That is good," Frodo said quietly. Strider looked at him curiously and Frodo began to tell them all of what had happened to him. He told them that he had been overcome by a desire to put on a ring, and that when he had all around him had become dim and dark, but that he could see the shadows underneath their cloaked wrappings with terrible clarity. He did not describe to them what they looked like underneath, but they must have been terrible. The lead one he said bore a crown upon its helm, and in his hands it bore a sword and a knife. Both the knife and the hand that held it glowed with a pale light. Frodo had drawn his sword and slashed at the foot of the figure, and then he felt a pain like a dart of poisoned ice pierce his left shoulder. It was after that that he saw Strider, Sora, and Kairi, both teens glowing brightly with an intense light that confused him, rushing forward with weapons in hand, and he was at last able to slip the ring he had put on off of his finger before he lost consciousness.

After Strider had heard what Frodo had to say, he looked to Sora's right shoulder and found the wound he had been stricken with. "I got stabbed by the same knife," Sora said, watching Strider's face anxiously as the Ranger noted that the skin had not yet healed over this wound while the ones on his side from Menelmon's attack had already closed thanks to the elixir.

He rose with a grave expression on his face and ordered Merry and Pippin to heat as much water in their kettles and to bathe both Frodo's and Sora's wounds with it. "Keep the fire going well, and keep them both warm!" he said. "Kairi, Sam, come here a moment." Kairi looked at Sora for a second before he nodded at her. She rose and followed Strider with Sam as the man walked a distance away.

"I think I understand things better now," he said to them in a low voice. "There seem only to have been five of the enemy. Why they were not all here, I don't know; but I don't think they expected to be resisted. They have drawn off for the time being. But not far, I fear. They will come again another night, if we cannot escape. They are only waiting, because they think that their purpose is almost accomplished, and that the Ring cannot fly much further. I fear, that they believe your master, Sam, and your friend, Kairi, have deadly wounds that will subdue them to their will. We shall see!"

Kairi watched as Sam choked with tears at the news and Strider began to comfort him, but she shook her head in disagreement to Strider's expectations of what was going to happen to Sora. She caught him saying that he was leaving and stopped him before he could hurry away too far. "No."

Strider halted and turned slowly to face Kairi. "What?"

Kairi held Strider's grey eyes and slowly began to speak. "Sora will not succumb to the Riders' will, because that is not what the wound is doing to him."

"What do you mean?" asked Strider, taking a step towards Kairi in curiosity.

She looked away, suddenly feeling very vulnerable under the man's eyes. "I think that it's calling out to the darkness within his heart, and feeding it and making it stronger. I think that what it wants to do, is to take Sora I know; the Sora I love," she added, admitting it directly in words to Strider and Sam the extent of their relationship, "away from the Realm of Light that we reside in, and to replace him with the darkness in his heart."

"How?" Strider asked, now standing right over Kairi. She gasped at the sudden closeness and looked up at his blurry face. She had tears in her eyes again, and wished that she could stop crying tonight.

She began to shudder, and her lower lip quivered as she looked up into Strider's eyes. "The only way that I could ever lose Sora forever, by destroying his soul!"

"Then I will be swift," Strider told her. "Guard them well while I am away!" With that he vanished again into the night.

They both returned to the fire and saw that Sora had been placed a little closer to it, next to Frodo. His cloak and blanket were spread over him, while his jacket and linen shirt were underneath. The wool sweater rested underneath his head as a makeshift pillow.

"What was that all about?" he asked of her as Kairi returned to kneeling by his side. She shook her head.

"Hush now," she said softly, a pot flying out of Sora's pack at her silent call of _accio_. "Water." Streams of water slowly cascaded out of her fingertips as she held one hand above the pot, filling it up until it was nearly full. Getting up, Kairi placed it over the fire with the hobbits' kettles before returning to Sora's side. "We're going to take care of you now, so get some rest."

"But—"

Kairi interrupted him by placing her finger to his lips. She gently forced his head back down and looked him straight in the eyes. She began to sing softly.

"_Try not to get worried, try not to turn onto  
__Problems that upset you, oh.  
__Don't you know?  
__Everything's alright, yes, everything's fine.  
__And we want you to sleep well tonight.  
__Let the world turn without you tonight.  
__If we try, we'll get by, so forget all about us tonight."_

She smiled as she saw Sora smile slightly and close his eyes. He sighed softly and mumbled. "Alright, I'll try and sleep. Goodnight."

They were all quiet for a time as the water in the hobbits' kettles and the pot slowly heated up. Frodo began to doze as well, Kairi's sweet singing voice having influenced him too, and the silent air was suddenly punctuated by a snore from Sora as he finally fell asleep.

"That's the Sora we know," Aiwemon said fondly, watching his partner from Kairi's side while Menelmon sat upon her shoulder. Kairi and Jiminy both nodded, the cricket on Aiwemon's white head. Both digimon were weary and they ached from what they had suffered at Anti-Form's hands, but they wouldn't admit it to anyone or anything.

Kairi leaned in slowly, so as not to upset Menelmon, and lightly kissed Sora on the forehead, light enough that she could barely feel his skin against her lips so that she wouldn't wake him. "Goodnight, my prince."

-A-D-

Sora looked around apprehensively. Instead of the blank nothingness of peaceful sleep, or the waking world of dreams that usually centred on Kairi, he was standing upon his platform. He looked down at it and found that it looked exactly the same as it had the last time he had been upon it. His image was lying upon the bent trunk of the paopu tree, looking up into a starry sky with a blue cloak with golden trimmings on him, and his automail arm prominently displayed. The seven blue circles with Riku, Roxas, Naminé, Donald, Goofy, Max, and Aiwemon in them were all still there, and the heart in the case of Kairi was present too.

There was a gasp that drew Sora's attentions away from the stained glass upon which he stood and made his gasp himself.

"You're gal's pretty hot Sora," Anti-Form said, standing on the other side of the platform directly across from him, his completely black face with his beady yellow eyes leering at him in an insanely pleased way. "And this one's not so bad herself."

"Get away from them!" Sora shouted, anger bubbling within his chest as Anti held onto the spirits of both Kairi and Naminé that dwelled within his heart. "Let them go!"

Anti didn't answer him, only smiled devilishly as his tongue entered Naminé's ear on his left. She shivered in disgust as the black thing began to wiggle around in it, and Anti's right hand began to stray to a place on Kairi's upper body that made her gasp as he squeezed.

Sora looked away angrily for a second before he roared in rage and summoned Remembrance to his hand. His cerulean eyes burned and he ran towards Anti, taking two powerful steps before springing into the air. His sabre-like Keyblade gleamed beside him, shining with silver energy as the curved and sharp blade cut the air even as he held it. Sora yelled and brought it above his head with both hands and swung down as he descended, ready to cut Anti into two!

Anti-Form had only smirked and withdrew his tongue from Naminé's ear and his hand from Kairi's breast before pushing both of them roughly to the ground. He held out his hand as Sora came down and caught the Keyblade in his clawed hand. Sora's eyes widened in surprise as he was stopped, his sword not even cutting the palm of Anti's hand. The silver glow in his Keyblade died as Anti held him hovering there above him, the eyes of the spirits of Kairi and Naminé as wide as Sora's.

"Do you honestly think you can get rid of me that easily?" Anti asked patronizingly. He held up his left arm and pointed the metal of it at Sora's face. A blast of darkness barrelled out of the dark automail and struck Sora dead in the face. He yelled in sudden pain and surprise, and lost his grip on his Keyblade. Sora flew backwards across the stained-glass platform and landed hard on his bum, bouncing and sliding a foot before stopping.

Kairi and Naminé rushed towards him while Anti stood exactly where he had been, smiling at Sora and holding Remembrance by its blade. Sora scowled and sat up, glaring at Anti as Kairi and Naminé reached opposite sides of him.

"Bastard," he growled in a low voice. "Where's Roxas' and Aiwemon's spirits?"

"Anti beat them," Naminé said sadly. "Aiwemon's spirit couldn't digivolve without you here, but he still wanted to fight. They're both resting now to recover."

"Why didn't they call me in to help keep both of you safe from him?" Sora asked.

"It would have been too awkward for you to dive into your mind, considering what's happening out there," Kairi answered.

"What about Donald and Goofy and Max?"

"They tried too," Naminé said. "But they were down even faster than Roxas was."

"Riku?"

"He didn't want to come out," Naminé said. "There are some things that Anti could do to him that would be even worse than simply beating him up. Don't worry about us Sora, we'll be fine. We aren't really Kairi and Naminé you know."

Sora grumbled and got to his feet. "It doesn't matter to me that you aren't really Kairi and Naminé, you're still my friends, and you're still worth protecting. And I'll do it myself if I have to." He stared at Anti as his darkness smiled insanely at him, still holding onto the Keyblade.

"We can fight," Kairi reminded him.

"He'll grope both of you again if you get caught by him," Sora said, causing both Kairi and Naminé to look at each other uncertainly. "Get yourselves into the deepest, most lit recesses of my heart and stay there."

Before they could move they were stopped by a cackle from Anti-Form. "There isn't much light left in your heart Sora," he laughed. "And all that's left will soon be overcome by darkness."

"Over my soul," Sora retorted.

"That's the idea," Anti said. "But as Naminé said, they are only spirits that reside in the heart. They aren't real like you and I are. So why should it matter what I do with our toys?"

"Our?" Sora asked heatedly. "You are not me!"

"On the contrary, I am your darkness Sora," Anti said, slowly beginning to walk towards him. "I am part of what you are. So it is my heart as well, that means that they also belong to me. Mother taught us to share didn't she?" he asked, stopping and extending his left hand towards Sora as both Kairi and Naminé moved behind him, afraid of Anti. "Hand them over. I still want to have some fun with them."

"I'll tell you why it matters to me," Sora said, moving towards Anti. "Because they aren't toys, and my conscience tells me that what you want to do isn't right!" He made to summon the Keyblade from Anti's grasp and into his hand, but his eyes widened in shock when he found that for the second time it wouldn't come.

Anti laughed as the other three looked at Sora's empty right hand in bewilderment. "It's a rather funny thing," he said, holding Remembrance by its blade still. "The Keyblade chose you, and since I am you, that meant that it had chosen me as well. But it would never come to me before when I was able to intercept you Driving and take control. Now though," his beady yellow eyes glinted with maleficent nature as the blade in his hand became covered with darkness and appeared in his hand, the Oblivion.

"It looks as if _I_ am the stronger one," he finished. He raised his left hand and Sora saw and felt dark chains of steel come out of the darkness surrounding his platform and ensnare him. His stomach lurched and he gasped as he was lifted up into the air and a choker encased his neck, forcing his head to look down upon the platform.

Anti smirked at Sora's predicament and fired a purple meteor at Sora's enchained body. The Keyblade Master howled in agony as the blast struck him in the chest, and the chains tightly restrained him to keep him from flying backwards. They pressed into his neck and cut off his air, and his hand and ankles were in pain as the metal sides cut into the skin. Sora gasped for breath and panted heavily, glaring at Anti-Form from his position. He tried to summon the Keyblade into his hand again, but again it would not come to him; it wouldn't even budge from Anti's clawed hand.

Anti bent his neck to one side until there was a loud _crack_ that came from it. He righted it again swiftly and looked towards the spirits of Kairi and Naminé. "Now, where did we leave off?" he asked. They summoned their Keyblades to their hands and stared uncertainly at Anti, not wanting to go through more of the same before Sora had shown up.

"Leave them alone!" Sora yelled. "Your fight is with me!" Anti-Form pointed the Oblivion at Sora and a black bolt of lightning raced out of it, red light humming all around the bolt. Sora writhed silently in pain, biting down on his teeth to keep silent through it all. When it had toned down into the dull, throbbing reminder of what he had just been subject to, he was able to look up again. Anti was fighting with both girls, his black Keyblade a flurry as darkness flew out of it almost as much as he physically struck towards them with the blade. Kairi and Naminé didn't look like they could hold out against him much longer, he was both fast and strong. Sora struggled against his bonds, but the moment he did his body was racked by pain as the choker against his neck sent jolts of electricity coursing into him. Soon the air around Sora had ceased reverberating with the sounds of clashing steel and had degraded into screams and then into horrifyingly agonized shrieks.

Sora closed his eyes and turned his head away as far as he was able to, but no matter what he did, he was unable to shut off his ears.

-A-D-

The night passed slowly and wearily as they looked after Frodo and Sora. Frodo woke several times over, and informed them that his left shoulder had grown deathly cold, and that the cold was spreading. They did their best to warm him, but Sora remained asleep through the night and into the early morning. He ceased snoring after only two minutes of it, and then his face was inexplicably difficult to read for the remainder of the night. Dawn was growing in the sky when at last Strider returned.

He paused and stooped near the ground. "Look!" he said, picking up a burned black cloak that had lain on the ground, hidden by the darkness of the night. A foot above the lower hem the cloak was slashed. "This was the stroke of Frodo's sword," he said. "The only hurt that it did to his enemy, I fear; for it is unharmed, but all blades perish that pierce that dreadful King. More deadly to him was the name of Elbereth."

"And more deadly to Frodo and Sora was this!" he cried, stooping down again to pick up a long thin knife. Its blade shone with a cold light. Kairi looked at the knife intensely, knowing that this was the weapon that had pierced Sora's shoulder and had probably brought out Anti in the first place. Near the end of its edge it was notched on both sides, and the point of broken off. But even as Strider held it in the morning light, the blade seemed to melt and vanished like smoke in the air, leaving the hilt alone in Strider's hand. "Alas," he lamented. "It was this accursed knife that gave the wounds. Few now have the skill in healing to match such evil weapons. But I will do what I can."

Strider sat on the ground and took the dagger-hilt and laid it upon his knees, and he sang over it a slow song in a strange tongue. Then he set it aside and turned first to Frodo, and in a soft voice he spoke words the others could not hear. He then did the same to Sora as the boy still slept, but as soon as he had finished, Sora jolted awake, suddenly perspiring quickly. The others looked at him in sudden fright. His blue eyes were wide and frantic, and he seemed to carry a great pain in his heart.

"Sora what's wrong?" Aiwemon asked swiftly, even beating Kairi to the question. The Keyblade Master appeared to have not heard his digimon partner, and his gaze swept around them all quickly before resting on Kairi as she kneeled next to him. She was alarmed when his arms flung around her and clutched her tightly to him. His shoulder _had_ to have hurt him when he did that, but he appeared too distressed to have noticed.

"You're alright..." he muttered, nearly choking on the words as she felt him shiver. "You're alright..."

Kairi looked at Sora nervously and peeled him off of her, but not without care. "Sora what's this about? Why wouldn't I be alright? You're the one who got stabbed."

Sora gulped and looked down. "Never mind, it isn't important. Just a dream." Kairi cocked her head only slightly to the side in anxiety. She caught something in Sora's voice that didn't make his assurance believable, even less than it had been the previous morning. A dream shouldn't have shaken Sora up this much; the last time he had looked like this was after they had first encountered Cossex at the party Yuffie had thrown for them over a month ago on Destiny Islands.

"Then do not let it trouble you for now," Strider said, withdrawing from the pouch on his belt long leaves of a plant. "These leaves," he said, "I have walked far to find; for this plant does not grow in the bare hills; but in the thickets away south of the Road. I found it in the dark by the scent of its leaves." He crushed one of the leaves in his fingers, and the air became filled by a sweet and pungent fragrance. Kairi thought that it was familiar, but she couldn't place where she might have smelled the herb before.

"It is fortunate that I could find it," Strider continued, "for it is a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth. _Athelas_ they named it, and it grows now sparsely and only near places where they dwelt or camped of old; and it is not known in the North, except to some of those who wander in the Wild. It has great virtues, but over such a wound as this its healing powers may be small." Strider threw the leaves into the boiling water and bathed Frodo's shoulder first. The fragrance of the steam was refreshing, and Kairi felt once again as her mind became calm and clear that she had been under the effects of this plant once before, but she could not recall where or when.

Strider then turned to Sora, and began to bring the bowl and cloth towards him. Suddenly the boy's skin, breeches, boots, automail, hair, pendant, tag and crest turned completely black and his eyes became wholly yellow and animal-like.

Strider stopped short and looked at Sora in amazement as he hissed at Strider. "Get that poison away from me!" he snarled, his voice now that of Anti-Form's once again. He lashed out towards Strider with his clawed right hand. "GET RID OF IT!" Anti's claw struck the bowl the water had been in and turned it over, spilling the hot water and athelas leaves.

Kairi came to her senses and snapped out of the horror of so suddenly seeing Anti back as soon as he began to hiss and lash out towards Strider. She extended her hand quickly towards the overturned bowl and the hot water stopped and hovered above the air.

"No Anti," she said sternly. "It's time to take your medicine." She waved her hand towards him, and the steaming water struck Sora's black body across the face, chest, and directly upon the wound left by the knife. Anti hissed at her and writhed in pain, clapping his hands over his face and yellow eyes.

Radiant Garden's auburn-haired princess raised her hand towards Anti and closed her eyes while biting her lip as light began to glow across her palm. The soothing scent of the athelas bath calmed her mind and allowed her to think clearly. _I don't want to hurt him. I just want to bring our Sora back._

She felt her heart bubble in her chest as if answering her desire, and words came into her mind. But unlike the previous times when they had come, rushing out in a torrent of her emotion, she was able to calmly examine them, and this time she could understand.

Kairi opened her indigo eyes and a clear white light began to shine from them as the light from her glowing palm began to intensify and stream towards Anti-Form. "_Vadeneln Anti._ _Sáut i umûl."_

Anti-Form hissed and held the automail arm out towards Kairi in an attempt to shield him from the light that shone from her palm and threatened to engulf him. "No," he moaned. "No, NO! I won't go back like this! A hot princess like you wouldn't do this to your Sora!"

Kairi's took a breath and did not allow herself to get angered by Anti's comments. The threat of what would happen if she did become angry weighed heavily upon her conscience. Instead, she spoke slowly and purposefully. "You are not _my_ Sora, Anti; I'm bringing him back, now return to the darkness!"

The light surged and engulfed Anti-Form for an instant before it dimmed and lessened, slowly coming back to Kairi's outstretched palm. There was a high-pitched shriek that filled her ears and made the hair on her neck stand on end as the light overwhelmed Anti, but it faded away quickly. Kairi lowered her hand and breathed in heavily, it had unexpectedly taken more strength than she'd thought to send him back, but she smiled when she saw that the boy in front of her had returned to his normal coloured state.

Sora passed a shaking hand over a scared face. "He really has gotten stronger," he whispered, but only insofar as Kairi and Aiwemon could here.

Sam frowned at them all and folded his arms. "Alright, I think this has gone on long enough. Just who are all of you and what is going on with you? And I am not going to let you leave here until you lot have told me what I want to know."

"Do you care for your master Sam?" Kairi asked suddenly, giving Sora a sympathetic look before turning her indigo eyes onto the hobbit. Sam seemed to be caught off-guard by her question. "Because if we stay in this dell to tell you our story, we won't leave this place until nightfall."

"We cannot have that," Strider said quickly. "The Riders may come again, and we will need to make for Rivendell with all the light that is given to us. It is neither you, Sora, the cricket or the birds that worry me, unless that strange evil takes hold of Sora again, it is Frodo. The wound he received from the knife is draining his strength, and he is now too weak to stand. The Enemy has likely been watching this place for some days. If Gandalf ever came here, then he must have been forced to ride away, and he will not return. In any case we are in great peril here after dark, since the attack of last night, and we can hardly meet greater danger wherever we go."

"Unless we bring it with us," Menelmon said apprehensively, glancing at Sora as he continued to shudder weakly.

No questions were yet asked of Sora, Kairi, their digimon or Jiminy, and instead their time was spent preparing a hurried breakfast and repacking their supplies. Sora dressed himself again, finding his injury now closed and still giving his shoulder a sore ache, but it was manageable. His gloves, too, he put back on, hiding the automail that Strider and the hobbits now knew was there. Frodo proved to be completely unable to walk, so they took a great deal of the baggage off of the pony and divided it up as best as they could amongst the rest of them. Aiwemon was annoyed that they'd taken Frodo's pack off of the hobbit and placed it on him instead, and he had reason to be annoyed because Menelmon would be able to ride contently on Kairi's shoulder while he'd be forced to either run or fly with a load he certainly wasn't used to tiring him and weighing his little body down! He loudly complained when Sora had apologetically placed the pack on him that he wasn't the baggage animal.

Speaking for the pony, in the last few days it had been improving wonderfully. Already it seemed fatter and stronger than it did before; and it seemed to be gaining affection for its new masters, especially Sam. Its treatment at the hands of Bill Ferny had to be cruel very hard for its hard journey in the wild to be better than its former life.

Strider started them off in a southerly direction as soon as daylight was in full. It meant crossing the Road, which would almost certainly mean that they'd be marked as they left, but it was also the quickest way to wooded country, and they needed fuel; for Strider said that at least Frodo needed to be kept warm, especially at night, where fire would also serve as protection for them all. It was also his plan to shorten their journey by cutting across another great loop of the Road: east beyond Weathertop it changed its course and took a wide bend northwards.

They went slowly and cautiously around the south-western slopes of the hill, and in a little while they had reached the Great East Road. There was no sign of the Riders, or of Pete. But even as they hurried across they heard two far away cries: a cold voice calling and a cold voice answering. Kairi held Sora steady as he shook terribly at the sound, and for a moment Anti-Form flashed into existence, but he was gone as soon as he'd come, like the moment of time in which a person blinks. They sprang forward at a run and made for the thickets ahead of them. The land before them sloped southwards, but it was wild and there were no paths to follow; bushes and stunted trees grew in dense patches, but they were left with wide barren ground between them. The grass was scanty, coarse, and grey; and the leaves in the thickets were fading and falling from the trees.

"This is depressing," Aiwemon sighed, flying at Sora's shoulder level and constantly bobbing up and down as he continued to work on carrying the pack he had been landed with.

"This land is," Strider said. "But let us try to fill our hearts with thoughts other than the gloom of this country. Come, Sora, and Kairi. Tell us your tale as we walk, so we might all know you better."

-A-D-

Documents and files were strewn across a long dark table in an underground room, the room appearing smaller than it actually was by the number of wooden bookshelves and office mailbox-esque filing shelves that were attached to the walls. At the head of the table stood Maleficent, the firelight from wall-mounted torches lighting the room and throwing flickering shadows to the floor.

She did not appear to show any exterior emotion, but inside the witch was frustrated. She had been able to control dozens of different types of Heartless, and yet the ability to turn the heart of a world into a Heartless was eluding her. For more than two weeks now she had been delving into more experiments and tests concerning the darkness of the heart, moving steadily upwards into heart of increasing strength. Each experiment produced a powerful Heartless underneath her influence, some stronger and some weaker than the Heartless produced by the Charr from Tyria, but every time she attempted to turn the heart of a fallen world over into a Heartless, the experiment would fail, and nothing would come of it. Worse, there were no explanations or reasons as to why it would fail that she could infer from each experiment.

And so now she sat here, pouring over her notes and entries from her previous years of experimentation with the Heartless and copies of the Ansem Reports written by Xehanort in hopes of finding a clue to something that she might have overlooked. But it was not only the failure of her experimentation that was annoying her now. The task that she'd set Gantu three days ago had ended in disarray. For some reason, he'd met bearers of the Keyblade, who by all accounts _should_ have given up their foolish false hope of defeating her, and one of the stronger Heartless from her experiments that she'd given him for his mission had been soundly defeated by the meddlesome children. Those two blondes were more trouble than she had anticipated.

She lifted her horned head at the sound of a portal of darkness opening, and finally allowed her displeasure to reveal itself a little when it was Pete that stepped through. He had a grumpy expression on his face, and she waited for a second for the portal to close. When it didn't, she spoke. "Why have you come here Pete? I am busy at the moment."

"I know that Maleficent," Pete said quickly, suddenly fearful at the tone in her voice. "But I figured that I'd better report this to you."

Maleficent scoffed her head and turned back to her notes. "Why would there be a reason for you to report anything to me? Unless that is, Sauron's servants have succeeded in finding and retrieving his ring?"

Pete shook his head. "It isn't that Maleficent. They've found the little ring, but they haven't gotten it yet. And I am glad to be away from those guys for a while anywho, they give me the creeps."

"That you are scared of the Nazgûl had better not be your only reason for returning you blundering buffoon," Maleficent said, her tone brokering that Pete should explain his behaviour and explain it now. "I had told you to help them in retrieving his ring, did I not?"

Pete fumbled a little on his words as he tried to make up. "Oh, of course you did Maleficent. You know best and all that. And we would have gotten that ring too, if it weren't for the guys the ring was with. I tell yah, those two runts with their Keyblades can be—"

He was cut off as Maleficent suddenly looked up at him sharply. "Wielders of the Keyblade are on this world?" she asked in an icy tone. "It would be best for your sake if you were not lying to me Pete."

"But of course they're up there!" Pete said. "The punk who was such a pain last time and his spunky red-headed princess too; they're both helping out the little squirt what's holding onto that petty ring."

Maleficent's eyes narrowed and she looked away for a moment. "The Keyblade Master and the Princess of Heart are both here in Middle-earth?" she whispered. "Then why was it that I did not sense their presence?"

Pete seemed to take Maleficent's self contemplation to his advantage. "But that's not all I came to tell you about," he continued, noticing that Maleficent did not look his way. "The kid Sora's got some kind of freaky dark thing inside of him, and it came out while he and the princess were duking it out with the Rider guys."

Maleficent pondered what Pete said for a moment. She recalled her earlier plans before she had gained the powers of darkness that lay within the keyhole to Kingdom Hearts, and heard the inconsequential prophecy that the light had sent. She had wanted to attain her revenge upon Sora by making him into a Heartless, and then have him kill those that he loved, and now she had the power to control darkness in any person's heart no matter where they were. Or any person that she knew of and had met at any rate; faceless and nameless nobodies on far-away worlds were still as far out of her grasp as those shielded by the Cornerstone of Light, though that obstacle would likely soon become trivial as her power grew.

If there was a powerful dark being residing within Sora's heart, then she could attempt to use it to her advantage. But she would need to proceed with caution. Hearts were unpredictable.

She looked up at Pete and nodded her head. "Thank you for informing me of this interesting development Pete. You may return to your hunting with the Ringwraiths. And Pete," she added, seeing him beginning to walk back into the portal, "you may use Heartless as you see fit. Do not fail me."

Pete nodded wordlessly and vanished into the portal before it disappeared. Maleficent looked down at her notes once more before glancing at the spot where Pete had left. Perhaps she'd be able to gain some valuable data from the darkness within the Keyblade Master's heart.

-A-D-

It took the majority of the daylight since they had made it away into the thickets to tell their tale in full, and everything they spoke of was reacted to by the hobbits with a sense of awe and (sometimes) fear, while Strider was able to nod his head in understanding as the five explained about the subjects of their discussion that he found greater interest than the hobbits in, such as their enemies and their understanding of the workings of the heart. Greater too than the hobbits was his interest in Sora's Anti-Form, but he admitted to them after having it explained to him again that he was regretful that he had not the skill to drive Anti out of Sora's body. Of special note to all of them, was Sora's automail, for they had never seen such a work before, and could not hope to match it in all the days of their lives.

"If you want one so badly," Sora muttered darkly, "lose a limb and I'll call up Winry and we'll see what she can do." That quickly ended the subject.

The Sun had dipped down to the horizon not long after Sora, Kairi, Jiminy, Aiwemon, and Menelmon had finished speaking, and they hurriedly made camp while the light lasted. Merry and Pippin both urged for Sora and Kairi to show them magic, and while the Keyblade Master's mind and thoughts appeared to be turned inwards, not even noticing the lessening amount of light, Kairi obliged to show them a little.

She and the three hobbits quickly set about gathering fuel for the fire that they would need for the night, with Kairi summoning her Keyblade and making quick work of cutting the wood with the enchanted blade. They piled it up and ready for a fire and Sam was about to fetch out his tinderbox when Kairi told them to stop. She pointed the Oathkeeper at the firewood and said, "Fire." Tongues of flame began to curl around the white blade as she produced a little bit of a show for the hobbits and a curiously watching Strider. The fires rose from the edges of the blade and into the air, and began to swirl around and around as a spiralling double corkscrew. They ceased moving up after they reached the level of Kairi's head, and instead they bent down and slowly continued to curl around until they had surrounded the pile of firewood. Then suddenly, all the fire, from that that was still upon the Oathkeeper to the tongues of flame that flickered in the air beside the cut wood, all burst straight into the heart of the pile of firewood and flared like a wind was blowing on it until all of Kairi's fire had been collected. Immediately afterwards the fire settled down, and proceeded to crackle merrily as if it had been burning brightly already.

Pippin and Merry both clapped enthusiastically; Sam had his eyes open in wonderment, and Frodo smiled appreciatively and came as close to the fire as he could manage by himself in the darkening hours.

Strider looked up from the fire to Kairi. "I suppose it was your magic that lit that fire in the Marshes that Sam had struggled with then?" Kairi blushed slightly and nodded her head.

Sora came up to her and gave Kairi a fond smile. "Good job," he said, patting her on the shoulder before sitting down in front of the fire.

"It was more than good," Aiwemon said excitedly, sitting on Sora's shoulder once more, "that was great Kairi!" She giggled faintly at the compliment and sat down next to Sora.

They began to set double watches that night, staying up in pairs. Sora offered to spend the whole first night awake, arguing that he didn't feel tired, and that there was a lot that he needed to think about. Kairi wondered, but didn't press Sora while it was her turn to sit watch with him. The Oathkeeper was out and in her hands at all times while she was up in the dark of the night, and she half-expected to see the black shapes of the Riders, or even worse, the forms of Heartless, stalking them in the dim grey light, what was left of the moon hiding behind the clouds. But she saw nothing, and heard nothing but the sound of withered leaves and grass rustling in the wind.

The second day was little different from the first, excepting that they talked very little except for a question here or there from the hobbits to Kairi, Jiminy, and the digimon, as Sora had barely spoken at all during the night or morning, and was behaving distant even to her and Aiwemon. The issue of food had again been debated in the morning, what with Aiwemon and Menelmon and Jiminy Cricket now formally joining the group. Jiminy had before been able to scrounge a little food from within Sora's pack, and he'd had some of whatever scraps the two teenagers had been able to sneak away from their meals, so he'd gotten by comfortably with how small his own stomach was. It was the digimon that worried Kairi. They each had the capacity to eat more than an average Shire hobbit would eat when presented with an 'all-you-can-eat' birthday party; and Aiwemon even more so. And since the male bird digimon was carrying Frodo's pack to make it that little bit easier on the pony, he was unable to do as he had before, hunting mice and voles and other small rodents he happened to come across while also foraging with Menelmon for edible berries and nuts.

That night the fire was lit by conventional means, and Sora again volunteered to start with first watch. Kairi shared looks with their companions. Something was bothering Sora, enough to make him forgo sleep for two nights in a row, and no matter how old you were that was not something to be undertaken lightly.

She intended to talk to Sora before she went to sleep, but he wouldn't open up to her, and so with a saddened heart, Kairi fell to sleep with the intention of getting him to talk to her when she had been woken up for her watch.

That never came. When Kairi woke up it was to find that it was already morning, and Sora was working on cooking their breakfast. Strider had already been roused, and was seeing to waking up the other hobbits and the digimon. It appeared as if Kairi had woken up by the sound of sizzling ham alone.

She rubbed her eyes for a moment before remembering what she had planned to do before falling asleep. Instantly her indigo eyes hardened and she flung her blanket off of her body, rising to march straight for her boyfriend. Her dusty dark brown cloak rustled about her back as a piece of wood suddenly gave a _crack_ and a plume of sparks shot out from it.

"Why didn't you wake me?" she asked Sora agitatedly.

He didn't look up from the pan he was holding above the fire in his gloved left hand. "I didn't want to wake you," he answered. "You looked so peaceful, lying there asleep."

"It would have been better if you'd woken me," Kairi continued. "Maybe I'd have liked to spend time with you."

"You need your sleep Kairi," Sora answered, still not looking at her. "And besides, we already spend every waking minute of the day together."

Kairi felt a slight twinge of hurt erupt in her heart from the way he said that. "But it's not like before when we were always together," she said quietly, still standing while he squatted in front of the fire, now turning the ham with a flipper. "It's not like when we were in the Digital World together, or the New World, or Radiant Garden, or even while we were still with Max, and Roxas and Naminé were still our Nobodies and lived in our hearts. Or even before we reached Weathertop."

"There's nothing wrong," Sora said abruptly, looking up at Kairi.

"I didn't say that anything was wrong," she answered quickly, feeling suddenly put down. Her heart skipped a beat and she placed a hand to her chest. Kairi's cheeks began to grow a little red as she felt flustered and at the same time, annoyed with how Sora was acting.

"Well, there's still nothing wrong," Sora affirmed her in an irritated tone. He tensed for a second before his brow furrowed and he looked like he was concentrating intently, but with the way his body shook for a moment, wobbling the pan, it looked more like he was locked in a struggle. A few seconds later his body relaxed and he gasped, taking a few long breaths before bringing his right hand to his face, wincing at the pain his shoulder still gave him.

Kairi pursed her lips and walked the few steps it took her to get back to where her pack was. Sora's voice and words said it all. Something was definitely bothering him, and Kairi had a shrewd suspicion of what it was after his little episode. But he was not opening up to even her about it, almost like he was building a wall around himself, keeping his pain inside.

Kairi sat down on a rock and sighed, placing her right leg over her left. If she were sitting in class at school had Cossex not shown up on the Islands she'd have never done so, but as she was wearing long pants the motion no longer bothered her. She didn't know what she could do to help him, didn't know if there were any words she could say to try and help him get over Anti-Form coming back, but Kairi did at least know that Sora was still as pig-headed as he'd been back when he'd broken up with her after she'd destroyed his arm. Only this time it looked like he wanted to try and keep his pain to himself so that his problems wouldn't be a burden to others and worry them. But could he not see? Could he not see that trying to keep everyone else locked out was also making them worry about him?

Staring at Sora as he cooked the ham, Aiwemon on his shoulder now and looking at the stuff in the pan hungrily, Kairi slapped her ankle in frustration. She widened her eyes with curiosity for a second as she saw tiny specks of blue dust fall off of the bottom of her boot.

-A-D-

The third and fourth days from Weathertop were almost as bad as the last two. The land was still riddled with dense copses of trees, separated by wide expanses of barren land with grass that looked like it needed a couple of good thunderstorms to rain down on it. They continued to dread the approach of the Riders in the dark hours of the night, but each night there was no sign, and it was too much to hope that the Riders had lost their trail. Frodo's pain had grown again, and again, Sora was spending the whole night on watch, and rarely did he wake the others for their turns. It became so bad that on the morning of the fifth day the other three hobbits, Strider, Kairi, and the digimon agreed that whoever was sitting watch with Sora would have to wake the next one, as the Keyblade Master seemed to be able to suddenly go for many days without sleep.

It was a shock for Kairi to see him still going on the fifth day from Weathertop as he had on the first. All her life that she had known Sora he was the one that she would always find taking a nap, lazing around, or goofing off. He loved to go to sleep almost as much as he loved to eat, and after days without sleep he was still finding the ground easy to manage without stumbling from weariness in a drunken state.

_How could he be finding the energy to keep going without allowing his brain to rest?_ Kairi thought, watching Sora as they continued in front of the pony as it carried Frodo._ Even when I had to cram for exams last year I wasn't able to keep this up for even three days, no matter how many energy drinks I had that I probably shouldn't have. Sora should have the biggest migraine headache from sleep deprivation ever by now, and if he does he shouldn't even be able to move; but, he's still moving as if he had slept all of last night!_ She looked intently at his face and swiftly studied it, her eyes passing over every centimetre and quickly taking it all in. _He acts like he has slept, but he looks almost like a zombie!_

She stumbled suddenly and cursed under her breath. Sora didn't even notice or turn to help her. The ground was rising out of the wide shallow valley they had descended into, and Strider turned them back north-eastwards.

That night was much the same as the previous four, except that the moon had returned, now waxing with a slim silver crescent. Merry and Aiwemon woke Kairi and Menelmon for their watch, as Sora had officially been discounted from their calculations after that night's evening meal, which he barely ate any of. Both females tried to get Sora to talk to them, but as soon as Menelmon accidentally mentioned the name 'Anti', Sora clammed up, and they may as well have been talking to a stone wall. Kairi hadn't been told earlier about the confusion Sora had had upon the crown of Weathertop, and so according to her it was the Sunday night of October the twelfth, a day and date she struggled for a few minutes to add up. That meant, at least to her, that it was Wakka's seventeenth birthday. She tried to mention this to Sora, but he would do nothing more than grunt after Menelmon's slip-up.

On their sixth morning she again was able to find traces of blue dust around the fire, and Kairi made a note to watch for it every morning hence, worried that it could be what she thought it could be. Those thoughts fled from her mind however as they reached the top of a long slope that took them a while to climb, and saw far ahead a huddle of wooded hills. Away below them the Road swept round the feet of the hills; and to their right a grey river gleamed pale in the thin sunshine. In the distance they glimpsed yet another river in a stony valley half-veiled in mist.

"I am afraid we must go back to the Road here for a while," announced Strider. "We have now come to the River Hoarwell, that the Elves call Mitheithel. It flows down out of the Ettenmoors, the troll-fells north of Rivendell, and joins the Loudwater away in the South. Some call it the Greyflood after that. It is a great water before it finds the Sea. There is no way over it below its sources in the Ettenmoors, except by the Last Bridge on which the Road crosses."

"What about that other river?" Aiwemon asked, flying a little higher to try and see it clearer. Over the days of carrying Frodo's pack both by air and land his little wings and legs had grown stronger, and he could now propel himself either way with only a little difficulty, though his stamina while with the pack was still not what it had been before.

"That is Loudwater, the Bruinen of Rivendell," answered Strider. "The Road runs along the edge of the hills for many miles from the Bridge to the Ford of Bruinen. But I have not yet thought how we shall cross that water. One river at a time! We shall be fortunate indeed if we do not find the Last Bridge held against us."

Kairi smiled slightly as they began to head for the bridge over the Hoarwell. "So we shall cross that bridge when we come to it?" she asked.

Strider allowed himself to laugh. "Though there is no bridge over the Bruinen, Kairi, yes we shall cross it when we come to it."

Sora groaned. "Jack O'Neill," he muttered, "why did you have to say that?"

Jiminy emerged from within the hood of Kairi's cloak. He had been in the hood of Sora's cloak after being introduced, but he switched to being with Kairi, saying that he was getting all moody and depressed lying in Sora's hood. "Now there's no need to be such a pessimist Sora," Jiminy said. "You've still got your friends beside you."

"It doesn't matter," Sora replied, "because the Last Bridge _is_ held against us."

"And how can you tell?" Frodo asked quickly, with very noticeable fear in his voice.

Sora turned away from the eyes that had fallen upon him. "Because I can feel it," he answered.

-A-D-

They did not make the Road that day, and again the night passed slowly with no sign of pursuit. For the sixth night in a row Sora stayed awake, staring into the fire or into the darkness for the entirety of the night hours, and during her time of watch with Pippin Kairi saw occasionally flashes where he would become Anti-Form for a second or two before becoming himself again, and always in a cold and terrible sweat as if he'd just run a marathon. But he refused to talk to them about it, saying only that it was his burden to bear, and that he did not want them to worry about it. Kairi looked around the fire in the morning and found the blue specks of dust once more, and watched Sora all the more anxiously. He was beginning to look as if he had two black eyes rather than simple bags underneath them from a lack of sleep. But the fact that he seemed unable to make a physical fault, however aesthetically unappealing he was becoming, while moving still astounded her.

The next day saw them to the borders of the Road in the early morning. Strider took Sora ahead with him to scout out the Road, in an attempt to get the boy's mind off of whatever he had been worrying about and teach him a little of the tracking skills he had asked about back on Weathertop before he had been stabbed by the Black Rider. It worked, and Strider was able to teach Sora how to look for the signs if anyone passed by recently. As luck would have it, there was a track to see, looking about a day old by Strider's estimate, made by what looked like very large sneakers according to Sora. Strider told Sora that it had rained in this area, and he judged the rainfall had occurred two days previously and it had washed away all footprints except for this set, also explaining to Sora his reasoning for the two days' delay between the rain and their arrival. No horseman had passed since then, as far as he was able to tell.

Sora and Strider returned and conveyed this news to their companions, and at once they hurried along with all the speed they could make. After a mile or two they were able to see the Last Bridge ahead, sitting at the bottom of a short steep slope. After Sora's words they feared to see black figures waiting there, but they saw none. Instead they saw a large person standing on the bridge, but Kairi was unable to make out who it was at this distance.

"It's Pete," Aiwemon said, his keener eyes allowing him to glare at the large anthropomorphic cat that stood upon the Last Bridge as if waiting for them.

"We'll handle this," Kairi muttered, looking towards Strider and the hobbits. "You wait here." Strider nodded and held the hobbits and the pony back. They dropped off their packs and Kairi led the way down the slope towards the bridge, Sora following a step behind. The digimon flew beside them.

Pete guffawed at them as they came into earshot of each other. "Well, you slowpokes certainly took your time," he said. "Been having a little trouble finding your way?"

"As long as we're with Strider we'll always find our way in this world!" Menelmon said.

"Huh, who's this Strider guy?" Pete asked, looking around with a hand above his eyes. "I don't see anybody."

"He's back behind us," Aiwemon said, landing on the ground and stalking forward on his feet to stand in front of Kairi. "But you aren't about to see him, 'cause we're gonna knock you off of this bridge."

Pete laughed again. "And how do you suppose that you bird-brains are gonna do that without paying the toll first?"

"Toll?" Menelmon asked in confusion. "What's a toll?"

Pete's face shone with astonishment. "The toll you have to pay for crossing my bridge," he said, pointing down at the bridge.

"Like we're going to pay you anything Pete," Sora said, finally moving up and speaking with a little bit of his old flare.

Kairi smiled slightly at him before looking curiously at Pete, one hand resting lightly on her hip. "What is the toll anyway? Do we have to pay you a beating or what?"

"Nope," Pete answered smugly. He pointed at Sora. "You just have to show me that dark thing inside of you."

Sora looked at Pete in shock and began to tremble. Kairi looked at him worriedly as Sora's voice dropped into a frightened whisper. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No, I won't do that for you."

"Then I guess I'll just have to fight him out!" Pete said, waving his hand. Eight massive dark swirls formed around them, completely surrounding the huddled group of four and separating them from both the Last Bridge and their escape to Strider and the hobbits. Out of the dark swirls stepped large bipedal beasts that Kairi had dreaded she'd see again. They each stood at around seven and a half feet tall, with fur as black as pitch and eyes that glowered yellow at them like all Heartless. Black iron helmets embossed with the Heartless insignia that fitted around their bestial heads like skull caps crowned five of them, pieces of plates of the same black armour scattered on the chests, arms, and legs of the same five. All five of those held shields of differing forms, the Heartless insignia on them as well, and two bore swords while the other three brandished axes in their feral and clawed hands. Two of the others had no armour, carrying black wooden bows, and the final one protected its upper chest with bands of what looked like wooden armour and a strip of black mail was hanging down over its hips; and it carried a long and wooden black staff.

Pete laughed again, seeing the hopeless looks on their faces at the prospect of facing _eight _different Charr Heartless at once. Kairi looked past the two Heartless in front of her, both brandishing shields while one held a sword and the other held a fiendish-looking axe, and glared at Pete as he stood upon the bridge. Maleficent's stooge did not seem to be fazed by her look; her eyes were still clearly showing her fear.

"I think you guys had better digivolve," she said, glancing between Menelmon and Aiwemon.

"I think you're right," Aiwemon gulped. He dropped his look of fear and replaced it with a brave one. "Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!"

"Boy are the hobbits in for a surprise if they're watching," Menelmon said, now giving the Heartless around them fierce looks. "Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

Ohtarmon gripped his mace firmly with one hand as Soronmon flew above them on her giant wings, the white eagle-like digimon giving an intimidating shriek from the air above them. Kairi smiled slightly when she saw Pete's confidence vanish with the sight of the two Champion-level digimon. He shook his head and grunted at them. "Charge!"

The Charr Heartless that bore melee weapons rushed towards them while the ones that bore the other weapons fell back slightly. The Oathkeeper appeared in Kairi's hands in a flash and she raised it quickly to defend herself against both the falling sword and axe of the Heartless that stood in front of her. Her biceps strained and her knees almost buckled as their massive size and weight pressed down on her Keyblade. Both black weapons came off of her Keyblade and the Charr Blade Warrior roared; its weapon came down on her fast and hard. Kairi found herself backing up as the black sword slashed repeatedly towards her, connecting with jarring force against her Keyblade as she blocked or barely missing as Kairi ducked or deked out of the way. The Charr Axe Warrior wasn't far away, its axe forcing Kairi to twist out of its path and back into the assault of the blade.

The Blade Warrior raised its weapon high and brought it down with a bellowing snarl at Kairi's head. With both hands Kairi raised the Oathkeeper up to block it, but the sheer power in the Blade Warrior's arms shoved the Keyblade back into Kairi's chest, eliciting a pained gasp from her lips as the princess crashed to the soft ground and skidded backwards on her cloak, dropping her Keyblade in the process.

Kairi grimaced and began to try and get back to her feet when she suddenly felt the pain. Her right hand clutched at her left shoulder and she could feel her own blood seeping between her fingers out of a gash the sword had left from the top of her shoulder to just beyond her armpit. She tried to raise the arm, and was startled when she found that the appendage had gone completely limp, and a hiss left her mouth as the wound assailed her mind with the overbearing sensation of icy pain. Kairi looked at the wound, and she nearly lost her stomach when she could see the white of bone, the cut cleanly going _into _her shoulder.

The auburn-haired girl forced the sickness back down and tried not to panic. She kicked and pushed her way back onto her feet, crouching low with her body pointed towards the Heartless advancing upon her. Her right hand slowly stretched out and picked up her Keyblade, her gloves tightly grasping its grip. The adrenaline that was now coursing through the rest of her system did its best to mask the pain from her now determined mind.

"Light," she intoned in a quiet voice, "give me power; strengthen my sword."

The Heartless both charged towards her, not noticing or caring that the weapon they feared so immensely was now glimmering with a pale light. Kairi shifted herself so that she was able to spring forward, and her legs propelled her towards the two Heartless that continued to dash for her.

The sword of the Blade Warrior leapt out towards Kairi, but it missed, just above her wounded shoulder. Kairi swept her faintly glowing Keyblade across her body in a slash towards the Charr Blade Warrior Heartless, and her weapon was just able to slip underneath the round shield it held. The Oathkeeper cut right through the left half of the Blade Warrior's body, great wisps of darkness flooding out of the wound and pouring onto the ground before dissipating into the air.

The Axe Warrior that was next to the Blade Warrior had stopped as soon as Kairi started her sprint and twisted its body around in a spin, swinging its axe in a complete circle. The blade caught Kairi's side and cut through her layers, leaving only a shallow, and slightly ripped, wound in her right side. Kairi ignored it and turned clumsily on her heel as she completely passed by the severely wounded Blade Warrior Heartless. She jumped into the air, driving down the Oathkeeper onto the back of the black helm. There was a bright flash of light as her glimmering Keyblade struck against the metal protective, and after a moment's hesitation the metal rent apart with a flurry of white sparks and the Keyblade cut from the back of the head to the small of the Heartless' back before coming out of its black body, which faded away with a howl of agony a moment later, its pink heart rising into the sky.

Kairi turned and leapt back as the obsidian axe of the Axe Warrior sliced through the air to cut her in half. The Princess of Heart panted with scant weakness as she felt a little more of her strength leave her, the blood pouring out of the deep wound in her shoulder and leaking from the cut in her side. She glanced around. Soronmon was flying in the air, icicles the size of watermelons sticking out of the ground and raining down upon one Charr Stalker Heartless as it fired its bow at her. Kairi couldn't see the other one, so she assumed it had been impaled by one of Soronmon's icicles. Her heart flinched when she saw at least one arrow in Soronmon's chest. Ohtarmon had been forced to battle the three other Blade and Axe Warriors, and so far he had knocked his number of opponents down to one, holding an advantage in both size and strength and defence over them, but lacking a little in the speed department. Sora had been left with the Charr Heartless that held the staff, and the ground around the Keyblade Master was charred by fire and in some places it still burned intently. The ground immediately around that Heartless was scorched black and covered by searing flames, but it seemed to be completely uninjured and unharmed. Sora appeared to be sporting a burn on one leg underneath slightly blackened leggings, but what surprised Kairi was that he had not even called his Keyblade!

Her distraction at Sora's lack of preparedness or fighting spirit nearly cost the girl her life, as out of her peripheral vision she was only just able to catch sight of the axe head sliding towards her head. Her Keyblade acted faster than she could think in a purely defensive reflex and vertically blocked the strike from slitting her face in two. The Keyblade flashed with light again and Kairi was not pressed too far back, despite the lack of strength in her block, being forced to use only one arm.

_I need to finish this,_ she thought haggardly as the Axe Warrior spun around in a quick circle, its axe driving a little lower this time. _And quickly,_ she added, dodging to the side. She struck out with her Keyblade, but it was blocked by the shield the Heartless carried. Light flared once more as it connected with the shield, and it seemed to buckle and deform from her blocked attack. The axe came down towards her left side and Kairi twisted away from it. Kairi suddenly got an idea. Using her smaller size, she waited until the Heartless made another sweep towards her with its axe, and she ducked underneath it when the attack happened. The Oathkeeper flashed out in a slice and cut a gash right into the thigh of the Axe Warrior's leg. Kairi smirked as darkness began to seep out of its furry hide from the wound, but her eyes widened when she realized that she had come too close. The Axe Warrior snarled and struck her head with its shield, bashing Kairi a good seven feet further away.

Her head felt like it had been split into two, and Kairi desperately wanted to place a hand to it as it throbbed. Blood trickled down her forehead and she had to blink it out of her eyes as she looked up at the Axe Warrior Heartless, now charging towards her again, seeming to ignore completely the gash she had left in its leg.

There was suddenly a great flash, or rather the opposite, as all the light around that Heartless seemed to disappear before flaring back, and the Axe Wielder moaned suddenly and collapsed onto its knees, soft earth shooting up and pelting Kairi as it crashed into the ground. Her eyes drifted up to its back and she was shocked at first to see an onyx blade piercing it in the back, with an equally dark figure standing atop it with a black metal arm pointed right at the Heartless' back. It faded away, a pink crystalline heart rising into the sky and doing nothing to illuminate the black face of the one who had slain the Heartless.

"Looks like we meet again Princess," Anti-Form said, grinning at her. He pointed the Oblivion's obsidian tip towards her, and a dark purple bullet of darkness shot out from the tip and struck her in her right arm.

Kairi screamed for an instant at the burning pain of the darkness against her skin. A second later the sharp pain was gone, but it left a lasting burning sensation on her arm. Kairi shook the shock of seeing Anti's face again off and rubbed the blood out of her right eye with her hand. She picked the Oathkeeper up again and staggered onto her feet. Holding the white blade out towards him as it continued to glimmer faintly with light she said, "Go back Anti," trying to sound as commanding as possible.

Anti-Form laughed, for her voice was weak. "Not this time Princess," he said, taking a step towards her. "There are some things I want to say to you. For one, do you know how dead sexy you look without any clothes on?"

Kairi's face flushed with anger and she gripped her Keyblade all the more tightly with her one usable hand, her left arm still hanging lifeless as blood continued to leak out of the wound. "What did you say?" she growled.

"You and your cute blonde sister," Anti chuckled insanely. "Or rather, I should say the spirits of you and her that are within my heart. You both make good whores."

"Blizzard's Bite!"

Anti-Form looked up to see an icy image of Soronmon's head screaming through the air towards him. He casually jumped back as it struck into the ground where he had been standing not a second before, freezing it and creating a large crystal of ice jutting up from the ground.

Soronmon's brown eyes were as icy as the crystal that was now on the ground as she glared at Anti-Form. "Never call my partner that again!" she snapped.

Anti studied the large digimon for a second before his yellow eyes lit up. "Oh yes, this is your Champion level isn't it Menelmon?" he said. "Good, I was hoping to get some revenge on the one who shot those feathers at me."

"To get to Soronmon you'll have to go through me," Ohtarmon said, moving forward to stand in front of both Kairi and Soronmon, even as the giant eagle hovered above them in the air.

"You'd fight your own partner?" Anti asked, grinning. "Then I think I have a plan now. Beat you up, kick your birdie friend's tushy, then rape and kill Sora's precious Princess Kairi. And after that, I can go on to his brother Roxas and his little bitch Naminé, and then Riku and sweet Yuffie, and then maybe his friends and cousin, and after that I can destroy everything!"

"We're not going to let you!" Kairi yelled, bringing the Oathkeeper back up to threaten him with it. "You're insane!"

Anti shrugged. "Maybe," he said slowly, looking naughtily at Kairi, making her shiver. "Maybe I just want to watch the world burn."

"Then I can't stand by and watch!" Soronmon said, furling her wings in front of her. "Polar Chill!" She unfurled her wings and unloaded a barrage of thick icicles at Anti-Form. He smirked and even placed one hand behind his back as he began to cut the icicles that came right at him in half. Anti brought his left hand out from behind his back, and Kairi saw with surprised horror that the metal hand was encased in a dark sphere. He thrust it towards Soronmon and she flew out of the way. The orb sailed past her wing and Soronmon looked back at Anti-Form. He smiled and the sphere in the air suddenly shattered, breaking into more than a dozen tiny comets of darkness.

"Soronmon, look out!" Kairi yelled, her Keyblade no longer in her grasp. Soronmon looked a moment too late and shrieked as the dark attack struck her repeatedly in the back. Anti opened up with more blasts that struck her in the female digimon's chest. She suddenly glowed with golden light and shrank, reverting back down to a weakened and unconscious Menelmon.

Anti smirked at his victory, but his yellow eyes suddenly grew wide in surprise as a large feathered fist connected with his skull. Anti flew backwards head first and slammed into the crystal of ice. He broke about halfway through before stopping and slumping down into an icy chair. He did not get back up.

"Sorry about that," Ohtarmon muttered, checking his fist. He looked over and swiftly rushed off to pick up Menelmon and see if she was alright.

Kairi limped towards the fallen Anti-Form, still bleeding from her head, shoulder, and right side. His black skin and garments shifted back into those colours they normally were, and his brown hair wafted over an unconscious face, a little bit of blood from striking the ice dribbling through it. She glanced behind them. Pete was gone.

She was sickened at the things that Anti had said, but tried her best to put them out of her mind as she felt her strength leaving her legs. Kairi removed her hand from her shoulder and held it out in front of her, creating an orb of light directly in front of her face.

"You can get down here now," she said into the orb. "And Jiminy, I need a Hi-Potion, like _right_ freaking now!" The orb whizzed away to the top of the slope and Kairi collapsed onto her knees. She hadn't been able to keep all of the anger she felt to Anti-Form out of her voice, it was like a sucker-punch to her gut to know that something that was a part of Sora was doing... _that_ to the spirit of her within his heart! And not only her, but Naminé as well!

Her eyes dimmed a little, and it seemed like hours until Strider and the hobbits arrived at the bridge. Jiminy hopped out in front of Kairi and presented her with the Hi-Potion she had requested. She wearily took it in her right hand and used the spray on the top to cover the wound on her left shoulder with the more powerful healing liquid. She couldn't concentrate enough to cast a curaga spell, and she wasn't sure if she had the strength to do so anyway. The spray moved to her forehead where the skin had been ripped by the Axe Warrior's shield, and she could feel the itch of it already growing back. Slowly, her fingers began trying to unscrew the cap on the top until Merry took it from her hands and took the top off for her. Kairi thanked him and braced herself for the awful taste; and drank the potion as it slowly slipped across her tongue and down her throat. Gasping, she emerged from the bottle while pulling a face.

"We should leave this place as quickly as possible," Strider said, looking around. "I am anxious to be on the Road."

Kairi stood up and nodded, but her legs swayed beneath her in weakness and she fell back onto the ground. "I can't walk," she said apologetically. "And Sora's been knocked out."

"Should we wake him?" Frodo asked, riding on the pony. He clutched his shoulder suddenly, as if in pain.

Ohtarmon came forward and spoke to them first. "No," he said, shaking his head. "Sora has not slept for nearly a week, and even though it is unconsciousness, his body needs the rest it deserves. He's been keeping himself up by using ethers to restore his strength."

Kairi sighed in understanding. "So that explains the blue dust then. I thought he was doing something like that."

The hobbits looked upon the eight-foot-tall digimon with wide eyes. "And who might _you_ be?" Pippin gulped, his eyes flickering to Ohtarmon's giant mace.

He chuckled. "Why Pippin, I'm shocked. I am Ohtarmon, the Champion level of Aiwemon."

"So, you're Aiwemon," Merry said, smiling in interest and nodding his head. Strider looked curiously at him, but Ohtarmon did not notice.

"I am, and I'm not," Ohtarmon said. He slung his mace over his shoulder and tenderly placed the unconscious Menelmon down next to Frodo, saying to the hobbit, "Look after her until she wakes." He picked up both Sora and Kairi, and their packs, and carried them in his arms while the packs hung off of his elbows.

"How long can you carry such a burden?" Strider asked him.

Ohtarmon's answer was a gruff laugh. "Ha! These two haven't been eating much recently. Despite the bit of muscle strength in their backs and legs they gained, they've still lost weight. I can barely feel them."

Kairi raised her head weakly, as she lay on top. "You're lucky I'm so weak, otherwise I'd hit you Ohtarmon."

Ohtarmon chuckled. "And I'd probably deserve it, especially after complaining about being a pack animal when we left Weathertop," he said quietly. "Now don't talk; save your strength for healing and get some rest. I promise you Kairi, you will both be safe."

-A-D-

Anti-Form growled as he strode up to Sora, the young man lying on his back on his platform. "You're digimon partner's a real, fucking, bastard you know that!" he asked Sora angrily, his stride becoming fast and irritated.

Sora couldn't even manage the weakest of smiles at the look of fury Anti-Form was sending him. The Keyblade was nowhere to be seen or found, but that didn't matter to Anti as he grabbed the front of Sora's jacket with his black automail and yanked the Keyblade Master's head up. Sora's eyes spun for a second. His face stung with sudden pain as Anti's claws raked over his cheek and nose before the black fist reared back and punched him in the face.

Anti let Sora's jacket slip through his fingers as the boy skidded away across the platform, but he still stared angrily at the injured one. "I'm so fucking pissed off that I won't even be able to enjoy raping your slut princesses today!" he swore, getting onto his feet and calling the Oblivion to his hand as it shook with rage. He began to walk towards Sora. "And I so dearly love hearing their screams when my dark body smothers their light."

Sora looked up at the advancing Anti-Form, his eyes fearfully drawn to the black Keyblade within his pitch hand. It gleamed with a dark light, and Anti's speed began to pick up. "This would all end," he said, the beginnings of an insane smile coming back onto his face, "if you were no longer around. So I think I'll just have to kill you now."

"Reflega!" Sora cried, erecting the defensive dome between him and his darkness. Anti-Form made one slash with the Oblivion and shattered the magical defence. Sora shuffled backwards, but Anti was far quicker and stopped him by placing a black foot on Sora's chest. The Oblivion's point went right in front of Sora's nose and his eyes struggled to look at it clearly. The left side of his face was still in pain, but in this place he could not bleed.

"Ah, so you are the Heartless that Pete was rambling about."

Anti-Form looked behind him and his face became neutral as he spotted Maleficent appearing upon the platform in a surge of green fire. "Maleficent," he said, his tone completely emotionless, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to study you of course," she replied. "But I had not expected Sora's darkness to be so close to engulfing his light and soul."

"I'm about to kill this weakling right now," Anti said, smiling at the sudden recurrence of the thought. "And then, _I'll_ be the one in complete control of this body. Sora's name will become synonymous with death and destruction, and I will finish what Xehanort started, ridding the worlds of every last Keyblade Wielder! But instead of desiring to rule the universe, I will destroy it all!"

Maleficent gazed coolly at Anti-Form before turning aside. "Fine then," she said. "Kill him."

Both Anti-Form's and Sora's eyes widened in surprise. "What?" Anti growled.

"My revenge will be completed upon Sora either way," Maleficent said. "Whether he should survive and defeat you, and then meet his death at my hands, or if his darkness should consume him and destroy him, my revenge will be carried out. So kill him."

Anti stood ridged over Sora's body as he once again began to quake as Anti's sword still lay between his eyes. Their position stayed like that for a whole ten seconds before the Oblivion slowly rose away from Sora's head. "No."

Maleficent turned back to look at Anti-Form. "Perhaps you didn't hear me," she said, her eyes narrowing at him. "Kill him."

Anti-Form took his feet off of Sora's chest and walked away from the Keyblade Master. "No," he said definitely.

"I am the Mistress of all Evil," Maleficent said, her voice growing louder and more commanding as her green flames began to grow around the base of her black gown. "I am the Queen of Darkness and command it in all its forms. You will obey me!"

"And I say NO!" Anti-Form said, slashing out towards Maleficent with his Keyblade. Maleficent blocked it with her staff and both of them held looks of fury towards the other.

"And why do you dare attempt to defy me?" Maleficent questioned him angrily. "Your own goals will be achieved by doing as I say, and you were even about to kill him before I arrived. Why do you now turn away? Could it be—?"

"Do not think this as an act of compassion!" Anti-Form snapped at her. "I do not care for Sora's soul, but something he once said rings true for both of us in our heart, within both the darkness and what weak little light he foolishly still holds on to! I don't take orders from you!" He stabbed suddenly with the Oblivion and the blade would have sunk its way into Maleficent had she not suddenly vanished.

"Whichever of you succeeds in defeating the other," her disembodied voice echoed, "you will rue this day you insulted me!"

Anti turned his head to the side. "Tch, whatever bitch." He looked at Sora and stared at him for a second before looking away. "Take control again," he said indifferently to Sora's surprise. "I'm not in the mood to kill you just yet."

Sora looked at him curiously. "You're stronger than me Anti," he said quietly, but his voice growing louder in his confusion. "You've proven it a lot, and you could have killed me already a hundred times now, or taken control and done whatever you wanted, and I can't stop you. Why haven't you done it already?"

Anti-Form smiled and looked back at Sora. "Isn't it obvious Sora, I love fucking your mind up! You can't think straight anymore. Your brain is always thinking about me, wondering, 'Is he going to come out now? What's he going to do if I fall asleep? Will I have to watch him screwing Kairi and Naminé for the fifteenth time? Is he going to call me into my heart to show me that he's screwing them? Will he hurt Aiwemon if he comes out? Will he hurt the hobbits? Will he hurt _Kairi_?' I'm always on your mind now Sora. You can't even kiss your girlfriend anymore or show her that you love her in even the little ways. And do you want to know why?"

Anti's voice lowered into a husky whisper and he came right up to Sora's ear. "It's because you _are_ afraid of me."

Sora's face hardened and he glared at Anti-Form as his darkness began to walk away from him. "I am _not_ scared of you Anti!" he yelled.

Anti chuckled and turned around again, fixing Sora with a stare from his cold yellow eyes. "Keep telling yourself that, coward."

-A-D-

Maleficent smiled when her consciousness returned to her body, many hundreds of miles away, and she nearly laughed. The experience was both troubling, but very revealing to her mind of her mistakes. Now she had a lead on she could create her World Heartless; all that remained, was figuring a way to make it possible.

-A-D-

Sora and Kairi woke within fifteen minutes of each other, but when they did wake they were surprised to find themselves underneath a stony shelf with a rock-wall behind them, at night, in the rain. Kairi looked at her shoulder when she woke up, and was glad and surprised when she saw that the Hi-Potion's power had healed the bone and nerves, and that she was now able to move her arm again, albeit gingerly and slowly.

"It is good to see that you are both awake now," Strider said, awake and smoking on a pipe. "You have both been asleep for three days, and we have been harried and chased by the Heartless for the last two. It has rained since they appeared, and we have not been able to light a fire. I am concerned for Frodo; his wound has grown more painful. Our stores are also growing low."

"I'll get a fire going," Kairi said, moving slowly towards a pile of wet and cold wood that they had tried to kindle a flame in a few hours previous. She took a piece of wood in her right hand, doing her best to move her left one as little as possible, and spoke the word, "Fira." The fuel burst into flame, steam rising from the wet wood and bringing sudden light to their campsite. She placed the wood back in the pile, with the fire underneath the rest of the wood, and was about to begin shifting the wood around when two tiny fireballs blazed past her arm and into the fire that was already burning in the heart of the wood.

Kairi looked in surprise as Sora came and sat next to her, having sent the fires in himself. They looked around for a moment, and found their digimon near the tired hobbits and pony. Ohtarmon had removed the armour he always digivolved in, and they could now see that his body was indeed humanoid underneath his protective coverings. His chest, arms, and legs were covered in brown feathers, darkened by the wet rain, and his head was mostly the same shade, except for a strip of white that went from the top crest of his yellow beak and flowed up between his eyes. It broke apart into three at the top of his forehead, and then they lost sight of it against the rock. Menelmon was sleeping on his snoozing lap.

"They held the Heartless off of us every time the creatures appeared," Strider said. "And I think I will always be amazed at their strength." Sora and Kairi looked at the digimon and nodded in agreement.

Kairi looked up suddenly, feeling something, and she looked thoughtfully into the raining night. She drew the hood of her cloak over her head. The fire sparked and steamed in front of them, but its heat seemed to be holding its own, maintaining enough energy to keep burning while boiling away the water inside of the wood. She glanced at Sora, and saw the look in his eyes and face, before she looked down into the fire. The flames danced in front of her as the rain fell, but the flickering shapes of orange, red, and yellow seemed caged by the wet wood standing in the tipi style while the fire burned, obscured, at its heart.

She felt something next to her and saw Sora suddenly flash into darkness for an instant before returning to normal. He sighed quietly, but not quietly enough for her to not hear his breath. Kairi's indigo eyes scrutinized his face, and she did not like what she saw.

She opened her mouth for a second, determined to try and get him to talk to her this time, but then she shut it again. It was futile. Sora was never going to open up about his darkest fears, not even to her. He was being as stubborn as a mule, and was becoming the same and yet different as when he'd lost his arm and feared he could no longer protect her.

But she could see that it was a little different this time. She could see that he was still afraid of not being able to protect his friends, but it wasn't a question of his physical ability anymore.

Kairi looked back at Sora, forcing herself to become furious with him. She had succeeded the first time in Port Royal, when she'd slapped him, but she hadn't been so successful when she'd given herself up to Maleficent. He'd stopped moping and came out, but he'd still lacked the confidence he needed in order to call the Keyblade back to him.

Subtlety was wasted on Sora now. She'd given him the better part of ten days to open up to her, either waiting for him to talk to her about it or trying to get it to work into a conversation. But that was futile, and she would have to get as angry and with as much spunk as the first time.

And she would not feel guilty.

Kairi looked at him again. "Hey, Sora!" he looked up at her, and she could see that he was surprised by the fierceness in her face and eyes. He had only seen her face for a second before her fist flew into his face between his eyes.

Strider looked up from his pipe in amazement as Sora skidded on the rocky ground, his cloak bringing up the mud and making the dark brown wool look even darker. The rain pounded down on his now exposed face and he angrily growled at Kairi. "Dammit Kairi! What the hell was—?"

"What's with that wimpy look on your face!" Kairi retorted, cutting him off. Sora froze for a second, but that was all the time Kairi needed to close the distance between them and grab him by his hair.

"What are you—?" Sora began to ask, pained and annoyed at the sudden turn of events.

"Come with me!" Kairi barked, dragging him along behind her as she ran away from their campsite and into the wilderness.

She ignored Sora's complaints and questions as she ran, dragging him along behind her by his hair. The rain pelted both of them, and Kairi created orbs of light that hovered by her head and illuminated the darkness with a pale light, so that she might find her way, and soothed her mind. Kairi could feel their presence now, she was getting closer to them, and they were getting closer to her and Sora.

She was just frustrated that Sora didn't feel them too.

After a minute changed her grip on Sora's hair so that she wasn't dragging him as much, allowing him to run. He let out an exasperated groan. "Kairi, where are you taking me?"

"Just shut up and keep running Sora," she answered, pulling him past the ruins of a crumbling wall. "They're close."

"Huh? What's close?" Sora asked, struggling to maintain his footing as Kairi continued to half drag him to their destination.

Kairi smiled sadly to herself, knowing that Sora couldn't see her face. Even though she had decided not to feel guilty, decided that it was necessary, she couldn't help but not feel a little sorry for him.

Until she spotted her quarry.

Sora gasped slightly as he saw them. "Heartless?" Milling about near the bottom of a small slope they were standing on the lip of, there looked to be around twenty Heartless. Neoshadows were easily seen in the pale light cast by the orbs Kairi had called, and with them were a few Armoured Knights and another one of the Charr Heartless as their leader. It carried a sword and a shield like a few of the last bunch they had fought, but unlike them it seemed stronger, like the first Charr Heartless they'd faced in the Pride Lands. A Charr Blade Storm Heartless.

"Yeah," Kairi said, gripping his hair tighter. "Now go get them!"

Sora yelled in surprise as Kairi threw him through the air towards the group of Heartless. He crashed into the ground with the sounds of the rustling foliage and splattering mud following his soft _thump_.

"Jeeze Kai," he groaned, wiping the mud out of his eyes, "that..." His voice caught as he looked right up into the yellow and curious eyes of one of the Neoshadows, "...hurt?" The Neoshadow appeared to snort at him after a second and its claw leapt out towards his chest. "Whoa!"

Sora leapt back to avoid it, stopping in the mud as his boots got a good grip on the soft earth. Kairi watched as another Neoshadow came at him with its claws and beside it an Armoured Knight spun along the ground, its sword-arm slashing for his legs. Sora ducked underneath the claw and leapt backwards over the sword. He landed again and twitched his neck and shoulders to avoid a swiftly falling sword-strike from the strong Charr Blade Storm.

Annoyed at his evasive tactics, Kairi called out to him. "What are you doing! Fight them Sora! You aren't going to lose to Heartless this weak are you?"

Sora sidestepped away from another Neoshadow and ducked under the sword of an Armoured Knight. "Cool it Kairi!" he retorted. "I was just about ready to take 'em out anyway—" His words stuck as he suddenly flickered into Anti again, and then returned to his normal self with barely enough time to get out of the way of the Blade Storm's sword.

"And what was that?" Kairi yelled at him, watching as Sora jumped twelve feet to land on a thicker branch of a tree.

"Shut up Kairi!" he yelled back, the hood of his cloak fallen back and the rain soaking its way into his hair and face. The black sword of the Blade Storm glistened in the light and it jutted up to try and catch Sora in the tree.

He jumped up further, landing heavily on a branch more out of reach. Kairi scowled. "Don't think I haven't noticed Sora," she said, loud and clear enough to be sure to reach his ears. "Ever since you got stabbed on Weathertop, you haven't summoned your Keyblade once! Not even when we were fighting with eight Charr Heartless three days ago! What are you afraid of?"

"Our digimon got hurt!" Sora replied from his tree, his eyes on the Heartless below him. "_You_ got hurt!"

"SO WHAT!" Kairi roared, throwing off her hood and parting her rain-soaked dirty hair from her face. Even from the distance between them she could see Sora's shocked eyes clearly. "We've all been hurt before Sora; have you always been a man who loses his spirit over little things like that? Are you going to become one!"

"No way in hell!" Sora snapped back, leaping away from the tree he was in as the Neoshadows on the ground began to scramble up it towards him.

"You never really lost before Maleficent sent Cossex to the Islands Sora," Kairi continued in her tirade. "And it's been pretty downhill from there, but you've still managed to stand tall in the end! Is it scary to lose! Is it scary not being able to protect your friends! Or is it scary to face the Heartless inside of you?"

Sora's feet landed him on the tree he had jumped to and he looked at her, stunned by her words.

"He's stronger than I am Iri," he said, only just loud enough so that she could hear, but she could still hear the fear in his voice.

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. The wind whipped around her revealed and vulnerable head, her hair barely moving as it soaked in the falling rain. But she didn't even feel it as her heart burned in her chest. "Did that matter with Xehanort's Heartless or Xemnas?" she asked. "If you're afraid of losing, just get stronger. If you're afraid of not being able to protect your friends, swear to get stronger until you can protect them. If you're afraid of the Heartless inside of you, just get stronger until you can crush him. If you don't want to listen to me, then hold your chin up and yell those words to yourself!"

Kairi snapped open her eyes and fixed Sora with a fierce stare as she spoke her final piece. "Because when it boils right down to it, that's the kind of man you have been in my heart Sora!"

Her profound speech seemed to strike Sora right in his heart, and a look she hadn't seen a lot of over the last long while claimed his face as he leapt down from his tree to stand directly in front of the Blade Storm Heartless, the rest of the Neoshadows and Armoured Knights forming a ring around them. His back was turned to her as he shoved his wet wool cloak off and threw it into the wind behind him.

"Tch," he said as his right hand flashed suddenly with bright light. His Keyblade, Remembrance, gleamed with silver light as he held it in his hand, surrounded by the Heartless. "I guess I can't be a lazy bum anymore."

Kairi smiled and folded her arms in front of her, prepared to watch him take down all of the Heartless there.

_And this time, I think he's back to stay._

The black sword of the Blade Storm Heartless came down towards Sora's head, but he deked away to the side to completely avoid it. His feet connected squarely with the iron-clad chest of an Armoured Knight and used it as a springboard. Sora kicked off of the Heartless, sending it crashing backwards into four other Heartless, and he soared into the air towards the Blade Storm. As skilled as it was, it could not have expected such a swift and surprising counter, and was too slow to counter Sora's gleaming silver Keyblade. With a deft stroke, Sora beheaded the Heartless before he fell back down to the ground, the mammoth dark creature already dissipating into darkness with its pink heart rising into the sky.

The Islander rolled on his arm and shoulder before rising back onto his feet, Remembrance cutting cleanly through the whole torso of a Neoshadow that stood in front of him. He gripped his blade in both of his hands and spun around in a half-circle, and his sword destroyed four more Heartless in front of him. Something was glowing with silver light underneath his jacket and shirts, the signs just barely visible against his neck. He looked up and saw two Neoshadows high in the air above him, their sharp claws coming down towards his body.

Sora yelled and threw his Keyblade into the air, its spinning blade ripping through both Neoshadows. While it was out of his hands Sora ran forward to a small group of three Armoured Knights and his left fist began to glow with silver fire. He swung it out in front of his body before thrusting it, open-palmed, towards the trio of Heartless. Meteors of blazing infernos of his silver fire came from the automail and struck two of the Armoured Knights directly in their heads, exploding in sharp, silver blasts that quickly reduced the Heartless into defeated clouds of darkness lit only by the light of their released pink hearts and the pale light that reached the area from Kairi's orbs. The third one missed, and struck an ancient and broken stone wall. The vines that grew creeping over the stonework burned away and shrivelled up in the area the fire struck, and the stone cracked and broke as the small magical meteor of Twilight made a deep crater within the wall. The Armoured Knight that Sora had missed ran towards him and brought its sword arm down towards his head.

He jumped high over the Armoured Knight's oblivious head and grasped the spinning Remembrance's hilt moments after it tore the second Neoshadow into a cloud of darkness. Sora flipped in the air and his Keyblade crackled with electricity. "THUNDAGA!"

Kairi still smiled and watched from her position on the slope as a dozen thick and brightly shining columns of lightning streaked out of his weapon and struck each of the remaining Heartless. The tiny orbs of light she had conjured were illuminating her rain-soaked face as well as the sudden light and fire from his spell. Underneath her cloak, jacket, sweater, and light shirt, she could feel something warm and soft against the skin of her body, and knew that her crest was glowing brightly. Kairi looked down slightly in the electric light and fingered the slightly pink crown pendant that hung around her neck.

-A-D-

When they finally got back to camp it was to find that the rest of the wood that had kept the flame caged inside had caught fire, and was blazing brightly against the night. The rain was lessening, but Strider still sat awake, smoking his pipe.

When they returned, side-by-side and hand-in-hand with smiles on their wet but happy faces, Strider looked at them both with an interested smile. "You appear different Sora," he said.

"I feel different," Sora answered. He then gave Kairi a swift kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for the kick in the butt Kairi."

Kairi smiled a little bit more and even blushed at the kiss. "Don't make me do it again, because I don't know what else I could try," she said, trying and failing to be stern as a giggle escaped her lips.

The three of them stayed awake and kept watch the remainder of the night, and whenever Sora or Kairi sensed approaching Heartless, one of them (usually Sora since Kairi's shoulder was still causing her much more discomfort than Sora's) would go out with Strider, who would enthusiastically observe the young warrior with amazement while critiquing and giving pointers and reminders that only one who had truly studied and had many years of experience could give, like any good coach would.

But those incidences were few throughout the night, and indeed, they only happened four times after Kairi had dragged Sora away from camp. The morning dawned grey and full of clouds, and the rain had ceased completely a few hours before. The wind was shifting, and the clouds were beginning to break, pale but widening strips of blue sky appearing between them.

When the hobbits, Ohtarmon and Menelmon awoke it was with surprise to see Sora up and smiling and joking as he had before Weathertop happened. Ohtarmon de-digivolved back to Aiwemon as soon as he was confident that they'd be alright walking and carrying their own weight and packs again, but he still grumbled when Sora, laughing, attached Frodo's own pack on his back again.

Their breakfast was hot from the fire that had burned since Kairi lighted it, and it was comfortable by all rights. Both Sora and Kairi ate the small portion of food they had ravenously, having not eaten anything for the three days they had been asleep for.

"Come on, let's get going," Sora said enthusiastically, after they had repacked and gotten ready. "Rivendell isn't that far away anymore is it?"

"In a minute Sora," Strider said, smiling at the young man's returned spirit. "I am going to climb, if I can, and get a look at the lie of the land."

Sora looked at Strider for a second. "Then... I'll come with you!"

"And I will too," Aiwemon said, flying up to reach Sora's shoulder. In the end, Strider was unable to convince them to stay with Kairi, Menelmon, and the hobbits, and the three of them set off.

When they returned, their news wasn't all that reassuring. Strider had led them too far to the north, and they would need to find a way to turn south again, lest they wind up in the Ettendales to the north of Rivendell, and that _was_ troll-country, and unfamiliar with Strider.

The rest of the day they spent scrambling over rocky and difficult ground. Occasionally they would be beset by Heartless, but every time Sora and Kairi would leap into action with their Keyblades and digimon partners, vanquishing the attacks within minutes. They managed to find a pass between two hills that brought them into a valley that led in a southeast direction. Towards the end of the day, however, they found the path blocked by a high ridge; its dark edge against the sky was broken into many bare points like teeth of a blunted saw. Two choices were before them: to go back, or attempt the climb.

They attempted the climb, but it was difficult.

"Mahna Mahna!" Sora swore, tripping and falling down for the third time within the first half-hour as they struggled up the ridge.

Kairi looked at him quizzically and began to mutter quietly, "Do-doo-do-do-do."

Sora looked up and behind him at her. "Mahna Mahna."

"Do-do-do-do."

Their heads began to bob slightly and tiny smiles appeared on their tired faces. "Mahna Mahna."

"Do-doo-do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do!" Quiet sniggers came from their lips at the little inside joke that only they understood. Fortunately, they were the only ones to have heard each other, and so did not receive strange looks from their companions apart from Aiwemon and Menelmon.

The climb was long and arduous, and soon after Sora and Kairi's little pop-culture break Frodo was forced to dismount from the pony and their hearts fell slightly. They began to despair of getting the pony up the ridge, or even finding a path for themselves. Sora stubbornly threw himself forward, determined not to let something like a ridge stop him now that Kairi had finally gotten him to come out of his funk. The light was nearly gone and all of them were exhausted when they reached the top. They had gotten into a narrow stretch between two higher points, and the slope fell away steeply again just a short distance ahead of them. Kairi clutched at a painful stitch in her side and watched as Sora threw himself onto the ground.

"I'm bushed," he said tiredly. Frodo dropped down and lay next to him, shivering horribly. Kairi took a few deep breaths and tried to ignore the pain in her side before kneeling down next to Frodo.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly. The wound he had received on Weathertop was affecting him much differently than it had affected Sora, and she attributed that to their not being from Middle-earth.

Frodo gasped and his right hand clutched at his left side. "My arm is lifeless," he said slowly, his voice and teeth chattering, "and my side and shoulder feel like icy claws have been laid upon them."

Kairi looked at him sympathetically before she turned away. She took Sora's pack off of him and opened it, beginning to rummage through it.

Sora looked up at her suddenly, his eyes quickly gaining a look of discomfort. His voice was unable to hide his apprehension. "Kai, why are you going through my pack?"

"I'm getting a pot," she answered. Her face beamed. "Here's one!" She pulled it out and then she spotted something underneath where the pot had been. It looked to be an auburn-leather bound book, the leather the same colour as the jacket Sora had worn for a time after they had been on the _Flying Dutchman_, but it could have held anything inside of it. "What's this?"

She pulled it out and was about to open the book when it was suddenly snatched out of her hands. Kairi looked up with surprise to see Sora clutching it tightly. "Nothing!" he said.

Kairi raised an eyebrow in amusement. "So it's 'nothing' huh? Come on, tell me."

"No," Sora replied. Kairi jumped up and made a grab for the book, but Sora deked out of the way and hid it underneath his brown cloak.

"Aw, come on you lazy bum," Kairi whined, grabbing his arm and tugging on it. "Tell me!"

"No," Sora repeated, beginning to laugh.

"Why don't you want to show me?" Kairi asked shrewdly, folding her arms in front of her chest. "What is it? Your secret porno stash?"

Sora's face turned beet red and Kairi laughed loudly at his flustered and annoyed expression and promptly turned around before he could begin to successfully articulate a counter. Jiminy even rolled right out of Sora's hood, laughing himself silly. She picked up the pot and filled it up halfway with a water spell. She came and kneeled next to Frodo again and placed her hands along the sides of the pot below the water's level. "Fire."

Frodo looked at her curiously as her area around her gloves began to glow with a red light. Merry and Sam came over to her after speaking with Strider, and Sora was hurriedly trying to get out of explaining just what porn was to a bewildered and curious Aiwemon, Menelmon, and Peregrin Took.

The Kairi heated the water with her fire spell until it was steaming and just beginning to boil before she placed a cloth in it. While removing her glove, she got a sudden idea and softly poured light into the grey cloth as it soaked in the hot water. Sam helped Frodo remove his layers and she began to bathe his shoulder over where he had been struck by the morgul knife. The wound had been small and had closed, and there was nothing to be seen of it but a cold white scar.

Frodo sighed as Kairi tenderly bathed the spot in the dying light with the cloth. The light she had put into it seemed to be healing him somewhat of the pain, and she could almost feel a bit of warmth that wasn't from the steaming water creep back into the skin underneath her hands.

"You would make a good mother when you're older Kairi," Merry said, nodding his head slightly as he watched her motions.

She gasped and stopped for an instant. Her left hand went up to wipe away a sudden tear from her eyes and she continued bathing Frodo's shoulder. "Thanks Merry. That means a lot."

-A-D-

The night was cold, and the wind blew chills into their bodies as they huddled round the fire that Sora had lit under the roots of a gnarled, old pine. But the morning dawned bright and fair, and the light was pale and clear. Strider took Sora with him again to survey the area, and when they returned the sun was shining brightly, complimenting Sora's wide grin and Strider's small smile. They were heading in the right direction again, and they had caught a glimpse of the Loudwater again. Strider knew that the Road to the Ford was not far from the River and lay on the side nearest to them.

"We must make for the Road again," he said. "We cannot hope to find a path through these hills. Whatever danger may beset it, the Road is our only way to the Ford."

They ate before setting out again, hardening their encouraged hearts for the descent down the southern side of the ridge. But the going was much easier than they had expected, and the slope was far less steep on this side. Before long Frodo was able to ride the pony again, and Sora was laughing as he risked breaking an ankle by leaping down sections twelve feet at a time. Kairi scolded him every time he foolishly made the jump, and she ignored the fact that she was jumping down one extra foot from being slightly behind and higher up in order to reach him so that she _could_ scold him.

As for Strider and the hobbits, Bill Ferny's poor old pony was developing a knack for picking out a path, and for sparing his its rider as many jolts as possible. Their spirits all rose in the sun's light as the knowledge that they were nearing their destination sunk into their hearts, and the tomfoolery of the two teenage lovers using their abilities erupted to a level that hadn't been witnessed since they left Bree, and the sounds of their laughing rang through the immediate area of the woods. And no Heartless came upon them.

Pippin was a little ahead of the others after they had finished descending the ridge. Suddenly he turned round and called to them. "There is a path here!" he cried. When they caught up with him, they saw that he had made no mistake: there were clearly the beginnings of a path, that climbed with many windings out of the woods below and faded away onto the hill-top behind. In places it was now faint and overgrown, or choked with fallen stones and trees; but at one time it seemed to have been much used. It appeared to have been made by strong arms and heavy feet. Here and there old trees had been cut or broken down, and large rocks cloven or heaved aside to make way for it.

They followed it down, for it gave them much the easiest way down, but Strider advised that they moved cautiously, and their anxiety increased as they came into the dark woods, and the path slowly grew plainer and broader. Kairi's fingers twitched occasionally until she was sure she was having a spasm, and almost wanted to summon and hold onto the Oathkeeper just to keep her mind off of calling it. Suddenly coming out of a belt of fir trees it ran steeply down a slope, and turned sharply to the left round the corner of a rocky shoulder of the hill.

When they reached the corner they looked around and saw that the path ran on a level strip under the face of a low cliff overhung with trees. In the stony wall there was a large door hanging crookedly ajar on one great hinge.

They stopped outside the door. There was a cave behind, but in the gloom inside it was impossible to see anything. Strider, Sora, and Kairi, pushing with all their strength, were able to open the door, and then the Ranger and Princess went in. They didn't go far, and Kairi winced when she stepped on something and her boot crunched something underfoot. She looked down, and stepped back in sudden disgust to see that she had crushed one of many small old bones that lay scattered over the floor. The only other thing of interest they could see from the sun's light that filtered in around the entrance were a few massive, empty, jars and broken pots.

Pippin looked in from the outside. "Surely this is a troll-hole, if ever there was one!" he said. "Come out, you two, and let us get away. Now we know who made the path—and we had better get off it quick."

Strider came out first with Kairi quickly following him. "There is no need, I think," he said. "It is certainly a troll-hole, but it seems to have been long forsaken. I don't think we need to be afraid, but let us go down warily, and we shall see."

Pippin, not liking to show Strider, Sora, and Kairi (but especially Strider) that he was still afraid went on ahead with Merry, while Strider and Sam walked on either side of Frodo's pony, as the path was now wide enough to accommodate them, and Sora and Kairi brought up the rear just behind with Menelmon on Kairi's shoulder and Aiwemon flying beside Sora, still carrying Frodo's pack, though it was lighter now.

"I wonder what a troll actually looks like," Sora said to Kairi, glancing at her as his hands were folded behind his head in his customary pose.

"I don't know," Kairi said. She spotted Pippin running back with Merry, both of the hobbits looking terrified. "But, I think we may find out very soon."

"There _are_ trolls!" Pippin panted, breathless. "Down in a clearing in the woods not far below. We got a sight of them through the tree-trunks. They are very large!"

"We will come and look at them," said Strider, stooping to pick up a stick. Sora and Kairi called their Keyblades into their hands and made their way up to walk just behind Strider and Sam. Frodo said nothing, but Sam looked scared.

The sun was now high, and shining down through the half-stripped branches of the trees and lighting the clearing with bright patches of light. They stopped suddenly on the edge of the clearing and peered through the trees, holding their breath. There in front of them stood the trolls: three monstrous trolls. One was stooping, and the other two stood staring at him.

Kairi gulped, she certainly hadn't expected trolls to be larger than Ohtarmon was, but there they were, the standing ones at least more than twice her height. Strider drew her attention as he walked forward unconcernedly, brandishing his stick. "Get up old stone!" he said, and broke his stick upon the stooping troll.

Nothing happened. There was a gasp of astonishment from the hobbits, and then even Frodo laughed while Kairi, Sora, Menelmon, and Aiwemon shared puzzled looks with each other. "Well," Frodo said. "We are forgetting our family history! These must be the very three that were caught by Gandalf, quarrelling over the right way to cook thirteen dwarves and one hobbit!"

"I had no idea we were anywhere near the place!" Pippin said.

"Gandalf turned them into stone?" Kairi asked, surprised. "Wow, he must be one powerful wizard to do that."

"His is a powerful wizard Kairi," Strider said, smiling broadly as they all came out to examine the stone trolls, "but Gandalf did not turn them into stone. He is not so cruel. The light of the sun turns any troll caught in it into a stone statue like these three. You are forgetting not only the history of your uncle, Frodo, but all you ever knew about trolls as well. It is broad daylight with a bright sun, and yet you, Pippin, come back trying to frighten us with a tale of live trolls waiting for us in this glade! In any case you might have noticed that one of them has an old bird's nest behind his ear. That would be a most unusual ornament for a live troll!"

They all laughed, and settled down right there in the sunny glade for lunch, right underneath the shadow of the trolls' large legs. Frodo told the story of when his uncle Bilbo came through this very stretch of wood with Thorin Oakenshield and his twelve companions on Bilbo's own journey many years before, and how

"Won't somebody give us a bit of a song, while the sun is high?" asked Merry, when they had finished. "We haven't had a song or a tale for days."

"Not since Weathertop," said Frodo. They all looked at him. "Don't worry about me," he said. "I feel much better, but I don't think I could sing. Perhaps Sam could dig something out of his memory."

Kairi, remembering when Sam sang about Gil-galad, looked with a broad smile at the hobbit. "Come on Sam," she said, urging him on. "Sing us something!"

"Aw, I don't know Kairi," he said, blushing and rubbing his head. "You could sing us something couldn't you? You do have a lovely singing voice if I remember rightly from Bree."

Kairi smiled a little wider and shook her head. "You wouldn't know any of our songs, and I'm sure that there are a lot that you wouldn't like."

"Come on Sam!" Aiwemon prodded.

"Yeah," Sora added, cheering, "Peer Pressure!"

Sam nodded his head in resignation. "Well, how would this suit? It ain't what I call proper poetry (Sora gagged again at the word), if you understand me, just a bit of nonsense. But these old images here brought it to my mind." He stood up, his hands behind his back as if he were a kid in school, and he began to sing an old tune.

_Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,  
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;  
For many a year he had gnawed it near,  
For meat was hard to come by.  
Done by! Gum by!  
In a cave in the hills he dwelt alone,  
And meat was hard to come by._

_Up came Tom with his big boots on.  
Said he to Troll: "Pray, what is yon?  
For it looks like the shin o' my nuncle Tim,  
As should be a-lyin' in graveyard.  
Caveyard! Paveyard!  
This many a year has Tim been gone,  
And I thought he were lyin' in graveyard."_

_"My lad," said Troll, "this bone I stole.  
But what be bones that lie in a hole?  
Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o' lead,  
Afore I found his shinbone.  
Tinbone! Thinbone!  
He can spare a share for a poor old troll,  
For he don't need his shinbone."_

_Said Tom: "I don't see why the likes o' thee  
Without axin' leave should go makin' free  
With the shank or the shin o' my father's kin;  
So hand the old bone over!  
Rover! Trover!  
Though dead he be, it belongs to he;  
So hand the old bone over!"_

_"For a couple o' pins," says Troll, and grins,  
"I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.  
A bit o' fresh meat will go down sweet!  
I'll try my teeth on thee now.  
Hee now! See now!  
I'm tired o' gnawing old bones and skins;  
I've a mind to dine on thee now."_

_But just as he thought his dinner was caught,  
He found his hands had hold of naught.  
Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind  
And gave him the boot to larn him.  
Warn him! Darn him!  
A bump o' the boot on the seat, Tom thought,  
Would be the way to larn him._

_But harder than stone is the flesh and bone  
Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.  
As well set your boot to the mountain's root,  
For the seat of a troll don't feel it.  
Peel it! Heal it!  
Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,  
And he knew his toes could feel it._

_Tom's leg is game, since home he came,  
And his bootless foot is lasting lame;  
But Troll don't care, and he's still there  
With the bone he boned from its owner.  
Doner! Boner!  
Troll's old seat is still the same,  
And the bone he boned from its owner!_

"Well that was quite silly," Sora said, smiling at Sam.

"And so ends 'Silly Songs with Sam'," Aiwemon laughed, flapping his wings, "the part of the adventure where Samwise sings a silly song."

"And so too does it give a warning to us all!" Merry joked. "It is as well you used a stick, and not your hand, Strider!"

"Where did you come by that, Sam?" asked Pippin. "I've never heard those words before."

Sam mumbled something inaudible. "It's out of his own head, of course," said Frodo. "I am learning a lot about Sam Gamgee on this journey. First he was a conspirator, now he's a jester. He'll end up by becoming a wizard—or a warrior!"

"I hope not," said Sam. "I don't want to be neither!"

They went back on down the woods in the afternoon, likely following the very track that Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves had used many years before. After a few miles they passed by a stone in the grass, the signs of withered dwarf-runes and secret marks still visible. It was the stone that marked the place where the trolls' treasured gold had been hidden by Thorin Oakenshield and his companions. Frodo said that there was none left of the share allotted to Bilbo, as the hobbit had given it away, feeling that it wasn't his since it had been taken from robbers.

It was evening when they reached the Road, and the trees bordering it cast long shadows across it. There was no sign of any other travellers to be seen. As there was now no other possible course for them to take, they climbed down the bank, and turning left went off as fast as the smaller hobbits could manage. Soon a shoulder of the hills cut off the light of the quickly westering sun. A cold wind flowed down from the mountains, and Kairi shivered horribly and brought her cloak and jacket closer to her body. She had lived most of her life on Destiny Islands, a place that was broiling in the summer heat and comfortably warm in the 'winter' months; if she even so much as took her cloak off she'd become cold, especially since she was sweating from jogging down the Road.

They were just looking for a place off the Road where they could camp for the night, when they heard a sound that brought sudden fear back into their hearts: the noise of hoofs behind them. They looked back, but they could not see far because of the many windings and rollings of the Road. They quickly scrambled off the beaten way and up into the deep heather and bilberry patch of a thick hazel thicket. They could see the Road as they peered out from the bushes, faint and grey in the failing light, some thirty feet below them. The sound of hoofs drew nearer. They fell fast, with a light _clippety-clippety-clip_. Then faintly, as if it was blown away from them by the breeze, they seemed to catch a dim ringing, as of small bells tinkling.

"That does not sound like a Black Rider's horse!" said Frodo, listening intently. The other hobbits agreed hopefully while Kairi shared anxious looks with Sora and their digimon. She had no idea what the horse of a Black Rider would sound like, but she expected that _any_ horse would sound similar to their pony. They were in fear of pursuit for so long that any sound from behind was ominous and unfriendly. But Strider was now leaning forward, stooped to the ground, with a hand to his ear, and a look of joy on his face.

The light faded, and the leaves on the bushes rustled softly. Clearer and nearer now the bells jingled, and _clippety-clip_ came the quick trotting feet. Suddenly into view below came a white horse, gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its headstall flickered and flashed, as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider's cloak streamed behind him, and his hood was thrown back; his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed. Kairi saw him and it looked to her as though a white light was shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through only a thin veil.

Strider sprang from hiding and dashed down towards the Road, leaping with a cry through the heather; but even before he had moved or called, the rider had reined in his horse and halted, looking up towards the thicket where they stood. When he saw Strider, he dismounted and ran to meet him calling out: _Ai na vedui Dúnadan! Mae govannen!_ His speech and ringing voice left no doubt in their hearts, even in the hearts of those not from Middle-earth, he was of the Elven-folk. No others that dwelled in the wide world had voices so fair to hear.

"What did he say?" Sora asked Kairi. "And why did he sound like he was a little afraid?"

"I don't know," Kairi replied.

"I did not catch the first phrase," said Frodo, watching anxiously as the elf and Strider spoke to each other, "he spoke it too quickly for me. But the second part, '_Mae govannen_', means 'well met'."

"Sounds like a beautiful language if just saying something like 'hello' can be said like that," Kairi said, sighing. "I wish I could speak it."

"If you did I'd have to learn it too," Sora said suddenly, his eyes going wide. "You'd probably prattle on in it so often I'd never be able to understand you again!"

Kairi and Menelmon both giggled.

Soon Strider beckoned to them, and they hurried down to the Road. "This is Glorfindel," said Strider, "who dwells in the house of Elrond."

"Hail and well met at last!" said the Elf-lord to Frodo. "I was sent from Rivendell to look for you. We feared that you were in danger upon the road."

Frodo's face brightened. "Then Gandalf has reached Rivendell?" he cried.

"No. He had not when I departed; but that was nine days ago," answered Glorfindel. "Elrond received news that troubled him. Some of my kindred, journeying in your land beyond the Baranduin, learned that things were amiss, and sent messages as swiftly as they could. They said that the Nine were abroad, and that you were astray bearing a great burden without guidance, for Gandalf had not returned. There are few even in Rivendell that can ride openly against the Nine; but such as there were, Elrond sent out north, west, and south. It was thought that you might turn far aside to avoid pursuit, and become lost in the Wilderness."

"It was my lot to take the Road, and I came to the Bridge of Mitheithel, and left a token there, night on seven days ago. Three of the Servants of Sauron were upon the Bridge, but they withdrew and I pursued them westward. I came also upon two others, but they turned away southward. Since then I have searched for your trail. Two days ago I found it, and followed it over the Bridge; and today I marked where you descended from the hills again. I wonder what occurred to you upon the Bridge, for there were signs of a battle, and I apologize for not being there to aid you. But come! There is no time now for further news or explanation. Since you are here we must risk the peril of the Road and go. There are five behind us, and when they find your trail upon the Road they will ride after us like the wind. And they are not all. Where the other four may be, I do not know. I fear that we may find the Ford is already held against us."

"If the Ford is held against us," Sora spoke up resolutely, "we'll just have to take it back like we did the Bridge of—the Bridge of Mith..." He folded his arms and looked down in thought for a second. "How do you say that again?"

"Mitheithel, Sora," Kairi said.

"Yeah, that!" Sora said, unfolding his arms and smiling at his girlfriend. "Thanks Kairi."

Glorfindel surveyed Sora closely for a few seconds before his eyes switched onto the bird upon his shoulder. Next his gaze fell upon Kairi, and a strange feeling fell upon her, as if the Elf-lord was boring his eyes into the depths of her very heart and soul. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but it soon passed as his eyes switched onto Menelmon as the small bird digimon rested upon her own right shoulder.

"I can see that you have strong hearts," Glorfindel said, now looking to the four as a whole, "and that you have great strength within you, for both good and evil. But your power will not save you if the Nine are all gathered together under their fell chieftain. You are not strong enough to survive another encounter with him; his mark already spreads discord through one of you."

Their heads turned towards Sora, but he stared resolutely ahead of him. Kairi saw his eyes boring right into the Elf's, but when he spoke his words were profoundly directed only at himself. "I won't let him take me again. I will prove to him that I am stronger than I seem; that I am stronger than _he_ is. The next time we meet, I will face him; I will crush him."

Glorfindel couldn't possibly know all of what Sora was talking about, but Kairi nodded at Sora, proud of him. He really had gotten his confidence and drive back, and all it took was a little forceful pushing and prodding to get him to go in the right direction.

The shades of evening were deepening as they spoke, and Frodo gave a sudden gasp that drew their eyes as he swayed and clutched at Sam's arm.

"My master is sick and wounded," said Sam angrily. "He can't go on riding after nightfall. He needs rest."

Glorfindel came up and caught Frodo as the hobbit sank to the ground, and taking him gently in his arms he looked into Frodo's face with grave anxiety. Strider briefly explained of the attack on Weathertop, and of the deadly knife. He took out the hilt, which he had kept, and handed it to the Elf. Glorfindel shuddered as he took it, but he looked intently at it.

"There are evil things written on this hilt," he said; "though maybe your eyes cannot see them. Keep it, Aragorn, till we reach the house of Elrond! But be wary, and handle it as little as you may! Alas! the wounds of this weapon are beyond my skill to heal. I will do what I can—but all the more do I urge you now to go on without rest."

He searched the wounds on both Frodo's and Sora's shoulders with his fingers, and his face grew graver, as if what he learned disquieted him. But Sora felt something dark inside him squirm, and he knew that the Elf-lord somehow held some power over Anti, and Sora felt a little bit calmer than he had before.

"You shall ride my horse," said Glorfindel to Frodo. "I will shorten the stirrups up to the saddle-skirts, and you must sit as tight as you can. But you need not fear: my horse will not let any rider fall that I command him to bear. His pace is light and smooth; and if danger presses too near, he will bear you away with a speed that even the black steeds of the enemy cannot rival."

"No, he will not!" said Frodo. "I shall not ride him, if I am to be carried off to Rivendell or anywhere else, leaving my friends behind in danger."

"Good answer," Sora muttered, smiling.

Glorfindel smiled as well. "I doubt very much if your friends would be in danger if you were not with them! The pursuit would follow you and leave us in peace, I think. It is you, Frodo, and that which you bear that brings us all in peril."

Frodo had no answer to Glorfindel's argument, and he was persuaded to mount Glorfindel's white horse. The pony was laden instead with a great part of the others' burdens, so that they now marched much lighter, and they made good speed. But the hobbits began to find it hard to keep up with the swift tireless feet of the Elf, and a good deal after the hobbits began to have trouble, Kairi felt her own feet beginning to stumble. On he led them, into the mouth of darkness, and still on under the deep clouded night. There was neither star nor moon; that was something that Kairi found troubled her greatly for the first time. It was not until the coming dawn that he allowed them to halt. Pippin, Merry, and Sam were by that time nearly asleep on their stumbling legs, and Sora and Kairi were not much better; and even Strider seemed by the sag in his shoulders to be weary. Frodo sat upon the horse in a dark dream, and the only ones who seemed to get any form of rest at all were Aiwemon and Menelmon, who somehow managed to fall asleep on the rolling shoulders of their digidestined partners.

As soon as Glorfindel allowed them to stop Kairi broke away from the Road and dropped unceremoniously into the heather a few yards away, breathing in deeply the scent of the pink flowers and the rest of the plants around her before falling instantly into sleep. The vain thoughts of the state of her face and hair had not occurred to her once for the last two weeks, and they did not come to her now. But it seemed like she had only just closed her eyes when Glorfindel was shaking her awake. The sun had now climbed far into the morning, and the clouds and mists of the night were gone.

"It's got to be at least eleven," Kairi moaned quietly to herself after seeing the sun's position, rubbing her eyes awake. The realization hit her after a moment and she smiled slightly in misplaced teenage pride. "Even though I only went to sleep a few hours ago, I slept in till eleven! That's a new record." She looked towards Sora and found that Glorfindel had roused him before her. His cerulean blue eyes were smiling at her and he chuckled slightly; he appeared to have had a completely untroubled sleep. "What?"

"Mine's one in the afternoon," he said quietly. His smile only widened and he laughed as Kairi punched him in the arm.

"Then you're still a lazy bum and you'll always be my lazy bum!" she said, hugging him tightly.

Glorfindel broke them apart after the others were up. "Drink this," he said, pouring for each of them in turn a little liquor from his silver-studded flask of leather. It was clear as spring water and had no taste, and it did not feel either cool or warm in the mouth; but strength and vigour seemed to flow into all their limbs as they drank it. Eaten after that draught the stale bread and dried fruit (which was all that they now had left) seemed to satisfy their hunger much better than even the tables in Radiant Garden's castle. Kairi knew that Helia would never forgive her and take it as a personal offence if she told the poor cook that.

Sora made a sound as his teeth crunched down on the stale bread and Kairi looked at him. He was staring at the horse of Glorfindel. "You know," he said, his voice a little low and filled with awe, "I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful animal before in my life." Kairi looked at the horse and nodded in agreement.

The golden-haired Elf smiled.

It had been less than five hours since they had stopped and slept before Glorfindel had them going again. He allowed them only two brief rests all day, and this caused them to travel nearly twenty miles before the night fell again. They had come to a point where the Road bent to the right and ran down towards the bottom of the valley, now making straight for the Bruinen. So far there had been no sign or sound of pursuit that she could see or hear, and Heartless hadn't appeared to hinder them since they'd reached the ridge two days previous. Pete had probably gotten lost in the wilderness and could no longer find them or their trail to send Heartless after them. Or maybe he'd attempted to climb the ridge after them and died; Kairi couldn't care less so long as he never mentioned their domestic situation again. It was the Black Riders and Anti that worried her now. _He_ hadn't made a move on Sora since she'd thrown him at the Heartless that night, and it seemed now as if he might be scared to try again, but it was too much to hope for that he would give up and leave them alone. And the Riders still gave her fear, no matter what protection she had placed over her heart. The fear of the Riders also seemed to be affecting Glorfindel, for he would often halt and listen, if they lagged behind, and a look of anxiety would cloud his face. Once or twice he spoke to Strider in the elf-tongue.

Kairi had never done so much walking and jogging in all her life before she came to Middle-earth, and before she had met Glorfindel, she thought that she had become accustomed to it. But the Elf-lord put both her and Sora, and the hobbits, through their paces on a new level of physical strain, and none of them had the endurance yet to last. However anxious their guides were, it was plain as day that the youth and hobbits could go no further that night.

They were still weary when they set off in the early morning, and there were still many miles left to go between them and the Ford, miles that made Kairi's sore feet ache at the very thought of them, but she plodded on along with the rest without verbal complaint as best as she could.

"Our peril will be greatest just ere we reach the river," said Glorfindel; "for my heart warns me that the pursuit is now swift behind us, and other dangers may be waiting by the Ford."

The Road was still running steadily downhill, something which Kairi's booted feet were grateful for, and in the late afternoon they came to a place where the Road went suddenly under the dark shadow of tall pine trees, and then plunged into a deep cutting with steep moist walls of red stone. Echoes r along as they hurried forward; and there seemed to be a sound of many footfalls following their own. All at once, the Road ran out again from the end of the tunnel into the open. There, at the bottom of a sharp incline they saw before them a long flat mile, and beyond that, the Ford of Rivendell. On the opposite side was a steep brown bank, threaded by a winding path; and behind that the tall mountains climbed, shoulder above shoulder, and peak beyond peak, into the fading sky.

Kairi looked behind her suddenly. She felt a dreadful chill beginning to attack the defence she had placed over her heart at Weathertop, and still an echo as of following feet drove into her ears from the tunnel behind; and a rushing noise like the wind rising and pouring through the branches of the pines. Glorfindel turned and listened too, and then he sprang forward with a loud cry.

"Fly!" he called. "Fly! The enemy is upon us!"

His white horse leaped forward and Kairi and Sora summoned their Keyblades while running after the horse as quickly as they could. Aiwemon and Menelmon both took off from their shoulders and were able to keep pace with the swift hooves of Glorfindel's horse. They outstripped the hobbits while Strider and Glorfindel came behind the little people as a rear-guard. Kairi noticed Sora slowing and looked at him, matching his speed.

"Why are we running?" he asked her. "Why aren't we behind them to hold off the Riders?"

Kairi blinked and she quickened the pace. "Because the Black Riders are after Frodo, not the others. If they can make it past Strider and Glorfindel, then wouldn't we be the best shot of keeping him and whatever this 'ring' that he's carrying safe?"

Sora sped up himself and caught up with her, both of them ignoring the pain in their throbbing feet. "Way to keep our priorities straight Kai," he said. "I'd forgotten that. But I'd still like to make sure that Strider and Glorfindel are safe too."

"They're—"

"They're smart, and they're strong, I know," Sora interrupted her, reminding himself. "I really shouldn't worry about them really. I should be worrying about me."

"Why?" asked Kairi, looking at him.

"Anti is tugging at me."

They were only half way across the flat, when the noise of horses galloping reached them. Out of the gate in the trees they had just left rode a Black Rider. Whereas Glorfindel's magnificent horse was a sight to behold, and a joy to look at, the black horses the Riders mounted were gaunt and terrifying, their vicious red eyes clearly visible even from this distance. The Rider reined in his horse, and halted. He swayed in his saddle a moment, and then another Rider followed him, and then another; then two more.

"Ride forward! Ride!" cried Glorfindel to Frodo.

Kairi brought her eyes forward to look at Frodo as he still rode ahead of them. He was not immediately obeying the Elf-lord's command. He checked his horse down to a walk, and turned and looked back. He stared at the Riders for a moment, and then his hand left the bridle and went to the hilt of his sword, and with a red flash he drew it.

"Ride on! Ride on!" cried Glorfindel, and then loud and clear he called to the horse in the elf-tongue: _noro lim, noro lim Asfaloth!_

At his master's cry the white horse sprang away with speed that Kairi knew their Rookie-level digimon could not hope to match, and neither could they even with the aid of a haste spell. But still they ran, and Kairi's ears were suddenly pierced by a terrible cry. It was answered; and out of the trees and rocks on the left the remaining four Riders came flying out on their black steeds. Two rode for Frodo, and two galloped madly towards the Ford to cut off his escape.

Kairi looked behind her as the thundering of hooves grew louder and she saw with horror that the five Riders who had been on the hill were nearly on top of her and Sora. Grabbing his arm, she threw them both and leapt off the Road. She was not a moment too soon, for less than three seconds afterwards the Black Riders had swept past them like a gale, pale swords glittering in the sunlight in their cold hands.

As soon as they had passed, both Kairi and Sora growled. "Let's get them," Sora said. She nodded. Fire engulfed both of their Keyblades and they rushed back onto the Road and ran after the Black Riders on their swift steeds. Aiwemon and Menelmon were ahead of them and high in the air, having flown up to avoid being overtaken by the Black Riders, and the two bird digimon were flying towards them. They shrieked through the air as they passed overhead before flying up and making an Immleman turn. They dived down until they were about two metres above Sora and Kairi, and they suddenly began to glow with bright golden light as the digivices clipped to the waist of the pants of both digidestined began screaming.

"Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!"

"Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

The warrior-bird digimon landed hard on the ground on his powerful feet, and he landed running with his large mace held lightly to his side and trailing a little behind him to his right. He and Soronmon were both faster than their partners, but they slowed down to keep pace.

Sora swore suddenly and Kairi looked at him. "Fuck!" he cursed. "I think Anti's deciding that he wants to try and kill me now!"

"What, now!" Ohtarmon yelled from beside him.

"Damn," Sora apologized, looking forward to the Ford. Frodo had managed to make it across the river and away from the Nine, three of them advancing into the water after the mounted hobbit. "I guess I won't be a part of this battle. And right when it's most inconvenient too."

"Then get in there and crush him!" cried Kairi. "I don't want you always worrying about him anymore. When you're upset about something, it hurts me too, no matter how much you try to not let it get to you."

She winced mentally and Soronmon glanced down at her. _Like I can even say that,_ she thought in a quiet voice.

Sora stopped and the others halted a moment later and turned to look at him. "Don't worry," he said, giving them a cheesy grin. "Losing isn't an option, because if I lose, then he wins. So all I've got to do is beat him." He held his grin for a second, and then his eyes rolled back into his head for a second. Sora's eyelids closed and he collapsed onto the ground, his flaming silver Keyblade vanishing from his grasp.

Kairi caught him as he fell, and quickly laid him on the side of the Road. Her hands were still beneath his unconscious body when she looked back up towards the West. Out of the gate between the trees she had just seen a breathless figure make his way into her vision. His mammoth hands and pug face were unmistakable. Pete had caught up to them at last.

Kairi grimaced and lifted Sora up again. She looked between the Ford, where the Riders were, and Pete, clearly caught in a crossroads. Kairi closed her eyes and bit her lip for a hard second before she opened the indigo again and looked up to Soronmon. The winter-eagle digimon landed and she jumped onto Soronmon's back before laying the Keyblade Master down between her wing-joints.

"Take Sora across the Bruinen," she said to Soronmon, getting off. "Ohtarmon, go on to the Ford."

"And you?" Soronmon asked, already knowing the answer.

Kairi looked at her flaming white Oathkeeper for a second before speaking in resigned resolve. "I'll deal with Pete." Both Champion-level digimon nodded. With great flaps of her snow-white wings that lifted up the dust of the Road, Soronmon took off, and Ohtarmon rushed towards the Ford beneath her. Kairi looked up at Pete as the exhausted cat and stooge of Maleficent began to come slowly towards her.

Kairi was really beginning to hate this day.

-A-D-

_So I came out a week later than my first estimate, again, gomenasai! But, did anyone catch the references? Like, 'Mahna Mahna'? And now I got that stuck in your heads again!_

_Is it just me or do these things keep getting longer? Oh well, it should be enough to satisfy you all for a couple of weeks, because I'm going to concentrate my efforts for the moment on the rewrite of the early portion of __**The Beginning**__._

_I'll let you know how far I've gotten on that when I update this again, which shouldn't be _too_ long from now. But when I do update, it'll be the part of the story where we play catch-up with the other characters' timelines._

_See you later!_

_Oh wait, I might as well translate stuff for people that don't know what they've said._

**Translations:**

_Vadeneln Anti._ _Sáut i umûl._ (Kairi. Quintessence. "I banish you Anti. Return to the darkness.")

_Ai na vedui Dúnadan! _(Glorfindel. Sindarin. "Ah, it is at last the Man of the West.")

_noro lim, noro lim Asfaloth! _(Glorfindel. Sindarin. "Ride fast, ride fast Asfaloth!")

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	13. When I See an Elephant Fly

_Shire Folk: OC time. I know that I have not been updating for about a month, and I apologize again._

_Kia: You know, I just noticed something._

_Shire: What?_

_Kia: You're superstitious. Nothing _obscenely_ bad has ever happened in a chapter XIII; it's always been a XIV or a XII._

_Shire: So you just noticed that now?_

_Kia: I did. And I would like to thank you for introducing me earlier in the story this time around. Now I begin to appear in __**Chapter IV: Back to School**__ instead of having to wait until we're being trained in Twilight Town._

_Shire: No problem Kia. The only thing is you still don't really meet Anar until Twilight Town rolls around. So you don't get any off-screen alone time with him._

_Kia: (Blushing furiously) Shire! I—I don't want him to know that I'm crushing on him._

_Shire: Don't worry, he's not here, and none of the other OCs would break the news to him because they don't hold grudges against you. Anyways, can I get someone to do the disclaimer? Jeff, how about you?_

_Jeffery: Sure thing. Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, and nearly everything else in this work of literature are not owned by Shire Folk. They are all owned by other people who actually make money off of them. By the way, your birthday is coming up soon in the story isn't it Kia?_

_Kia: Yeah, it's on October 3__rd__._

_Shire: So you guys will get a chapter soon that has __**two**__ birthdays in it; who can guess who the other one celebrating a B-Day is? And soon afterwards we have Sora's and Roxas' 16__th__. What are the odds of that? Birthdays all around!_

_Jeffery: Wait a second, what's with that silly idiot grin plastered all over your face Shire?_

_Shire: I'm going back to school in the Fall; I know that I _am_ going back to school in the Fall, and I can't stop smiling._

_Kia: (Rolling her eyes) Oh, you're one of those people._

_Shire: Yeah, whatever, and if ANYONE starts spouting to me about racism or being racist in this chapter, or wants to, I will take it straight to the 'Complaints/Issues' topic on my forum! I don't want to hear about it! The crows are awesome! And I also credit Sony-Mae on DeviantArt for some names._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XIII: When I See an Elephant Fly

Naminé collapsed onto her back on the couch in the _Hunter_'s cabin, completely exhausted as tears threatened to overcome her again. Her eyes strayed towards the television screen and she couldn't help but remember that it was only the previous night that Tom had been sitting exactly where she was now lying, watching his football. She couldn't even remember who had been playing or who had won; only that Tom had seemed upset about the outcome when he found her tear-stained face eating all of the chocolate fudge ice cream at a quarter to eleven. His voice even seemed to come back and haunt her as she gazed at the television. It sifted through her head, the cockney accent perfectly distinguishable as it remained in her mind.

"_It's only natural that I should die to protect you too, right?"_

Naminé sobbed and let her tears fall as she scrunched her body up and forced her head down into her knees. She didn't want for Tom to lose his heart to save her life. _She_ was the one who should have lost her heart, not anyone else. It was her fault that she had been so blinded by her anger at Roxas that she didn't sense the Heartless behind them. Tom did nothing wrong; he didn't deserve to die!

"_So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen adieu..."_

She felt the cushions behind her head depress, and a hand softly went to her shoulders. Naminé lifted herself up so that her boyfriend's legs could slide underneath her body, and she placed her head back down against his lap as his fingers passed through her golden tresses again to rest against her collarbone. She couldn't tell if Roxas' gesture was comforting or not, as the hand that touched her was shaking with restrained emotion.

_He needs to grieve too,_ Naminé realized, _but he's still trying to be strong for me._

"Roxas..." she whispered quietly. He didn't answer, and Naminé did not know what words she was supposed to say in the first place, so she allowed his name to echo in the cabin of the _Hunter_ until it was no more than a faint fluttering in their minds.

"We're on our way back to Star Command," Roxas said after ten minutes. His voice seemed forced, but Naminé was unable to look up at him. A small drop left the corner of her left eye and she blinked it away.

"What are we supposed to do now Roxas?" her voice trembled as she asked the question, and another tear almost fell.

Roxas inhaled sharply through his nose behind her. "I really don't know Nam," he told her, his voice beginning to break. "I don't know."

Their ears perked slightly as a weird sound reached them from behind the couch. At the same time, blue light reflected off of the walls and devices in front of them to reach their eyes. "Is this the first time that you've watched someone you know die?" asked a rough and ancient voice.

Naminé looked up from the couch and saw that there was a kindly old sorcerer in blue robes and a blue hat with a great grey beard. She didn't speak as she looked at him, she couldn't remember how. Her chin dropped and Naminé averted her eyes from the man as another, almost forgotten, grief assailed her mind and heart. That particular grief had a far more reaching impact on Kairi than herself, but it rose again anyway, and Naminé suddenly felt a very keen sympathy with Sora.

Master Yen Sid continued. "I know that it can be hard when it happens. You think, 'if only I had done it differently,' and your head is filled with all the regrets of the things you have done or said; and those which you never did or say."

Naminé felt tears leave her eyes as she began to weep silently, staring at the ceiling. Each and every word Master Yen Sid was saying seemed to perfectly convey the feelings tumbling around in her green heart. They were truths, but they were simple and seemed to alleviate some of the confused fear that Naminé was feeling, but not all of it.

Master Yen Sid seemed to sense this as he continued speaking his words of comfort and assurance. "There is only one thing that those of us who are left behind have to do: we must never forget about them and remember them always. We must remember them as they were in life, for however long or short their time with us was. Roxas, Naminé, you have accepted the flames of your parents' souls; from now on in your lives you are no longer alone. Now, hold your heads highs, embrace the memories you have of them all and move forward. There's no need to hold back," he added when Naminé and Roxas both looked up at him with watery eyes; he was smiling sympathetically like a kind old grandfather rather than the intimidating and powerful sorcerer that he was. "Go ahead and cry. Tears we shed for those we've loved are never something to be embarrassed about. Tears we shed out of grief are never a sign of frailty or weakness, only that we have hearts that need to be healed of the hurts they've suffered."

Naminé was no longer silent as she almost startled Master Yen Sid by leaping off the couch and her arms were wrapped around his torso and her blonde head had buried itself into his deep blue robes. Her sobs were now audible as she shook while she allowed herself to cry as much as her heart wanted her to. It was a few seconds before a weight appeared next to her and she subconsciously realized that Roxas was there beside her, letting his own grief wash out of him in their sea of tears.

Master Yen Sid held the two teenagers close with his arms comfortingly through it all. Their heads barely came up to his shoulders, but at the moment they seemed so much smaller and fragile, like the children they still were, suffering from the rollercoaster ride of changing emotions. They held the memories of their twin Somebodies, a full sixteen years of life experience on average between them, but a memory of another was not as great as an individual's memory, and sixteen years in itself was not something that automatically merited adulthood or proved physical, emotional, or intellectual maturity.

But they were being forced into a world that they weren't necessarily ready to be in, all of these young people were, and they were already having experiences that no person should ever experience or at least should not experience until much later in life. It was a tragedy that Roxas and Naminé existed in the first place, and even more so that they were some of the only few people in the galaxy that were Wielders of the Keyblade, and therefore almost obligated to do their part in combating Maleficent.

Master Yen Sid sighed as he held on to the sobbing youths. _Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Naminé, and Riku,_ no_ child should lose their innocence in the ways these five children have. I only pray that their hearts will be able to hold onto the shreds of their childhood that remain when all is said and done._

-A-D-

Naminé woke to the soft feel of sheets against her bare arms and legs, her eyelids slowly quivering open to the sight of the black chocobo plushie, Roxie, atop the white sheets of her soothingly comfortable double bed. It took a few seconds for her brain to register her surroundings, and as soon as the fact that she was lying half-asleep in her bed managed to click in, the blonde Princess groggily forced herself into a sitting position, trying to evict the welcoming clutch of sleep by ramming her knuckles into her confused eyes. She looked towards a bedside table and saw the clock telling her that it was 9:30AM, and October 2nd, 2003.

She couldn't remember how she had gotten into her bed. The events of the previous day flooded back into her mind, and her eyes moistened again and she dabbed them with a sheet, but they were not becoming moist enough as to threaten renewed tears. She did not know for how long she had clutched onto Master Yen Sid and cried through the renewed grief from the deaths of Janet and Seymour, triggered by the fresh pain of losing Tom to the Heartless. However, she must have cried herself to sleep in the wise old sorcerer's arms, and he must have carried her to her bed. She realized that he also must have magicked her into her sleepwear, as the garments that were made for her by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather were clean and folded neatly on a straight-backed wooden chair in the room by a dressing table, and she was dressed in a light yellow nightgown that reached the middle of her thighs when she stood up straight.

She looked towards the bathroom that was attached to her room and became overcome by the desire to have a shower. Her body felt icky from the battle that they had fought throughout the whole of yesterday from when Tom had...

She shook her head as she pulled the nightgown up and over her head and stripped herself of her underwear before stepping into the bathtub and closing the screen. The Heartless had been very persistent the previous day, and the periodically falling rain had soaked into her wings and made her aerial manoeuvring sluggish while she had been able to retain being in her Angelic Form. Colonel Mustang (while his ignition cloth gloves were still dry), Major Armstrong, and the Elric brothers showed their alchemic metal and talents when they encountered the first group of Heartless after... after Tom had lost his heart. Mustang's retinue was also highly skilled in the use of their weapons, but the section of State soldiers that had been with them left something to be desired. At the very least none of them were killed or been taken by the Heartless.

Naminé soaked her blonde hair in the above temperate temperature falling water and rubbed her cheeks and closed eyes with her fingers before allowing them to rub the cascading water over her body. The heat soaked through her skin and into the girl's muscles, making her feel relaxed and comfortable enough to fall asleep again. Her fingers ran through her hair with one hand as another reached for a bottle of shampoo. A dollop of it was placed on her hand and she closed the lid and set it back down on the side with the other before lathering the shampoo between both palms. They scrubbed into her hair and ran around her scalp and down her medium length sand coloured tresses, the white suds soaking into the hair and against the crown of her head.

It had taken them many hours to find the keyhole, as the closer they got to it the more persistent the Heartless became. They had found it in the middle of the burnt and charred ruins of a house, and a large and powerful Heartless attacked them there. It used the powers of alchemy, and was rather difficult for them to defeat.

Naminé winced as her fingers ran over a bruise on her left hip as she now brought a bar of soap around her body, having already used it in conjunction with a facecloth to wash her face and neck. She had been struck there by a spike of hard earth that had been raised from the ground by the Heartless, and it wasn't the only spot that was sore from the battle. By the time they had defeated the Heartless and sealed the keyhole, it was already dusk, but she and Roxas tiredly excused themselves after Colonel Mustang said that he would inform his superiors of the Heartless threat, and returned aboard the _Hunter_.

Her mind swirled with the memory of the battle in its entirety as her hands grasped a razor and she began to shave away the hair on her lower body before going to her arm pits. The Heartless had looked like a man, wearing purple robes that were based off of the uniform of the State Military, with a large Heartless insignia branded across the back of the robes. Its head had been blue, and the yellow eyes shone with a slight hint of sentient intelligence. Its hands had been bare, except for a small silver ring with a tiny red stone set in it. As soon as Naminé and Roxas had brandished their Keyblades in front of them at it, the Heartless leapt away from them and the ruins of the house and led them to an open field before trapping Roxas, Naminé, Mustang, Armstrong, and Edward with it in a barrier. It truly was a master of using alchemy, and it took all of the combined skill of the Flame Alchemist, the Strong Arm Alchemist, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and both wielders of the Keyblade to defeat it.

The girl reached for a bottle of conditioner now, scented with vanilla and almonds, and began to massage her hair with it, her fingers dancing through the strands as the hot water flowed over the curves and rivulets of her naked body. A thought went through her head and Naminé stopped for an instant. A knit formed in her brow and she dunked her hair underneath the showerhead and hastily parted it by flinging the mass of heavy hair over her head and then back over it again. Her fingers ran through it one more time just to make sure that all of the suds were out of her hair; she shut the showerhead off before twisting the taps closed.

Naminé pulled back the screen and stepped out of the tub, her hot and wet bare feet coming down onto the cold wooden floor that covered the whole of the _Hunter_'s decks. She inhaled the steam that had remained on this side of the bathroom and grasped a white towel to dry her feet off first with as water continued to drip down from the tips of her hair, dropping from the nipples upon her breasts, or running down her legs and pooling onto the wooden floor she stood on. The white towel flew all over her body and went down to dap up the fallen water upon the wood until it became twirled up atop her head, her soaked blonde hair entwined within it to dry slowly. She grabbed another white towel in one hand and Naminé returned to her room, unfolding it as she went

The cooler air swept over her body as soon as the pneumatic door _whooshed_ open, and Naminé winced and closed her eyes as it stung her. The more sensitive areas of her body sent shivering signals to her brain, and Naminé gasped minutely as the slightly strange feeling she got every time this happened came to her again. She shivered as Goosebumps formed all over her body, and finished unfolding the towel and placing it around her back from her bum to her shoulder blades. She hadn't done as good a job drying her back as she'd thought; it was getting chilly.

The Princess' eyes slowly opened again and she turned and looked towards the door to her room as it opened with a _whoosh_. Roxas' voice seeped into the room along with the sound of his falling footsteps. "Wake up Nam, Master Yen Sid says that he wants to see both of us in... the—"

Roxas stopped and Naminé saw that he had caught sight of her when he entered her room. Both of them froze and she watched as for a fraction of a second Roxas' eyes studied and surveyed the girl's body, completely exposed except for the towels that hid her hair and back. His nose began to bleed and Naminé was unable to keep herself from noticing that his cerulean eyes were not meeting her indigo ones; that they were zeroed in on a place that was slightly lower than her chin.

Naminé's heart drummed loudly in her ears as the seconds ticked by, her eyes gazing frightfully at Roxas, unable to believe that he was standing _right there_ and gazing at her breasts with eyes that were ever so slowly rising towards hers. Despite all of the teasing and practical jokes and pranks that she and Roxas had pulled off on Sora and Kairi about their relationship, about how maybe they were just a little more than simply boyfriend and girlfriend, that they were in fact 'lovers' in the more naughty sense of the term, Naminé herself was far more timid and shy both personally and sexually than the auburn-haired princess she had become a twin sister to. That is why her cheeks were growing redder and redder through five tense seconds of embarrassment before Roxas' eyes finally met hers.

One more second passed as they looked into each other's eyes, Roxas oblivious to the blood dripping out of his nose and looking queerly at Naminé with quivering eyebrows. The Princess finally loudly squealed, "Eek!" and wrapped the other two-thirds of the towel around her front to cover up. "Pervert!"

Roxas ducked his suddenly fiercely crimson head down and held out a hand. "I'm sorry Nam, I didn't mean—"

"Pervert!" Naminé yelled again, her own eyes averted and cheeks flushed. "GET OUT! NOW!" A hand reached for the nearest object, which for some reason that Naminé could not in this present moment fathom why was a pillow, and she rushed at Roxas, beating him out of the room with the soft; feathery, object just as the hastily drawn-up towel slipped off of her bosom due to the girl's exaggerated movement, leaving her exposed to her boyfriend for a second time.

"I'M SORRY!" Roxas yelled from the other side as the door _whoosh_ed shut behind him with Naminé slamming a hand down on the locking mechanism that was next to the door on its left. Naminé slumped onto the ground for a second with her naked back to the cold door. They always opened automatically whenever someone approached them from a certain distance unless locked, which allowed her to have her back to its steel body. Her mind was confused. She did not know just _what_ she was feeling. For one thing, she was both embarrassed and humiliated that she'd inadvertently given Roxas a 'Full-Frontal-Nudity' flash, another part of her was angry both at herself that she'd accidentally done something so forward and telling her that she should have covered herself up before leaving the bathroom first, or that she should have at least locked the door before she took a shower, and another part of her was angry at Roxas because her room was _her_ room, her _private_ space where she could be naked (if she ever wished to be or found herself to be, like _right now!_) with a feeling of security that no one could just waltz in and see her in all her feminine glory.

That part won out after a few seconds and Naminé yelled across the door, "Haven't you ever heard of 'knock before entering' you idiot!"

"I'm sorry!" Roxas repeated, and he actually sounded a little sincere too. Naminé sighed and got up, but the frown remained. Making doubly sure that the door _was_ locked, she picked up the towel that had slipped off her body and quickly made sure that she was dry before she got dressed. Little did she and Roxas know that Sora had seen less than Roxas two nights previous and received a far greater punishment for his peep. Roxas was lucky.

She emerged from her room not three minutes later, the white towel still holding her wet hair, but apart from that Naminé was fully dressed in a pair of tight white jeans with a pink belt and a silver buckle in the shape of a heart, light blue socks, and a bright yellow t-shirt with a silver many-pointed crown on its centre, the word 'Princess' underneath it in black lettering with a pink heart dotting the 'i'. The necklace with her magical sky-blue gemstone in it was drawn around her neck, and the silver studs of her earrings were set in her earlobes once more. She almost considered not putting them in, but decided against it.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me?" she asked Roxas, who was waiting just outside the door to the right in his usual outfit. Her voice came out in an exasperated groan, and her cheeks were red again as she tried to forget about the incident.

Roxas scratched the side of his jaw and glanced uneasily at Naminé, his own face a pungent shade of pink and his ears burning red. His purple and gold cape rustled against the wall, and Naminé briefly wondered why he continued to regularly wear it. It only seemed to be official or ceremonial garb, as Goofy had never put his on in her memory, but with Roxas it almost seemed to be a sudden staple. "Well, Master Yen Sid is still here, and he wanted to see both of us in the kitchen over breakfast."

"That reminds me," Naminé said, her blush vanishing and the initial thought that caused her to leave the shower so suddenly and rashly, therefore setting her up to accidentally flash Roxas, returned. "There's something I wanted to ask him. Come on, let's go." Roxas nodded silently and quickened his stride to get ahead of Naminé, evidently not trusting himself to walk behind her for some reason known only to him.

The smells and sounds of cooking eggs and bacon slowly wafted to their noses as they walked through the ship towards the kitchen/dining room. Naminé smiled at the scent and rushed ahead as Roxas began to move faster, their famished stomachs taking control of their movements. When they did reach the kitchen, it was to find various cooking implements hovering in the air around the stove, touching and turning juicy slices of bacon, or holding steady above an electric frying pan as it cooked pancakes.

Master Yen Sid was sitting at their little white table, three chairs having been set around it. He was sitting with his back turned towards them on the nearest side, the other two cushioned chairs at the head and foot to his left and right, respectively. There was a newspaper open in the air in front of him (how the heck he even got a newspaper to read when they were in the middle of space between worlds bewildered Naminé), and he was holding onto a cup of coffee that he was just emerging from sipping.

"Ah, good morning Princess Naminé Talerith; Sir Roxas Dual Blade," his gravelly voice spoke without the wizened sorcerer even turning to look at them. A hint of humour came into his tone as he spoke again. "I take it your morning has been interesting already."

Both teenagers blushed horribly. "How did you know?" Naminé asked incredulously.

Master Yen Sid chuckled over the _scrape_ and _plop_ of a flipping pancake. "My dear Naminé, I could hear your screams even from in here. Ah, Manish is leading in the opinion polls; that is good news."

Naminé continued forward, still blushing but trying to put it out of her mind. "Master, there's something I'd like to ask you."

"You want to know why I am here. Am I correct Your Highness?"

Naminé was silent for a second in surprise. She wondered how it was that the old sorcerer was so knowledgeable, but decided against prying that far. She nodded her head and spoke quietly, "Yes."

Master Yen Sid gave something that sounded akin to a sigh and he folded up his newspaper. "Come, have a seat and have something to eat while I explain." Naminé nodded and she and Roxas both sat down at the head and foot of the table, respectively. Plates and utensils flew overhead and set themselves down on the table in front of the three of them. Following them was the steaming food: juicy slices of bacon falling onto Roxas' plate with two pancakes and over-easy eggs; crispy bacon, two pancakes, and scrambled eggs sliding down onto Naminé's; and Master Yen Sid was left with bacon like Roxas', devilled eggs, and his own set of pancakes. Glasses at the places of each teenager were filled with orange juice from floating pitchers.

"It was always my intention to inform you in due course," Master Yen Sid told them, taking one more sip of his coffee as Naminé reached for her orange juice. "However, I sensed that your hearts had been troubled with fear and doubt, and assumed that a major upheaval had occurred in your young lives; I recognized that more than anyone or anything else, you needed an adult whom you could both trust to reassure and comfort you in your time of need. As it is, this is probably an excellent time to inform you of my suspicions, and of my recent doings."

Master Yen Sid folded his arms in his lap and inclined his head downwards slightly. Naminé's fork left her mouth with a piece of pancake behind the wall of her teeth and she looked at the wise sorcerer curiously, while her eyes still held a small measure of grief at the memory of their recent fallen comrade.

"When Xehanort's Heartless was defeated and the door to darkness closed by Sora's efforts, the hearts of the worlds that had fallen to darkness returned and the worlds were restored," said Master Yen Sid, "this you already know, of course. However, the foe we are dealing with now is different from Xehanort's Heartless. Maleficent is not a Heartless, yet, and she has managed to gain full control over the powers of darkness through using Kingdom Hearts. It may not be as bad as it could be, yet she is still very formidable. Through wielding control of the dark powers to which she has gained her ability to control Heartless and the darkness is extensive. However, if she could be defeated..."

Master Yen Sid looked up at Naminé directly. "If Kairi is able to defeat Maleficent using the power of her light, I believe that the light within her heart, and possibly all the Princesses of Heart, including you Naminé, will have some form of impact on Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts is a portal to the Realm of Darkness and the powers of darkness, yet we know that Kingdom Hearts itself is light. It is my belief that some form of phenomenon will occur, and that Kingdom Hearts will spread its light throughout the hearts of all creatures. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy first visited me together as a group, Goofy proposed the idea that if the hearts of everyone were filled with light, that the Heartless would all go away. I believe that this is true, for a time at least, if Maleficent is defeated."

"So, if Kairi wins and she beats Maleficent, then that means that everyone who has been turned into a Heartless and Nobody will become whole again?" Naminé asked.

Master Yen Sid shook his head gravely. "Unfortunately, that is not possible," he told her. "While there are a great many who will return to life, there will be those who will be unable to return. The Pureblood Heartless and the Emblem Heartless are at the root of this. You both know the differences between them, correct? The Purebloods, beings formed of darkness, who have completely corrupted and consumed the heart they are born of in darkness; are therefore unable to regain human form, except of course, for those in extraordinary circumstances like Sora. They can never return to us, and all will attempt to cause us harm and steal and corrupt our hearts to darkness. The Emblems though, bearing the mark that was given to them: darkness surrounding a heart that is not yet corrupted, a heart that is held captive and has been taken from its body. These are the Heartless that release their hearts when slain by a Keyblade or similar weapon forged by Tylythia, such as Princess Jasmine's falchion. It is their released hearts that return to Kingdom Hearts and I believe will have the capability to return to life. Tom, I believe, and the hearts of many others will play such an important role in the coming conflict. It will be a double-edged sword, I am afraid. With every heart that falls to darkness Maleficent gains strength and greater control, and more Nobodies are created, simply empty shells destined to return to darkness unless reunited with their hearts as you, Roxas, and Axel were. But also will Maleficent's power increase with every heart that returns to Kingdom Hearts, freed by its enslavement by the Heartless. She has grown strong indeed, and is destined to grow stronger still before the end."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Roxas asked. "And why do you keep calling for Kairi to defeat Maleficent? What about the rest of us? What about Sora?"

"It is not Sora's destiny to defeat Maleficent this time," Master Yen Sid said grimly. "This time it must fall to Kairi to save the universe, but to save us all she must make the ultimate sacrifice."

"How do you know?" Naminé asked the sorcerer quickly.

"Wait." Naminé watched as a piece of what remained of Roxas' pancakes fell off of his fork and onto his white plate. "What do you mean?"

The Princess bit her lip and looked at Roxas, trying to force her eyes not to tear up. "Kairi's been told, we've, I mean the Princesses, we've all been told by Thessaura that it's Kairi's destiny to defeat Maleficent, but that she's supposed to...to—Roxas she's going to die doing it!"

The table was silent for what seemed to Naminé a very long time. Roxas was looking straight at her with frightened eyes. He didn't seem to believe her, and his cerulean orbs were asking her what his voice seemed incapable of uttering. They were pleading her to tell him that she was lying, that she hadn't said the words that she had spoken; that it was all a big joke. But the Princess stared straight ahead at the knight, her eyes watering but unable to let her tears fall.

Roxas finally broke eye contact from her in defeat. "Does Sora know?"

"No," Master Yen Sid said. "And it is not our place to inform him. The only ones who have that right are Kairi, and the gods. However, I do not pretend to like the situation, which is why I have begun to take measures to try and increase the dear Princess' chances of survival."

"Survival?" Naminé asked. She wiped away the moisture in her eyes with a cloth napkin.

"Strength and magic have rules to govern them Naminé," explained the sorcerer. "If Kairi can become stronger, and indeed she must become stronger to encounter Maleficent a second time and survive against her, then the likelihood that she will exhaust all of her strength and magical, spiritual, and physical energy will be reduced as her stores and strength increase. As those reserves increase in size and Kairi gains more strength, the chances of her dying by expending everything unwittingly over a period of time or in a single strike diminish greatly. She may well be able to survive the war to come, and even defy fate if her heart can become strong enough. But I cannot say for sure," he added, seeing the hopeful look on Naminé's face. "Hearts are unpredictable, and the rules that govern destiny, fate, and foresight are difficult to distinguish; even for the wise the picture is not always clear. All I have done may simply be the necessary step to ensure that Kairi may survive until she reaches her end against Maleficent, but her future is clouded, and I cannot tell."

Naminé looked at Master Yen Sid with a knitted brow. "And what have you done, Master Yen Sid?"

"I have been working recently to surround you few Wielders of the Keyblade with those from another world who are preparing for a war of their own. There are two who shall be training with you, Roxas, Riku, and... I believe there shall be a new Wielder to train with you soon. Asterix and Obelix will likely come to Radiant Garden and train with you as well, as long as Ralph Manish, Urophi Magellan, and his Majesty are able to accomplish what they set out to do. I shall also be upon Radiant Garden, and will instruct you as well."

"And what about Sora and Kairi?" Roxas asked.

"They shall remain where they are," Master Yen Sid answered. "There are another two who shall be training them, instead of training with them, and several others that I can rely on to train them and their digimon partners as well."

"Why couldn't they be with us?" Naminé asked. "I'd want—"

Master Yen Sid cut her off. "While it would be pleasing for all of you to be together, know that Sora and Kairi and their partners will not be in the main war. That weighty responsibility will fall upon your respective mantles. I am confident that with your friends by your side and their love and support guiding you, that you both will rise to the challenge. Sora and Kairi will be walking a far more dangerous and secret road. By a twist of fate the worlds have sent them, they have managed to establish themselves on a world that Maleficent believes to be her impregnable stronghold. Apart from using a portal, access to Middle-earth is nearly impossible. The Heartless and Nobodies of her army infest the black lands by the millions, and her strongest and most powerful ally upon the world, Sauron, has amassed a great army of fell creatures and men of his own, combined numbers so great that it will make our force appear as if it were a fly attempting to do harm to a dragon. It is in the wake of this lion's den of evil that Sora and Kairi are to assist in bringing about the downfall of Sauron by the destruction of his Ring, restoring the lost thrones of the North Kingdom of Arnor and the South Kingdom of Gondor to their rightful heir and King, and to wage war against the evil that spreads from that land and world and to save as many lives as they can from the forces that are not from that world. Kane will not likely let his Brotherhood stand idle during Middle-earth's final battle. Your trials and tribulations will likely seem greater, however, they shall be walking the more dangerous road, under the constant eye of the enemy, and always on Maleficent's mind. Likely she will send powerful foes to deal with them, and the times they may be separated and have to fight for their very lives with only a shred of hope may be many."

"Wielders of the Keyblade draw strength from their hearts and the love and support and faith of their friends, family, and loved ones, but if they understood the danger they would never let any other, not even each other, walk the road with them unless they would be forced to tie them into a sack and drag them back home. We cannot have every Keyblade Wielder walking the dangerous road, for the enemy will be difficult to defeat already, and so it must be those poor two who have already come to Middle-earth that must take the long and perilous to Mordor, and the inevitable end. They shall have to draw upon their own strength and the love and support that the four of them share with each other, along with companions of Middle-earth that shall be travelling with them."

Master Yen Sid sighed. "Then again, like I said before, all my efforts may prove to be a way of fulfilling Kairi's revealed destiny, in which leaving them by themselves in Middle-earth may prove to only be a courtesy to them, allowing Kairi to spend her final months together with the man she would prefer to be with for eternity."

After a few seconds of sombre silence Roxas spoke again. "Who is going to train with us?"

"Two men, young or otherwise," Master Yen Sid replied. "A Soul Reaper: Abarai, Renji, Lieutenant or Second Seat of 6th Division or Squad 6 of the Gotei 13, or 13 Court Guard Squads, of the Soul Society, and a human: Sado Yasutora, who is more commonly known as 'Chad', from Karakura, a region of a world that is especially linked to the world of the Soul Society. You will learn more about both Renji and Chad when they arrive with myself to commence your formal training after your sixteenth birthday, Roxas."

"Why wait until then?" Naminé asked.

"Another courtesy on your behalf," Master Yen Sid answered her, "that, and the Keyblade Master and Princess Kairi shall not be ready until after October the 27th, which I believe is the date of the Blitzball Festival on Destiny Islands, is it not?"

"It is," Roxas said, looking towards a calendar that was hanging on the wall. "So... we get a few weeks' vacation and get to go to a festival before we get drilled to the bone, is that it?"

Master Yen Sid smiled. "Correct. How are your eggs?"

"Superb," Roxas answered dryly, scooping up a little bit of white egg soaked in the running, golden yolk that had pooled onto his plate. "I can't wait."

-A-D-

Master Yen Sid stayed with them aboard the _Hunter_ for the three days it took them to return to Star Command. They were never quite sure just _where_ he bunked, seeing as how there were only two rooms and he did not seem the type to fall asleep on their couch like Tom did, but neither were they brave enough to ask the sorcerer the question. He instructed Roxas to allow them to take the scenic route, and gave them counselling. The grief of Tom's fall was still too near in their hearts for them to return to fighting just yet, if that was indeed the case when they arrived at Star Command.

They both felt as if burdens were being lifted from their hearts, but there was always the present thought that they might feel better if they were given the opportunity to vent a little against the Heartless for revenge, and so both Roxas and Naminé spent many hours in the _Hunter_'s simulator during their time en route, and they found it an easy way to pass the time.

Naminé, Roxas, and Master Yen Sid were upon the bridge of the _Hunter_ when they reached Star Command, its massive structure towering over them. Roxas was again piloting, while Naminé and Master Yen Sid both sat upon the couch that was situated at the rear of the bridge. Naminé was once more in the white and yellow outfit made for her by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.

A light began to flash and Roxas' fingers moved to press a button while saying, "We're being hailed." A finger came down and he looked up towards the window of the cockpit. "This is Keyblade Master Sir Roxas of the _Hunter_."

"Welcome back Roxas," said a voice, "this is _Left_enant Commander Neil Solar of the _SCS_ _Judicator_. You're late to the party sir; everyone else has already come back. I trust your mission was successful?"

"For the most part, yeah," Roxas answered, looking down slightly. "We sealed the keyhole and beat the Heartless, but we lost one."

"I'm sorry," the Lieutenant Commander replied sincerely after a pause. "There are counsellors aboard Star Command if you need—"

"There's no need sir," Naminé said from her position. "We've received three days of counselling already from Master Yen Sid."

There was another slight pause. "I understand Your Highness. _Hunter_, you are cleared to dock in hangar bay eighteen. You'll be escorted in by fighters from Charlie Flight."

"Roger that _Judicator_, _Hunter_ out." Roxas killed the channel and flew his ship past the frigate that almost seemed to be on perpetual guard of Star Command. Roxas wondered about that, as there were still numerous other ships docked against the large spires of the massive space station, including the _Avenger_. Two Arrows came in from above and behind him and Roxas kept himself between them as they both led him to the hangar bay.

The _Hunter_ touched down with little more than a bump and Roxas looked around at the hangar bay his craft was now sitting in. Situated on the other side of the hangar was the tall shape of the _Sultan_, which meant that Aladdin, Jasmine, and Tifa also had to be back. Further into the hangar was the _Highwind_, so everyone was accounted for since Sora, Kairi, and their digimon were stuck in Middle-earth.

When he, Naminé, and Master Yen Sid exited the _Hunter_, it was to find a man waiting for them. "Welcome back Sir; Milady; Master Yen Sid. This way please, your companions are waiting for you." The man led them out of the hangar bay, Roxas' eyes looking around at mechanics working on several ships that were based within the hangar, the flames of their acetylene torches causing the surfaces of the gummi blocks composing the ships to glow.

It took them ten minutes for them to reach what looked to be a lounge area, or a waiting room. King Mickey was sitting in a small bowl-shaped chair, his white-gloved hands folded over each other atop of his lap; his head was down and his eyes closed, appearing to be asleep. Donald and Goofy were talking to Aladdin, Jasmine, Tifa, and Genie. Riku, Yuffie, and Max were with them, the three of them wearing blue crystals tied to leather strings around their necks. Carpet was flying in the air in ecstatic circles above them, and Iago and Abu were both, strangely, wearing tiny barrels over their bodies.

King Mickey's eyes opened and everyone else looked towards them as their escort excused himself and left the room. "It's good to see ya again Master Yen Sid," said King Mickey, pulling himself out of one of the five purple cushioned chairs that were in the room. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the group of three.

"Hey, where's Tom?" Aladdin asked, his eyes switching between the three of them in confusion.

Roxas sighed sorrowfully and looked down and away. "He's gone. The Heartless got 'im."

"He lost his heart protecting me," Naminé added quietly. Everyone looked down sombrely and the room was quiet for several long minutes.

"Well," Yuffie said, trying to bring a little optimism back, "you're here, and Amestris won't be destroyed now right? So... that's good news, right?"

Master Yen Sid nodded his head with the faintest of smiles on his lined face. "That is true Yuffie. The difficult battle on Amestris was won; grieving can come while we proudly and gratefully remember the fallen."

Shot glasses appeared in their hands, a fizzing dark brown liquid within the clear crystal. "Though I don't know how much help it will do, I believe there is need for a toast. There is no alcohol in these glasses, merely a shot of a soft drink." He held his own glass out and said in a powerful voice, "To Tom Marcinek!"

"The last valiant member of the Royal Bodyguard," Yuffie added, raising her glass.

"He fulfilled his duty to the end!" added Tifa.

"He was a good mutant," said Roxas.

"And a good friend," Naminé continued.

"He was always good for a laugh," Aladdin toasted.

"And a fanatical worshiper of Manchester City," said Max.

"It wasn't his time," King Mickey said, raising his glass along with the other ones, "but his heart, and the hearts of all the friends and loved ones we've lost will be avenged. To Tom!"

"And to the end of that blasted witch!" said Donald enthusiastically, bringing his glass up.

"And to our own hearts!" Riku said. With that last, every single shot glass was extended in front of them for a second before they all came to the lips of their bearers. The toast was taken and the empty glasses vanished in puffs of blue smoke, courtesy of Genie.

Roxas looked around a little, feeling better. "So apart from that, how've you guys been?"

"Gawrsh we saved Ant Island from the Heartless and the grasshoppers led by their leader, Hopper," Goofy answered.

"We helped unite a father and his son," Tifa said.

"And I landed the finishing blow on the giant fishy Heartless that was near the keyhole before sealing it," Jasmine said, her pride in her accomplishment too great to withhold. "Genie said that it looked like a big barracuda."

"The rug cleaned both the monkey and me out in poker," Iago whined, indicating the barrel he was still wearing before nodding his beak at Carpet, zooming around overhead with Abu's hat atop its 'head'.

"We saved the lost empire of Atlantis," Max said.

"I got a Keyblade," added Yuffie, pumping her fist excitedly.

"And I got shot," Riku said, smirking slightly. "Now I really know why Sora's voice hinted that he didn't like Clayton, or Barbossa's pirates, or Xigbar, when he was telling us about his adventures."

"Vinnie told you not to get shot," Max reminded him in a breath, rolling his eyes and looking at the ceiling.

"That was already _after_ I'd been shot," Riku fired back. "Makes the advice null, don't you think?"

"You got that right pal," Iago said.

Everyone looked suddenly at Yuffie. "Wait," said Roxas, "did you say that you have a Keyblade?"

Yuffie nodded her head and smiled. "That's right," said the kunoichi. She held out her right hand and Flower of Wutai appeared within her grasp in a flash.

"That's amazing," Jasmine said, looking at it.

"Congratulations Yuffie," said Goofy.

Naminé looked at Master Yen Sid quickly, a narrowed expression on her face. "You knew didn't you, Master Yen Sid?"

He chuckled slightly and dipped his head. "Yes, I knew. And so too does Sora, and he's probably told Kairi as well."

"How does Sora know?" Max asked.

Riku answered with a guess. "Since he's the Chosen Master of the Keyblade, I'd assume he'd feel something whenever someone new gains a Keyblade, right?"

"Not quite," King Mickey said. "He'd only feel it if a Keyblade had chosen a person he holds as a friend in his heart. If someone he has never met before receives a Keyblade, Sora will have no knowledge of the event until he meets that person."

The doors of the waiting room slid open and in walked Commander Nebula with a black binder tucked underneath his arm. "Good evening everyone," he said. His eyes swept across the room. "Tom isn't here; I suppose that means that we have lost one of our number. What a tragedy; he was a good man. Man?" he laughed dryly. "Not even old enough to buy a drink, but a good person in all rights. Master Yen Sid," he said, nodding his head respectfully. The sorcerer did the same.

"Let's get this started then," Commander Nebula continued, opening his binder and holding it in front of him. "According to our intelligence sources, thanks to your efforts there is only one world that we know of that has the threat of a Heartless attack looming over it. The threat is more dangerous than the last sortie that she sent out, but it's also being concentrated towards the single world, so we're giving this mission a classification of C. She may have sent a lesser henchman to lead."

"Classification?" Max asked.

"We have a threat classification system," Commander Nebula explained. "Based on intelligence that we have from a Heartless warning system we developed a few months ago, and reports from the few field rangers we have to go out and investigate, we assign each mission a corresponding letter to describe the number and/or strength or type of enemies we expect to encounter. They range from 'E' to 'S'. E represents minimal numbers of the weakest of foes; D is a small step up from that. Beyond D we begin to have trouble classifying missions, as the number of unknown variables increase. C is where we can expect anything on the lower to middle rungs of the hierarchy, with a single or a small number of powerful foes thrown into the mix. B means that you should approach the mission with care, as many medium-strength Heartless will likely be probing around with a few stronger Heartless. An A rating means that it is dangerous, with many strong enemies infesting the area along with very powerful foes."

"And S?" Roxas asked.

"S shows that all enemy strength is unknown; that it would be suicide for a man to go in by themselves."

"But you're saying that this current mission is a C, sir?" Naminé asked. Commander Nebula nodded. "Which world is it?"

"The Big Top," Commander Nebula replied.

"Roxas and I will take it," she said at once. "We owe the Heartless a little payback."

"Your Highness, I urge you to reconsider," said Commander Nebula. "Amestris was classed as a D zone."

"Since when were Neoshadows, Large Bodies, and Morning Stars that low in the chain?" Roxas asked darkly.

Commander Nebula looked surprised. "Those types were there? Then we should have had it classified as a C- at the least!"

"If your intelligence failed you there, then it could fail you here," Naminé responded logically. "I won't be talked out of this Commander. Tom sacrificed himself to save me, and I won't let his heart go unavenged. I'll expect your men to transmit the coordinates to the _Hunter_'s navicomputer. Roxas..."

"Yes Naminé," he said, smiling slightly.

"Ready our ship," Naminé continued while smiling a little herself, "we're leaving."

"Sure," Roxas said; his feet were already carrying him towards the door.

"Wait a moment Roxas," Master Yen Sid said, stopping him with his voice. "When you and Princess Naminé have finished in The Big Top, return to Radiant Garden. Remember what it was that I told you while aboard the _Hunter_."

"Okay," Naminé said. She moved over to the door by Roxas. "We'll be seeing you." Roxas felt her place her hand on his arm and his cheeks took on a tiny blush as his hand went to clasp her palm before they left the room.

"I guess that we'll head back to the Garden now then," Yuffie sighed, looking up at Riku. He nodded his head, but didn't say anything.

"And Aladdin and I can return to Agrabah and prepare ourselves for a while," Jasmine said.

Tifa looked over at Yuffie and Riku. "I'll go back to Radiant Garden with both of you," she said. "Maybe Cloud will have turned up."

"And we'll head back to the Castle," said King Mickey, looking at Donald and Goofy. "Gosh, I do miss Minnie."

"Where does that leave me?" Max asked. "Sora did leave the _Highwind_ to me to pilot when he and Kairi left through that portal."

"We'll take the _Highwind_ with us in the _Avenger_ Max," King Mickey answered. "We can drop Riku, Yuffie, and Tifa off in Radiant Garden on our way back."

"Then you can be with Roxanne," Yuffie said, smirking slightly.

Max made a retort, and it wasn't long until the only ones left in the room were King Mickey, Master Yen Sid, and Commander Nebula. The King folded his arms and his voice took a tone of seriousness that he had kept within until they were alone. "I'm troubled fellas," he said. "This isn't like Maleficent. She normally wouldn't let us get away with takin' out the Heartless like this."

"I agree," Master Yen Sid concurred. "Maleficent has to have some sort of hidden agenda, but what it is I do not know."

"Whatever it is, it can't be good for us if she's only sending out Heartless one at a time for us to pick them off," Commander Nebula said. "Could she be testing us?"

"If she is, she isn't making it too difficult," answered King Mickey. "If I was in Maleficent's place and gonna test us, I'd send out a bunch o' Heartless to a lot of different worlds to take us by surprise, and then see how many we'd be able to save. That'd reveal our current capabilities to safeguard the worlds from attack. But it looks like she's just... _toyed_ with us on a whim."

"I agree; there doesn't appear to be any strategy in her actions," said the Commander.

"It will take time to learn more," Master Yen Sid advised them. "I shall continue my plan to train our young Wielders, and will attempt to discover what I can."

"Alright Master," King Mickey said confidently. "We'll leave it to you."

-A-D-

It took until ten in the morning the following day for the _Hunter_ to reach The Big Top. When Naminé and Roxas came down, it was to find that they were in the worst possible scenario. The area in front of them was filled with large pitched canvas tents of bright colours: yellow and red and white predominant among them. Vendor stalls that sold cotton candy or pretzels or mini doughnuts or hot dogs and burgers and any other conceivable snack food or trinket you could buy at a circus were near the tents, and close to them were lines of booths that featured games of skill or chance to win wonderful, but standard, prizes. Some larger tents were pitched, containing within their shade from the bright sun tables for eating and drinking with a couple of food vendors inside as well. There was a very large yellow tent at the centre of all of this, The Big Top, where those who came here entered in order to spectate the circus' many acts of juggling bears, trained animals, clowns, and awe-inspiring acrobatics.

And all around the area there were Heartless running rampant.

Roxas ducked underneath a Shadow that leapt for his face as soon as he and Naminé had beamed down from the _Hunter_. Twilight Thorn appeared in his left hand just as the Oblivion materialized in the right and Roxas cut the blade in his left hand towards the foe to cut through the Shadow's torso. His eyes widened in surprise when the Shadow feebly placed its arms to its side to defend itself and his weapon tore a gash into the weak Heartless, not cleanly splitting the Heartless in two. It had withstood, albeit only barely, a direct attack from him.

And the Shadow was the weakest variety of Heartless...

Roxas slashed down from the right with the Oblivion, its dark blade cutting diagonally through the neck and shoulder of the Heartless, decapitating it and diverting the creature into a cloud of darkness an instant later.

Roxas looked at the place where the Shadow had been defeated in shock. They were the weakest of all Heartless, Pureblood or Emblem. They were of the variety that none of them took very seriously anymore, and yet one of them had just taken Roxas by surprise by its fortitude.

He turned around and flashed out with both Twilight Thorn and Oblivion, the blades cutting parallel to each other over the chest of another Soldier Heartless that had been about to swipe at his back with its red claws. The Soldier was pushed back, tendrils of darkness leaking out of shallow wounds that had formed in its abdomen. Roxas lunged forward with both Keyblades diving in on each side of the Soldier's neck, and it vanished in a puff of darkness with its captive pink heart rising into the sky.

"Naminé!"

"I know!" she answered, the silver and magenta of Nobody's Pride striking three times against a Shadow before it fell before her. "But how have they been able to get so much stronger in so little time? It's only been four days since we were in Amestris... What has Maleficent been doing?"

"I'd like to know that too," Roxas mumbled, backing up slightly until he felt Naminé's back press against his own. Shadows and Soldiers surrounded them in a ring, but then the Shadows all melted into the ground and the Soldiers vanished in swirls of darkness.

"What are they doing?" Naminé asked as she looked around, watching as the Heartless began to disappear. "Where are they all going?"

"I don't know," said Roxas, holding his Keyblades lightly to his sides as the last of the Soldiers vanished in a circular swirl of darkness. He looked around. He and Naminé were the only two standing in the immediate area; there wasn't another soul to be seen.

Roxas felt a tingle go up his spine and chose to believe that the circus was simply closed at the moment, which was much more pleasant than the alternative. A small flock of crows suddenly flew over them and landed on the edge of one of the tents before turning around and looking at them. Roxas eyed them curiously; they were all dressed in clothes!

"Hello there!" said one of them, wearing a blue jean vest coat, red and white horizontally striped shirt, a little brown hat with a tiny blue feather stuck in it and smoking a cigar. "You're new around here ain't ya? And I thought I'd been, done, an' seen abou' everything when I saw an elephant fly."

"You've seen an elephant fly?" Naminé asked.

"Well I've seen a horsefly," said one tall crow wearing a grey jacket and wide-brimmed grey hat with a small pair of round spectacles on his orange beak.

"I've seen a dragonfly," added a plump crow with a red vest and blue hat.

"I seen a housefly," continued a laid-back crow wearing a straw hat without the top and a striped blue and red shirt as they all laughed.

"And I've seen all that too," continued the first crow with the cigar, speaking directly to Roxas and Naminé, tapping some of the ashes off of his cigar. "I seen a peanut stand, and heard a rubber band. I seen a needle that winked its eye. But I thought I'd be, done, seen about everything when I saw a elephant fly."

"What did you say?" Roxas asked. There was something in his memory that was nagging him at the crow's words, but he couldn't figure out what.

The crow fluttered down from the top of the tent onto the tabletop of a booth that was immediately behind Roxas and Naminé. "I said when I saw an elephant fly," he answered, turning around to face them with a glint in his eye. "I seen a front porch swing; heard a diamond ring. I seen a polka-dot railroad tie! But I thought I'd be, done, seen about everything when I saw a elephant fly."

"Are you serious?" Naminé asked, placing the hand that did not hold her Keyblade on her hip.

The crow swept down in an elegant bow, removing his hat from his head as he did so. "Quite serious ma'am," he answered. "Allow me to introduce myself and my friends here." He stood back up and replaced his hat upon his head before taking another puff of his cigar. The crow tapped some more ash off of it as Roxas recoiled slightly from the unpleasant smell. "Come on down boys," he called, "we've got some introductions to make here."

The other four crows flew down and landed on the ground around Roxas and Naminé, the two of them dismissing their Keyblades and surveying the anthropomorphic birds. The crow with the cigar who had spoken most continued this trend and introduced himself first. "My name is Jim Crow," he said, tipping his hat in their direction. "And this is—"

"Ah, don't hog all the introduction spotlight brother," said the littlest crow, who wore a tiny blue hat, a red shirt, and rose-coloured white-rimmed glasses.

"Yeah," spoke the one in grey. "Let us talk to the young'uns a little."

"Alright brother," said Jim. "I meant no offence."

The one wearing the broken straw hat laughed slightly as he lay with his 'elbows' up. "No offence taken." He tipped his hat above his eyes and looked at Roxas and Naminé. "Well hi there brother and sister, I'm Tyrone. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"My name is Zachariah," said the crow wearing grey.

"I'm Lou," the plump crow in the red vest spoke.

"And I'm called Lil' Urle," said the smallest of the five crows, who wore a red shirt with sleeves, a small blue hat, and had rose-coloured glasses.

"I'm Roxas, and this is Naminé," the blonde said, indicating himself and the other blonde as she stood just behind his left shoulder.

"A pleasure," Lou said in his deeper voice, sweeping his wing out in a friendly bow.

"Now if I might ask," spoke Jim, "what y'all doing 'round here at this time 'o day?"

"Huh?" Naminé asked.

"The circus is closed on Sunday mornings," Zachariah spoke. "The human folk are all off seeking spiritual rejuvenation with the Lord."

"That's good," Roxas said, knowing now that the reason it was so quiet was because nobody even happened to _be_ in the area. But he was slightly confused about just who this lord that the people were seeing was, and why they would all go see him for 'spiritual rejuvenation'. "Actually," he continued, waving off his confusion after a second, "we came here to deal with the Heartless."

"Heartless?" Jim laughed. "Oh so that's what those black things causing all the ruckus are called."

"Yes," Naminé said. "And we're here to stop them."

"No offence sister," Tyrone said, peering out from underneath his straw hat, "but I never seen a girl fightin' before."

"You've seen an elephant fly!" Naminé retorted, the grip on her Keyblade tightening. "That's something that I haven't seen before."

Roxas leaned his head back a little as the crows all began to laugh. "He doesn't know Tifa or Yuffie then," he whispered.

Naminé looked about to say something back when the air was rent by the sound of trumpeting. "Uh-oh," Jim began anxiously, swiftly taking out his cigar and tapping more ash off of it as he looked towards the Big Top, "looks like trouble's a brewin' boys. We'd better skedaddle on out of here."

Roxas saw Naminé nod at him and they both took off towards the open flap to the Big Top at a run.

"Not that way!" Lil' Urle called after them. "You're supposed to run _away_ from trouble brother!"

"Don't worry about them boys!" Jim cried as Roxas halted, Shadows coming out of the ground. Within seconds both he and Naminé were surrounded by about ten of them.

Roxas looked around at the black creatures that were forming a complete ring around both him and Naminé, the Heartless slowly inching forward with their yellow eyes on the three Keyblades being held by both teenagers. Even just a few minutes ago he would have eyed the Heartless with complete confidence, but now a little bit of apprehension had worked its way into his psyche with how resilient the Shadows had suddenly become.

Roxas saw a little bit of light out of the corner of his eye and knew that Naminé's shield had just appeared in the girl's hand. Their shoulder blades touched as she backed up against him while the Heartless continued their slow advance, seemingly getting ready to pounce all at once.

"I'll take this half," Naminé whispered, her voice not quite as steady as Roxas would have liked, "you take the other half."

Roxas turned his head marginally towards the back of his girlfriend's. "What makes you think you'll even _get_ half?"

Naminé didn't have time to reply as the Shadows leapt into the air towards them, their claws intensely obvious in the late morning light of the Sun. Roxas jumped straight up in the air to intercept the five Heartless that were launching towards him, and he swung both of his Keyblades out towards them. He felt his arms slowing as they made contact and the force of his strike transferred into the Heartless, sending all five back the way they came, leaving Naminé's back clear. He heard many thuds behind him, but he didn't look back, confident that Naminé would be able to handle herself.

Once his Heartless were down Roxas rushed forward with Twilight Thorn and Oblivion both held at his sides. He scooped up a Shadow with one weapon and lifted it into the air to slice right through the creature of darkness with the other. Just as that one was dissipating, Roxas threw Oblivion directly at another one of the Shadows that was just getting back up while he himself turned to run at yet another one of the downed Shadows. The Oblivion's tip pierced the Heartless' head and went straight into the ground, spraying up a small cloud of dirt. Roxas held Twilight Thorn in both of his hands like a golf club and swung down towards the Shadow he had advanced towards. It melted into the ground the instant before his swing would have struck, aggravating the blonde Keyblade Master as it made its way behind his back as an inky black splotch against the ground. He wasn't able to follow it as the other two Shadows came at him from the front, the four black claws lunging towards him. Roxas twisted to avoid one set and held Twilight Thorn out in front of his body to keep the other pair away and tangle them in the metal of his Keyblade.

The Oblivion appeared in his other hand again and Roxas stumbled slightly as the claws of the Heartless that had melted into the ground grazed against his back, not able to pierce through the purple fabric of his cloak but still likely giving him a scratch and pushing him forward. Roxas turned around quickly and kicked the Shadow away before violently swinging the silver bayonet of Twilight Thorn straight into both of the other Shadows, ripping one into the abyss of death and shoving the other onto its back with a wound that poured more than leaked darkness in its right side. The teeth of the Oblivion swiftly descended into the neck of the fallen foe and Roxas turned around again as the fourth Shadow fell into darkness. The remaining Shadow was still on the ground in a daze from being struck by Roxas' feet, but just over a second later its head had been run through by Twilight Thorn between its yellow eyes.

When the Heartless had all leapt towards the two of them, Naminé had raised her shield up to protect herself and Roxas' back. They landed against her defence with thudding jolts that began to push her down with their weight. Her knees buckled slightly as all five Heartless clambered on top of each other upon the metal of her round shield, their black heads and beady yellow eyes poking out over the lip of the protective. A clawed hand from the one that was taking up nearly all of Naminé's vision with how close it was reached out is grasping fingers towards her and brushed its hand against her cheek, as if it wanted to _feel_ the purity of her heart before taking it. The Princess of Heart recoiled at the dark touch in shock and disgust at the cold feel of the Heartless' flesh against her cheek. She gave a yell and a violent shove of her shield, and the blonde Princess pushed the heavy creatures of darkness off.

The Heartless scattered across the ground, landing and rolling on various parts of their bodies. Naminé was already upon them with the silver and pink of Nobody's Pride sweeping down to end their existence. Only one fell before the other four had made it to their feet, and all four of those dropped to the ground into inky black shadows to avoid the Keyblade's ability to harm them. Naminé's eyes widened in slight hesitation as all four figures upon the ground crowded directly around her legs before the Shadows rose into existence once again. Their leathery black hides rubbed against her smooth legs and she began to feel the cold seeping in, as if the light in her heart was being smothered by the mere touch of the Pureblood Heartless. She cringed at their touch and desperately sought out the need to feel warm, forcing the image of a raging wildfire into the forefront of her mind. The warmth and intense heat of the blaze flooded into her limbs and her indigo eyes seemed to exude the same heat as her lips opened wide and a cry of, "Firaja!" barrelled past her tongue.

Fires burst into existence right at her feet and blew outward in a powerful wave, enveloping the Shadow Heartless in an inferno of ravaging heat. Their black bodies caught fire as they were flung into the air, and they each writhed for a few seconds before disappearing into clouds of darkness.

Roxas had just stabbed his final Shadow between its eyes when he heard Naminé's yell. His eyes widened a fraction of an inch when he saw the wave of fire blasting towards him and he crossed his weapons in front of him. The firewall struck against the barred blades of Twilight Thorn and Oblivion and Roxas cringed as his feet slid back from the strength of the flames that pushed against his defence. It took him a second to realize that if he didn't push back and try to reject the fire's steady advance, that it would consume him as well.

He dug in his heels and forced the muscles in his arms to push back against the wall of fire that was trying to break towards him. Resistance ceased and his Keyblades suddenly cut through the fire, extinguishing it in the spell's entirety. Roxas wiped a hand over his face, sweating despite the intense heat that had been ravaging it only a moment ago. Naminé's spells really _were_ stronger since she'd received that stone from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.

Roxas noticed that the Princess in question was shaking slightly, not perceivably from weariness but from shock. He came up to her slowly. "Naminé?"

Naminé's head came about sharply to look at him. Her eyes seemed frantic, but when she noticed that it was Roxas, her head dipped slightly and she bit her bottom lip. "They're cold," she muttered, hunching her shoulders up to her neck, "I don't like them touching me."

Both of their heads turned towards the big and yellow Big Top again as another trumpeting call from an elephant came from there; it sounded more distressed this time. Yells accompanied it this time, the words indistinguishable, and suddenly a green projectile ripped through the fabric at the top of the tent and continued on into the partly cloudy sky. The two Keyblade Wielders shared a look for a second before they took off towards the entrance flap to the Big Top.

The sight that awaited them when they entered was not they expected. The acrobatic and high wire poles and swings, as well as the small round podium for the ringmaster and the inner circle ring were expected, as well as the stands that circled round the interior of the tent, but they did not expect to see a nine-foot tall person who looked like a cross between a man and a whale (or a shark?) firing a handheld plasma gun towards a young elephant with massive ears with a mouse dressed in red sitting in a yellow hat on the elephant's head.

The elephant was flying, using its massive ears as wings.

Roxas and Naminé gaped at the flying elephant, stunned for several seconds at the physical impossibility of the spectacle, yet unable to deny that it was occurring in front of them. If it could be compared to anything, Roxas would compare the impossibility of it to a bee, as he'd heard somewhere that physics was a false science because a simple bee (according to physics laws) should _not_ be able to fly, yet it does. And now an elephant was flying.

"Well now I've seen everything," said the knight. "Though I shouldn't be surprised, as something is twitching in the memories I got from Sora."

"Really?" Naminé asked, looking at him quizzically.

Roxas folded his arms and frowned, looking at the flying elephant that was dodging the whale/shark person's shots with aeronautical expertise in its manoeuvring. The elephant took a banking turn suddenly and came directly towards the creature attacking it. "Now!" yelled the mouse in its yellow hat. A powerful jet of water blasted out of the elephant's trunk and struck the alien in the chest, forcing him to stumble backwards until his massive feet tripped on the ring and knocked him over.

"It's Dumbo!" Roxas exclaimed, remembering. "He was a summon on Sora's first adventure!"

Naminé's face brightened as she remembered the stories Sora had told when they all had returned to Destiny Islands after Xemnas. "Oh yeah, the flying elephant!" She plastered a smile onto her face as she looked at Dumbo. "Is someone out there trying to tell us that all laws of science are completely fake?"

"Huh?"

"Well, we keep being presented with all these scientific impossibilities..."

"That doesn't mean that all scientific laws are defunct," Roxas answered, beginning to step forward into the circus, "it just means that we have a thousand exceptions to the rule."

Naminé looked at him with amusement. "Then that doesn't really make it a rule, now does it?"

"Gummi!" Roxas yelled suddenly.

Naminé looked around for a few seconds, bewildered by Roxas' sudden declaration. "Why'd you yell 'Gummi'?"

"I panicked," answered Roxas.

"Stupid trog!" the whale/shark person yelled, firing the green bolts from his plasma gun at the flying elephant, Dumbo persistently dodging every shot. "Maleficent wants you as a Heartless, and Hämsterviel won't be happy if we fail him again."

"You mean if _you_ fail him again Gantu," said a yellow creature that stood a few feet away from him, munching on a sandwich.

"You're not getting out of this, Six-two-five!" 'Gantu' roared back. He turned to look at Dumbo again and found that the elephant was gone. Another jet of water struck him in the back of the head, and Gantu collapsed onto his abdomen as Dumbo stomped his feet against Gantu's skull before soaring up higher into the air near the high wire.

Roxas and Naminé stopped in front of Gantu's head as he moaned on the ground and looked down at him disappointingly. The knight looked at his Princess. "Is this guy _really_ the reason why we're here?" he asked. "Why this is a C world? He's failing more epically than Pete!"

Gantu slowly got up. "Don't go comparing me to him, boy," he said. "I'm on a different level than he is."

Roxas and Naminé both looked up at him. He towered over them both, but neither of them was very worried. "Apparently so Gantu, if that is indeed your name," Naminé said, "he's a few rungs higher than you."

"Hn," Gantu said, obviously irritated. "You may wield a Keyblade, Princess Naminé—!"

"How do you know my name?" Naminé asked nonchalantly, looking at the nails of her left hand from behind her shield.

"Are you kidding, child? Maleficent let us know who _all_ of you trogs were," Gantu answered.

"Then since you already know who we both are," Roxas said lightly, hefting the Oblivion onto his shoulder. "Why don't you just leave? We haven't even done anything yet and it looks like you're being beaten by a baby elephant."

"I've got to agree with him Gantu," said 625. "Sir Roxas has a point."

"Thank you."

Gantu was fiddling with his gun. "I'm not being beaten by a fly like him." He aimed for Dumbo again as the elephant started coming in for another attack run and pressed the trigger. Instead of a green bolt of plasma, a net was launched from the gun. The two Wielders gasped and Dumbo trumpeted in surprise before the net ensnared him. Dumbo toppled onto the ground with a loud _crash_ and bounced and skidded several metres inside of the net until coming to a complete stop roughly four metres away from them.

Gantu smiled at the stunned looks on Roxas' and Naminé's faces, completely shocked that a _net_ had come out of his gun. "Now if you'll excuse me," he said, "I have a baby elephant with a strong heart to turn into a Heartless."

Roxas shared a look with Naminé and both of them quickly barred Gantu's way. "We're not going to let you do that," Roxas said, brandishing both the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn in front of him while Naminé held out Nobody's Pride and her shield.

Gantu glared at them. "If you must stand in my way, then I am glad that Maleficent gave me this very special Heartless in case I encountered a Keyblade Wielder. She thought it was unlikely that I should meet one of you insufferable children, but now she won't have to worry about either of you later." He snapped his fingers and a dark cloud began to appear beside him. Blue, black, and purple darkness began to seep out of the cloud, and Roxas backed away a step. He could feel something very dark and powerful within that cloud, and he didn't like the feeling of it. Naminé was shifting backwards beside him, and he chanced a glance at her face. She looked apprehensive, as if she wasn't quite confident that they'd be able to tackle whatever it was that was going to come out.

Roxas couldn't deny that he shared the same sentiments, as it felt quite strong, but he reminded himself that they needed to defeat whatever Heartless it was that Gantu had summoned, or else the sacrifices that had already been made would have all been in vain if he and Naminé were to die here.

Roxas' nose stung and he recoiled, gagging; grabbing the side of his cape with a finger to press the purple fabric against his nose. The stench that was coming out of the cloud of darkness was immensely unpleasant, and Roxas felt his cereal breakfast starting to rise while his stomach churned and the inside of his nose burned. A massive snout and dull yellow tusks began to emerge from the cloud, and slowly that became followed by the great head of a demonic boar, its sickly purple and blue hide and mane of black hair that ran along its spine, forehead and over its eyes an unnerving compliment to the evilly bright yellow of its eyes, the Boar Heartless glaring malevolently at the three Keyblades in front of it. Its putrid breath snorted out in misty clouds, infesting the air with the dark funk that made the hair on Roxas' neck leap straight _off_ of his neck and run for cover.

Here was the Heartless, and this was only a _C_ classified world!

"This isn't good," Naminé said quickly, looking between the massive Heartless as it stood fully twice their height, making it taller than Gantu, and little Dumbo behind them. With every stamp of its powerful hooves, the ground shook and cracked beneath its mammoth weight. Naminé slashed her Keyblade down towards Dumbo and cut right through the net that Gantu had trapped him in.

"Fly Dumbo!" Roxas said, forcing his voice to be more reassuring than what he felt. "Fly out of here! We'll handle the Heartless."

"You heard him Dumbo," Timothy Q. Mouse said from inside of Dumbo's hat. "Let's get out of here!" Dumbo nodded quickly and flapped his ears rapidly, taking flight and soaring out through the flap of the Big Top.

"Hey! Where do you think that you're running off to?" Gantu asked, looking towards Jumbo Jr.'s escape route. He glanced back at Roxas and Naminé. "It is too bad I cannot stick around to watch you die, but I have a mission to complete."

There wasn't even time for Roxas and Naminé to reply to Gantu's retreating back as the Boar Heartless brayed a sudden, loud, bellow and charged the few metres towards them. Roxas and Naminé dove to opposite sides as the large beast barrelled past, its snarls and snorts echoing in their ears and the pounding of its hooves bringing tremors to the earth beneath their feet. Roxas nearly retched again as its tufted tail passed by and the dark and horrid smell seared the inside of his nose.

"That thing's disgusting!" he yelled, trying once more to block some of the smell with his knight's cape. The Boar Heartless skidded on its spindly legs and turned around, facing Roxas directly. It snorted again and brayed loudly, pawing the ground for a second before stampeding towards him. Roxas' eyes could barely widen in surprise and cross his Keyblades in defence before the Boar was upon him. It bucked its head and one of the yellowing tusks streaked right for Roxas' right lung. It struck the crossed blades of the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn instead, but the sheer strength of the Heartless crushed his weapons against his chest and vaulted Roxas up into the air while the Boar continued to charge. Roxas' back crashed into one of the wooden pillars inside of the circus tent that held the high wire. His Keyblades fell limply from his hands and he dropped eighteen feet down onto the hard ground.

His eyes flickered and Roxas' body was already racking with pain while he struggled to draw breath into his crushed lungs. Stars swam in front of his eyes as the knight looked up and towards Naminé, who had given a short scream of shock at seeing him getting thrown like a rag-doll into a pole. She was running towards the pole directly opposite Roxas, the Boar Heartless charging towards her. But it was insanely fast for a creature of its girth and variety, and Naminé, like Kairi, was not that athletic of a girl. She barely had a moment to realize that it was right behind her before the snout of the Heartless had collided with her hips and heaved her into the air. Roxas watched, still dizzied but able to realize that he should be feeling horrified, as Naminé flew high into the canvas of the tent before she tumbled into the metal stands to Roxas' right, landing on her back with her shoulders leading.

The Princess' quick, agonized yell and the clatter of her shield and Keyblade broke through the haze of pain that clouded Roxas' mind and he stood up abruptly. "Naminé!" The thunder of hooves to his left warned him of imminent danger and Roxas bolted away from where he was standing. Not two seconds later he heard wood crack and splinter as the Boar Heartless crashed straight into the pillar he's been against. Roxas looked back and saw the extent of the damage that had been done to the pole, but it looked as if it would still stand. But that did not keep his legs from shaking as if they had been turned into pudding from the shockwaves running through the ground.

The Boar Heartless turned its mammoth head towards Roxas and snorted as the boy summoned both of his Keyblades to his hands. The tusks of the Heartless glowed with an intense yellow light and the beast pointed its head at Roxas again, looking as if it was preparing to charge him once more. The tusks glowed brighter and Roxas peered at them curiously. It took him an instant to realize what was about to happen as tiny yellow stars appeared at the tips of the tusks and he dodged away to the side. The moment that he did, thin rays of yellow energy shot out of the Boar's tusks at a speed that Roxas could barely catch with his eyes. The heat coming from them was intense; from a metre away he could feel his arms growing hot from the proximity. As soon as they struck the metal supports of the stands ringing the Big Top, the steel became a bright orange and melted as the beams cut through the first of the supports, but by the time that they reached the fourth row, the stars leading the beams exploded violently.

Roxas watched as he stumbled, amazed and horrified as the metal stands collapsed inwards, and from the collapsing metal the shrieking cry of his girlfriend arose to touch his ears.

"NAMINÉ!" Roxas yelled in distress, beginning to run towards where he had heard her voice. His legs trembled and his head became racked by sudden pain as the Boar Heartless brayed from the bottom of its lungs and lunged forward towards him again.

Roxas spun around and caught the tusks with his Keyblades, finding sudden new strength within him as the Heartless pushed him back for half the length of the outer ring before shoving down onto the ground and barrelled over him, the emblem of the Heartless painted across its belly. Roxas twisted his body to avoid all four powerful legs and slashed against its hide with both of his Keyblades. The Boar Heartless screamed in rage as it continued to run away from Roxas after nearly trampling the Keyblade Master, seeping darkness leaking from the few shallow wounds the boy had been able to inflict while underneath the Boar.

Roxas stood, his eyes blazing at the Heartless. He rushed towards the Boar with both of his Keyblades held out to his sides and came within reach of the creature just as it turned around again to face him. Twilight Thorn and Oblivion leapt out in front of Roxas as he slashed and stabbed at the snout of the Boar, its tusks occasionally getting in the path of his Keyblades, but for the most part striking against the thick hide of the Heartless. It snarled and snorted, bucking its head and trying to stab into Roxas' body with both of the tusks as tiny wisps of darkness leaked out of the slight cuts that Roxas was able to make in its hide.

His lungs became crushed again as the snout rammed into his chest and threw Roxas into the air. His Keyblades fell from his hands to the ground as his fingers and hands twitched. Roxas did not fly so high or very far this time, instead landing on his chest onto the metallic aqua skin of the Heartless' back, cushioned only slightly by the coarse black hair that accented the spine of the Heartless.

His eyes were spinning again, and watering along with a burning nose as he faced the rear of the Heartless. He had no idea that Heartless were able to smell with such earthly smells, having previously thought that only animals, crap, and some cleaning solutions would be able to smell so horrible that the hairs on the inside of his nose were incinerated before shrivelling and dying as the smell continued onwards to chafe his throat.

One hand absently clutched onto the coarse hair of the Heartless as his head swam from its second deprivation of oxygen and he tried to wheeze air into the lungs. His grip was nearly knocked loose as the Boar realized that its foe was upon its back, and began to buck and shake wildly in an attempt to throw Roxas off. Adrenaline poured into his bloodstream like a flood and Roxas became alert. He intensified his grip with the left hand and twisted around during another buck of the Boar so that he was now sitting on its back and riding it, facing forward. The Boar Heartless bolted forward as it appeared to sense the sudden change and Roxas was nearly thrown off at the rapid forwards acceleration.

He now lay down, hugging the Heartless' side and holding on only by a fistful of hair. Twilight Thorn appeared in his right hand and Roxas swiped down at the side in front of him; like before, only tiny gashes were created, which frustrated him again that the Heartless were getting strong enough to resist the Keyblade's ability to combat the darkness they were created out of.

He looked up suddenly and bowed his head to protect it as the Boar brushed its side against the blue cannon used for the 'Human Cannonball' trick. The steel object struck Roxas in the back and he lost a hold on his Keyblade, and nearly lost his grip as well. The Boar was rampaging wildly, doing anything in its instinctive power to throw him off. Roxas' eyes strained to make sense of the world as he was bucked and shaken constantly from one side of the Heartless to the other, his nose smacking into the thick and smelly hide far more often than he'd like. It caused his eyes to water doubly from physical pain and the pain odour was causing.

He finally did lose his grip when the Boar stopped suddenly, and Roxas flew straight off of the Heartless and past the pillar it had rammed into to cease its frantic momentum. Roxas barely had time to brace himself as he collided with the canvas wall of the tent before he rolled down the fabric and into a dell made from the twisted remains of the metal stands.

"Ow, ow ow ow ow," he grumbled quickly, wincing as his back connected for an instant with a spike from the destroyed stands.

"You have no right to talk Roxas!" mumbled a pained female voice as he finally rolled to a stop. Roxas looked to his left and he was glad when he saw Naminé.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I've been a lot better," she hissed through her teeth. "I think I broke or cracked something when I fell."

Roxas nodded his head warily. Naminé had also _looked_ a lot better than she did now. She wasn't bleeding (externally), but from what he was able to see her left shoulder was beginning to look more like an eggplant than human flesh. Roxas cringed as he came up with that analogy. Several heavy metal plates that had splintered from what remained of the benches and supports were over her legs, and it looked like they was causing her pain, but Naminé was unable to shift out of the way.

"Don't move," he said, as the girl began to struggle to get out from underneath them. "Just stay still. You could hurt yourself more."

Naminé smiled slightly through the pain she was obviously in, but she stopped moving all the same. "What are you talking about? It's always been my job to worry about you injuring yourself further when you're already hurt. You boys are so stupid like that."

"But you're just as stubborn," Roxas reminded her, smiling a little himself.

Naminé winced as she giggled slightly. "It hurts to laugh," she mumbled, "but alright. I'll stay put until—" She stopped and her eyes widened exponentially, the indigo fixated on a point behind Roxas. "Roxas look out!"

He twisted around quickly and saw to his horror that the post that the Heartless had crashed into had been the same one that it had slammed into before, and now it was falling straight towards them! What was more, the Boar Heartless' tusks were glowing again, and the tiny yellow stars on the tips had already formed.

Fear gripped Roxas and clenched at his heart, and he struggled to control it as he called both of his Keyblades into his hands again and knelt protectively in front of Naminé and slightly above her. If anything, he'd try and deflect the Boar's beams before the timber could crash down onto them, hopefully destroying the post and saving both himself and his girlfriend. Maybe one of the beams would even hit the Heartless.

But he doubted that he'd even be able to deflect them. More likely they'd explode on contact with his Keyblades and the force would send both him and Naminé through what remained of the stands, the canvas of the tent, and who knew how far outside of the Big Top, and from what he experienced just dodging them, both of their chests would be burned.

His blue eyes flickered up for an instant at the falling post. Or maybe it would land and narrowly avoid them. It would then start breaking through a little more of the stands to set Naminé free, and the beams would strike the wood instead and send it up in flame while he and Naminé would be able to get to safety.

All of these plans and options left Roxas' mind as he saw the tiny stars instantly begin to grow brighter as the beams from the tips of the glowing yellow tusks shot out towards him and Naminé, the falling post still ten metres away above them, which meant barely more than nothing. He jammed his eyes shut and braced himself.

Naminé suddenly shouted something that he couldn't make out, and his ears were filled with the sound of crashing wood and air that was erupting into flame. His eyelids seemed to mean nothing as light flooded through them, leaving the red image of their blood-filled backs to send to his mind. The sound was intense, and he felt his body shifting slightly as something suddenly struck his back.

_I'm dead_, he thought swiftly within the span of a thousandth of a second as his back began to fall slowly from the weight that was gradually falling upon it and crushing him. _I'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadIdiedI'mdead._

_But if I'm dead, why am I still in pain? Maybe because I'm _not_ dead; that this isn't the end._

Energy flowed into his limbs and his heart was thundering in his chest. He'd never felt this way before, so he was unsure what to compare it to, but he briefly remembered when he had fought Axel in the Virtual Twilight Town before merging with Sora and decided that it felt somewhat similar to then. The weight on his back was still pressing against him; driving him down, but only slowly.

_It is not the end_, a voice spoke in his mind as he opened his eyes, finding that his breath was coming in through a series of slow, deep breaths. _It is not the end for _you_ anyway._ He wondered who the voice belonged to, but Roxas felt stronger as power coursed even into the tips of his extremities and he discarded that question for the moment. The light that was blinding his eyes was of an opal or pearl colour, and Roxas could only guess that the weight against him was the falling pillar, but the force of it had lessened immensely, as if it had been almost completely stopped before it reached him, and something stronger than him was still working in holding it back.

His attention was drawn to his Keyblades as Twilight Thorn and Oblivion were both glowing warmly with red light, almost seeming to be on fire. He crossed both of them in front of him as his back continued to bend submissively down to the pillar, his chin nearly reaching his knees now. He could still feel the immense strength flooding into his veins.

_Now, unleash your power!_

Roxas reared back, belting out a roar of defiance as the energy burst out from his body in a rippling, red wave. Both Twilight Thorn and Oblivion flashed out to his sides and an 'X' of red light, seemingly a mix between red and orange that favoured red a little more than the latter, seared out of the blades. Roxas could feel the pressure being released from his back when he unleashed the sudden power, the wooden pillar cracking, breaking, disintegrating, and finally being completely absorbed and assimilated by the wave. The 'X' of his attack soared ahead of the wave, heading straight through the opal barrier in front of him and breaking through the remains of the pillar as if it were simply air, cutting it into chunks of firewood before it was consumed by the strength of the wave as it too passed through the opal barrier.

The Boar Heartless attempted to flee, but the 'X' was much faster than it, and Roxas' attack seared right through its right flank, dropping it onto the ground as the darkness it was formed from began to vanish as both of its legs were separated from the body and half of its mass was sliced cleanly off. It could only bleat weakly and pitifully and writhe on the ground for the second it took for the red wave to catch it. The Boar Heartless became completely consumed by the wave, and after the insignificant amount of time it took for the wave to wash over it, it was still writhing upon the ground in insurmountable pain, but its purple and blue skin had become charred and blackened as if touched by fire; and all of its hair had been burned away. It stopped moving after a moment, and disappeared in a dark cloud with a large crystalline pink heart rising into the canopy of the tent, which in itself appeared to have received little to no damage at all as the wave dispersed and disintegrated at its boundaries.

Roxas collapsed onto his back on the ground (having somehow slid all the way down without noticing), thoroughly exhausted. The opal barrier in front of him disappeared and both of his Keyblades disappeared in flashes of light. He expected the strange voice to say something impressive and foreshadowing that would leave him wondering who it was that had spoken to his mind, but he was left strangely at peace, and he wondered if there had been a voice at all. But then where did this strength come from?

The sound of short, sharp, gasps drew him back from his exhausted musings and he looked slightly behind him. Naminé's expression was wild and frantic and she looked forward with an awestruck and, even, a scared look on her perspiring face. Her hands were both in front of her, the palms crossing and locked through use of her thumbs. Everything that had previously left her pinned was gone, and she was sitting up with her back propped against a spire of the supports. Roxas couldn't tell if the Princess was still in pain, but he knew that his brain was numbly receiving the messages that parts of his body still ached from the battle.

"What...Was...That?" Naminé asked with her indigo eyes as freakishly wide as possible. She took quick breaths between each word as if she was exhausted and trying to gain as much air as possible in a short amount of time. "What...Just...Happened?"

"I don't know," Roxas answered her slowly. "But whatever it was, I'm glad it did. I thought we were dead, but we're alive."

Naminé looked at her hands in wonder as she brought them back near her face. "What did I do?" Roxas didn't answer her, not even sure himself.

More voices came towards his ears and Roxas felt as if he barely had the strength or hearing to turn his head to the left to take a look. But he did, and he was just able to make a smile as he saw Gantu retreating back into the Big Top, his arms over his head defensively as peanuts peppered him. The crows all zoomed into the tent along with the peanuts, pecking at Gantu and 625 with their beaks in a coordinated offensive with Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse as the baby elephant came in right after them. Somehow the mouse had managed to grab a hold of Gantu's plasma cannon, and was firing randomly in Gantu's direction. His aim was horribly off, but that can be expected when the handheld weapon is more than three times your size.

Gantu took one look around the inside of the Big Top and gaped in amazement. "You mean to tell me that you actually _defeated_ that Heartless?" he asked, them, stunned. Another blast of water from Dumbo struck him in the back of the head and Roxas wearily nodded his own.

"Six-two-five!" Gantu barked. "We're leaving!" A portal of darkness appeared a few feet away from Gantu and he stomped through.

"Wait for me you jumbo-sized tuna fish!" the yellow experiment yelled after him. "Actually, I could really go for a tuna sandwich right about now." The portal closed behind the retreating duo, and Roxas chuckled slightly at 625's words. He wondered if Gantu's sidekick ever thought about anything other than sandwiches.

Twilight Thorn appeared suddenly in his right hand and Roxas looked at it in surprise before a blue glow began to come from the top of the Big Top. A keyhole revealed itself in the air beside the centre pillar and he pointed his weapon towards it. A beam of light fired out from underneath the silver bayonet of Twilight Thorn and struck the large keyhole right in its centre. The sound of a lock clicking closed sifted down to his ears, but the beam of light continued to enter into the keyhole. Then white dust began to exit from the keyhole and sweep all around the Big Top. Roxas watched, amazed, as whatever it was the white dust touched repaired and reformed itself until it appeared as good as new. Some of the dust sifted out of the Big Top to the fairgrounds and tents around the main event, and Roxas could tell that it was repairing everything outside as well.

The stands repaired themselves and he found himself being lifted up onto the metalwork with Naminé by his side, and he was still lying down with Twilight Thorn pointed to the dead centre of the keyhole. His Keyblade ceased firing the beam of light and the white dust stopped falling from the keyhole, and then the keyhole melted away into the wood of the centre pole.

"Well hush my beak!" Jim Crow exclaimed loudly. "Now I have be done seen everything!"

Roxas looked wearily at Naminé, and laughed quietly.

-A-D-

_So, it's been a month since my last update, but oh well. I also have __**Chapter IV: Back to School**__ up for __**The Beginning**__, and I almost have __**Chapter V: The King's Representatives **__(which is currently the only re-done chapter to maintain its original name) finished. So that will be re-updated when I get the next chapter for __**The War**__ posted. I urge you to read through again, as there are several big and small changes that occur to the story and so influence this part and all future parts._

_In other news, I received an anonymous review a little while ago, to __**The War**__, that I want to reply here and now to, for everyone. If you say that you are never going to smoke in your life, I will believe you. However, if you are under the legal drinking age in your area, and keep telling yourself, your parents, your friends and teachers, or _me_ that you are never going to drink in your life, I will say this: "That is the biggest, fattest, bullshitiest lie I have ever heard." It is impossible to go through your life without drinking (including wine!), as I found out because I used to say that I would never drink. Then I had Grad (Prom for all you Americans) and turned eighteen and went to parties with my friends. It, however, is possible to not become an alcoholic, so I will believe you if you say that._

_On another note, by the slim margin of 29-1, I have closed the previous poll on my profile and now decree that the voice of the fans has spoken. Aiwemon and Menelmon will go to Mega. In fact, I already have a Mega level for Aiwemon drawn up, and he is sweet. Regarding him though, my good Digimon/KH fanfic writer friend __**Broken Angel01**__ will be using him later in one of/a couple of her stories currently updating and to come, but I would implore you to read __**Following the Footsteps of Destiny**__, a mammoth reading that is not to be undertaken lightly (much like this is...), however, her style is different from mine (completely, but in an entirely __**good**__ way!) and it is well worth the week or more of your life that you will spend reading it! XD_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	14. Lord Ovan Ramius

_I have a bit more news to share. Remember when I said last year that I was staffing at CLACSTC (Cold Lake Air Cadet Summer Training Centre)? Yeah, that's happening again this year, which will supply me with tuition money, so I'm happy. So for seven weeks, starting approximately around July 4__th__, 2009, I will appear to be on hiatus. I will be taking my laptop with me, so I will still be able to write, but I have no knowledge as to how my internet status will be like so it will be difficult to contact me via e-mail and updates will be sparse. To those who I beta for: I'm sorry but you're on your own. If you wish to correspond with me over the summer, and I would recognize you as a person that I wouldn't mind texting me, send me a PM to ask for my cell phone number and we can start texting._

_NO CALLING ME! Just about any call that any one of you would make would be massive long distance and I can't afford having conversations with people in the Philippines, the UK, Switzerland, New Zealand, Slovakia, across my country (Canada, love you guys BTW, same with you Brits!), the States, Australia, France, Spain, Southern Ireland, Puerto Rico, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, Denmark, and Singapore! And yes, I just listed all of the nations that show up in the Reader Traffic page underneath __**Light's Growth**__ on my profile. I really am glad that I have such a diversified readership from all around the globe. And to you people that barely ever see snow or cold weather except for in pictures, I have just this to say to you: while I pity you, I also envy you, because you _don't_ have snow falling to the ground at the end of May! Fortunately our spring-early summer weather has returned now._

_I have another few things that I might want to make a note of to avoid confliction. In this story, I have already made two points clear. One: I use the phases of the Moon and even plan which phase the Moon is in, and Two: females lose all magical powers and the ability to summon the Keyblade during the first day of their period. Magic and the ability to summon the Keyblade return upon the second day, but are considerably weaker until the period of menstruation is over. For purposes pertaining to a certain character, magical ninjitsu cannot be used at all during the entire length of time menstruating. In order to avoid confusion, the cycle of the Moon's phases is not the average 29.5 days, nor is it the Moon's 27.3 day orbital cycle, it is instead 28 days, making each quarter come every seven days on the dot, every single Saturday within the story. Also, the differing times of moonrise and moonset do not come into account, as that would _really_ be too much trouble to go through. However, since the difference between moonrise and moonset between each day come from the Moon's orbit, and the Moon's orbit is set at exactly 28 days for simplicity's sake, this really isn't too much of an issue. Speaking about the menstrual cycle of our female protagonists, all of them feature the average 28 day cycle with deviations between cycles from 1-4 days, and they only lose all of their powers during day 1 of the cycle (the first date of menstruation), and after that their powers and abilities slowly return, with the menstruating character back to full strength at the end of the menstrual period, which will average at 3-4 days within the story. And I've actually started planning these, and their fertility... I need to know when certain events happen so that incidences could be biologically believable and actually occur, or if I am actually just shitting myself._

_Yes, it's an uncomfortable subject to broach and talk about with you guys, but the fact of the matter remains that I am the only one smart enough (or more than likely, _crazy_ enough) to stick his (reminder, I am a GUY) neck out and think about biological human issues such as this that have real effects on people. I've been reading a lot of Tom Clancy... not that he normally has anything to do with stuff like a woman's period in his writing, but he does make the adult mind think. However, now that I have gone out and opened up the topic, I freely accept the advice and opinions of anyone who wants to discuss it with me. In fact, I've already had a couple of conversations with one of you, and a worthwhile discussion with my twin sister. If we want to have a big discussion on it, USE MY FORUM!_

_Now, away from this madness and on to the disclaimer and chapter:_

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XIV: Lord Ovan Ramius

Riku woke up slowly the morning of the sixth of October. He briefly wondered where he was, as the sheets felt different than the ones aboard the _Highwind_, and the ceiling above him was most definitely something he was not used to looking at in the morning. He looked to his right and saw a west-facing window against a wall a few feet away from him. Just next to the bed he was in was a small nightstand, a digital clock-radio sitting in front of a small lava lamp. 8:02 a.m. was the time that the clock said it was, and the light of the Sun was already filtering into the room from the reflection cast by the white wall of the building adjacent.

Riku was still half asleep when he heard a low and contented moan next to him and felt that there was someone shifting in the bed with him. He looked around as an arm crossed over his chest and clutched at the sheets to his left with a slender hand. Riku smiled at the sight of a peacefully sleeping Yuffie next to him in the bed, a soft smile on her pretty face.

He let his hands move to caress her cheek for a moment before his fingers became entwined in the girl's hair. She moved a little bit and her face became buried into his shoulder as she spoke very quietly in her sleep. They had made it back to Radiant Garden in the early afternoon the previous day, and spent their time doing a lot of nothing, which suited both teenagers just fine. Leon was very busy with his party and the election, Tifa had to go back to the Seventh Heaven and take over for Barrett (who was running it in her absence for the past week), Aerith and Vincent were busy helping Leon, Cid was working with Tron on something or other, and Shalua Rui was with them.

So Riku and Yuffie had gone back to her apartment with a couple of rented movies and ordered in pizza. The last one they had seen was a horror film (and one of Riku's personal favourites). He felt bad at the time for making the girl watch it with him, as it had already been getting close to eleven in the evening before they had started watching it. But really he needn't have worried, as horror films turned out to be Yuffie's forte as well. She hadn't seen the one they watched before, and Riku took pleasure in her grasping onto him every time she became startled.

Riku felt completely at ease as his fingers sifted through the sleeping girl's shiny black hair; he surprised himself when he realized that he'd have been perfectly content to do so for the rest of the day. But Tifa had made mention of something when they had parted about how Yuffie worked part time for her at the Seventh Heaven, and that she had to work today. Riku figured that Tifa wouldn't have been completely happy with either of them if Yuffie was late for work because he'd kept her in bed just so that he could run his fingers through her hair.

After another minute or so, he gently shook Yuffie to wake her up. The girl's hazel eyes slowly fluttered open and her smile twitched to become a little bit wider. "Morning," she said quietly, moving her left hand towards his chin and slowly drawing his head close to kiss him.

Riku obliged her and kissed his girlfriend on the lips. "Morning," he replied, kissing her again. "And how are you?"

"Wishing I could still be asleep," Yuffie pouted with traitorous eyes. Riku chuckled and held her close as she was still mostly underneath the sheets. Yuffie flicked a few strands of his long bangs out of his face and smiled again. "But... I suppose that I could get used to waking up like this."

She yawned and dropped her head onto his shoulder again. "Well now that you aren't sleeping naked anymore," Riku answered, "you very well could be waking up like this for a while, because I think I kinda want to get used to it."

"Well I'm glad you like it," Yuffie told him, "because it isn't often that I've woken up to such a handsome face." Riku blushed slightly and gave Yuffie a kiss on the nose as a reward. His heart quivered in delight at the squeal the ninja made in response to it and he chuckled.

Yuffie planted herself over him. "It's not funny," she pouted. Riku smiled and placed his other hand on her back while the first was still running through her hair.

"Yes it is," he answered, beginning to rub her back. Yuffie sighed contentedly and nestled her head underneath his chin. He was surprised at how well she seemed to fit there, but the surprise melted away into bliss as the girl that was in his arms began to make small humming noises with closed eyes. If Riku didn't know better, after a few minutes he would have told her that she almost sounded like she was purring.

Riku's eyes were either on Yuffie or the ceiling for ten minutes as he continued to run his hand through her hair and rub her back up and down through the fabric of her blue tank-top. A small smile seemed to be permanently attached to his face as his brain and heart slowly came to the same realization.

He was in love. He was in love with the young woman lying across his chest. His heart would dance a jig whenever Yuffie entered the room, and his soul would begin to sing whenever she kissed his lips tenderly. A single smile from her was all it took to infect him with happiness, and her laughter was contagious. Even before he understood that what he was suffering from was not a simple crush, but true and honest love, it had already begun to take effect upon him. The music he had found himself listening to recently was not what he would have listened to before he met Yuffie; the classic love songs from decades before had slowly wormed their way into his library.

He started humming after a minute, and Yuffie cracked open an eyelid at him. She yawned, "When did you start listening to KISS?"

"Recently," Riku answered. Under his breath he added, _"I was made for lovin' you baby; you were made for lovin' me."_

Yuffie gave a slight moan (or a sigh, Riku couldn't tell which), and then sang under her breath, _"And I can't get enough of you baby, can you get enough of me?"_ The ninja opened both her eyes now and peered out of the hazel into the aqua. "I thought you said that you didn't like to sing, and that you didn't sing along to songs you were listening to."

"Usually, I don't," he told her. "But I think I've had a change of heart."

Yuffie came a bit closer and her lips touched his. "That's good," she said. "You do sing well."

They both fell quiet for a few more minutes and Riku continued rubbing her back as the fingers of one of Yuffie's hands became entwined within his silver hair. Eventually, she broke the silence with those fateful words that toppled the peaceful and serene moment. "I'm hungry."

Riku was only able to withhold his laughter for a few seconds, which turned out to be longer than Yuffie herself had been able to keep the giggles in check. At the sound of her laughter, Riku found himself powerless to resist chuckling himself.

They settled down after what seemed ten seconds and Riku smiled wider at Yuffie, who was looking up at him with starry eyes. He could see that for some reason she was about to start laughing again and it took all of his own willpower not to break into another bout of senseless hilarity. "Come on," he spoke quickly, shifting on the bed, "let's see if we can find you something to feed that tummy of yours."

He poked it with a finger as Yuffie rolled away from him to the other side of the bed. She slapped his hand away. "Don't bother. We still don't have anything."

"There's cold pizza," Riku answered, getting out of the bed on its right side.

"Yeah," Yuffie said, "but we also still have some of the munny left over from those Heartless in Atlantis." She got out on her side and slung the necklace with the blue crystal she had gotten from Kida as they had left the city over her neck. Riku, Max, herself, Vinnie, Audrey, Sweet, Mole, Packard, Cookie, and one other for Mr. Preston B. Whitmore (the financier of the expedition), had all received the crystals as a parting gift from Kida and the Atlanteans for saving her, along with a large amount of gold and treasure, enough to make everyone from the world rich when they reached the surface. The three off-worlders took none of it, but Max kept the trinkets given to him by the Atlanteans during the day and they retained the crystals as they were dropped off at the _Highwind_. Riku, Yuffie, and Max weren't quite sure just what the crystals would do for them, but even after only a couple of days of wearing them they already felt quite healthier than they could ever remember feeling. "So," Yuffie continued, "we could just get breakfast at the Seventh Heaven again. Tifa always makes it great."

"Yeah, it was pretty good," Riku admitted, slinging his own crystal over his neck. "But, we can't just eat out all the time can we? Shouldn't we get groceries or something?"

"And what would we get?" Yuffie asked in a quieter tone of voice as they both left the bedroom. "Neither of us can cook; the only things we'd be able to get would be those microwave dinners and stuff that doesn't need any skill."

Riku and Yuffie both entered the kitchen and looked at each other after a quick glance around. "We have _so_ got to learn how to cook," they said simultaneously. A single second later they both spun on their heels out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom again. Two rounds of rock-paper-scissors later, Riku grabbed some of the clothes he'd brought down from the _Highwind_ and went into the bathroom to change, while Yuffie got the bedroom.

They were on their way to the Seventh Heaven ten minutes later.

"Incidentally," Riku asked, rubbing his bare shoulders in slight discomfort as a chill wind blew around the streets in the morning light, "just what do you do working for Tifa anyway?"

"Waitressing," Yuffie answered simply as they passed by a couple of people standing on a street corner.

"Did you hear?" one of them was excitedly whispering to his fellow, "Lord Ramius is coming back to the city soon!"

"That's just a rumour," the woman replied. "'S far as I know, he's still out at the reconstruction sites for Windy Plain and Woodburgh."

Riku frowned slightly in interest. He'd heard the name several times now, but he still had no idea who this Lord Ramius was. He figured that he'd ask both Yuffie and Tifa while they were eating breakfast.

He was glad when they opened the door to the Seventh Heaven. It was warmer indoors than it was outside. The bar was busier this morning than it had been in a while, and Tifa appeared very glad to see them when they arrived.

"Oh good, you're here Yuffie," she said as both Riku and the kunoichi made it to the bar. "Do you think you can start early today?"

Yuffie sighed. "Alright Tifa, but it will have to be after breakfast. Can Riku and I get two—?"

"Two usuals coming up," Tifa interrupted her with a smile, two tall crystal glasses already on the counter with another hand reaching underneath to grab a carton of Banora White apple juice. "Thankfully Banora didn't get wiped out like the rest of the world," Tifa said as she poured the dumbapple juice. "I remember going there before the King, Queen, and Prince Raifeor were killed, when I was just a little kid. It's a nice place, only a day away."

"Probably is," Riku said, taking a sip of his juice. "Hey Tifa, just who is this Ramius guy I keep hearing about?"

Riku noticed that he received stern looks from some of the people around him when he posed the question, and shifted slightly in discomfort. Yuffie and Tifa gave those giving Riku stern looks even sterner ones.

"Disrespectful kid," a man who sat on stool two seats to Riku's left.

"Cut him some slack," Yuffie said quickly. "Do you know who this is? This is Keyblade Master Riku, son of Rekun and Riley, of Destiny Islands; the Rose Star Wielder of Dawn."

"Even more reason for him to be respectful to the last living member of Radiant Garden's peerage!" the man said, though his tone of voice had lost a little of its edge now that he knew that the kid he was sitting near was a Keyblade Master.

"Riku doesn't know anything about the peerage!" Yuffie retorted. "He's not from here."

Tifa retreated into the back from the counter to inform her small kitchen staff of Riku's and Yuffie's orders, and a woman on Yuffie's right who was eating an omelette joined the conversation. "And who are _you_ young lady, to address Lord Riku by his first name alone?"

Yuffie's eyes flashed towards the woman. "I'd have thought that you'd know my face by now. I am Riku's girlfriend, The Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi, and a Wielder of the Keyblade!" As she was speaking, her hand flashed with white light and Flower of Wutai appeared in her grasp.

Any and all persons who were paying even the slightest attention to the conversation had their eyes turned towards the bar as Yuffie's weapon came into being. Most of their eyes became filled with wonderment and excitement that Yuffie now held a Keyblade.

"No excuse milady," the man who had spoken first said. Tifa returned and he slapped some munny down on the counter. "Keep the change Tifa," he said as he removed himself from his stool. "Good day to you Lord Riku, Lady Kisaragi, Tifa." He left, and the woman huffed and moved her plate over to a nearby and vacant table.

"Have a good day," Tifa called after the man. She fixed Riku and Yuffie with a look and leaned close to the two of them. "Alright you two, what's up? Your Keyblade looks nice Yuffie, but why is it out here and in your hand?"

Riku glanced at Yuffie after Tifa's whispered questions and saw her blush in embarrassment for going a little overboard and it vanished from the girl's hand. He looked back at Tifa. "If you could tell me the same thing, I'd be eternally grateful Tifa. All I do is ask who this... _Lord_ Ramius guy is, and then I'm getting chewed up and being a called a Lord at the same time. And now Yuffie's being called 'Lady Kisaragi'! What's going on?"

Tifa sighed. "I may not be the best one to explain this Riku—"

"This is what I'm talking about!" he interrupted her in an exasperated whisper. "I've just been called 'Lord Riku' by those two people, but you and Yuffie are still simply calling me Riku. What the hell is with the titles?"

"Leon or Cid would be the best ones to explain Riku," Tifa said, her tone indicating that he'd better not interrupt her this time, "but they're too busy, and the rest of us are going to be busy, so all I can tell you is that you're going to have to wait for The Marquess of Ramius to arrive, which should be tomorrow if the rumours are true."

Riku gave her a blank look. "Huh?"

"Lord Ramius," Tifa explained in exasperation. "I'm going to go check on your eggs and pancakes, so I'll be right back."

Riku sighed and took a long drink from his cool glass of dumbapple juice. Just when he had thought that he understood everything about being a Wielder of the Keyblade, each and every day was getting more and more confusing as a web of politics slowly wrapped its way around his life.

-A-D-

He and Yuffie ate their breakfast in relative quiet as he mulled over the situation in his mind. Riku's mind was... discomforted that he was able to sit here peacefully in the Seventh Heaven and eat breakfast with his girlfriend when he knew that Maleficent was out there doing, well he didn't know _what_ she was doing but she had to be up to something or else her grip on the worlds would not have become lax enough to allow them to wipe out Heartless she'd had sent to a number of worlds without retribution. There was only one world that they knew of being threatened, _one!_ And _that_ was being taken care of by Roxas and Naminé. As much as Riku regretted it, he'd worked with Maleficent; this wasn't her style. She had to be planning something big to be forgetting about sending out Heartless.

Or maybe it was true what Kairi had said. Maybe it really was taking up too many Heartless and Nobodies to construct her 'ultimate fortress' for her to send out the regular swarm, and they were just picking off the extras that she'd allowed to go out and attempt to collect hearts to create more Heartless.

Either way, it didn't bode well, and if it turned out that she really was planning something big, Riku had to wonder if they'd be able to handle it.

He and Yuffie finished their breakfast and Tifa took their plates. Yuffie sighed. "I guess I've got to work now then," she said apologetically, her eyes not quite meeting Riku's.

He placed his hand on hers as it stayed on the table and her hazel met his aqua. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said, smiling slightly. "It's not like it's the end of the world right? You're waitressing, and a cute ninja like you would probably pick up a decent amount of tips."

Yuffie smiled shyly and he noticed a tiny blush creep onto her cheeks. "I guess you're right, but then what are you going to do for the day, _Lord Riku_?"

"I think I'm going to go to Merlin's, _Lady Kisaragi_," Riku needled her, swiftly poking her in the side. "I want to know what the heck is with these titles."

"Suit yourself," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "But if you want to talk history with Merlin, then be prepared for the longest and most boring lecture of your life."

"I think I'll survive," replied Riku. "I survived tutoring with Ansem the Wise didn't I?" He kissed Yuffie on the lips. "See you later Fie."

"Bye Rik," Yuffie called as he began to leave. "Have fun at Merlin's!"

It was only a little warmer outside as Riku left the Seventh Heaven. He checked his watch and rubbed the exposed skin on his right arm with the other hand; it was ten after nine. The Sun had found herself hidden behind a large mass of cloud, and Riku cursed under his breath as he began the walk through the streets. The wind robbed him of what little body heat he retained, and the friction from rubbing his arms with his black fingerless gloves wasn't giving enough heat to his limbs.

_Not only do I need to learn how to cook,_ he thought dismally, _but I need a jacket too. Oh well, what I've got planned to do should keep me warm regardless._

It took him about a half an hour at a steady walk to reach the Borough, and only a few more minutes after that got him to Merlin's house. He gave three knocks on the door and then pushed the wooden portal open.

He did not expect what he found inside.

A small owl was flying around the ceiling of Merlin's house in circles, hooting loudly. Chasing it was the dragon made of fire that Roxas had created over a week previously. Merlin's books, which were normally stacked in somewhat neat piles, had toppled all over the floor, and his magical tea set was huddled underneath the pedestal that held The Book of Pooh upon it. Merlin himself was running around the central stone dais where his round table and chairs were, and was shouting at both the fire dragon and the small brown owl in a flustered voice.

"Now, now Archimedes calm down! He's perfectly friendly!"

"Yes," the owl replied, to Riku's momentary surprise. "Oh yes, 'friendly' is the _exact_ term that I would use, you cantankerous old wind bag!"

The dragon roared and a searing jet of flame erupted from its mouth towards the tiny owl. The owl yelled in distress and ducked underneath before banking to his left. Merlin ducked, and ducked again as the dragon continued to chase the owl. He turned around. "Now see here Plato—!"

Merlin stopped as he noticed that he had an audience to the calamity befalling him. "Why, why-why Riku? This is a surprise."

Riku nodded his head towards the two flying creatures. The owl had grabbed a spoon from the sugar cup and flown into a wooden birdhouse, and was attempting to fight off the dragon by using the spoon as a club. "So's that," Riku answered.

Merlin looked towards the owl and the dragon and made a sound and gesture out of irritation towards both of them. "Oh don't mind Archimedes and Plato. They've been at it like this for the last hour."

Riku raised an eyebrow as he now stood next to Merlin, looking at the two. "Who is who?"

"Oh, Archimedes the Owl, is my familiar," Merlin said, stroking his long beard. "And Plato is—"

"You _named_ the dragon!" Riku asked. "Why?" The dragon's head and neck snapped around and it seemed as if its flaming eyes were glaring at him.

"Well, I have this feeling that it is going to be around for quite some time," Merlin answered. "So I figured that it would be best if it had a name."

"As if a fire needs a name," Archimedes snapped, shutting the circular door to his birdhouse. Plato's head turned back around and he snorted at the closed door. The fiery construct glided on one more circuit around the room before landing in the fireplace, the already burning logs in it intensifying for a moment as it curled up, like a dog.

"Be mindful what you say around Archimedes though," Merlin whispered. "He's a little sensitive."

The door opened on the familiar's birdhouse and Archimedes stuck his head out slightly. "Sensitive? Hm? Who—who? What—what?"

Merlin ignored Archimedes and turned to Riku. "Now, what was it you wanted again Riku?"

"I came to ask for your help Merlin."

The wizard seemed a little surprised, and amused at this. Riku looked away slightly in embarrassment as Merlin said the words, "Oh? You're asking for _my_ help? But what could a powerful wizard such as myself possibly do to aid Keyblade Master Riku?"

"Please Merlin..."

He chuckled. "Alright my dear boy, I've teased you enough. Have you come to finally learn some true magic then?"

"Not really," Riku answered slowly, to which Merlin appeared to be a little disappointed. "But, do you know a place where I would be able to train, away from the public that is," he added quietly, giving the door a shifty glance. "I've noticed a few times, and especially last night when we got back, that there are a lot of crowds that keep flocking around me."

Archimedes flew out of his birdhouse and landed on the bent top of Merlin's blue hat. "Ah yes, humans can be annoying like that at times."

Merlin began stroking his beard. "Well, I do have a special room on the second floor here, but I hardly think that that would suit your needs. There is of course, no that wouldn't work. You'd never have any privacy from the female servants if you trained in there. Well my lad, the only place I can say that would give you the privacy and space you need would be either along the Ravine Trail or the Great Maw itself. I can help you set them up today if you'd like."

"Thanks Merlin," Riku said, "I appreciate this."

"Oh, it's only the right thing to do," Merlin said, waving it off. "And," he added in a hushed whisper as he reached the door, "it is a wise move; I share your suspicions."

-A-D-

It was still cloudy the next afternoon, when the _Hunter_ broke through the atmosphere of Radiant Garden and landed upon the flight line where it had taken off from a week earlier. It was raining lightly outside, and soon the blue hull of the ship was glistening from the precipitation in the grey light that made it through the barrier of condensation.

Unlike when he had landed the ship in Resembool, Roxas touched the _Hunter_ down lightly, almost as lightly as a feather drifting slowly to softly bend the blades of grass on a lawn. He did so because of the young woman that was sitting behind him. Naminé had her right hand clutching the bruised skin of her left shoulder as tightly as she felt able to, and her indigo eyes clearly showed that she was still in a moderate amount of pain.

They didn't quite know what had happened to Naminé when she had crashed into the metal stands in the circus ring, but it was quite clear that something had happened to her shoulder; but whether it was dislocated, cracked, or broken was beyond their ability to tell. Roxas had forced her to drink a Hi-Potion after they had returned to the _Hunter_ from the Big Top, and the blonde Princess' condition had improved a little bit, but she still felt weak and pain raced through shoulder with every pulse of her beating heart.

Roxas unbuckled himself from the pilot's chair and helped Naminé get up and walk, as he had done for all of the previous day after their battle with the Boar Heartless. "Come on," he said comfortingly, "let's get you to the hospital. Aerith and Dr. Fraiser should be able to fix you right up."

Naminé nodded weakly and gratefully took her boyfriend's support as he led them down the stairs from the bridge and into the cabin. He left Naminé on the couch before hurrying to get coats for both of them. He suspected that it would be somewhat chilly and windy outside, and the rain wouldn't help matters. Not to mention that a coat wouldn't keep Naminé's legs warm, as she was still wearing the yellow and silver miniskirt that was part of the outfit Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had made for her.

Roxas helped Naminé into a white jacket that would protect her from the wind and rain, fleece lining the inside to hopefully keep her a little warm as well, and winced himself in sympathy at the pain the Princess was likely feeling as her arm had to move to get inside of the sleeves. Eventually they were able to get the coat on and Roxas quickly put on his own grey one before leading Naminé out.

It wasn't raining that hard, but it was still raining for all that it was worth when they left the _Hunter_. Technicians were already rushing out of the gummi hangar with mechanical devices and lifts to get the gummi ship safely inside. Roxas watched for a moment as the early autumn wind blew only gently from the east, but even so it was enough to rip away the bubble of warm air produced by the human body that protected it from the elements, letting the cold air sting Roxas' face and neck, as well as Naminé's legs as the rain came down to wet their blonde hair. Naminé shivered and drew closer to him and Roxas sighed. It looked like it was going to be a long walk to the hospital.

They were surprised as they were leaving the small base to find a coach directly in front of them along the road and waiting for them. It was drawn by a team of four yellow chocobos, and across the door was the floral shield emblem of Radiant Garden that hung upon banners in the castle. The footman and coachman were both wearing dull blue overcoats that looked to be made of wool, and grey pants, and while the footman wore a top hat, the coachman seemed content to let the rain soak into his short sleekly pulled back black hair.

The footman jumped down from his position with the coachman and opened up a black umbrella as soon as he had caught sight of Roxas and Naminé, and within seconds he was by their side, holding the umbrella above both of them. "Welcome back Your Highness; Sir Roxas," he said, his brown eyes quickly sweeping over them and gaining a trace of anxiety. "Not the best of weather to return in."

"It isn't the worst either," Roxas answered as the very new sound to him of raindrops striking the nylon of the umbrella entered his ears.

"What are you doing here?" Naminé asked, as confused and surprised as Roxas was that they had a coach waiting for them.

"We received a call at the castle, Your Highness," the footman replied as he led the way to the coach with his umbrella keeping the pair dry, "as soon as the _Hunter_ was detected. Kensworth it was who sent us out, and we've been here only a couple of minutes ourselves." He opened the door with his free hand and Roxas helped Naminé into the coach, knowing that the nervous eyes of the footman were on his Princess and the look of pain that briefly overtook her features.

Roxas stayed outside for a second after Naminé had sat down and made herself as comfortable as possible on the seat facing the front of the coach and turned towards the footman. The man gave a small bow to him. "We are at yours and the lady's service sir. What is our destination sir?"

Roxas glanced back at Naminé through the open door for a fraction of a second. "Can you take us to the hospital?"

The footman nodded. "We'll go as speedily as we may sir."

"Just be careful," Roxas said quickly. "Her Highness is injured, and I don't want her to suffer too much from reckless driving."

A tiny smile appeared on the footman's face. "As you wish, sir."

Roxas nodded and clambered into the coach to sit next to Naminé. The footman closed the door behind them, and the coach moved just slightly as he obviously climbed back into his seat next to the coachman. The coach gave a lurch suddenly, and they were off.

Roxas looked around for a moment. The wooden interior of the vehicle seemed to be well cared for, and he was unable to discern for how long this coach had existed for. If it wasn't for Naminé's current condition, he'd have admitted to himself that he was a little bit excited. He'd never ridden in a coach before, and in fact he'd never even _seen_ one of them before. They had to have been kept in a garage somewhere on the castle grounds though, and likely near to the stables.

"You called me 'Her Highness'," Naminé said suddenly.

"Hm?" Roxas asked, barely catching it.

"Are things changing Roxas?" Naminé asked quietly, looking at him with uncertain eyes. "Is everything about _us_ going to change because I am a Princess?"

Roxas placed his hand comfortingly on Naminé's own and held her gaze with a determined look. "Naminé, I can't promise you that it won't change things. But I love you, and no matter what happens, I always will. Nothing bad will happen between us, I promise you that."

Naminé smiled slightly, and Roxas did as well. He realized that what he had said was exactly what Naminé needed to hear. He didn't add anymore; just held her hand as the carriage jolted slightly every once in a while as it made its way down the road. Naminé sighed and her head came to rest on his shoulder. He blushed slightly, but allowed her to get a couple of winks as her eyes closed.

The coach came to a slow stop ten minutes later and Roxas gently shook Naminé awake. The footman was at the door opposite the one they had entered the first time within seconds, opening it with his black umbrella nowhere to be seen. It had stopped raining. Roxas and the footman both helped Naminé out of the coach and inside of the hospital.

They were lucky. As soon as they entered, Dr. Fraiser happened to be walking by from one hallway to another and took a curious glance (like any person would) at who had entered. Once she saw Naminé being helped by Roxas and the footman, the good doctor immediately hurried over to them.

"What happened?" she asked.

Roxas liked that Fraiser avoided any formalities or preamble when one of her patients was injured. "We were fighting this big Boar Heartless in a circus big top. It tossed Naminé into the air and she crashed into the stands after at least a fifty-foot fall."

"I think I broke my shoulder," Naminé added as Fraiser began to lead the two now, the footman taking his leave to wait outside at the coach. The man pulled out a mobile phone and flipped it up, after a moment he began speaking, likely to inform Kensworth where they were in case he began to worry. Naminé winced at a movement as pain shot into her shoulder. "But I'm not quite sure what I did to it," she finished.

Dr. Fraiser nodded understandingly. "Alright, we'll get you into X-Ray. Roxas, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I have to ask you to wait in the waiting room."

"Don't worry," he said, a smile taking hold of his face as he began to feel better. "I know that she's in good hands now. I only wish that I'd brought a book with me. Then the wait wouldn't be so bad."

"You could probably get the coach to take you to a bookstore," Naminé said, smiling through the lingering pain.

"Where's the fun in that?" Roxas asked humourously, stopping. "I won't be able to complain then." Fraiser and Naminé continued on down the hall and he called after them. "Here's hoping that you broke it! Then you'll be just like me, and you'll get a cast like I did!"

"If it _is_ broken, I'll punch you!"

Roxas laughed, he could even see that Naminé was sticking her tongue out at him, and turned back towards the waiting room. There were probably at least a dozen magazines with articles that might interest him that he hadn't read yet, and possibly some new ones since the double fiasco of Sora's arm and Kairi getting pulverized by Maleficent.

And despite it all, now that Naminé was in the care of the very competent and caring doctors at the hospital (no matter how horrible a couple of the nurses were), Roxas couldn't help but feel slightly happy. No matter what, they were getting that break that Master Yen Sid had promised them.

-A-D-

It was spitting rain and the Sun had just set at around seven in the evening as two guards that were recently posted in the gatehouse to the north of the castle patrolled their station on the joining wall between the gatehouse towers. The reddish light from torches held in black iron baskets attached to the side walls of the gatehouse partially illuminated them through the dark gloom. Two guards were not enough to man the entire wall, or even the gatehouse for that matter, for the fortifications to protect the city from invaders to the north were quite elaborate and extensive, but their sole purpose in these marginally peaceful times, where the city's claymore defences protected the inhabitants on the inside from Heartless and Nobodies, was simply to admit or bar passage through the northern gate. And indeed there were more than just these two guards maintaining the gate. There were eight others, not including their captain and his lieutenants, currently stationed upon the gatehouse.

"Why do we always get the jobs that seem boring Namis?" one guard asked, leaning on their carried spear.

"Our last assignment wasn't _that_ boring Jenkins," Marie Namis answered her companion, Crysta Jenkins, with a small smile. "Princess Kairi is a nice girl."

"Yeah," Jenkins agreed slowly, dipping her head for a moment and running her free hand through her short charcoal hair to rid it of some of the water, "but she did go a little funny in the head with the whole Maleficent thing."

Namis shrugged. "She was probably under a lot of stress and dealing with stuff that we haven't even _begun_ to comprehend yet. Not bad for a sixteen-year-old, lasting as long as she did against her."

Jenkins sighed and nodded her head. "Wonder where she is now?" she asked aloud, looking out to the north. Her cobalt eyes narrowed and she suddenly became rigid as the hand that held her spear tightened. Within a pace and a half her lower body was against the parapet and she herself was leaning slightly over it. Her voice rang out sharp and clear over the wind and slight rain, "Captain!"

"What is it?" Namis asked, coming up next to Jenkins. "Crysta?" Jenkins didn't answer her, but their ears suddenly picked up the faint tune of a horn blowing on the wind.

Metal boots crunching on the stonework of the walls of the gatehouse declared the arrival of their Captain and two other men with him. In his shining armour and with his hardened jaw, Captain Nikolev Beagle (a man whose given name and surname seemed to be at odds with one another) was one of the few junior officers who had survived service during the Keyblade Wars under the banner of Radiant Garden, and unlike Twilight Town's current mayor, was one of the even fewer who elected to stay within the military after the War came to its inevitable end. Underneath his spears of brown hair that were now flecked by the occasional grey sat two jewels of green that were currently evoking an air of interested anticipation, but could fire up with any other emotion without a moment's notice. Despite his exemplary service record and commendations, the highest rank and station that Beagle had attained in his continued twenty years of service was Captain. In all possibility he could have become a Lieutenant Colonel by now, had Ansem the Wise not begun to slowly and quietly phase the military of Radiant Garden out of existence, or had Maleficent not invaded with Heartless and took over, or had he not refused promotion to Major seven times because he loved his lower-middle rank position of Captain, allowing him to maintain close ties with those who were fighting alongside him. It infuriated the higher-ups, and he took pleasure denying the upper echelons of the army something that they wanted.

Whatever the case was, the man with a thin brown scar running vertically for a few inches upon the right side of his jaw (both above and below the jawbone) walked briskly towards the two female soldiers that had been inducted into his small Company only a few weeks previously (they were in such a state of SNAFU at the moment that supply hadn't even been able to properly kit them out with their proper armour yet!). "What is it Private Jenkins?" He turned his head as the lingering echo of the horn-call whispered into his ears.

She pointed out over the parapet towards the road that ran through the gap in the blue cliffs. "Something's coming sir," she answered. "It looks like riders."

Private Jenkins glanced at her CO for a few seconds and saw that he was gazing out through the mist of spitting rain towards the area she'd indicated. His face was expressionless, the sea-green globes of his making slight alterations constantly. She turned back herself, and her blue eyes looked back across the three long klicks between them and the ravine. The figures were shrouded by the lack of light, but as they came closer it became clearer and clearer that they were indeed riders, and approaching at great speed as well.

Soon they were close enough for Jenkins to observe that there were five of them in a loose formation with one leading. It was still too early to hear the quiet slapping footfalls of their yellow chocobos, but she felt a trace on anxiety take hold of her when she slowly became able to hear the distinctive clinking of armour.

A much closer ringing came to her ears as her commander drew his sword from its scabbard upon his left hip. The two men that had accompanied him to where she and Namis were were two experienced lieutenants within their Company that had served with Beagle for several years drew their own swords moments later. They and Captain Beagle constituted of the Company's three officers. A rather small number, considering what is normal, but then again there were only about twenty people left in their Company in the first place. One of them, Lieutenant Saeron, gave an ordering shout of, "To your stations!"

Without hesitation, Jenkins clutched her spear tighter and patted Namis on the shoulder. Without a word, both women left the dividing wall above the gates and entered the gatehouse's western tower. The other eight soldiers had all been within this tower as well, and they had all heard their superior's order and were hurriedly, but calmly, moving about to comply. All eight of them wore shining steel plate and chain, each sized to suit them accordingly. Of all thirteen soldiers that had been posted to the wall, only Privates Jenkins and Namis were still wearing the dull brown of leather armour. However, that actually suited them in this weather over the heavier armour of the others. The hardened leather wasn't as great a protective as the steel worn by the others who were all ranked above them, but it was lighter, allowed for greater movement and did not make as much noise.

Namis and Jenkins immediately went towards a man who appeared to be in his early thirties, and another young man in his mid-twenties joined them. The other six were hurrying out to the other tower across the ramparts, or climbing the wooden stairs on the inside of the tower they were currently in. Those six were all carrying recurve bows and concealed dirks, while Jenkins, Namis, and the two men they were with all clutched spears and sheathed swords. "We're ready Sarge," said the younger man, Private First Class Trent.

The older man, Sergeant Higgs, nodded. He donned his helmet, a steel open-faced Celeta (also called a Barbute), an indication that the others should don theirs as well. All three privates did so, Jenkins and Namis with their leather ones, and their superior grabbed his shield, a large round wooden/steel buckler with the emblem of the floral shield upon its centre. He nodded to them as they picked up the remainder of their own armament, and led them outside. The four of them clambered down the stairs along the side of the wall, the rain making tinkling noises as they struck the metal protecting two of them. It had turned from spitting into a slight drizzle, and the breeze was enough to flare and flutter the flames in the black iron torch brackets that clung to the walls.

The four got themselves into a single line formation, shivering and nervous excitement racing through their veins as they stood a good several metres behind the gates. The walls were high enough that from this distance they were unable to see the captain, his officers, and the two of the six archers who stood with them.

Jenkins' gloved hand twisted slightly on the haft of her spear, which she held readily at her right side. She hoped that Lieutenant Saeron would hurry and come down to them. Their chain of command for this operation (guarding the gate) had divided them into two different sections. 1st Section was them, Privates Jenkins and Namis, Private First Class Trent, and Sergeant Higgs, led by Lieutenant Saeron with the sergeant as his 2IC (2nd in Charge) as the NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge). 2nd Section was led by Lt. Pabel with Sgt. Parkinson as their NCOIC, and apart from the lieutenant, they were all armed with the recurve bows. The Officer in Charge (OIC) was naturally Cpt. Beagle, with Lieutenant Pabel as the 2IC (on paper) for this operation. It was all documented and run in true military fashion, down to the last detail.

And they were simply guarding a great big gate.

A few minutes later, the lieutenant did come down and informally relieved command of the section from Higgs. Just a subtle glance without a word, and everyone knew who was now in charge at the moment. Another minute passed, and there came another bellow of the same horn, followed through the echo by a loud male voice. It was rich and still maintained a whiff of its youthfulness. But there was also a serious undertone within it, as if its owner required all haste.

"I demand entry into the city of Radiant Garden!"

"Whoever so demands passage through this gate after nightfall must state his name and intentions," Captain Beagle replied in a reasonable answer.

"I am the Marquess of Ramius," the voice spoke authoritatively. "Lord of the Marchlands of Ramius, a Knight of Radiant Garden, and personal friend to the deceased His Royal Highness King Raithen! Under my name and authority do I demand you to open these gates!"

"At once my lord!" Captain Beagle answered quickly. Just over a second later he had appeared over the parapet on the inner side of the wall and was looking down at Saeron's section. He nodded once before returning to the front of the parapet.

Jenkins looked to her sergeant for a moment before looking to her lieutenant. Lt. Saeron looked at them all with a comforting look on his face. "Stay your weapons," he said, "we're opening the gate once it's unlocked."

Thirty seconds later the winches that operated the great gates were moving, lifting a foot-thick portcullis of wood and iron, and sliding mammoth wooden beams inside of the stonework of the gatehouse. A minute after the mechanisms began to work, the gates were unlocked and all of 1st Section including their commander was at the left-hand door, pulling it open with all of their strength. It took them eight seconds to pull it open, and another eight seconds to bring out the other side.

While the gates were being unlocked, Cpt. Beagle returned to talking to the Marquess. "My Lord Ramius," he asked, "what business brings you to Radiant Garden?"

"Do you have knowledge of the whereabouts of Her Royal Highness, Princess Kairi?" Lord Ramius asked. "I would like to know where she is being kept, I have just learned of her survival and the coming trial, prompting my return to the Royal City."

Captain Beagle was taken aback for a moment, but then he smiled slightly. "It appears you have arrived too late my lord, for Princess Kairi's trial has already been adjourned. She was found innocent, and cleared of all charges. As to her present location, I am not privy to such knowledge my lord, but I believe she is currently off-world. However," he added, seeing that Lord Ramius was about to say something further, "her twin sister, Her Royal Highness Princess Naminé is currently within the city and is in hospital."

The left door was just beginning to open now and Beagle saw that Lord Ramius was confused. "But the Princess had no twin sister. Her only sibling was His Royal Highness, Prince Raifeor."

"Well she has one now my lord," Beagle said. "Believe me when I say this, for I have fought alongside her. The similarity is there; they both have the same eyes."

"I shall be the judge of that," Lord Ramius said, though he was unable to conceal his surprise. His chocobo snorted underneath him and the Marquess looked up at Beagle once again. "What is your name and position?"

"I am Captain Nikolev Beagle, Commanding Officer of The King's Honours Company, 1st Royal Swords Battalion, 8th Royal Guards Regiment. Heh," he muttered under his breath, "and the Princesses think that they have no Royal Bodyguard..."

Apparently the Marquess of Ramius had heard that last statement and he smiled. "Well then, I thank you Captain. It seems that we shall have to rectify their lack of knowledge. But if I may ask, why are soldiers as fine as you acting as mere door-wardens?"

"Because Lord Ramius, there is no one else to perform the duty," Nikolev answered regretfully.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We are the only Company left milord, and I only have twenty under my command. There are no others. I am the highest ranking commissioned officer in all of what has returned of the world, which is quite sad when you think about it."

"That it is," Lord Ramius said. "I dearly hope that the situation is in no way permanent, for this is something that I do not like hearing. For your part though, keep up the good work Captain."

"I will my lord," Beagle assured him with a smile on his face and a salute as the second door became fully open. "You may pass."

Jenkins and Namis stood proudly at attention with the rest of their section along the side of the road as the Marquess rode past at a gallop, Lieutenant Saeron saluting him. Even at the speed of the five riders, she could still make out the sight of the Lord Ramius saluting back from atop his canary-yellow mount. A few moments later, only the slapping sounds of the chocobo feet on the wet road could be heard.

-A-D-

"I told you that I'd punch you."

Roxas chuckled slightly and lightly rubbed a spot on his left arm that Naminé's right fist had just left. It stung, but only barely. Her punch was quite light. But he couldn't say the same about the pink coloured plaster cast that was on Naminé's left shoulder and arm. Her shoulder had turned out to be fractured after all, and she had been placed in a shoulder-spica cast to maintain stability of the bones. Naminé's face was enough to tell him, Riku, Yuffie, Leon, and Kensworth that were all in the room with her that she did not like the awkward right angle that her arm was forced to make, her hand perpetually poised in front of her as if she was constantly about to or in the process of punching something, nor did she like that the cast completely traversed her body. It would be a definite pain getting dressed each day.

"Welcome to the 'Broken Bones Club' Naminé," Yuffie said with a smile on her face. "Now you're one of us."

"I never wanted to be in the club," the blonde answered quietly.

"Why wouldn't you want to be in the club?" Riku asked, sounding hurt. "_I'm_ in the club! Therefore, the club rules because it is associated with me."

"That's a little... egotistic of you Riku," Roxas said.

"Trust me chocobo brains, if every girl on this world knew that I was part of the club, this hospital would run out of plaster and fibreglass bandages faster than you could say 'Stop calling me chocobo brains'. I'm serious."

"When did you break a bone?" Yuffie asked curiously.

Riku smiled. "It was awesome. Okay, so back on Destiny Islands when I was six, Sora and I were playing in the park on the monkey bars—"

"You don't need to say the rest," Yuffie said.

"But you don't know the story!"

"Just allow me to let my imagination run with it, I'm pretty sure I can figure it out."

"Alright fine then. So Lady Kisaragi, when did you break a bone?"

She smiled widely. "Okay, so about six years ago in Traverse Town I was jumping from rooftop to rooftop—"

"You don't need to say the rest," Riku told her, smiling.

"But you don't know the story!"

"Just allow me to let my imagination run with it," Riku repeated, smiling even wider at the pout on his girlfriend's face, "I'm pretty sure I can figure it out."

"Alright, we'll have it your way pretty boy," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "What's your story so I can tell mine?"

"I can't say it anymore."

"Why not!"

"You killed the mood," Riku answered. "That's why."

"There will be no telling stories of how bones were broken while I am in this room," Dr. Fraiser said as she entered the room. "I've seen them all, and heard them all, and I am still amazed at the crazy stunts that some kids pull without realizing that they'd get hurt."

Roxas noticed that Riku smirked guiltily and blushed.

"You shouldn't have been so reckless Naminé," Kensworth said quietly.

"I wasn't being reckless Kensworth," Naminé sighed. "I didn't think it would be that fast and it caught me off-guard after it tossed Roxas into a pole."

"We didn't know it would be so strong," said Roxas. "If it wasn't for the weird stuff that happened at the end, we'd probably have been goners. I've got no clue where that strength and power came from."

Yuffie gasped slightly and Roxas looked at her. "This may sound crazy," she began, "but I had a weird moment like that too. I felt strong power and energy bursting from inside me as well."

"This can't be a coincidence," Naminé said, looking between them all, "because I felt that too, right before the beams struck."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Then I wonder what is going on with you three."

Kensworth shook his head. "Whatever it is, it can wait. What's the diagnosis doctor?"

"A simple, incomplete fracture to her left clavicle," Dr. Fraiser answered him. "Thanks to that Hi-Potion she told me that Sir Roxas had her take, as well as another potion I gave her this afternoon when she arrived, we should be able to remove the cast in two weeks. The Princess should take half a potion at breakfast and dinner every day for the first week to speed the healing process."

"Great..." Naminé muttered, making a slight gagging noise. "More potions."

"Also," Dr. Fraiser continued, "that cast is plaster, so it should not be immersed in water or else it will weaken and deform. I'm sorry to say it, Naminé, but no showers or bathing for two weeks."

Naminé stared blankly at her. "You've got to be kidding me!" she said in disbelief.

"Look on the bright side Naminé," Yuffie said. "She just said that the cast can't get wet, so you can still bathe, just not anything waist-up."

"That's a very, very small comfort Yuffie," Naminé said, sending the ninja a dismissive glance. She sighed. "Oh, what would Kairi do if she couldn't bathe for two weeks? She'd probably freak out."

They had no way of knowing that Kairi had already been going for nearly a week without a shower or bath, and it was only a passing thought in the back of her mind.

Roxas and Riku both chuckled slightly at Naminé's words, but stopped suddenly. Roxas rose from the chair he had been sitting in and looked at the door with a slight mix of confusion and alarm. A man was standing in the doorway. He was tall, and looked to be about forty years old. His hair was the colour of concrete and parted into curtains on either side of his face, where twin amethyst eyes sat venerably. On his body he wore bright and polished armour, and on the front of the breastplate there lay emblazoned a coat of arms. On either side there stood golden lions, holding up a circular shield, divided into three. The lions stood upon a bed of green vines that were lined with blossoms of differing colours, and above the circular shield there stood an oak with a bear's head on top. Within the shield were three different patterns. On the left there were golden paw-prints of a bear over a red background; to the right were four golden lions across another red background; and beneath those was a blue swallow on gold. There was also a banner with a motto underneath the flowered vines, but the man moved before Roxas could see the motto.

He surprised Roxas by heading straight for Naminé and drawing a long sword from a scabbard upon his left hip. Roxas and Riku had already summoned their Keyblades before the ringing note of the sword leaving its scabbard could even finish, but the man surprised them all by taking the blade into his hands and holding it up in open palms as he knelt reverently in front of Naminé.

"I am Lord Ovan Ramius," he declared, "the Marquess of Ramius of the Marchlands of Ramius, and a Knight of Radiant Garden. In the sight of Your Royal Highness Princess Naminé, I do hereby and forthwith swear the affirmation of my fealty to the Kingdom of Radiant Garden and to Her Royal Highnesses Princess Kairi and Princess Naminé, of the House of Talerith, the Ruling House of the Kingdom of Radiant Garden. Do you accept my pledge of fealty and loyalty?"

The room was silent for many seconds after the man's declaration. Roxas looked at Naminé, who appeared to be in complete shock. He didn't blame her at all. He was just as confused and shocked at the event happening in front of him.

The man's head was as bowed as it had been when he had first knelt before her, but beads of sweat were beginning to form upon his face. Roxas pitied him. His mind had to be ablaze with thousands of different thoughts.

Roxas saw Naminé's lips open and his eyes were instantly upon them in time to hear her speak.

"I accept your pledge. Rise, Lord Ramius."

-A-D-

_So... any guesses as to what this all means as we begin to delve once more into a myriad of politics and nobility?_

_Drop me a review if you feel like it._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	15. Boot Camp

_Concerning the politics of the last chapter I have this to say: Everything has a measure of politics around it. Every group, no matter how informal, is a political body of its own right. A group of elementary school friends on the playground, kids that have no idea what politics is, has its own nature of politics. There's the one who's the _de facto_ leader, or there are multiples who are the _de facto_ leaders, and everyone else will pitch suggestions to them about what to do during recess and either they will go with one of the suggestions in an authoritarian and autocratic manner, or they will move for a vote in a democratic manner. There's also an informal hierarchy amongst them. The stuff that is kinda going on is the creation of a way to try and make the public hierarchy of our main characters official instead of unofficial._

_I know that a number of you hate politics, because you don't understand it, but there are probably a lot of you out there that do understand politics and are intrigued as to where this could all end up going, or still don't like it even after understanding it. But why are you all against politics? Don't any of you read Tom Clancey? And specifically his Jack Ryan and Op-Center stuff?_

_And, we are also having a religious debate currently in the works on my forum. Basically it pertains to the place of magic in God's sight, magic's role in video games (KH and FF in particular) and literature (this particular fanfic in particular), homosexuality and the place of sin, repentance and evil within the real world and this story, as well as the deities of other pantheons including the one I created for the purposes of this story and the thoughts and actions in life that dictate whether or not we go to hell. Apparently, since none of the characters I have yet introduced are Christian, and the only ones that I have prescribed an actual religion are the neo-pagan people of Destiny Islands who follow the Ancient Greek Olympian Pantheon, everyone within the fic is already destined to burn in hell, despite what Thessaura said in the first chapter about Heith taking care of the heart and soul of a departed Keyblade Wielder within Kingdom Hearts._

_But whatever! Let's go from a chapter that had all appearances of being a filler chapter, into a true filler chapter! As we also remembered the 65__th__ anniversary of 'Operation Overlord' (a.k.a. 'D-Day', June 6__th__, 1944) last weekend, we get to have the first chapter introducing our supporting cast to the military! Yay!_

_Warning, to those who don't understand the military, which was included somewhat in the previous chapter, you are about to get a crash course in it. And you will also get several more crash courses in it throughout the fic. For the ease of the majority of readership (i.e. American readers) instead of forcing you to learn the Canadian ranking system for both Officers and Enlisted Ranks for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, instead the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force ranks are used. There is the matter that I am Canadian and will therefore try my best to make sure that I don't slip up and start dropping in Master Corporals and Warrant Officers where they don't belong._

_Also, most surnames for those from Twilight Town were made up by me._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom He—(yawn) you know the rest._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XV: Boot Camp

_0630hrs, Tuesday September 30, 2003  
__Twilight Town  
__Hayner Garneky_

Hayner rose hours earlier than he would have ever considered getting up before, especially on a school day such as today. He glanced at the red numbers on his clock in annoyance for a second as the shrill beeping of his alarm jeered into his ears. Groggily, he looked around the darkness of his room before his brown eyes caught sight of the reason why he had set his alarm so early.

A red (though in the darkness you could only tell it was red if you previously knew its colour) zippered duffel bag was sitting near his door, packed and ready. On top of it was a slip of white paper, his travel orders printed upon it in shiny black ink. Beside that was the sword given to him by Axel and Mulan what seemed like ages ago, resting in its scabbard as it leaned against the wall.

Instantly, Hayner was awake, and his hand had slapped down to turn off his alarm. He was out of bed and was dressed in a black t-shirt, vest and camouflage style pants within minutes, despite the cooler air of this time of year.

His mother, father, and older sister by two years were already downstairs and all three of them were drinking cups of coffee when he arrived for breakfast. He smiled warmly at the sight of them and grabbed a box of cereal from the pantry.

"Morning," he said, coming to the table and setting it down beside his place.

"How you feeling son?" asked his father. Hayner shrugged slightly as he made his way through the kitchen to grab a bowl and a spoon for his breakfast. He moved past his sister with his hands laden with the milk from the fridge as well.

"Look dad," she said with a smile, "he's already practicing his manoeuvres."

"Whatever Judy," Hayner replied, making it back to the table without any unfortunate incidences. "Where's Terrance?"

"He's still asleep," Hayner's mother answered. "But don't worry, he'll be up to see you off."

Hayner blushed slightly. "I was actually going to go by Olette's first; then we'd pick up Pence and meet everyone else at the station."

"Oh right..." Judy teased, "you'd want to see your girlfriend first before you both go off to train for war."

"And what about you and Mark?" Hayner shot back with a smug look. "I heard he's enlisted too."

His older sister's face turned a bright shade of pink underneath her brownish-orange hair, inherited from her mother. Hastily, she bit into half of a blueberry bagel with a strawberry cream cheese spread on it.

"Besides," Hayner said, his blush maintained as his ears began to burn, "Olette isn't my girlfriend. We've only been on one date."

"That's fine Hayner," his mother said, sipping on her coffee while she surveyed her son with anxious eyes. "It takes time sometimes for these feelings to develop, but are you _really_ sure that you want to do this? You aren't even legally of age; you're lying!"

"Leave him be dear," argued his father calmly from behind a pipe and sparkling coal-black eyes. "He may not technically be old enough, but our boy's got a good enough head on his shoulders and a strong heart. If this is what it's telling him to do, then you know where I stand. It was only because I followed it that I grew up the courage to go down on one knee, and that was the scariest thing I've ever done before in my life! Surely facing down those evil things can't be anywhere near as horrifying as seriously proposing!" He laughed at his own joke while his wife shook her head slightly.

Hayner shrugged and rolled his eyes. His family was a little split on the issue of him and all of his friends that were doing it with him lying about their age and joining the military. While they were supportive of his decision, his mother still had misgivings and prayed that he would duck out at the last minute, and his eleven-year-old younger brother didn't quite understand what was happening in the world around him, and so was perplexed that his older brother (whom he had looked up to throughout his life) was leaving and didn't know when he'd be coming home. Hayner regretted leaving him, but the kid would understand eventually.

Hayner ate his breakfast with a tiny smile spread across his face. Today was _the_ day. He was finally about to _really_ do something to help out Sora. Even though he was a little anxious about what would await him over the next several months of his life, he was unable to deny that he was excited. Today marked the day that he would be thrust headfirst into a whole new world, and apart from danger and his friends by his side; Hayner had no idea what to expect and that only added to his sense of excitement.

An hour later Hayner had left his house just as the Sun was beginning to peak her fiery head into the depths of the twilight in which she resided upon this world. Hayner had left his family behind at his home with their assurance that they'd meet him at the station by eight-thirty. His duffle was slung across his back by its shoulder strap, and on his left hip was the sheath of his sword, its black grip and silver hilt unmistakable in the early morning light.

His walk through the street was quiet. There were very few other people out on the streets this morning, and only those who were heading up to the train station very early were walking along. Hayner's destination however at this moment was not the train station, it was instead his good friend (and somewhere deep in the bowels of Hayner's mind and heart, hopefully one day girlfriend) Olette's house.

But after he rang the doorbell, it was not Olette who answered the door. Instead it was someone who was about a foot taller than Hayner, short brown hair adorning his young face and hard grey eyes looking coolly down at him. His clean-shaven jaw was stern, and he was already dressed in the ceremonial military uniform of Twilight Town's army; not their combat uniform. A dark green tunic with four brass buttons; dark green pants, with sharp creases from the ankle all the way up to the first belt loop on the front, and from the ankle to the middle belt loop across the seat in the back. Underneath the tunic was a light green dress shirt, with a clean black tie. Black parade boots, the toes of which were shined and polished with Kiwi Black to a black mirror finish (Hayner could see himself looking back at him in those toes) were upon his feet over hidden grey wool socks. There was a dark green name tag over his right breast pocket, the name 'FORREST' centred on it in white letters, and hidden underneath the tunic was a black belt with a golden brass buckle. Strapped to this was the scabbard of a sword. On his head sat a green beret, the circular cap brass of which held the image of the Sun rearing on the horizon, two crossed swords positioned in the space above the Sun. On his beret beside the cap brass and on the base of the epaulettes there rested a single gold bar.

Hayner nearly shrivelled at the cold look the man who appeared to be in his early twenties was giving him. And his heart thudded loudly in his chest when the man asked him, "What are _you_ doing here?"

Hayner nervously raised a hand in greeting. "Uh, hiya Odeon, is Olette there?"

The man glared at Hayner and the boy with sandy-coloured hair winced. "Who are you calling 'Odeon', Recruit Garneky?" he snapped. His fingers went straight to the left epaulette of his tunic and jerked it out in front of Hayner's face. "That's either 'Lieutenant Forrest' or 'Sir' to you!"

"Uh, sorry sir," Hayner apologized quickly. "Is Olette in?"

"Hayner is that you? Oh move _over_ Odeon," Olette said exasperatedly as she pushed the man out of the doorway so that she could see her friend. Hayner smiled slightly at the sight of Olette, and she smiled back. Her messy brown hair and bright, green eyes overtop an orange shirt with its white flower design near the base and a pair of khaki capris shorts was a welcoming sight. Her own green duffle was already slung over her shoulder, and the little staff that she'd been given by Axel was nowhere to be seen, probably in her duffle, Hayner guessed.

Even her voice was bright as she greeted Hayner. "Ready to go and grab Pence and Charlie?"

"Yeah," Hayner answered, feeling suddenly warm inside, "but Charlie told me yesterday just to wait for him at the station. He's showing up with his family."

"Very well then," Olette said, nodding slightly. "Then let's go see Pence."

"Olette you shouldn't be running around with him at this time," the man said sternly. "You have to be ready at the station at—"

"Second Lieutenant Forrest," Olette cut him off with a stern voice of her own, "if you're going to address one of my best friends and force him to address you back by rank, sir, then you might as well address your own younger sister as 'Recruit Forrest' as well."

Odeon's lips snapped shut in shocked surprise at Olette's words and the girl bounced out past him. Hayner felt his smile widen just a little bit more at the way she told her older brother off as they began to head through the streets towards the Usual Spot. Pence had said before that he'd meet them there.

Olette sighed and Hayner looked at her. "Hey, what's up?"

"I don't get it," she said, looking at him. "Odeon was cool with both you and Pence for the longest time. But as soon as I went to that movie with you he's been acting like you're a no-good hooligan that I'd be better off without."

"Oh," Hayner groaned, "The 'over-protective-brother' syndrome. Judy's the complete opposite: the 'older-sister-that-likes-her-younger-brother-going-on-dates-so-she-can-tease-him' syndrome."

Olette giggled. "And what about Terrance?"

"Oblivious to it all," Hayner answered. He flashed Olette a smile and he noticed her blushing slightly.

Pence was waiting for both of them at the Usual Spot, lying on the couch. He had his own blue duffle bag underneath his head as a cushion. The boy with his jet-black hair looked up as Hayner and Olette entered and smiled at both of them. "How's it going guys?" he asked.

"Not too bad," Hayner answered. "But Lieutenant Dumbass is a bigger pain in my neck now than Seifer ever was."

Pence looked at Hayner with confusion. "Who?"

Olette scoffed dismissively and went to sit down on the loveseat beside Pence. "My older brother," she answered with her arms folded as she plopped down, "_that's_ who."

"You _did_ want to be an officer yourself Hayner," Pence reminded him.

"Nah, I'm not cut out for it yet," he answered dismissively. "Besides, I wouldn't get to be with you guys as much if I was an officer. So, what do you think is going to happen to us when we get there?"

"Who knows?" Olette replied. "Let's just enjoy the time we have together before we have to get going."

-A-D-

The three of them made it to the Station Plaza at the top of the hill with a few minutes to spare; their eyes all opened wide at the sight that awaited them. The entire area to the plaza was crowded and filled with people. Duffels of every colour were within the hands of people as they waited for everything to begin. Men and women, young and older, wearing the same uniform as Olette's older brother (and Hayner spotted _him_ in the throng as well) were interspaced through the crowd of civilians. Some of them were in small groups, chatting with each other, and others were talking to those who were not in uniform, likely answering questions. Just inside of the Plaza there were five tables with uniformed men and women sitting at them, queues in front of each table, and signs tacked to the ends listing letters of the alphabet (A-E, F-J, K-O, P-T, U-Z).

All three of them found their families waiting for them near the back of the lines to those tables, and it took them several minutes of teary hugs and kisses before they were able to get into the queue line in order of the alphabet by surname. Pence was in the first line, where he found himself standing only a couple of people behind Charlie (who had managed to get into the queue just a little bit earlier), while Hayner and Olette were in the second line.

The process was slow, for there were a lot of people, and it took an hour after they began for Hayner and Olette to reach the front of the queue, where all that happened was that the Captain who was sitting there ticked their name off of a sheet and placed a pre-made coloured band with their name on it around the strap of their duffel bag, as well as one of the same colour around the person's wrist. After which they were allowed entrance into the Plaza and instructed to toss their duffel bag into one of the piled mountains that had formed, by order of the colour of the band placed onto the duffel bag, report to the officer in charge of that group, and then to wait inside the Plaza.

As it so happened, all of them (Fujin Aerora, Seifer Almasy, Pence Bethal, Raijin Bolter, Charlie Daltry, Olette Forrest, Hayner Garneky, Vivi Orunitia, and Yazoo Seph) had the same colour band (lime-green) placed on their bags. What the significance of this was, was a mystery to them all as they sat, and later stood as the Plaza continued to fill, and did whatever possible to pass the time. Seifer and his gang (which was now including Yazoo) stood a little ways away from Hayner and the other three. A couple of enlisted personnel were walking about on the inside of the Plaza, maintaining security and answering questions of the new recruits, and Hayner spent a little time talking to one of them about what to expect when they arrived. He wasn't quite satisfied with the answers, as they were all quite general, but he figured that he'd understand more through experiencing it. The officer (a 1st Lieutenant as Hayner was told by Olette, since she noticed the silver bar he wore) who was in charge of 'Lime-Green Syndicate' as it was called, was a bit more helpful, but still left Hayner with more questions than answers.

Hayner looked around at all of the faces and people that had filed into the Plaza before him, and filed in after him, and for the first time realized just how many other people there were on his world that wanted to put down Maleficent and stop the Heartless and Nobodies from attacking their town. He knew Seifer and his gang were there since they were all in the same syndicate, and there were many people he knew from school, whether by face or by name, and still more who were around the ages of seventeen to twenty-four: a generation of young people like him who wanted a piece of the action.

He smiled briefly for a second. Maleficent had no idea how many people she'd made angry by doing what she did. They had been attacked; without warning; without reason. Hayner didn't know of anything that would be more infuriating to anyone.

It took another two hours after they had gotten into the Plaza before they even began boarding the train, and even then it was done by order of coloured band. Hayner began to suspect something about the bands at this point. They were being separated into groups. And all told at the end, there were about four hundred people squeezed onto the Plaza along with their baggage, separated into eight different syndicates. And _that_ was just those from the main town whose travel orders told them to arrive at _this_ date at _this_ time. Some came the day before, and there were more who were to go through the same process in about six hours, _and_ more tonight!

Finally the call came for those in the 'Lime-Green' and 'Hot-Pink' Syndicates to board the train, and the group of four picked up their bags and filed into the train station along in part of the general group of one hundred, loosely divided into their two syndicates. They gave up their bags to the enlisted personnel who were handling that (Army Corporals, Olette said, given the two golden chevrons pointed up on their green tunic sleeves), and Hayner kept one hand protectively on the scabbard of his sword. It was odd, but anyone who came equipped with a weapon of their own was allowed to keep it on their person. However, if it was drawn, the recruit would automatically be sent packing straight home.

The train stopped in Sunset Terrace, and those whose travel orders had instructed them to show up there and were also in the Lime-Green and Hot-Pink Syndicates boarded the train. Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Anar, Isil, Kia, and Jeffery all boarded the train, and Hayner noticed that each and every one of them had a lime-green band across their wrists. He wondered the odds of that happening.

"Hey guys," Tidus said, smiling and patting the blue crystal blade of the Brotherhood as it rested against his leg with its hilt tucked underneath his belt. "How's it going?"

"Not too bad," Olette replied, smiling slightly but still in discomfort as their group became somewhat confined. "We've just had to wait about four hours now since we showed up at the station at eight-thirty."

"Speak for yourself Olette," Isil said, rolling his eyes. "We've had to wait _four and a half_ hours to board this train. I'm starving and parched."

"I think we all are," Charlie said quietly while moving a hand through his wavy light-blue hair. The train gave a lurch that reminded Hayner of his stomach, and once more they were off.

"Hey come on guys," Kia said, slightly uncomfortable with how close everyone was to one another, "let's get out of this hallway and sit down somewhere. Do they have compartments on this train?"

"Or in laymen's terms," Tidus said while not helping Kia's question, "why don't we all get a room?"

Hayner felt himself blush slightly as his hand was brushing Olette's and he turned away from Tidus to go and sit down in a booth on the train. "That sounded wrong dude," he said, dropping onto a seat and looking out the window. There weren't actually any compartments on the train. The seating areas were designed more like booths in restaurants, except without tables in between the seats.

Their group took up two whole booths, which they picked out one across from the other, and whether or not they were Islander or Twilight Towner, it didn't matter which one they sat in. Talk was somewhat scarce among them, and Hayner allowed his thoughts to drift inward as he gazed out at the passing scenery. He hadn't really seen this part of the country before. The only places he'd been to were the Terrace and the beach. Green trees that were slowly thickening in their groves were flashing past as they travelled through unmistakable farmland. The land around them seemed to be rising, and it curved up and down in long hills, but the Sun always kept herself running along the expansive southern end of the horizon from east to west.

The lieutenants who were in charge of Lime-Green Syndicate swept through the train's different cars soon after the members of the former Anti-Heartless Militia sat down, giving out bagged lunches of ham sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise and mustard on them; bottles of water, and a juice box each. Garbage and recycle bags were located at the front of the car.

Slowly, Hayner let his sated appetite and the lulling motions of the train pull him into sleep.

-A-D-

_1430hrs, Tuesday September 30, 2003  
__Camp Summers, Twilight Town  
__Charlie Daltry_

Charlie's nerves were racing as he got out of the train with the rest of his friends. His fingers ran nervously through his light-blue hair as his steel-grey eyes surveyed the train station they had arrived in. The platform was entirely composed of drab grey concrete, and for the moment they stood without a roof over his head. A short distance away the arching glass roof that covered the rest of the station came to an abrupt halt roughly twelve metres from the edge of the platform. There were wooden benches and garbage cans bolted to the concrete ground on the inside underneath the roof, and also near concrete supporting pillars at the ceiling's edge.

A few uniformed personnel were on the platform, and some were already moving towards the baggage compartment of the train. The rest were all standing around tables inside of the platform.

Charlie nearly jumped out of his skin when a loud voice barrelled out of a mouth just a couple of feet to the left of his ear. "Lime-Green Syndicate, on me!" Charlie looked to his left and saw the First Lieutenant that had been in charge of them at the Station Plaza back in town striding confidently into the interior of the platform with the other officer who had been in charge of those who were in Sunset Terrace at his side, half a pace behind him. Both of them appeared to be in their late twenties, and while the lieutenant that he had first met at the Station Plaza had reddish-brown hair, the one who had been with the Sunset Terrace gang had sandy-brown hair, both of whom had it cut short enough that it wasn't quite touching their ears.

Charlie's heart was racing from the shock he'd received at the volume of the officer's order and glanced down at his right wrist again, just double-checking to make sure that he _was_ in Lime-Green Syndicate.

_That was really loud_, he thought. _Did he really have to shout like that?_

"Come on," Hayner said, drawing Charlie's attention to him. He appeared as if he hadn't slept most of the two hours that they'd spent on the train at all. "Let's go!" The blonde began moving forward after the two officers and Charlie looked down slightly and sighed, dragging his feet forward with the rest of them.

Charlie looked around timidly at the other people in Lime-Green Syndicate as the officers who had Hot-Pink Syndicate under their command went about twenty metres away to their right. He abruptly looked towards the front as the Lieutenant in charge of them began to speak again, loudly. "Alright Lime-Green, listen up! First off, I am Lieutenant Morrison, and this is Lieutenant Weaver. Congratulations Lime-Green, all of you are now volunteers in Twilight Town's military forces, about to begin your (hasty) basic recruit training. Those of you who complete your intensive training over the next two weeks, will be allowed to choose an element to volunteer for, and a specialty to train extensively in over the remainder of your training. It is at that moment that you will all be broken-up, and reassigned, but for the next two weeks, those recruits around you, and those recruits whom you will meet today and tomorrow, are your family, together in the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division."

Charlie looked around again at the people around him, and he felt something bubble up inside of him at the officer's words. These people, these strangers and his friends, were now supposed to be his _family_? He was unsure if he liked the idea, but looking into the confused and hesitant eyes of the young woman who couldn't be much older than him standing to Charlie's right, he could not help but begin to feel a sense of camaraderie and fellowship with her. It was weird.

_We're all here. Everyone here is here for basically the same reasons as I am. Maybe their motivations could be a little different, certainly not _all_ of them are following a friend to make sure he doesn't get himself killed, but we're all here because we cared enough to care and want to do something against her._

Charlie smiled slightly at his own realization, and shyly turned his head towards the girl on his right again. Her anxious purple eyes caught sight of his smile from underneath her strawberry-blonde hair and she returned it. Charlie felt his heart give a tiny flutter and his cheeks and ears felt a barely distinguishable amount warmer.

Lt. Morrison turned his head slightly and took a pace back, looking at the male lieutenant to his left. "Lieutenant Weaver..."

Lt. Weaver stepped a pace forward and began to speak in his own voice, which was a little bit deeper than Morrison's. "What's going to happen is this: you are all going to go and pick up your baggage from the lime-green baggage pile as the bags are unloaded. Once you have your baggage, you will make a line in front of this table here," he pointed, "where you will speak with Captain Cozlen; she will then check your name off and inform you of which Company you will be in, George, How, or Item. When she is finished with you, you will directed to the appropriate table, where you will fill out any necessary or applicable forms and we will check your kit. _Any_ contraband items will be confiscated and will _not_ be returned to you at any time! After you have gone through kit inspection you will be given further instructions, does everyone understand?"

Charlie nodded his head and there was a quiet murmur throughout Lime-Green Syndicate that they did understand. There were a few people (Charlie recognized that Olette and Hayner were among the few) who said the words 'Yes Sir,' loudly, but apart from that they had all remained silent.

Lt. Weaver smiled and shook his head slightly. "Looks like we get to start here," he said quietly. "_I_ am a ranking officer," he continued in a louder tone, placing one hand to the silver bar on his beret, "and I asked you a question. When an officer asks you if you understand something, or any question that has a yes or no answer when in a group, and the answer is 'yes', you will all reply back with 'yes sir.' Does everyone understand?"

"Yes sir," Charlie said, putting his voice in with about three-quarters of the new recruits to 3rd Battalion.

"Let's try this again since I couldn't hear all of you last time, does everyone understand?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Good," Lt. Weaver said with a smile on his face. "Now once more, does everyone understand what is going to happen?"

"Yes Sir!"

"You there," Weaver said, pointing to a person near the front. "When we dismiss you, what are you going to do Recruit?"

"I am going to grab my bag from the pile, and stand in line to check in with Captain Cozlen. After which I will be told where to go and what to do," said the person that Lt. Weaver had pointed out, who was in fact Olette, loud enough for them all to hear. She paused for a second and the officer looked at her leadingly. "Sir."

"Did everyone hear her?" Lt. Morrison asked.

"Yes Sir!"

"Good," he continued. "Questions, comments concerns? No? Alright, grab your kit in an orderly fashion and make an orderly line. Dismissed."

Charlie turned away, wondering for a second why Lt. Morrison had left such an infinitesimal space with which to ask any questions, and went to the baggage pile. It took him a couple of minutes of jostling and moving other bags out of the way to find his black duffel, and when he did another hand grasped the strap of it at the same time as he did. He looked up at the slender hand and his steel eyes caught a flash of strawberry-blonde before settling in on a pair of violet eyes. It was the girl from before.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed and withdrawing her hand. "I thought this was my bag."

"No, it's alright," Charlie said quickly. "I guess it's a little confusing with all these bags looking the same." He picked up the black duffel and slung it behind his back in one arm. "Would you—would you like help looking for yours?"

"No, it's okay," she replied, giving him a tiny smile. "You know, I never got your name."

"Oh it's uh, Charlie," he answered, holding switching hands behind his back and extending his right out to the girl. She took it.

"No it's not," a voice said from behind him. Charlie turned around and saw Olette smiling at him with Selphie and Kia on either side of her. "You're going to have to forget your first name for a while Charlie," she said, one hand lightly grazing her left hip while her duffel hung from her right, "you're still Charlie, but you're going to get stuck being called 'Recruit Daltry' for a while."

"Sorry, I forgot Olet—I mean Forrest," Charlie answered, catching his slip-up and correcting himself.

Olette smiled and turned towards the rapidly forming line. Selphie was right behind her but Kia held back for a second. She gave him a thumbs-up. "Here's hoping we're all in the same Company!"

"As long as it isn't 'Item' yah," Wakka said, moving past her with his own bag. "That's just a dumb name."

Seifer came strode up from behind Charlie's back, Fuu, Rai, Vivi, and Yazoo with him. "Be sure to kiss karma for me when she bites you Islanders in the ass. And it doesn't matter what they throw at me, after these two weeks, I'm leaving you losers behind and joining the air force."

"Like we care Seifer," Pence muttered with Hayner beside him.

Seifer glared at him. "That's 'Almasy' to you Bethal."

"Remember it," Fuu added.

"Seifer Almasy's going to be an ace pilot, y'know?" Rai boasted loudly to anyone close enough in the vicinity who cared, which was nobody.

Charlie shrugged and ignored anything else that Rai began uttering and looked up at the strawberry-blonde haired and violet-eyed girl who was still next to him. "Well... if you don't want help, could I get your name at least?"

She nodded. "Hook, Alyssa Hook. Oh look, there it is!" Her hand went out and she snatched up a black duffel bag. Recruit Hook flashed Charlie a smile and he felt what remained of the food inside of his stomach churn as his heart sent shockwaves throughout his body. "Well, guess we'd better get in line then. To quote your friend from earlier, 'here's hoping that we're in the same Company!' And I really couldn't mind if it even _is_ Item."

She turned away suddenly and Charlie felt himself at a complete loss for a moment. His feet felt as heavy as if they were embedded within the concrete floor he stood upon, and at once he was almost reluctant to follow her in her red sweater, black jeans and white sneakers.

_I wonder if love at first sight really _does_ exist?_

A dark-skinned hand roughly shook his shoulder and he broke from his stupor to see Jeffery smiling knowingly at him. "Do my eyes deceive me, or has Charlie found himself a girl?"

Charlie blushed and shrugged him off before heading towards the line with his friend from Destiny Islands. Jeff laughed at his cherry-red face. He spotted Hook in the line, just two people separating them, and the tiny fluttering feeling in his heart that he had felt before did not resurface. Charlie spoke, but his voice was barely able to be heard by even himself. "No, but she _is_ cute."

-A-D-

As it transpired, every last one of them, including Charlie's new friend Alyssa Hook, wound up together in G (or George) Company. It took another two hours after they'd arrived at the station for those new recruits to G Company to be on their way into the actual camp itself, being led by a man who they only knew as Lieutenant Sobel, who was also their CO. He looked to be in his late twenties, and was fairly tall, slim, and had a full head of slick black hair. His eyes were black beads set within slits, and the man's nose was both fat and hooked. He had a pointed face, and a receding chin.

As soon as he opened his mouth and an arrogant and rough drawl issued out of it, the men and women of George Company already hated him. Without knowing any drill movements or procedures, he forced the recruits to get into marching column of three files, and to march down the dirt road into the camp with their duffels in hand. The other companies in 3rd Battalion got to ride in buses.

It took them forty-five minutes on the march, broken frequently by the recruits' unfamiliarity with marching, drill, and carrying their duffels for that length of time. Toes were stubbed on the back of others' shoes by being out of step; swinging right arms accidentally punched other people in the back of left side. All the while, Sobel was belting out, "LEFT! LEFT! LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT! LEFT RIGHT! LEFT RIGHT! LEFT RIGHT! RIGHT! RIGHT LEFT!" and running up and down the column, yelling at them to "Stay in step!" and making snide remarks and derogatory and often insulting comments.

By the time they arrived at the bunk buildings assigned to their company, Sobel had already sent three women and two men back. And when they _did_ arrive, he got the tired and already exhausted recruits into formation and excruciatingly taught them the drill position of attention: to stand rigidly facing forward, looking at nothing but that which was directly in front of your eyes without moving any muscles besides your heart, lungs, and eyelids, and those muscles acted involuntarily. It became apparent merely from the way Sobel talked that if a person had control over them and could survive with them not moving, Sobel would have had a recruit silence them as well.

He had sent home two more recruits by the time they were able to do it properly.

Just as the recruits were about all but ready to collapse, three other officers, 2nd Lieutenants, came in behind Sobel. They were the platoon leaders.

"These are Lieutenants Lammers, Taylor, and Winters," Sobel said, slowly pacing up and down in front of the front rank. "2Lt. Lammers is in command of First Platoon, 2Lt. Winters is in command of Second Platoon, and 2Lt. Taylor is in command of Third Platoon. When they call your name, you will know which platoon you belong to, and will form up behind them. Does everyone understand me?"

"Yes Sir!"

Sobel left, and each of the lieutenants told the recruits to relax. It was like a soothing breath of fresh air to cease impersonating statues, even if only for a little while, as they were once again treated like human beings.

Lammers went first, calling out from a list of names. Hayner, Pence, Tidus, Seifer, Isil, and Fuu had their names called along with a dozen others. Then Winters from second platoon began to call names, among which were Anar, Kia, Olette, Rai, and Jeffery. 2Lt. Taylor then started off of his own list, gaining Charlie, Vivi, Yazoo, Wakka, Selphie, and Alyssa Hook in the process.

"Alright," 2Lt. Lammers said, addressing all of them. "I hope that we'll be able to get to know each and every one of you in the two weeks we all have together. For now, we will give you your bunk building assignments, and allow you to mingle with the rest of the company. The time is currently 1726; at 1830, you are all to be formed up back out here in your platoons, and we'll head down to the Company Mess for dinner. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

-A-D-

_0900hrs, Friday October 3__rd__, 2003,  
__Camp Summers, Twilight Town  
__Kia, Daughter of Ken and Lianne_

Salty sweat rolled down the skin of her forehead, her clothes sticking to her back from underneath her armour as the girl stood wearily at the position of attention. The Sun's twilight rays shone directly into her eyes, forcing the young woman to half-close her eyelids to keep the light from blinding her. Three paces in front of her, and two to her left, stood Second Lieutenant Richard Winters, her platoon leader.

It was the morning of the third day since they'd arrived by train in Camp Summers, and just like the other days, this one had arrived with little fanfare as well. G Company had already eaten breakfast in the mess, which had been lacking severely in the taste department, and was now formed up by platoon in front of their barracks buildings in their combat armour, awaiting inspection from their CO. Kia's golden-brown hair was no longer gracing the top of her shoulders, and was instead pulled back behind her head in a small bun with a hairnet over it, like all the other females in the company, Olette with her mass of previously messy dark chocolate locks included. Kia reminisced for a moment while she forced her body to continue to stand at attention, though she relaxed her body a little.

They had received their kit in the late morning through into the mid afternoon of their first day, Wednesday the 1st. It took hours for each of the 137 recruits of the 150 soldiers in the company to be fitted for and given both their P.T. gear, public uniform that was to be worn whenever they were going into town on leave or were simply walking around the training camp, dress uniform, and combat armour, and every soldier from all three platoons used the time to attempt to get to know one another, and the newer recruits that had arrived and joined the G Company late the night of the same day that Kia's group had arrived. Each person who came without a weapon was also issued one from Supply, according to their personal preference of wielding a sword in tandem with a shield, a staff designed to enhance the casting of magical spells, or a ranged weapon, in which the recruits had to choose between two different standard issue items: a shortbow or a rifle. Each person who elected for a staff or a bow was also given a dirk, while those who chose the rifle were also given a bayonet.

Kia was glad that the weapons that they had received from Axel and Mulan or had already previously owned were not confiscated from them. Each one of them had grown attached to the device of destruction that they used, and Merlin had even enchanted Kia's quiver of arrows and Yazoo's pistol during their time in Radiant Garden so that they would never run out of ammunition. Most of them had fought Heartless with them, and they had all vanquished Nobodies during Nixion's attack on Twilight Town, where they had first met Tom; and Roxas, Naminé, and Axel all fought against Nixion, only to lose and be saved at the end by Master Yen Sid.

The rest of that day was spent with their platoons and the sergeants that had been reassigned to their unit from the 1st Division, both learning how to take proper care of their different uniforms and their weapons.

In 2nd platoon, a staff sergeant held up a rifle in the air for everyone to see. "This is your weapon," he proclaimed loudly. "And I don't care if your weapon is the sword, staff, bow or rifle, or whether you are male or female, hetero, homo or bisexual. You will treat your weapon like a wife, _gently_. Your weapon is yours to have and to hold, to sleep with in the field, and to know and understand intimately. No other piece of your equipment is as important as that which kills the enemy before they can kill you. The best defence is a good offence, and your wife," he emphasized the rifle he was holding aloft again, "is the one who will do the killing."

None of those in the platoon could withhold a few sniggers.

They had also begun a demanding regime of P.T. and drill that day. Their sergeants and officers took to leading them encouragingly in gruelling calisthenics, having them do copious amounts of sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, deep knee-bends and torso twists.

By the end of that day, Kia was thoroughly exhausted, along with just about every other recruit, who had all been given the rank of Private. None of them went to the PX (Post Exchange) or did anything grand that night, apart from polishing parade boots and ironing pants in the method that they were shown earlier.

The second day was worse than the first, as the aches accumulated in Kia's limbs from the first day of exercising and drill classes remained, and she and everyone else was forced to deal with it as they formed up for the first time for morning inspection by Lieutenant Sobel. The dislike that she'd already formed for the man only deepened when he went around the ranks of G Company, marking people down for slouching underneath the weight of twenty pounds of their combat armour and equipment, or for things that appeared as made up as 'dirty ears', and denying them their weekend leave passes on those grounds. As soon as he was done with them, arrogant and tyrannical as would soon become the norm, they were all instructed to change into their P.T. gear because they would be running Consto.

Surrounding the camp was a forest; thick grasslands and clearings punctuated it. Three different hills towered above the rest of the landscape as the camp sat in a valley between them, two of the hills to the east (one to the north and the other the south), and directly north of the camp. The northern hill was the tallest one, and they were told that its name was _Consto_, which meant 'Stand Firm', and it was clearly visible from any place out of doors within the camp. It dominated the landscape, rising a thousand feet above the ground where the camp was built, making the other two hills look like little bumps. The Consto run was a battle in itself, and a task that no soldier was supposed to take lightly: just over three miles of a nearly continuous uphill dirt road and path through the woods until they reached a stone marker on the hill's summit. To everyone, it was a mountain.

Kia glanced right almost for the briefest of moments before remembering that she wasn't supposed to and bringing her eyes back in front of her. In her brief glance she had spotted Pence deep in the centre of 1st Platoon, his tower of black hair cut short like every other male whose hair had been too long (which had turned out to be most of them) hidden underneath the open-faced steel Celeta helmet that he (like everyone else) had been issued. His face was steeled forward, but in that swift glance she could see the knots of anxiety in his face.

In her opinion it was a miracle that Pence hadn't been shipped out already like fourteen others already had been from their first two days. He was the least athletic out of all of them; chubby instead of lean or muscled. Kia had no worries for Tidus, Wakka, or Selphie about the physical training. Tidus and Wakka had always been on their school's blitzball team, and were already quite physically fit; Selphie had been a prominent member of a prime gymnastics club on Felra. The three of them took to most of the P.T. with a casual demeanour, without the haughtiness or arrogance that sometimes might be expected. Charlie had apparently also been athletic from his school life in Twilight Town, performing on the track team in the 2 000 metres, 4 000 metres, shot-put, javelin, and discus events, with strong arms and legs. Hayner, Seifer, and Rai were strong physically in their arms, and were already able to do twenty-five push-up sets when they had started performing P.T. Vivi was small, and had been forced to remove his massive hat, revealing a charming and healthy pink face with curly black hair and yellow eyes sitting over a small and cute nose, but he was also surprisingly fit; even if he wasn't that strong, Kia hadn't seen anyone who was faster before. It was almost hard to believe that Vivi was actually seventeen when you looked at him. Almost everyone else, including her, was at a roughly average fitness level, though Anar and Isil were both a couple of pegs higher.

Pence was the one exception, and Kia hoped dearly that the training wouldn't hurt him too much, and that he wouldn't be sent home.

"What position are you standing at!" Sobel's loud voice bellowed as he strode in front of the ranks of his unit, starting from the left side of Third Platoon, which was to Second Platoon's left. Immediately Kia straightened up and stared straight ahead of her. She forced her breathing to steady and her eyes to open wide and attempted to make them unblinkingly accept the hard light of the Sun that burned into them.

The Sun's light was suddenly blocked by a person standing in front of her. Sobel had stopped directly in front of Kia.

_Shit, what does he want from me?_

"Name," Sobel ordered as he stood in front of her, a full seven inches taller, and dressed in one of the many variations of the dress uniform. His scrutinizing eyes passed swiftly over Kia's uniform. The combat uniform that she wore consisted of a thin and dark forest green undershirt, with a grey wool shirt over that. Under the wool shirt was a shirt of interlocking, riveted chain mail. Over the wool was a jacket, a granite grey. On top of all of this there came the armour: a shining grey breastplate and back; no sleeves. Bracers guarded her wrists; a single golden chevron pointed up was painted on to show the rank of Private, and on the sleeves of the jacket was another rank chevron, sewn on. On the legs there came a pair of granite grey pants with greaves strapped on the front of the shins and thighs. On her feet were black combat boots that were high enough to encompass the bottom of the shin armour. There was a black belt around her hips underneath the breastplate; on her left hip was the sheathed dirk she had been issued.

Kia took her yew longbow, with its trailing silver vines running along it, from her back along with her quiver. The bow was unstrung, with the bowstring in a pocket within her pants. She held both items in front of her as she spoke, "Kia, Daughter of—"

"Save the speech for someone else Private Islander," Sobel responded quickly, taking her bow and examining it in his hands.

"Yes sir," Kia said, keeping herself from voicing the thoughts in her head. Her incensed eyes did not directly follow the movement of his hands across her bow, but there was never a moment where she was not watching the callous way (in her opinion) he was treating her weapon.

Lieutenant Sobel pulled an arrow out of her quiver and examined the tan wooden core of it, along with the silver vine that grew its way from the root of the fletching all the way to the base of the tip of the dart. His eyes then flickered to the quiver. It was made of leather that had been dyed white, and like the rest of Kia's kit had a motif of vines in silver glistening on it. They wrapped thickly around the cylindrical base of the quiver, and thinned out as they wove up around the trunk until there was nary a strand or leaf that reached the top.

"Are these your own weapons Private?" Sobel asked.

"Yes sir," answered Kia.

"Get rid of them."

"Sir?"

Sobel inched a little closer towards Kia while his hands still manhandled her bow, quiver, and one arrow. "You want to kill Heartless and Nobodies?"

"Yes sir."

There was a sharp ring as Sobel tapped Kia's helmet with her own arrow, hard. "Not with these ceremonial pieces of shit. Your weekend pass is revoked." He slid the arrow back into the quiver and turned away to move down the line.

_I'm not doing what that fucking son of a bitch says_, Kia thought as she slung her bow and quiver across her back again. _Little Chickenshit probably couldn't even hit the broadside of a barn with any weapon! Had to be on my birthday too... fuck._

"Name," Sobel's voice said again.

"Garneky, Hayner, sir."

"Garneky, that's slang for 'bullshit' isn't it?"

"Yes Sir!"

"There's a spot on your breastplate Private Bullshit, pass revoked."

"When did you sew on these chevrons Private Johnston?"

"Yesterday sir."

"That was more than enough time to have noticed these stray threads private, revoked."

"Name?"

"Aerora, Fujin."

"Dirt on your ears Aerora, revoked."

As Sobel continued to go up and down the ranks at his leisure, Kia grew more and more irritated at the CO and his constant snide remarks, playing up his arrogance as if he were as great as the mighty Zeus himself. She noticed that after Fuu he picked on Wakka next.

"What is this?" he asked, likely carefully holding Wakka's black blitzball with its steel spikes in his hands.

"It's a blitzball sir," Wakka answered.

"You plan to throw a spiked volleyball to defeat Heartless?" Sobel asked Wakka rhetorically. "You're going to get rid of this and go to Supply today to be issued a new weapon, do I make myself clear?"

"Sir I—"

"Do I make myself clear private?"

"Yes sir," Wakka grumbled.

Sobel walked back into Kia's field of vision, still carrying Wakka's Catcher in his arms. He threw it to the ground. "I would not take this messed-up piece of shit to war, and I will not take any of you to war unless the standards of this Company improve dramatically. Thanks to these people and their infractions, anyone in the Company who had a weekend pass for tomorrow and Sunday has now lost it. Anyone who has come to this camp with a non-issued or non-regulation weapon will have it confiscated and will see Supply on their own time to be issued one that is regulation. Now get into your P.T. gear, we're running Const—"

"Yo Sobel!"

Kia's eyes flickered for a second towards the right, and she would have then immediately returned to looking straight to the front had she not seen someone whose mere presence forcibly drew all eyes towards him.

Axel was standing comfortably near the right marker of 1st Platoon, Mushu sitting on the left shoulder of the former member of Organization XIII who still wore that cloak. Fa Mulan was only a step behind him and beside Axel to his right, Cri-Kee on her right shoulder.

Kia's green eyes opened slightly wider in complete surprise at the calm, and almost amused, demeanour in which Axel was looking at and striding towards Lieutenant Sobel.

"You'd better not be having them run Consto Lieutenant," Axel said, wagging a finger, "or else these guys are going to be pretty late for my friend here's class. Got it memorized?"

"Who are you to tell me how to discipline my troops?" Sobel asked. Kia smiled slightly. She could tell, and she knew everyone else in G Company could tell as well, that Sobel's voice held a trace of uncertain fear within it. She could smell it.

"The punishment should fit the crime Lieutenant Sobel," Mulan said, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him. "None of the men and women you're disciplining have committed something deserving as being stripped of their weapons or weekend leave passes."

"Under my command this will be the first and finest Company in this Regiment," Sobel argued. "And _that_, Fa Mulan, means standards far above the bar which you operate under."

Kia winced.

"Oh, you're long overdue for a serious butt-kicking!" Mushu said. "Nobody talks to my girl that way!"

"Drop it Mushu," Mulan growled. She glowered at Sobel. "We'll see who can train them better Sobel." Mulan spun on her heels and left, one hand on the hilt of her sword. Mushu jumped off of Axel's shoulder and onto Mulan's.

"Oh yeah, this is George Company isn't it?" Axel said, looking around, though there were obviously distinct signs of his disdain for the insult he and Mulan had both suffered in his voice. "That means you've got Garneky, Forrest, Bethal, Daltry, and Seph, from Twilight Town and Kia, Anar, Isil, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Jeffery from Destiny Islands right?"

"What about them?" Sobel asked.

"I wouldn't have them get rid of their weapons if I was you," Axel answered. "They're what they've trained and killed Heartless and Nobodies with."

"Axel?"

"You heard me Lieutenant," Axel said. "Those guys have been in combat before and defeated Heartless and Nobodies with the same weapons they're holding now, or on the ground in the case of Wakka's blitzball. Those who are from Destiny Islands are survivors from the Heartless attack that wiped out the city on their main island of Felra, and all of the ones who I named have been to The World That Never Was, and along with Almasy, Aerora, Bolter, and Orunitia, they took part in defending Twilight Town a few weeks ago, and fought against NOD soldiers in Radiant Garden a couple of weeks back too. Kia and Garneky even killed one each while under fire, got it memorized?"

Kia felt her face grow hot as Sobel's eyes turned towards her. Her eyes became clouded with the vision of her silver arrow driving through the rain amidst the hail of bullets from Yuna's two pistols to sink through the smouldering black armour into the heart of the NOD soldier. The sight of him crumpling onto the ground as his blood dribbled out ran again through her mind, and the blood drained from her face and it went from hot to cold as she once again saw herself kneeling by the lifeless body after his companion had withdrawn in a portal of darkness.

"They've killed," Axel continued in a whisper that was heard by everyone "and are friends with the Keyblade Wielders, which is more than you can say for yourself Sobel."

Axel left, and Sobel's voice seemed strained and even angrier than before as he stared at Kia.

"Forget changing into your P.T. gear, we're running Consto in the combat armour you're wearing now."

-A-D-

_And that's their introduction to the military. If anyone caught the tribute I've done, I'm glad._

_Before I leave you all with my customary signature, I have a few other words to give you, in commemoration of D-Day._

**Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!**

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

-General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Forces, Europe

_I just had to do that, you understand of course._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	16. Power Changes Hands

_A average length filler-ish chapter this time, and then we can start getting into the stuff that I have been waiting for quite a while to get into. In case people didn't know, the title of the next chapter is "Light's Ascension"._

_I leave for seven weeks of staffing summer training in two weeks. Yay for me!_

_Disclaimer: Blarg._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XVI: Power Changes Hands

_1523hrs, Sunday October 12, 2003  
The Great Maw, Radiant Garden  
Riku, Son of Rekun and Riley_

A chill wind swept through the Great Maw, bringing with it the biting autumn chill from underneath the grey clouds that had plagued all eight octas of the sky for the entirety of a week, bringing both numerous rain showers that varied between light and heavy rains and cool weather.

Riku ignored the chill that swept through the muscles of his arms and his right foot splashed down into a muddy puddle beneath him, just missing a few shoots of grass that were finally starting to grow again in the Great Maw's soil basin. The Great Maw's path from where one exited the crystal fissure along the ravine through the blue cliff's sides to Maleficent's old and derelict castle in Villain's Vale was a full seven kilometres in one way, and would take a person who walked at an average speed of 1.6m/s roughly one and one quarter hours to accomplish, and then another one and one quarter hours back.

Riku wasn't walking this path. He was jogging it at the very least. Way to the Dawn was held aloft near his right ear as he ran along a path he had driven into the ground by the power of his own two feet. It had gotten even deeper since Wednesday morning, after he had awoken early in the night in a cold sweat with Sora's name dripping on his tongue. Something had happened to his best friend, then, and he felt that it was something dark, but he was unsure what it was.

Three black things suddenly sprang towards Riku from different directions in front of him. The Keyblade Master and Wielder of Dawn slid to a stop in his tracks and his aquamarine eyes quickly picked up the targets, his Keyblade already darting towards the one that came in on the right. Way to the Dawn dug itself deep into the black shadow and Riku whipped it out with a jerk that flung the shadow towards the middle of the three figures. He didn't even watch them go down as the silver-haired teenager twisted around and pointed his empty left hand at the third. "Ray of Dawn!"

The black shadow was pierced by the golden ray that streaked straight into it and burst apart in a blast of energy. A second ray came out at the same time and blasted into the two falling shadows. Riku's ears were greeted by the soft thuds of the pieces of wood dropping onto the soft ground and his vision cleared quickly from the burst of golden light from the explosions of his power. The targets were wooden carvings that were painted to resemble Shadows, and animated and enchanted by Merlin to appear suddenly without warning and attack. Since they were wooden, and therefore not real Heartless, Riku was unable to inherently sense their presence by the smell of darkness he would otherwise pick up, which forced him to be alert at all times while he continued his self-induced training.

_You almost missed those ones Riku_,Xehanort's Heartless chuckling voice echoed in his mind. _You're not distracted are you? Thinking about your friend who is falling into darkness even as I speak are we?_

"Sora is _not_ going to give in to the darkness," Riku growled as he started running again, ignoring the aches developing in his legs and chest.

_Oh, but he's already closer than he's ever been before Riku_, he continued. _Something dark inside of him has reared its head, and it may be too much for Sora to handle it._

"Sora is _not_ going to give in to the darkness!" Riku repeated, not really paying attention to Xehanort's Heartless and leaping to the side as a dummy Shadow came at him. Way to the Dawn sliced through the wooden abdomen and the practice Heartless broke apart as it collapsed onto the soft ground. "He's stronger than that; he's better than that."

_No one is saying that he's going to go down the same road you did Riku_, Xehanort's Heartless continued mysteriously, _just that the darkness may be too strong for his light._

Riku slowed slightly and his eyes narrowed. "What was that?" he growled, moving to the side of a large boulder that was sitting in his path. He ducked underneath the concealed dummy Shadow that leapt out at him, allowing it to impale itself upon the tip of his Keyblade. The silver-haired Keyblade Master withdrew his blade with a jerk and the dummy broke apart as it fell to the ground. Xehanort didn't answer him and the silver-haired swordsman scowled. Riku was about to start running again as if the dummy had never even jumped at him when he suddenly felt movement behind him.

A large blue sword cut through the air in front of Riku as he took a few quick steps back in surprise and anxiety. The tip of the blade passed mere inches away from his forehead, and Riku looked up slightly to see that there was the tall and dark body of an Invisible Heartless floating in front of him on its small demonic wings that left the humanesque Heartless' shoulders.

_Merlin made dummy Invisibles too!_ Riku hastily deduced, his eyes narrowing slightly. _And it used the Shadow as a distraction._ He backed up another step as the Invisible advanced and the blue blade swept down towards Riku. The muscles in the teenager's legs and arms bristled in readiness as he swung Way to the Dawn up to meet the sword of the Invisible. His muscles clenched and relaxed as the two swords struck one another, and Riku's blade held the Invisible's back. Quickly he pulled back Way to the Dawn and struck out against the Invisible's sword again, forcing the Heartless to flail its sword out wide with the strength Riku put into his attack. The young man's left fist curled with golden fire with black at its core and he threw it towards the dummy Invisible, yelling, "First Light's Fire!"

Searing golden and black flames erupted from within Riku's palm and soared through the air, striking the dummy Invisible directly in its chest and engulfing it. An instant later Riku had clenched his fist to cut off the fire and dove straight at the dummy. Way to the Dawn became sheathed in dark wood as it cut deep into the Invisible.

Riku yanked his blade up and out, shearing the wood and forcing the Invisible to break into pieces as the dummy was defeated. He turned his back on the charcoal chips lying on the ground and his eyes widened slightly as two grey swords darted up for his face.

His head jerked back and he took a couple of paces backwards to the other side of the boulder. Now there were two Armoured Knights in front of him.

_How many of these things did Merlin make?_ Riku wondered, his aqua eyes looking between the two in front of him as he quickly tried to decide which one to eliminate first. He found his decision made for him as the one on his right raised its sword arm high and charged towards Riku, the clacking of its legs and armour filling his ears. Down came the sword and Riku raised his Keyblade up to block it. The ringing note of clashing metal on metal resounded throughout the Great Maw and Riku pulled back from the two dummies for a second, his aquamarine eyes wide with surprise, and a little anxiety.

_It turned back your Keyblade_, Xehanort's Heartless noted with amusement. _That's a little surprising. I didn't think that those Heartless were that strong, certainly after you were able to stop a sword-strike from an Invisible so easily._

"They shouldn't be," Riku growled, glancing at his Keyblade. The Armoured Knight came on again, its sword falling down towards the bottom of Riku's neck and chest. Riku swung Way to the Dawn again to block, this time putting more force into his counter. The two blades met, but Riku could already tell that its strength was like nothing he'd seen from a Heartless like this before. His Keyblade was being turned back towards him! Slowly but surely, the grind of second after second was forcing his weapon to inch down under the pressure of the Armoured Knight's blade.

Flustered, Riku extended his left hand out desperately. "Ray of Dawn!"

Two golden rays shot out of his palm. One of them struck the Armoured Knight in front of him, and the other weaved slightly and went towards the one that was standing by the boulder. Riku felt the pressure from the sword against his Keyblade vanish as his eyes became enveloped by a blast of golden light from where his Ray had nailed the Armoured Knight. His eyes widened for a moment when the light subsided and he saw a pink heart rising into the sky.

"So those ones were real?" he asked aloud in disbelief. He jerked his head down and saw the other Armoured Knight on its back on the ground. Its legs had been blown apart by the Ray he had fired off, a small crater showing where he'd missed, and its remaining limbs were flailing about like a turtle. Riku frowned and walked forward, ready to finish it off with a swift slice of his Keyblade.

He was beaten to it. A black cloud suddenly appeared overtop of the stranded Armoured Knight and it stopped moving suddenly with a shearing sound. The cloud of smoke faded away to reveal a girl with raven-black hair kneeling atop what remained of the Heartless, a black Keyblade with purple flowers along the blade sinking into the armoured body of the Armoured Knight. The Heartless vanished in a puff of darkness and its captive pink heart rose into the sky.

"So this is where you've been hiding out for the last week," Yuffie said, standing up and smiling slightly. "I was wondering where you kept sneaking off to. Roxas, Naminé and Lord Ramius sure didn't know, and no one else was saying anything."

"Who squealed?" Riku asked, smiling.

"Merlin said that he didn't know if I'd find you, but that I might find something interesting if I went into the Great Maw," Yuffie answered, the corners of her smile twitching up a bit higher. She sighed loudly with an edge of excitement in her breath. "And he was right! I've been fighting those dummy Shadows for the last half-hour trying to play catch-up with you. No wonder you've been so tired whenever you came home every day this week. And here I was, having Tifa teach me how to cook, which is almost just as exhausting by the way."

"So how are you doing in that?" Riku asked, beginning to slowly amble his way past the same boulder for the third time so that he could walk with Yuffie, who had started at a slow walk.

"She says I'm getting better, but I'm still burning stuff because I keep getting distracted," sighed Yuffie.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Distracted? By what?"

"Songs in my head, I guess," Yuffie answered him. "That and I kept wondering where you were and what you were doing, and about the stuff that Lord Ramius told us."

Riku nodded his head. "Oh right, _that_." He blew a strand of his silver hair out of his eyes and looked at Yuffie. "You want to run with me Fie? We really do need to train if the Heartless are getting stronger."

"Catch me if you can, Lord Rik!" Yuffie yelled, suddenly sprinting out ahead of him.

Riku laughed. "Hey wait up! No fair!"

-A-D-

_Camp Summers, Twilight Town  
Tidus, Son of Jecht and Marianne_

Tidus stood with a relaxed figure in a building on the camp grounds, though there was a look of disappointment and sorrow in his face, coupled by the occasional flash of annoyance or anger. It had been more than a week since Kia's birthday on the 3rd, which had been privately celebrated by the Company at the PX, where everyone who hadn't learned to drink, learned for the first time with beer, which was all that they had at the PX. The old sergeants that had been assigned to George from the 1st Division had ordered them into doing it, saying that it was part of the army's many traditions for the enlisted ranks. There was lots of beer, and they drowned it with soldiers' songs that they sang loudly together. And with the drinking came a loss of inhibitions and logical reasoning, forcing a good number of brawls that began with either a racial or sexist slur or a comment about somebody's mother or sister that slipped past the tongue, and ended with black eyes, loosened teeth, bloody and occasionally broken noses, but invariably men who smiled goofily and were drawing closer than before. Even when a couple of the females engaged in a catfight, it bonded the whole Company together.

Drinking and fighting were two of the standard traditions of the army for recruits in training, just like so many of the other traditions, like swearing. Free from the normal parental or societal restraints of daily life when at a recruit training camp, cussing and spewing of swears became the new norm. The language used was vulgar, and within a few days Tidus had recognized that he along with a couple of people that he'd known to have never rudely sworn before in all the time he'd known them had taken to using the 'F-word' like it was the most commonplace adjective there was.

But when it came to their CO, there were many words to describe him, the most pleasant of which was the simple 'Fucking Sobel' or 'Fucking Chickenshit'. Rumour had it that the officers called him 'The Black Swan', though why they gave him a name that seemed almost half complimentary escaped him. He forced drill and P.T. on them like a dog through his officers, and had them run the three miles up and three miles down of Consto in their armour three times in nine days, _five_ in their P.T. gear. He'd run up front ahead of everyone else himself, his opal arms flapping widely, or he'd run amongst the Company yelling, "The Heartless are gonna get you!" or "Hi-Oh Silver!"

Within three days the whole of George Company could perform an about-turn on the march perfectly, and not long after that they'd perfected marching in formation. As soon as that was completed, Sobel would have them go out on night marches for ten miles without drinking from their canteens, and he'd personally make sure that each and every person had not had a drink by getting them to drain their canteen at the end of the march.

It was tough, and Tidus was still amazed that Pence hadn't been shipped out yet. He was showing remarkable determination to stay in, and was exercising harder than anyone else while 2Lt. Winters led them all in P.T. and doing calisthenics. Pence was already thinner, stronger, and healthier than he had been at any time before coming to Camp Summers. And it wasn't just Tidus and the others that had come with him that were supporting Pence and keeping him up, the other men, women, and officers of 1st Platoon were all doing their part to support one another, just as those in 2nd and 3rd were doing, and everyone else in the G Company.

Tidus was slightly surprised at the friendships that were forming. Everyone in the Company was close, but there were many small three-four person units within each platoon. He, Isil, and two girls who had also lied about their ages (one sixteen and the other seventeen), named Asta Marble and Jane Melbourne were one such unit. Hayner and Seifer had gone through a dramatic transformation in their relationship. They went from rivals and bitter enemies to somehow becoming the best of friends along with Fuu, who was even slowly starting to speak in full sentences; Pence had become close friends to two young men named Kyle Visper and Chuck Livingston.

It was odd, but they probably owed their closeness and their drive to Sobel. Of anything else, there was no greater desire in Tidus' heart now to beat anything that Sobel threw at him. And when the going got too tough, he was always able to look to his new buddies and his officers.

The officers, where could he start about them? In every way they were a contrast to Sobel. They taught them to trust, and it seemed impossible that they could be in the same Company as a man like Sobel and stay there underneath his command, which was even harder on them than it was on the enlisted personnel like Tidus. Each one of them was openly friendly to them; most were genuinely interested in their personal lives and their well-being. They were quality people, and if Tidus had to make a journey through the foul pits of Tartarus and back, and those men were leading him, he would follow them without question. They had his respect.

It was partially through the officers of G Company as well as Axel's earlier influence that Tidus and his friends became living legends within the ranks of George and the whole of 3rd Battalion. He and the others had already fought against Heartless, Nobodies, and soldiers of the Brotherhood of NOD, which few had even heard about, and survived. That instantly made them veterans whose advice was to be a sought-after commodity, gracefully shared. As much as he admired his officers, he and his friends had become heroes overnight.

However, this appreciation and attention was not at all to the liking of Lieutenant Herbert Sobel. It seemed to infuriate him, and that annoyed and infuriated Tidus. He had never felt that he could have hated a person more than he did Maestor Seymour Guado, but he did, and he had very good reason to.

He'd lost his sword.

And it wasn't just him either. Every one of his friends had lost the weapons given to them by either Axel or Mulan or had had hidden away on their own, and were issued the standardized weapons of the Army. Tidus no longer had the Brotherhood; Wakka no longer had the Catcher; Seifer had lost his gunblade and Yazoo his pistol. Kia's bow was gone; as were Hayner's, Selphie's, Anar's, and Isil's different swords. The small mage staffs of Pence, Charlie, Olette, and Jeffery had been taken too. The only consolation was that Axel and Mulan had been able to steal them away when they finally got to Mulan's exhausting hand-to-hand combat class after their already coma-inducing run up and down Consto with Sobel forcing them to perfectly impersonate statues after returning.

Tidus looked away from where the Brotherhood should have been resting, and where there was currently no weapon resting at all as he stood upon the wooden floor of the room within a building on the camp with the rest of the Company. Everyone's weekend pass had again been revoked, which was reason as to why the entirety of George was present except for their officers, and they had been saddled with the most ridiculous of classes to attend today. It was only fate that it was also Wakka's 17th birthday today, go figure.

The Master Sergeant who was instructing them was speaking and Tidus brought his attention towards him again. "Where's your officers?" he asked.

"Not here," Seifer said.

"I can see that," their instructor answered. "What's the matter with them?"

"Dunno Sarge," the female Pvt. Daphne Zellman said.

"Perhaps they've got the flu," added Pvt. Nicholas Follower with a small smile.

"Flu?" the Master Sergeant asked incredulously. "FLU? They've been eating too much fresh fruit! Right! Now, self-defence! Today I shall be carrying on from where I got to yesterday, when I was showing you how to defend yourselves against anyone who attacks you armed with a piece of fresh fruit!"

"You promised we wouldn't do fruit today," Tidus groaned.

"What you mean?"

"Well we did fruit for nine hours yesterday," Olette told him.

"What's wrong with fruit? You think you know it already?"

"Can't we do something else today?" asked Pvt. David Bain.

"Like if a Heartless attacks you?" Zellman added.

"Heartless? Oh oh, we want to learn to defend ourselves against Heartless do we eh?" he asked in a snobby sarcastic tone, getting closer to the female private, who immediately began to feel uncomfortable. "Gettin' all 'igh and mighty eh? Fresh fruit not good enough for you eh? Well I'll tell you something my pretty! When you're walking back from the PX tonight and some homicidal maniac from Baker Company comes after you with a bunch of loganberries don't come crying to me!" He went back to the centre of the room to be viewed by the whole of George. "Right, the passion fruit! When your assailant lunges at you, with a passion fruit thus—"

"We've done passion fruit Sarge!" about fifteen voices called out.

"What!"

"We've done the passion fruit!" Olette said exasperatedly.

Pence started counting off on his fingers. "We've done oranges, apples, grapefruits, (whole and segments), pomegranates, greengages, grapes, passion fruit, lemons, plums, and mangos in syrup."

"What about cherries?"

"We've done them too Sarge."

"Red _and_ black?"

"Yes."

The Master Sergeant looked a bit lost. "Alright... bananas! We haven't done them have we? Right! How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana!"

Tidus groaned and clutched his nose for a second while he heard more than one person chuckle or giggle. With each passing moment he hated everything that Sobel was putting them through more and more. This was just getting too silly.

-A-D-

_2000hrs, Wednesday October 15, 2003  
Radiant Garden, Radiant Garden  
Princess Naminé Talerith,_

Naminé sat upon the edge of her seat on a couch within the den in the castle of Radiant Garden, watching the television in front of her anxiously. The pinkish white cast her left arm, shoulder, and side resided in rested on a raised stand a little above the height of the red couch's armrest. Roxas sat next to her on her right. She sat dressed in an overlarge white shirt that went down to her knees (as it was the only thing that was able to fit her because of her ridiculous cast) without pants, and Roxas was in a black t-shirt with a white picture of a headset on it with the words underneath 'The Voices In My Head Are Idiots', a tan pair of jeans, and his purple and gold cape. Naminé now understood just what Sora was going through when he had been forced to dress himself with only the use of one arm, and the act of getting a pair of pants on using only her right arm infuriated her to the point where she had ceased trying entirely by the fourth day. It had disturbed both Kensworth and Helia, raised eyebrows from Leon, Yuffie, Riku, Lord Ramius and Agatha and some of the other servants, and absolutely terrified Roxas. The poor blonde had no idea what was going to happen to him while Naminé went pantless, but fortunately for him and everyone else, the young woman was confined to the castle ever since they had returned from the hospital.

Riku and Yuffie were also there, sitting on a loveseat and looking at the screen as well. Behind Naminé stood Kensworth, his hand rubbing through the short and thick grey beard that grew upon his face. Lord Ramius was also present in a dark green armchair. He was free of his armour now, and openly wore a white linen shirt and a pair of black pants. His keen amethyst eyes were also observing the screen.

It had been over a week since Naminé had returned to Radiant Garden with Roxas and a fractured shoulder from The Big Top. She had followed Dr. Fraiser's instructions and had been taking one potion a day, half at breakfast and half at supper up until that morning, which triumphantly marked the day after the end of the week. She'd started taking her potions on Tuesday the 7th, and finished off on Tuesday the 14th. Helia had even cooked the best breakfast Naminé'd ever had before in all her short life to celebrate the end of yucky, disgusting, vomit-tasting potions that morning.

And the morning had also heralded the beginning of a very important date. Today was the date of the election in Radiant Garden, the date which would decide the government that would be forced to deal with Maleficent and her Heartless and Nobodies. Naminé was ineligible to vote, not being of age, and Roxas and Riku were ineligible anyway, being from Destiny Islands rather than Radiant Garden, despite not being of legal age. There were also some technically difficulties that prevented Naminé from voting even if she were of legal age, being that she had been Kairi's Nobody before becoming whole and Kairi had called Destiny Islands her home for over ten years now, arriving before her sixth birthday.

"There's another one for the Conservatives," Kensworth said from behind her as the number in blue on the screen changed from a '32' to a '33'. "They certainly are far in the lead."

"That they are," Lord Ramius said, nodding his head. So far out of the other parties running (the Liberals, Socialists, Roseshield Party, and the Anti-Monarchists of Radiant Garden Party), the Liberals under Squall Leonhart had won three seats of the eighty-three in the House of Commons, and the other parties hadn't garnered one yet. The votes for each party were still being tallied within each riding, but something that pleased everyone within the room greatly out of the results for the closed and decided ridings was that the number of votes for the AMRGP barely exceeded two dozen, while the one that held the second-least number of votes (the Socialists) had over twelve hundred.

Naminé glanced at Lord Ramius. He was a very peculiar person. He had frightened her somewhat by his initial appearance and actions when she had first met him, but very soon afterwards had apologized for his abruptness.

-A-D-

"_I realise that this must be very confusing and surprising for you Your Highness," he had said minutes after in the carriage that was taking her, Roxas, Riku, Yuffie, and Kensworth to the castle. His mount was being taken there too by his men. "And it will probably be surprising for Her Royal Highness Princess Kairi as well when I see her, but you must understand that this is not only protocol, but something I wished to do as well."_

"_Protocol?" Riku asked._

"_Yes Lord Riku," Ramius said. "A tit—"_

"_You're going to stop right now Lord Ramius and tell me why you just called me a 'Lord'," Riku interrupted him. "I wasn't being called a 'Lord' at any other time, and Yuffie wasn't being called 'Lady Kisaragi' before either."_

"_You seem smart enough; I thought you would have been able to make the connection," Ovan said with surprise. "Any person who bears the Keyblade is known collectively as a Keyblade Wielder or Keyblade Master, as you know, and when the Chasers still existed they had their own ranks within their organization. However on numerous worlds that produced wielders, including this one, the people began to refer to these bearers as 'Lords/Ladies of the Keyblade'. The unofficial title of 'Lord of the Keyblade' was officially endorsed by His Royal Highness King Raithen II one hundred and seventy or so years ago, and has been tradition ever since. Those who are Lords or Ladies of the Keyblade are honorary ranked within our peerage at the same level as Marquess or Marchioness, making all three of you the same rank as myself."_

"_Then why am I called 'Sir'?" Roxas asked._

"_You are also a knight aren't you Sir Roxas?" Lord Ramius queried with a smile on his lips. "While the greatest of knights is logistically of lower standing within any peerage compared to even the meekest of barons, because you are a Knight of Disney Castle, that is recognized above being a Lord of the Keyblade."_

"_How do you know that I'm a knight?" asked Roxas._

"_Your cape dummy," Yuffie said. "You never take that thing off."_

_Roxas blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh right, yeah."_

"_But what did you mean by it being protocol for you to swear loyalty and fealty to Naminé?" Riku asked._

_Ramius looked instead at Naminé. "All titles stem from the sovereign. My title is hereditary, and it and the lands with it were given to my family to govern many, many years ago.__" _He stopped and glanced at Riku again. "Is there not some form of nobility on your world Lord Riku?_"_

_Riku closed his eyes and looked up for a moment. "I guess we have some kind of one,__" he said. "Well, I know that our island chain is technically governed by some Duke what'shisname who comes over every five, six, seven years or so, and it is always in the name of the king on the mainland who technically rules over us. King Alexander II I think his name is. The Duke shows up and all the adults make a big fuss. He makes a few speeches and tours a bit; he stays for a couple of weeks in a big, **big** mansion on Straca (his favourite of the four big islands) and then leaves again for the mainland, not to be heard from for another five to seven years. But the mainland is a very different place from our islands and it takes three and a half weeks to get there by boat, and there aren't any airports on our islands, so nobody comes out to them and we're pretty much left on our own for the most part as a self-governing and self-sufficient community.__"_

_Ramius nodded while listening politely to all that Riku said, much of which was news to him, Yuffie, and Kensworth. "That is very interesting Riku,__" he said, nodding his head in understanding and for the first time addressing Riku by his given name alone. "So a duke technically rules over your people by the will of a monarch. I had no idea that your world functioned that way. Does he have any children?__" Riku shrugged his shoulders in response and Ramius sighed. "Well, if he does, when he passes away his eldest son will receive Destiny Islands, and if he has no sons, then his eldest daughter will. But_ whenever the title passes from one generation to the next, the receiver must swear his fealty to the sovereign to retain their lands and titles, so they will have to swear fealty to your King Alexander II to reatin the royal right to govern Destiny Islands as they see fit. And by the same reason, when the sovereign passes on and there is a new sovereign all lords, ladies, dukes, duchesses, princes, and princesses must swear their fealty to the new sovereign to remain at the least as they were before."

_Naminé looked down slightly and spoke slowly and softly. Her mind was a little confused, and she felt sad. "So, what just happened between us... was just royal business?"_

_Lord Ramius smiled and Naminé saw his eyes flicker towards Kensworth. "Not exactly Your Highness."_

"_Ovan here was a childhood and close personal friend to your true father, King Raithen IV," Kensworth answered. "He stood as close to your father as possible during the funeral for his father, Raithen III, and was present for the births of both your brother Prince Raifeor II and sister Princess Kairi. And Ovan was—"_

"_Named a godparent to both your deceased brother and your sister, wherever she may be," Lord Ramius finished quietly._

-A-D-

"Leon just scored another one," Yuffie said as the '3' now became a '4'.

Naminé nodded her head and glanced again at Lord Ramius.

_We have godparents. We have godparents! Kairi's going to be so excited to find out, but what is this going to do to us? Are we going to have to stay on Radiant Garden after this war is over instead of going back to Destiny Islands? Or are we even going to be allowed to take part in this war at all? Could we get shuffled away to a place that he believes is safe and trained for one of us to become Queen one day?_

"And there we have it," Ovan announced as the blue number for the Conservatives changed from a '41' to a '42'. "The Conservatives have won a majority government. Now all that's left is to see how large a majority that they will have." He rose and stretched. "That'll be in tomorrow's paper anyway." The man's amethyst eyes looked towards Naminé and caught her gaze. "We'll need to get you prepared for tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"Since Kairi isn't here, you'll have to give the Speech from the Throne to give Royal Assent to this Government, oh miss Head of State," Ramius replied with a wry smile. "Come Your Highness. I shall help you, if you should wish it of me."

Naminé nodded slightly and looked down. She brought her right hand up and ran it across her bangs and down past her ear. "I do," she said slowly, biting her lower lip, "but..." Naminé looked pleadingly at both Roxas and Riku, and Yuffie and Kensworth as well. "Can you guys help me too?"

Kensworth, Lord Ramius, and Riku each gave slight chuckles while Roxas and Yuffie smiled. Naminé felt Roxas place his hand on her shoulder and she smiled at the one on his face. "Alright, let's all do it together," Roxas said. His hand came underneath Naminé's right shoulder and he helped her up and onto her feet.

Naminé cooed inwardly for a moment at the soft feel of the white rug underneath her bare feet, wiggling her toes through it to get both a grip and feel for the floor. No matter how many times she sat in this room the rug beneath her never seemed to lose its appeal.

"Hey we should also use these communicators that we got from Star Command to get Sora and Kairi to help us!" Yuffie suggested as they got into the hall, whipping hers out.

"Have they contacted us yet to say it's okay to call them?" Roxas asked.

"Nope, but I'm gonna call 'em anyway," Yuffie answered, her fingers flying over the screen.

Naminé could hear Riku groaning slightly and they took the quick left. A young woman only a couple of years older than her wearing a brown skirt and jacket with a white blouse and a pair of black heels came around the bend at the far northern end of the hall and Naminé saw her quickly begin to make her way towards her, the girl's blonde hair swaying and brown eyes surveying her anxiously.

"I can walk fine on my own Agatha," Naminé said when the servant came within earshot. She glanced at Roxas as he stayed supporting her on her right arm. "And I don't need your help either Roxas."

"So what?" Roxas answered indignantly with a shrug. "I want to help."

She smiled as the sound of ringing from Yuffie's communicator flitted into her ears. "Help away then." Her body stopped moving and Naminé looked back towards Yuffie as a voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Oh hiya Jiminy!" Yuffie said brightly, apparently looking at the cricket on the screen with Riku glancing over her shoulder. "Could you do me a big favour and put Sora on please?"

Jiminy's voice came back to Naminé's ears regretful. "Sorry Yuffie, but Sora can't talk right now."

"Why not?" Riku asked in amusement. "Is he asleep?"

"Actually yes," Jiminy answered.

"Well then how about Kairi?" Yuffie asked.

"She's asleep too..." said Jiminy. "And I'm not going to wake either of them up."

"Why not!" Yuffie asked.

Jiminy sounded a little embarrassed, but more protective than anything else when he replied to Yuffie's question. "Sora hasn't slept for a week and Kairi's recovering from wounds she suffered earlier today when she was battling against eight different Charr Heartless with Soronmon and Ohtarmon. One of them's particularly bad."

Naminé and Roxas acted almost as one and shoved their way towards the pair of Yuffie and Riku to get a good look at the cricket on the screen. Kensworth, Agatha, and Lord Ramius came immediately afterwards. "They did what?" Roxas asked.

"How hurt is Kairi!" demanded Naminé, easily wrestling the communicator out of Yuffie's two hands with her one. She didn't care that she was receiving odd looks from everyone else for the way her voice sounded: panicky and shrill with a morbid feeling a dread. Deep in her heart Kairi and Sora meant more to Naminé than anyone else, even Roxas. Without them she wouldn't even have existed, and she owed everything to the auburn and brunette. Sora had saved her from Castle Oblivion, and it was his selfless act to save Kairi that had both given her life and the young blonde she had fallen in love with, and it was because of Kairi that she now had a heart of her own, and ever since becoming real she looked up to the auburn-haired Princess as an older sister. One that she regrettably rarely saw now except in dire times and would see little of over the coming, trying, months according to Master Yen Sid.

"She got hurt pretty bad," Jiminy told her regretfully. "There's a deep wound in her left shoulder that cut into the bone and she took a shallower one on her right side and a hit to the head, but those two have already healed. Kairi sprayed a Hi-Potion over her shoulder and head after the battle and drank the rest before falling asleep, and I'm going to be taking care of her with the other Hi-Potions we've got. She needs to be back on her feet as soon as possible, so I'm also considering using the only elixir we've got left too." He brought a white-gloved hand to his chin and closed his eyes while looking down in thought.

"What was this about Sora staying awake for a week?" Riku asked. "That's not like him at all."

Jiminy opened his eyes and sighed grimly. "He's come back. His Anti-Form."

Riku gasped and Roxas said, "You can't be serious," quietly with opened eyes.

Naminé felt her eyes widen slightly as she involuntarily gave a tiny squeak of horror.

_That thing Sora told us about can't be back, can it?_ _The Heartless inside of him from when he turned himself into one to give Kairi back her heart?_

Yuffie spoke next to her. "I don't get it. What's going on?"

"When you say it's back," Riku began, "do you mean that it's taking control over from Sora?"

"That's exactly what I mean Riku," Jiminy answered him. "We figure that Sora kept himself awake over the last week since Weathertop because he was afraid that Anti-Form would take control of his body while he was asleep and do terrible things to everyone. But he hadn't said anything to anyone, not even Kairi or Aiwemon."

"Shit," Riku muttered audibly under his breath.

"What's Anti-Form?" Yuffie asked, a bit more incessantly since everyone was ignoring her.

Roxas answered her. "He's a perverted, sadistic little wretch who likes fighting, killing, and causing general mayhem because he thinks it's fun and he enjoys it. When Sora went into his different Drive Forms sometimes Anti would decide to bear his vicious teeth rather than letting Sora play the hero. While I was in Sora I had to live with the sucker and tried as much as I could to keep him from getting out of control, but now that I'm my own being Sora has to deal with Anti on his own."

"Which is exactly what he's been doing," Jiminy said in a subdued tone. "He's not asking for any help in dealing with him; he's already lost control a few times."

"But what _is_ he?" Yuffie asked.

Naminé looked at the older teenager. "Roxas was Sora's Nobody, Anti is Sora's Heartless."

Yuffie froze and her dark brown eyes started to quiver in fear. She took a step backwards, apparently shocked to her core. The ninja's voice came out in a terrified squeak. "He's fighting his own Heartless?"

Riku began to grumble, "So that's what I felt that night," he said. "I felt Anti getting stronger and taking control. No wonder Xehanort's Heartless has been so smug recently." He glanced at Yuffie and tenderly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to go," Jiminy said. "It feels like Ohtarmon's stopping, so I'll be giving Kairi another Hi-Potion and seeing if she can drink both it and some water while unconscious. She lost a lot of blood."

"Alright," Naminé said shakily. She took a gulp to try and steady her beating heart and voice. "Take care Jiminy; look after them 'till they wake up."

"Don't worry about it Naminé," Jiminy assured her confidently. "Just leave it to me!" The screen died and the cricket was gone.

"The situation is more dire than we thought," Lord Ramius said solemnly. "Both Princesses injured, and the Chosen Master of the Keyblade struggling with a dark being inside of him." He looked gravely at Naminé. "The people will need your address even more now Your Highness, as long as we can be sure that word of this does not leak out."

"It won't," Riku said sternly, still holding on to Yuffie. His hand was running up and down her back and the raven-haired kunoichi seemed to be faring a little better in his embrace.

Lord Ramius nodded at him. "Then we'd better get to work."

-A-D-

_Camp Summers, Twilight Town  
Olette Forrest_

Unlike the sombre mood of her friends on Radiant Garden, Olette was thoroughly happy in Twilight Town amidst a group of the other females of George Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Division. The end had come to their basic training, and every last one of the members of George Company who had survived the sadist Chickenshit that was Sobel was celebrating in a brightly lit hall in their dress uniforms.

The brown-haired girl smiled as she looked down at the sleeve of her green uniform and saw the golden chevron making her a Private sewn on firmly. There was a glass of darker beer in her left hand, and while she had at first disapproved to the idea of drinking (as she was still underage), under the influence of her peers she had opened up to the act (just as she'd opened up to the rampant swearing) and found after a while that she enjoyed sharing a few drinks with her war-buddies. Her inhibitions were a little looser, and Olette found that she could open up and enjoy herself a bit more if she and everyone around her were suffering from a slight buzz.

She smiled to herself again as a couple of memories from over the down-time from the past two weeks washed their way through her mind. Only a couple of days ago she had been walking back to her barracks from the PX with Hook, Daltry, Kia, Selphie, Anar, and Hayner. After the other girls had gone in and Anar and Charlie had carried on towards their barracks Hayner had quickly and fleetingly kissed her farewell right on her lips in a spontaneous display of affection. He was as bright as a cardinal when he pulled away a second and a half after he did it, just enough time for Olette to have realized that he had kissed her, and his tongue was flapping and sputtering some nonsense about how he had wanted to live without regretting not having done that in case something happened to either of them down the way. His eyes couldn't seem to meet hers and his body was tensing and ridged as if telling him that he should just run.

But Olette in those moments wouldn't have him run away; she was beyond Cloud Nine for Hayner to have kissed her, and knew that she would never forgive herself if she allowed the blonde who played tough on the outside but was soft as a puppy made of putty on the inside to run away without letting him know how she felt about the kiss.

So she forced him to stop blathering and look into her mischievous green eyes by gripping his chin for two full seconds before kissing him back.

The news spread informally like wildfire (chiefly because Anar and Charlie came back to see what was taking Hayner so long and caught them in the act, and then they told Selphie, which was a recipe for disaster). But there's wasn't the only couple to have surfaced within the two weeks, though for some people it was expected. A pair of nineteen and twenty-one came to be (April Winchell and Scott, Son of Bruce and Sarahon) and two seventeen year olds who had also lied about their age (Alice Sembello and Rick Ramone). Personal relationships were perfectly acceptable and allowed in the military, though there were of course the restrictions and limitations placed upon the relationship because of the professionalism of the military, and were briefed on them personally by their different Platoon Commanders (2Lts. Lammers and Winters). For instance, when in public in uniform they were not allowed PDAs such as holding hands, kissing (except in greeting or farewell, and even then it had to be tactful), or caressing or embracing in any romantic manner. Basically they weren't allowed to flaunt or show the world that they were an item.

But through it all, the men and women who had survived to that point in George Company were loyal to one another nearly to a fault, and nary had a faint whisper of any of the three personal relationships reached the ears of Lieutenant Herbert Sobel, their CO. All feared that if he found out, he'd have the six of them sent home, and all six were better than good soldiers.

Hayner kissing her had been Olette's highlight moment and fondest memory of the two weeks she'd spent here, but there were many others that made her smile when she remembered them. The one of many times when her platoon was practicing magic under Axel's direction and the thunderbolt she'd cast had burned a small hole clean through the centre of the target; when the men and women of George Company started singing songs at every occasion; and when she'd first completed a set of thirty push-ups, and then went on to thirty-five through sheer force of will! Those were simple moments, but all the times that she had cursed Sobel with her new friends were fun times as well, and even the 'Self-Defence Against Fresh Fruit' classes were enjoyable. Now she knew exactly what to do if someone ever attacked her with fresh fruit.

"What you thinking about Forrest?"

Olette turned her head and looked up at the attractive nineteen year old girl sitting next to her. Her sky-blue eyes were smiling as widely as her lips underneath a waft of blonde hair, brought back into a tight bun like everyone else's. Olette sipped her drink and began to speak. "Oh, nothing much Holmes," she told Pvt. Clarice Holmes, "just remembering all the good times of this camp."

"Yeah, it's been fun hasn't it?" Holmes answered. She sipped her own drink and looked out towards where a fair number of the males in the company were drinking at a table. Tidus was draining his drink and the others were chanting.

"Three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, six thousand, seven thousand, eight thousand nine thous—" Tidus triumphantly placed his empty glass back on the table and the cheering commenced.

"Hi-Oh Silver!" crowed Tidus.

Olette smiled and shook her head and shared amused looks with some of the other females around her, which included Alyssa Hook, Kia, Selphie, Fuu, and Holmes. "So what are your plans guys?" she asked, looking around. "Gonna stick with the army or go into a different branch?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm staying in the army," Holmes answered with a devious smile. "There are a lot more cute guys here."

"The Air Force," Fuu said with a tiny blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Seifer's going."

"Somebody's got a crush," Selphie said in a sing-song voice.

Fuu fixed her with a glare. "Hypocrite," she said, "you and Tidus."

Selphie blushed horribly. Olette laughed and had some more of her drink as a song began to play loudly on a stereo; loud enough for everyone to hear it distinctly.

Apparently a few of the guys seemed to think that there were dancing possibilities with the song so they formed a line opposite where Olette and the small group of females were sitting and they began singing along to the song, calling to them.

"_When I wake up yeah I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you__  
__When I go out yeah I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you_

Olette couldn't help but keep smiling as the number of boys increased from two to ten (making one male for each female in the group), now including Charlie, Anar, Hayner, Tidus, Seifer (surprisingly), Isil, and Pence.

_If I get drunk yes I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you__  
__And if I haver yeah I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you"_

Their spot dancing was somewhat silly and corny, but it by no means was able to catch her attention and almost seemed rehearsed in how all of them performed the steps and claps that they incorporated in it. It was like it was some kind of shuffle to the song that they were telepathically transmitting to one another, since not even Pence screwed up in it. Slowly they had been advancing towards her group and their motions certainly seemed to be inviting them to dance with them.

_But I would walk 500 miles__  
__And I would walk 500 more__  
__Just to be the man who walked 1 000 miles__  
__To fall down at your door_

Olette smiled and shook her head at Hayner's offered hand towards her just as the other females declined through the chorus. A bout of laughter issued from the rest of George Company who were all watching as the males got shot down. But that didn't deter any of their smiling faces as they returned to their positions and began anew.

_When I'm working yes I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you__  
__And when the money comes in for the work I'll do__  
__I'll pass almost every penny on to you_

_When I come home yeah I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you__  
__And if I grow old well I know I'm gonna be__  
__I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you_

This time Olette grasped Hayner's offered hand before they started the chorus again. Her action seemed like a trigger and the others grasped hands as well. Tidus was with Selphie; Anar was with Kia; Charlie was with Alyssa; Seifer was with Fuu; Isil was with Holmes; and Pence was with Daphne Zellman. Olette smiled further as the music played and the dancing suddenly went from the kind of shuffle that the boys had been performing to get them to dance with them into a jazzy swing style.

It really didn't matter to Olette as her smile had grown as wide as it possibly could become as she danced with the man she was now whole-heartedly glad to truthfully call her boyfriend. Her feet, arms, and hips moved with grace and style as Hayner spun her around. She supposed that she'd have really liked to be wearing a dress or something instead of the dress uniform that she did wear, which in almost every way was identical to the one that her brother had greeted Hayner with the day they left. But she was glad that they weren't wearing their berets and prayed that no one would scuff her boots.

If someone did, they were _dead_. And everyone else held the exact same sentiment regarding their boots. The person who scuffs is the person who dies.

The dance evolved on the spot depending on the part of the song that they were in, and partners switched and changed as more and more people in the Company joined in with the dancing eighteen until once more it became a kind of shuffle with a ring of people watching them. Eventually it ended and another song picked up on the stereo. Olette was just starting to get into it with her current partner (who believe it or not wasn't Hayner) when a loud voice belted out the word "ROOM!"

Instantaneously her training took hold and she stood rigidly at attention and turned with everyone else to face a small dais at the front of the room decorated behind it with the flags of Twilight Town hanging from the ceiling and its Coat of Arms painted on the white wall behind the dais. Someone cut off the music. Loud footsteps, unmistakably from parade boots like the ones on everyone's feet, fell on the hardwood floor as the officers of George Company came into the room with someone special that they had all gotten to know by name and a few of them (the _heroes_) knew by face through meeting him a couple of times. Colonel Vincent Stringer was a man of six feet exactly, standing proudly with grey mixed into his black hair and a face lined from forty-three years of life. He was well-decorated and the Commanding Officer of the whole Regiment, and everyone within the room looked up to him with the respect that he had both earned and deserved from them. Colonel Stringer had complimented and glorified George Company for having the finest performance record in the whole Regiment.

He went to stand in the centre of the dais and smiled in a grandfatherly way as he looked at them all. "Relax soldiers."

They relaxed.

"How's everybody feeling tonight?" Colonel Stringer asked.

"Good Sir!"

"Well that's good," he said, "Because I am proud of each and every one of you. Tonight marks the end of your basic training. Now I have just received word from people that we have on Radiant Garden that the Conservative Party has won a majority government in their elections, which means that likely within the coming days, some of you may be transferred out to Radiant Garden for the continuation of your training. There are further trials that will await you as you continue to train and prepare for battle against the forces of darkness, but for tonight put those thoughts out of your minds. You've earned this party." He was given a drink. "Thank you Private Wakka."

"Sir," Wakka said, inclining his head and rejoining the others. Olette smiled slightly. Some of them would be transferred out; that would mean leaving Sobel behind. That would be a sweet victory.

"Now have fun, and remember our motto: Consto!"

"Consto! Stand Firm!"

-A-D-

_1020hrs, Thursday October 16__th__, 2003  
The Senate, Radiant Garden,  
Princess Naminé Talerith,_

Naminé sat quietly in a chamber just outside of the room in Radiant Garden's Parliament Building that housed the Senate, a group of twenty-two men who were appointed to their positions that reviewed policy that made it through readings in the House of Commons. Nearly all of them had been members of King Raithen's or Ansem the Wise's advisory councils, and any member of the peerage had seating in the Senate (meaning that whenever he wished, Lord Ramius could sit in and provide his vote and voice to a debate, while there was a clause that prevented the Lords and Ladies of the Keyblade who were not from or were citizens of Radiant Garden (such as Roxas or Riku) from doing so. This meant that Yuffie would be allowed to sit on the Senate, while even Sora would not be allowed.). For the time being, all of the freshly elected MPs from the House of Commons were also inside of the Senate Chambers, and waiting for them to begin.

Externally, Naminé exuded a slight air of calm serenity as she waited for the summons to begin the ceremony. She was still stuck in her cast, and the art of dressing her because of it was a chore that morning. For one thing Naminé was wearing a black skirt that reached her knees, and a shiny teal coloured shirt. Overtop of the shirt was a black blazer, and the sky-blue gemstone necklace was laid over the neck of the shirt and her silver studs in her ears were shining brightly. On her blonde crown rested a small silver tiara that glittered with a shower of diamonds and eight dazzling sapphires. When the light struck it from any direction a person gazing upon the tiara would be at a loss to find words to describe it, and the piece of jewellery seemed out of place with the rest of Naminé's outfit, yet it somehow also seemed to compliment it by drawing attention towards the princess' face.

Inside, she was a nervous wreck. There were likely hundreds of people up in the viewing area above the room, and sphere cams were recording and filming along with news crews to capture every moment. It had been hard enough for her to speak out in front of the House of Commons without cameras, and still difficult for when she was being interviewed with Riku on Wartime Battlewatch and she'd had to practice several times with Peter before she was ready to give testimony during Kairi's trial. Public speaking was difficult for her.

And she was tired. It had taken until one-thirty in the morning for her address to be completed, and Ralph Manish's Cabinet had rushed up the castle only an hour after their majority win had been determined to 'assist' in writing the speech. Half of it ended up being written by the Government, and half by her. The experience was so-so in Naminé's opinion. It had been good to meet Manish face-to-face, as the last time she had seen him was when he had spoken to support her when she and Roxas barged into the House of Commons. The two of them ended up having a private meeting for a half an hour in which he explained his Government's plans and they otherwise chatted and got to know one another. By the end of their meeting Naminé had found that she liked him.

The Throne Speech was held within a black book that Naminé clutched tightly to her chest; her sketchbook rested not ver far away. It was pointless to have it with her though, as with her injury it was very difficult for her to draw, but she had tried anyway about ten minutes ago to try and ease her frazzled nerves. Roxas stayed by her side throughout it all: the brainstorming, writing, and head-bashing process, and was even present in the room for her 'private' meeting with the new PM; the car ride (they had gotten a car this time instead of a carriage) here, and he was still with her now as they waited for someone to come and get her to inform her that it was time.

Naminé glanced towards him as he sat in an armchair only a few feet away from her and smiled. Her heart felt warm and bubbly inside just knowing that he was nearby, and over a few minutes she felt her confidence rise as she looked over the speech in front of her. With her rise in confidence she could also feel her nerves, still tingling and tugging at her chest, but they were manageable now.

A knock came on the door and a page came into the room. "Your Highness, it is time."

Naminé looked to Roxas and stood up. He came over to her with a smile and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I'll be watching you."

"Wish me luck," replied Naminé.

"You'll do fine, but good luck anyway." Naminé smiled at the reassuring look in Roxas' face and gave him a quick one-armed hug, to which he returned. She gave him a kiss farewell and strode out of the room with confidence.

The room was very large and had been designed so that the acoustics were great. One could speak from any seat within the Senate Chambers (and especially the ornate red throne raised on a dais at the far end) and be heard from the farthest corners of the wings above them for people to observe the proceedings. Naminé walked calmly towards the throne at the end, bowing her head to the PM as he sat on a plain mahogany armchair, and sat down on the throne. She had been in the Royal Audience Chamber in the castle, and knew for a fact that while the throne here was comfortable and magnificent, the ones sitting high up there were far more elegant, though she knew not how comfortable they were to sit in.

Her speech lasted for only three minutes. In those three minutes though, the words that she spoke were able to embed themselves deeply into the hearts of all those who were watching and listening, and spoke on continuously about how they must all do their part to preserve their independence, their freedom, their homes, families, lives, and their hearts above all else; how the Government will do everything it can under the shadow of war to safeguard the people of Radiant Garden, and to rebuild and maintain close ties with her friends, neighbours, and allies in the worlds of Destiny Islands, Twilight Town, and Disney Castle especially; and how the Government will be a government of decisive action that will not be content to sit still while their enemies rattle against their very gates.

When her time was over, there was tumultuous applause. Naminé smiled.

-A-D-

Normal proceedings that would occur in a democratic constitutional monarchy after the Speech from the Throne were abolished quickly in wake of the serious threat posed by the Heartless. The Conservatives had won with a majority of seventy-four of the eighty-three seat. The Liberals under Leon had gained six seats and Leon resigned his post. The Socialists under Igor Kurstang won a single seat, and the Roseshield Party (an extreme right-wing party) under Paul Vinham gained two. There were no Independent representatives in the House and no seats for the Anti-Monarchists of Radiant Garden Party. Within that very day the Prime Minister met with both King Mickey and Mayor Magellan of Disney Castle and Twilight Town, and together they hashed out a joint-forces training program that would take place in the Great Maw. They were even able to get the bill drawn-up and presented before the House before they could adjourn for the day, and it was speedily shot through its readings in the House and Senate as if it was a Royal Decree back from when the Sovereign was ruling officially.

Beagle's men interrupted Riku, Yuffie, Leon, Tifa, and Merlin as they were in the Great Maw, and instantly began setting up the camp with Merlin's magical help.

Everything was proceeding swiftly...

-A-D-

_This was the filler-ish chapter and now we get to jump right back to Sora and Kairi, and something that I have been waiting to do for a while. Please leave a review if you want to do so._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	17. Light's Ascension

_This one is important now, and it is dedicated to everyone who wanted to see Kairi kick Pete's butt at the end of __**To the Ford of Bruinen**__. As well, I would like to leave a little note here in case you either live under a rock or just don't listen to or read the news. Yesterday (since by the time most of you read this it will be yesterday), June 25, 2009, at fifty years old Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, passed away in hospital in L.A. So whoever is going to spend the weekend listening to Michael Jackson songs raise your hands! (When you want to feel strong!) Sorry... that's Bon Jovi..._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, The Lord of the Rings, Digimon, or anything else within this work of fanfiction._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XVII: Light's Ascension

_October 21__st__, 2003 (D.I.R. [Destiny Islands Reckoning])  
__October 20__th__, 1418 (S.R. [Shire Reckoning])  
__Kairi_

Kairi's booted feet crunched along on the Road as she slowly strode away from the Ford of Bruinen; away from the Black Riders, from Strider, Glorfindel, and the hobbits Sam, Merry, and Pippin (as they had run past her towards the Ford), from Frodo as he made his escape upon Asfaloth, from her digimon partner Soronmon, from Ohtarmon, and from the unconscious Sora as he struggled for control as he confronted his Anti-Form inside of him. Her gloved right hand was clenched tightly around the grip of the Oathkeeper as the blade of the mystical white Keyblade was wreathed in a sheath of crackling red and yellow flames.

The warrior-princess' face and hair was dirty and dishevelled from the three weeks she'd spent in the bush and wilderness without a bath or means to cleanse herself. Her dark brown cloak was wrapped around her shoulders and swayed down to a muddy end at her ankles, and there were clear cuts in her maroon leather jacket in the left shoulder and right side, with a few insignificant scratches in many other places showing the wear it had been put through.

But through it all her indigo eyes raged with a clear determination to defeat the person she was striding towards. At the top of the hill, panting and wheezing horribly while trying to regain his breath, was Pete, the catlike lackey of Maleficent who had insulted both her and Sora and painfully reminded them that their homes and immediate families on Destiny Islands were gone.

He was about half a mile away, but Kairi was in no hurry to get to him. Right now, she'd rather that he see her coming towards him like this, and the sight of her slowly and purposefully advancing towards him rather than brashly running, seeming to be eager for a fight, would be far more terrifying.

About two minutes passed with the auburn-haired Princess of Radiant Garden calmly preparing herself for a battle that she did not willingly choose to engage in. Rather, she would prefer to be fighting the Black Riders back at the Ford as undoubtedly Strider, Glorfindel, Ohtarmon, Sam, Merry, and Pippin were doing. It had been they who had stabbed the young man that she loved with the wicked morgul knife, theirs whose mere presence bombarded her body with terrible chills as the light in her heart struggled to combat their darkness, and by their doing had caused the Heartless inside of Sora to gain enough strength to wrestle control of his body away from him, causing both her and Sora much emotional pain and suffering.

She glanced up slightly. There was a great rush of sound and wind behind her. The girl's nostrils flared as they smelt and touched water that was in the air, and Kairi turned her head back. She had seen many things, so many that she always wondered why each new occurrence surprised her, yet it was also exciting and exhilarating to be constantly surprised by the wonders that awaited her through travelling the worlds. The Loudwater had risen up in a great flood, and it violently rushed down through the Ford of Bruinen. The Black Riders that had been within the Ford when the flood struck were all instantly washed away by the torrent of cascading water and boulders, and the ones that had remained onshore were suddenly assailed by Strider and the hobbits with flaming brands in their hands, giant Ohtarmon with his massive mace, and Glorfindel. The change that had occurred in the golden-haired elf astounded Kairi as she watched even from this distance. His body seemed to glow with a clear and radiant white light. His curved blade glittered with terrible magnificence, and if Kairi could see his face at this moment, she would likely feel very glad that she was not his enemy. Beyond them and above the Ford, she could see Soronmon landing close on the opposite bank and beginning to stoop protectively. Moments later, the floodwaters grew too great and mighty for her to even see her digimon partner.

Kairi turned away, knowing now that the trouble at the Ford was in good hands, and set her eyes on Pete again. He was standing upright, and his face was directed towards her as she stood alone in the centre of the Road. She was still far enough away that Kairi couldn't see his facial expression, or his eyes, or any distinctive features apart from his overall shape and mass, the pug shape of his head, and the dominant colour of the outfit upon his body.

He raised his right arm and made a motion as if snapping his fingers. Suddenly Kairi's ears could pick up the sound of miniature portals of darkness opening up all around her, signalling the arrival of Heartless.

_Right... Pete would never attack me first, he always has to hide behind his Heartless._

The pack on her back began to feel heavy and cumbersome, so she slipped it off while retaining the dark brown cloak that was clasped around her neck. Kairi's hands quickly dove into the pack and grasped two potions and two ethers between the two appendages and slipped the restorative items into the pockets within her pants while her eyes swiftly scanned the crowd of Heartless that were rapidly appearing around her. Armoured Knights _clicked_ and _clacked_ to signify their dominant presence amongst the ranks, while the brown Surveillance Robots hovered in the air above them. Smaller Heartless such as the blue Rabid Dogs or Soldiers darted underneath the stick-like legs of the Armoured Knights, and larger, more vicious looking dogs that had to be the Wild Dog Heartless Sora had mentioned briefly to her barked and growled louder than the clanking of the armour of the Armoured Knights. Towering above the mass of grey were the purple and blue Large Bodies, their rotund bodies standing dumb to the rest of the smaller Heartless, but contrasting them were the seven-and-a-half foot monoliths that made up the ranks of the different forms and variations of the class of Charr Heartless, and at least a half a dozen floating Bolt Towers dominated the view.

The growls and braying of the strong Blade Storms outmatched those of the Wild Dogs by a factor of three. Strong bows rested in the talented hands of the Hunters. Black staffs with dark heads were gripped by those who were known as Flame Wielders, and those held by their Overseers glowed at the end with light that was keen and bright. But all of them had hides as black as pitch and yellow eyes that leered eerily out from the Heartless' dark eye sockets. These were the kinds present, though Kairi had not met nor fought all of them previously.

She had never seen the kind with the staffs that shone with light before, and Sora had been fighting (avoiding more like at the time) one with the long black staff at the Bridge of Mitheithel, which appeared to use fire magic. She sensed though that these ones that looked similar were indeed stronger, just as the Blade Storms and Hunters were stronger than the Blade and Axe Warriors and the Stalkers that they had been battling with at the Bridge of Mitheithel and in The New World nearby Grandmother Willow.

Kairi glanced around again, encompassing all of the Heartless that were surrounding her as she stood upon the Great East Road near to its eastern end. There had to be over two hundred, maybe even three hundred of them, but there was no way to get a certain count. All she knew was that Pete must have been allowed to pull out all of the stops for this one, as a preliminary rough head count came in with over a dozen of the various Charr Heartless.

The Oathkeeper still blazed with its fire as Kairi tried to ward off the chill that had begun to race through her spine at the number and strength of the enemies that surrounded her. She wasn't _too_ concerned about some of the ones that were weaker, but the sheer numbers and variety were more than enough to realize that this time Pete really meant business.

And she was all alone...

Kairi shook her head to clear herself of that thought and to help manage her fear when she suddenly heard a sound in the thicket on the south side of the Road. She turned around and swiftly brought up the Oathkeeper as the _twang_ of bows from Hunters concealed in the bush announced the rush of black arrows speeding towards her. Three black arrows that burned with long trails of fire behind them shot towards her. The Oathkeeper darted to intercept them, but instead of the _clang_ she would have expected from parrying the arrows away the first one that struck against her Keyblade exploded on contact, spraying tiny jets of fire towards her and the area adjacent to her from the burning debris of the black arrow. Some struck Kairi on her cheek and she quickly moved to get the flaming remains off of her face before she could gain anything more severe than a first degree burn to her skin. She bowed her head and protected it with an arm as the fires coursing around the Oathkeeper went out, revealing the white blade completely. Of the other two arrows, one struck the ground at her feet and exploded, flinging fiery pieces of itself up towards her, and the other overshot her and exploded on the ground about four feet past her.

_They've never done that before_, Kairi thought, slightly panicked by the experience as she felt her cheek still tingling from the burning sensation. She looked up and realized that a group of Heartless were now advancing towards her, a couple of Wild Dogs rapidly racing at her with their ivory teeth bared. Kairi gripped the Oathkeeper tighter and ran straight for the Wild Dogs in the lead. The gap between them had cleared in under two seconds. The lead one lunged out for her, its jaws snapping wildly, and Kairi deked over to the side and sliced her Keyblade up and through its body from the Wild Dog's lower jaw to its centre. She turned and spun around quickly, cleaving her blade through the mouth of the other one.

The two Heartless became insubstantial puffs of dark smoke with pink hearts rising from the clouds as Kairi continued on swiftly. Her Keyblade flashed out to connect with the sword of one Armoured Knight as it fell towards her and she turned her blade back around over her right shoulder to slice down against the fronts of three different Heartless. Their front armour cracked and all three of them were pushed back and into the ones behind them, causing them all to stumble and some to fall onto the ground. Kairi's eyes picked up on a ring of ten red lasers hovering around the body of a floating Surveillance Robot and she quickly jumped into the air, also avoiding the booted foot of a Soldier that she hadn't noticed coming towards her right shoulder. The small bolts of red energy shot towards her airborne figure, and Kairi twisted her body out of the path of the first half while bringing her Keyblade out in a defensive manoeuvre to deflect the other five away from her. The white blade of the Oathkeeper dove towards the Heartless as Kairi's momentum kept her going towards the Surveillance Robot. Her Keyblade sliced into the brown metallic body of the Heartless, pushing it down towards the ground a little as it continued to hover in the air. Kairi quickly withdrew her weapon from it as its body began to break apart with light streaming out of rapidly forming cracks in its shell. Her booted feet connected with the failing body of the Heartless and Kairi kicked off to leap higher into the air above the horde beneath her only moments before the Surveillance Robot surrendered itself to darkness.

Kairi's dark brown cloak billowed around her in the air as her slowing velocity carried her higher. More flaming arrows fired from the Charr Hunter Heartless were flying towards her and Kairi prepared herself for a moment before calling out, "Reflega!" A shiny honeycomb sphere encased the area around her in a protective bubble seconds before the arrows would have struck against her. Instead they exploded upon contact with her shield, their fiery debris bouncing off the shield to rain down on the Heartless beneath her instead.

Kairi's jump had reached its zenith when she dropped her magical shield and encased its stored defensive energy in compact blue balls. She willed them onto the ground beneath her and the orbs of light blue energy streamed down to strike against the throng of Armoured Knight Heartless assembled on the Road under her, obliterating a dozen or more of them in small, contained eruptions of power.

The auburn-haired Wielder of the Keyblade gasped as she stopped suddenly in her descent as a blue beam caught her in its grasp. She rose again and her body was forced to turn towards the Bolt Tower that had captured her in its beam and was charging up energy to send a strong electrical charge towards its captured target. Kairi struggled with her invisible bonds for a few moments before she saw the blast leave the yellow spire at the summit of the Bolt Tower and come towards her. In desperation Kairi broke free from the hold that the Heartless had on her and struck against the blast with her Keyblade, turning the attack back on the one who had initiated it. It struck the Bolt Tower right in its cannonball-esque face at its base, and the whole creature imploded into a large cloud of darkness with a crystalline pink heart rising through it into the sky. A shower of yellow-blue beads of munny fell from it, and for an instant Kairi couldn't help but smile in glee at the amount that would await her on the ground when she was finished.

The smile vanished from her face to be replaced by a hiss as she felt something burning strike her in the side while she remained airborne. An ignited arrow had exploded against her left side and the bits of fiery remains were now flying all around her. Kairi looked towards the source of the arrow and quickly found the Hunter who had fired it preparing for another shot as several other flying arrows whizzed around Kairi. The Oathkeeper froze as Kairi directed the Keyblade towards her foe and with a yell of, "Blizzaga!" a shining spear of ice rocketed out from her Keyblade. She was barely able to see that her icy spear had impaled the Hunter directly in the chest before the girl's feet touched the ground for the first time in half a minute.

A startled cry of pain escaped Kairi's lips as a Large Body ploughed into her from behind and she tumbled on the ground. Kairi staggered to her feet, wildly slashing her Keyblade out in front of her at any Heartless that was standing nearby as she moved to regain her footing and balance. Her sword cut through three Armoured Knights and a blue Rabid Dog before Kairi turned around and returned her attention to the Large Body that had crashed into her. It was scratching the top of its head with one of its mammoth hands as if trying to decide what it should do next. Its legs began to coil like springs and Kairi immediately realized that it was about to jump. With its weight, it would come crashing down and send sharp tremors through the ground, possibly strong enough for her to stumble and lose her balance again. She couldn't afford that, there were too many Heartless.

Kairi bent down and dropped one hand to the ground just as the Large Body took off. "Gaira!" she roared desperately. The Road lost any form of smoothness it had gained over the many hundreds of years of its usage as a dozen thick, towering spears of earth and rock broke free from their earthly bonds and pierced fifteen feet into the sky. The Large Body was skewered instantly by the sharp point at the tip of one of them, and numerous Armoured Knights and other weaker Heartless were either destroyed or flung high into the air. A Bolt Tower's head was run through by a pair of them and vanished in defeat, copious amounts of munny lining the swords of the earth that had defeated both it and weaker Heartless as well as firing more of the lesser ranks into the sky.

Kairi quickly followed them with her eyes and pointed her Keyblade at the airborne Heartless. The word, "Firaga!" barrelled past her tongue and the air around the flying Armoured Knights, Soldiers, Rabid Dogs and the odd Surveillance Robot disappeared within contained eruptions of flame, the roaring sound of the sudden combustion filling Kairi's ears.

-A-D-

Ohtarmon turned his head away from the rushing flood of the Bruinen, wherein he thought he could see the shapes of white riders on white horses. As soon as he and the others with their flaming brands and the elf-lord's cold sword had arrived after the flood the horses of the Black Riders had become stricken with madness and carried their masters into the tempest of the river. He began to glance towards the West and the part of the Road where he had just come from, determined that he had just heard a sound that wasn't quite natural over the roar of the flood.

Ohtarmon's green eyes widened slightly as he gazed out from his helmeted head. He gripped his mace tighter with both hands and gruffly called out as loud as he could. "Soronmon!" he yelled, "Kairi's in trouble!"

He ignored the calls of his companions behind him as his large and powerful legs thundered to carry him towards the small army of Heartless that were undoubtedly assaulting the young woman that his digidestined partner loved so dearly, but he had barely gone twelve paces when he painfully collided into... something.

Ohtarmon shook his head and looked up from where he now sat upon the ground. The air in front of him shimmered with a pink light. He stood up and tapped it with his fist. The metal gauntlet across his knuckles clanged as it made contact with the barrier that separated both him and Soronmon from the Heartless and Kairi.

-A-D-

Kairi dropped her gaze from the brightly lit pieces of the sky and ran to the side as another volley of lasers from a Surveillance Robot came streaking towards her. Her cloak billowed about her as Kairi stopped near one of the jutting spears of rock and turned her back to it, swinging her Keyblade out in front of her with one hand. The Oathkeeper's white blade dug deep and cut through the body of an Armoured Knight in front of her. Her hands and arms moved quickly, bringing her weapon up to block a strike from one Heartless before parrying the sword of another Armoured Knight. Her Keyblade was brought back to her body before darting out again to cleave both Heartless in half.

Kairi froze for an instant as a bellowing roar pounded into her ears and she turned to her right. Four Charr Heartless were brutally shoving their way through the ranks of the smaller, lesser Heartless. A Blade Storm was in front, immediately followed by a Hunter and two that bore staffs, one of which was glowing brightly with a star of white light at the end. The Blade Storm's sword hacked out and cut down an Armoured Knight that refused to get out of its way. The Hunter and the two with staffs stopped while the Blade Storm continued to rage towards Kairi's shoving a Large Body out of its way with its shield. The Hunter stooped to the ground as if preparing something, and fire flared on the ground around the Flame Wielder.

Kairi narrowed her eyes and clutched the Oathkeeper with both her hands. She felt something coming up behind her suddenly and turned on a dime, forcing her weapon's hilt to her eye level with the blade down vertically. The iron-shod foot of a Soldier Heartless connected with the flat of her blade and the Soldier rebounded off of the Keyblade to land on the ground. The auburn-haired warrior-princess brought her weapon around and sliced down through the head of the Soldier Heartless as if its helmet was not even there.

The roar of flames entered Kairi's ears and she turned around with widening eyes to see a fiery flare streak out of the tip of the dark staff of the Flame Wielder. The fireball that howled towards her above the heads of the smaller Heartless and beside the shoulder of the oncoming Blade Storm that was still knocking down its allies in its haste to reach Kairi was as big as the Princess' head. Kairi backed up a step and quickly held her hand out towards the blazing projectile. "Water!"

A sphere of water equal to the size of the flare burst from Kairi's palm and struck the flare barely a metre away from her, stopping it in its tracks as the two spells were engulfed in a cloud of hissing steam from their meeting. The air around Kairi vibrated from the energy of the collision and she felt her hair and cloak being blown backwards as she squinted her eyes from the steam.

She was barely able to see the flaming arrow that burst through the steam cloud in front of her and struck her in the chest. A yelp of pain escaped Kairi's lips as the arrow exploded upon contact with her body and the blazing pieces were discharged all around her. The flaming fragments landed on her arms, nipped at her chin and cheek, and dropped onto the ground surrounding her. The intense heat from the strike and the arrow's remains burned through her layers at her abdominals, lower jaw and, irritatingly enough, the spot on her cheek where the pieces of the first arrow that had burst asunder on contact with the Oathkeeper had touched.

The steam parted suddenly as a longsword clutched in a black bestial hand cut through it, the Blade Storm Heartless braying a guttural roar and breaking right through to reach Kairi. She only saw the approach of the Charr Heartless at the last possible moment and ducked her head underneath the falling sword-strike. The sword came up and down towards her again, sweeping in towards the rock. Kairi ducked again and rolled off to her left, leaving the Heartless against the side of the spire of rock she had called up from the bones of the earth. Its sword crashed into the spire, spraying chunks of rock and stone out from where it had connected. The Blade Storm ripped it out and glared down at her with its eerie yellow eyes, roaring again from underneath the black iron helmet on its head.

Kairi held her Keyblade out in front of her at an angle and closed her eyes for half a second as lightning began to crackle and swirl around the white blade in her hands. The indigo oceans snapped open with the strength of a tempest and Kairi released the lightning in a slash with a cry of "Thundaga!" From the tip of her blade a circling twister of electricity barrelled forth, blinding Kairi with its intense brilliance. She could feel the air around her heating up from the energy of the lightning being released from her weapon as it buzzed through the air towards the Blade Storm Heartless. Her giant foe became lost to Kairi's sight as the light from her electric attack blinded her from everything else when it connected with the Blade Storm with the sound of a loud and roaring thunderclap. A cloud of rock and dust sprang up from the spine of rock that was behind the Blade Storm and it toppled over, crushing dozens of Heartless underneath its weight.

Kairi grinned slightly and was about to turn away when she saw that there was a glow coming from within the dust cloud. She gave a gasp when a roar that was all too much like one of the Charr Heartless emanated from the cloud.

_It's still alive!_

Another roar belted out from the cloud and a sudden burst of lightning shot out from the hazy area. Kairi was too surprised to move or counter, and the electricity struck her directly in the chest. The bolts of energy burned into Kairi as if her layers were not even there and she screamed and convulsed in uncontrollable spasms. It felt like hot knives were piercing into her body from every inch as the attack ravaged her from all around, and she couldn't even feel the smaller sensation of physical ache as her body flew through the air, crashing into different Heartless and the ground. Her back finally connected with the thick trunk of one of her earthen spires and she came to a rest within the crater her back had made, her muscles twitching uncontrollably. The rest of the spire broke and fell over, dooming more Heartless. Kairi didn't notice. The pain dimmed, but her body still seared with the hurts of the collisions and the lingering burning sensation of the electricity, and its pain stretched deeper into her than just her skin. Her bones were cringing.

Kairi opened her eyes slowly, breathing haggardly through the suffering her body was enduring. She dropped out of the crater from the spire of rock and fell onto her knees on the ground. She had lost her Keyblade during her tumbling, and pushed herself up and onto her feet with her hands. She looked up and saw the Blade Storm Heartless raging towards her again, the Heartless emblem upon its black shield smoking.

_So that's how it survived,_ Kairi thought quickly, _I'd forgotten that the Heartless emblems on its shield and helmet could absorb and enhance magical attacks before firing them right back._

The Oathkeeper appeared in her hands again in a flash and she pointed it into the sky above her. "Curaga!" Magical green vines flowed out of the point of her blade and swirled down and wrapped around her body, healing the girl of her burns, aches, and pains. The spell finished its work and Kairi ran forward, charging at the raging Charr Blade Storm Heartless with her Keyblade held high and a determined yell issuing from her lips. The black sword fell down and the white Keyblade rose up; the two blades met with a ringing clash.

Kairi backed up a pace to her right as both swords left each other and she made a swipe for her opponent's left arm. The Blade Storm parried her strike with its shield and countered with a strike towards Kairi's head. She rolled out of the way of the blow and rose, bringing up the Oathkeeper to block off the shield before it could bash her in the head. Kairi twisted her body away as the black sword came down again, this time for her left shoulder. She swept her blade out towards the Heartless, but it was once again blocked by the shield. Kairi didn't care that it was and the Heartless' sword came around again and her white Keyblade rose up to turn it aside before falling down onto the shield again. Kairi pressed on, again and again raining blows down on the shield and dodging out of the way of the Heartless' darting sword. As long as she was able to keep up her attack, the Blade Storm would be forced to stay on the defensive, which was something that she'd figured out that they weren't generally very good at with the offensive style that they had used before against her.

Flaming black arrows exploded on the ground around Kairi as she duelled with the one Heartless, and flares narrowly missed her as the other Charr Heartless pushed their way in front of the smaller Heartless, killing them off sometimes if the need was great enough. Kairi weaved through the ranged attacks all the same and gripped her Keyblade tighter as the clangs from it striking the Blade Storm's shield resounded over and over again.

The Blade Storm's black sword fell down again and Kairi deked off to her left, triumphantly managing to reach the Heartless' vulnerable side. Her smile hadn't even begun to form when the black blade darted out towards her as her opponent turned. Kairi made a small leap backwards and waited for a second before coming on again, roaring in her resolve to defeat it; to kill it. Strength flooded into her arms as her sword came up from her right and parried away the downwards slash that the Blade Storm had made for her head. Immediately afterwards Kairi swung her blade out to the right, catching the side of the shield and flinging it out wide. The black hide and chest armour on the bestial Heartless was now exposed, and Kairi slashed the Oathkeeper across the chest, cutting into the flesh and through the armour. Darkness poured out of the wound and the Heartless bellowed and recoiled in pain.

Blue light suddenly entered Kairi's vision. She stumbled as her body was hit suddenly by an invisible force and the wind flew out of her. The Princess of Heart was knocked down to the ground by the same invisible force, and her lungs and chest felt like they were being crushed. For a moment, Kairi just lay there on the ground with her arms to her sides, dazed and confused as she struggled to bring breath back into her lungs and fill her bloodstream with blessed oxygen. She was squinting in pain, but she could recognize that out of the corner of her eye one of the Charr Heartless that bore a staff that glowed at the end with a star of light had the image of an ankh glowing with light blue light above its head. The wound that she had just caused on the Blade Storm also glowed with blue and white light, and it closed. The Heartless grumbled and bellowed, raising its sword high into the air.

_They have _healers_!_ Kairi realized with outrage and despair. _What kind of abilities do these dammed Charr Heartless have? Are there more types besides these Warriors, Rangers, Elementalists, and, and... Monks!_

She pushed herself to her feet and slowly took in a shuddering breath. Another flare flew past her from behind and crashed into an Armoured Knight, obliterating it into a cloud of darkness. Kairi's eyes swiftly looked around her. There were two more Blade Storms surrounding her at varying distances, several Hunters and Flame Wielders behind them, and at least three of the kind that she had decided to dub, 'Overseer's. And beyond them all there were still the many scores of weaker Heartless and Bolt Towers milling about. How was she going to be able to fight through all of them, just to get to Pete? Was Pete worth this battle?

Kairi sighed and shook her head. No. Pete wasn't worth this fight, but it was too late now, she was stuck fighting it. She realized that there were now only two choices ahead of her: to fight, or to lay down her arms and die. Heartless didn't understand surrender, and Pete would only be too overjoyed to tell Maleficent that he had been able to kill her.

Kairi's eyes flared at the thought. After what he'd said at Weathertop, she would _not_ give him the satisfaction of telling Maleficent that he'd done what the witch had been forcibly kept from doing in Radiant Garden.

Gripping her Keyblade tighter, Kairi sprang towards the same Blade Storm that had just had its wound healed by the Overseer. Its sword lunged out to meet her, but it missed by an inch as Kairi altered her body's trajectory slightly. Her booted feet touched the top lip of its shield and Kairi jumped off, twisting around and barely slicing her Keyblade into its back. Kairi dropped onto the ground and her feet dug into the dirt of the Road before she leapt forward again, this time her blade cutting through the neck of the Heartless just as it was turning around to face her again. The black, bestial head of the Blade Storm fell off as the rest of its body collapsed onto dissolving knees that vanished into clouds of darkness.

Kairi didn't even stop. There were two more Blade Storms in front of her. She landed on the ground and saw a blue ring suddenly form around her hips before contracting. The invisible force from the Overseer's Bane Signet assailed her again and Kairi caught her breath as she felt her ribs being crushed. She didn't fall down this time, but after a second she was wheezing again and wincing in chest pain. It almost felt like she was back in the corset. Her left hand was on her chest and the other held onto the Oathkeeper as both Blade Storms ran towards her. Kairi's indigo eyes widened in terror. She wasn't ready after just suffering from that spell from the Overseer. Both black swords fell towards her and Kairi desperately raised her Keyblade up to block them. The combined strength against her was too much and her Keyblade was ripped out of her hand and slammed into the ground. The black blade of one of the two Blade Storms slashed out horizontally and caught Kairi from her side to her front. The sword ripped through her layers and cut into her skin. Kairi was crying out in pain as her own shining blood streamed suddenly from the wound and she staggered back from the force of the blow.

She couldn't keep her face from not showing the pain that she was in as her left arm came across her bent-over chest to apply pressure in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Adrenaline flowed through her body, but its influence was not enough to do more than take the sharp edge away from the pain. Kairi screamed again as a roaring flare struck her in the back between her shoulder blades and her brown cloak caught fire.

Her right arm moved without conscious thought, freeing herself from the burning article of clothing and dropping it to the ground. The smoke from the burning, dirty cloak burned Kairi's nostrils and enveloped her in a cloud of concealment. She suddenly remembered her potions and ethers as crimson droplets fell to the ground from her fingertips and her free right hand dropped into one pocket to pull out a potion. Her fingers were trembling and Kairi couldn't stop herself from dropping to her knees as she tried to pull her left arm away from the wound across her chest. Eyelashes were quivering in pain and dripped from a marginal amount of sweat as whimpers escaped unwanted from Kairi's lips. It hurt. It hurt _so_ much.

-A-D-

"Deciding Swing!"

"Blizzard's Bite!"

Ohtarmon's mace glowed with bright white light as he swung it towards the magical barrier separating him and Soronmon from the Heartless and Kairi. The chill image of Soronmon's head screamed away from the ice-eagle digimon and soared down on a collision course with the barrier at the same place as Ohtarmon's mace attack.

His mace struck hard at the same instant as Soronmon's attack and the area around them was engulfed in an explosion of white light. The air's temperature plummeted, and the energy behind the combined attack forced Ohtarmon to withdraw and cover his eyes from the blinding light.

When it subsided his green eyes widened in horror and surprise. The barrier still stood fast, not even appearing to have been damaged.

"Come on you stupid thing!" Ohtarmon roared, rushing at it with his mace again. "Break already!" His powerful arms swung his strong mace repeatedly, bashing into the same spot of the pink barrier, but again and again his weapon was stopped. He knew that Kairi was strong, but he didn't know how long she'd be able to last on her own against that many Heartless.

-A-D-

Crimson liquid squirted out of Kairi's mouth as she coughed involuntarily. She had tasted her own blood before (and who _hadn't_ in their childhood years of scrapes, nosebleeds, and hanging out with boys), but never like this. This time the taste of her blood made her stomach squirm even more as the suffering in her abdomen continued to haunt her through the cloud of smoke she was enveloped in from her burning cloak. Exploding ignited arrows burst apart all around the area, and more flares fell crashing to the ground as the Road itself seemed to erupt with flames.

Her chest hurt so much as her own blood came out from behind her arm and between her fingers. It was taking all of her willpower just to hold on to the potion in her right hand rather than dropping it too and curling up in the fetal position.

Kairi forced open her eyes through the pain and stared at the potion's green bottle encased in the fingers of her right hand. It couldn't end like this. She couldn't go down like this, giving up and accepting death to come and claim her. If anything, she had to keep fighting until her last breath. She had just kicked Sora back into gear; it would devastate him if she couldn't keep going herself. Plus, there was something she had promised herself to do after Sora had defeated Anti.

She was going to tell him that she was going to die defeating Maleficent.

Kairi held onto that internal promise and squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the pain, but no amount of preparation was able to keep the agonized scream from breaking out of her lungs as she tore her left arm away from her chest and stretched the muscles out in one swift motion. Her right arm moved quickly before she could curl up again, spraying the green liquid out of the nozzle on its top. Instantly Kairi could feel the pain lessening and the bleeding that had stained all of her layers slowed and stopped. She sprayed the contents of the entire potion over the wound until there wasn't a single drop left and threw the empty bottle to the Road, where it vanished without a trace.

The pain in her abdominals was quickly dying down to a manageable throb and Kairi coughed through the smoke and reached down into her other pocket to grasp hold of the blue ether cube. Hastily she cracked it over her head and felt a rush of energy wash into her limbs. A tiny smile formed on her lips as Kairi stood up again through the smoke that still engulfed her and burned at her nostrils. She felt good enough to take them on again. Her back still burned slightly between the shoulders from where the flare had struck her and alighted her cloak, but she was able to shrug that off as a minor annoyance.

"Aero!" she yelled as her angelic Keyblade flashed back into her grasp. The smoke from her discarded and burning cloak was blown away from her along with the cloak, which flew right into the snarling face of a Wild Dog as it growled outside of the ring of Charr Heartless that surrounded Kairi. Ignited arrows sped towards Kairi as she revealed herself to them, but Kairi's control of the air currents around her body caught them all and buffeted the flaming black projectiles enough that they all missed and exploded in a ring several metres away from her.

"I can't die just yet," she growled, readying her Keyblade in front of her as she imagined her feet flying over the terrain at an unbelievable speed. "So in the words of my boyfriend's digimon partner, 'how many of you uglies are ready for round two?' Haste!" Kairi felt her limbs fill with energy and the swaying of the Heartless as they stood around her appeared to slow down, like they were getting slower. But Kairi smiled as she knew that the opposite had occurred: she had gotten faster.

She closed her eyes, feeling for the light in her heart. "Light, give me power; strengthen my sword." The Oathkeeper began to glow with a pale shine of white light and Kairi opened her eyes to let it come into her sight for a moment.

She spun on her heels and slashed her blade through an oncoming fiery projectile as a flare was cast from one of the Fire Wielders. It burst apart in a fiery conflagration as it connected with Kairi's Keyblade, but the flames parted to opposite sides of her and Kairi leapt high into the air. She noticed a blue ring appearing around her as one of the Overseers began using its skill again and Kairi reacted quickly before the signet could be completed. "Reflega!"

Her clear-crystal honeycomb patterned shield formed around her and the ring was forced out to the edge of the shield before vanishing. Kairi's eyes found that it was suddenly around one of the Overseers that had a circular lilac glyph momentarily glowing in the air above its head and glowing yellow circles around its black body. It dropped onto its knees in what seemed to Kairi three seconds later. Kairi collapsed her reflega shield and she dropped the burning blue orbs of magical energy down to the ring of Hunters, Flame Wielders, and the few Overseers below. Kairi herself landed on the ground just as the orbs were violently exploding, tearing burning wounds into the hairy black hides of the Charr Heartless and forcing out the darkness that bound the Heartless together and acted as their blood.

The Princess of Heart spun on her feet the instant she landed and slashed the palely shining Oathkeeper at the nearest of the two Blade Storm Heartless that still stood. She almost smiled at how sluggish its reactions seemed now since she'd cast the haste spell on herself. The black buckler was only just able to intercept her Keyblade, and as the two metal objects struck each other Kairi's Keyblade gave a flash and white sparks flew from the collision that left a large deforming dent in the round buckler. The Charr recoiled from the strength of Kairi's blow and she quickly struck out again. Another flash came from the Oathkeeper as it rent into the side of the shield and blew the arm of the Blade Storm out wide. Its black sword fell down towards Kairi's head but it was caught by the Oathkeeper as she quickly countered with a slice for the sword. White flames broke out this time and the angelic Keyblade cut the sword off near its hilt. Kairi's blade continued upward in an arc with its zenith just in front of the chin of the bestial creature and she brought it down hard, slicing through the left arm. The Heartless gave an agonized howl as its arm and shield dropped to the Road, a flood of darkness pouring out of the stump.

Kairi removed her left hand from the Oathkeeper's hilt and held it out towards the Heartless as light began to shine in her palm. Suddenly four arrows of brilliant white light shot out from her glowing hand and struck the Charr Heartless in a line from the top of its waist to just beneath the neck. They burned brighter with their intense white light and burst apart in great explosions of light. The Blade Storm's howl became louder for a moment as it was engulfed in the light before it faded away into a cloud of darkness with a floating pink heart shining through.

Kairi turned around to face the other Blade Storm as its black sword whipped out towards her. She ducked her head but felt the cold sting of the blade as its edge grazed her cheek. Hot blood dribbled out of the cut on her left cheek and Kairi pointed her hand at the Heartless that stood nearly two feet taller than her. More arrows of light flew out of the palm of her hand again and completely obliterated the Heatless' shield and helmet, forcing the large and strong Heartless to recoil and brace itself with its powerful legs as the arrows blew apart its armour. Kairi dove in during the Blade Storm's moment of weakness and her glowing sword cut it across the throat before the Heartless could counter. Darkness flooded out of the wound sliced halfway through the black neck and Kairi jumped back before coming on again, stabbing her Keyblade into its chest. The Charr vanished into a cloud of darkness like the others had and Kairi turned around while her haste spell still lasted.

Kairi twisted around quickly and caught sight of the Heartless that were Overseers; and found that there were only two of them left, separated by a pair of Hunters. Her glowing Keyblade's temperature dropped like a stone and Kairi slashed the air in their direction with a yell of, "Blizzaga!" Bolts of razor-sharp ice snapped off of the Oathkeeper and flew directly at the two Overseers. The white and icy projectiles dug deep into the black bodies of the Heartless and they yowled in pain. As one they stretched their staffs out in front of them and blue ankhs appeared above their heads. Stars composed of many threads of golden light appeared around them, along with a blue ring filled with divine golden symbols around the edges of the stars, the radius so wide that their edges touched, encompassing both Hunters as well as numerous Armoured Knights behind them. The ice dropped out of the wounds that had been inflicted upon the Overseers as they suddenly flashed with blue light and the rest dimmed and faded away; both Heartless were as good (or bad) as new.

Kairi grimaced and ran towards the one on the right with her Keyblade held tightly in her right hand. A torrent of electricity began to swirl around the blade and Kairi hurled it out towards the Overseer while she continued to run. Crackling bolts of lightning tore through the air towards the Overseer and ripped into its body. Dark tendrils seeped out of each spot that a bolt touched and the massive Charr's black feet were quickly surrounded by a pool of black mist from its deteriorating body. Kairi came on, diving in for its chest with a precisely stabbing Oathkeeper. The Overseer vanished into blackness and Kairi turned.

A black arrow exploded directly on her chest from one of the two Hunters that had been between the pair of Overseers. The pain which had before been manageable increased suddenly as the impetus of the flaming and exploding weapon shocked Kairi's body. A slight hiss of pain and frustration passed her teeth and she rushed at the Hunter. Three quick slices from her Keyblade left it dropping to the ground before a stab to its heart defeated it. The other Hunter fired another arrow at her as she now came towards it, and this arrow was devoid of fire. The Oathkeeper darted out in front of her and the arrow's black tip struck the flat of her sword an instant before it would have pierced her chest just underneath her bust on her left side.

That enraged Kairi in ways that she couldn't explain, and her legs were already propelling her into the air before her mind could comprehend what was happening. Her Keyblade flashed with light as it severed the head from the Hunter. Kairi dropped to the ground, running towards the final Overseer as the Hunter's headless body slowly fell down behind her while vanishing into darkness. The black staff of the Overseer intercepted Kairi's weapon and there was a flash as the two connected with each other. Kairi's Keyblade struck again, forcing the staff out of the Overseer's clawed hand a moment before Kairi had stabbed her Keyblade right at its heart.

The Overseer was just disappearing into darkness as a flare struck Kairi from behind in the leg. She dropped to her knees for a second, looking behind her for the Flame Wielder. She saw it. Kairi sprang to her feet again, ignoring the burning limp in her leg. Roaring, Kairi threw the Oathkeeper out towards the Flame Wielder that had cast the spell and rushed off to that Heartless' right, where a Hunter was igniting black arrows with a vial of burning liquid. Both of Kairi's palms came together in front of her chest as an arrow from a different Hunter dug into the ground a foot to her right. With another yell she pushed her hands out towards the Hunter and a small ball of light rocketed out from the centre between the two. The air pulsed with a concussion blast immediately after the light burst from her hand, and it was slower in reaching the target than the light was. Her small orb burst right through the head of the Hunter and into the body of a floating Surveillance Robot that was hovering behind it. Both Heartless disappeared in large and small puffs of darkness that were washed away by the jarring wave of the concussion blast. It knocked over the lesser Heartless behind the Hunter, and forced a Flame Wielder that stood a few metres away to stagger slightly on its feet.

The Oathkeeper flew back into Kairi's hands as she altered her course for the stumbling Flame Wielder as the one she had thrown her weapon at vanished in darkness. It regained its footing and roared, directing its staff out towards her. A flare burst out from the tip and raged towards Kairi. She noticed that as it was streaking towards her that it was getting faster, which meant that her haste spell was ending. It was a good thing then that she'd already dealt with the Blade Storms.

Dirty auburn-hair ducked underneath the blazing flare and Kairi dodged to her right to make herself a harder target as she closed the gap. The Oathkeeper still shone with pale light as a small orange ball of flame flew towards her as the Flame Wielder waved its staff at her. She was too close to dodge this time and the burning orb struck her in her right shoulder. Kairi cringed and slowed momentarily as its momentum was transferred to her body, but she carried on and jumped into the air to cut the Charr down from the Heartless' left shoulder to its right hip, her Keyblade brightly shearing through the wooden chest armour and black chainmail.

As the Flame Wielder gave its dying howl and vanished into a cloud of dark smoke, Kairi felt a tiny surge of victory flood her senses when the loud snarling of a Wild Dog roared deafeningly into her ears. She had broken through the ring of Charr Heartless and back into the ranks of the weaker ones. Kairi deked out of the way of the charging Heartless' snapping teeth as the Wild Dog leapt for her head. She turned and brought her white blade up, slicing the Heartless through its middle before it could even land. Her Keyblade flashed out and met the blade of an Armoured Knight as it came down to try and cut her. Oathkeeper stopped the sword and struck down, cutting off the Heartless' arm before slicing it in two from shoulder to hip.

Amongst the lesser ranks of Heartless Kairi finally felt her racing heart as the adrenaline levels that had been pumping through her veins began to lessen. The fear that had constantly been in her head and heart throughout battling the superior Charr Heartless raged into the forefront of her mind as she realized just how scared she had been, trying to fight them all by herself. Kairi had to admit that if it hadn't been for her momentary reprieve and her haste spell she wouldn't have been able to defeat them at all.

Her Keyblade flashed up and down around Kairi as she parried the strokes of Armoured Knights away from her body while her feet danced through their numbers, directing the flow of her weapon that was slowly cutting through the Heartless' numbers. Pink hearts continued to float towards the sky as giant spires of earth rose like thick needles from the ground to pierce and throw Heartless into the air. Lightning rained down from the heavens with terrifying thunderclaps, and fireballs and explosions of light made the air reverberate and buzz with energy.

But as the battle drew on and on, her movements became slower and her limbs began to tire. In the life-or-death situation she'd been forced into with the Charr, Kairi's body had synthesized as much adrenaline as it was telling her that her body was good for, and the after-effects of the adrenaline withdrawal was forcing her arms to feel heavy as granite and her legs to move like they were slugs. The burns from the flares came back and Kairi's legs began to limp again. Her back was hunched over as her chest became sore from the injuries it had previously sustained. She was tiring, but the Heartless never tired, and for every one that she would kill three more would pop up to take its place.

Kairi half grunted and half gasped as the iron-shod foot of a Soldier collided with the small of her back. She stumbled forward a couple of steps and heard the air in front of her face getting cut as the sword of an Armoured Knight swished upwards. A few strands of her hair drifted to the ground in front of Kairi's eyes and she stabbed her Keyblade forward into the head of the Armoured Knight.

Her knees buckled from a shockwave caused by a jumping Large Body that had slammed back down to the ground, and her footing was lost as the body of a Bolt Tower smashed against the ground as well. Pillars of rock that Kairi had brought up from the depths of the earth to pierce the Road and her enemies tumbled to the ground and destroyed any Heartless caught underneath their bulk.

Kairi cried out as a Rabid Dog bit into her right arm, and her agonized yell became more pronounced as a Wild Dog sank its sharper and bigger teeth into the tendons of her left leg. Kairi squeezed her eyes shut tightly and forced herself to concentrate through the horrible pain. Her body began to glow brightly with white light before it rippled out in a pulse. Both the Wild Dog and Rabid Dog became caught instantly in the wave of light that engulfed the area immediately around Kairi before holding fast several metres around and above her in a defensive shell.

Kairi whimpered and cast a curaga spell on herself, having previously used up her remaining potion. Her breath came into her lungs in strained, exhausted gasps as the leafy green magical vines wrapped around her body: easing her pain, stopping her bleeding, and closing up some of the smaller wounds.

Kairi just lay on the ground, hoping that her marginal concentration on the task of keeping her shield up would be enough as she let her body take a few minutes' rest. Every muscle in her body ached, and her heart was pounding furiously, trying to get as much oxygen through her body as possible with what blood it was left with. Kairi's eyes were blurry, but whether it was from the tears of pain that she'd shed or from being lightheaded she couldn't tell. Her body was craving rest, but her heart and mind were telling her that she had to keep fighting until the bitter end. But in this momentary peace formed by the bubble of light that she'd surrounded herself with, the arguments of her heart and mind were beginning to appear absurd compared to the desire and dream of sleep that her tired body wanted her to succumb to.

Her shield suddenly began to waver, and the curiosity of it was enough to maintain Kairi's tentative grasp on consciousness. It wavered again, and this time it looked as if it was buckling from something striking it near its base. Kairi blinked and increased her concentration on drawing on the power of her light to maintain the shield, trying to ignore the drain her already slightly dizzy mind began to suffer from.

The shield suddenly shattered as a large black bowling ball burst through the light. Kairi's eyes widened and she used every ounce of energy her body had regained to roll herself out of the way.

Loud guffaws of laughter broke into her ears and Kairi glared up at their source. "Bwahaha!" Pete roared. "Playtime's over Princess, so now's your chance to tango with me, unless you've had enough already and want to become my prisoner. I promise you, having a home in Maleficent's dungeons is better than whatever cardboard box you're livin' in now."

_Come on body,_ Kairi thought, gripping her sword as tightly as she still could while her heart burned at the insult, _there's still some fight left in you yet!_

"I hope for your sake, that that was supposed to be a joke!" Kairi yelled. A second splurge of adrenaline rushed through Kairi's arteries and she sprang to her feet, roaring in anger. Her indigo eyes burned, and she raced towards Pete with the Oathkeeper bared menacingly. Kairi channelled all of her pain, her rage, her fear into her blade and threw it down in a powerful slash at Pete with all the strength she had left in her.

-A-D-

Ohtarmon looked up as the pink barrier vanished.

"Ohtarmon, now!" Soronmon called above him, her large and powerful wings already swiftly propelling her through the air above the Road. Ohtarmon nodded without saying a word, readied his mace, and ran towards the mob of Heartless that separated him from Kairi and Pete.

-A-D-

Kairi stared ahead of her with shock and unimaginable horror. Her eyes were transfixed upon the Oathkeeper as it lay ensnared in Pete's left fist.

_He... he stopped it with his bare hand!_

"Ha!" he laughed into the bewildered and frightened face of the auburn-haired Princess of Heart, "you're too slow." His grip tightened around the blade of the Keyblade, keeping Kairi in place and Pete's right fist pounded into Kairi's forehead. Her hands lost her grip on the Oathkeeper and she flew backwards through the air to crash into the only spire of earth that still stood above the Road. A massive crater formed where her head had connected with it and Kairi dropped onto the ground like a stone. The spire collapsed and fell around her body, small rocks peppering her and causing her to involuntarily flinch.

Kairi's eyes saw only the dim figure of Pete walking towards her, surrounded by his masses of Heartless. "Humph, is that all you've got?" he asked patronizingly. "Boy, maybe I shoulda taken you on from the get-go. Oh well, Maleficent's still going to be very happy to see you."

Kairi felt too weak to move; too weak to even utter an insult to Pete. Her head was throbbing from the impact with the spire, and some of her cuts had opened up again to let blood dribble out of them and stain the ground red.

_Pathetic._

_What?_ Kairi thought, forcing her neck to make the tiniest alterations to help her eyes search for the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from all around her, and it was slightly gravelly, but strong and masculine.

_To think, that _you_ are supposed to become the Wielder of Light._

Kairi's curiosity in the voice was all that was keeping her conscious now. _Who's there?_

"Deciding Swing!"

"Polar Chill!"

The last thing that Kairi's eyes saw was the falling rain of giant icicles and the flash of Ohtarmon's feathered mace obliterating Heartless to Pete's right. Her eyelids then flickered twice and closed.

-A-D-

Within a different dimension many great and tall palaces stood upon plains of green grass and crops and white marble roads ran along the bases of these palaces, connecting them all together. Amongst the palaces within the confines of a grand city were many houses, shops, and places of work and business. They were less ornate than the palaces, but still graced the world with elegance and beauty.

Within one palace a blonde woman sat upon a throne, dressed in elegant white robes. She held an ivory staff that shone with light lightly in her left hand, and her azure eyes were fixed upon the messenger that had just come into her throne room.

"What did you just say?" Thessaura, Goddess of Light and Healing of the Ancient Pantheon asked.

"The Sixth Princess of Heart and the Crown Star Wielder of Light, Princess Kairi Keila Talerith of Radiant Garden, has begun to ascend."

"Impossible," Thessaura said quickly. "She should not have the need to ascend yet. At least," she added quietly to herself, "that is what Shankela told me..."

"Thank you," said a woman who stood beside Thessaura's throne, dressed in a leather smock, "you may go." The messenger nodded and left the room as Tylythia turned to look at her sister. Also in the room was their brother Rathgar, and Thessaura's husband, Heith, the God of the Dead.

It was somewhat odd that the Goddess of Light would marry the God of the Dead, but Heith was an oddity himself, for he was also the God of Love. If there was ever a harder deity to be, it was that, yet he struck the perfect balance between the two and performed his duty flawlessly.

"Ha!" Rathgar's loud voice boomed before the others could speak. "I knew that girl had guts in her the moment I saw her! An ascension, and so soon after the Kingdom Key decided to start popping up again too!"

"It pleases me too," Tylythia said slowly, "Although, I have to worry. If she is ascending already, then that must mean that their enemies are much stronger than we anticipated. But remember, she has only just reached The Point of Ascension, and has yet to pass the test."

"She will," Rathgar answered with a smile. "After that she can only grow stronger. Then she'll be able to wipe the smirk off that old hag's face permanently."

"As it has been foretold," Thessaura said, slipping off of her throne and onto her sandals. "But this is happening much too quickly. She should not be ascending yet."

"Go and tell that to her then Thessy," Rathgar told her with a chuckle. "She's the one that's doing it after all."

Thessaura turned and glared at her older brother. "Please, leave me alone with my thoughts," she said. The three other deities nodded and left the room, but not before Heith had comfortingly placed a hand on her shoulder for a second.

Once they were clear he spoke for the first time since the messenger had come in. "She seems pretty shaken up by this unexpected development."

"Well, she does have undying loyalty and devotion to Wagneir and Shankela," Tylythia sighed.

"And Shankela did tell us what she had seen was going to happen," Rathgar huffed. "Like I'd believe what she says when the hearts of Keyblade Wielders are concerned. She can't predict everything."

"No, the Queen cannot," Heith said. "And in your company I am not afraid to admit it, but this news pleases me as well so long as Kairi passes the test."

"I know it does," Tylythia said with a smile, "and it will also please most of the others. Because of Shankela's prophetic vision we kept thinking that Kairi wouldn't ascend until at least a month and a half from now. But with her reaching her POA now..."

"She has more time to gain stronger power," Rathgar continued. "She might even attain her second release if she's lucky."

"And then Kairi might survive after her battle with Maleficent," Heith concluded. "If there was to be one union between the Wielders currently existing, then theirs is the one that I would not like to cruelly tear apart."

"You and me both," Rathgar added, looking out between colossal white marble columns to gaze up at a blue heart-shaped moon.

-A-D-

Kairi came to her senses suddenly, realizing that she was not in any form of pain at all. She opened her eyes, and was greeted by the sight of her stained-glass platform. She was on the ground, laying face-down upon it. Slowly she picked herself up to her feet, noticing that instead of the clothes she had been wearing in Middle-earth, she was in her pink dress and white halter top.

"Pathetic."

Kairi looked up at the voice which she recognized to be the same one speaking inside of her head just before she lost consciousness. There was a man of six-foot-two standing a few metres in front of her. His hair was long and dark, tied into a black tail that swept to a pointed end at the small of his back. The man's skin was like that of a white man who had seen a moderate amount of sunlight. His face was slightly gaunt, and dark stubble lined his chin. The irises of his eyes were coloured light-brown, almost a tan colour, and he wore a crisp white suit with a small cape. Kairi's eyes zeroed in on the broach of the cape that clasped it around his neck. Though it was slightly difficult to distinguish, there was no mistaking that the white metal broach was that of a pendant in the shape of a crown with three points.

"To think," he continued quietly while looking at her in disdain, "that someone like you could be so weak."

"I am not weak!" Kairi retorted. "Who are you anyway?"

The man didn't answer her question. "If you aren't weak, then why are you losing to someone that you don't even consider as a threat?"

"Because he tired me out with—"

"Is that going to be how you are remembered each time you lose!" the man yelled. Kairi stopped and backed up slightly. His face was intimidating, and was frightening her slightly. "Are you going to create excuses because you're a coward who is afraid to fight on her own?"

"I am not afraid to fight by myself," Kairi answered. She flexed her hand and willed for her Keyblade to come to her.

"Do you want this?" Kairi looked up at the man as he brought the Oathkeeper out from behind his back. There was no expression on his face.

"Give me my Keyblade," Kairi said evenly.

"Your Keyblade?" he asked, a growl in his voice. He threw the Oathkeeper to the ground in front of him, tip first. Kairi winced as the blade sunk into the stained-glass platform with a metallic _chink_ sound.

"Do you think that the Oathkeeper is your Keyblade?" he continued, "or do you think that it is something else?"

Kairi looked at the Keyblade that lay stabbed into the floor as it started to glow, and the Oathkeeper changed into that which was Island's Fire.

"This was the first Keyblade you held, correct," the man stated more than questioned. "This has been the Keyblade that you have been using since you returned to your island home. All you did was to alter its appearance, shape, and give another Keyblade precedence over the original soul inside of it."

"Soul?" Kairi asked. "What do you mean?"

"Why do you think that they have names if they have no souls?" the man asked with a small amount of disgust in his voice. "For thousands of years warriors have believed that their weapons held a soul within them. They named their blades and tended them with as much loving care as if they were a real person. The Keyblade is different, in that Keyblades actually _do_ have their own souls: souls that choose the person who will wield them and bring them to the battlefield in their own unique ways."

"And I have to say this Kairi," the man continued. "I can see why a Keyblade has not chosen you to be its wielder yet."

"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, her voice getting louder with its confusion. "I've been wielding a Keyblade since—"

He interrupted her. "You have been holding onto a Keyblade that did not choose you!" he snapped. The man took two echoing footsteps forward while Kairi stopped and stared at him, her body almost frozen in place like a statue. He grasped the hilt of Island's Fire in his hand and yanked it out of the ground.

"Splitting your one Keyblade into two different Keyblades," he said calmly, examining Island's Fire. "It is a basic skill that used to be known by many Wielders of the Keyblade during the reign of the Chasers, and was often incorporated into variations of the elementary release of the Keyblade's inner power. Now it is a skill known only to three people, and two of them can do it instinctively."

"And who are these people?" Kairi asked slowly, thinking that she already knew the answer.

"You already know who they are, so it is pointless for me to tell you," he answered, giving Kairi a look that made her feel uncomfortable. "You received this Keyblade," he sliced the air in front of him with Island's Fire, "from your friend Riku. It is his second Keyblade, with a name that only he knows, and came from Way to the Dawn before you and he went into battle together in Xemnas' castle. I will no longer allow you to wield a weapon that did not choose you to be its master. And unless you can prove to me that you are worthy, you shall have no weapon at all."

Island's Fire vanished in a flash of golden light and the man turned his attention towards Kairi again. She backed up a step as he took one towards her. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Who am I?" he repeated as his right hand went to his left that rested beside his hip, "You should be asking yourself who you are." A noise likening to that of a blade being unsheathed filled Kairi's ears and she glanced down at the man's right hand. White light was flaring from his palm as he withdrew the right hand from the left with a quick motion. Resting lightly in his grip was a long and pale white blade. Kairi could tell in an instant that it was a Keyblade. The sword part of the Keyblade was a simple white with an even whiter thin line running down the centre until it reached the key portion that became the Keyblade's tip. Forming the key the line became a hollow heart, and stamped across it in brightest crimson was the three pointed crown. Around the round edges of the heart were the solid forms of burning white flames, licking away at the air in front of them. The hilt was made of golden-red wings that formed a crescent around the white grip, and the wings folded in and embraced the pale white blade along its shaft. Leading down from the pommel was the keychain, a white crown pendant like that around the man's neck.

"While you ponder, I shall answer that question for you," he said, slowly taking measured strides towards Kairi with the Keyblade in his right hand. "For I know you and your heart better than you do. You are a weak little girl, afraid of going into combat on your own; a coward who runs behind others and wishes for them to protect her no matter how often you insist that you aren't the one who needs protecting; a person who merely accepts what those above her say, and allows her mind to be closed to any possibility of changing fate; and a lost bird, for trying to fight and gain power without even knowing why you are fighting!"

Kairi gasped and continued to back away from the man. The very air about him was menacing and rippling with power, and it nearly appeared as if he was surrounded by pale white flames as he continued his slow advance; Kairi was running out of platform to back onto.

"Why should any Keyblade choose a coward who fights without a clear reason in her heart?" he asked in a low growl. "To do so would be to throw their fate to the winds of chance. A troubled conscience and desire does not do well for a warrior. Why do you fight Kairi?"

Kairi stopped and stared at him as he continued. "Tell me that. Why do you fight? What is your reason for living that drives you to fight? You seek power; everyone who fights does. Why do you want power? Why do you want strength? For what reason do you raise your sword!"

"I do it to protect those I love!" Kairi answered at last.

"Are you sure?" he asked, stopping for a moment as he stood two feet away from Kairi, and she with her heels on the lip of her platform. "Are you sure that you do not fight to avenge the deaths of both sets of your parents and your family? Or for your friends who have fallen? Do you not fight for them as well?"

"Of course I do," Kairi said slowly. "But fighting for revenge won't solve anything. As soon as the revenge is complete, my life would lose all purpose."

"But is protecting those you love your sole reason for battle?" the man asked, taking one more step towards Kairi. He was towering over her now. "Did you not choose to learn how to fight just to prove a point to Sora that you were not worthless, to be thrown aside like a weak damsel that had to stand on the sidelines and be guarded?"

Kairi looked down. "I did." She looked up and stared fiercely into the man's eyes, "But not anymore! I've proven myself to me and Sora."

"So why do you fight?" he repeated. "Why do you desire the strength to defeat your enemies? To prove that you are stronger than they are, or that you are stronger than your friends?"

"No!" Kairi answered. "I want... I want to protect them. I wish to protect them from harm with all of my heart. When I was told that I couldn't go with Sora to save Riku because I would be in his way, it nearly broke me. I want strength so that I _can_ save and protect those I care about, as well as any person who finds themselves being troubled by evil."

He stared at Kairi for a long minute before speaking again. "Which do you want more, to live, or to win?"

Kairi closed her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again to look fiercely into the brown irises of the man who stood before her. "I want to win!" she said meaningfully. "You are right, I have been a coward, no matter what I tell myself, but I won't be one anymore. I won't back down or run away again."

The man smiled slightly and inclined his head towards her. He closed his eyes and for the first time he spoke softly in a manner that did not frighten Kairi. "Spoken like a true Wielder of the Keyblade." He opened his eyes and backed and handed Kairi the Keyblade that he held. His voice continued to speak over Kairi's confusion at him giving her the weapon. "Every Keyblade has a name given to them by the heart of the first wielder to hold it," he said. "Riku never told you the name of his second Keyblade, so you let your heart decide the name by which you would call it. But the name given by the heart is not the true name of their Keyblade. Only those who are Legendary Wielders of Power are able to speak to the souls of their Keyblade that marks them as a Wielder of Power, and only they can learn the true name of their Keyblade and unleash its power. There are three stages of Keyblade release, only one of which is ever attainable by those who are not Wielders of Power. Every Keyblade starts in a sealed form, the one that they normally hold like the blade in your hand right now. The first form of release is that of the Drive, which so far only Sora and Naminé of the current crop have attained. After that is something that some call Shikai, which is when a Wielder of Power learns and calls the true name of their Keyblade. No matter which keychain is attached to the Keyblade of a Wielder of Power, the uttering of a Keyblade's true name will force out its released form, and after that there is still the Keyblade's third level of release, where it and its Wielder of Power can attain the pinnacle of their strength."

"How do you know all of this?" Kairi asked. "Are you my—?"

He turned and smiled warmly at Kairi. "I hope that you'll come to learn my true name soon Kairi, The Crown Star Wielder of Light. You pass the test, but there is only one more thing that I have to tell you. Remember this: a Keyblade Wielder never fights alone. They fight with the strength in their own hearts and the aid of their friends and Keyblade. You will never fight alone again."

And then the platform faded from Kairi's vision.

-A-D-

Ohtarmon swung his mace once more in a wide arc in front of him, obliterating half a dozen Armoured Knights in a blast of white light. As soon as he and Soronmon had arrived to find Kairi unconscious Pete had retreated within the ranks of his Heartless and continued to plague them with the creatures. The two Champion-level digimon had been fighting them for an hour straight now and the sun was sinking down to the horizon. They were both tiring and slowing, but they couldn't escape with Kairi because of the hordes of Heartless that had encircled them. In fact it seemed a miracle to Ohtarmon that he'd been able to hold his position in front of the fallen princess and keep them away for as long as he had.

Suddenly the air behind Ohtarmon pulsed with energy and power and he turned his helmeted head to look. Kairi was rising to her feet, and he could feel her strength radiating from her body in great waves. She'd never felt this powerful before in all the time that he'd known her; he'd never felt such unchecked strength before either. Her wounds were gone, and her right hand was beginning to shine with light. Into her hand appeared a Keyblade that he'd never seen before.

Kairi's voice even dripped with power as she looked at Ohtarmon and Soronmon, her partner hovering in the air above them. "Sorry for the wait," she said. "So what do you say we take these things out before they can hurt anybody?"

"I'm with you there Kairi!" Soronmon answered readily.

Ohtarmon chuckled and swung his mace artistically around his shoulders for a second. "I'm always ready to take these things down. Feathered Mace!" Ohtarmon swung his mace around in great circles as the feathers spiking it flew off and impaled themselves into any Heartless that they touched. Gaps formed in the lines of the Heartless as they vanished into darkness from the flurry of razor feathers that soared into them. Soronmon was right behind him, unleashing wave after wave of watermelon sized icicles from her beating wings.

Where the gaps formed, Ohtarmon noticed with surprise that Kairi was there. She was overflowing with energy, and had gotten much faster than she used to be. The girl ran through the Heartless and cut them down with her Keyblade like they were standing still. Bolts of lightning, spears of ice, and balls of fire flew from her fingertips like they were the barrel of a machinegun, completely eviscerating any Heartless hapless enough to be in her way. Light burst out of her Keyblade with every stroke, and within seconds the Heartless were completely ignoring him and Soronmon, concentrating only on the female Keyblade Wielder. The sky was filled with floating pink hearts.

Pete's eyes widened with fright when he realized that Kairi was quite quickly cutting her way through his Heartless in a determined effort to get to _him_. He opened a portal of darkness behind him, but Kairi had become too fast for him to escape before she reached him. He stopped as Kairi stood in front of him and he looked at the Keyblade in her hand.

"Say uh, where'd ya get that thing?" he asked.

Kairi smiled as she looked down at the Keyblade in her hand. "This is Crowning Flame," she said, looking back up at Pete. "I don't need to tell you any more than that right now, just know that if you survive this, you'll need to take a three-month vacation!" White flames roared into fiery life all around Kairi's Keyblade and she cried out at the top of her lungs. Both her hands came to the grip of Crowning Flame and she swung it straight for Pete. A white tempest of fire burst off of her Keyblade and flashed towards Pete faster than he could react. The entire area became engulfed in light as the white flames roared and burned in an inferno that blinded everything from sight. The area within a fifteen-foot radius of Pete became consumed by the fires of light, and any of the remaining Heartless caught in the blaze were instantly burned into darkness as their hearts rose into the sky. Pete's yowl of pain and surprise were barely distinguishable above the howl of the raging flames, and there came the tiny sound of a portal of darkness closing.

Thirty seconds later the burning and raging fires dimmed and died out; the few remaining Heartless vanished in their own tiny portals.

Kairi smiled slightly through the weariness that now sunk its way into every muscle within her body and her grip on her Keyblade's hilt slackened, but not enough for her to let it go. Ohtarmon came up to Kairi with her pack and Jiminy on his shoulders just as Kairi slumped onto the ground. Soronmon picked her up gently in one of her massive claws and Kairi could feel the pleasingly cool air rub its way through her face as the Champion-level ice-eagle digimon carried her across the Bruinen. She sighed as one phrase sifted through her mind before falling into a state of comforting sleep.

_You will never fight alone again._

-A-D-

_So, how do you all like it? I know what many of you are going to say, but those two syllables I assure you will enter the story at some point when they are needed most._

_For now though, they aren't here yet. Neither are the Shikais. They shall come later, after we are introduced to the Ultimate forms of Aiwemon and Menelmon._

_And by the way, if any of you have 'On the Precipice of Defeat' or 'Number One' from the Bleach OST, I'm pretty sure you can figure out moments to play them in during this chapter._

_One more note here. It is also **DarthKingdom**'s seventeenth birthday today! So wish him well. Happy Birthday Darth!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	18. Evil Inside

_Well, we dealt with Kairi, now I suppose we have to deal with Sora now don't we? This was also supposed to be the last chapter I should have been updating with before I left for CLACSTC for the second and final summer in a row, as it marked the grand finale of my Royal Canadian Air Cadet career, however I failed to complete the chapter and am now presenting it to you now. I have also achieved what is now impossible, aging out as a Warrant Officer 2__nd__ Class (I forgot to mention that I was promoted on the 4__th__ of June) without attaining the 4 Years Long Service Medal. The now impossible part is getting WOII without the Long Service Medal BTW._

_Oh, just a small warning here: this chapter is filled with vulgar, trash-talking, curse-spewing language. Right from the get-go we see it._

_BTW, I mentioned before I left that I would be gone for seven weeks from the 4__th__ of July. Seven weeks! If you can't count out seven weeks or can't stand the wait, please don't leave reviews saying that I don't love you guys because I can't be bothered to update. It's that I didn't have a laptop there that I would be able to get writing done on _and _have internet access with which to post. DND (Department of National Defence) computers and property are to have absolutely zero contact or connection with personal computers and property due to security issues. It's not my fault that I couldn't post a chapter!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Digimon, The Lord of the Ring, yada yada yada..._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XVIII: Evil Inside

A roaring voice filled with resolve echoed through a black sky, accompanied almost immediately afterwards by the clashing of metal on metal. A silver Keyblade with a bronze basket hilt guard crashed against the black metal of a mechanical arm. Yellow eyes leered out of a pitch black face and body at a boy only a few days shy of sixteen with medium-length brown hair that curled around his shoulders and swept down in bangs that slightly hid his cerulean blue eyes. The brunette was dressed in a simple white linen button-up shirt (that had been stained a little from sweat from having not been cleaned for three weeks) and mud-stained dirt-brown pants and black boots. Brown leather gloves were on both of his hands. Slung across his neck was a silver pendant in the shape of a three pointed crown and a silver crest with a seven-pointed star set within a golden tag that also hung from his neck. The Crest of Valour was shining palely.

"Is that all you've got Sora?" Anti teased, holding back Remembrance with his obsidian automail arm. Sora grimaced and pulled his Keyblade back before quickly swiping out towards Anti-Form's midsection. Anti jumped back and away, laughing as he landed on the floor of Sora's stained glass platform.

"You'll find that I've got plenty," Sora replied, waving his Keyblade in front of him. Anti grinned and rushed back in at Sora, his right clawed hand sweeping towards Sora's head. Sora ducked underneath the blow and backed away as the black automail that composed Anti's left arm lunged out to punch him in the gut. Sora jerked back slightly to become just out of reach. Anti pressed forward and the brunette Keyblade Master brought Remembrance up to block a backhanded strike from Anti's darkest arm and punched out towards his inner Heartless' head with his gloved left hand. Sora felt his gloved automail just scrape the side of Anti's cheek as his Heartless deked away. He smiled.

Anti smiled back. "Good," he said. "Now my victory over you will be so much sweeter. Then I can get back to fucking your princesses."

Sora's eyes became as sharp as steel as he held his Keyblade out in front of him. "Hey, fucktard, why don't you go and BURN IN HELL!" Sora stabbed Remembrance out in front of him and a swirling inferno of fire burst out from every inch of the blade from the end of the hilt onward. Mammoth jets of fire streaked towards Anti-Form, and as they raging and roaring in their anger, it seemed as if their heads were those of dragons.

Anti leapt backwards, his face a little less confident than it had been only moments ago. The dragon-jets of flame raced screaming towards him. Bright explosions rocked the stained-glass platform as Anti dodged and fires struck into the platform instead. One struck his black automail as he tried to hold it off, but the fire was fuelled by Sora's anger and pushed past him to burst upon contact with Anti's chest of darkness.

A crying gasp of pain entered Sora's ears and he watched as the fiery explosion filled his eyes and Anti vanished from his sight inside of it. A dark shadow suddenly leapt up high above the release of energy and Sora's eyes followed it.

"Die you filthy cocksucker!" Anti yelled, his yellow eyes glowing malignantly. Both of his arms reached out to aim towards Sora and dark lightning flew from his fingertips towards the Keyblade Master.

Sora held his Keyblade horizontally above his head in a defensive position and a reflega shield hastily formed around him. The lightning rained and smashed against his shield and Sora felt his knees beginning to buckle as he struggled to maintain its integrity against the strength of the purple lightning.

_Son of a bitch! He's strong!_

Sora saw it happening the instant before it did and quickly rolled off to the side as the lightning cracked and broke through his defence. The floor beneath him pulsed with flashes of darkness as the bolts of dark lightning struck the space he had occupied just a moment before. Anti dropped onto the ground within a second after that. Sora turned around as Anti rushed at him, the Heartless' right hand curling with licking flames of darkness. With a loud yell Anti thrust his hand out towards Sora. The Keyblade Master grasped hold of Remembrance's oak coloured grip with his right hand and held its edge out vertically towards Anti, directly in the path of the dark fire. Remembrance split the black flames in two and the parted to either side of him.

Sora felt his nerves racing while he held his Keyblade steady against the fire. The pressure against his blade was strong, and unlike anything he thought that mere fire could produce. He cursed himself, not for the first time, for not having what he now considered the luxury of attending school. At least then he might have some form of understanding of what was trying to push the moon-silver blade of Remembrance back.

A confident snarl broke through the howl of the flames and into Sora's ears suddenly. His eyes widened as Anti's head and body burst out of the shadow of the fire and past the Remembrance towards him. A clawed fist lunged out and struck Sora in the left cheek.

Sora turned away and tightened his slackening grip on his weapon as Anti landed on the ground. He worked the muscles and bones in his jaw for a second, feeling around on the inside of his mouth with his tongue.

"Ha! You call that a punch?" Sora mocked him. "Kairi's little love-taps hurt more than that!"

"You saying I punch like a Keybitch?" Anti asked.

"I think you just said it for me piss-bucket," Sora retorted. "And don't call her a bitch."

"I'll call your royal red-headed slut whatever I want."

"I don't think so douche."

"Hey fuckface, maybe you haven't realized yet, but I'm going to fucking kill you!" roared Anti. He threw both of his arms out towards Sora and large spherical blasts of purple darkness shot out towards the Keyblade Master.

Sora jumped high and leapt over them. He angled his body to glide on down straight for his Anti-Form. "Not if I kill you first Heartless bastard!"

"Yeah Sora!" Kairi's spirit cheered from the sidelines. "Pwn and kill the shit-faced douchebag!" There was actually an audience watching the duel between Sora and Anti. All of the spirits of those people specially connected to Sora within his heart were out and watching the battle. The spirits of Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, Riku, Aiwemon, Max, Donald, and Goofy were all standing on the side of the platform nearest the blue circles (or heart in Kairi's case) that marked where they resided within his heart. Kairi and Naminé were both dressed in a patchwork of clothing. Kairi's spirit had on the cloak, jacket, and long-sleeved shirt that Sora had discarded upon entering and seeing her naked, and a pair of jeans tightened up by a black belt, courtesy of Riku. Naminé was in Roxas' white vest, zipped all the way up, and had Roxas' pants on.

The spirits of neither Riku nor Roxas cared that they didn't have any pants on, and were just in boxers underneath shirts. All that mattered was that the two girls were at least decent if not completely dressed.

"Cream that cocksucking son of a bitch!" Naminé yelled.

"You know," Roxas said, looking at Riku, "I haven't heard her swear so much since our real selves were in Amestris. And I don't think I've ever heard Kairi _really_ swear badly before. I'm just glad that they aren't swearing at me."

"Shouldn't we be helping Sora?" Donald asked. "They've been going at it for over a day now."

"Flatten that asshole!"

"Nice choice of words Kai."

"Shut up, he did you there too!"

"You did WHAT to Kairi and Naminé!" Sora roared, dodging a swirl of dark lightning from Anti's hand. "Magnega!" Anti flew up into the swirling magical vortex that formed in the air above the centre of the platform, caught by the bonds of attraction that it created. Sora jumped up to where Anti hung helplessly and punched him hard in the head with his automail arm.

"No," Riku answered, his eyes and eyebrows twitching while he flexed the muscles in his right hand, forcing himself with all his might not to call his Keyblade and pound Anti into the dust along with Sora. "This... is a battle that Sora needs to fight on his own. Even though we are his strength, if we help Sora win, deep down he will think that he failed himself for not being able to defeat his darkness without help."

"But Anti anally raped both Naminé and Kairi!" Roxas countered quickly. "That leaves him open to a perfectly good ganking!"

"Ganking?" Goofy asked.

"It's a common term in the online gaming community," answered Roxas, "it means 'gang killing', when a bunch of guys on one team gang up to kill one other player. We should gank Anti right now! He deserves it!"

"You're fucking right he deserves it!" Naminé said. "Come on Sora, kill him! Kill him so we can all kill him again!"

"Your encouragement is distracting me!" Sora hollered, blocking a lunge from Anti's black automail arm with his own underneath the white linen shirt he wore. He slashed Remembrance out towards Anti's chest, the Heartless disengaging and flipping away from the blow.

Anti laughed as he landed lightly on his feet. Sora moved his hair out of his eyes to get a better look at the dark figure, wishing not for the first time that he had gel so that he could spike his hair again. "Why are you still playing with me Sora?" Anti asked. "Could it be that you aren't taking this whole thing seriously?"

"Shut up," Sora growled.

Anti cocked his head to the side at what he perceived as both a weak and predictable response. "Do you know what the first thing that I'm going to do when I kill you is?" he asked, holding out his right hand. A dark cloud appeared for an instant beneath his palm before vanishing, revealing the obsidian blade of the Oblivion. Sora's eyes zeroed in on the Keyblade before returning to Anti's face. "The first thing that I'm going to do is to take your little Kairi into a private room, and have some fun with her. The spirit standing over there is fun to play with, but nothing would be as satisfactory as the real thing."

He twirled the Oblivion around in his fingers for a couple of seconds before snapping it up and holding it above his head, "So, how about you just go ahead and die? Black Shadow!" Anti swung the Oblivion down towards Sora and a wave of darkness burst out of the blade. Anti smiled as the dark wave struck Sora head on and completely blocked him from his sight.

"Heh, all too easy," said Anti, turning away.

A bright flash of light from behind him suddenly caught Anti's attention and he turned around again. Sora was still standing on the platform, but his clothes had become a mixture of crimson and black and he held the Kingdom Key in his left arm.

"Enough of this bullshit," he said seriously, dropping into the stance he always used when he was in Valour Form, with the Keyblade in his left arm pointed out towards his enemy and the one in his right horizontally above his head. "Is this serious enough for you?"

Anti merely smiled again. "Good, it looks like play-time is over." He held the Oblivion in his right hand and rushed Sora.

_Let him come, I'm ready._

-A-D-

Kairi woke slowly, finding that she was lying in a bed. She wondered for a moment if she was dreaming, for the ceiling was unfamiliar, flat with dark wooden beams carved richly. Patches of sunlight flitted in through an open window, and a breeze rustled through and carried the sound of a waterfall.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud.

She did not expect the voice that answered her. "You are in the house of Elrond, Lord of Rivendell."

Kairi turned her head at the gravelly voice of the person who had spoken and saw an old man sitting on a chair next to the bed she was in. His long grey beard, blue robes, and pointed and star-spangled blue hat were as unmistakable as his voice, even though it was Kairi's first time speaking with him in person.

"Master Yen Sid!" Kairi said in shock, her eyes opening wide for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"At this moment, watching you and Sora to see which of you would wake first," he replied, gesturing with his hand. Kairi rolled her head towards her right and she saw that Sora was lying in the same bed right next to her, his torso clad in just the white linen shirt he had worn underneath the rest of his clothes. Kairi noticed briefly that she was also dressed in her own white undershirt; both of their crown pendants, crests, and the pendant of the oval yellow jewel that Kairi also always wore around her neck were on one of two bedside tables.

"Sora!" she said, lifting herself up to look at him better. A jolt of pain went through her body and Kairi hissed. She clutched at her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Careful," Master Yen Sid said. "Do not be hasty Princess Kairi. While your injuries are no longer as severe as they were when you sustained them, their effects still remain."

Kairi sighed and slumped back down onto the bed. She groaned as her body consciously became aware of the numerous bruises that were all over her body, particularly around her stomach.

"I need to be a lot more careful when I fight," she said aloud. "Sora's going to kill me when he wakes up, or Naminé will when I next see her." Kairi sighed and looked at Master Yen Sid again. "Where is Menelmon, or the others?"

"Menelmon and Aiwemon are both asleep above us," Master Yen Sid answered. "Your other companions are safe and well, except for the one hobbit. Frodo has been asleep since he was brought in, and Lord Elrond has been tending to him, yourself, and Sora."

"Where's Jiminy?"

Master Yen Sid smiled. "Sleeping in your pack," he answered.

"How long was I asleep for?" ask Kairi wearily. Everyone seemed to be asleep.

"You arrived at the Ford of Bruinen on the twenty-first of October by our reckoning," he replied, "or the twentieth by the Shire Reckoning. You both have been sleeping here and being tended by Lord Elrond for three nights and two days. Today's date is our October twenty-fourth, which I believe is a special date for you and Sora isn't it?"

Kairi blinked. "That's right," she said. "Today's Sora's sixteenth birthday." She turned her head and looked at Sora as he lay sleeping. Her eyebrows furrowed and she inched closer to him despite the aches in her body. He was shaking minutely, and his skin was near as white as the sheets they were both under, and shining with a pale layer of sweat. Kairi reached out a hand to touch him.

She gasped, "He's cold!" Kairi ignored the pain in her body as a sudden sense of panic overtook her and she rolled over of him. Propping herself up on her knees and elbows she bent her head down to place her ear near his mouth, whispering, "Please be breathing," in a quiet voice. A tiny smile came to calm her as a stream of warm, moist air tickled her cheek and ear. She sighed and brought her head back up.

"The battle he is fighting with his inner Heartless is more challenging than we thought it would be," Master Yen Sid said gravely from his chair. Kairi rolled back to being completely on Sora's left side and looked at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We heard from Aragorn that he duelled with and was stabbed by the Witch King of Angmar," he explained. "The cruel knife carried by that pale king left a splinter in him just as it did to Frodo, and while the hobbit's heart has resisted being turned into a wraith under the control of the Nazgûl even until the point where it is being overcome, the splinter from that knife is granting power to Sora's Anti-Form, and it's been becoming more potent as it's worked its way inward to pierce his heart and flood his body with darkness."

"Then we have to get rid of it!" Kairi said earnestly, not voicing her surprise or intrigue as to how Master Yen Sid knew all of this. If there was one thing she had learned from Sora, the King, and even from just observing the venerable old sorcerer, it was that you did not ask Master Yen Sid how he knew things that by all accounts he shouldn't.

Master Yen Sid nodded. "However," he began, "the splinter is difficult to find, and Lord Elrond has been putting forth all of his power between Sora and Frodo to find both of the splinters from that knife. So far he has been unsuccessful in his efforts to locate them."

Kairi sighed in frustration and looked at Sora as he lay sleeping. He flinched in his state of unconsciousness and appeared to be in pain; the sight made Kairi's own heart squirm in pity and fear. "What happens if Sora can't defeat Anti before Lord Elrond finds the splinter?" she asked.

Master Yen Sid opened his mouth to answer but Kairi stopped him as she spoke again. "No, I shouldn't be thinking like that. Sora will beat him; he _has_ to beat him, and I think I'm going to watch him do it."

"Kairi..."

She looked back at Master Yen Sid and gave him a small smile before lying down again and rolling her body so that she was facing Sora while underneath the white sheets. She kissed his cold cheek lightly, and for a moment felt it grow a bit warmer at the touch of her lips. "Don't worry Sora," she whispered into his ear, "I'm coming to see you win."

-A-D-

Sora panted and glared at Anti, the dark figure smiling cockily at Sora as the Oblivion twirled round his fingers, a whirring black blur. Sora's chest heaved as he held both Remembrance and the Kingdom Key in his hands as he still stood in his Valour Form.

He could no longer remember for how long he had been battling against his Heartless, only that the longer he fought, the stronger that Anti seemed to get. Anti-Form never tired, never seemed to be affected by any sort of hit that Sora was able to make on him. But each strike Sora suffered, while not appearing to do any physical damage to him, left an ache, a shooting pain, a lasting sensation that wore Sora down as his limbs tired of the constant struggle and begged for rest.

But Anti would not let Sora rest. Anti would taunt and slowly tire him out. Over the course the battle had taken so far, Sora had run out of insults to spit at Anti except for the basest and simplest of ones, but his Heartless was able to keep up a never-ending stream of aggravating banter that flooded Sora's mind and heart with anger and forces him into aggressive attacks and somewhat sloppy defence that only tired him out more. The spirits in his heart had long since stopped shouting encouragement that could distract him, and now watched anxiously in a ring around the entirety of the platform.

"About ready to give up Master Keybastard?" Anti laughed.

Sora didn't say anything, just tried to steady his breathing as he held the Remembrance aloft and the Kingdom Key in front of him, awaiting Anti's soon-to-come offensive. Anti gave him what he wanted, rushing forward faster than Sora had expected. The black tip of the Oblivion grated against the stained-glass platform, sending up a stream of sparks that lasted only a few seconds. The Heartless ripped his Keyblade out of the floor and directed a vicious slash to Sora's midsection. Sora barely withheld it with the Kingdom Key and twisted silver Remembrance down to hold off the advancing black automail arm that was lunging for his chest.

Anti reversed his blade as Sora took a few steps back and to his right and swung the Oblivion down towards Sora's head this time. Sora brought up both of his swords and struck to parry the Oblivion. Anti's sword went out wide as Sora forced it out of the way, but the black automail arm stretched out towards Sora, burning with dark flames. Sora noticed it too late and fell back as his chest was struck by a ball of dark and blue fire.

His clothes flashed white for an instant before Sora was standing once more in his normal coloured white shirt and brown breeches, only the Remembrance left in his right hand. His chest heaved for a second as Sora's automail left hand flew down to join his right around the grip behind the basket hilt of his Keyblade. Sora's arms shot to bring the blade up to parry a quickly falling Oblivion, and his eyes and blade followed down to fend off a strike to his legs. Remembrance rose up to his left side after his successful block and he swung across his body at Anti. The Oblivion slipped in and held fast, halting Sora's attack. Annoyed, he pulled his weapon back and brought it over his head to bring it down on the Heartless' skull. To Sora's dismay the Oblivion came up to meet it and the silver Remembrance slid down the angled shaft, harmlessly falling down to Anti's right side.

Sora hissed in pain as the Oblivion moved faster than he could track with his eyes and struck him in the left side. He disengaged by leaping backwards, his automail holding the Remembrance while his hand of flesh and blood grasped at his newly injured side.

Anti chuckled insanely at him with glowing yellow eyes. "Don't tell me that that's all that you've got Sora," he said. "I'm beginning to get bored."

"And I'm getting pretty tired of you," Sora answered, removing his right hand from his left side and holding it, open-palmed, out to his side. A fireball flared into existence in the space above his hand. "Take this!" he roared, throwing the ball of flame straight for Anti-Form. His eyes were greeted by a brilliant explosion of light and flame as the fireball burst apart against Anti's chest.

_Got him_, Sora thought gratefully as the smoke, dust, and flame consumed the spot where his Heartless had stood. Sora dropped his head and sighed. _It's over._

"Oh, I'm sorry, was that supposed to be an attack?"

_Or not._ Sora looked up in surprise and frustration as the screen suddenly blew away completely, revealing Anti-Form standing smugly as if Sora's spell had never touched him at all.

"Just give me a break already!" Sora cried in frustration.

"Thinking of giving up?" Anti asked. "And I thought you valued your friends and girlfriend more than that. Right Kairi?"

"Kairi?" Sora asked. He looked around at the figures watching the battle on the edge of his platform, and standing next to the Kairi that was wearing a mishmash gathering of clothing was his Kairi: the dirty and dishevelled Kairi that had travelled with him all the way from the time they left Destiny Islands. Sora's eyes widened in disbelief that she was on his platform, watching his battle with his inner Heartless.

"Sora?" Kairi asked, her voice hesitant and uncertain.

"Kairi?" Sora repeated, still unable to believe that she was standing there. His vision was suddenly clouded by darkness for an instant as he was struck by a blast of dark energy from Anti.

"Sora!"

The Keyblade Master glowered at Anti as his chest burned in freezing pain from the sudden attack he'd suffered. He had collapsed onto his knees as the pain raced through his chest, and he winced. A pair of hands came to his shoulders and Sora instantly knew that they were Kairi's just by their touch.

"You really can't afford to be distracted Sora," Anti said in amusement.

"Shut up you bastard!" Kairi retorted as she knelt next to Sora. "Come on Sora, you have to get up."

"It is pointless Kairi," Anti said. "He will lose and become consumed by the darkness; then you will be mine."

"No!" Sora yelled, raising his head. "I'll beat you! I won't let you do that!"

"You cannot stop it Sora," Anti told him, gesturing towards the stained-glass platform, "it has already begun." Kairi gasped and Sora looked. His face involuntarily contorted into a mask of horror as his eyes caught sight of the rim of the platform's base.

It was turning black. Blacker than black, so dark that there was not even a reflecting shine off of it. It was as if his heat's platform was being turned into pure darkness. The very sight sickened and terrified Sora, and the more he gazed, transfixed, at the shadow of the platform, the more it seemed that the darkness was creeping forward to consume the rest.

_No, no this can't be. Anti-Form can't possibly be strong enough to do this, could he? Or is he right? Am I really so weak that I can't conquer the darkness inside of me? I am losing, but I don't want this! I can't let this happen!_

"Come on Sora," Kairi urged. "Get up! You have to get up!"

"Yes Sora!" Anti cackled, mimicking Kairi's voice in a mocking cry. "Get up! Get up! Get up so that I can kill you and rape you precious princess' ass!"

"You want to do what!" Kairi asked, completely revolted at Anti's proclamation.

"You heard me cunt!" Anti said. "I want to fuck you up the ass before I kill you. Give the bitch a taste of pleasure before she dies at my hand, right my little whore?"

The spirit of Kairi snorted as Anti leered lewdly at her. "One: I'm not a whore. Two: You're a fucking rapist and I hate your guts you pathetic chickenfucker. And Three: It was far from pleasurable. It was painful, humiliating, and totally disappointing."

For once, Anti appeared to lose his zeal as a few sniggers escaped from lips. "For all that talk back on Weathertop about Sora not knowing how to handle his woman, you can't even please her!" Kairi fired back.

Anti growled and snapped the Oblivion to his side, black lightning creating a very thick cage around it. "Forget fucking you alive," he brayed, "I'm going to kill you and then rape your lifeless corpse!" With a mighty roar Anti swung his black blade down, his massive sheath of black lightning streaking off of the Oblivion and crackling towards Kairi and Sora.

It seemed like it was all in slow motion to Sora as his eyes saw the swing and heard the electric crackling snaps. There was only one thing that was able to penetrate the whirlwind of thoughts in his mind, and that was that Kairi was in imminent, mortal danger!

The black lightning was mere centimetres away from where Kairi was kneeling, frozen, next to where Sora had dropped onto the ground when there was a bright flash of golden light that illuminated the whole platform. The black lightning struck heavily against this sudden barrier of gold and violently rebounded in all directions as the twisting bolts were deflected.

The barrage ceased and Anti looked upon his target, completely dumbfounded. Sora was standing in front of Kairi, looking tired but furiously determined as he glared at the Heartless. The silver Remembrance was back in his right hand and in his left gleamed the angelic Oathkeeper. His blades were crossed, providing the defence against the dark lightning Anti-Form had fired against them. He was floating slightly above the ground, his clothes the brightest of silver, with two orbs of silver light floating in the air around him. The Crest of Valour was shining brightly against his chest.

Anti appeared unnerved as Sora released his earthly hold on his Keyblades and they hovered in the air beside him. "So," the Heartless began, slowly sounding more confident again, "you've finally decided to go to Final now?"

"I actually have you to thank for that," Sora told him, smirking slightly.

"Really?" asked Anti.

"Until you attacked Kairi with that, I'd forgotten how to Drive into Final Form, it had been so long," Sora answered. "And even then, I'd never done it without absorbing the strength of two of my friends. So thanks."

Anti sneered. "Glad I could be of assistance. Now, let's see how much your last light can shine against the deepening darkness of your heart."

Sora tensed himself and glanced behind at Kairi. "This is going to be intense Kai," he said. "Make sure you stay safe."

"I can fight with you!" she said, in all appearances preparing to do just that.

Kairi winced suddenly and grasped her chest and Sora said, "No!" stopping her in her tracks. His arms went to her shoulders to steady her and his voice dropped down to a tender whisper as she looked up at him. "You're already hurt; I don't know how, but I don't want you injured any further. And... this is something that I need to do by myself Iri. I'm sure you understand."

He looked at her. Kairi was barely meeting his eyes as he floated a few inches off of the ground. She was biting her lower lip, and tucking a lock of her dirty auburn hair behind an ear, beautiful indigo eyes flickering up to look into his cerulean ones before dropping down again. She finally looked up and held her gaze when Sora's glove-covered metal fingers cupped her chin. In that moment, the young woman he loved seemed so hesitant and so torn that it nearly broke his heart that he was once again denying her the option to fight by his side.

Her mouth opened, but for a few moments no words came out past those trembling lips. Her mouth closed and Kairi managed the tiniest, but surest of nods. Sora nodded back regretfully to her and Kairi's voice seemed to find her again as she opened her mouth once more and said, "You can never fight alone." The words had barely cleared her mouth before those same lips were against Sora's own in a quick and rough kiss.

Kairi's warmth had left only a memory against his lips when Sora looked down again and turned towards Anti-Form once more. The darkness upon the platform had grown, and was now encompassing nearly a sixth of the circle. Anti was twirling the Oblivion impatiently between his fingers.

The look his Heartless was giving him, combined with the gathering darkness that was threatening to consume his platform sent an unwelcome chill down Sora's spine and he involuntarily muttered the words, "Well I sure feel alone."

"And you will die alone!" Anti answered him. He flung the dark Oblivion Keyblade at Sora an instant before he started to charge the Keyblade Master.

Sora reacted instantly. He bent his hovering legs and sprang high into the air in a powerful leap, the Remembrance and Oathkeeper spinning around his body. Anti's dark Oblivion passed harmlessly beneath Sora's flesh as the Keyblade Master began to glide around in a circle, nearly completely slowing his descent to a crawl.

With a flash of dark light the Oblivion appeared once more in Anti-Form's hand, and he dove towards Sora's airborne form with a strong leap of his own. He spun the Oblivion around in a circle as he shot for Sora, and out of the obsidian blade a stream of dark fire raged towards the Chosen Master of the Keyblade.

Sora was calm and ready. He quickly crossed his arms (and with them, he mentally crossed his Keyblades) in front of him and called out the word, "Reflega!" The protective honeycomb barrier formed around him a second before the dark fire struck. The impact forced Sora further into the air as the fire pressed against his shield, but for the first time in what seemed like many days Sora's defensive spell held fast and parted the dark blue, purple, and black flames around it. Sora's ears were filled with the roar of the rushing fire as they raged outside of his shield.

Suddenly they ceased and Sora's honeycomb shield collapsed; Anti-Form was revealed directly in the centre of where the dark flames had first struck against the reflega shield. Bright blue balls of magical energy formed around Sora and he hastily ordered them to converge on Anti. His Heartless was able to slip past two of them, and was preparing to attack Sora with the Oblivion just a few feet away from the brunette when one of the balls struck him in the head and exploded violently. Anti once again became lost to Sora's sight as the other blue bombs struck and burst asunder against the Heartless, his grunts the only evidence that he was even there.

The flaring blue-white light from the discharging after-effects of the third-level 'Reflect' spell quickly died out and Sora spotted Anti-Form again, his direction now the opposite of when he'd loosed the torrent of flame at the Keyblade Master. Sora pointed his body down and shot after his Anti-Form. The Remembrance and Oathkeeper spun like circular saws in the air just in front of him; their blades were pointed towards one another, missing the other by fractions of centimetres, as if they were almost spokes in a gear.

Sora twisted in the air just before he reached Anti, and one Keyblade dove for Anti-Form's head just before the other moved to stab into the dark being's right leg, and gathering in Sora's hands was a small ball that was white-hot and discharging sparks into the air at a rapid pace. One clang and a hiss of pain ripped the air as the Oblivion blocked Remembrance from striking Anti in the head, but the Oathkeeper slipped in above Anti's black left arm and stabbed firmly into the Heartless' right leg. Sora nearly grinned as he saw Anti-Form's piercing yellow eyes widen marginally when they suddenly caught sight of the energy crackling between Sora's fingers.

Sora shoved his hands forward with a loud yell that was lost to all but his own ears as a deafening thunderclap accompanied his Thundaga spell, the sizzling lightning bolts striking into Anti-Form with the kinetic force of a streaking cannonball. The light was blinding, the roar of the thunder threatened to leave ears ringing for hours, but the startled roar of anguish that escaped Anti-Form's pure black lips broke through it all.

There was a crash as Anti-Form slammed head-first into the platform, and Sora dove down after him, both his Keyblades spinning through the air rapidly again. His blue eyes were fixed on the spot where Anti was scrambling to get back on his feet, but his ears perked up and his attention shifted when they detected the faintest of whimpers.

He normally wouldn't have paid any attention to it, and he wouldn't have now had the voice belonged to anyone else. As it was, Sora hastily slashed his Keyblades in front of his body towards Anti and two great deluging sickles of water _splooshed_ out from the blades and struck Anti-Form. Sora hoped that the water would slow him down as he changed directions and sped down to the platform.

He heard Anti curse loudly and fall back onto the platform as Sora slowed to a stop with his toes hovering mere centimetres above the ground. His face had softened into one of sympathetic concern as his hands went around a pair of shoulders. Kairi, his Kairi, was trembling; her head was bowed and her eyes scrunched shut, and her hands were clapped over her ears.

As soon as Sora's hands had touched her shoulders Kairi turned 'round and buried herself into his chest, surprising him for a moment. "Hey, what's wrong?" Sora asked, his right hand slowly beginning to rub up and down her back as he held her.

Kairi replied in a hysterical hiss between clenched teeth. "The thunder," she replied, looking helplessly into Sora's eyes. "I don't know why, but, I'm frightened of it now." Sora didn't say anything, just hushed her quietly and continued rubbing her back. After a few moments her trembling stopped and she stiffened. Suddenly Kairi broke out of Sora's arms and his cheek was stinging.

Sora looked at the offending hand with as much shock across his face as there was irritation and disbelief etched into Kairi's. "What do you think you're doing!" Kairi yelled. "Why are you over here? You need to be fighting _him_!"

"But you—" Sora began.

"Forget about me and kick his ass!" Kairi cut him off, poking Sora hard in the chest. "Besides, there's something I need to tell you when you're done. But if you finish this quickly I'll treat you to dinner," she added seductively.

"Well, I guess it's time to blow this Popsicle stand," Sora said both loudly and quickly, "there's a dark dog inside of me that needs to be put down." Sora turned away from her, a smile on his face and feeling a bit more determined (and hungry) than ever.

Anti was back on his feet now, sopping wet and glaring hatefully at Sora. "Well this dog is going to fucking bite off the hand that feeds it! You're right handed, right?"

Sora's gaze hardened once more and he began gliding towards his Anti-Form. The Oblivion snapped up in the Heartless' hands as Sora reached his darkness made real and he began to acrobatically twist his body through the air, each of his Keyblades flowing around his body with his movements to strike at Anti-Form with powerful blows. Each Keyblade emitted a sharp clang as both the Remembrance and the Oathkeeper struck against the obsidian shaft of the Oblivion, which Anti-Form showed not for the first time that he was highly skilled with as his own black body and arms weaved around for the black blade to intercept and turn aside both Keyblades. The Heartless' feet were falling back under the relentless barrage of both Keyblades under Sora's control, but the black Oblivion darted up and down and from side to side with astounding speed, catching every stroke.

Sora was beginning to feel nervous again as it wore on after a minute. Silver Remembrance slammed down for Anti's left shoulder and the Oathkeeper swept in towards the right side. Both Keyblades were moving too quickly to define and were shining with powerfully with white light. Anti appeared completely unperturbed as the Oblivion rose up at an angle to meet the Remembrance first. The silver blade struck against the obsidian Keyblade and ricocheted off past the left side of Sora's head. Instantly afterwards Anti turned to his right and spun his weapon around clockwise so quickly that Sora's eyes could barely track it. The Oblivion hit the Oathkeeper and turned it back and away, past his left side.

Sora mentally caught the Remembrance as it continued heading out behind him and summoned the Oathkeeper into his right hand and grasped it with both. The Remembrance banked in the air and sped back out towards its master. Sora propelled himself a bit higher into the air and slashed down towards Anti's head with the white Oathkeeper. The Oblivion rose up predictably to intercept him and Sora was surprised at the force of the parry, for it didn't only stop his attack, but Anti pushed him higher into the air!

Sora did a back-flip to avoid a counterattack of Anti-Form's just as the Remembrance zipped in underneath him and slashed towards Anti's legs. The Heartless noticed it at the last second and leapt over the blade like it was a jump rope. The Remembrance pivoted on its pommel and reared up to cut down through the middle of Anti's chest. It slammed down against the Oblivion as it darted to defend Anti-Form, bounced back and came in towards Anti-Form's side and was deflected away again. The Remembrance lunged out for a leg and was once more foiled before this time the Oblivion struck out and the silver blade was flung far out to the other side of the platform.

The distraction of the Remembrance had been all the time Sora had needed. The Oathkeeper had left his hand as his palms flashed forward. Darts of ice formed by his fingertips and the air temperature around them dropped down to beneath negative seven degrees Celsius. The ice darts glistened in what little light was still reflecting from the platform and more and more formed in a milling mob, surrounding his hands and the Oathkeeper with frozen projectiles. Sora's breath came out into the air in front of him as a visible vapour and the hairs inside of his nose stung from the chill he was creating. Anti had just fought off the Remembrance when Sora let out a yell of, "Blizzaga!"

Anti's head snapped towards Sora just as he let loose his icy storm; droplets of water that had still been on him dropped off of Anti-Form's hair.

Sora smiled as the darts of ice and the Oathkeeper streamed straight for the being made of his own darkness in a chill wind, snow now circling in with the ice. _Oh yeah, he's gonna feel the cold._

Sora watched as Anti-Form manoeuvred the Oblivion to knock aside the darts, and the projectiles of ice broke apart on contact with the black blade as it smacked into many of them. The quickly condensing water vapour still in the air created a dense fog within seconds of Sora's barrage reaching Anti-Form, and the only sign that he was still able to defend against Sora's attack was the continued sound of the ice breaking.

For a full thirty seconds ice continued to bombard the area as Sora maintained the attack whilst bringing the Remembrance back to his side. Sora ceased the barrage as the fog engulfed him as well as the entire platform, and his dropped onto the ground, shivering slightly from the cold that touched him.

_Guess I might have overdid it a little,_ he thought, straining his eyes to look through the fog and see what, if anything, remained of his target. The light that glimmered from the two silver orbs of light that were floating around him, as well as the light from his glowing crest, was making the fog around him quite bright as it reflected back into his eyes, hampering his visibility even more. Sora strayed forward towards where he believed Anti-Form to be, still hovering on his toes. He called the Oathkeeper back to him in a flash and it took up a rear guard position while the Remembrance was in front.

A minute passed as Sora went slowly through the fog, the condensation sticking to his clothes, skin, and hair as the still quite cold (for him) air made him shiver as it bit at any exposed flesh. His automail hadn't changed too much in temperature yet, but where the plate on his shoulder connected to his skin it was beginning to feel uncomfortable as the metal cooled. Along with the deepening chill was a growing anxiety. Sora could barely see clearly a foot in front of his face, which forced him to go slow and cautiously lest he come to the end of the platform and fall off, but he was confident that he'd already come to where Anti-Form had been under fire, and must have possibly past it.

So where was Anti?

That question passed through Sora's mind twice a second as he turned around and slowly hovered around above the ground, searching for the Heartless in the blinding fog with eyes that darted in every direction so quickly they hurt.

He might as well have been searching for a needle in a mountain of hay.

_If your eyes aren't working,_ the spirit of Roxas, who must have been somewhere within the fog as well, _wouldn't that thing that Pixiemon taught you come in handy?_

Sora nodded to himself and closed his eyes while dipping his head, trying to let go of all of his emotion and find that bit of inner peace and magic that brought sight unlike earthly vision to his eyes and speed and reflexes unlike what he was normally able to perform to his body.

Sweat beaded and chilled on his forehead as he tried to perform the art he had been taught, and used before to save his life. But, there was something wrong this time, like something in his heart was telling him that it wasn't right, like it was something that he shouldn't be doing. He had never felt that nagging feeling in his heart before when he'd done this, but it was tugging powerfully at him now, and he was having a very difficult time in telling it to stop bothering him while finding that state of heightened ability and peace.

Sora didn't realize it until it was almost too late, but he heard a roar coming from behind him and the sound of burning balls of dark fire racing through the air towards him. Swearing under his breath, Sora spun around and dodged to the right, the projectiles missing him just to the left. Anti-Form burst through the bright fog with the Oblivion falling down towards Sora's neck. The Remembrance was just able to come up and deflect it out of the way. Anti attacked again with it, sweeping it down for Sora's right side and the silver Remembrance barely held it at bay when Sora noticed something odd.

The Oblivion was being held in Anti-Form's left hand.

The angelic white blade of the Oathkeeper zipped up from behind Sora to stab at Anti's face, but it wasn't able to get there quick enough to keep Anti's clawed right hand from ripping across Sora's. There was no cut and no blood, but coupled with the cold air and fog that was already seeping into him and chilling his body the strike hurt and forced Sora back further into the fog as Anti avoided the Oathkeeper as it dove for his head. A black hand snatched the grip of the blade as it passed and Sora fired off a bolt of lightning towards Anti's chest to cover his escape into the fog.

He twisted and turned as he sped through the fog, floating in the air with the Remembrance now in his hand and hoped that his evasive manoeuvres would keep Anti away from him. Sora's nerves were racing even harder now. He had been confident at the time that his ice attack would have been sufficient to stop Anti-Form, but he quickly looked back and realized that while it would have defeated many other weaker opponents or (at the very least) wounded or slowed them down, Anti-Form was a darkness of a completely different shade of black. He hadn't been frozen solid by the bombardment of ice, freezing air, and water on his black skin, and it looked as if not a single dart had touched him.

But then, he looked and still acted as if Sora hadn't even touched him at all.

The ground exploded behind Sora with blasts of darkness and he turned around while floating backwards. Anti came out of the fog once again, a hungry look in his eyes as he shot forward with both the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper in his hands while Sora gripped onto the Remembrance. Both Keyblades came down on Sora one after the other, finesse completely gone to be replaced by overpowering and overwhelming force. Sora tried to hold the Remembrance steady as the black and white Keyblades struck against the silver, and he noticed that the Oathkeeper was turning black in Anti's hands, the darkness stretching down from the hilt and already encompassing half of the blade. Sora spun away from the dropping Oblivion and raised his weapon to hold off the Oathkeeper as it came in towards his left side by one of the glowing orbs floating by his body.

Sora now figured out how Anti found him both times through the fog. While the orbs and his crest provided light, that light made it out further into the fog than his eyes could detect, as they were blinded by the amount being reflected back into them within the first couple of feet away from him. So he wandered blind, and to Anti-Form he was just a big lit ball in a sea of grey.

Sora blocked the Oblivion near his ear with the Remembrance and slipped underneath to let it drop just away from his right side and his eyes quickly looked up to see that the Oathkeeper was now fully black, and that it was crackling with dark lightning as Anti-Form reared it back.

Reacting desperately, Sora thrust his left hand forward, yelling, "Firaga!" A tiny compact ball of flame burst from Sora's hand and struck Anti in the chest. The fireball's momentum was great, and it drove Anti deep into the mists and away from Sora. Seconds later Sora's eyes saw a flash in the fog barely before he heard it and the entire fog blew away, and he was pushed back through the air about a metre before he was able to match the force pushing him back.

He looked up at Anti as a roar above him ripped through his ears. Both of Anti's weapons were sheathed in undulating darkness, and Sora could sense that the power contained within was immense, and because he could feel how strong it was from where he stood, he feared what would come and prepared to defend himself.

"I'm impressed Sora," Anti told him as he began to descend towards where Sora was. "I'd feared that I would have killed you by now. But you're stronger than you look. It's too bad for you that it all ends here as I show you a taste of the true power of the darkness in your heart, not the little magician's tricks I've been wasting on you!"

"You're all talk Anti! Give me your best shot!" Sora retorted, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.

"With pleasure!" Anti answered. "Darkness of the Abyss!"

Anti slashed towards Sora with both Keyblades parallel to his body and Sora raised the Remembrance horizontally in front of his head. Waves of darkness came out of both of Anti-Form's blades. A yelp of surprise escaped Sora's lips and he instinctively began to concentrate on erecting a shield around himself, but Anti-Form's dark waves were much too close and quick for Sora. His cry had barely gotten past his teeth when the waves struck against the Remembrance. For the smallest of moments he was able to hold it in place above his head against the onslaught of darkness, its sharp blade cutting both waves and parting them to soar above Sora's head or strike down into the platform. But then the darkness deepened and flared; both waves connected and became a solid wall of dark energy and the pressure against Sora more than tripled and he faltered. His weapon slipped out of his grasp and nearly struck Sora himself as it blew past him, just missing him underneath his right armpit right before the darkness struck Sora.

He knew that he was being thrown backwards as the wall of darkness crashed into him and engulfed his whole being. At the same time, he didn't notice or care. He couldn't see, not even the lights that hovered around him or that from his crest. The darkness was thick like ketchup. He could not scream or shudder as it froze his body and burned him with the cold, and he was held fast in a thick and all encompassing embrace. It seeped into his mouth (still open from giving his yelp of surprise), his nose, his eyes, and even into his stomach and lungs. His body was freezing all over, and his skin exploded with goose bumps that ached and burned like they were on fire. Sora had never felt this cold before in his life, and through the cold the darkness covered him, a lead blanket filled with stabbing steel pins. The air was crushed out of his lungs slowly by the overwhelming pressure, and the stabbing pains made his nerves and heart race, overwhelming his brain with signals of anguish while adrenaline and panic flooded through his unresponsive and freezing body.

And then it stopped. Sora opened his eyes slowly. His body was trembling terribly, and he was sweating and aching in agony, but there was no smothering embrace of darkness anymore, and the air felt just a bit warmer than his body. He winced horribly as he sat up, trying to take as many deep breaths as possible in an extremely small amount of time, but it was difficult.

Through the jumble of his panicked thoughts, Sora was able to pick out one most clearly and cling to it desperately. _What the fuck was that?_

"A taste of my true power," Anti answered, likely knowing his thought, "power of a heart that is now mine, a heart consumed entirely by the darkness within in."

Sora opened his nearly shut eyes in shock. "What did you say?"

Anti raised his hands dramatically towards the black sky above them, and Sora noticed that he no longer held a weapon in either one. "Your heart is mine Sora," he said, his voice rich with a maniacal (and it almost sounded loving) passion. "Over these past weeks my power has grown by leaps and bounds and your strength has waned. You put up a fight and tried to stop it, but my victory was inevitable in the end. Even at your greatest strength, it was useless and futile, because the light is weak and destined to be overcome by darkness!"

He threw his hands down, and both dark palms looked to be thriving with completely black fire. "Look at your pitiful heart Sora!" Anti jeered. "It has become mine now, tied to the darkness within it, and soon it will be completely eclipsed and I will have control from now until the end of time!"

Sora dropped his gaze, and he saw to his horror that nearly the entire platform was in complete darkness. The only thing remaining on his platform of what had been was his face looking up into a sky, which was now completely black; not even the circles of his friends or the outline around the rim remained. A thin grey outline of Anti-Form and his yellow eyes piercing into Sora's the sign of any colour that would remain once all was darkness. Sora looked around the platform and saw that the spirits were gone, only his terrified Kairi still present to watch.

Sora flashed with white light and he dropped out of Final-Form as in his pained body he felt the blood leave his face cold and pale. "This can't be," he croaked, barely able to find his voice.

Anti-Form smirked. "All that remains," he continued, "is for me to eliminate you. And that is certain." He threw his arm out in Sora's direction. Blazing from his fingertips came comets of darkness, streaking through the air towards Sora. His eyes widened in sudden terror as they soared for him, and Sora rolled out of the way while calling the Remembrance back to him, feeling every muscle fibre in his body burning him. The shots missed and blew apart on the darkness of the platform, their released energy blasting Sora further across the black platform.

Sora's body screamed in pain as it burned from the freezing touch the darkness had left on it and the skidding across the platform he'd just suffered. It was difficult enough for Sora to force air into his lungs, but the adrenaline racing through his veins like lightning released through base instinct took control as Sora took all of the icy cold feeling he had just experienced and placed it into the Remembrance. The silver blade turned a frosty blue, the gold lines that ran from the blue tourmaline gemstone of the pommel t the seven-pointed star near the tip of the rapier-like blade shone above the chill that ran through the metal, and the bronze hilt became covered in ice.

"You won't win!" Sora yelled. "I won't let you win!" He swung his sword with all of his remaining strength at Anti-Form, and from the blade great drill-shaped shards of crystal-blue ice burst out, many dozens of them. They drove through the air towards Sora's Heartless, completely obscuring Sora's vision of him. Lightning lashed out from between the drills of ice, fireballs the size of notebook computers were spread out almost as much as the icy projectiles; and balls of sub-zero degree water (that had not frozen) came in front of the drills of ice to maximize their effect. More and more came as Sora swiped his Keyblade through the air over and over again, creating a bombardment that was at least three times as powerful as the last one he'd sent Anti-Form's way.

He just hoped that it would be enough.

_It will be enough!_ Sora told himself. _I don't think I'd even be able to survive what I'm sending at him. He can't block everything, and when stuff starts getting through his momentum and rhythm will break and he'll get hit by everything else. I'll do this until I can't do it anymore, and by then it's bound to be over, and I'll be able to sleep in peace again._

Sora had barely finished his train of thought when his ears were pierced by a thunderous yell. The spot where his concentrated magical barrage of every bit of elemental magic he knew suddenly became very dark and his projectiles simply vanished within it. The platform shook beneath Sora as there came to his ears a great rumbling noise, and he found something striking him in the chest suddenly, winding him and knocking him to the ground. Black flames burst up from the ground and encircled the area where his barrage had been sent to. One tongue of flame shot out towards Sora and struck the Remembrance on the flat of the blade and wrenched it out of Sora's weak grip. A different jet of black flame burst out at a different angle and reached the rim of the platform. Within a second the entire platform was surrounded by a towering cage of black fire, and Sora saw it erupt just as the Remembrance went through it in the air and fall over the edge.

"It is over Sora," Anti-Form said. Sora looked back at him, and saw the most demonic sight he'd ever beheld. He had once thought that he'd never see a creature more evil-looking than Devimon or SkullGreymon, but he was wrong. So very wrong. Anti-Form was still more or less humanoid in appearance, but that's where the similarities he had held to Sora ended. He was a foot taller now, and his hair was no longer in spikes resembling what had been Sora's before Kairi'd cut his hair. Black locks brushed down between two hawk-like glowing yellow eyes. Dark horns reared out on either side of Anti's head, thick and round, turning and directing their sharp tips forward. Anti's limbs were now thin and looked skeletal, and what had once been metal was now pure darkness. Long, deadly claws stretched out on the ends of his arms, and toes with cracked, pointed nails glistened on his feet. Thick pectoral and abdominal muscles dominated his torso, contrasting with his weak-looking legs and arms, and from his shoulder blades stretched two demonic wings, four times his body length in their outstretched wingspan.

"It's over Sora," Anti repeated, a long, snakelike tongue leaving his mouth in amusement at the end of his sentence. He giggled, and the sound froze Sora's bones as he lay down in complete shock. "The darkness has won your heart! This body is mine!"

"No!" Kairi cried.

Anti vanished from Sora's sight for an instant, and Sora's eyes searched frantically to find him, when suddenly he felt an extreme piercing pain in his stomach, overriding all other pain and the sound of Kairi's strangled shriek of horror.

"Gottcha!" Anti-Form declared, his head rising out of the darkness of the platform in front of Sora. Anti rose, and revealed to Sora as he felt his shuddering and convulsing body lifting off the ground that the clawed fingers of his Heartless' right hand had pierced completely through his abdomen.

Sora struggled to look at the glowing yellow eyes in front of him with shock and terrified anguish on his disbelieving face. He was returned with a simple smirk. "It's been fun Sora," Anti-Form told him mockingly, slowly turning his head off to the side to look at Kairi. He licked his lips. "But, I've got a princess to fuck and a universe to destroy. So…" Anti raised Sora's struggling body up higher and his voice became louder, "it is time for you to die, and become one with the darkness!"

Sora didn't feel Anti throw him off of his claws, didn't even notice when his body passed through the black flames and started to descend. The only thing he could feel was the numbing disbelief in his mind and the last sight of Kairi with a tear-streaked face as she cried his name to the heavens and started to rise. He tumbled down in the darkness, as even the outside of his platform had become nothing but pure black, and his head was pointed down as he finally realized it.

He'd failed, and now for the second time he was falling into darkness.

-A-D-

_I can tell you with all honesty that even though I am the author of this story and have been writing and planning many things for this piece of literary work, I did NOT see this ending coming until it showed up._

_I'm freaking serious. I didn't see this coming! I saw Sora winning! And then Anti won and I just sat back against my pillow while I was on my bed (I did a lot of my writing on my bed this year in Cold Lake), looked at the page where I'd finished, and went, 'What? Anti won!'_

_I'm probably going to get reamed out for this ending aren't I?_

_Drop a review please!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	19. Light in the Darkness

_(The scene begins in the dining room in Radiant Garden's castle [see __**Chapter VIII: Consoling**__ of __**A Week of Troubles**__ for the description of the room] Shire Folk is standing by the windows, and outside [oddly enough] it's night, the stars are veiled by clouds, and as a consequence the sky is completely black. The electric chandelier above the dining table is on, filling the room with slightly golden light. Shire has a slightly annoyed and cornered expression on his face, as across the room from him on the other side of the table is a very livid looking Kairi with tear stains down her cheeks from her eyes.)_

_Kairi: "You're a fucking jackass you know that?"_

_Shire: "Look, it's not my fault Kairi."_

_(Kairi throws her hands up in the air in frustration.)_

_Kairi: "Not your fault, you're the damn author! You wrote it happening!"_

_Shire: "Yes, I wrote it happening, but I never intended for it to go down like that! Sora was supposed to win! Anti should not have won that fight!"_

_Kairi: "Yeah, right, except for the tiny fact that he did! Now where does that leave us!"_

_(The double wooden doors burst open and in storm Riku, Roxas, and Naminé.)_

_Riku: "What the fuck is happening? Where's Sora?"_

_Kairi: "He's dead Jim."_

_Shire: "Cut the Star Trek references and he's not dead."_

_Kairi: "No, he's not. He's just fallen completely into darkness and Anti-Form is now in complete control. Sora's as good as dead you a-hole!"_

_Roxas: "He's what!"_

_(Riku barges over the table and roughly grabs Shire Folk by the neck of his shirt and lifts him slightly into the air.)_

_Riku: "What are you doing?"_

_Shire: "Trying not to let the bad guys win."_

_Riku: "Yeah, well there is no try. There's do, and then there's fucking up royal, and you are fucking up royal!"_

_Kairi: "And instead of getting Sora back, he's too busy running around, looking for one stupid Legendary Pokémon and going to concerts!"_

_(Riku rams Shire into the wall, drawing out a slight grunt.)_

_Shire: "Hey, I have no clue where that Mesprit ran off to and if Sora was here he would agree with me about the concert."_

_Kairi: "WHY!"_

_Shire: "Because it was AC/DC for their Black Ice World Tour! It was goddamn AC/DC! You try passing that up Kairi! Besides, I've got to do more than just that, I'm starting college this year so I'm busy with (Riku presses harder and Shire's voice gets a bit more restricted) school stuff too."_

_(Riku head butts Shire Folk.)_

_Naminé: "So what's going on, apart from some serious shit happening to Sora and Riku pounding the author into the castle wall?"_

_Roxas: "We now have a very powerful and very sick minded Heartless on the loose, who I might add wants to rape you, Kairi, just about every other woman in existence (probably even Maleficent if you are sick enough to imagine it), and completely wipe out the universe and all creation as we know it."_

_Kairi: "So Shire Folk here has royally fucked up."_

_(Riku rams Shire into the stone wall again and a pained grunt escapes from his [my] lips.)_

_Riku: "You'd better fix this, buddy."_

_Shire: "Who the hell do you think I am? There's no way I'm going to let that guy get away with taking the direction of the story away from me! He'd fuck my twin sister if he got the chance!"_

_Naminé: "So Anti was never supposed to win?"_

_(Riku lets Shire go and he staggers slightly as his feet touch the ground again. Shire puts a hand to his head, where it still hurts from Riku's head hitting it.)_

_Shire: "For the hundredth time, no! Anti was not supposed to win that fight, Sora was. But Anti's become a lot stronger than I thought he was. I thought that Sora would have been able to handle him in his state, but I guess I was wrong. Anti had been growing stronger ever since Kairi fell under Hades' control."_

_Kairi: "Well because of your mistake, Sora's now gone you fucking jackass!"_

_Shire: "Kairi, don't swear. You're a month and a bit over sixteen and you're a princess. It isn't very becoming of you. Naminé, the same goes for you. I can swear, 'cause I'm nearly nineteen and nobody's gonna give two shits if I do."_

_Roxas: "What about me and Riku?"_

_Shire: "You're guys and Riku's seventeen, who cares? And anyway, Kairi, Sora's not quite gone, not yet he isn't. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve and some stuff I can call upon to bring him back. You brought him back when he turned into a Heartless the first time, I'll find a way this time. If there are three things that I won't allow: I won't allow Anti to take this away from me; I won't allow him to rape you; and I won't let him destroy Rivendell! But, this has now become a bit more complicated. Since he's fully become a Heartless once again, does this mean that he's going to have another Nobody?"_

_(Everyone groans.)_

_Roxas: "Oh crap, don't tell me that we're going to have to deal with something like that too?"_

_(Shire shrugs.)_

_Shire: "Dunno. Only time will tell. Now shoo, this is the first time I've got to improvise to pull through this unexpected story arc. I wonder how this is going to unfold."_

_(The other four begin to leave, Kairi and Shire Folk are the last two in the room, holding each other's gazes from across the table.)_

_Kairi: "Make sure he dies horribly."_

_(Shire shakes his head.)_

_Shire: "I'll do my best, but he can't die yet. He has a greater destiny in store for him, and mark my words Kairi, he will die."_

_Kairi: "Will you at least horribly thrash him?"_

_Shire: "Like I said, I'll do my best, Your Highness."_

_(Shire Folk bows and Kairi exits the room.)_

_Shire: I don't own any of this, and right now, I feel like it owns itself._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XIX: Light in the Darkness

Kairi rose and screamed Sora's name as she watched the now completely demonic Anti-Form fling the body of the young man she loved off of his black claws and through a veil of black flames that defined the edge of the boy's heart's platform.

Her mind was racing with complete shock and horror at seeing Sora being so completely defeated in the face of his darkness, and also nearly paralyzed with fear at the remembrance of what Anti has said that he'd do once he'd defeated Sora. A memory that Sora had shown her once flashed in her mind and Kairi nearly sobbed in despair, she did not want that to happen to her, she did not want to lose her virginity and be violated so grotesquely by something so evil.

Kairi blinked the tears out of her eyes and glanced at Anti-Form, who was still looking lewdly at her.

She backed away a step. There was no way that she'd be able to defeat him, and no telling what would happen even if she did. For all she knew, and all that she remembered Anti telling her back on Weathertop (whether or not she could actually trust what the snake told her), if she killed Anti, then that might kill anything that was left of Sora too instead of bringing him back.

"So Kairi," Anti began, licking his lips with his long and snake-like tongue, "would you like to do it here, or back in the physical world?"

The Princess of Heart backed up another step and glanced around. She was too terrified to even think that she'd be able to resist if he forced himself upon her. There was too much fear consuming her to contemplate fighting him. There was only one person she could consider to have had any chance against him, and he'd just been thrown over the edge.

But he was still there, just over that ledge.

Kairi's eyes hardened for a brief moment as she steeled herself. Her left hand started to glow with white light as her new Keyblade, Crowning Flame, appeared in her right. "Never! I'll not do it here nor there, I won't do it anywhere! At least not with you!" She threw her left hand out towards Anti-Form and a flare of white fire roared out towards him. She didn't watch it any further and bolted right for the spot where she'd seen Sora drop down from the platform's edge. Anti-Form gave a guttural scream of rage behind her, and Kairi paid no attention to it as she reached the fire, slashing down at it with Crowning Flame. White flames spewed out of her blade and parted the black ring of fire for Kairi to leap through.

Kairi jumped down towards the dark abyss where she'd watched Sora drop into, feeling the black flames closing around the platform just behind her and the scrape of one of Anti-Form's claws on her leg as he tried to snatch her back.

_I'm coming Sora,_ she thought as she fell into the darkness after him. _I'm not leaving this earth without telling you._

-A-D-

Master Yen Sid's eyes snapped open and he looked towards where both teenagers were unconscious on the bed. A pair of birds sat on the shoulder of a weather-beaten man with a head of shaggy dark hair flecked with greys, and a pair of keen grey eyes were watching Sora and Kairi intently. Jiminy Cricket was atop the man's head, though whether or not he was annoyed at the place the cricket had chosen to watch from was difficult to tell.

Yen Sid saw Strider's eyes narrow out of the corner of his eye, and he knew that the man could tell that something was dreadfully amiss before there was any physical sign.

The tips of both Sora's and Kairi's hair were beginning to turn black.

"Sora!" Aiwemon called.

"Kairi!" cried Menelmon simultaneously.

Master Yen Sid watched for another second or two as the darkness slowly began to spread from their hair to the rest of their bodies, its rate he roughly calculated at perhaps a quarter-inch per second. Within minutes they would both become consumed by the darkness. He could only guess as to why this was happening to Kairi, but the reason for the emergence of the darkness on Sora was terribly clear.

"Kisuke!" Yen Sid bellowed. "They have failed, and now we—"

"Already on it Master Yen Sid," said a man carrying a cane and dressed in robes, a hat, and wooden clogs who entered upon Yen Sid saying his name. Four others entered with him at the same time, a small boy with a peak of scarlet hair, a small girl with black hair tied into two short pigtails and pale cheeks, a man who could rival Major Armstrong for size who wore black rectangular sunglasses that shadowed his eyes, had a very large black moustache and was mostly bald apart from short black hair, parted and pulled back into twin very small, thin braids. The fourth was a black housecat.

Kisuke Urahara looked at the man. "Tessai!"

"Right," the man, Tessai Tsukabishi said. "Jinta! Ururu! Help us get them out of here!"

"Okay…" the little girl, Ururu Tsumugiya, mumbled meekly.

"Aw," the boy moaned as Ururu moved towards Kairi. "Do I really got to do this boss?"

Urahara's voice did not sound angry as he spoke, but there was an underlying note of irrevocable firmness in his tone. "Jinta, we do not have time for this."

The scarlet-haired boy, Jinta Hanakari snorted as Ururu was beginning to place Kairi's entire unconscious body over her shoulders. "Alright fine." He grabbed Sora by his foot and quickly, unceremoniously, and without concern for the unconscious, whipped the Keyblade Master around and slung him over his shoulder by the one leg in Jinta's hands.

The black cat nodded its head. "Alright," the feline said in a masculine voice, "let's go." The others nodded and Tessai, Jinta, Ururu, and the cat all jumped out of the open window and into the air. Master Yen Sid and Urahara watched for a second as all of them seemed to gain traction on the air itself and continued to jump and leave Rivendell at an increasing pace.

"So what do you think?" Urahara asked.

"Sora's Heartless must have defeated him," the aged sorcerer said. "But for Kairi to be falling into darkness herself, I cannot say for certain what is causing it. But, no matter what, we must forestall them until we can fully understand what is occurring."

"Then we should go," Urahara said.

The fluttering of wings reached Master Yen Sid's ears and he quickly looked around to see both Aiwemon and Menelmon preparing to leave Strider's shoulders and pursue the four that had just left the room. "Calm yourselves," he told them before either digimon could speak a word or gain an inch of clearance from the man's shoulders. "There is nothing that either of you could do if you were to come with us. With both of them in the conditions that they're in it is highly unlikely that you would find the strength to digivolve into your Champion forms and assist us. Stay with Aragorn, he will look after you until we return."

"But—" Aiwemon began.

Master Yen Sid shook his head slowly and the male bird digimon closed his beak and dropped his head, realizing that this time he wouldn't be of any help to his partner.

Jiminy Cricket left Strider's head in one leap and landed on the brim of Kisuke Urahara's hat. "At least let me come with you," he pleaded. "I'm not going to miss chronicling an event of this calibre."

"I don't think it's wise—" Urahara started.

"I've missed too many of Sora's recent adventures," Jiminy cut him off. "I've not left his side since he went to the Pride Lands and I'm not going to miss a moment now."

Master Yen Sid was grim when he spoke. "There is no more time to debate this issue. We must leave now Kisuke."

"Right," said Urahara. "Hold on little buddy." The man leapt out of the same open window that the previous four had left from, and Master Yen Sid watched him leave and quickly become invisible to the untrained eye. The sorcerer gave Strider one quick look and nod before he glowed with blue light and teleported out of the room.

Master Yen Sid appeared again in the middle of the forest outside of Rivendell, some seven miles beyond the Ford of Bruinen, hopefully far enough away to hold them off until they were able to understand what had transpired in its entirety. Within four minutes the four that had left ahead of him arrived, carrying the unconscious bodies of Sora and Kairi. They were both laid out on the ground, and they were each nearly completely black, their eyes still closed in unconsciousness. Tessai knelt near both of them, appearing to examine them along with the cat, while Ururu and Jinta were also gazing at the pair, the former with anxiety and worry, and the latter with excited interest. Yen Sid waited.

Urahara appeared next to Master Yen Sid out of thin air. Jiminy was clutching onto the edge of the white and green striped bucket hat for dear life, and looking very green (even for a cricket). He dropped down onto the ground and swayed drunkenly on unsteady feet. "Wow," he muttered, "what a trip." The ground made a tiny thud as Jiminy Cricket fell flat on his face, unconscious.

Master Yen Sid reached down and picked the poor Royal Chronicler up in one hand and held him in his palm. "Poor thing," he muttered, "I should have taken him, he is not used to travelling by shunpo." Jiminy flashed with blue light and his eyes opened suddenly and the cricket hobbled back up onto his feet.

The cricket removed his blue top hat and rammed his hand into the back of his green head a couple of times before replacing his hat upon his head. "That was some pick-me-up," he mumbled before looking up at the sorcerer whose hand he was standing upon. He bowed. "Thank you Master Yen Sid."

Yen Sid nodded kindly before the cricket leapt onto his shoulder. "No trouble at all my little friend," he chuckled slightly.

Urahara was looking at the pair on the ground as their bodies continued to become ever blacker. "We have less than a minute before they wake," he said. "Tessai, you know what to do."

"As you wish," he said, putting his hands together. They flared with sudden light. "Wall of steel sand, tower of pious form, distant glimmer of heated steel; as a sincere prayer, this final silence," five white lights formed around his double fist and Tessai slammed it into the ground, whereupon five circles of light flared into existence from the earth as he shouted, "Bakudou #75, Gochu Tetsukan!" Five monolithic pillars of steel formed in the air high above them and came crashing into the ground onto Sora and Kairi, arrayed in a ring and bound together by steel chains. A massive hollow, transparent orange cube formed around Sora and Kairi in their bound states, the steel monoliths and the barrier towering many dozens of feet above the treetops, including the many that were included within the barrier. The earth and trees shook to their roots as the pillars bound the two to the ground, the binding spell known as the Five Pillar Brace of Steel.

-A-D-

Aiwemon and Menelmon had stayed upon Strider's shoulders just as Master Yen Sid had told them to before the powerful sorcerer had vanished. Strider himself had not yet left the room, but strode up to the window and was looking out of it with a strange expression upon his face, his gaze directed to the gracefully carved buildings of Rivendell.

Both of their heads swivelled to a tiny spot, hidden by the trees. "What was that?" Aiwemon asked aloud.

Strider didn't say anything, but he squinted.

"I heard it too," Menelmon said, looking past Strider's head to stare into Aiwemon's green eyes.

They both glanced at Strider as he spoke. "I heard nothing," he said, "but just now I felt the earth tremble beneath my feet. I do not know this wizard who insisted that you remain with me, but perhaps you are needed elsewhere." He glanced at both of them in turn, but both of the bird digimon had vacated his shoulders and soared through the window the instant he had finished his sentence.

-A-D-

"Wow," Jiminy Cricket said, rubbing his eyes with his white-gloved hands, awed by the display.

"I am not sure how effective that will be," Tessai admitted, standing with his hands together and his head inclined towards the orange barrier and monoliths of steel. "Their strength is growing."

"I do not think that binding either of them will make an effective counter," Master Yen Sid said. "They are both fast in becoming Heartless, but the way that this is occurring is most unusual."

"How so?" the cat, whose name was Yoruichi Shihōin, asked. "I am not familiar with the Heartless or how they're created."

"They come into being in a similar manner to a Hollow after a konpaku's Chain of Fate has completely encroached," Kisuke said, watching Sora and Kairi intently as the last bits of colour on their bodies was slowly being turned black. "The body and the soul vanish and become their own entity called a Nobody, and the Heartless is then formed out of the darkness in the heart left behind. And we know that a Hollow is created when the soul left after death falls and loses their heart, either succumbing to the eventual encroachment of their Chain of Fate, or becoming prey to another Hollow."

"We are lucky that Maleficent knows nothing of Hollows," Master Yen Sid said. "Otherwise we'd likely be forced to deal with them as well."

"Then we should hope that she never meets Aizen," Urahara muttered, drawing a simple blade out of his cane with a quick jerk. Master Yen Sid reached into the sleeve of his long blue robes and withdrew a short brown wand with his right hand while making sure that his hat was securely upon his head. Jinta hefted a massive steel bat that had been leaning against a tree over his shoulder, and Ururu picked up a weapon that she conceivably should not have been able to carry: what looked to be a portable shoulder-mounted multi-missile launcher.

Jiminy Cricket folded his arms and looked between everyone with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. "I'd better hear a lot of stories from you all so's I can understand what all's goin' on," the confused cricket said.

They all watched as Sora and Kairi both turned completely black from behind the barrier.

Very loud high-pitched shrieks screamed into their ears and Master Yen Sid dug his heels into the ground and braced himself as his blue robes rippled slightly in a small breeze that suddenly blew past them, caused by energy that made its way out past the barrier, which was supposed to be impossible. The binding pillars inside of the barrier were cracking and swaying dangerously, and every tree within the cube was uprooted and tossed into the air, their strong, thick trunks snapping and splintering like matchsticks. Ringing noises came from the chains that bound the five pillars together as they waved wildly, and black lightning burst out from the bodies of the bound two on the ground, blocking them completely from sight.

"Oh crud," Jinta said, looking worriedly at what was happening inside of the barrier, "what the hell is going on in there?"

"They are very strong," Yoruichi answered. "Stronger than we expected, it seems," he continued.

Ururu made a slight whimpering noise and her eyebrows rose a little while Jinta grunted through his teeth.

Another wail pierced the air, and the five pillars crumbled and broke down into tiny chunks that dwindled down even further until, by the time they reached the ground, they had become nothing more than dust in the wind. Master Yen Sid narrowed his eyes, unable to see what had become of the two inside because of the cloud of debris that had accumulated inside of the barrier.

"Guess I'll go first," Jinta said, tapping his bat on his shoulder a couple of times. Master Yen Sid came towards the young boy and placed his hand on the scarlet-haired child's shoulder. It was quivering slightly, and the wise old sorcerer could tell that he was nervous.

"No," he said. "I shall go in first. Perhaps I will learn just how this has occurred."

Urahara nodded, saying, "Alright then Master Yen Sid. We'll be watch—"

"Wait!"

Master Yen Sid stopped moving as a voice from above shrieked into their ears. Two birds were swiftly descending down towards them, their wings bent back with the darker coloured one firmly in front of the other.

Aiwemon unfurled his wings and flapped them repeatedly as he came within a foot of colliding with the ground, sweat coating the feathers on his head, back, and wings, glimmering with the grey light of the sun. "You aren't doing anything… without us!" Aiwemon panted as he landed and Menelmon started the same procedure as she came down next to him. They had obviously flown as quickly as they could when they heard the binding spell stab into the ground. Yen Sid was astounded, for they were roughly thirteen miles from Rivendell! "They're more than our friends," Aiwemon continued breathlessly, "they're… our partners, and I can feel that Sora's in very deep trouble!"

"I… feel… the same," Menelmon added, even more breathless than her swifter counterpart, she was nearly collapsing onto the ground in fatigue. "I'm not… going… anywhere until I know… what is happening to Kairi!" she gasped out. Menelmon sighed and slumped onto the ground.

"You don't understand the dang—" Urahara began.

"We're bound together!" Aiwemon shouted, his breath returning. "Digidestined and Digimon Partner! We are bound to each other for life. If Sora dies, then so do I. And I will not die without doing everything I can to help him."

"Digidestined?" Yoruichi asked with interest. He glanced at Urahara. "Kisuke, do you understand what he is talking about?"

"Not a clue," the man answered, shrugging his shoulders light-heartedly.

Yen Sid stared at both Aiwemon and Menelmon as the pair of bird digimon struggled to remain on their limbs. Their loyalty to and faith in Sora and Kairi was totally unwavering, even to the point where they had physically put their bodies at risk to reach them and learn what was becoming of their partners, something he himself did not quite understand.

_No_, he reasoned, _it's more than just loyalty. Despite their short time together, they love their partners almost as intimately as the love between Sora and Kairi themselves. I have not seen such devotion even between some of the oldest and best of friends. Their bond is something quite special._

"Perhaps," Yen Sid began slowly, closing his eyes and nodding as he came to an understanding with himself, "I was mistaken. Perhaps it _would_ be best for their friends to be present."

"Master Yen Sid?" Urahara asked.

The sorcerer did not answer him, instead he raised his hands above his head, his short brown wand rotating in a slow circle as he rolled his wrists around. Master Yen Sid's eyes flashed open suddenly, and he withdrew his wand quickly to a spot near his right ear before sweeping it out in front of him in a broad arc. The wand rose out up from his left side and he forcefully brought it down with his arm fully extended from the dead centre of his chest.

Several pillars of blue light flared into existence in front of him, white figures inside of the pillars shining even brighter through the blue. The lights dimmed, and the white figures lost the light they had been shining with as they were revealed to be people. Several of them collapsed onto the ground, and more than one was dripping with water.

"What in the name of Poseidon just happened?" asked a young man of seventeen with sopping wet silver hair as he picked himself up off the ground, hands quickly going to his bare arms as the chill autumn wind of this world bit at him.

"I summoned you all," Master Yen Sid answered Riku, looking at the group of people that he had just teleported great distances to bring to this one location. Riku, Roxas, and Naminé were those who were drenched in water, the males dressed in swimming trunks and Naminé in a yellow one-piece bathing suit. Yuffie was similarly attired, except that she had on the black top of a bikini and was in her khaki shorts. All four were without footwear.

The others were much more modestly dressed. King Mickey stood with Donald, Goofy, and Max, each of them looking exactly the same as they had when they had left Star Command for Disney Castle.

"That wasn't what I was asking," Riku growled, standing and shivering slightly; paying no heed to the fact that he was addressing Master Yen Sid. "I want to know what just happened to Sora and Kairi. I know that something very dark just happened, and I want to know what it was! We haven't had a word from them since we talked to Jiminy that one time, and I'll bet everything that this has something to do with Sora's Anti-Form!"

"You see?" Donald said, looking at Goofy. "I told ya we weren't the only ones!"

Master Yen Sid waved his wand quickly and Riku, Yuffie, Roxas, and Naminé all became dry and dressed in their clothes instead of simple bathing suits. "You are correct in assuming so Riku," Master Yen Sid said. "For this does greatly concern Sora's Heartless, though just what evil has also befallen Kairi, I do not know for sure."

"What?" Naminé asked, her eyes suddenly growing wide. "I knew I felt something bad, but what are you saying Master Yen Sid?"

"We shall know in a moment," he told the blonde princess. Yen Sid glanced at Urahara. "Kisuke."

"You got it," he said. "Tessai."

"Yes Kisuke?" the man asked.

"Open the barrier," Urahara told him. Tessai nodded and an opening about twice the size of a door opened within the barrier.

"Follow me," Master Yen Sid said, "and quickly." Master Yen Sid was quick to get inside before Tessai sealed the barrier once more behind him and the others that were to accompany him inside.

The old man's eyes scanned the inside of the cube as he suddenly felt a strong pressure against his body, a pressure he resisted and became accustomed to quickly and with little effort. The area inside was roughly sixty metres cubed, probably high enough that if a mortal was on the roof of a building in Rivendell that they might be able to look down and see part of the cube, and definitely if the person was an elf. The trees that had once stood in here were now even less than sawdust, as were the towering pillars of the kido that Tessai had used. The ground had become rocky and barren, completely lifeless and devoid of any piece of greenery or life that had once occupied it only minutes ago.

Completely barren and lifeless, except for the two black things standing fifteen metres away from him, if they could even be counted as life.

One of them, the one on Yen Sid's right side, was much shorter than the other, by at least a foot, and was obviously female. Her skin was not completely black, unlike the one to her right, but was a dark shade of grey. The clothing she wore resembled the pink dress and ensemble that Kairi had worn, though it was purely dark and black, even the coloured bands that had been above the girl's left wrist, though the purse was gone. The black hood that had been a part of Kairi's look was now far too small to cover her head had the dark female wanted to pull it up; instead there were twin scarves trailing down from it, twisting and writing like dark serpents. Her whole body had faint wisps of darkness rising around her, and her eyes were hidden in shadow by her black bangs.

To the girl's right and Yen Sid's left was a male, though in no way he resembled what had been Sora. Black locks brushed down between two hawk-like glowing yellow eyes. Dark horns reared out on either side of his head, thick and round, turning and directing their sharp tips forward. His limbs were thin and looked skeletal, though Yen Sid did not doubt that they were far stronger than they looked. Long, deadly claws stretched out on the ends of his arms, and toes with cracked, pointed nails glistened on his feet. Thick pectoral and abdominal muscles dominated his torso, contrasting with legs and arms, and from his shoulder blades stretched two demonic wings, four times his body length in their outstretched wingspan.

Yen Sid could hear and did not need to see Naminé to know that she along with Yuffie had just gasped, their hands flying to their mouths. Jiminy Cricket gulped while standing on his shoulder, and shocked silence leaked out of the others, even King Mickey.

"Well look who we have here dearest," the black male said, leering at the group before glancing down at the young woman, "guests."

Master Yen Sid could see a faint smile on the female's lips. "I was wondering why we weren't still in Rivendell, or why we had those ridiculous weights crushing our backs, and here's my answer: A meddling old fool."

"Who are you?" asked Master Yen Sid.

"I'm surprised," the male answered sarcastically, "I would have thought that the great Master Yen Sid wouldn't even have to ask."

"I know who you are quite clearly, Anti-Sora," the sorcerer countered swiftly, his eyes flashing a warning to the Heartless, "I was asking your companion."

Neither Anti nor the dark Kairi seemed perturbed by his non-verbal warning. "You old fool," she said, shaking her head and revealing eyes as bright and yellow as the male next to her, "I am Kairi!"

"No you aren't!" Naminé retorted.

The dark Kairi laughed, and the shrill sound of it pierced through Master Yen Sid's ears like a knife. "But I am, dear sister," she said, her voice purring maliciously. "I am Kairi, and this gorgeous hunk next to me is Sora. Do you not recognize us?" she asked, her voice's pitch increasing to make it sound like she was pouting as she placed a finger to her lips and coyly twisted her shoulders back and forth.

"I'd recognize Kairi anywhere," Menelmon began.

"And you aren't her!" Riku said, taking one step forward and summoning Way to the Dawn into his hand. "Now you're going to tell me what happened to her, or I'm going to run you through with this blade."

"Wait Riku," Naminé said imploringly, "the real Kairi may still be in there somewhere."

"But I am the real Kairi," the girl whined. The smoke-like wisps of darkness that rose all around her twisted and formed into a shadowy ball in her left hand, "Can't you tell?" she asked, a small smile appearing on her face. Yelling loudly, she threw the ball straight for Naminé.

Riku and Roxas were in front of her in seconds, all three of their Keyblades barred protectively against the shadow ball. It struck against Twilight Thorn first, as that was the Keyblade out in front, and Master Yen Sid could see that Roxas' arm was violently straining to hold it back with that one blade alone. Lashes of smoke whirled out of the shadow ball as energy was released in its attempt to break through. Then Riku pressed against the back of Twilight Thorn with Way to the Dawn, and Roxas' shaking arm ceased in its shudders. It was swiftly joined by the Oblivion Keyblade, and together the two Wielders sliced through the shadow ball, ending it.

"The real Kairi would never attack Naminé!" Riku roared. "So I'm going to ask you again, who are you!"

"We are Sora and Kairi!" Anti-Sora answered wickedly, his serpentine tongue hissing out of his mouth. "The people that you knew as them are now gone, and so we are Sora and Kairi now."

"What do you mean they're gone?" Roxas asked angrily. "You'd better start making sense right now Anti, or you're gonna be in a lot of pain."

"You of all people should be able to understand what I mean, Key of Destiny," Anti sneered. "How did you come into being?"

"No!" Donald yelled; Master Yen Sid was able to see the beginnings of tears in Naminé's eyes while the court magician talked. "You can't trick us. Sora would never fall into darkness again! Never!"

"He could if the darkness of his heart was able to defeat him," Anti said.

His words were greeted by five seconds of silence.

"Yer lyin'," Goofy said, bearing his shield in front of him with a serious look on his face. "Sora'd never let _you_ beat him."

Anti laughed. "Sora is weak, and I am strong, and not only because he foolishly clings to the feeble light while I dwell in the phenomenal power of darkness. I possess something that Sora lacks, _instinct_! The killer instinct to seek battle, to revel in destruction and mayhem, and the desire to watch everything he holds dear to his heart, everything that ties him down and makes him weak, burn. I want to see it all burn!"

"That isn't instinct!" King Mickey retorted. "That is the mark of a murderous madman!"

Anti chuckled slightly. "So… a madman am I? Then I guess Kairi here is a madwoman, considering that she wants the same, right my dear?"

"Oh yes, my precious," Dark Kairi said, tiptoeing up on one foot and rubbing a hand along Anti's cheek, fondling it.

The sight made Master Yen Sid sick.

"If you are indeed Kairi," he growled. "How?"

"Yeah," Donald added. "Kairi is a Princess of Heart, she can't have a Heartless, and is there any darkness in her heart!"

Dark Kairi scowled at him. "You're both right and wrong," she said. "There was no darkness in her heart. But the Kairi you knew was tainted by darkness that Maleficent had implanted in her, making her heart even more susceptible to darkness than the other Princesses. But even a Princess of Heart can have darkness overcome her heart if she willingly jumps into the darkness herself!"

"She did what!" Yuffie asked.

"Stop tryin' to trick us," Goofy said. "Kairi'd never do that."

"But she would," Riku grumbled.

"Yes," Yen Sid began, everything making sense as he pieced it all together. "That fits."

"Uh, what fits Master Yen Sid?" Roxas asked.

"Kairi and Sora are bound more closely to each other than even the strongest love by the paopu fruit they had shared," he explained slowly. "Because of the magic of that fruit, they can spiritually appear near the other when asleep and separated by great distances, and they are able to enter the other's heart's platform. Kairi did so earlier today. If Anti did indeed defeat Sora and cast him into darkness…"

"Then Kairi would have jumped into the darkness after him," King Mickey finished grimly.

"Then she can bring him back like she did last time!" Yuffie said, her face brightening.

"I don't think so," Goofy said slowly.

"Why not?" Donald asked.

"Well," Goody started. "The last time that Sora became a Heartless, Kairi was still standin' there with us and when she called out to him, his heart switched back to light and he came back to us. But this time they're both swimming in darkness somewhere."

"And speaking of swimming in darkness," Anti spoke up. "I believe that there's another one here from the dark."

Max's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

Anti vanished from their sight momentarily, shocking the youth and almost startling Master Yen Sid and King Mickey. Riku gave a shocked splutter of sudden, intense pain as Anti appeared again under a half-second of vanishing, his right claw embedded in Riku's body.

Yuffie screamed as they all stood, transfixed and horrified.

Anti bellowed, "Xehanort! Now is your time to return to life! Leave this miserable boy's body, and come back into being!" He withdrew his clawed hand, a shining dark orb hovering in his palm.

Riku dropped to the ground, his face terribly white and clammy. His entire body was trembling, and he vomited onto the ground, the sick soaking into his silver hair and covering his face, his body too weak and in too much shock for him to even keep himself up.

Yuffie was instantly at his side, along with everyone else including Jiminy Cricket, while Master Yen Sid held back, his eyes coldly observing Anti-Sora and the dark sphere in his palm as the denizen of darkness quickly withdrew back to where Dark Kairi was waiting for him. The raven-haired kunoichi was calling Riku's name while they moved him out of the pool of his own vomit, too weak to move himself and otherwise unresponsive on the hard ground. There were tears in more eyes than just hers as she looked up at Anti Sora and Dark Kairi and slowly got to her feet. She'd been in this situation once before, and she's loathed it then.

"You fucking bastard!" she screamed, her breaking heart enraged at the suffering that had been inflicted upon Riku. Her right hand snapped out to her side, and was completely silent as she flexed her palm. Yuffie's aggression turned to stunned shock as she stared at her hand. "Come on," she hissed. "Show up already! Dammit, why won't you come to my stupid hand?"

Riku gave a slight moan on from the ground, "Yuffie," causing Yuffie to forget all about a Keyblade that would not come at her summons as she dropped down to him again. "Did you just start, 'that time of the month' Fie? Because if you did, that's why."

Yuffie's face turned bright crimson and she grabbed Riku by the scruff of his hair, yanked his head up, and slammed it back down into the hard earth. "Jackass," she muttered, "Couldn't have told me this sooner. I already knew about my ninjitsu and materia going on the fritz for four days a month, but my Keyblade too? I mean, give a girl a break, there's a reason why I wasn't swimming!"

"Too much information!" Donald said, covering up wherever his ears were with his feathered hands.

"Look!" King Mickey said suddenly, pointing out towards Anti Sora and Dark Kairi.

The orb of darkness that Anti had pulled out of Riku's heart was fluctuating in size and shape. Sickles and bolts of darkness would streak out of it as it violently started to grow and twist, quickly losing its dark colour and spherical shape in favour of that of a tall, brown-skinned man with silver hair and orange eyes.

Master Yen Sid leapt in front of the others, only King Mickey at his side. "Tessai!" the old sorcerer yelled. "Get them out! NOW!"

The same door that had opened up in the orange barrier to let them through opened up once again. A massive wind formed, blowing violently against their bodies. Everyone but Master Yen Sid and King Mickey were unable to resist the blast of air, and were sucked out of the barrier before it closed behind them again.

Xehanort's Heartless now stood beside the other two Heartless, smiling as he looked at Master Yen Sid and King Mickey Mouse standing resolutely before him. "Well, if this isn't the most wonderful present I've ever been given, a mouse and a two-bit wizard on a silver platter," he said.

"None of you will be leaving here as you are," Master Yen Sid warned, readying his wand. "That, I can guarantee you."

"Oh undoubtedly," Xehanort's Heartless said, shrugging his shoulders. "We'll be leaving here, stronger from defeating the currently most powerful Keyblade Wielder and the greatest sorcerer of light of this age."

"I don't think so," King Mickey said. "We're gonna stop you Nhaerto!"

Xehanort's Heartless frowned and dark lightning formed in his hands. "I gave up that name a long time ago, Your Majesty!" He hurled the lightning towards King Mickey just as the mouse's Keyblade appeared in his hand. The Reverse Kingdom Key glowed with white light and Mickey slashed defensively towards the lightning, splitting it in two as white sparks glanced off of the metal of his Keyblade. Anti appeared in front of King Mickey, his wide black wings stretched out in an intimidating pose as his right claw lunged for the mouse king's head.

Mickey was undaunted and saw it coming, flipping backwards before the claws could touch him. The Reverse Kingdom Key came down and slapped Anti on the wrist, forcing a hiss of pain from the Heartless.

Master Yen Sid was in front of him in an instant, flicking his wand forward. An invisible kinetic force assaulted Anti, striking the Heartless hard in the chest and pushing him back to where Xehanort's Heartless and Dark Kairi were still standing.

Outside of the barrier, the others were all able to see through and watch. Riku was slowly rising onto his knees and wiping the vomit from the corner of his mouth. He still felt terribly weak, and his body tingled weirdly from the sudden lack of all darkness in his heart.

"Sora, Kairi," he muttered. "Please come through. I know that you're both stronger than this, but I don't know if we'll be able to hold out long enough for you."

-A-D-

Darkness swirled around Sora as he sat down, hunched up with his knees to his chin. He could see his own completely naked limbs clearly, but apart from that, everything was purely black and dark. Darkness was all around him. It was above him, it was beneath him, holding him up, and it surrounded him in an enveloping cocoon. There was no light in this cave that he was trapped in, nothing that he could identify with his eyes but his own fingertips.

And it was cold, filling his body with an unearthly chill and touch. His mind was numb to all existence; outside of this dark shell and his memories (so crisp and clear in his mind it was like someone had placed them there with a sharp scalpel) there was nothing at all but the feeling of overbearing shame. Shamed that his darkness had defeated him so soundly, that he had failed himself and his friends, and even more or, that he'd failed Kairi, his one true love, and she was probably being forced to endure the most excruciating and humiliating of punishments.

All because he had failed, because he was too weak, and the darkness was too strong.

Wallowing in this misery, there was no definitive way of measuring time. In this complete darkness, Sora's entire being was brought before his eyes. The deepest and darkest thoughts of his heart, the innermost secrets buried in the recesses of his soul, every thought and feeling he'd ever had laid bare in front of him, and the ones in the direct forefront were those of his recent, complete failure.

Sora sighed after what seemed a month as he suddenly felt a sharp pang connected to Riku, and he knew that something very painful had just befallen his best friend. So he had failed Riku as well, not for the first time either. An image of Riku sprawled on the ground with many of his friends crowded around him, Yuffie calling out the silver-haired swordsman's name in shrill desperation, entered his mind and Sora spiralled further down into despair.

_Why am I even fighting anyway?_ Sora thought slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose as tears of shame at even thinking these thoughts threatened to break out of his eyes. _Darkness is eternal; it can never be defeated, so why am I even fighting against it anyway? All that this will end up doing is to destroy me, like it hasn't already, so why should I have even bothered to leave Destiny Islands?_

He sobbed and held his head in his hands, being a bit more careful with the automail left one on his face. _I should never have left, and now there's nothing left for me. Anti was right. I'm nothing. I'm worthless. I can't help my friends and I can't save the worlds, not anymore. I can't even beat my own demon. I should just give up, shrivel and die._

"That's a dangerous line of thought Sora."

The brunette looked up slowly, meagre curiosity the only reason for him to do so, as wallowing in pity and despair strangely seemed far more appealing than hearing whatever some strange voice that he'd never heard before had to say. What had given him real reason to bring up his head was a sudden sound, the sound of a string _twanging_ in a musical note.

There was a person sitting perched in front of him, her left side facing him as she brought slender fingers across a silver harp. Rich and long green tresses left a beautiful, smiling young face, her hair tied back into a ponytail that twisted to sit across her left shoulder. A modest lilac robe covered her body and hung loosely down the side closest to Sora, revealing a darker purple pair of pants and shoes, and a long-sleeved t-shirt of the same colour above a golden belt. Hanging down from her ears were tiny glittering diamond earrings composed of three circular stones, arrayed so that two were bound beneath the first. Shining brown eyes gazed out of him as she played on her harp, its haunting melody drawing Sora in, removing all of his thoughts as he gazed at her and the harp, enchanted by the music. She couldn't have been more than twenty.

She giggled as Sora found himself lost in the wordless song that had ensnared him, and eventually she began to sing a tune in a soft voice. Sora had never heard the song before, and the melody was haunting his mind, but he listened to the song more intently than any song he'd ever listened to before.

"_Out of the mist of history,  
__He'll come again.  
__Sailing on ships across the sea,  
__To a wounded nation._

_Signs of a saviour,  
__Like fire on the water.  
__It's what we prayed for,  
__One of our own._

_Just wait, though wide he may roam,  
__Always, a hero comes home.  
__He goes, where no one has gone,  
__But always, a hero comes home._

_Deep in the heart of darkness sparks,  
__A dream of light.  
__Surrounded by hopelessness he finds,  
__The will to fight._

_There's no surrender;  
__Always remember:  
__It doesn't end here;  
__We're not alone!_

_Just wait, though wide he may roam,  
__Always, a hero comes home.  
__He goes, where no one has gone,  
__But always, a hero comes home._

_And he will come back on a crimson tide,  
__Dead or alive.  
__And even though we know that the bridge has burned,  
__He will return,  
__He will return!_

_Just wait, though wide he may roam,  
__Always, a hero comes home.  
__He knows, of places unknown,  
__But always, a hero comes home._

_Someday they'll carve in stone:  
_'_The hero comes home,'  
__He goes, and comes back alone,  
__But always, a hero comes home._

_Just wait, though wide he may roam,  
__Always, a hero comes home!"_

She finished her song, and slowly continued to pluck away mystically on her harp. "Do you know who I was just singing about Sora?" she asked. Her voice was ageless, fluttery and sweet, and heavenly like a goddess' in the darkness.

Sora found himself being taken away with just the sound of it as he struggled to find words to answer her. His tongue flapped idly against the roof of his mouth, and eventually he closed the gaping hole and meekly shook his head. The young woman giggled again and shrugged her shoulders in a gesture that seemed very cute.

"I'll give you a hint," she said, her fingers now making a soothing melody with the stringed instrument in front of her. She seemed to be lying down in a tree branch against a strong, thick trunk with the way she was situated. "The person I just sang about, said these words:"

A different voice, one that Sora was barely able to recognize echoed through the darkness to reach his ears. _"You're wrong! The heart may be weak, and sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down there's a light that never goes out!"_

Sora's eyes widened as he recognized the words and he looked up. _So where is the light?_

"The light is not a physical object in your heart," another voice said, and Sora turned his head to look at the speaker. There was a massive lion standing there, his coat and mane the purest of silver, while deep blue eyes shone clearly to cut through the darkness to pierce Sora's own. Around the great beast's neck, hanging underneath his proud full mane, hung a pendant Sora recognized all too clearly, a silver three-pointed crown.

"Remember Sora," the lion said forcefully, urging him on with a commanding voice. "Remember Sora. Remember what the light in your heart really is."

"Oh, you're going to scare him—– ––—" the girl pouted, almost stopping in playing her harp.

"He needs this—– ––—" the lion answered her. "If he doesn't, then there's no telling what might happen."

Sora looked blankly between the two and finally voiced the question that had been on his mind. "Who are you?"

The girl looked at the lion as he looked at her, and together they sighed. "So our true names still cannot reach you?" the girl asked ruefully. "How many times must we call to you Sora?"

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked.

"Right now, it does not matter," the lion said softly. "You still have not gained enough control over the powers of Twilight; only when you have, our voices have a chance to reach your ears. What does matter now is that you have forgotten Sora, without even knowing that you have."

Sora shook his head. "I don't understand," he said, shivering in the cold that froze his body.

"Think Sora!" the lion insisted, coming closer. Sora could see his rows of vicious, razor-sharp teeth, but they did not frighten him. "Think!"

"About what?" Sora asked flatly. "If you aren't going to tell me, then I am not going to bother."

"Light and Darkness are not physical Sora," the girl said, quickly striking up a soothing melody on her harp, drawing Sora's attention towards her. "Light and Darkness are spiritual. Certain things give off light in our hearts, and certain things give off darkness. You can no longer see the light, and so you are wallowing in despair and pity, surrounded by negative, dark thoughts."

"Remember Sora!" the lion urged again. "Remember! What is the source of your strength? What is the source of power that all Keyblade Wielders who do not drop down into darkness draw from? If it is not your very own Keyblades, then what gave you the strength and courage to fight in the first place!"

Sora stared blankly at the lion. He was racking his mind to find an answer, but none would come. He could not figure out an answer to the lion's question. Every memory he had was within his mind, easily accessible to him, but for some reason as he inwardly stared and examined his memories of battling with the Keyblade he could not come up with an answer. Faces and scenes flew through his mind, but for some reason he could not recognize any of them, and the words that they obviously were speaking were silent. He tried harder, but the tighter he grasped at the memories, the more silent and faded they became, until they were nothing more than a hazy mist.

"Remember Sora!"

Sora snapped his eyes open and glared at the silver cat. "What do you want from me?" he asked angrily. "You keep saying, 'Remember' like it's a big and important word. Well what do you want me to remember? I don't even know who you are, and right now, I can't really remember anything, so what's the—"

Sora stopped, as just then he heard something much closer at hand, an alto singing voice that struck a chord of longing in his heart.

"_Walking all alone,  
__As the Sun goes down.  
__Days will come and go,  
__With my love yet to be found."_

Sora looked around, searching for the beautiful voice as the lion growled lowly in exasperation. "I'm going to hit him," he grumbled as the mysterious voice sang.

"It's not his fault," the girl said, plucking away at her harp. "He's forgetting, just as he did last time."

"_Oh I wish,  
__I could cast a spell,  
__To bring him to me,  
__I would chant so well."_

Sora stood up from where he had been sitting, and started to walk in what he thought was the direction of the voice. It was slightly difficult to tell, as it echoed all around, but his feet carried him regardless in a single direction, a path that he knew was the right one. He could hear the lion and girl talking behind him, but their words were meaningless to him now. All that mattered was finding the person who was enchanting him with their voice.

"_Sacred water flow from me to draw him ever near;  
__Endless rivers run to the sea, his path to me is clear.  
__Magic saturates my words I pray that he will hear;  
__My love, there is nothing left to fear!"_

And then out of the gloom he spotted her: a girl about his age with beautiful auburn hair that graced her shoulder blades and ran a little ways down past her clavicle, the tips curving at the top of her bosom. She was as gloriously nude as he was, though for the place of their meeting, lost deep in the fog of the perpetual abyss of darkness, all were completely bared, and such trivial things as clothes never crossed any minds. To Sora, at that moment, it was the most natural of things…

And this singing girl was the most beautiful creature in all existence.

She was not alone either. Standing with her was a man that rose above her by five inches at the least, dark hair tied back into a swishing tail that ended pointedly at the small of his back, overtop the man's crisp white suit with a small cape clasped around his neck by a white crown with three points.

Sora paid him no mind as the goddess continued to sing.

"_Won't you come to me, how I long for you,  
__Will we ever be lovers true?  
__Are you strong enough, to accept my love?  
__As I wait I dream of you."_

She ceased in her singing, and the girl's gossamer eyelids slowly fluttered open, revealing to Sora shining pearls of indigo. She nearly started as she looked at him, and Sora just realized that his mouth was gaping open and quickly shut it.

"Hello," she said, sounding surprised. "How are you?"

"Please don't stop singing," Sora implored her. "Your voice makes this cold and dreary place so much warmer."

The girl smiled and came a little closer, realizing that he was friendly. "Thank you," she said. "What's your name?"

Sora shook his head. "That doesn't matter right now. What's yours?"

She giggled slightly at the way he dodged her question. "I'm Kairi," she answered him.

"Kairi," Sora echoed, the name sounding so wonderful that he had to say it aloud. "That's a beautiful name, for a very beautiful girl."

The girl, Kairi, was right up to him now, and she blushed at his comment. "Thank you."

"So what are you doing here?" Sora asked her.

Kairi bit her lower lip and rubbed her shoulder with a slender hand. "I'm looking for someone important to me," she answered, "there's something important that I have to tell him, but right now, I can't remember what it is, or even who the person I'm supposed to tell it to is."

Sora sighed, slightly put out that she already had someone special, but then his eyes brightened. "Well, maybe I can help you look for him," he offered.

Kairi looked up at him in surprise. Her eyes smiled more than her lips. "You will?"

Sora smiled and nearly laughed at the look on her face. "Of course I will Kairi," he said.

"Could I get your name first?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as Sora's hand unconsciously went to hers.

The man who had been with Kairi came up to them. "Oh come on Kairi," he said in irritation. "You cannot tell me that you do not remember who this is."

"But I don't," she answered simply. "I can't remember him; I've only just met him. And I still don't know who you are."

"Tell me about it," Sora said, jerking his head back the way he came, where two beings were still quite visible only about twenty feet away in the darkness. "I've got no clue who those two back there are, and they just showed up and started talking to me out of the blue."

"Or black, given how this dark place looks, stranger," Kairi said, emphasising the point that he still hadn't given her his name.

Sora smiled in embarrassment for a second. "Sorry Kai, I'm Sora."

She allowed her fingers to entwine with his and huffed slightly in curiosity as she cocked her head to one side. "Hm, your name sounds familiar to me, and you know Sora, you just called me 'Kai' instead of 'Kairi'."

Sora nodded after a moment. "I guess I did," he said. "It just seemed to fit. Are you sure we haven't met before?"

"I'm positive," the redhead answered him as they started to amble through the darkness, looking for this special person of Kairi's.

The man that had been with Kairi strode over to the silver lion and young woman with the harp, a scowl on his face. "Have you ever seen two denser people before in your lives?" he asked. "I can't believe them. They're standing right in front of each other and they don't even know who the other person even is!"

"It's because they've pretty much lost their memories," the lion grumbled. "Though it is odd, they are not forming Nobodies so there is no reason for their memories to leave them. It's almost as if the darkness itself is sucking them away."

"I'm surprised that you're even out here," the young woman said, plucking at her harp. "You usually don't like to show yourself much."

"I'm not about to let my Wielder wander the darkness by herself while she's losing her mind," the man grumbled as the sounds of Sora and Kairi chatting drifted over to them through the darkness over the sound of the harp. "And would you stop playing that thing!"

The girl frowned at him and her fingers left her instrument, allowing the last melodic note to linger in the darkness before fading away. "Why have you always hated my harp?" she asked.

"Because now is not the time for playing that silly stringy thing!" he answered sharply.

"Oh fooie," the girl huffed, folding her arms and leaning back against her invisible tree trunk. "Every single time we see each other, it's apparently never the right time for me to play my harp."

"Of course it isn't!" he said. "We need to be making them remember their strength."

The lion was silently watching the two argue, knowing it best not to speak.

The girl leaned down and looked at the man in his crisp, clean white suit, shining like a sore thumb amidst the black landscape. "Now you listen here," she said, a slight warning in her tone, "I have been borne by far more Wielders than you have, ones that are completely true to the principles of why Tylythia created us. And all I have to say to you is that we cannot force them to remember anything."

"Yes we can!" the man argued.

"We cannot!" the lion roared, barging in and startling the man. "She is right. We cannot force a memory out of them, nor can we force them to regain their light. They need to do it themselves, no matter how dense they both are."

"You haven't seen the half of how bad this kid is," the girl told them, a slight moan in her voice. "But, he's with his light now, and all it will take will be one tiny prod in the right direction, and all of the pieces will fall back into place. All it will take is time."

"But how much time?" the man asked concernedly, looking towards where Sora and Kairi were, slowly walking through the darkness in their search for Kairi's important person.

-A-D-

Anti's clawed hand reached out to strike the boy with scarlet hair, his sharp claws ready to pierce completely through the boy's body. Jinta dodged to the side, faster than Anti had expected (as had been the situation for the past four minutes of fighting him), and jumped right over Anti, his massive steel bat ready in his hands.

Jinta turned around, raising the bat above his head. "Jinta Home Run!" he yelled, swinging it down. With an almighty _crack_ the bat struck Anti in the back of the head, and the Heartless made the short distance to the hard earth in under half of a second before he ploughed through the rock and dirt for several metres.

"Ha," Jinta said, smirking, "finally got the creep."

There was a flash of darkness from the spot where Anti had skidded to a stop and Jinta's face lost all smugness as he quickly brought his bat in front of his body. He was not a moment too soon in doing so, as Anti's claws struck the bat dead on, the Heartless' horns mere inches away from Jinta's forehead as he looked closely at the boy.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't quite hear you, what did you say? That you'd gotten me?"

"Scream, Benihime!"

Anti looked to his left as he saw a crimson slice of energy heading straight for him. He pulled back and away just before it could strike him, and the energy sliced into the ground, making a deep gouge in it. Kisuke Urahara ran up to Jinta and stood next to him.

"You alright?" he asked, a sword with an ornate hilt and a sliced tip grasped in his right hand.

"Yeah," Jinta said, though he was still shocked at how quickly Anti had countered him. "I'll be alright boss." The boy looked off to his right at the sound of explosions and saw Ururu falling back and away from Dark Kairi, the girl's fists aflame with smoky tendrils of darkness as she raged at the little girl with furious punches. Ururu was just slightly quicker as she fell back, her massive missile launcher firing repeatedly at the Heartless. Dark Kairi's flaming fist connected squarely against a missile that would have struck her in the chest and the device's explosive payload detonated, with Dark Kairi streaking out of the cloud of smoke and dust without a scratch on her. But even as Dark Kairi streaked out, she was met by a punch to the head from the little girl that sent her to the ground, rolling over the hard rocky earth for over twenty-five metres before she skidded to a halt.

Urahara looked up as Anti hovered in the air on his massive wings, two massive balls of darkness forming in his hands, their dark energies spilling out uncontained. "Oh?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Anti roared and threw his arms out towards Urahara and Jinta, two waves of darkness spilling out of his limbs on a direct line for the pair. Urahara grasped Jinta by his shirt and vanished from the spot seconds before the waves of darkness became a single solid wall and slammed into the earth, missing him and the boy completely.

"Now, do you really think that you can hit me with something like that?" Urahara asked, appearing in the air behind Anti, still holding onto the boy with his left hand. He slashed out with his sword, and Anti disappeared a decisecond before it would have connected with a wing.

Urahara flashed a look to his left and threw Jinta in the air, calling the boy's name out.

"You got it boss," he answered, smirking. Anti appeared directly in Jinta's path and only a few metres away from the boy. He was too stunned to see the scarlet-haired boy flying towards him that he couldn't even muster up the resolve to move out of the way as Jinta's bat wound up and bashed the Heartless across the side of the head.

Outside of the barrier, the others were watching with amazement, just as they had watched Master Yen Sid and King Mickey battle against Dark Kairi and Anti. Riku was barely able to stand, and was complaining about feeling rather hot and light-headed, even a little sick. Yuffie was supporting him, and Roxas, Naminé, Donald, Goofy, Max, Jiminy Cricket, and Aiwemon and Menelmon were watching the battle inside with baffled mouths and wide eyes. Master Yen Sid and King Mickey had fought against them for twenty minutes, neither of them getting so much as a scratch from Anti or Dark Kairi (as Xehanort's Heartless had held back and watched for the entirety) before Urahara had decided that he wanted his turn for beating them up to come around. He, Ururu, and Jinta had been inside for the last six minutes, and so far, the three were still holding pretty strong and did not look like they were giving up much of a sweat.

"I think ya found the right guys to train them Master," King Mickey said, looking up at the sorcerer.

Inside of the barrier, and unable to see outside of it, Xehanort's Heartless was watching both Anti and Dark Kairi with narrowed eyes.

-A-D-

Sora glanced at Kairi with a smile as she held onto him while they wandered through the darkness, looking for the important person that she had talked about. She had her head resting on his shoulder, and had said earlier that while this darkness was terribly cold to her, that just being near him made her feel warm and fluttery inside. Sora had told her the same, which was why his right arm was wrapped around her slender waist, his fingers occasionally dancing across her bare skin to tickle her and elicit a playful shriek and a laugh from her lips, a laugh that made his heart soar and float above imaginary pink clouds.

"You know," Kairi said aloud, "I don't know if we're ever going to find him." She sighed and looked up at Sora, but she was still smiling.

"Don't think like that Kairi," he told her. "We'll find him."

"It doesn't really matter anymore," answered Kairi, snuggling against him, "because I think I've found someone new that's important to me. If the other guy was so important, he wouldn't have left me to look for him in this place."

"Maybe he had his reasons for leaving," Sora said, slowing to a stop as Kairi did. "Maybe they were very good reasons."

Kairi frowned. "I don't think so," she said slowly, letting go of Sora and sitting down. "From what I can remember, which isn't much, I think he lost at something, and then just gave up, you know?"

Sora sat down next to her. "I think I know what you mean," he said. "I can't remember much either, but there was this one girl I knew who gave up one time, and I was really worried about her."

"Really?" Kairi asked. "What was she like?"

Sora frowned. "I can't really remember," he said, "but she did have red hair, kinda like yours except shorter."

Kairi sighed wistfully. "She must have been pretty," she said, smiling at Sora and blushing slightly, "to catch the eye of a handsome guy like you."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Handsome? I don't know, look at me! I've got hair hanging down in my eyes, I've got this weird metal arm, and I haven't shaved a da—" He stopped as Kairi's hand came to the side of his face and turned it towards her. All he could see was her eyes for a second before they closed and her lips gently touched his.

Sora's hands went to her face and held her, drawn in completely at the feel and tiny taste of strawberries on the girl's lips. At this close distance, his nose could pick up the faintest trace of that berry's smell as well, and the sensation was enough for him to softly kiss her lips back, as sweetly and gently as the coo of a dove.

His body shivered, but not from cold, as the chill of the darkness had long since left his body, but from the surge of warmth that ran through his body, its epicentre the very spot where the girl's lips had touched, aftershocks starting from where her fingers cupped the back of his head, and wherever a tiny bit of flesh on either of them graced the other. The warmth was as soothing and soft as a patch of sunlight on the grass amidst a field of flowers and a sky filled with fluffy clouds.

Slowly, Sora opened his quivering eyelids and gazed at the goddess in front of him, who was only barely grazing her bottom lip with white teeth. "Well I think that you're the most handsome person I've ever met," she said.

"And you are the most beautiful girl that I've ever laid eyes on," Sora answered. "Ir—"

"Oh come on!"

Both of them looked up, spotting the man and lion standing only a few metres away from them, and neither of them looking too happy. The young woman with green hair was again perched up as if she was in a tree, her fingers positioned _just_ so that they were not touching the strings of her silver harp, but if she moved them even the slightest, they would grace the darkness with a melody of music.

"You've kissed each other and you still do not remember?" the man growled. "Maybe you're both weaker than I thought."

"Remember what?" Kairi asked, her voice filled with disinterest. "You've never given me any reason to try and remember anything Mr. Grouchy."

"Mr. Grou—" the man spluttered. He grunted and started to mutter under his breath before shooting Kairi a look. "I asked you this before Kairi, why do you want to fight?"

"Want to fight?" Kairi asked in amusement. "Don't be silly. Why would I fight, and what would I fight against? There's nothing to fight here, except maybe you, and I don't want to fight you at all, even if you do annoy me."

"How about fighting the darkness?" the lion asked, looking towards Sora. "Would you fight the darkness young man?"

Sora gave him the same humourous look that Kairi had on her face. "What? Fight the darkness? You must be insane. How can you fight darkness, especially by yourself? There's nothing to fight darkness with."

"There is light," the young woman said, moving her fingers and bringing a melody into their place of residence.

"Light?" Kairi asked, glancing at Sora. "Don't be ridiculous, I don't see any light around here. Everything around us is the same old drab shade of black darkness. There is no light in this place."

The lion raised his head skyward for a moment and groaned. "In the name of our creator Tylythia, how did they forget this much in such a short amount of time?"

"Falling into darkness does that to people," the young woman answered matter-of-factly. "But still," she continued, glancing back down towards the two youth, "would you fight, against the darkness?"

"No," Kairi answered at once.

"Maybe," Sora shrugged. "If there was a good enough reason to."

"By yourself?" the man asked him.

"If I had to, or if I felt like it," Sora answered.

"Wrong answer," the young woman in her invisible tree stated. Her voice gained a haunting aspect that pierced into Sora as she began to speak again.

"_Stars for the sky;  
__Flowers for the earth;  
__Love for human beings._

_Everything in this world is connected;  
__No one can fight alone."_

She remained silent after finishing, and continued to play her harp while watching them both, intently.

"No one can fight alone?" Kairi asked. "Those words sound a little familiar, except I remember someone saying to me once, that I will never fight alone. But why was I fighting?" she asked herself, looking at Sora as if he had an answer for her.

"I don't know Iri," he whispered. Kairi's eyes opened extremely wide at the name.

"All it takes," the young woman playing the harp softly murmured, "is a tiny prod in the right direction."

"Sora?" she asked. "Sora is it you?"

"Huh?" Sora asked, frowning. "What's gotten into you Kairi?"

"Remember Sora!" the lion urged one last time. "Kairi's memories are returning to her now. Remember!"

"Remember what?" Sora asked.

The great cat gave a thunderous roar in exasperation at Sora's thick-headedness.

Sora's eyes widened as something clicked in his mind. He'd heard a roar like that before, except that the roar he remembered was proud and majestic. A memory flashed into his mind of a King among lions roaring out from the tip of the promontory of a great rock in the middle of a savannah. And then he saw himself bowing to the lion, along with two others next to him, a flying bird and a turtle.

Another memory flashed into his mind, of an anthropomorphic dog standing protectively in front of a younger version of himself, a round shield stopping a blue ball of energy from striking Sora. _"Sora ain't gonna go anywhere,"_ the dog was saying. There was a pause, as if someone was speaking to him, and then the dog began to speak again. _"Not on yer life. But I'm not gonna betray Sora either 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together."_ The dog turned around while he was speaking, and was smiling at Sora as he gave him a thumbs-up. _"See ya later Donald!"_ he continued, _"can you tell the King I'm really sorry?"_

"_Hold on Goofy!"_ a quack-like voice started. _"We'll tell him together!"_ An anthropomorphic duck ran up and stopped in front of Sora. _"Well, you know, all for one and one for all."_

The dog looked back at him, _"I guess you're stuck with us Sora."_

Another flash, and Sora saw himself before a massive red, blue, and purple ship, a grotesque head at its head, and Xehanort's Heartless floating in the air at its end in front of a mammoth Guardian, black cords connected into his body. Sora was falling down into darkness, when a familiar voice spoke out to him. _Giving up already? Come on Sora. I thought you were stronger than that._

The scene changed again, and this time Sora was standing on an Island crumbling away into darkness, and standing with him were two girls who looked exactly the same, wearing white sundresses and sporting locks of silky white-blonde hair. One was transparent, and was talking to him, while the other had her back turned to him. _"Think Sora. Think just one more time, about who's most special to you. Call out to that piece of memory that glimmers faintly deep inside your heart. No matter how far away the light gets, your heart's voice will always reach it."_

Sora appeared to be answering the question when something in his hand glowed brightly with light. He looked down, and when the light stopped shining he was holding a star made of thalassa shells in his palm, the shells coloured to have a face on it, topped with brown hair. He looked over at the girl that had her back turned to him, and when he did she changed into a different girl with red hair, smiling at him from behind indigo eyes.

Another memory came into his mind. He was standing with the same blonde girl from before, and he was inside of a large white flower-pod shaped device while the girl was speaking to him. _"You made another promise to someone, who you could never replace. She is your light, the light within the darkness. Remember her, and all the memories lost in the shadows of your heart will come into the light."_

_My light?_ Sora thought as the scene vanished, and was replaced instead with the darkness he was currently within.

"Remember Sora," the lion echoed. "Remember. Who is your light? What is your power? Why did you fail to defeat your darkness?"

Sora's eyes snapped open as his mind was filled with a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. "My friends are my power! Kairi is my light! And I lost to Anti because I tried to fight him by myself, because I was stubborn and pushed those I was close to away from me instead of accepting their help."

The lion and young woman playing the harp both beamed at him and his answer as Sora's cerulean blue eyes burned with a fierce intensity. Everything came back to him now, and Sora swept away the feelings of pity and shame that had haunted him earlier.

"Sora?"

The fire died from his eyes as he heard a voice he did not expect, right next to his ear. He whipped his head around and saw Kairi leaning next to him.

"Kairi?" he asked, looking at her. Then his eyes noticed what she was wearing, and what he was wearing.

Sora's face turned completely red and his hands flew down to his groin while he rolled away, yelling, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Sora why did you—?" Kairi began to ask, before she shrieked, obviously realizing the same thing that he did. "What did you see you pervert!"

"I don't know! Did we do something and I don't remember it!" Sora asked, his head going over his shoulder.

"Don't look!" Kairi screamed. Sora froze and returned his head to its previous position.

"Shit, what the hell is going on?" he asked.

"You two are thicker than a pair of boulders!" a foreign voice yelled. Sora almost glanced over his shoulder to search for the masculine voice's owner, before remembering Kairi's words and stopped.

Kairi was able to see him though, and her hysterical voice reached him clear as crystal. "What the heck are _you_ doing here? Don't look you perverted Keyblade!"

"What do you mean, 'Keyblade'?" Sora asked, not daring to look. His voice was ignored.

"Are you trying to tell me that you can't—?"

"I said turn around you jerk!"

"If this is how you're going to act, then I hope that you never learn my true name," the voice grumbled.

"Come on," an ageless and sweet female voice (that Sora remarked sounded highly and recently familiar) began to speak. "We all know that you don't want her to die either."

_Wait, die?_

Sora began to turn his head towards Kairi. "Do you know what she's talk—"

"Don't look Sora!" Kairi yelled forcefully, stopping his words in his tracks as Sora hurriedly complied, bringing his head back down.

"Well you'd better stop looking over here, like you obviously are, because this is humiliating!" Sora retorted.

The silver lion roared. "Oh grow up, both of you!" he snapped. "You cannot tell me that neither of you has never seen a naked body before."

"That's not the point!" Sora yelled. "This is a terrible experience that I would rather not be having!"

"What do you mean a _terrible experience you'd rather not be having_?" Kairi asked, suddenly sounding insulted. "Are you not attracted to me when I'm naked! How are we ever going to have sex if you find me repulsive?"

Sora's eyes widened to their maximum extent and nearly looked over his shoulder, but thought better of it. He could not believe the words coming out of Kairi's mouth. Was the girl even able to think rationally? Then again, was _he_ able to think rationally? "What are you asking me Kairi? Because right now, I do not know what I'm supposed to think."

Kairi was silent for just over a second, so Sora decided to peek over his shoulder to make sure that she was still there. He had barely caught a glance of her when she shrieked again and he ducked his head back down and hunched himself up even more. "Stop looking you idiot!" she yelled.

"Well what do you want from me?" Sora retorted. "First you don't want me to look, then you ask me if I find you attractive when you're naked and started talking about sex! Dammit Kairi make up your mind as to if you're comfortable with being naked in front of me or not because right now we're both in the same stupid situation!"

"Well what about you?" she returned.

Sora was quiet for a second and his face slowly grew hotter as he contemplated the insane idea forming in his mind. He knew he wasn't thinking rationally as the crazy idea won. "Screw it," he said loudly. "I'm closing my eyes and rolling over. I don't care anymore."

"Don't close your eyes and don't move!" Kairi ordered. "That's the stupidest idea you've ever had."

"Don't care," Sora repeated, jamming his eyes shut and doing exactly as he said he was going to do, placing his hands back behind his head.

There was a sharp intake of breath and a terrified shriek through the nothingness that Sora could see with closed eyelids. His face burned, and he fully planned to kill himself after this day was over. "Sora you idiot, turn around again!"

"Don't care anymore," he said again, slowly cracking open his eyes and looking towards where he'd heard the shriek. Kairi was hanging her head and had one hand drawn over her eyes while the other was holding said head.

"Oh, my goodness… Sora," Kairi was muttering. "You are… just… oh man why?"

"I can see you, you know," he said.

Kairi's head popped back up and her cheeks glowed bright red. "Stop looking you pervert!" she said as her hands began to fly all over her body and she turned herself around. "Jerk!"

"I don't find you repulsive," Sora said softly.

Kairi's head slowly looked back over her shoulder, her eyes completely fixed on his eyes. "What?"

"You asked if I found you repulsive when you don't have any clothes on," Sora said, just as softly as before. "My answer is that I don't. You're still as beautiful as you always are, maybe even more, because it's just you."

Kairi didn't appear to know how to respond to that. After several seconds her previously furiously scarlet face dropped down to a tender shade of pink. "Thank you."

"Are you both done behaving like children?" the man in the white suit and cape asked.

"But we're only sixteen!" Kairi said.

"And in many places, considered old and mature enough to make those kinds of decisions," the girl with the harp said. "And I suppose that you both are if you get the idea into your heads that you want to, but that's not where we want this conversation to be going."

"Kairi," she continued, still strumming on her harp, "wasn't there a reason that you jumped into the darkness after Sora? Something important that you wanted to tell someone special to you?"

Kairi blinked for a second, and she turned around completely to look at Sora. He watched her closely, his eyes inspecting her face. Her cheeks were twitching, and she seemed to be tensing up as that upper lip of hers closed over the bottom one, unmistakably biting it slightly. He thought that he could see tears coming to her eyes.

Sora got onto his feet and started to come towards her. "Kairi, what's wrong?" he asked, reaching a hand out towards her face.

She shied away at the touch of his automail against her cheek, and Sora felt a tiny stab in his heart. "Talk to me Iri," he croaked. "Please."

Kairi looked at him, and Sora saw that the tears he thought he'd seen were real, and that they were now falling. Her soft hand went underneath his long bangs and held his cheek. "I don't know how to tell you this Sora," she said, her voice sounding forced and on the verge of breaking into sobs, "but I'm going to die."

Sora was confused. "But we all die," he reasoned. "We're mortal, we all—"

"No Sora," Kairi cut him off. "I'm going to die much sooner than that. I've been told, that I'll be the one to defeat Maleficent this time, but that I'm going to die doing it."

Kairi sighed as she finished speaking, and Sora saw her look at him expectantly as she nearly bit her bottom lip off, the tears once more threatening to become a waterfall from her eyes.

Sora stared at Kairi impassively. There were no words to describe how he felt about what Kairi had just told him. He could have listed off a dozen different adjectives, but none of them would have been able to convey his feelings properly, so he did the only possible alternative that came to mind.

He laughed.

Kairi looked as if he'd just slapped her in the face, and proceeded to do just that when Sora found that he couldn't stop laughing. "What are you doing?" she asked. "This isn't funny Sora!" Stop mocking me!"

"But it is funny Iri," he said, looking at her and smiling. "Because I don't believe it."

"You'd better be joking," she said, shaking her head with an open mouth.

Sora folded his arms. "If I was joking I would say: 'A bear and a rabbit are taking a shit in the woods. The bear looks down at the rabbit and asks, 'You ever have a problem with shit sticking to your fur?' The rabbit looks at the bear and says, 'No.' So the bear wipes his ass with the rabbit.' But I'm not joking," he said loudly through the laughter that Kairi had just let out, "because I don't believe a word of it!"

Kairi was having a hard time controlling her giggles when she looked up at Sora again. "So you're in denial?"

"No," Sora told her pointedly. "Kairi, I've lost you across the worlds twice, had to cross an ocean to find you once, plunged my heart into this very darkness to give you your heart back, been brought back from being a Heartless just by your voice, had all of my memories messed with and was still able to remember you deep down, _and_ even after I stupidly broke up with you I still couldn't get rid of you. If you honestly think that you're going to go and die on me then something in your head is messed up."

Kairi seemed unable to believe what he had just said. "But—but Thessaura—!"

"Who cares?" Sora asked, blowing it off. "If it's supposed to be impossible, then we'll prove them wrong and do it. We've done it before and we can do it again. And the more impossible, the better."

He smiled, and at once Kairi gave him the biggest smile she'd ever given him before throwing herself on him and planting her lips on his. Sora folded his right arm around her shoulders and cupped her head to his with his automail left, while Kairi's hands squeezed his shoulders closer to her, their bodies pressing right up against each other, both of them as uncaring as when they could not remember who the other was in the darkness. Sora could tell that he had just made Kairi the happiest woman in all the worlds.

He only hoped that further down the road, he would be able to again.

The man in the white suit coughed, breaking them apart from each other. "There is still darkness for you both to purge from your hearts," he said.

The lion nodded at them as both teenagers nodded at the man's words. "The Crown Star Wielder of Twilight," he said, looking between them, "and the Crown Star Wielder of Light. You both have the strength that you will need to survive this battle, and the war, so long as you keep your friends close and each other even closer."

Sora hugged Kairi to him with one arm. "No worries there," he said jovially.

"Twilight," the girl with the harp mused, stroking the instrument as her fingers still strummed on it. "I've never been held by the Twilight Wielder before. Falling from light into darkness, and then returning to light only to later fall into darkness again, to be brought back to the light once more, yet never has the darkness held any power or dominion over you, a completely untainted individual. Perhaps this is why you are the first Twilight Wielder to have ever appeared."

"What?" Sora asked.

"Never mind what she has said Sora," the lion told him. "If you do not want the cycle she just said to continue, if you want to fill your heart with light and never be bothered by darkness within your heart again, then you know what must be done."

"Right," Sora said. He looked at Kairi. "Let's go Kairi. We've got some bad guys to thrash, together."

-A-D-

Urahara narrowed his eyes and reached out his hands to hold back Jinta and Ururu. Anti and Dark Kairi had both stopped dead in their tracks and were starting to shudder.

"I defeated you Sora!" Anti shouted into the air. "You cannot come back from the darkness. There is no light for you to fight me with. Your heart is too weak; I won't be defeated by you!"

A voice that Urahara had never heard before filled the air. _"You've always had it wrong Anti. The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But deep down, there's a light that never goes out! I'd lost sight of it in our battle, but I have it again, and now I'm going to fight you with my true strength, with all of my friends behind me!"_

Anti gave a howl as his body started to change. He was shrinking, and it looked like he was peeling off of his own body, the black skin leaving to reveal the white skin of a boy who was somewhat tanned from hours spent outside in sunlight. The same thing was happening to Dark Kairi, the darkness cracking away and leaving the body, returning it to what it had looked like before.

Within a minute the bodies of both had reverted completely back into coloured flesh and blood, their bodies clad in white linen shirts and dirt-brown pants. In their hands each of them gripped a sword the likes of which Urahara had only heard tales of, and their eyes were set towards their dark counterparts, who despite having left their bodies devoid of all darkness, still existed and threatened them, complete entities composed solely of darkness.

"Hey Kairi," the boy said lightly, glancing towards the girl as both of their dark forms glanced at each other apprehensively, "do you remember that deal you made with me back on my platform?"

"I think I do," she said, "why do you ask?"

"How about we change it up a little?" Sora suggested. "The first one to make a kill, regardless of which Heartless it is, is the one who is treated to dinner. Sound good?"

"Get your wallet ready Sora," answered Kairi, "Because I'm hungry for some payback."

Sora removed one hand from his Keyblade. "Oh, and speaking of payback," he said, holding something up. "I found this thing poking into my heart. Here Anti, you can have this back if you think it'll help you win." Sora tossed his hand out towards Anti, a tiny piece of dark metal flying through the air.

Xehanort's Heartless suddenly held out his hand and the sliver that the morgul knife had left in Sora changed direction and flew directly into his outstretched hand, the Heartless snatching it between two fingers. "Thank you Sora," he said, attracting the boy's attention for the first time. "Even though you obviously still know nothing, I always knew that there would be a use for you."

"What do you want Xehanort?" Sora growled. "The first beating we gave you wasn't enough?"

"No," Xehanort's Heartless answered, smiling. "But before you try and touch me with that Keyblade of yours, first I think I'd like to watch Maleficent's little war fail. And she can do that without the help of your Heartless, either of yours."

He held out the sliver of the morgul knife towards the two, and both of them started to unravel into wisps of darkness that flowed into the tiny piece of metal, the last looks on either of their faces disbelief that he was doing such a thing to them.

Sora stood rooted to the ground, horrified at what Xehanort's Heartless was doing, and even more stunned that he was able to do it.

When there was no longer a trace of either Anti or the Dark Kairi, the Heartless of Xehanort started to laugh and began to vanish into darkness himself.

The orange barrier opened up quickly and King Mickey and Master Yen Sid ran inside along with all of the others except for Tessai. "Stop him!" the King ordered.

Sora obeyed immediately, rushing towards the fading Heartless with Remembrance bared in front of him, his Keyblade burning with silver fire. He threw his flaming weapon at Xehanort's Heartless, the Keyblade leaving a trail of silver fire behind it, but the raid passed right through its target as he faded away into nothingness, leaving them all with a haunting and echoing laughter.

For many minutes after the laughter had died they stood scowling at the spot where the Heartless of Xehanort, a man who had terrorized the worlds several times before, had slipped away. They were all silent until Yuffie glanced at Sora and said, "Hey Sora, what's with that big bump on the side of your head?"

Sora looked at her quizzically. "Huh?"

And then he blacked out as what felt like a train ran him over.

-A-D-

_Um, again, the story has a way of being its own, because I anticipated a throw-down between Sora, Kairi, and their counterparts, and also did not see Kairi getting a Heartless herself. Guess Xehanort's a bigger douchebag than Anti is, because while Anti won round one, Xehanort denied me the battle I wanted. Oh well, guess that battle will have to wait until far into the future._

_Disney just bought Marvel for $4Billion. So guess what that means. Spiderman, Ironman, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic 4, the X-Men, they're all Disney characters now, along with every other Marvel comic superhero and supervillain._

_Are you as pissed off as I am about this? Or does this fill your heart with hope that we'll be getting our classic superheroes into a KH game?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	20. Welcome to Your New Life

_Okay, NOW I can get back to the stuff that I actually PLANNED to happen, which means that I should hopefully be able to avoid further injury from the characters. Be warned, these next two chapters will be very book heavy._

_Oh, and if you have not yet seen the FFXIII trailer on Gamespot from E3 2009, WATCH IT! THERE IS A REASON WHY THIS IS FOR THE PS3! Stunning graphics!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. If I did, I would never have to worry about not having enough money for college._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XX: Welcome to Your New Life

_0900hrs, Saturday, October 25__th__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
__October 24__th__, 1418 (S.R.)  
__Rivendell, Middle-earth  
__Sora_

When Sora woke it was to find that he was lying down in a soft bed. He opened his eyes, looking around as his head throbbed slightly and felt a little hot. There was a flat ceiling above him, its wooden beams richly carved. Sunlight flitted in through an open window and created bright spots against the walls, and he was sure that he could hear a waterfall in the background above the rustling of a breeze outside.

He wasn't quite sure where he was, as the last memory he had was of Yuffie asking him about some lump on his head, and then sudden and intense pain. There were soft sheets covering him, so he had to be in some place that was supposed to be comfortable, and the outside sounds were rather soothing.

He felt something brush against his left cheek and Sora turned his head on the pillow. He smiled. Sleeping peacefully next to him was a girl with auburn hair, her face and locks still dirty and rough from weeks in the wilds. Sora brought his left hand up from under him and gently stroked at her cheek. Her face twitched and she giggled slightly as the metal touched the tip of her nose on its way to the side of her face. Sora could feel the warmth of her cheek and his automail hand passed into the girl's hair to run through the strands.

He got stopped as his metal fingers hit a knot.

Kairi squirmed slightly in her sleep as Sora carefully withdrew his hand from the girl's hair and instead went back to softly caressing her cheek and she calmed down at the touch. He felt a little flushed, firstly from that he wasn't able to run his fingers through her hair like he'd wanted to, and secondly, his head was feeling hot.

After a few minutes Sora stopped in his actions and brought his metal hand back to himself to place it on his forehead. Yep, his head was definitely warmer than it should have been. Was he sick? He looked back at Kairi. He didn't want her to get sick because of him, but he also didn't want to leave her. Seeing her, sleeping so peacefully there in bed next to him… he wanted to wake up to the same sight every day for the rest of his life.

Kairi moaned slightly and shifted some in her sleep, her arms drawing the sheets overtop of them more closely to her, one hand so much as mistaking Sora's linen shirt for a sheet and trying to draw Sora a little closer too. Sora chuckled slightly as Kairi's hand didn't seem to notice the resistance and simply ended up pulling her closer to him, getting them to be within a foot of each other. The Keyblade Master placed his left hand underneath her head and started to stroke her cheek again with a single finger.

Kairi stirred again after another minute and her eyes flickered open slowly. She smiled after they had focused and recognized him. "Ohayo Sora-kun," she said, a blush showing on her cheeks before she quickly gave him a kiss on his lips.

Sora couldn't help but smile bemusedly and raise his eyebrows. So she was trying to be cute this morning, using the old language from the Islands' histories huh? Two could play at that game, and Sora decided to prove it to her. "Ohayo Kairi-chan," he returned, giving her the same light and gentle kiss back.

Kairi began to rub her left hand over his face, and Sora sighed as she touched him, just glad of the feel of her hand over his cheeks. She smiled softly while he continued to stroke her own cheek with his automail index finger. "You're a dirty mess you know that lazy bum?" she asked humourously.

"You're no princess yourself, princess," Sora answered. "But I guess we both look like we've been through the wringer, though I'm probably the only one that feels like it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kairi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"My head hurts, my legs hurt, my chest _really_ hurts, and I think I've got a fever," Sora told her. "What's your story?"

"My legs ache, my chest is _super_ sore; my head's throbbing, and my back still feels like it's being burnt," Kairi countered swiftly.

They held each others' gazes, completely annoyed at the other person for trying to outdo the other in injuries. Five seconds later, they simultaneously broke into smiles and Kairi cuddled up next to Sora, drawing the sheets tighter around them while Sora wrapped his automail arm around her shoulder. He adjusted himself slightly so that he was backed up just a bit against the pillows while Kairi nestled her head down in the crook of his shoulder. She moaned contentedly and gave a pronounced sigh as her eyelids flickered closed.

"I just want to sleep," she said, her mouth opening wide and releasing a near-silent yawn. "We can worry about everything else later."

"You said it Iri," Sora whispered, his metal hand unconsciously stroking her shoulder now as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, feeling Kairi rising and falling along with his chest as his diaphragm forced air in and out of his lungs.

The door opened not fifteen seconds after his eyelids had obscured his vision. An unfamiliar voice spoke through the darkness. "Wakey-wakey! It's time to get up you two."

Kairi groaned from atop Sora and he felt her hand groping around for something, likely a pillow. "Go away, I want to sleep," she mumbled. There was a sound as something flew through the air, likely the pillow that she was looking for, and then a _fwump_ as it struck something.

"Come on now Kairi," said a familiar voice this time, "there are people here to see you both."

Sora knew better than to try and argue with Master Yen Sid, so he sighed and opened his eyes in disappointment. Before he even spared the venerable sorcerer at the door a glance he looked down at Kairi, who held the same pouting, defeated look on her face.

Her head waved around a little bit before it was pointed towards the door. "Why can't we sleep?" she whined. "We're both in pain, and Sora thinks he's got a fever."

Master Yen Sid smiled slightly as he came to their bedside. "You can sleep later," he said. "Right now though, there are some people that would like to meet you." He turned his head towards the door and Sora looked that way, moving his free right arm (as he was still holding Kairi with his left since the promise of sleep was now introduced) to move his bangs out of his eyes. His hair had grown long enough since Kairi had cut it before they reached Bree that he'd probably be able to spike it again.

By the door there were some people that he barely recognized from the day before: a man wearing a striped bucket hat, robes, wooden sandals, and bearing a cane; a large man about the size of Major Armstrong who wore dark glasses; and a small black cat. Along with them were four people that brought a smile to his face: Aiwemon was already flying across the room to him, with Menelmon just beside him, and Jiminy Cricket was riding on Aiwemon's head. Strider was standing in the doorway as well, along with an old man. He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat.

Sora sat up a little straighter at seeing the old man. He had no idea who he was, but one glance was all that Sora needed to know that this person was completely on par with Master Yen Sid, probably even above him.

Aiwemon landed next to Sora on the bed and nuzzled his feathered cheek against Sora's, forcing a smile onto Sora's face as he looked at his digimon partner. "You're okay!" the little bird digimon said.

"We were all very worried about you Sora," Jiminy said, hopping off of Aiwemon's head and landing on Sora's shoulder. "You gave us a real scare there."

"Anti gave me a real scare too," Sora answered. "But he's gone now and I feel… well apart from the aches and pains and this fever I've got I feel great!" He looked at Aiwemon. "Sorry about worrying you buddy."

"Yours is not the only fever," Master Yen Sid told him. "Riku has one as well. I suspected that something like this might happen."

Kairi turned her head away from Menelmon and looked at the sorcerer. "What do you mean that you suspected that Sora and Riku would get fevers? What happened to Riku?"

"You should know as well Kairi, with all the absurd things that you've done in the past few days," he replied, a slight twinkle in his eyes. "Sora's Anti-Form pulled Xehanort's Heartless, and with him all the darkness in Riku's heart, out. Darkness feels cold, and light feels warm. Sora and Riku no longer have darkness within their hearts. Since there is no cold darkness to balance the warmth of the light, their bodies are experiencing something like a fever while they adjust to it."

"Well that makes sense," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "I've got a fever because of something good that happened to me. How long is it gonna last, and where's Riku anyway?"

"Your heart is strong Sora," the sorcerer replied, "the fever should abate sometime by this evening or at the latest tomorrow morning, as long as you get plenty of rest. I apologize, but we are keeping you from getting just that. As for Riku, he is back on Destiny Islands where I gathered him, Roxas, Naminé, and Yuffie from."

"What were they doing there?" Kairi asked.

"I believe celebrating Roxas' sixteenth birthday before the festival in two days," he replied.

Sora's eyes widened in surprise and disappointment. "Wait! You mean that I missed my own sixteenth birthday because my stupid Heartless tossed me into darkness! Nooo! This is so not fair!"

Kairi snorted. "You got a good present," she reminded him. "You came back from the darkness. Anti's gone. Your heart is filled with light, and you saw something."

Sora held gazes with Kairi for a few seconds, his face growing a bit warmer than it already was, before he looked away. "Alright fine. I guess it was a good birthday after all."

"You're welcome," Kairi grumbled.

"But Xehanort's Heartless got away," Sora moaned.

Master Yen Sid sighed. "He shall be dealt with in time, but not now. Right now we must be concerned with the problem at hand. Maleficent must be dealt with."

At the witch's name, Sora's head slowly turned towards Master Yen Sid, his eyes hardening. "If she keeps sending Pete after us to insult us, I _will_ kill him."

"You cannot, not as you are now, as Kairi well knows," Master Yen Sid told him. "Pete has grown stronger than you can imagine him becoming, and you will need to grow stronger as well."

"Which is where we come in," the man in the hat said, his voice revealing him to be the one who had spoken first to wake them up. "We have graciously consented to Master Yen Sid to render our services to you. You're gonna be training under us until winter, no ifs, ands, or buts."

"And who all is us?" Sora asked nervously.

"Oh just myself, a couple of friends, and my trusted employees," the man answered lightly. "And this will be training unlike any that you've ever had before," he added cryptically.

"Allow me to introduce you," Master Yen Sid began. "Sora, Kairi, Aiwemon, Menelmon, Jiminy, these people here are Kisuke Urahara, Tessai Tsukabishi, and Yoruichi Shihōin." Each of them raised their hands, or paw in the case of Yoruichi, as their name was called. "As Kisuke said, they shall be training you for the conflict that is to come."

The sorcerer rose from his chair. "I believe that is all that we need to discuss for now. Get some rest."

"Wait," Sora called, "One more thing. What happened after I first started to fight Anti?"

"I believe I can give you a brief answer young man," the old man said, coming forward. He gazed down at Sora and Kairi with kind eyes, and his voice was gentle. "Though very brief mind you, I must still visit Frodo; he has not wakened yet. After you first fell unconscious at the Ford, you were carried across first while this lovely young lady next to you was forced into a very trying and difficult battle by herself and your other friends ran up behind the Ringwraiths. Close to the Ford there is a small hollow beside the road masked by a few stunted trees. There they hastily kindled fire; for Glorfindel knew that a flood would come down, if the Riders tried to cross, and then he would have to deal with any that were left on his side of the river. The moment the flood appeared, he rushed out, followed by Aragorn and the others with flaming brands. Caught between fire and water, and seeing an Elf-lord in his wrath with strange and powerful creatures, they were dismayed, and their horses were stricken with madness. Three were carried away by the first assault of the flood; and the others were now hurled into the water by their horses and overwhelmed. Your bird friends," the old man nodded towards Aiwemon and Menelmon, "turned back and rescued your lady friend, or else she most certainly would have fallen."

"Ringwraiths?" Sora asked.

"They are the Black Riders that we encountered," Strider said. "The Nine Servants of the Enemy in Mordor."

"So are they gone now?" Kairi asked hopefully. "I did not like how I felt when they got close."

"No," said the old man. "Their horses must have perished, and without them they are crippled. But the Ringwraiths themselves cannot be so easily destroyed. However, there is nothing more to fear from them at present. You were both carried across the Ford through the air, and your friends crossed after the flood had passed. You were unconscious, as was Frodo with the horse standing guard beside him, a broken sword under him. He was pale and cold, and they feared that he was dead or worse. Elrond's folk met them, carrying you three slowly towards Rivendell."

"You must be Gandalf," Sora said, drawing the name out of the bowels of his memory.

The wizard and Strider both smiled kindly. "Yes, I am he," Gandalf said. "And you are the Chosen Master of the Keyblade, Sora, the son of Macellry and Anne, of the world of Destiny Islands. And _you_ are a Keyblade Wielder as well, Princess Kairi Talerith of Radiant Garden, the adoptive daughter of Seymour and Janet of Destiny Islands, and a Princess of Heart."

Their eyes opened wide in surprise as they both smiled in confusion that he knew who they were. "How did you know that?" Sora asked.

Gandalf laughed. "You have been asleep a long time, and I have conversed much with my friend Yen Sid. I must say, you are both quite young for people of such importance. But for now, get some rest. If Frodo should wake, then there shall be a feast tonight to celebrate the victory at the Ford of Bruinen, and you will all be there and hold places of honour."

Sora smiled and glanced down at Kairi, squeezing her slightly. "That's good," he said. "Neither of us have to treat the other to dinner."

"They're letting us go to sleep," Kairi reminded him. "So shut up and sleep you lazy bum, or else that fever won't go down."

"Right, right," Sora said. "'Night everyone, see you when we wake up." And without further thought Sora closed his eyes again, feeling his digimon partner slide under the sheets next to him and Kairi snuggle a little more into his shoulder while the sounds of the others in the room leaving drifted into his ears.

-A-D-

_1348hrs, Saturday October 18, 2003  
__The Great Maw, Radiant Garden,  
__Pvt. Olette Forrest_

It had been three days since their graduation party in Camp Summers in Twilight Town, and now Olette was walking down the hallway on the second story of a building in the Great Maw of Radiant Garden with her duffel bag held behind her in her left hand and her armour in another bag in her right hand, dressed in her green tunic and pants. She had never been to the Great Maw before while she had been in Radiant Garden during the time that Sora and Kairi had been in hospital for, and so she had no idea that just three days ago there hadn't been any buildings or roads, or barely even grass here.

The Great Maw had changed greatly since the Conservative Party of Radiant Garden had won the election on Wednesday. The Prime Minister Ralph Manish had kindly asked Merlin for his help and the wizard had graciously consented to assist in turning the bleak landscape of The Maw into a training camp to comfortably fit a sizable force. Long, thin white buildings three stories tall lined the sides of The Maw, Barracks Blocks to house the training troops, each of them numbered with a large number cast in brass stuck on near the doors on either side of the building's front. Many smaller white buildings had sprung up, single-floored and given only four rooms a piece, each of them classrooms for each platoon of a given Company in a specific Regiment with the leftover room for the officers. Mess buildings for each Company had cropped up as well, as near as possible to their Battalion's BBs. Fields of grass lined the area between the buildings, some of them being fenced and roped off as defensive magic or melee training grounds, while others bordered the cliffs for rifle, archery, and offensive magic practice.

The derelict old castle of Maleficent's had been spruced up and revamped so that it was now fit for people to inhabit it, and had become the Headquarters building of The Maw. The massive Heartless emblem had been taken down, and the towers were now standing straight and proud, their black walls scrubbed clean and shining a clear and crisp grey. The path down the ravine into The Maw from a once-more rebuilt gate was now paved and widened in some areas so that three chocobos could comfortably walk abreast with room to spare all the way down to the Crystal Fissure, which was left untouched except for its entryways being widened.

All told, there were enough resources now within The Maw to easily train several thousands of soldiers, pilots, airmen, and crewmates for the massive Capital Gummi ships that were now beginning construction in Disney Castle, Radiant Garden, and Twilight Town. Merlin was taking two weeks off to sleep in some place called Bermuda. He was so exhausted from the ordeal.

Olette had found out the previous morning that she was being transferred here, to The Maw, along with many others from George Company, including all of her friends before training started. However, unlike when they got to Camp Summers, this time they _were_ mostly split up. Instead of a singular Twilight Town military, everything was being amalgamated into a United Worlds Military Force, abbreviated as United Forces. Seifer and Fuu had both transferred into the Air element, and luckily enough for them, they got into 2nd Squadron, The Black Knights, of the 1st Fighter Wing in 10th Group of Fighter Command together (the Group numbers started at 10, 11, 12, ect. for Fighter Command exclusively). Yazoo had transferred into Bomber Command and was assigned to the 6th Bomber Squadron, The Hailing Angels, in the 3rd Bomber Wing. All three of them wished to be pilots, and were accepted into Officer Pilot Training, getting the Officer rank of Officer Cadet (OC). Their tunics and uniforms had switched from green to blue, while the rest of them still wore the green of the Army and had chosen to remain in the Infantry rather than going into the Armour or the Artillery. None of them had transferred into the Navy.

Those three were the only ones that changed elements, and Olette had found that the rest of them had been divvied up into three different Companies within the 1st United Infantry Regiment. Isil, Hayner, Selphie, Pence, Wakka, Vivi, and Charlie had all gone into 1st Battalion with Isil, Hayner, Selphie, and Pence in Abel Company; Wakka, Vivi, and Charlie into Baker. Olette found herself, Anar, Kia, Jeffery, Tidus, and Rai all together in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion.

She was a little upset that Hayner had been placed into a different Company, and even then a different Battalion, than she had been assigned to, but she knew that that was the way of the military, and that she couldn't have her way all of the time. Just having Sobel for her CO for two weeks had taught her that. She was glad that he was finally out of her hair. He had been transferred out of Camp Summers the day before, and she would be more than happy if she never saw his face again for the rest of her life.

Olette looked to her right as her black, travel-scuffed (she'd have to fix that later) parade boots slapped down on the tile second floor of the building she was in. _103, 105, 107… here it is!_ Olette stopped at 111 and turned the doorknob to open the door.

_It's unlocked,_ she thought, already in the process of fishing the key she had been given out from underneath her tunic and shirt as it hung around her neck. _Someone must already be inside._

She pushed the door open and took a quick glance around the room. It was already much different than the stuff she'd had to endure in Camp Summers, where there were single room buildings with sixteen or more females or males sleeping in the same space. The square room she stepped into actually looked liveable. With four beds in metal frames, a large window at one end, standing closets on either side by the window, a heater at the window's dead centre, a desk between the first and second bed on either side with bedside tables beside two of them, a small fridge on the left-hand side between the desk and second bed, long fluorescent light fixtures on the wall between the beds, a fan on the desk on the left, and a spherevision set with an attached sphere player on the right desk, and with two cushioned wooden chairs it looked much more pleasant than her barracks in Camp Summers _(A/N 1)_. Olette noticed with a little curiosity that there was a penguin standing on top of the SV set.

There was a bit of movement to her left and Olette looked that way to see a girl who appeared to be around nineteen in the same uniform as Olette standing up from beside the bed closest to the door. Her hair was a lighter shade of brown than Olette's, and her blue eyes looked both curious and pleased to see her. "Oh hello," she said, straightening up as Olette moved through the door and extending her hand out to shake Olette's, "you in here too?"

Olette took her hand and shook it. "Yep, as long as this is room 111 in BB 12."

"It sure is," the girl answered. "Pvt. Taka Oats."

"Pvt. Olette Forrest, any of these beds taken?"

"Only mine," Oats replied, patting the one she was standing next to. "The rest are still free." Olette nodded and moved into the centre of the room. There was about two feet of clearance between the feet of the beds, and their heads were right against the wall too. Olette turned around as she glanced at the rest of the room. There were also closets sunk into the wall to the left and right of the door with two shelves (the first around five feet from the floor, the second a foot and a third higher), and a wooden dresser inside each. "You in Easy?" Oats asked.

"Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st UIR?" Olette rattled off without much thought. "Yes I am, and you?"

"Same Company," she replied as Olette plopped her bags down on the bed next to the fridge. "Nice choice."

"Thanks. You weren't in G Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment in Twilight Town."

"Nope, I was in Abel Company, same Regiment. Hello," Taka Oats said as another person walked in the door. Olette looked up from her bags, it was Kia.

The girl smiled as she caught sight of Olette. "Looks like we're roomies Forrest," she said, coming into the room with her duffels, brown regulation bow, and brown regulation quiver slung across her back. She plopped her kit down on the bed across from Oats and took the young woman's extended hand to shake. "Hi, Pvt. Kia, daughter of Ken and Lianne."

Taka Oats smiled. "Pvt. Taka Oats. Nice to meet you Kia. I haven't met many of the refugees that came from Destiny Islands."

"A lot of them went to the different islands," Kia answered. "Only a small number of us decided to go to different worlds instead. And most of us chose to keep fighting."

"Keep fighting?" Oats asked. Her eyes widened. "Wait, _you're_ one of the guys I've heard stories about. You've already fought Heartless and Nobodies!"

"And NOD soldiers," Kia added slowly and hesitantly.

Olette looked at her with pity. The event obviously still had an effect on her, even though it had happened weeks ago. It was also the same with Hayner, whenever they were mentioned he became quiet and distant until the subject changed. At least Hayner had her to comfort him whenever possible. As of this moment, Kia didn't have anyone special to hold on to, no matter how much she appeared to be attracted to the calmer and more level-headed of the twins, Anar.

"Wow," Oats said, shaking her head. "I didn't think that I would be in the same Company as legends like you who'd already fought against them."

"Don't forget me," Olette said. "I've gone up against them just as many times as Kia has."

"Nice," Oats said, nodding approvingly at her. "Hope you guys can give me some tips later. What's on the SV then?"

Kia looked at it. "Looks like a penguin."

Oats rolled her eyes. "No, not what's on the spherevision set, I meant what program?"

Olette snatched the remote off the top of the mini-fridge and turned it on, but now her eyes were drawn completely to the penguin standing on the top of the SV. "Funny that penguin being there isn't it? What's it doing there?"

"Standing," Kia answered.

"I can see that," Olette snapped at the ridiculous comment.

Oats glanced over at her as Kia went to the chair between the two of them and sat on it, her eyes half on the SV and half on the penguin. "If it lays an egg," Oats began, "it will fall down the back of the spherevision set."

"We'll have to watch that," Olette said firmly.

"Unless it's a male," Kia said.

"I never thought of that!" said Olette, her eyes widening.

"Yeah," Taka remarked. "It looks fairly butch. How do you suppose it got there?"

"Maybe it came from the males' BB?" Olette put out.

"Penguins don't come from the males' BBs," Kia said, glancing at Olette with distaste, "they come from worlds in the Antarctic!"

"Gummi!" Olette yelled.

"Why'd you say, 'Gummi'?" Taka asked, looking confused.

"I panicked," Olette answered.

"Maybe it came from a zoo?" Taka asked.

"Which zoo?" Kia countered.

"How should I know which zoo it came from?" Taka asked incredulously. "I'm not Master Yen Sid!"

"How would Master Yen Sid know which zoo it came from?" Kia asked.

"He knows everything," Taka answered smugly.

"I wouldn't like that," Kia said, "it would take all the mystery out of life. Anyway, if it came from the zoo it would have 'Property of the zoo' stamped on it."

"They don't stamp animals 'Property of the zoo'!" Taka retorted. "You can't stamp a huge lion!"

"They stamp them when they're small," Kia answered proudly.

A thought came into Olette's head as she looked at the penguin. "What happens when they moult?"

"Lions don't moult!"

"No but penguins do!" Taka said, catching the hint of Olette's statement. "There, we've run rings 'round your logic."

"Oh, intercourse the penguin," Kia mumbled.

Olette was unable to keep a laugh away. That was the most ridiculous way of saying it that she'd ever heard. A newscaster came onscreen and started to speak. "It's just two o' clock and time for the penguin on top of your spherevision set to explode."

The penguin exploded in a flash of fire and smoke.

All three females were surprised. "How did he know that that was going to happen?" Kia asked, getting up from her chair so quickly that it fell over.

"It was an inspired guess," the newscaster said, like he knew that Kia had just asked that question. "And now, your CO wants all of you to form up on the square in front of BBs 11 and 12."

Pvt. Clarice Holmes, another George Company alumnus, poked her head into the room. "Hey, all four of us Easy?"

"Yeah Holmes, we're all Easy," Kia said. "You rooming here too?"

"Yeah," Clarice said, coming in quickly and tossing everything onto the last available bed. "I just got word, we have to be formed up outside, now!"

All three who had been in the room previously looked suspiciously at the SV. "How'd he know _that_ too?" Taka asked.

"Another inspired guess," the newscaster said smugly. "And now the weather…"

"But we don't even know which platoon we're in!" Olette said, switching it off and leaving the room. "Or who our officers are!"

"Doesn't matter," Holmes said, "and Winters came with us and told me about forming up just now, so we've got him at least." She was sweating and more or less in panic mode. "We've all got to be formed up now! Males too. We're probably getting told our platoons and finding out about our officers while we're all in one large gaggle." They waited for Kia to fish out her key and lock the door behind her, and all four females hastily made their way down the stairs and out the door as shouting voices relayed the same message across the hall. Doors slammed shut and the cadence of many booted feet drummed against the floor.

The Sun was shining outside, a number of clouds in the sky threatening to drift across it and veil it and its light. It was a wonder to Olette, as she had never really gotten used to the Sun actually rising _into_ the sky when she'd been here before. Olette moved quickly to place her beret firmly on her head again as she marched properly and quickly to the form-up place, where a large number of people (likely all in Easy Company) had assembled. There were still more coming out behind her, and more people leaving BB11, where the Easy Company males were assigned to. Olette observed the mass of three ranks as she marched down to the front rank of the right side and was given permission to fall in from a second lieutenant, one that she immediately and gladly recognized as 2Lt. Winters from her previous Company. There were many faces that were new to her, and quite a few of them did not have a uniform, nor were all of them even human. There were a couple of people that looked like large anthropomorphic animals like Donald or Goofy.

_They must be from Disney Castle,_ Olette realized as she got to the middle-rank in roughly the twentieth file. She placed herself at the position of at-ease, finding that everyone in the file to her right were all dressed in civvies and were completely lax, if seemingly a little nervous. Some of them were even talking and moving their feet! She felt a large pang of annoyance at how unprofessional and weak they looked before it was quickly subdued by an inexplicable smugness. _They'll get theirs soon_.

She waited like that for several minutes, simply breathing and looking directly forward into Holmes' hair with her feet shoulder-width apart and her arms straight behind her back, her hands centred behind her with her thumbs locked together and her right middle-finger directly over her left middle-finger, her hands and fingers perfectly straight, the model of perfection towards which she and every member of George Company had striven to back in Camp Summers. The recruits next to her would have to shape up before they could meet the standards that she and all the George Company alumni (or even Camp Summers alumni for that matter!) had lived and breathed for two weeks.

Finally it looked like everyone who had been assigned to Easy had gotten formed up and Olette heard the distinctive sound of a tunic rustling and a boot snapping down to the ground. "Easy Company, Atten-tion!" ordered 2Lt. Winters.

Olette came to attention like she'd done a thousand times before, perfectly and precisely, like everyone else in uniform. Their cadence was like the loud blast of a cannon, but Olette nearly cringed when the rat-a-tat of a machinegun rolled into her ears instead of the perfect _bang_ that she was used to and expected as the recruits' far less experienced attitudes and minds performed a movement that they thought was coming to attention, or slowly scraped their feet across the pavement so that both of their feet were together. Olette could see out of the corner of her eye that the man in the front rank and file to her right was looking around and scratching at his nose. Pathetic.

She could barely see, but a large man-sized great horned owl wearing a uniform like hers with a single silver bar on his shoulders and beret had stopped in front of 2Lt. Winters. Winters saluted, and the owl saluted back before dropping his salute, Winters following suit. Winters then turned to the right and began to march a few paces before wheeling left, making another two tight left wheels, halting, and moving to stand at ease.

The owl took one pace forward and called out in a deep baritone, "Easy Company, Stand at—Ease!"

Once again a cringe-worthy cadence rolled into Olette's ears.

"Atten-tion!"

That made three.

"You people are at the position of attention!"

_Sshhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt,_ Olette thought, keeping her groan inside as her stomach squirmed. Now she felt nothing but sympathy for the recruits next to her.

A man was pacing in front of the Company, his beady black eyes sweeping over each and every one of them from underneath slick, greasy black hair. "Easy Company, these are your platoon leaders," the man began, "2Lts. Chang, Winters, and Comte; your XO, Lieutenant Kol, and I'm your Commanding Officer, _Captain_ Sobel. For the next six weeks, you're mine you little ants." He paused. "All those in uniform change into your P.T. gear. We're going on a little run. You have three minutes, FALL OUT!"

Olette nearly screamed as she fled her post to get to her room and change. He was _still_ her CO, and the son of a bitch had been promoted too! There was no way that it could possibly get any worse!

As fate had it, it was worse. Her brother was a platoon leader in Abel Company, and Hayner was in his platoon.

-A-D-

_Saturday, October 25__th__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
__Rivendell, Middle-earth_

The day wore on into the evening as Sora and Kairi slept peacefully in the Last Homely House east of the sea. For the first time in many weeks, they were completely safe, and their minds and bodies must have known that they were in a house where merely being there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness for they slept the day away, their bodies being mended of the aches and injuries that had accumulated and knotted themselves into their limbs over the past several days of trying travelling and battle.

When Sora woke it was to find Kairi already awake and watching him, seemingly waiting for him to wake up. Sora smiled as he looked at her smiling face, amazed and filled with happiness that the first thing he was seeing was her smiling face and sparkling indigo eyes. Kairi leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips, their hands moving to make the movement easier for both of them. Sora stole another kiss from her as they laid in near silence, whispering sweet nothings into each others' ears.

It subsided after a few minutes and Kairi pulled back and out of the grasp of Sora's automail arm to sit up. "So how are you feeling Sor?" she asked, tucking a lock of her dirt-laden auburn hair behind her ear.

Sora waved his bangs out of his eyes and put them behind his own ears while he paused to consider Kairi's question. "Great," he said after a few seconds. "I'm not tired at all, I can't feel any trace of the fever, and I don't hurt anywhere. You?"

His girlfriend stretched her arms out behind her head. "Same, though I am hungry and thirsty. Neither of us have had anything since before we hit the Ford."

Sora's stomach rumbled. Jiminy yawned and stretched his limbs out, waking up.

"I couldn't agree more with you Iri," Sora said, looking around as the cricket scratched drowsily. He spotted Aiwemon and Menelmon still sleeping where they had drifted off into dreamland. It would be rude not to wake them for a meal.

Sora glanced at Kairi. "Should we wake them?" he asked.

Kairi smiled softly and shook her head. "Give them a few more minutes," she answered. "They don't need to have baths and get dressed."

Sora nodded his head, realizing just how much he wanted one as he continued to look around. On a dark-wood dresser with a mirror on it he saw two sets of clothing laid out, green on the right and pink on the left. There was something on top of the green cloth, but from the angle he was looking at it from, he was not sure what it was, only that there was a bow on it.

He tossed the sheets off of himself, finding that he was still in the style of white linen shirt that he'd worn since the thirtieth of September (by _his_ count), and the brown pants from before as well. He was barefoot and his hands were free of gloves. He got out of bed with Kairi next to him and went to the dresser. While Kairi examined her face and hair with a groan and a moan at just how dirty and smudged her face was, as well as how greasy and unkempt her hair felt, Sora nearly laughed as he saw just what it was that was sitting atop the green clothing. There was a white tube of something with a blue bow tied onto it, a white card lying across one side. He picked up the card, smiled at the birthday greeting on it, and opened the card. His eyes swept across the writing on the inside quickly before he laughed.

"_Dear Sora_," he read aloud to Kairi, imitating Master Yen Sid as best as he could for comic effect, "_I couldn't help but notice that your hairstyle is not how it has been in the past. In my opinion, your new look does not suit you. Naturally, in a world such as Middle-earth it would be hard to find hair-care products to fit your needs so I hope this will suffice. What I have given you is a tube of everlasting hair gel, that is, gel that will never degrade or get washed out of your hair without your intent to wash it out, and you will find that that tube of gel will last you for several years at least. Good luck with your training and happy sixteenth birthday! –Master Yen Sid_"

Sora placed the card back down and picked up the tube of gel and clothing made of green cloth with a smug look on his face. "Top that," he told Kairi, holding it out in front of her face.

Kairi just smiled and shook her head. She already had a better present lined up for Sora, but he wouldn't be getting it until they actually celebrated his birthday in the same way that they always did, during the Blitz Festival on Destiny Islands on the twenty-seventh.

"Now," Sora wondered aloud, looking around the room as if it would answer him, "where would we go to take baths anyway?"

The answer was provided to him by Jiminy Cricket, the little guy hopping up onto his shoulder. "Don't worry fellas," he said proudly, "I can show you the way."

"Great," Kairi said, picking up the clothes of pink that had lain next to the green. "Lead the way Jiminy."

The cricket giggled slightly to himself and jumped off of Sora's shoulder towards a spot a few feet to the right of the dresser, and just a short distance away from the bedside table that had been on Sora's side. He pointed, and they saw that there was a doorknob in the rich wooden beams, hiding a door. Sora quickly moved to the door and opened it.

The wooden room he stepped into had the capability of being brightly lit both by a fireplace and numerous candle stands, as well as having windows high in the walls to allow sunlight to stream down without placing occupants into a compromising situation. There were two deep circular wooden tubs that looked more to Sora like hot tubs, separated by a hanging beige curtain, and a full-body mirror. Fluffy towels were placed in racks near the tubs, and a long chain stretched from a spot in the wall above what looked like a trough that led into the tub.

"Oh," Kairi said as they entered. "It's right here." She looked at Sora. "So, which one of us goes first?"

"There's two," Sora reminded her.

Kairi looked at him again and repeated her question. "Which one of us goes first?"

Sora held her eyes. "There's two. And I'll go behind the curtain and leave this side to you if you like."

"And what happens when you finish first?" Kairi asked, one hand on her hip as Sora passed her and went to the other side of the partition.

Sora turned and looked at her. "I won't finish until you tell me that you're done. Sound good?"

Sora's head popped behind the curtain and Kairi began grumbling under her breath as she started to undress.

-A-D-

They had both washed and dried before returning to the bedroom, each of them with bottoms on and Kairi had her towel wrapped around her chest. They huddled around the mirror, neither of them used to sharing one as Kairi ran a brush she had found through her hair while Sora did the same with a comb, prepping it for the gel. The auburn-haired girl gave several well-pronounced yelps as the brush caught knots in her hair she'd been unable to work out while washing it and untangled them, and Sora griped as the same thing happened to him. After several minutes Sora's hair was spiked up in its usual style, and Kairi's was neatly going down to faint upward curls a little past her shoulders. Sora was wiping gel off of his slippery automail hand with a towel when Kairi tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm going to get changed now," she told him.

"Alright," Sora said. "Rock paper scissors to see who leaves."

Sora won best two out of three, and Kairi would have still booted him from the room had Sora not picked her up, placed her under his arm, and carried her into the bathroom with the pink clothes she'd been given. He headed back to the dresser with the door firmly shut behind him with Kairi on the other side.

Sora was still amazed at his reflection as he looked in the mirror. It had been a little more than three weeks since he'd last had a look at himself, and the change was a little startling. A fuller and slightly harder face looked out at him. He was a bit thinner than he'd remembered him being before, and his jaw was lined with a layer of hair the colour of his skin, the occasional one a few shades darker sticking out if you looked closely enough. He could feel the soft hairs as he ran both of his hands across his face. Hopefully soon he would get a razor and be taught how to shave.

Sora was dressed in minutes in the clothes he had found, clean garments that fitted him better than he'd expected and felt softer and more comfortable than anything he could remember wearing before. He was given a nice evergreen shirt with a lighter shade for pants, and a brown belt to go around it all. But there was something missing that he couldn't quite…

Sora snapped his fingers and looked back at the bed where the digimon were still snoozing. His eyes quickly went to the bedside table nearest him and saw what he needed. He grabbed his silver crown pendant first and slung that over his neck to hang overtop his shirt, then his digivice went onto his belt at his right hip, and finally his golden tag with the silver crest went over his neck and underneath his crown pendant.

He returned to the mirror and nodded. Now he could recognize himself in the mirror.

Sora turned around and gently shook Aiwemon on the bed. "Come on Aiwë," he said softly as he grabbed his brown gloves and put them on. "It's time to get up."

Aiwemon whacked him weakly with a wing. "Five more minutes Sora," he mumbled.

"We're going to a feast," Sora said enticingly.

Aiwemon was up in the air and flapping his wings energetically in a heartbeat. What surprised Sora even more was that Menelmon was also suddenly up beside him.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" she asked. "Let's go!"

"Hold on!" a voice said. "You aren't going to that feast without me!"

Sora turned around at the voice as the door opened and closed and he saw Kairi coming out, dressed in a simple salmon-pink dress. The sleeves were long and the neck was circular and modestly cut, with the hem just above her ankles. It fit her pretty well, clinging to her abdomen and showcasing the curves of her hips before loosening and fanning out around her legs. Sora almost stared at her as she crossed the room to the other bedside table and slipped on an oval yellow stone on a short black string, a pink coloured crown pendant and her own blue crest before tossing Sora her digivice.

"I don't have anywhere to put it," she explained as she arrayed the different pieces of neckwear with the yellow stone closest to her neck, the crown pendant just beneath that, and the crest beneath that one. Kairi smiled and made a noise of affirmation to herself before she looked up at Sora and twirled around slightly. "How do I look?"

"You look great Kairi," he answered, coming up to her and giving her a soft kiss, which Kairi happily returned. Jiminy Cricket hopped up onto Sora's shoulder, dressed in his best suit with a black top hat. Evidently he was ready too.

There was a knock on the door and the five of them turned towards it as Master Yen Sid came in. "The others are waiting," he said. "Are you ready to come down?"

"We're ready sir!" Aiwemon enthusiastically answered. "I want food! I want food!"

Master Yen Sid smiled. "Good, there will be enough food for all. Your friends are waiting for you, follow me."

The old sorcerer led them along several different passages and down many steps and out into a high garden above the steep bank of the river. The two teenagers, who had seen nothing outside the room they'd been in, marvelled as they took in the craftsmanship that had gone into carving the walls, pillars, and buildings. Each pillar grew up from the ground to gently come into its ceiling like a tree, and the gardens planted made them think of Radiant Garden, and that beautiful while those gardens were, the gardeners there could stand to come to Rivendell and learn a little.

They found Gandalf with Merry, Pippin, and Sam sitting in a porch on the side of the house looking east. Shadows had fallen into the valley below, but there was still light striking the faces of the mountains far above them, making them shimmer with majestic gold against the sky. The air was warm. The sound of running and falling water was loud, and the evening was filled with a faint scent of trees and flowers, as if summer still lingered in Elrond's gardens a month into autumn.

"Hullo!" Pippin said jovially as they approached. "Here are our great heroes! Make way! Here come the vanquishers of darkness!"

"You flatter me Pip," Sora said, smiling with Kairi on his right arm and Aiwemon on his left shoulder.

"How do you feel?" Merry asked with the same happy air. "The both of you!"

"I feel hungry and thirsty," Sora replied.

"And after that, I feel like I could sing," Kairi added. Her eyes widened and she looked into the sky for a moment. "This place just makes me feel so good," she told Sora before her face broke and she startled to laugh, for no reason at all.

The poor girl managed to get it under control in a few seconds, but Sora would remember that moment for the rest of his life. It was almost like she was drunk.

"It is difficult to feel gloomy or depressed here," Master Yen Sid said, smiling as well. He nodded at them. "I shall see you all tomorrow. Tonight we are celebrating; tonight is for you."

"And speaking of that," Pippin began as Master Yen Sid left, "where is our esteemed cousin? Where is Frodo?"

Gandalf prodded Sam in the back of the head. "Go and fetch him Samwise Gamgee," he said, "See if he is ready to come down."

Sam looked at the wizard with incredulity but Gandalf poked him again. "Hurry up now Sam," he said, "or we shall already be eating by the time you return."

Sora and Kairi didn't even have to lift their linked arms off of the other as Sam sped between them, and they realized once more just how small hobbits were.

Maybe ten minutes later Sam returned with Frodo while the rest of them were sitting in the porch, enjoying the warm air and the lingering summer in the gardens of Rivendell and waiting for the summons into the feast. Pippin spotted Frodo first and quickly bounded from his seat. "Hurray! Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the Ring!"

"Hush!" said Gandalf from the back of the porch. "Evil things do not come into this valley; but all the same we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world! We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark."

"Gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that," Pippin said. "He thinks I need keeping in order. But it seems impossible, somehow, to feel gloomy or depressed in this place. I feel I could sing, if I knew the right song for the occasion."

"I feel like singing myself," Frodo laughed. "Though at the moment I feel more like eating and drinking!"

"That will soon be cured," said Pippin. "You have shown your usual cunning in getting up just in time for a meal."

"More than a meal! A feast!" said Merry. "As soon as Gandalf reported that you were recovered, the preparations began." He had hardly finished speaking when they were summoned to the hall by the ringing of many bells.

"Well aren't we lucky that we woke up the same day that Frodo did?" Sora asked Kairi, guiding her into the hall while following those people that actually knew where they were going.

-A-D-

The hall of Elrond's house was filled with folk when they entered. Elves for the most part, though there were a few guests that were not. Elrond sat in a great chair at the end of the long table upon the dais; and next to him on one side sat Glorfindel, and on the other side sat Gandalf.

The five off-worlders looked at the three in awe. They (and especially the two humans) had heard of Elrond many times since leaving Bree, but they had never seen him before; and even as they sat upon his left hand and right, Glorfindel and Gandalf the wizard were revealed as lords of dignity and power.

Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders made him look like some wise king in an ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his dark eyes were set like coals that could leap suddenly into fire.

Glorfindel was tall and straight; his hair was shining gold, his face fair and young and fearless and full of joy; his eyes were bright and keen, and his voice like music; on his brow sat wisdom, and in his hand was strength.

The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars. Venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters, and yet hale as a tried warrior in the fullness of his strength. He was the Lord of Rivendell, and mighty among both Elves and Men.

In the middle of the table, against the woven cloths upon the wall, there was a chair under a canopy, and there sat a lady fair to look upon, and so like was she in form of womanhood to Elrond that they guessed that they were closely related. She seemed young, and yet not so at the same time. The braids of her dark hair were touched by no frost; her white arms and clear face were flawless and smooth, and the light of stars was in her bright eyes, grey as a cloudless night, yet queenly she looked, and thought and knowledge were in her glance, as of one who has known many things that the years bring. Above her brow her head was covered with a cap of silver lace netted with small gems, glittering white; but her soft grey raiment had no ornament save a girdle of leaves wrought in silver.

So it was that they looked upon Arwen, the daughter of Elrond, of whom few mortals had yet seen. It was said that the likeness of Lúthien had come on earth again in her; and she was called Undómiel, for she was the Evenstar of her people. She had long been in the golden land of her mother's people, in Lórien beyond the mountains, but had recently returned to Rivendell to her father's house. Her brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, were out upon errantry: for they rode often far afield with the Rangers of the North, never forgetting their mother's torment in the dens of the orcs.

Sora and Kairi glanced at each other as they witnessed the loveliness and greatness of the people present at this table, and the blushed to find themselves seated amongst such high and fair folk, even if presently they knew naught who they were.

Sora looked down and rubbed his nose as he glanced around. "I don't feel that comfortable being here," he mumbled.

"There's food," Aiwemon reminded him in an impatient whisper, the bird digimon still sitting on his shoulder as he and Kairi sat near to Gandalf at the head table, and not at one of the side tables around the dais like Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Frodo was sitting as near enough as across from them, and next to the hobbit was a dwarf who appeared to be of important standing with a long white forked beard, nearly as white as the snow-white cloth of his rich clothes.

"So what if there's food?" Sora returned, still looking up and down the table at the many fair faces of the elves present. "We've got like, the most powerful and influential people of this world sitting at the very same table as us."

"I don't feel very comfortable either," Kairi admitted, catching Sora's eyes and lacing her right hand into his gloved left.

"And they're all looking at us," Sora added quietly.

"They're looking at _you_ Sora," Kairi told him with a faint smile. "You have the most unnatural hairstyle ever."

"I think they're looking at _us_," Menelmon whispered. "We do get a lot of strange looks."

"They are looking at all of you!" Gandalf's loud voice carried over to them. "And they are looking at me! And looking at Glorfindel and Lord Elrond, and at Frodo and Glóin and everyone else seated at these tables! You are important individuals seated among powerful Elves and Dwarves and Wizards. So let them look and let them wonder," he told them, "and should it please you, speak up and let your tongues wag or ears listen, for there are many tales to hear and to tell in Rivendell." The kind old wizard winked and took a drink from his goblet as it was filled and the food came out.

They were not reassured at the wizard's words at first, but once the feast was underway and they were steadily making their way through as much food and drink as could please the five, but they did not talk much to any save each other, and instead enjoyed bringing up old memories of some of the silliest things that they'd done in their lives or Sora's adventures, quite ignoring any odd looks that they might have received.

At length the feast came to an end. Elrond and Arwen rose and went down the hall, and they were followed by the company in due course. The doors were opened and they went across a wide passage and through more doors, and came into another hall. There were no tables here, but a bright fire was burning in a great hearth between carved pillars on both sides.

Sora and Kairi (with their partners and Jiminy on their shoulders) found themselves walking next to Frodo and to Gandalf. "This is the Hall of Fire," the wizard said. "Here you will hear many songs and tales—if you can keep awake. But except on high days it usually stands empty and quiet, and people come here who wish for peace, and thought. There is always a fire here, all the year round, but there is little other light."

As Elrond entered and went towards the seat prepared for him, elvish minstrels began to make sweet music. Sora quickly led Kairi away to a pair of chairs in a secluded corner and as they sat Aiwemon, Menelmon, and Jiminy left their shoulders for the arms of the soft red-cushioned chairs. The food and drink had filled them up to the point where they were unsure if they would be able to stay awake, so very contented, and Sora placed his right hand atop his digimon partner's head and started to softly stroke the feathers while he listened to the music.

The singing voices interwoven with words in the elvish tongues slowly started to take hold of Sora and hold him in a spell as his tired eyes closed. The words and music drifted through his ears, softly serenading him and placing him in a soothing and comforting embrace.

Kairi sighed next to him and slightly broke the trance as he opened his eyes to look at her. Her eyes were jewels dancing in the golden firelight staring back at him with a soft smile on her face. Aiwemon, Menelmon, and Jiminy had all fallen asleep. "So what do you think?" she asked.

Sora leaned his head back into his chair and gave a small laugh. "It isn't rock, but it's good," he told her. "But AC/DC or Led Zeppelin would seem so out of place here."

"I don't think _Stairway to Heaven_ would be out of place in Rivendell," Kairi said.

"_Stairway to Heaven_ maybe not, no, but I was thinking more along the lines of _'Cause I'm TNT_, _You Shook Me All Night Long_, _Achilles' Last Stand_, _Battle of Evermore—_"

"Not _Battle of Evermore_," Kairi said quickly. "Don't you know the lyrics to _Battle of Evermore_?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Alright fine, Led Zeppelin would be appropriate to listen to here. But my point is: classic rock would not be appropriate for Rivendell."

"Just rock?" Kairi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Almost anything that we listen to!" Sora answered, laughing. "Just name a song, any song that you can think of right off the top of your head. We'll sing it quietly if we know it and decide if it's suitable for Rivendell. Come on, give me one."

"_Hips Don't Lie_."

Sora's eyes widened. "Shakira?" He laughed. "Ho-ho-ho-ho… Are you _insane_? We'll get kicked out!"

"You said…"

"You can start singing it!" Sora said. "I'll come in for the guy parts, but you're the one who's going to have to start if you really want it."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Fine. You name one smarty-pants."

Sora'd already had one lined up. "_Uptown Girl_."

Kairi raised her eyebrows. "Billy Joel?"

"The Piano Man," Sora corrected her smugly.

"So's Elton John."

"Him too."

Kairi shook her head and smiled. "Ooh, I've got one that wouldn't work here: _Dirrty_ by Christina Aguilera."

Sora laughed. "How about _Low_ by Flo Rida?"

"Definitely not," Kairi said, shaking her head.

Sora smiled. The elvish music was surely not the right music to be playing for the song, but he didn't care right now, the song was in his head. _"Shorty had them apple-bottom jeans,"_

"_Jeans,"_ Kairi came in quickly, singing in a sudden, low duet with him, _"Boots with the fur._

_(With the fur);  
__The whole club was looking at her.  
__She hit the floor,  
__(She hit the floor!);  
__Next thing you know,  
__Shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low._

_Baggy sweat pants;  
__And the Reeboks with the strap,  
__(With the strap);  
__She turned around and gave her big booty a smack.  
__Hey!  
__She hit the floor,  
__(She hit the floor!);  
__Next thing you know,  
__Shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low."_

They figured that simply the chorus was more than enough, as they had already slightly started to move in their seats as the beat that they knew for the song played in their heads and their faces and shoulders got much closer than they had been before they'd started. They must have looked like a pair of crazy fools, singing something that had never been heard by any other ear in the room before, with a rhythm and lyrics that no Elf, Wizard, or Hobbit minstrel would ever think to pen down.

Yet they both laughed and wiped imaginary tears from their eyes as they considered the audacity of the song compared to what the Elves were singing, even if they could not understand. Fortunately they were getting very little attention.

Kairi started to giggle with a smile that nearly broke her face. "We should do _Get Low_ next."

"We'd be killed if we did that!" Sora replied. "But what about _Crabbuckit_ or _My Sharona_?"

Kairi shook her head quickly. "No, either _Follow You Home_ or _Animals_ by Nickelback."

"I know that you like them Kairi, but seriousl—"

"I want Dark Horse Sora!" she told him, laughing. "I want that album! A girl can only remain satisfied with Long Road and All the Right Reasons for so long before she has both albums completely memorized!"

Sora looked at her sceptically. "Really?"

"Start beat boxing _Animals_ and I'll show you," Kairi said, feigning being offended at her boyfriend's scepticism. "Though, there's no way _I_ can do justice to Chad Kroeger, being a _girl_, who's also an _alto_!"

Sora raised his eyebrows. "You want me to beat box? Kairi, I can't do that to save my life!"

"You know the song don't you?" Kairi asked, trying not to laugh. "Just do the beat through your clenched teeth like this, but _quietly_."

She started him off, and Sora proved to be lying, because he was actually pretty decent for trying to perform everything just by himself. He couldn't do the drums at the same time as the guitar, so Kairi noticed that he did the drums when he could but otherwise stuck with trying to mimic the beat of the lead guitar before she started, but quietly so that they wouldn't be overheard.

"_I, I'm driving black on black;  
__Just got my license back.  
__Got this feeling in my veins:  
__This train is coming off the track._

_I'll ask, polite,  
__If the devil needs a ride,  
__Because the angel on my right  
__Ain't hangin' out with me tonight._

_I'm driving past your house,  
__While you were sneaking out.  
__(I've got the car door opened up so you can jump in on the run.)  
__Your mom don't know that you were missing;  
__She'd be pissed if she could see the parts of you that I've been kissing.  
__Screaming:_

_No!  
__We're never gonna quit;  
__Ain't nothin' wrong with it,  
__Just acting like we're animals.  
__(Animals!)_

_No!  
__Don't matter where we go,  
_'_Cause everybody knows:  
__We're just a couple animals!  
__(Animals!)_

_So come on baby get in!  
__Get in! Just get in!  
__Check out the trouble we're in!"_

Kairi was very fortunate that they were so quiet, because the two of them still had not yet attracted a crowd, being tucked away in a corner. However, she was probably moving a little _too_ much if they wanted to remain anonymous. Yet at the same time, she really couldn't have cared. All through the evening she had been feeling so light and, insatiably happy with the desire to sing that was only held at bay by her not knowing just _what_ she should sing. But now that she had a song to sing, even if it was ridiculously out of place for a setting like this, Kairi was unable to stop herself. A songbird had been in her heart ever since she and Sora had left the room that they had (and she hoped that they could continue to) shared, and now it was finally bursting out, if only to her love.

"_You're beside me on the seat;  
__Got your hand between my knees;  
__And you control how fast we go  
__By just how hard you wanna squeeze._

_It's hard to steer,  
__When you're breathing in my ear.  
__I got both hands on the wheel  
__While you got both hands on my gears!_

_By now, no doubt,  
__That we were heading south.  
__(I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth!)  
_'_Cause this was it, like flicking on a switch,  
__It felt so good I almost drove into the ditch;  
__I'm screaming:_

_No!  
__We're never gonna quit;  
__Ain't nothin' wrong with it,  
__Just acting like we're animals!  
__(Animals!)_

_No!  
__Don't matter where we go,  
_'_Cause everybody knows:  
__We're just a couple animals!  
__(Animals!)_

_So come on baby get in!  
__Get in! Just get in!  
__Look at the trouble we're in!_

_We, were parked out by the tracks,  
__We're sitin' in the back;  
__And we just started gettin' busy,  
__When she whispered, 'What was that?'_

_The wind, I think,  
_'_Cause no one else knows where we are.  
__And that was when she started screaming:  
_'_That's my dad outside the car!'_

_The keys, oh please,  
__They're not in the ignition!  
__(Must have wound up on the floor while we were switching our positions.)  
__I guess, they knew that she was missin',  
__As I tried to tell her dad it was her mouth that I was kissin'.  
__Screaming:_

_No!  
__We're never gonna quit,  
__Ain't nothin' wrong with it,  
__Just acting like we're animals!  
__(Animals!)_

_No!  
__Don't matter where we go,  
_'_Cause everybody knows:  
__We're just a couple animals!  
__(Animals!)_

_So come on baby get in!  
__(We're just a couple animals!)  
__Get in! Just get in!  
__(Ain't nothin' wrong with it!)  
__Check out the trouble we're in!  
__(We're just a couple animals!)  
__Get in! Just get in!"_

Kairi stopped and sighed, a little red in the face and slightly breathless. She wanted to continue on to what she knew was the next song, _Savin' Me_, but she wasn't sure if she really could force herself to go on and sing another song. Sora had stopped his quiet beat boxing and was watching her. He had known that Kairi liked Nickelback. He had known since before they had started building the raft that fateful summer, but back then it had been a bit more of a passing interest than being an actual fan of the group. If she was such a fan that she would actually listen to and memorize their songs, when more than a few had lyrics like _that_ one, he figured that now he'd have to actually go out and _buy_ her a Christmas present instead of just giving her that photo album he was working on in secret.

The Princess was going to get spoiled this Christmas, he could guarantee that much already.

They fell into calm and comfortable silence after Kairi had finished her quiet singing, not a single solitary soul in the hall even paying them the slightest attention, to which they were, in retrospect, very thankful. The music that the Elves played and sang still gently sifted into their ears and calmed their beating hearts of the adrenaline and unspeakably faster tempo of one of the styles of music that they tended to prefer to listen to on a day-to-day basis. They lost themselves into a hazy dream of music, the hall turning into a fine golden mist above the foamy seas of their home islands. Tall and magnificent galleons sailed upon the waves, their size and grandeur only enhanced by the gold that partially veiled them, and the ships of brown moved and changed into a river of silver and gold that swelled and flowed over them, the pattern of its movements too much like the individual molecules of water in a raging river to comprehend where it was all going.

And then the river began to change again and take shape as a voice began to enter it, faintly at first, but then growing clearer and stronger as the words that they could comprehend granted the dream-world a clear vision.

_Eärendil was a mariner  
__that tarried in Arvernien;  
__he built a boat of timber felled  
__in Nimbrethil to journey in;  
__her sails he wove of silver fair,  
__of silver were her lanterns made,  
__her prow was fashioned like a swan,  
__and light upon her banners laid._

_In panoply of ancient kings,  
__in chainéd rings he armoured him;  
__his shining shield was scored with runes  
__to ward all wounds and harm from him;  
__his bow was made of dragon-horn,  
__his arrows shorn of ebony,  
__of silver was his habergeon,  
__his scabbard of chalcedony;  
__his sword of steel was valiant,  
__of adamant his helmet tall,  
__an eagle-plume upon his crest,  
__upon his breast an emerald._

_Beneath the Moon and under star  
__he wandered far from northern strands,  
__bewildered on enchanted ways  
__beyond the days of mortal lands.  
__From gnashing of the Narrow Ice  
__where shadow lies on frozen hills,  
__from nether heats and burning waste  
h__e turned in haste, and roving still  
__on starless waters far astray  
__at last he came to Night of Naught,  
__and passed, and never sight he saw  
__of shining shore nor light he sought.  
__The winds of wrath came driving him,  
__and blindly in the foam he fled  
from west to east and errandless,  
__unheralded he homeward sped._

_There flying Elwing came to him,  
__and flame was in the darkness lit;  
__more bright than light of diamond  
__the fire upon her carcanet.  
__The Silmaril she bound on him  
__and crowned him with the living light  
__and dauntless then with burning brow  
__he turned his prow; and in the night  
__from Otherworld beyond the Sea  
__there strong and free a storm arose,  
__a wind of power in Tarmenel;  
__by paths that seldom mortal goes  
__his boat it bore with biting breath  
__as might of death across the grey  
__and long-forsaken seas distressed:  
__from east to west he passed away._

_Through Evernight he back was borne  
__on black and roaring waves that ran  
__o'er leagues unlit and foundered shores  
__that drowned before the Days began,  
__until he heard on strands of pearl  
__where ends the world the music long,  
__where ever-foaming billows roll  
__the yellow gold and jewels wan.  
__He saw the Mountain silent rise  
__where twilight lies upon the knees  
__of Valinor, and Eldamar  
__beheld afar beyond the seas.  
__A wanderer escaped from night  
__to haven white he came at last,  
__to Elvenhome the green and fair  
__where keen the air, where pale as glass  
__beneath the Hill of Ilmarin  
__a-glimmer in a valley sheer  
__the lamplit towers of Tirion  
__are mirrored on the Shadowmere._

_He tarried there from errantry,  
__and melodies they taught to him,  
__and sages old him marvels told,  
__and harps of gold they brought to him.  
__They clothed him then in elven-white,  
__and seven lights before him sent,  
__as through the Calacirian  
__to hidden land forlorn he went.  
__He came unto the timeless halls  
__where shining fall the countless years,  
__and endless reigns the Elder King  
__in Ilmarin on Mountain sheer;  
__and words unheard were spoken then  
__of folk of Men and Elven-kin,  
__beyond the world were visions showed  
__forbid to those that dwell therein._

_A ship then new they built for him  
__of mithril and of elven-glass  
__with shining prow; no shaven oar  
__nor sail she bore on silver mast:  
__the Silmaril as lantern light  
__and banner bright with living flame  
__to gleam thereon by Elbereth  
__herself was set, who thither came  
__and wings immortal made for him,  
__and laud on him undying doom,  
__to sail the shoreless skies and come  
__behind the Sun and light of Moon._

_From Evereven's lofty hills  
__where softly silver fountains fall  
__his wings him bore, a wandering light,  
__beyond the mighty Mountain Wall.  
__From World's End then he turned away,  
__and yearned again to find afar  
__his home through shadows journeying,  
__and burning as an island star  
__on high above the mists he came,  
__a distant flame before the Sun,  
__a wonder ere the waking dawn  
__where grey the Norland waters run._

_And over Middle-earth he passed  
__and heard at last the weeping sore  
__of women and of elven-maids  
__in Elder Days, in years of yore.  
__But on him might doom was laid,  
__till Moon should fade, an orbéd star  
__to pass, and tarry never more  
__on Hither Shores where mortals are;  
__for ever still a herald on  
__an errand that should never rest  
__to bear his shining lamp afar,  
__the Flammifer of Westernesse._

The chanting ceased as the song ended. Sora and Kairi opened their eyes and saw that there was an unfamiliar hobbit seated on a stool in a circle of listeners, all of them smiling and applauding. The hobbit, it appeared, was an older one, certainly much older than Frodo or Pippin, but in his face was still a large measure of youthful vigour.

"Now we had better have it again," an Elf said.

The hobbit rose and bowed. "I am flattered, Lindir," he said. "But it would be too tiring to repeat it all."

"Not too tiring for you," the Elves answered with laughter. "You know you are never tired of reciting your own verses. But really we cannot answer your question at one hearing!"

"What!" cried the hobbit. "You can't tell which parts were mine, and which were the Dúnadan's?"

"Dúnadan?" Kairi asked, looking at Sora. He shrugged.

"It is not easy for us to tell the difference between two mortals," said the Elf.

"Nonsense, Lindir," the hobbit snorted. "If you can't distinguish between a Man and a Hobbit, your judgement is poorer than I imagined. They're as different as peas and apples."

"Maybe. To sheep other sheep no doubt appear different," laughed Lindir. "Or to shepherds. But Mortals have not been our study. We have other business."

"I won't argue with you," the hobbit told him. "I am sleepy after so much music and singing. I'll leave you to guess, if you want to."

The hobbit then got up again and went towards Frodo, and Sora glanced at Kairi. "I want to congratulate him," he said. "That was a nice song. Sure, I was half-asleep when it started, but it blew my mind with the paintings it made in there."

Kairi raised her eyebrows. "Paintings?" she asked, getting up next to him; gently holding sleeping Menelmon in her arms. Sora huffed and ignored her as he softly held onto his own partner's small body and Jiminy Cricket before starting to head towards Frodo and the older hobbit.

"Paintings?" Kairi repeated humourously when they were halfway across the room.

Sora quickened his pace.

Kairi was relentless, and they had nearly reached the two hobbits when she asked again. "Paintings?"

"Would you stop it already?" Sora asked her irritably while Kairi merely silently giggled at his reaction. "Yes, that song made paintings in my head. And you know what? They were damn good paintings! It was one of the best daydreams I've ever had and it's making me feel a little sleepy too."

"Thank you."

Sora turned around quickly, noticing that the hobbit and Frodo were both standing behind him.

"Bilbo," said Frodo kindly with a large smile on his face. "I would like to introduce you to two recent friends of mine, Sora and Kairi. Sora, Kairi, this is my uncle, Bilbo Baggins!"

"A pleasure," the older hobbit said, giving them both a short bow, to which they awkwardly returned. When he rose again there was a slight twinkle in his eye. "Old Gandalf told me a thing or two about you. Helped get my lad Frodo here did you?"

"Uh, yes," Sora said, not quite sure what to say, as the reason for him being over near the fire was suddenly now far out of his brain's reach.

"Well, no more time to spare around here," Bilbo said. "A pleasure meeting you both, but Frodo and I really must be going. The Elves have a larger appetite for music and poetry and tales than this tired old hobbit can take at the moment. Good evening!"

And then they were gone, withdrawing into the shadows to the doors.

Kairi looked down at Menelmon, the female bird digimon sleeping soundly in her arms, and the auburn-haired Princess of Heart yawned. "I think it is time that we headed off to bed as well," she said, placing a hand softly against Sora's arm. The Keyblade Master nodded, and they too slipped off into the shadows of the night. Blessed music with words in the elvish tongues followed them out, and placed another serene spell upon them as they slowly ambled back to their room underneath the brightly shining stars. And Sora wondered briefly, which one of them was Eärendil; and would he see the man with the eagle-plume upon his crest and an emerald upon his breast, like he had in his waking dream?

-A-D-

_(A/N 1): The room I just described, was pretty much the room I inhabited while in Cold Lake Air Cadet Summer Training Centre this summer. And Olette chose the same bed location that I had, right next to the mini-fridge. At least her roomies are not lazy Sports Staff that won the award for sleeping the most on the job._

_Again, this chapter was pretty book-heavy, as will the next one. It shouldn't take a genius, but the next one will be 'The Council of Elrond'. So, VERY BOOK-HEAVY, while adding in the fact that you have Master Yen Sid, Sora, Kairi, two digimon, a talking cricket, Urahara, and possibly Yoruichi, also taking part in the council._

_So it will be interesting to say the least._

_That, and there will likely be a few things going on to try and get all the characters caught up to one another._

_Also, it is with great regret that I must inform you that I will not be able to post what will hopefully be __**Chapter XXII: Birthday Blitz**__ until after I have finished at least up to the fifteenth chapter of my re-written version of __**The Beginning**__. That is because there are certain things happening in the re-write that make the situation on Destiny Islands a little bit different from what they were before. Currently I have the sixth done and waiting to be switched in, am writing the seventh re-written chapter, have to overhaul the eighth, can stand to edit both the ninth and tenth chapters, and need to do a bit of a clean-up of the fourteenth chapter and have to scrap and re-write the fifteenth one before making extensive continuity editing between the remainder of it and __**A Week of Troubles**__._

_What I'm trying to say is: After the next chapter (or possibly two) don't expect me to update this part of the story until mid-October. And I can't guarantee even that because I have my first post-secondary Mid-Terms around there too._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	21. A Great Council

_So I'm not quite sure how this is going to go, because I don't know if it is just going to be the Council of Elrond, or if it is going to include getting everyone else up to the same date as well. So, we're just going to have to run with it and see how it goes. As it turns out, it's just the Council of Elrond, but there are more than enough bits and pieces of non-Middle-earth things occurring in it to make reading through all of it worthwhile, and entertaining._

_Remember, Urahara, Tessai, Yoruichi, Yen Sid, two Keyblade Wielders from Destiny Islands, a talking cricket, and two digimon are present. It's gonna be interesting._

_But before I begin, there is something that I was given as optional reading for my ENGL 111-60 class this week that I think you may find interesting (if you aren't a writer like I know a few of us are), or completely true and funny if you are. It's from the book _Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life _(1995) by Anne Lamott._

"Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it. Nor do they go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff warm-up sentences and then find themselves bounding along like huskies across the snow. One writer I know tells me that he sits down every morning and says to himself nicely, "It's not that you don't have a choice, because you do—you can either type or kill yourself." We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time. Now, Muriel Spark is said to have felt like she was taking dictation from God every morning—sitting there, one supposes, plugged into a Dictaphone, typing away, humming. But this is a very hostile and aggressive position. One might hope for bad things to rain down on a person like this."

_I hope you writers and non-writers alike got a kick out of that, and if you want more, check out the book._

_Also, I have a fan-art section up on my profile page. So far I only have one submission from __**Hold on hero**__ with Anti-Form. He doesn't look evil, he actually looks kinda cute, but __**hero**__ says that it's fan-art for the story and that's what matters._

_If any of you have any favourite scenes or images from __**The Annals of Darkness**__ that you would like to draw as fan-art for the story, please do not hesitate to do so and tell me! __**Krystal Lily Potter**__, I already know how much you're clamouring for a drawing of that scene between Sora and Nala in the Pride Lands back in the last volume, and the Keyblade 'Remembrance' has gained a good amount of feedback. If something sparks your interest, don't hesitate to go ahead and draw it._

_Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form own: Disney, Square-Enix, Kingdom Hearts, Digimon, Bleach, Final Fantasy, or The Lord of the Rings. There are many, many citations from 'The Council of Elrond', Chapter II of Book II of "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXI: A Great Council

_0700hrs, Sunday, October 26th, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
__October 25__th__, 1418 (S.R.)  
__Middle-earth  
__Sora_

When Sora woke it was with a smile on his face as his eyes found first the face of Kairi, dreaming peacefully next to him, clad in a golden-white nightgown that they had found inside of the room when they had returned from the Hall of Fire just as he was in a simple white shirt and pants. They had laid their digimon partners and Jiminy Cricket in the King-sized bed first, and the two of them had stayed awake that night for maybe another half-hour, just looking at the night sky out of the windows of their room before finally going to bed as well.

Sora's fingers strayed over Kairi's cheek before tucking a lock of hair that was in front of her nose behind her ear. Then he was touching her hair and running through the clean and smooth auburn tresses while her soft breathing left the girl's mouth. Sora had longed to run his hand through her hair the previous day, and now that he could do so without knots he took advantage of it. Only a minute or two passed with his fingers lingering in the girl's hair before they left the delicate strands to run along her shoulder and side.

Sora smiled a little bit wider as a thought came into his mind. He could remember now just what had happened to them in the darkness before their memories had returned in a sudden wave. He remembered the lion urging him to remember things, grasping at the memories and finding them slipping away, but more clearly than that he remembered Kairi, and meeting her for the first time again in the darkness and the song she had sung and the things that they had talked about. Burning in the forefront of his memory was his own declaration that he didn't find himself all that handsome, and here, sleeping so serenely in front of him, was the most precious and beautiful princess he'd ever known (he still graded her above the beauty of Arwen Undómiel, for which he would likely be reprimanded), a true gem.

And she loved him, and had called him the most handsome person she'd ever known.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Sora whispered to the sleeping girl as his hand left the cheek it was now gently rubbing against. His face came in and he left a butterfly kiss on her lips, which he wasn't quite surprised to find being faintly returned by the young woman in her tranquil slumber. "I love you," he whispered.

Sora quietly got out of bed and went about getting dressed in the same clothes he had travelled to Rivendell from Bree in, having also found when they returned from the Hall of Fire that those garments had been cleaned as well.

A minute or two into this as he was doing up his belt Kairi moaned from the bed and she spoke groggily. "Sora?"

He turned around and looked at her as one of her hands was rubbing her eyes. "Right here Kairi."

"Were you touching me in my sleep?" Kairi asked, removing her hand and looking up at him.

Sora smiled and nodded. "Caressing Iri," he corrected her quietly. "I was caressing my little red-headed dove."

She smiled and she slumped slightly, though her eyes showed that she was fully awake. "Well you can 'caress' your dove a little more often. She might start to coo if she likes it enough."

"Now I just have to figure out which I would prefer, cooing or purring."

Kairi got out of bed and came towards him. "You could have both," she cooed before saying his name with a cat's purr and cupping his face in her hands to gently kiss him. Sora enjoyed it, and gave her a kiss in return, and then she pressed her lips to his again in a soft and tender motion.

He didn't know why, but maybe Rivendell and mornings and waking up to the girl he was completely in love with was turning them into a pair of cute lovebirds. If it was, then he liked the change of pace. If he could expect every morning to be like this, then nothing that could happen during the day would be able to break him like before.

Kairi was in his arms with her hands on his shoulders, her head bent down slightly as she rested it on him. The sound of birds twittering outside drifted in along with the constant distant rush of a waterfall, and the morning's serene peace just seemed to Sora to make the start of this day to be completely perfect.

-A-D-

Kairi had gotten changed into the same garments that she had travelled to Rivendell from Bree in, them having been mended as well as cleaned, and their digimon partners and the Royal Chronicler had been roused when there came a clear knock on the door. Sora looked at the portal for a moment before going to the door and opening it slightly with a questioning, "Yes?"

Master Yen Sid was standing outside. "It is nearly time for the council," he said as Sora opened the door wider. Kairi and the digimon and Jiminy came up behind Sora and nodded. Master Yen Sid's eyes swept over them and he gained a tiny smile. "I believe that you both blend in quite well," he said, making small smiles of satisfaction and pride show up on both teenagers' faces, "however, I do believe that today, it would be wise for you to stand out."

The sorcerer waved his hand and both youths glowed with golden light for a moment before they ceased. Sora looked down at himself. He was back in the same outfit that he had worn just before leaving Star Command for what had then been an unknown world. It was in the style of his black adventuring outfit that the three good fairies had made for him the previous year, except that the arms of his black vest had become a thin long-sleeved jacket and his black fingerless gloves were now full black gloves. Sora's lower legs were bared to a within-comfort-level cool atmosphere as the fabric from his black multi-pocketed shorts ended. He glanced at Kairi with the girl in her white blouse and salmon-pink dress, her black purse with its lilac coloured ribbons hanging off of it strapped to her hip, a pair of pink boots upon her feet and a black hood attached to the back of her halter-top.

"Are you sure Master Yen Sid?" Kairi asked as Menelmon landed on her shoulder.

He smiled and spread his arms out wide. "I already stand out, do I not? As do Kisuke, Tessai, and Yoruichi. It would be better for us if your presence was made known, if just for this council even, than for you to try to blend in with Middle-earth's inhabitants."

Suddenly a single clear bell rang out. Master Yen Sid's heard turned quickly in the direction it rang from. "That is the warning bell for the Council of Elrond," he said sharply, his words cutting right into them with their importance. "Hurry now, we are wanted."

Both humans, remembering suddenly their first day back at school when the warning bell went for their English class with them still far away from the room, nodded hastily and quickly followed the wizened old sorcerer down the halls, stairs, and corridors towards the porch where he had led them the previous night. Jiminy Cricket held onto Sora's hood from within, while the two bird digimon flew just behind their shoulders.

The light of the clear autumn morning was glowing in the valley, and the sounds that they had heard within their room had accompanied them down to the porch. With the peaceful feeling that the morning had securely rooted itself into their hearts the thought of evil, darkness, and even Maleficent seemed far from troubling; but the faces that greeted them as they entered were grave and a tiny chill broke through.

Elrond was there, and several others were seated in silence about him. Sora saw Glorfindel and the dwarf that had been sitting next to Frodo at the feast; and in a corner alone Strider was sitting, clad in his old travel-worn clothes. Tessai Tsukabishi was there, as was the cat Yoruichi Shihōin, sitting on the lap of—of…

Sora scratched his head for a second as he looked at the man with the bucket hat, robes, cane, and clogs. He was sure he'd be able to remember the man's name eventually, but for now the name escaped him.

They silently walked into the council, every member looking at them with interested, surprised, and (in some cases) highly disapproving looks. Sora quickly noticed that Kairi was the one receiving a good number of those and frowned, falling back a step and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder until they sat down side-by-side on a pair of chairs, Master Yen Sid on Sora's left-hand side with the sorcerer next to Mr. Hat 'n Clogs (as Sora quickly decided to dub him), and three empty seats to Kairi's right.

"Why is a woman present?" a voice asked.

Sora turned to look at the speaker. It was a man, one of the very few present. He was tall, and his face was fair and noble. Dark hair sprouted from his head and proud grey eyes gazed out at them, specifically at Kairi, and his look was stern.

Sora was about to retort when another voice, this one more familiar spoke up from behind their chairs and to the right. "Because she must, and her company is needed in this gathering." Sora looked, and walking towards the circle of chairs was Gandalf with Frodo and Bilbo, Samwise tottering apparently forgotten behind them.

Elrond rose from his chair as they entered and beckoned Frodo to him as Gandalf and Bilbo took empty seats near to Elrond, with Gandalf seated to Kairi's right. "Here my friends, is the hobbit, Frodo son of Drogo. Few have ever come hither through greater peril or on an errand more urgent."

Frodo then sat down, and Elrond began to introduce to him those that Frodo did not know. Sora found just a little annoying that the Elf-lord was acting as if he and Kairi did not exist, but he dismissed it. Frodo was the important one here; not him. There was a younger dwarf at the side of the one Frodo had sat next to the previous evening, the older dwarf called Glóin and the younger his son Gimli. Beside Glorfindel there were several other counsellors of Elrond's household, of whom Erestor was the chief; and with him was Galdor, an Elf from the Grey Havens who had come on an errand from Círdan the Shipwright. There was also a strange Elf clad in green and brown, Legolas, a messenger from his father, Thranduil, the King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood. He introduced Frodo to Master Yen Sid, Tessai, Yoruichi, and Hat 'n Clogs (whose name Sora was reminded was Kisuke Urahara), drawing a few confused looks from the others at the Council. Then there was the man that had questioned Kairi's presence in the Council.

He was cloaked and booted as if for a journey accomplished by riding; and indeed though his garments were rich, and his cloak was lined with fur, they were stained with long travel. He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set; his locks were shorn about his shoulders. On a baldric he wore a great horn tipped wit silver that now was laid upon his knees. His eyes had shifted from disapproval at Kairi's presence and now gazed at Frodo and Bilbo with wonder.

"Here," said Elrond, turning to gaze at Gandalf, "is Boromir, a man from the South. He arrived in the grey morning, and seeks for counsel. I have bidden him to be present, for here his questions will be answered."

-A-D-

Many things were spoken of at the Council, and Sora and Kairi listened attentively as best as they could, though their minds wandered occasionally as the news of some deed or event away South or east of the mountains they were up against seemed trivial and boring, and their stomachs silently reminded them both that they had not eaten breakfast that morning, as their digimon were also painfully making them aware of in quiet moans and pleading looks.

Sora looked with pity at Aiwemon after his fourth nudge on the side of the Keyblade Master's head and smiled slightly. "You don't have to be here," he whispered. "Kai and I are the ones who have to sit through this. Go, hunt, check out the woods and waterfalls, whatever, just go!"

Aiwemon looked at him with infinite gratitude before wrapping a wing around his head for half a second. Then the bird digimon's wing was gone and Aiwemon was taking off through the sky with Menelmon following, the eyes of the Council of Elrond suddenly upon both strange birds and the two teenagers, the youths sharing pleased smiles at having given their partners something they greatly needed and deserved. Then they realized that there were a number of questioning and somewhat stern glances on them and they looked down ashamedly. "Sorry," Sora mumbled.

Only Strider, Master Yen Sid, and Gandalf were giving them small knowing smiles. The dwarf Glóin had been about to speak, and Sora directed his attention towards him, determined that he'd be able to keep his attention focused on what was being said now that he'd also been reprimanded.

"It is now many years ago," said the dwarf, "that a shadow of disquiet fell upon our people. Whence it came we did not at first perceive. Words began to be whispered in secret: it was said that we were hemmed in a narrow place, and that greater wealth and splendour would be found in a wider world. Some spoke of Moria: the mighty works of our fathers that are called in our own tongue Khazad-dûm; and they declared that now at last we had the power and numbers to return."

Sora straightened a little bit as Glóin sighed. Just that word or name, 'Khazad-dûm' was like a sudden trigger in his mind. It was a rough word with a meaning behind the way the dwarf said it that implied both great power and great sadness. "Moria! Moria!" he cried. "Wonder of the Northern world! Too long we delved there, and woke the nameless fear. Long have its vast mansions lain empty since the children of Durin fled. But now we spoke of it again with longing, and yet with dread; for no dwarf has dared to pass the doors of Khazad-dûm for many lives of kings, save Thrór only, and he perished. At last, however, Balin listened to the whispers, and resolved to go; and though Dáin did not give leave willingly, he took with him Ori and Óin and many of our folk, and they went away south.

"That was nigh on thirty years ago. For a while we had news and it seemed good: messages reported that Moria had been entered and a great work begun there. Then there was silence, and no word has ever come from Moria since.

"Then about a year ago a messenger came to Dáin, but not from Moria — from Mordor: a horseman in the night, who called Dáin to his gate. The Lord Sauron the Great, so he said, wished for our friendship. Rings he would give for it, such as he gave of old. And he asked urgently concerning _hobbits_, of what kind they were, and where they dwelt. 'For Sauron knows,' said he, 'that one of these was known to you on a time.'

"At this we were greatly troubled, and we gave no answer. And then his fell voice was lowered, and he would have sweetened it if he could. 'As a small token only of your friendship Sauron asks this,' he said: 'that you should find this thief,' such was his word, 'and get from him, willing or no, a little ring, the least of rings, that once he stole. It is but a trifle that Sauron fancies, and an earnest of your good will. Find it, and three rings that the Dwarf-sires possessed of old shall be returned to you, and the realm of Moria shall be yours forever. Find only news of the thief, whether he still lives and where, and you shall have great reward and lasting friendship from the Lord. Refuse, and things will not seem so well. Do you refuse?'

"At that his breath came like the hiss of snakes, and all who stood by shuddered, but Dáin said: 'I say neither yea nor nay. I must consider this message and what it means under its fair cloak.'

"'Consider well, but not too long,' said he.

"'The time of my thought is my own to spend,' answered Dáin.

"'For the present,' said he, and rode into the darkness.

"Heavy have the hearts of our chieftains been since that night. We needed not the fell voice of the messenger to warn us that his words held both menace and deceit; for we knew already that the power that was re-entered Mordor has not changed, and ever it betrayed us of old. Twice the messenger has returned, and has gone unanswered. The third and last time, so he says, is soon to come, before the ending of the year.

"And so I have been sent at last by Dáin to warn Bilbo that he is sought by the Enemy, and to learn, if my be, why he desires this ring, this least of rings. Also we crave the advice of Elrond. For the Shadow grows and draws nearer. We discover that messengers have come also to King Brand in Dale, and that he is afraid. We fear that he may yield. Already war is gathering on his eastern borders. If we make no answer, the Enemy may move Men of his rule to assail King Brand, and Dáin also."

Sora turned his gaze towards Elrond as the Elf-lord answered Glóin. Now he was really interested. "You have done well to come," said Elrond. "You will hear today all that you need in order to understand the purposes of the Enemy. There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone. You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the western world. The Ring! What shall we do with the Ring, the least of rings, the trifle that Sauron fancies? That is the doom that we must deem.

"That is the purpose for which you are called hither. Called, I say, though I have not called you to me, strangers from distant lands and other worlds. You have come and are here met, in this very nick of time, by chance as it may seem. Yet it is not so. Believe rather that it is so ordered that we, who sit here, and none others, must now find counsel for the peril of this world.

"Now, therefore, things shall be openly spoken that have been hidden from all but a few until this day. And first, so that all may understand what is the peril, the Tale of the Ring shall be told from the beginning even to this present. And I will begin that tale, though others shall end it."

-A-D-

Sora and all of them listened while Elrond in his clear voice spoke of Sauron and the Rings of Power, and their forging in the Second Age of the world long ago. A part of his tale was known to some, but to Sora and Kairi it was wholly new, and their eyes were turned to Elrond in fear and wonder as he told of the Elven-smiths of Eregion and their friendship with Moria, and their eagerness for knowledge, by which Sauron ensnared them. For in that time he was not yet evil to behold and they received his aid and grew mighty in craft, whereas he learned all their secrets, and betrayed them, and forged secretly in the Mountain of Fire the One Ring to be their master. But Celebrimbor was aware of him, and hid the Three which he had made; and there was war, and the land was laid waste, and the gate of Moria was shut.

Then through all the years that followed he traced the Ring, and as he continued to tell the tale the sun rode up in the sky, the morning passing ere he ceased. He spoke of Númenor, of its glory and its fall, and the return of the Kings of Men to Middle-earth out of the depths of the Sea, borne upon the wings of storm. Then Elendil the Tall and his mighty sons, Isildur and Anárion, became great lords; and the North-realm they made in Arnor, and the South-realm in Gondor above the mouths of the Anduin. But Sauron of Mordor assailed them, and they made the Last Alliance of Elves and Men and the hosts of Gil-galad and Elendil were mustered in Arnor.

Thereupon Elrond paused a while and sighed. "I remember well the splendour of their banners," he said. "It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended forever, and it was not so."

"You remember?" Frodo asked before Sora could, the Keyblade Master exchanging an astonished look with Kairi. The hobbit began to stammer as Elrond turned towards him. "But I thought, I thought that the fall of Gil-galad was a long age ago."

"So it was indeed," Elrond answered gravely. "But my memory reaches back even to the Elder Days. Eärendil was my sire, who was born in Gondolin before its fall; and my mother was Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Lúthien of Doriath. I have seen three ages in the West of the world, and many defeats, and many fruitless victories."

Sora ran disbelieving hands through his spiked hair. "Holy Hera," he murmured to himself. Lord Elrond had to be _thousands_ of years old. Likely he was far older than Master Yen Sid, and possibly far more powerful than the sorcerer as well. Sora felt as small as a tiny ant on his chair, and was humbled to be in this person's presence. Now the name of Eärendil came back to him from the song that Bilbo had sung the night before, and he recognized the name of Lúthien from the lay that Strider had sung on Weathertop, and Sora realized the magnitude of Elrond of Rivendell's lineage.

"I was the herald of Gil-galad and marched with his host," Elrond continued. "I was at the Battle of Dagorlad before the Black Gate of Mordor, where we had the mastery: for the Spear of Gil-galad and the Sword of Elendil, Aiglos and Narsil, none could withstand. I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father's sword, and took it for his own."

At this Boromir broke in. "So that is what became of the Ring!" he cried. "If ever such a tale was told in the South, it has long been forgotten. I have heard of the Great Ring of him that we do not name; but we believed that it perished from the world in the ruin of his first realm. Isildur took it! That is tidings indeed."

"Alas! yes," Elrond said. "Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin's fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest; and by Gil-galad only Círdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel.

"'This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother,' he said; and therefore whether we would or no, he took it to treasure it. But soon he was betrayed by it to his death; and so it is named in the North Isildur's Bane. Yet death maybe was better than what else might have befallen him."

"What does 'weregild' mean?" Sora whispered to Kairi. She shrugged and shushed him.

"Only to the North did these tidings come, and only to a few," continued Elrond, not pausing in the slightest. "Small wonder it is that you have not heard them, Boromir. From the ruin of the Gladden Fields, where Isildur perished, three men only came ever back over the mountains after long wandering. One of these was Ohtar, the esquire of Isildur, who bore the shards of the sword of Elendil; and he brought them to Valandil, the heir of Isildur, who being but a child had remained here in Rivendell. But Narsil was broken and its light extinguished, and it has not yet been forged again.

"Fruitless did I call the victory of the Last Alliance? Not wholly so, yet it did not achieve its end. Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade. The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains they will endure. Many Elves and many mighty Men, and many of their friends, had perished in the war. Anárion was slain, and Isildur was slain; and Gil-galad and Elendil were no more. Never again shall there be any such league of Elves and Men; for Men multiply and the Firstborn decrease, and the two kindreds are estranged. And ever since that day the race of Númenor has decayed, and the span of their years has lessened.

"In the North after the war and the slaughter of the Gladden Fields the Men of Westernesse were diminished, and their city of Annúmonas beside Lake Evendim fell into ruin; and the heirs of Valandil removed and dwelt in Fornost on the high North Downs, and that no too is desolate. Men call it Deadmen's Dike, and they fear to tread there. For the folk of Arnor dwindled, and their foes devoured them, and their lordship passed, leaving only green mounds in the grassy hills.

"In the South the realm of Gondor long endured; and for a while its splendour grew, recalling somewhat of the might of Númenor, ere it fell. High towers that people built, and strong places, and havens of many ships; and the winged crown of the Kings of Men was held in awe by folk of many tongues. Their chief city was Osgiliath, Citadel of the Stars, through the midst of which the River flowed. And Minas Anor they made, Tower of the Setting Sun. There in the courts of the King grew a white tree, from the seed of that tree which Isildur brought over the deep waters, and the seed of that tree before came from Eressëa, and before that out of the Uttermost West in the Day before days when the world was young.

"But in the wearing of the swift years of Middle-earth the line of Meneldil son of Anárion failed, and the Tree withered, and the blood of the Númenoreans became mingled with that of lesser men. Then the watch upon the walls of Mordor slept, and dark things crept back into Gorgoroth. And on a time evil things came forth, and they took Minas Ithil and abode in it, and they made it into a place of dread; and it is called Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery. Then Minas Anor was named anew Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard; and these two cities were ever at war, but Osgiliath which lay between was deserted and in its ruins shadows walked.

"So it has been for many lives of men. But the Lords of Minas Tirith still fight on, defying out enemies, keeping the passage of the River from Argonath to the Sea. And now that part of the tale that I shall tell is drawn to its close. For in the days of Isildur the Ruling Ring passed out of all knowledge, and the Three were released from its dominion. But now in this latter day they are in peril once more, for to our sorrow the One has been found. Others shall speak of its finding, for in that I played small part."

Elrond ceased speaking, but Sora's eyes quickly fell onto Boromir as the man from the South rose from his seat, standing tall and proud before the Council. "Give me leave, Master Elrond," he said, "first to say more of Gondor, for verily from the land of Gondor I am come. And it would be well for all to know what passes there. For few, I deem, know of our deeds, and therefore guess little of their peril, if we should fail at last.

"Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Númenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten. By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay; and thus alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West. But if the passages of the River should be won, what then?

"Yet that hour, maybe, is not now far away. The Nameless Enemy has arisen again. Smoke rises once more from Orodruin that we call Mount Doom. The power of the Black Land grows and we are hard beset. When the Enemy returned our folk were driven from Ithilien, our fair domain east of the River, though we kept a foothold there and strength of arms. But this very year, in the days of June, sudden war came upon us out of Mordor, and we were swept away. We were outnumbered, for Mordor has allied itself with the Easterlings and the cruel Haradrim; but it was not by numbers that we were defeated. A power was there that we have not felt before.

"Some said that it could be seen, like a great black horseman, a dark shadow under the moon. Wherever he came a madness filled out foes, but fear fell on our boldest, so that horse and man gave way and fled. Only a remnant of our eastern force came back, destroying the last bridge that still stood amid the ruins of Osgiliath.

"I was in the company that held the bridge, until it was cast down behind us. Four only were saved by swimming: my brother, myself, and two others. But we still fight on, holding all the west shores of the Anduin; and those who shelter behind us give praise, if ever they hear our name: much praise but little help. Only from Rohan now will any men ride to us when we call.

"In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond: a hundred and ten days I have journeyed all alone. But I do not seek allies in war. The might of Elrond is in wisdom not in weapons, it is said. I come to ask for counsel and the unravelling of hard words. For on the eve of the sudden assault a dream came to my brother in a troubled sleep; and afterwards a like dream came oft to him again, and once to me.

"In that dream I thought the eastern sky grew dark and there was a growing thunder, but in the West a pale light lingered, and out of it I heard a voice, remote but clear, crying:

_Seek for the Sword that was broken:  
__In Imladris it dwells;  
__There shall be counsels taken  
__Stronger than Morgul-spells.  
__There shall be shown a token  
__That Doom is near at hand,  
__For Isildur's Bane shall waken,  
__And the Halfling forth shall stand._

Of these words we could understand little, and we spoke to our father, Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith, wise in the lore of Gondor. This only he would say, that Imladris was of old the name among the Elves of a far northern dale, where Elrond the Halfelven dwelt, greatest of lore-masters. Therefore my brother, seeing how desperate was our need, was eager to heed the dream and seek for Imladris; but since the way was full of doubt and danger, I took the journey upon myself. Loth was my father to give me leave, and long have I wandered by roads forgotten, seeking the house of Elrond, of which many had heard, but few knew where it lay."

Sora looked at Boromir with a margin of pity and surprise. It was clear to him that they were in what he figured to be a pretty tight spot away south in Gondor, and could definitely use help. He wondered and was surprised that Boromir had made no mention of the Heartless, but then remembered that he had said that he had been journeying for a hundred and ten days, which told Sora that Boromir had left Minas Tirith for Rivendell before he had even defeated Xemnas.

That made his eyes widen with just how _big_ this world was compared to the others he had been to. Even the five islands combined were not so vast, and he had no reference to gauge the size of the continent on Destiny Islands that he'd never been to.

Strider stood, drawing Sora's eyes to the Ranger. "And here in the house of Elrond more shall be made clear to you," he said. He cast his sword upon the table that stood before Elrond, and the blade was broken into two pieces. "Here is the Sword that was Broken!" he cried.

"And who are you, and what have you to do with Minas Tirith?" asked Boromir, looking at the lean face of the Ranger and his weather-stained cloak in wonder.

"He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn," said Elrond; "and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur Elendil's son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dúnedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk."

"Wait what!" Sora asked loudly, leaning forward in his chair in amazement so far that he almost fell off of it.

Kairi nearly jumped off of hers next to him. "You mean that _you're_ the heir to a whole Kingdom?" she asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Strider looked at the pair of them but could not speak as Frodo leapt off of his seat. "Then it belongs to you, and not to me at all!" he cried in amazement.

"It does not belong to either of us," said Aragorn; "but it has been ordained that you should hold it for a while. And neither did you inform us when first we met that you were a princess, Kairi," he added, looking to them again.

"Bring out the Ring, Frodo!" Gandalf said solemnly, louder than the outbursts that clamoured for an immediate explanation to Kairi's presence. "The time has come. Hold it up, and then Boromir will understand the remainder of his riddle."

All hushed and turned their eyes on Frodo, eyes that occasionally and briefly strayed to Sora and Kairi and those who sat next to them in their outlandish garb. The hobbits held aloft in a trembling hand a small and unadorned ring of gold, the Ring of which they had spoken for so long. It gleamed and flickered in the light, but Sora felt something off-putting about it.

"Behold Isildur's Bane!" said Elrond as Frodo placed it on the table.

Boromir's eyes glinted as he gazed at the golden thing. "The Halfling!" he muttered. "Is then the doom of Minas Tirith come at last? But why then should we seek a broken sword?"

"The words were not _the doom of Minas Tirith_," said Aragorn. "But doom and great deeds are indeed at hand. For the Sword that was Broken is the Sword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell. It has been treasured by his heirs when all other heirlooms were lost; for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again when the Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found. Now you have seen the sword that you have sought, what would you ask? Do you wish for the House of Elendil to return to the Land of Gondor?"

"I was not sent to beg any boon, but to seek only the meaning of a riddle," answered Boromir proudly. "Yet we are hard pressed, and the Sword of Elendil would be a help beyond our hope – if such a thing could indeed return out of the shadows of the past." He looked again at Aragorn, and Sora saw that he was doubting the Ranger of the untamed wilds. Sora frowned at the man from Gondor. This was twice now he had doubted people sitting here in this ring. The first had been Kairi, and now it was Strider, who had proven more than once to Sora that he was a good and strong man.

The voice of Frodo's uncle Bilbo Baggins suddenly burst out to his right in irritation, saying:

_All that is gold does not glitter,  
__Not all those who wander are lost;  
__The old that is strong does not wither,  
__Deep roots are not reached by the frost.  
__From the ashes a fire shall be woken,  
__A light from the shadows shall spring;  
__Renewed shall be blade that was broken,  
__The crownless again shall be king._

"Not very good perhaps, but to the point – if you need more beyond the word of Elrond. If that was worth a journey of a hundred and ten days to hear, you had best listen to it." He sat back down with a snort.

Sora's face burst with a smile and he was unable to restrain a sudden laugh as Aragorn smiled at the hobbit before turning to Boromir again. "For my part I forgive your doubt," he said. "Little do I resemble the figures of Elendil and Isildur as they stand carven in their majesty in the halls of Denethor. I am but the heir of Isildur, not Isildur himself. I have had a hard life and a long; and the leagues that lie between here and Gondor are a small part in the count of my journeys. I have crossed many mountains and many rivers, and trodden many plains, even into the far countries of Rhûn and Harad where the stars are strange.

"But my home, such as I have, is in the North. For here the heirs of Valandil have ever dwelt in long line unbroken from father unto son for many generations. Our days have darkened, and we have dwindled; but ever the Sword has passed to a new keeper. And this I will say to you Boromir, ere I end. Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy; for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only.

"If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?

"And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. 'Strider' I am to one fat man who lives within a day's march of foes that would freeze his heart, or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown.

"But now the world is changing once again. A new hour comes. Isildur's Bane is found. Battle is at hand. The Sword shall be reforged. I will come to Minas Tirith."

"Isildur's Bane is found, you say," said Boromir. "I have seen a bright ring in the Halfling's hand; but Isildur perished ere this age of the world began, they say. How do the Wise know that this ring is his? And how has it passed down the years, until it is brought hither by so strange a messenger?"

"It is the Ring," a voice spoke. All eyes turned in surprise, for the voice belonged to the only female seated at the Council. "From what I have understood," Kairi said, "the Ring is a very powerful relic of evil and darkness, and I felt something very dark and very powerful emerge when in Bree."

"And who are we to trust the word of a wench girl?" Boromir asked.

Sora felt as if he'd just been punched in the gut while Kairi looked like she'd been slapped in the face.

"Excuse me?" she asked, staring at Boromir in disbelief.

Sora was shaking his head and glared fiercely at the Gondorian. "You're gonna take that back pal!" he growled. "Or _I'm_ going to break you if Kairi doesn't first."

"Wench girl?" Kairi asked, fierce anger rising through her shock. "You just called me a filthy whore!"

Hat 'n Clogs glanced at her with a smile on his face, leaning on his cane's handle slightly. "I think he called you a slut," he said, playing it up.

"Kisuke, you are not helping things," Master Yen Sid muttered.

"Just trying to make things a little more interesting," he explained.

Boromir stayed silent, an amused expression on his face as he watched the fuming two. Erestor of Elrond's household came to the man's aid. "I agree with Boromir," he spoke. "A human girl has no place at a Council such as this, and the word of one dressed in such attire should not be trusted."

"The Wise say that she must have place here," Gandalf spoke. "Appearances can be deceiving Erestor."

"How rude of you," said Bilbo. "You might as well turn away hobbits with that attitude."

Boromir looked at the wizard. "Maybe," he huffed. "However—"

The man from the South stopped suddenly as Kairi got off of her seat, glaring daggers at the man. "However what?" she snapped. "Do you think that I am the sort of woman who whores herself out to any man I can find? That I sell my body for riches and pleasure? Do you assume so much just because of the way I dress? Let me tell _you_ something Boromir of Gondor. Even though the air here is cool right now, where I live, used to live, I should say, we may not have as great a history as yours or quite so many proud men and deeds of great valour, but we do have a hot climate, where it is not uncommon for almost every girl around my age to be wearing clothing as or even more revealing than my own just to keep cool in the heat.

"Not only that," Kairi continued, "but I wear clothes like this because I know what my body looks like. I know that boys find me attractive; I know that I am attractive, and I feel good just knowing that and going out every day. And even as I speak I know that your eyes are trying to stray up the hem of my dress."

Kairi smiled smugly at the expression she saw on Boromir's face and the faces of a few others that she could see. Sora relaxed, knowing that Kairi had the situation well in hand, and he started to laugh silently into his hand, and he saw Aragorn doing the very same thing.

"But know this, Boromir," Kairi added evenly. "There is a practical purpose for this too besides trying to keep cool in the summer's heat." Her eyes were drawing back towards Sora with a strangely playful look in them as she spoke. "I'm able to move in it, in case I'm ever forced into a _fight!_"

Kairi suddenly sprang towards the Keyblade Master, and Sora knew instantly that Kairi wanted to vent the steam that had built up in both of them, but that words were not enough and it wouldn't be fair to Boromir if they took it out on him; it would be best if they released their anger to one another. And it would give anyone else at the Council an idea not to insult them.

Sora had understood her feelings the second before she said her final word, and was already ready for it to begin. As Kairi sprang towards him his feet were already on the chair and he leapt high into the air, performing a slow backwards flip as he travelled back behind the Council.

Kairi was standing with one foot on his chair as he was in the air, slowly reaching the zenith of his jump around twenty-five feet above her head. The Princess of Heart pointed her hand towards him and out from her palm raged a brilliant tongue of fire, licking at the air as it roared and raced towards Sora. His right hand flashed with white light and the Remembrance appeared in his hand.

Sora raised the blade above his head and brought it slashing down against the oncoming flames with a yell of, "Blizzaga!" The fire parted into a shell around him as an iced blue ball struck the fire head on and broke right through. Kairi leapt back at the last instant as the ball struck against the chair that Sora had been sitting on, freezing it instantly and causing large crystals of ice the size of an average adult male to grow on the ground next to it.

The Princess of Heart flipped backwards away from the ice and landed on the ground just in front of Gimli and Glóin. At the same time, Sora's feet touched the stone floor the porch was paved in. He saw where Kairi was and leapt over his frozen-over chair, his Keyblade bared at the ready in front of him. The girl's right hand flashed with white light and a Keyblade that he had not seen before appeared in her grasp. The sword part of the Keyblade was a simple white with an even whiter thin line running down the centre until it reached the key portion that became the Keyblade's tip. Forming the key the line became a hollow heart, and stamped across it in brightest crimson was the three pointed crown. Around the round edges of the heart summit were the solid image of white flames, licking away at the air in front of them. The hilt was made of golden-red wings that formed a crescent around the white grip, and the wings folded in and embraced the pale white blade along its shaft. Leading down from the pommel was the keychain, a white crown pendant.

Sora came on regardless of the new blade in his girlfriend's hand and moved to slash towards her left side. Kairi's white blade blocked predictably and they held their positions, Sora pressing down, Kairi trying to hold up.

"Bakudou #1, Sai!"

Their arms suddenly snapped behind their backs, restrained and bound by some invisible force. Their Keyblades vanished from their hands in shimmering sparkles of white light. With the sudden lack of pressure against either side, and the abrupt change of position of their arms, both Sora and Kairi were helpless to do anything but wobble for a second before toppling to the ground. Sora was flat on his face, and Kairi dropping down onto her back (which hurt even more as she was landing on her arms).

Sora glanced towards Hat 'n Clogs, Yoruichi, Tessai, and Master Yen Sid. Tessai had his hands together and had a satisfied smile on his face, while Hat 'n Clogs was getting to his feet with a silly grin directed towards them.

"Now now you two," he said, coming towards both of them as they struggled to get back onto their feet, a hand fan snapping out from his wrist and expanding, "if you can't take being insulted in public like a gentlemen or a lady should then we might have to discipline you."

"What?" Kairi asked, incensed. "But he called me a slut!"

"I thought you said that he called you a whore," Hat 'n Clogs answered.

"That's not the point!" Sora argued, still trying to get onto his feet, and failing.

The fan snapped closed. "Do you need a time-out?"

"WHAT!" they asked. "Come on! We're not in kindergarten anymore!"

Hat 'n Clogs came up to both of them and picked each up by their hoods, holding them aloft with seemingly little effort while they still struggled to move their arms and position their legs in a way to get them to stand up. "I think you _do_ need a time-out. But first…" he looked at Tessai, and the large man nodded. The pressure binding their arms together was suddenly released and Hat 'n Clogs dropped them onto the ground. "Both of you are going to thaw-out Sora's chair and apologize for the interruption."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sora said, shaking his head in disbelief. He hadn't had a time-out in years, not since he and Riku had gotten into a fight with a kid a year older than Riku back when Sora was about six and a half. The two boys had been playing on the swings at school while Kairi and some of the girls had been in the sandbox, making sandcastles. This bully in fourth grade came over and stomped on Kairi's sandcastle for no reason at all. Sora saw it happen first and tried to first talk to the bully and make him apologize, and received a black eye for his trouble. Riku saw that first punch fly and instantly leapt off the swing and rushed to Sora's aid, and the pair of them gave the fourth-grade terror two black eyes, and numerous loose or lost teeth, while Sora left with a black eye, bruised cheek, and cut lip and Riku sported a cut to his forehead and a loose tooth.

Mr. Hat 'n Clogs said nothing, instead pointing towards the chair frozen in a prison of ice with an irresolute look on his face that expected complete compliance to his order. Both teenagers groaned and walked the few paces towards Sora's ice-covered chair, ignoring the looks that they were being given from nearly everyone else present at the Council.

"This is so embarrassing," Kairi mumbled as she stopped before the ice on the chair's left side.

Sora passed stopped next to her and just in front of the six-foot-high-one-foot-thick ice-crystal-covered-chair. "You said it Kairi; fire." Flames laced his palms as he held them out towards the frozen water and they rushed out towards the layer of ice. Kairi's burst into life next to him as the fire struck against the ice and parted on its surface, the heat of the flames beginning to melt away the barrier.

Water started to pool around their feet as the massive pieces of ice above where they were melting started to break off and drop to the ground, splashing the freezing melt-water up onto their legs and chilling them to the bone. Within a couple of minutes enough of the ice had melted and the chair had defrosted and cleared of water to such an extent that it would be comfortable to sit on again.

Hat 'n Clogs came up to the chair and yanked it free of the last fingers of ice that still clutched onto its white legs while Sora rubbed his own fiercely with his gloved hands, hoping to bring some heat back into them. He picked up Kairi's seat in his other hand and carried them a few paces further away from the Council than they had been and set them down again, with their backs to the circle. "Sit," he said.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kairi moaned, grudgingly moving through the tiny iceberg filled pond to take her seat again. Sora plopped down next to her and folded his arms.

"This is stupid," he grumbled under his breath. "A time-out, come on! We're being treated like five-year-olds."

"If Boromir says the word 'wench' one more time I'm going to use him as a scratching post!" Kairi huffed indignantly.

Sora looked at her. "A scratching post? Who are you and what have you done with Kairi?"

Kairi looked at him with a tiny blush. "Well," she whispered, "you said earlier this morning that you couldn't tell whether you wanted me to coo like a dove or purr like a kitten more when we were alone."

"So you're a cat now?" Sora asked, smiling at her.

"You already told me that I made a cute lioness," Kairi purred, leaning in towards him.

Sora suddenly heard a whirring noise an instant before there was a sudden sharp pain against the back of his head, causing that particular body part to careen forward unnecessarily fast and strike Kairi's forehead with his own.

"No talking and no smooching during your time-out," Mr. Hat 'n Clogs said, having thrown his fan at Sora. Both teens glared at him from their seats and turned back around, pouting.

They could still hear the words being spoken by those sitting at the Council, and the voice of Galdor of the Havens rose towards them. "Who, or what, are they?" he asked.

"They are warriors," Master Yen Sid said, "Warriors from other worlds who come here to Middle-earth on an errand of their own. Children they may be, but they are strong, and have fought against creatures more evil than orcs, creatures that would strike terror into the hearts of even the bravest of men. For their foes prey upon the hearts of those living, especially those whose hearts are strong."

"They are smitten," the dwarf, Gimli, observed gruffly.

Aragorn chuckled slightly. "Yes, yes they are."

"Their presence here shall be made clearer later," said Elrond. "You asked of the Ring Boromir, and how the Wise know that this ring is indeed his Ring? That shall be told."

"But not yet, I beg, Master!" said Bilbo. "Already the Sun is climbing to noon, and I feel the need of something to strengthen me."

"I had not named you," said Elrond. "But I do so now. Come! Tell us your tale. And if you have not yet cast your story into verse, you may tell it in plain words. The briefer, the sooner shall you be refreshed."

"Very well," Bilbo's voice drifted over to them. "I will do as you bid. But I will now tell the true story, and if some here have heard me tell it otherwise I ask them to forget it and forgive me. I only wished to claim the treasure as my very own in those days, and to be rid of the name of thief that was put on me. But perhaps I understand things a little better now. Anyway, this is what happened."

Sora and Kairi found it a bit more difficult to listen to the hobbit, even though his tale with a creature called Gollum, and how he had found the Ring in the tunnels of the mountains and riddled with Gollum to save his life, was completely new and interesting to them. But they had heard a lot of tales already this morning, and it was becoming a little overwhelming. In addition, they were unable to actually look at the speaker and direct to him their full attention, and their minds wandered a little.

"I've got a song stuck in my head," Sora mumbled while Bilbo was telling a riddle he'd heard before (and one he particularly did not like: _It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, kills laughter._), only loudly enough for Kairi to hear him.

"Well don't start singing it aloud," Kairi whispered hurriedly back, listening to the riddles in the dark. "I'll end up getting it stuck in my head and I want to try and figure this one out. I got the last one about daisies."

"The answer is the dark," Sora told her in a low voice. Kairi gave him an irritated look. She folded her arms and slumped back in her chair, muttering under her breath.

"_A box without hinges, key, or lid,_" Bilbo said, "_yet inside golden treasure is hid._"

"Ooh, that one's tough," Sora said, thinking.

"It's an egg," Kairi answered, smirking as she looked over at him. This time it was Sora's turn to pout.

Bilbo finished his tale on a note as if he was about to continue, but Elrond's voice came in clearly over his. "Well told, my friend," said the Elf-lord, "but that is enough at this time. For the moment it suffices that the Ring passed to Frodo, your heir. Let him now speak!"

"Will you two promise to behave now?" Mr. Hat 'n Clogs asked.

"Yes," Sora and Kairi droned simultaneously. They got up and grasped their chairs.

"We're sorry about the earlier interruption," Sora apologized, placing his white chair down in the middle of the icy puddle of water, still with its bergs of melting ice sitting in it.

"And forgive me for my insult to you Kairi," Boromir added sincerely, "I did not know."

Kairi was silent for a second before she smiled slightly and nodded. "You're forgiven Boromir." Sora smiled at her and they both turned their attentions to Frodo, who began his tale more reluctantly than his uncle. He told of all of his dealings with the Ring from the day that he had received it when Bilbo left Hobbiton. He told of a being called Tom Bombadil, and of his encounter with a Barrow-wight, the question as to the real definition of which had been lurking in the back of Sora's and Kairi's minds since the Weather Hills. Every step of his journey from that quiet village in the Shire to Rivendell was examined and questioned, and every detail he could recall concerning the Black Riders was brought out of him. The short conflict on Weathertop was gone over in careful detail from the viewpoints of both Frodo and Aragorn, and when the hobbit had finished and sat down again, he seemed quite exhausted by the ordeal.

Bilbo and Frodo began to speak quietly to one another, and Galdor of the Havens must have overheard their conversation because he spoke up. "You speak for me also," he said, and turning to Elrond he said: "The Wise may have good reason to believe that the halfling's trove is indeed the Great Ring of long debate, unlikely though that may seem to those who know less. But may we not hear the proofs? And I would ask this also. What of Saruman? He is learned in the lore of the Rings, yet he is not among us. What is his counsel—if he knows the things that we have heard?"

"The questions that you ask, Galdor, are bound together," said Elrond. "I had not overlooked them, and they shall be answered. But these things it is the part of Gandalf to make clear; and I call upon him last, for it i the place of honour, and in all this matter he has been the chief."

"Some, Galdor," the wizard began, "would think the tidings of Glóin, and the pursuit of Frodo, proof enough that the halfling's trove is a thing of great worth to the Enemy. Yet it is a ring. What then? The Nine the Nazgûl keep. The Seven are taken or destroyed." Glóin stirred at his words, but did not speak. "The Three we know of. What then is this one that he desires so much?

"There is indeed a wide waste of time between the River and the Mountain, between the loss and the finding. But the gap in the knowledge of the Wise has been filled at last. Yet too slowly. For the Enemy has been close behind, closer even than I feared. And well is it that not until this year, this very summer, as it seems, did he learn the full truth.

"Some here will remember that many years ago I myself dared to pass the doors of the Necromancer in Dol Guldur, and secretly explored his ways, and found this that our fears were true: he was none other than Sauron, our Enemy of old, at length taking shape and power again. Some, too, will remember also that Saruman dissuaded us from open deeds against him, and for long we watched him only. Yet at last, as his shadow grew, Saruman yielded, and the Council put forth its strength and drove the evil out of Mirkwood—and that was in the very year of the finding of this Ring: a strange chance, if chance it was.

"But we were too late, as Elrond foresaw. Sauron also had watched us, and had long prepared against our strike, governing Mordor from afar from Minas Morgul, where his Nine servants dwelt, until all was ready. Then he gave was before us, but only feigned to flee, and soon after came to the Dark Tower and openly declared himself. Then for the last time the Council met; for now we learned that he was seeking ever more eagerly for the One. We feared then that he had some news of it that we knew nothing of. But Saruman said nay, and repeated what he had said to us before: that the One would never again be found in Middle-earth.

"'At the worst,' said he, 'our Enemy knows that we have it not, and thinks that it is still lost. But what was lost may yet be found, he thinks. Fear not! His hope will cheat him. Have I not earnestly studied this matter? Into Anduin the Great it fell; and long ago, while Sauron slept, it was rolled down the River to the Sea. There let it lie until the End.'"

Gandalf fell silent, gazing eastward from the porch to the far peaks of the Misty Mountains, the roots of whom the peril of this world had long lain hidden. He sighed.

"There I was at fault," he said. "I was lulled by the words of Saruman the Wise; but I should have sought for the truth sooner, and our peril would now be less."

"We were all at fault," Elrond told him, "and but for your vigilance the Darkness, maybe, would already be upon us. But say on!"

"From the first my heart misgave me, against all reason that I knew," said Gandalf, "and I desired to know how this thing came to Gollum, and how long he had possessed it. So I set a watch for him, guessing that he would ere long come forth from his darkness to seek for his treasure. He came, but he escaped and was not found. And then alas! I let the matter rest, watching and waiting only, as we have too often done.

"Time passed with many cares, until my doubts were awakened again to sudden fear. Whence came the hobbit's ring? What, if my fear was true, should be done with it? Those things I must decide. But I spoke yet of my dread to none, knowing the peril of an untimely whisper, if it went astray. In all the long wars with the Dark Tower treason has ever been our greatest foe.

"That was seventeen years ago," Gandalf said. Sora and Kairi quickly shared looks. They had not even been born at this time, possibly not even _conceived_ yet. The Keyblade Wars across the worlds had only ended two years before, and the traitor Xehanort's guise of Nhaerto still had not yet been stripped away. "Soon," Gandalf continued, "I became aware that spies of many sorts, even beasts and birds, were gathered round the Shire, and my fear grew. I called for the help of the Dúnedain, and their watch was doubled; and I opened my heart to Aragorn, the heir of Isildur."

"And I," Aragorn began, "counselled that we should hunt for Gollum, too late though it may seem. And since it seemed fit that Isildur's heir should labour to repair Isildur's fault, I went with Gandalf on the long and hopeless search."

Gandalf then told them how they had explored the whole length of Wilderland, down even to the Mountains of Shadow and the fences of Mordor. "There we had rumour of him, and we guess that he dwelt there long in the dark hills; but we never found him, and at last I despaired. And then in my despair I thought again of a test that might make the finding of Gollum unneeded. The ring itself might tell if it were the One. The memory of words at the Council came back to me: words of Saruman, half-heeded at the time. I heard them now clearly in my heart.

"'The Nine, the Seven, and the Three,' he said, 'had each their proper gem. Not so the One. It was round and unadorned, as it were one of the lesser rings; but its maker set marks upon it that the skilled, maybe, could still see and read.'

"What those marks were he had not said. Who now would know? The maker. And Saruman? But great though his lore may be, it must have a source. What hand save Sauron's ever held this thing, ere it was lost?"

"Isildur's," Kairi answered. She blushed slightly as Gandalf looked at her. She had been acting like she was back at school, and a teacher had just posed a question to the whole class and she'd just blurted out the answer.

But there was a kind smile in the wizard's eyes and a chuckle in his voice. "Yes Kairi, Isildur's. With that though in mind, I forsook the chase, and passed swiftly to Gondor. In former days the members of my order had been well received there, but Saruman most of all. Often he had been for long the guest of the Lords of the City. Less welcome did the Lord Denethor show me then than of old, and grudgingly he permitted me to search among his hoarded scrolls and books.

"'If indeed you look only, as you say, for records of ancient days, and the beginnings of the City, read on!' he said. 'For to me what was is less dark than what is to come, and that is my care. But unless you have more skill even than Saruman, who has studied here long, you will find naught that is not well known to me, who am master of the lore of this City.'

"So said Denethor. And yet there lie in his hoards many records that few now can read, even of the lore-masters, for their scripts and tongues have become dark to later men. And Boromir, there lies in Minas Tirith still, unread I guess, by any save Saruman and myself since the kings failed, a scroll that Isildur made himself. For Isildur did not march away straight from the was in Mordor, as some have told the tale."

"Some in the North, maybe," Boromir broke in. "All know in Gondor that he went first to Minas Anor and dwelt a while with his nephew Meneldil, instructing him, before he committed to him the rule of the South Kingdom. In that time he planted there the last sapling of the White Tree in memory of his brother."

"But in that time he also made this scroll," said Gandalf, "and that is not remembered in Gondor, it would seem. For this scroll concerns the Ring, and this wrote Isildur therein:

_The Great Ring shall go now to be an heirloom of the North Kingdom; but records of it shall be left in Gondor, where also dwell the heirs of Elendil, lest a time come when the memory of these great matters shall grow dim._

"And after these words Isildur described the Ring, such as he found it.

_It was hot when I first took it, hot as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. Yet even as I write it is cooled, and it seemeth to shrink, though it loseth neither its beauty nor its shape. Already the writing upon it, which at first was as clear as red flame, fadeth and is now only barely to be read. It is fashioned in an elven-script of Eregion, for they have no letters in Mordor for such subtle work; but the language is unknown to me. I deem it to be a tongue of the Black Land, since it is foul and uncouth. What evil it saith I do not know; but I trace here a copy of it, lest it fade beyond recall. The Ring misseth, maybe, the heat of Sauron's hand, which was black and yet burned like fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed; and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed. But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all the works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain._

"When I read these words, my quest was ended. For the traced writing was indeed as Isildur guessed, in the tongue of Mordor and the servants of the Tower. And what was said therein was already known. For in the day that Sauron first but on the One, Celebrimbor, maker of the Three, was aware of him, and from afar he heard him speak these words, and so his evil purposes were revealed.

"At once I took my leave of Denethor, but even as I went northwards, messages came to me out of Lórien that Aragorn had passed that way, and that he had found the creature called Gollum. Therefore I went first to meet him and hear his tale. Into what deadly perils he had gone alone, I dared not guess."

"There is little need to tell of them," said Aragorn. "If a man must needs walk in sight of the Black Gate, or tread the deadly flowers of Morgul Vale, then perils he will have. I, too, despaired at last, and I began my homeward journey. And then, by fortune, I came suddenly on what I sought: the marks of soft feet beside a muddy pool. But now the trail was fresh and swift, and it led not to Mordor but away. Along the skirts of the Dead Marshes I followed it, and then I had him. Lurking by a stagnant mere, peering in the water as the dark eve fell, I caught him, Gollum. He was covered with green slime. He will never love me, I fear; for he bit me, and I was not gentle. Nothing more did I ever get from his mouth than the marks of his teeth. I deemed it the worst part of all my journey, the road back, watching him day and night, marking him walk before me with a halter on his neck, gagged, until he was tamed by lack of drink and food, driving him ever towards Mirkwood. I brought him there at last and gave him to the Elves, for we had agreed that this should be done; and I was glad to be rid of his company, for he stank. For my part I hope never to look upon him again; but Gandalf came and endured long speech with him."

"Yes," Gandalf sighed, "long and weary, but not without profit. For one thing, the tale he told of his loss agreed with that which Bilbo has now told openly for the first time; but that mattered little, since I had already guessed it. But I learned then first that Gollum's ring came out of the Great River night to the Gladden Fields. And I learned also that he had possessed it long. Many lives of his small kind. The power of the ring had lengthened his years far beyond their span; but that power only the Great Rings wield.

"And if that is not proof enough, Galdor, there is the other test that I spoke of. Upon this very ring which you have here seen held aloft, round and unadorned, the letters that Isildur reported may still be read, if one has the strength of will to set the golden thing in the fire a while. That I have done, and this I have read:

_Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."_

The change in Gandalf's voice was terrifying. It became powerful and menacing as soon as he began to speak, harsh as stone. A shadow passed over the high sun, and the porch grew dark. Sora and Kairi each began to tremble horribly, their hands clapped hard over their ears and their eyes squeezed shut tight. All did tremble, and the Elves stopped their ears as well, but none of them had the same reaction as the two Keyblade Wielders, for even as the shadow began to pass and the rest of the company breathed again they could not.

Sora felt extremely cold and terrible all through his body, as if he'd never feel warm and happy again. His skin was exploding in sweat, and his stomach churned and he nearly lost it. Kairi made a strangled hissing noise next to him, like she was withholding a terrible scream. The words Gandalf had spoken were on a level of evil that Sora had never encountered before, except perhaps when he had fought his Anti-Form or SkullGreymon, but their words alone had never frozen his heart.

A flash of white light entered his eyes and he felt something in his hand. At once a pulse of warmth shot from his hand through his arm towards his heart. It only spread from there, and within seconds the feeling had passed and Sora had opened his eyes again, panting heavily and wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his gloved left hand. He looked at his right, and was surprised for a moment to see the Kingdom Key resting there. Beyond it he could see that Kairi's new Keyblade was in her right hand as well, and she appeared to be recovering as well. Sora dismissed his Keyblade and pondered for a moment why they had been so dreadfully affected compared to the others, and then remembered that their hearts were probably the only two among the company that had no darkness, and words so evil, powerful, and dark had to have an adverse effect on them.

"Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey," said Elrond.

"And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again," answered the wizard. "Nonetheless, I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For if that tongue is not soon to be heard in every corner of the West, then let all put doubt aside that this thing is indeed what the Wise have declared: the treasure of the Enemy, fraught with all his malice; and in it lies a great part of his strength of old. Out of the Black Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew that they had been betrayed:

_One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them._

"Know also, my friends, that I learned more yet from Gollum. He was loth to speak and his tale was unclear, but it is beyond all doubt that he went to Mordor, and there all that he knew was forced from him. Thus the Enemy knows now that the One is found, that it was long in the Shire; and since his servants have pursued it almost to our door, he soon will know, already he may know, even as I speak, that we have it here."

-A-D-

Gandalf fell silent, and it was quiet for several seconds as the weight of this sank in. Then, suddenly, a noise entered their ears and Sora felt something vibrating in his pocket. His face became furiously red as every eye turned to him and his right hand dove into his clothing to try and grab whatever was making the noise. Finally, his fingers gripped round the handle of the communicator he'd been given at Star Command and he swiftly pulled it out.

"_Here I am,"_ the communicator was singing as Sora stared at the small rectangular screen in disbelief, _"rock you like a hurricane!"_

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kairi moaned into her hand. "_That's_ your ringtone?"

"Apparently that's my ringtone for Yuffie," Sora answered in surprise, pressing the button to answer.

The screen flicked to life and the eighteen-year-old kunoichi's cheery face popped onto the screen. Her voice carried loudly onto the porch as she began to speak. "Hey there Sora, how're ya doing?"

"Fine," Sora answered pointedly, his elation at seeing a face he (for the most part) had not seen or spoken to for about a month dimmed by her awkward timing, "can you call back later? This is kinda a bad time right now."

"Oh a bad time huh?" Yuffie asked, grinning and giving him a little wink. "I wouldn't happen to be interrupting any steamy action between you and Kairi now would I?"

"What?" Sora asked. "No! We aren't doing anything like that, go away!"

"Well then what are you doing?" Yuffie asked curiously. "If you and Kairi aren't tongue wrestling or fighting off Heartless, you can't be so busy that you can't talk to me for five minutes, unless you don't like me anymore? That's it isn't it! RIKU! YOUR BEST FRIEND IS AN ASS AND DOESN'T LOVE ME ANYMORE SO NOW HE WON'T EVEN TALK TO ME!"

"What!" Sora nearly yelled, his face burning a shade of crimson that would have shamed a thousand roses. Yuffie was pouting angrily and had her face turned away from his. "No I—Yuffie what are you—what!"

The communicator was snatched out of his hand by Kairi and she held the screen towards her. Yuffie's voice came back on, sounding pleasant now. "Oh hi Kairi, how're you doing? You're boyfriend's a jerk by the way."

"I'm fine," Kairi answered snippily, ignoring Yuffie's comment about the thoroughly confused Sora. "But right now we're in the middle of a big discussion about a Ring, the Dark Lord Sauron, and whether or not we're all going to be killed in the near future. It's kind of important and we need to pay attention, because there's a lot of in-depth detail to this whole thing that's been going on longer than any of us have been alive."

"Ooh, sounds like fun. Can I join?"

"No," Kairi told her, pressing her thumb down hard on the 'END' button. She tossed it back to Sora, who caught it by the handle, and he turned the thing off. Barely a second had passed when noise started to come from Kairi's purse and she irately opened the black bag and pulled out the communicator that _she_ had been given and glared at it.

"_There were drums in the air as she started to dance,  
__Every soul in the room keepin' time with their hands._

_And we sang ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
__And the voices rang like the angels sing.  
__And singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
__And we danced on into the night."_

"Go away," Kairi muttered darkly as she quickly pressed the 'TALK' button.

"That was mean Kai—"

Yuffie's voice died abruptly as Kairi jammed the 'END' key hard, and held it down to turn it off. Once the device was shut down it hung limply in Kairi's left hand as both she and Sora let out exhausted sighs and slumped back in their chairs.

"In the name of Poseidon," Sora muttered, running a hand through his spiked hair, "why now of all times? And what got into Yuffie there? And what in the name of the sea-gods were you doing with our communicators while we were unconscious Jiminy!"

"I was just personalizing your caller ring and text tones," the cricket answered unashamedly, popping out of Sora's hood and onto his left shoulder. "I didn't know that it would upset you."

"It doesn't upset us Jiminy," Kairi groaned. "It's just that we did not expect it, and we _really_ weren't expecting it to happen now, in front of all these people that are making me feel as small as a seven-year-old with how young we are and how little we actually know."

Gimli's voice brought them back to those of the company. "What were those… sounds?" he asked curiously, inclining his head towards the communicators that lay limply in the grasp of each teen.

"Not the music of the Elves, I'll tell you that," Sora said, giving him a smile.

"That was music?" Erestor asked. "Your jest is not amusing."

He received sceptical looks from Sora and Kairi. "Live in our culture for sixteen years and then come back to us about whether it's music or not," Kairi told him. "Shouldn't be too hard for you; you're immortal."

Boromir waved his hand around a couple of times, drawing the attention towards him. "Returning to the object at hand," he began before looking at Gandalf. "He is a small thing, you say, this Gollum? Small, but great in mischief. What became of him? To what doom did you put him?"

"He is in prison, but no worse," Aragorn explained. "He had suffered much. There is no doubt that he was tormented, and the fear of Sauron lies black on his heart. Still, I for one am glad that he is safely kept by the watchful Elves of Mirkwood. His malice is great and gives him a strength hardly to be believed by one so lean and withered. He could work much mischief still, if he were free. And I do not doubt that he was allowed to leave Mordor on some evil errand."

"Alas! alas!" Legolas broke in, his fair elvish face distressed as he cried. "The tidings that I was sent to bring must now be told. They are not good, but only here have I learned how evil they may seem to this company. Sméagol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped."

"Escaped?" Aragorn cried. "That is ill news indeed. We shall all rue it bitterly, I fear. How came the folk of Thranduil to fail in their trust?"

"Not through lack of watchfulness," Legolas answered; "but perhaps through over-kindliness. And we fear that the prisoner had aid from others, and that more is known of our doings than we could wish. We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf's bidding, much though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black thoughts."

"You were less tender to me," said Glóin, his eyes flashing at the Elf of Mirkwood as old memories of his imprisonment in the deep places of Thranduil's halls were stirred.

"Now come!" Gandalf reprimanded him. "Pray do not interrupt, my good Glóin. That was a regrettable misunderstanding, long set right. If all the grievances that stand between Elves and Dwarves are to be brought up here, we may as well abandon this Council."

Sora looked at Gandalf. "Why?" he asked.

The wizard sighed. "It is a very long and complicated tale; too long for the telling."

Sora nodded. Glóin rose and bowed, and Legolas continued. "In the days of fair weather we led Gollum through the woods; and there was a high tree standing alone far from the others which he liked to climb. Often we let him mount up to the highest branches, until he felt the free wind; but we set a guard at the tree's foot. One day he refused to come down, and the guards had no mind to climb after him: he had learned the trick of clinging to boughs with his feet as well as with his hands; so they sat by the tree far into the night.

"It was that very night of summer, yet moonless and starless, that Orcs came on unawares. We drove them off after some time; they were many and fierce, but they came from over the mountains, and were unused to the woods. When the battle was over, we found that Gollum was gone, and his guards were slain or taken. It then seemed plain to us that the attack had been made for his rescue, and that he knew of it beforehand. How that was contrived we cannot guess; but Gollum is cunning, and the spies of the Enemy are many. The dark things that were driven out in the year of the Dragon's fall have returned in greater numbers, and Mirkwood is again an evil place, save where our realm is maintained.

"We have failed to recapture Gollum. We came on his trail among those of many Orcs, and it plunged deep into the Forest, going south. But ere long it escaped our skill, and we dared not continue in the hunt; for we were drawing nigh to Dol Guldur, and that is still a very evil place; we do not go that way."

"Well, well, he is gone," Gandalf said. "We have no time to seek for him again. He must do what he will. But he may play a part yet that neither he nor Sauron have foreseen.

"And now I will answer Galdor's other questions. What of Saruman? What are his counsels to us in this need? This tale I must tell in full, for only Elrond has heard it yet, and that in brief; but it will bear on all that we must resolve. It is the last chapter in the Tale of the Ring, so far as it has yet gone."

And Gandalf started to tell his tale once again. "At the end of June I was in the Shire, but a cloud of anxiety was on my mind, and I rode o the southern borders of the little land; for I had a foreboding of some danger, still hidden from me but drawing near. There messages reached me telling of war and defeat in Gondor, and when I heard of the Black Shadow a chill smote my heart. But I found nothing save a few fugitives from the South; yet it seemed to me that on them sat a fear of which they would not speak. I turned east and north and journeyed along the Greenway; and not far from Bree I came upon a traveller sitting on a bank beside the road with his grazing horse beside him. It was Radagast the Brown, who at one time dwelt at Rhosgobel, near the borders of Mirkwood. He is one of my order, but I had not seen him for many a year.

"'Gandalf!' he cried. 'I was seeking you. But I am a stranger in these parts. All I knew was that you might be found in a wild region with the uncouth name of Shire.'"

"'Your information was correct,' I said. 'But do not put it that way, if you meet any of the inhabitants. You are near the borders of the Shire now. And what do you want with me? It must be pressing. You were never a traveller, unless driven by great need.'"

"'I have an urgent errand,' he said. 'My news is evil.' Then he looked about him, as if the hedges might have ears. 'Nazgûl,' he whispered. 'The Nine are abroad again. They have crossed the River secretly and are moving westward. They have taken the guise of riders in black.'

"I knew then what I had dreaded without even knowing it.

"'The Enemy must have some great need or purpose,' said Radagast; 'but what it is that makes him look to these distant and desolate parts, I cannot guess.'

"'What do you mean?' said I.

"'I have been told that wherever they go the Riders ask for news of a land called Shire.'

"'_The _Shire,' I said; but my heart sank. For even the Wise might fear to withstand the Nine, when they are gathered together under their fell chieftain. A great king and sorcerer he was of old, and now he wields a deadly fear. 'Who told you, and who sent you?' I asked.

"'Saruman the White,' answered Radagast. 'And he told me to say that if you felt the need, he will help; but you must seek his aid at once, or it will be too late.'

"And that message brought me new hope. For Saruman the White is the greatest of my order. Radagast is, of course, a worth Wizard, a master of shapes and changes of hue; and he has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds are especially his friends. But Saruman has long studied the arts of the Enemy himself, and thus we have often been able to forestall him. It was by the devices of Saruman that we drove him from Dol Guldur. It might be that he had found some weapons that would drive back the Nine.

"'I will go to Saruman,' I said.

"'Then you must go _now_,' said Radagast; 'for I have wasted time in looking for you, and the days are running short. I was told to find you before Midsummer, and that is now here. Even if you set out from this spot, you will hardly reach him before the Nine discover the land that they seek. I myself shall turn back at once.' And with that he mounted his horse and would have ridden straight off.

"'Stay a moment!' I said. 'We shall need your help, and the help of all things that will give it. Send out messages to all the beasts and birds that are your friends. Tell them to bring news of anything that bears on this matter to Saruman and Gandalf. Let messages be sent to Orthanc.'

"'I will do that,' he said, and rode off as if the Nine were after him.

"I could not follow him from then and there. I had ridden very far already that day, and I was as weary as my horse; and I needed to consider matters. I stayed the night in Bree, and decided that I had no time to return to the Shire. Never did I make a greater mistake.

"However, I wrote a message to Frodo, and trusted to my friend the innkeeper to send it to him. I rode away at dawn; and I came at long last to the dwelling of Saruman. That is far south in Isengard, in the end of the Misty Mountains, not far from the Gap of Rohan. And Boromir will tell you that that is a great open vale that lies between the Misty Mountains and the northmost foothills of Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains of his home. But Isengard is a circle of sheer rocks that enclose a valley as with a wall, and in the midst of that valley is a tower of stone called Orthanc. It was not made by Saruman, but by the Men of Númenor long ago; and it is very tall and has many secrets; yet it looks not to be a work of craft. It cannot be reached save by passing the circle of Isengard; and in that circle there is only one gate.

"Late one evening I came to the gate, like a great arch in the wall of rock; and it was strongly guarded. But the keepers of the gate were on watch for me and told me that Saruman awaited me. I rode under the arch, and the gate closed silently behind me, and suddenly I was afraid, though I knew not the reason for it.

"But I rode to the foot of Orthanc, and came to the stair of Saruman; and there he met me and led me up to his high chamber. He wore a ring on his finger.

"'So you have come, Gandalf,' he said to me gravely; but in his eyes there seemed to be a white light, as if a cold laughter was in his heart.

"'Yes, I have come,' I said. 'I have come for your aid, Saruman the White.' And that title seemed to anger him.

"'Have you indeed, Gandalf the _Grey_!' he scoffed. 'For aid? It has seldom been heard of that Gandalf the Grey sought for aid, one so cunning and so wise, wandering about the lands, and concerning himself in every business, whether it belongs to him or not.'

"I looked at him and wondered. 'But if I am not deceived,' said I, 'things are now moving which will require the union of all our strength.'

"'That may be so,' he said, 'but the thought is late in coming to you. How long, I wonder, have you concealed from me, the head of the Council, a matter of greatest import? What brings you now from your lurking-place in the Shire?'

"'The Nine have come forth again,' I answered. 'They have crossed the River. So Radagast said to me.'

"'Radagast the Brown!" laughed Saruman, and he no longer concealed his scorn. 'Radagast the Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool! Yet he had just the wit to play the part that I set him. For you have come, and that was all the purpose of my message. And here you will stay, Gandalf the Grey, and rest from journeys. For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!'

"I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eyes was bewildered.

"'I liked white better,' I said.

"'White!' he sneered. 'It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.'

"'In which case it is no longer white,' said I. 'And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.

"'You need not speak to me as to one of the fools that you take for friends,' said he. 'I have not brought you hither to be instructed by you, but to give you a choice.'

"He drew himself up then and began to declaim, as if he were making a speech long rehearsed. 'The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning. The time of the Elves is over, but our time is at hand: the world of Men, which we must rule. But we must have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see.

"'And listen, Gandalf, my old friend and helper!' he said, coming near and speaking in a softer voice. 'I said _we_, for _we_ it may be, if you will join with me. A new Power is rising. Against it the old allies and policies will not avail us at all. There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor. This then is one choice before you, before us. We may join with that Power. It would be wise, Gandalf. There is hope that way. Its victory is at hand; and there will be rich reward for those that aided it. As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means.'"

As Sora and Kairi listened to the words Gandalf was relaying to the Council they were shaking their heads in revulsion. That this Saruman would forsake his friends because they were weak and align himself with Sauron to further his own ends was appalling. It was more than appalling, it was traitorous!

Yet they glanced anxiously at one another. There had still been no mention of Maleficent. Pete's presence and the Heartless were one thing, but could Star Command's intelligence that Maleficent was actually on this world and building her fortress in Mordor be inaccurate?

Gandalf continued. "'Saruman,' I said, 'I have heard speeches of this kind before, but only in the mouths of emissaries sent from Mordor to deceive the ignorant. I cannot think that you brought me so far only to wear my ears.'

"He looked at me sidelong, and paused a while considering. 'Well, I see that this wise course does not commend itself to you,' he said. 'Not yet? Not if some better way can be contrived?'

"He came and laid his long hand on my arm. 'And why not Gandalf?' he whispered. 'Why not? The Ruling Ring? If we could command that, then the Power would pass to _us_. That is in truth why I brought you here. For I have many eyes in my service, and I believe that you know where this precious thing now lies. Is it not so? Or why do the Nine ask for the Shire, and what is your business there?' As he said this a lust which he could not conceal shone suddenly in his eyes.

"'Saruman,' I said, standing away from him, 'only one hand at a time can wield the One, and you know that well, so do not trouble to say _we_! But I would not give it, nay, I would not give even news of it to you, now that I learn your mind. You were head of the Council, but you have unmasked yourself at last. Well, the choices are, it seems, to submit to Sauron, or to yourself. I will take neither. Have you others to offer?'

"He was cold now and perilous. 'Yes,' he said. 'I did not expect you to show wisdom, even in your own behalf; but I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, and so saving yourself much trouble and pain. The third choice is to stay here, until the end.'

"'Until what end?'

"'Until you reveal to me where the One may be found. I may find means to persuade you. Or until it is found in your despite, and the Ruler has time to turn to lighter matters: to devise, say, a fitting reward for the hindrance and insolence of Gandalf the Grey.'

"'That may not prove to be one of the lighter matters,' said I. He laughed at me, for my words were empty, and he knew it.

"They took me and they set me alone on the pinnacle of Orthanc, in the place where Saruman was accustomed to watch the stars. There is no descent save by a narrow stair of many thousand steps, and the valley below seems far away. I looked on it and saw that, whereas it had once been green and fair, it was now filled with pits and forges. Wolves and orcs were housed in Isengard, for Saruman was mustering a great force on his own account, in rivalry of Sauron and not in his service yet. Over all his works a dark smoke hung and wrapped itself about the sides of Orthanc. I stood alone on an island in the clouds; and I had no chance of escape, and my days were bitter. I was pierced with cold, and I had but little room to which to pace to and fro, brooding on the coming of the Riders to the North.

"That the Nine had indeed arisen I felt assured, apart from the words of Saruman which might be lies. Long ere I came to Isengard I had heard tidings by the way that could not be mistaken. Fear was ever in my heart for my friends in the Shire; but still I had some hope. I hoped that Frodo had set forth at once, as my letter had urged, and that he had reached Rivendell before the deadly pursuit began. And both my fear and my hope proved ill-founded. For my hope was founded on a fat man in Bree; and my fear was founded on the cunning of Sauron. But fat men who sell ale have many calls to answer; and the power of Sauron is still less than fear makes it. But in the circle of Isengard, trapped and alone, it was not easy to think that the hunters before whom all have fled or fallen would falter in the Shire far away."

"I saw you!" cried Frodo. "You were walking backwards and forwards. The moon shone in your hair."

More eyes than Gandalf's turned to look at the hobbit in astonishment. "It was only a dream," said Frodo, "but it suddenly came back to me. I had quite forgotten it. It came some time ago; after I left the Shire, I think."

"Then it was late in coming," Gandalf told him, "as you will see. I was in an evil plight. And those who know me will agree that I have seldom been in such need, and do not bear such misfortune well. Gandalf the Grey caught like a fly in a spider's treacherous web! Yet even the most subtle spiders may leave a weak thread.

"At first I feared, as Saruman no doubt intended, that Radagast had also fallen. Yet I had caught no hint of anything wrong in his voice or in his eye at our meeting. If I had, I should never have gone to Isengard, or gone more warily. So Saruman guessed, and he had concealed his mind and deceived his messenger. It would have been useless in any case to try and win over the honest Radagast to treachery. He sought me in good faith, and so persuaded me.

"That was the undoing of Saruman's plot. For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood where he had many friends of old. And the Eagles of the Mountains went far and wide, and they saw many things: the gathering of wolves and the mustering of Orcs; and the Nine Riders going hither and thither in the lands; and they heard news of the escape of Gollum. And they sent a messenger to bring these tidings to me.

"So it was that when summer waned, there came a night of moon, and Gwaihir the Windlord, swiftest of the Great Eagles, came unlooked-for to Orthanc; and he found me standing on the pinnacle. Then I spoke to him and he bore me away, before Saruman was aware. I was far from Isengard, ere the wolves and orcs issued from the gate to pursue me.

"'How far can you bear me?' I said to Gwaihir.

"'Many leagues,' said he, 'but not to the ends of the earth. I was sent to bear tidings not burdens.'

"'Then I must have a steed on land,' I said, 'and a steed surpassingly swift, for I have never had such need of haste before.'

"'Then I will bear you to Edoras, where the Lord of Rohan sits in his halls,' he said; 'for that is not very far off.' And I was glad, for in the Riddermark of Rohan the Rohirrim, the Horse-lords, dwell, and there are no horses like those that are bred in that great vale between the Misty Mountains and the White.

"'Are the Men of Rohan still to be trusted, do you think?' I said to Gwaihir, for the treason of Saruman had shaken my faith.

"'They pay a tribute of horses,' he answered, and send many yearly to Mordor, or so it is said; but they are not yet under the yoke. But if Saruman has become evil, as you say, then their doom cannot be long delayed.'

"He set me down in the land of Rohan ere dawn; and now I have lengthened my tale over long. The rest must be more brief. In Rohan I found evil already at work: the lies of Saruman; and the king of the land would not listen to my warnings. He bade me take a horse and be gone; and I chose one much to my liking, but little to his. I took the best horse in his land, and I have never seen the like of him."

"Then he must be a noble beast indeed," Aragorn said; "and it grieves me more than many tidings that might seem worse to learn that Sauron levies such tribute. It was not so when last I was in that land."

"Nor is it now, I will swear," said Boromir. "It is a lie that comes from the Enemy. I know the Men of Rohan, true and valiant, our allies, dwelling still in the lands that we gave them long ago."

"The shadow of Mordor lies on distant lands," Aragorn answered. "Saruman has fallen under it. Rohan is beset. Who knows what you will find there, if ever you return?"

"Not this at least," Boromir countered, "that they will buy their lives with horses. They love their horses next to their kin. And not without reason, for the horses of the Riddermark come from the fields of the North, far from the Shadow, and their race, as that of their masters, is descended from the free days of old."

"True indeed!" said Gandalf. "And there is one among them that might have been foaled in the morning of the world. The horses of the Nine cannot vie with him; tireless, swift as the flowing wind. Shadowfax they called him. By day his coat glistens like silver; and by night it is like a shade, and he passes unseen. Light is his footfall! Never before had any man mounted him, but I took him and tamed him, and so speedily he bore me that I reached the Shire when Frodo was on the Barrow-downs, though I set out from Rohan only when he set out from Hobbiton.

"But fear grew in me as I rode. Ever as I came north I hard tidings of the Riders, and though I gained on them day by day, they were ever before me. They had divided their forces, I learned: some remained on the eastern borders, not far from the Greenway, and some invaded the Shire from the south. I came to Hobbiton and Frodo had gone; but I had words with old Gamgee. Many words and few to the point. He had much to say about the shortcomings of the new owners of Bag End.

"'I can't abide changes,' said he, 'not at my time of life, and least of all changes for the worst.' 'Changes for the worst,' he repeated many times.

"'Worst is a bad word,' I said to him, 'and I hope you do not live to see it.' But amidst his talk I gathered at last that Frodo had left Hobbiton less than a week before, and that a black horseman had come to the Hill the same evening. Then I rode on in fear. I came to Buckland and found it in uproar, as busy as a hive of ants that has been stirred with a stick. I came to the house at Crickhollow, and it was broken open and empty; but on the threshold there lay a cloak that had been Frodo's. Then for a while hope left me, and I did not wait to gather news, or I might have been comforted; but I rode on the trail of the Riders. It was hard to follow, for it went many ways, and I was at a loss. But it seemed to me that one or two had ridden towards Bree; and that way I went, for I thought of words that might be said to the innkeeper.

"'Butterbur they call him,' thought I. 'If this delay was his fault, I will melt all the butter in him. I will roast the old fool over a slow fire.' He expected no less, and when he saw my face he fell down flat and began to melt on the spot."

"What did you do to him?" Frodo cried in alarm. "He was really very kind to us and did all that he could."

"I'd be terrified too if I made a slip-up as big as this," Sora said. "You didn't do anything horribly bad to him though, did you? He _was_ pretty nice, especially compared to that Southerner."

"Or Bill Ferny," Kairi added.

"He even paid for the pony even though I said that I would," Sora remembered.

Gandalf laughed. "Do not be afraid!" he said. "I did not bite, and I barked very little. So overjoyed was I by the news that I got out of him, when he stopped quaking, that I embraced the old fellow. How it happened I could not then guess, but I learned that you had been in Bree the night before, and had gone off that morning with Strider.

"'Strider!' I cried, shouting for joy.

"'Yes, sir, I am afraid so, sir,' said Butterbur, mistaking me. 'And two others, though I doubt that they mean any harm. He got at them, in spite of all that I could do, and they took up with him. They behaved very queer all the time they were here: wilful, you might say.'

"'Ass! Fool! Thrice worthy and beloved Barliman!' said I. "It's the best news I have had since midsummer: it's worth a gold piece at the least. May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!' said I. 'Now I can take a night's rest, the first since I have forgotten when.'

"So I stayed there that night, wondering much of the two others Barliman had mentioned Frodo had taken up with, though he believed they were no danger, and what had become of the Riders; for only of two had there yet been any news in Bree, it seemed. But we heard more. Five at least came from the west, and they threw down the gates and passed through Bree like a howling wind; and the Bree-folk are still shivering and expecting the end of the world. I got up before dawn and went after them.

"I do not know, but it seems clear to me that this is what happened. Their Captain remained in secret away south of the village, and four more invaded the Shire. But when these were foiled in Bree and at Crickhollow, they returned to their Captain with tidings, and so left the Road unguarded for a while, except by their spies. The Captain then sent some eastward straight across country, and he himself with the rest rode along the Road in great wrath.

"I abandoned all thought of the others Frodo had left with, convinced that if they meant any harm that they would be dealt with by Aragorn, and galloped to Weathertop like a gale, and I reached it before sundown on my second day from Bree – and they were there before me. They drew away from me, for they felt the coming of my anger and they dared not face it while the Sun was in the sky. But they closed round at night, and I was besieged on the hill-top, in the old ring of Amon Sûl. I was hard put to it indeed: such light and flame cannot have been seen on Weathertop since the war-beacons of old.

"I knew it!" Sora declared, clapping his gloved hands together. "I knew that that was you the night of the fourth."

"We have already established that that night was the third, Sora," Aragorn said.

"It was the fourth," the brunette grumbled under his breath. He knew that he was right.

Gandalf continued. "At sunrise I escaped and fled towards the north. I could not hope to do more. It was impossible to find you, Frodo, in the wilderness, and it would have been folly to try with all the Nine at my heels. So I had to trust to Aragorn. But I hoped to draw some of them off, and yet reach Rivendell ahead of you and send out help. Four Riders did indeed follow me, but they turned back after a while and made for the Ford it seems. That helped a little, for there were only five, not nine, when your camp was attacked. Though that proved to matter little, for I had not foreseen that you would have powerful allies with you." He nodded at Sora and Kairi, and each of them blushed shyly and looked away, a little embarrassed and ashamed of their earlier actions.

"I reached here at last by a long hard road, up the Hoarwell and through the Ettenmoors, and down from the north. It took me nearly fourteen days from Weathertop, for I could not ride among the rocks of the troll-fells, and Shadowfax departed. I sent him back to his master; but a great friendship has grown between us, and if I have need he will come ay my call. But so it was that I came to Rivendell only three days before the Ring, and news of its peril had already been brought here – which proved well indeed.

"And that, Frodo, is the end of my account. May Elrond and the others forgive the length of it. But such a thing has never happened before, that Gandalf broke tryst and did not come when he promised. An account to the Ring-bearer of so strange an event was required, I think.

"Well, the Tale is now told, from first to last. Here we all are, and here is the Ring. But we have not yet come any nearer to our purpose. What shall we do with it? But before that, there are still matters to be discussed: the presence of our friends here, who seem so strange in their garb, devices, and ways."

-A-D-

The eyes of the Council all turned towards Sora and Kairi, and towards Master Yen Sid, Kisuke Urahara, and Tessai Tsukabishi, with Yoruichi sitting on Kisuke's lap, and at Jiminy Cricket, as he sat upon Sora's right shoulder with his journal and pencil in hand, having been making notes throughout the entirety of discussion and tales.

A rush of wind blew through Sora's hair and the beating of wings alerted him to Aiwemon landing on his left shoulder once more, Menelmon following suit onto Kairi's shoulder. Both teenagers drew into their chairs, trying to make themselves as small and unnoticeable as possible under the scrutiny of the eyes of the Elves, Hobbits, Men, and Wizard.

"You're still here?" Aiwemon asked Sora, surprising many of the Council. "I thought you were hungry."

"Don't remind me Aiwemon," Sora replied, his stomach giving a sudden, loud, growl as he thought about his lack of nourishment that day. Something clicked in his mind and he glanced at Aiwemon before switching to Menelmon. "Hang on," he said. "If I remember correctly, I've heard a bunch of names today that included the words 'Ohtar', 'Menel', 'Anar', and 'Isil'. What do they mean?"

The Elves glanced at one another in surprise, and Gandalf laughed. "The words you have spoken are of a form of Elvish Sora," he explained. "And they mean, respectively, 'Warrior', 'Sky', 'The Sun,' and 'The Moon'. And your bird friend upon your shoulder's name is 'Aiwemon' correct? The root of his name, 'Aiwë', is 'bird'."

Kairi glanced at Sora in confusion. "Our digimon have root names in Elvish?" she asked. Quickly her gaze eagerly went to Gandalf. "What about 'Ninqë', 'Luin', or 'Soron'?"

"White, blue, and eagle," Aragorn answered her with a smile.

"That's amazing!" Sora said, running a hand through his hair before rubbing Aiwemon's head affectionately. "They pretty much fit you two perfectly buddy."

"Since these two do not seem to keen to explain themselves," Master Yen Sid began, giving them both looks that made sheepish smiles appear on their faces, "I believe I shall be the one to answer you Mithrandir.

"We are not from Middle-earth," the sorcerer said. "We are not from the Blessed Realm beyond the seas either, nor are we even from this world in its entirety. There are many worlds beyond Middle-earth, and you can only see them when you look into the skies at night. Those stars are the other worlds, and it is possible to travel between them if you have the strength or means to do so."

"Actually Yen Sid," Mr. Hat 'n Clogs broke in, "if you don't mind, I'd like to give a try at explaining things, now that you've introduced the concept that there are other worlds." The sorcerer looked a little taken aback for a moment, but then nodded his head.

Urahara looked at Tessai. "Ready Tessai?" he asked. The large man nodded and held up a large stack of white pieces of paper with drawings on them, drawings that poorly resembled bunny rabbits.

"Here we go," Hat 'n Clogs started. "Every living creature has three parts to it: a heart, a body, and a soul. And there are two forces in this universe that are constantly at odds with one another: light and darkness. Each of them holds a measure of strength on the heart, and when the darkness is able to consume the heart, a creature called a Heartless is formed out of that darkness. Any questions so far?"

"Yeah," Kairi said, looking at Tessai. "How come the drawings suck?"

Hat 'n Clogs vanished and reappeared an instant later in front of Kairi before suddenly being back at his seat, closing the cap of a black marker. "No comments from the peanut gallery. Rukia worked very hard on these."

Sora looked at Kairi, and was unable to keep himself from laughing. On Kairi's face was drawn a curled French moustache.

Kairi's fist collided with Sora's nose, the force of the strength behind it sending the poor Keyblade Master flying out of his chair. His back struck squarely against the trunk of a tree and he fell to the ground, groaning.

"It's not funny," Kairi told him as Sora (to the amazement of several people) got up and went back to his chair, only rubbing his back slightly in annoyance and checking his nose for blood, which there was. Sora's fingers and nose glowed with green light and the bleeding stopped, though that didn't stop him from looking as if he'd just run face-first into a wall.

"As I was saying," Urahara continued. "When the heart is consumed by darkness it becomes a Heartless. The body and soul that are left behind form another type of being, called a Nobody. A Heartless seeks for nothing more than to capture more hearts and turn them into more Heartless, while a Nobody is driven only by the desire to have a heart and become whole again. There is a third type of being called a Hollow. When someone dies, their heart and soul leave the body. If the soul should lose its heart it becomes a Hollow. Hollows only seek to fill the emptiness inside by devouring more souls.

"While Hollows have been something that we haven't had the need to be too concerned about, darkness is threatening all of the worlds in the Realm of Light, including yours. Worlds have hearts too, and when their hearts fall into darkness the world is destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Boromir asked sceptically.

"It has happened before and it is happening now," Master Yen Sid told him. "Whenever you look at the night sky, and you see a star set in that blanket vanish into an empty space that is the sign that that world has just fallen into darkness and has been lost. However, it can be prevented, by sealing the pathway to the heart of a world off with a special weapon called a Keyblade."

Sora's and Kairi's hands flashed with white light as they summoned their silver and white weapons into their grasp, drawing the attention of the Council to them momentarily before Master Yen Sid began to speak again. "The Keyblades grant their wielders the ability to use the strength that lies dormant within their hearts and have chosen masters for twelve thousand years, their wielders travelling among the stars and protecting them from agents and creatures of darkness that have tried to destroy them or seek unspeakable power. Yet as recently as ten years ago, the strength and number of Keyblade Wielders has been reduced due to unimaginable treachery and war. There are now only eight who wield the weapon, and a great part of their history and traditions has been lost. The two young people that you see before you are of this small and closely-knit group, bound and tied together by friendship and love, and of the others there are only two wielders that have any significant difference in age from them. Sora is the Chosen Master of the Keyblade, and will, in time, become the leader of the Keyblade Wielders as his predecessors were, and Kairi is a Princess of Heart, a maiden who from birth has had no darkness within her heart, which will make her a powerful warrior against the darkness when she has fully mastered control of her light, and a Princess of Radiant Garden, the world of her birth, in which she is the last of the Royal Line and, if she should want it, heir to the throne in three years time upon her nineteenth birthday."

"What do you mean I'm going to become our leader?" Sora asked incredulously. "I thought that King Mickey was our leader?"

"You are the Chosen Master of the Kingdom Key," Master Yen Sid answered him. "It is in your destiny to lead the Wielders of the Keyblade. The King leads you now, but only because of his greater knowledge, strength, and experience."

"What if I want to just settle down after all this is over?" Sora asked quietly. "Go to school, learn how to cook new dishes, get some kind of business degree and open up an inn, and maybe in a few years time go down on one knee, open a tiny velvet box and ask a girl to marry me?" He blushingly glanced at Kairi and she returned it.

"You may still do so," Master Yen Sid answered with a smile. "Being the Grand Master of the Keyblade, should you choose to take that title or create a new one, would be your second job.

"Six of the Wielders of the Keyblade are under the age of twenty! And Sora and Kairi here have both been through great trials and hardship since their world was once destroyed last year and the Keyblade appeared in Sora's grasp. In a year, Sora has saved the worlds from darkness twice and restored them, and has had to deal with all of the pains of growing up simultaneously. Their parents were killed this very August, and their home on Destiny Islands destroyed. An old enemy of Sora's who he had defeated returned to power this summer soon after Sora had defeated Xemnas, a powerful Nobody who was bent on attaining phenomenal dark powers, and has achieved what she and he had both failed to do in the past. Her name is Maleficent, a cruel and powerful witch, and she has made an alliance with Sauron and is dwelling in Mordor, building herself a dark fortress likely in imitation of his Dark Tower of Bara-dûr. It is likely that she will grant him use of the Heartless, and maybe other allies that we do not know of, in his search for the Ring. Indeed, she already has. As early as Frodo's telling of the encounter on Weathertop Maleficent's dark servants were aiding the Nine, and they were beset by the Heartless even to the Ford of Bruinen, where Kairi was nearly taken or slain before she was able to send their pursuer back to Maleficent."

"If it hadn't been for Crowning Flame accepting me as his Wielder I think that that's exactly what would have happened," Kairi sighed, shaking her head and looking at her Keyblade.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "So that's the name of your Keyblade?" he asked. "Crowning Flame?"

Kairi's head swayed back and forth. "Well, yeah, kinda. You see, the Keyblades actually have their own souls and their own names. Crowning Flame is the name my heart gives this, but that's not his real name."

"Your Keyblades are like a Soul Reaper's zanpaku-tô?" Yoruichi asked, surprising many by the cat's ability to speak. "That is certainly interesting," he said.

Sora nodded his head and raised his hand to show that he wanted to speak. "Can I briefly sum-up things here so that I don't make a fool of myself later?" he asked.

Elrond nodded. "Proceed."

Sora sighed and started ticking off on his fingers. "One: Sauron is an enemy of yours from a long time ago and recently has come back to power. Two: Sauron taught the Elves of… was it Eregion, yeah Eregion how to make Rings of Power. Three: He betrayed them and made the One Ring in Orodruin, and wiped them out. Four: There was an alliance between the Men of Númenor and the Elves to defeat Sauron. Five: The main leaders of the Last Alliance were Elendil and his sons Anárion and Isildur, and Gil-galad. Six: The Last Alliance was finally able to beat him on the slopes of Mount Doom (Orodruin), and the Ring went to Isildur. Seven: Isildur was the only survivor between him, his brother, his father, and Gil-galad. Eight: Isildur kept the Ring instead of destroying it, and after spending some time in Gondor, went north to Arnor. Nine: Isildur was ambushed at the Gladden Fields, the Ring was lost, and the shards of his father's sword Narsil made it here to his son Valandil by way of his esquire Ohtar. Ten: A long time later, Gollum found the Ring and took it with him into the Misty Mountains. Eleven: Seventy-seven years ago Bilbo left the Shire with a party of dwarves including Thorin Oakenshield and Glóin to go kill the dragon Smaug that had overtaken the dwarves' home of Erebor, and found the Ring. In the same year, Sauron was driven from Dol-Guldur and went back to Mordor, where he openly declared himself later. Twelve: Frodo got the Ring about eighteen years ago. Thirteen: Through a series of related events, we were able to discover that Frodo's Ring is the One Ring that Sauron's been hunting. Fourteen: The Nazgûl left Minas Morgul searching for the Ring. Fifteen: Saruman's betrayed us. Sixteen: Our enemy Maleficent has allied herself with Sauron and has given him more power than what he already has, and may do the same with Saruman. Seventeen: We met Frodo and Aragorn in Bree. Eighteen: The Nazgûl and Pete found us on Weathertop and chased us all the way here. Nineteen: Sauron now likely knows that the Ring is here. Twenty: Maleficent specifically wants me and Kairi dead and also probably knows that we're here in Rivendell too. Twenty-one: What do we do now?"

He sat back in his chair, looking expectantly at the faces of those on the Council to tell him that he'd messed up. Jiminy spoke from his shoulder, quickly flipping through and reviewing his notes. "That's about right Sora," he said.

Sora was surprised. He guessed that he understood the basics better than he had thought, and smiled at that notion.

Elrond looked from Sora to Gandalf. "This is grievous news concerning Saruman," he said; "for we trusted him and he is deep in all our counsels. It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill. But such falls and betrayals, alas, have happened before. Of the tales that we have heard this day the tale of Frodo was most strange to me, for I have known of other worlds, the Keyblades, and their Wielders for some time. I have known few hobbits, save Bilbo here; and it seems to me that he is perhaps not so alone and singular as I had thought him. The world has changed much since I last was on the westward roads.

"The Barrow-wights we know by many names; and of the Old Forest many tales have been told: all that now remains is but an outlier of its northern march. Time was when a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard. In those lands I journeyed once, and many things wild and strange I knew. But I had forgotten Bombadil, if indeed this is still the same that walked the woods and hills long ago, and even then was older than the old. That was not then his name. Iarwain Ben-adar we called him, oldest and fatherless. But many another name he has since been given by other folk: Forn by the Dwarves, Orald by Northern Men, and other names besides. He is a strange creature, but maybe I should have summoned him to our Council."

"He would not have come," Gandalf said.

"Could we not still send messages to him and obtain his help?" asked Erestor. "It seems that he has a power even over the Ring."

"No, I should not put it so," said Gandalf. "Say rather that the Ring has no power over him. He is his own master. But he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others. And now he is withdrawn into a little land, within bounds that he has set, though none can see them, waiting perhaps for a change of days, and he will not step beyond them."

"But within those bounds nothing seems to dismay him," Erestor continued. "Would he not take the Ring and keep it there, forever harmless?"

"No," Gandalf answered, "not willingly. He might do so, if all the free folk of the world begged him, but he would not understand the need. And if he were given the Ring, he would soon forget it, or most likely throw it away. Such things have no hold on his mind. He would be a most unsafe guardian; and that alone is answer enough."

"But in any case," Glorfindel said, "to send the Ring to him would only postpone the day of evil. He is far away. We could not now take it back to him, unguessed, unmarked by any spy. And even if we could, soon or late the Lord of the Rings would learn of its hiding place and would bend all his power towards it. Could that power be defied by Bombadil alone? I think not. I think that in the end, if all else is conquered, Bombadil will fall, Last as he was First; and then Night will come."

"I know little of Iarwain save the name," said Galdor; "but Glorfindel, I think, is right. Power to defy our Enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself. And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills. What power still remains lies with us, here in Imladris, or with Círdan at the Havens, or in Lórien. But have they the strength, have we here the strength to withstand the Enemy, the coming of Sauron at the last, when all else is overthrown?"

"I have not the strength," Elrond admitted; "neither have they."

"Then if the Ring cannot be kept from him forever by strength," said Glorfindel, "three things only remain for us to attempt: to send it over the Sea, to send it with those from other worlds so that Sauron shall never find it, or to destroy it."

"But Gandalf has revealed to us that we cannot destroy it by any craft that we here possess," said Elrond. "And they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it."

"Sending it to another world wouldn't help either," Sora said. "Sauron has allies that aren't from this world too, and he will be able to send his servants and orcs out into other worlds to search for the Ring. If it does leave Middle-earth and goes somewhere else, like, Radiant Garden for instance, once the Ring is found there, we won't be able to hold him back."

"For good or ill it belongs to Middle-earth," Gandalf said, "and it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it."

"Then," Glorfindel proposed, "let us cast it into the deeps, and so make the lies of Saruman come true. For it is clear now that even at the Council his feet were already on a crooked path. He knew that the Ring was not lost forever, but wished us to think so; for he began to lust for it for himself. Yet oft in lies truth is hidden: in the Sea it would be safe."

"Not safe forever," Gandalf warned. "There are many things in the deep waters; and seas and lands may change. And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one."

"And that we shall not find on the roads to the Sea," said Galdor. "If the return to Iarwain be thought too dangerous, then flight to the Sea is now fraught with gravest peril. My heart tells me that Sauron will expect us to take the western way, when he learns what has befallen. He soon will. The Nine have been unhorsed indeed but that is but a respite, ere they find new steeds and swifter. Only the waning might of Gondor stands now between him and a march in power along the coasts into the North; and if he comes, assailing the White Towers and the Havens, hereafter the Elves may have no escape from the lengthening shadows of Middle-earth."

"Long yet will that march be delayed," Boromir answered him. "Gondor wanes, you say. But Gondor stands, and even the end of its strength is still very strong."

"And yet its vigilance can no longer keep back the Nine," said Galdor. "And other roads he may find that Gondor does not guard."

"And Gondor can't guard against corridors of darkness," Kairi added. When she saw the startled and confused look on Boromir's face she started to explain. "If one is skilled in manipulating the powers of darkness, they can use the darkness to create a corridor, linking one place to another, and then travel through that darkness to their destination. It could be a distance as small as from one side of a locked door to the other, compared to say, from Rivendell to Bree, or from one world to another."

"Our only saving grace is that we're pretty confident that unless you know the place of the exit portal either from experience or within your heart, you can't make a portal to get there," Mr. Hat 'n Clogs said. "So, unless you know exactly where you want to go, you still have to get there the long way, on your own two feet. But," his voice lowered, "it may be different for Maleficent. And if Sauron learns how to create portals, it won't be good for anyone of this world."

"How powerful is this witch, Maleficent?" asked Glorfindel.

Eyes turned towards Sora and Kairi, who looked grimly at the ground. "She's very strong," Sora said. "She's more than strong enough to bring tragedy and devastation to people."

"A simple thief can bring tragedy and devastation to a land and a people," Boromir remarked.

"But thieves can't make people completely obliterate the limbs of those they love," Kairi whispered, though in the quiet that followed her voice was still heard. She turned her watery eyes towards Sora, who held her gaze.

"You know that I don't like bringing it out in front of people Kai," he said solemnly, turning his eyes away. "The only people I'm comfortable with are—"

"I know," Kairi said tenderly, "but don't you think that they need to know?"

Sora sighed. Reluctantly, consciously aware of the eyes on him, he took off the glove on his left hand. Following that, he shrugged his black jacket off of his shoulders. The pink skin of his right arm was an incomprehensible contrast to the shining silver metal of his automail left arm, the device making tiny _clicking_ noises as Sora moved it. For ten seconds he let it gleam in the sunlight before putting the arm through his jacket and placing his brown glove back over the metal hand. He wasn't comfortable having it out in the open in front of people that weren't there when he'd gotten it. And even among them, the only ones he truly was comfortable with were Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Naminé, and their digimon partners.

"She is strong," Master Yen Sid concluded. "And she will help him find his Ring."

"Then," said Erestor, "there are but two courses, as Glorfindel already has declared: to hide the Ring forever; or to unmake it. But both are beyond our power. Who will read this riddle for us?"

"None here can do so," Elrond said gravely. "At least none can foretell what will come to pass, if we take this road or that. But it seems to me now clear which is the road that we must take. The westward road seems easiest. Therefore it must be shunned. It will be watched. Too often the Elves have fled that way. Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril – to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire."

Kairi stirred next to Sora. "I know that my voice may not mean much to some here," she said, giving Boromir in particular a glance, "but, I agree with Elrond. I can only think that the best thing to do is to destroy the Ring. If we can't hide it or keep it from Sauron indefinitely then we should destroy it."

"Then let's get rid of it," Aiwemon said quickly, swooping onto the ground at Sora's feet. He suddenly started to glow with golden light, and all of the Council looked at him with sudden surprise. "Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!"

If Sora and Kairi hadn't been more concerned about why Aiwemon had just digivolved, they would have found the looks on the faces of the Elves, Dwarves and Boromir as they gazed upon the six-foot-six humanoid warrior digimon with his massive feathered mace, yellow beak, and body encased in grey armour more than priceless.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked swiftly. Ohtarmon did not answer him, but placed his second hand on his mace, and it began to glow with white light as he heaved it into the air to bring it down on the Ring as it sat upon the table in front of them.

"Deciding Swing!"

The entire area was suddenly engulfed in light and a roaring wind blew all around the council. Ohtarmon gave a sudden yell of pain and surprise and Sora felt something large and heavy fly past his left side, but he couldn't get a look at it as his eyes were still closed from the light and the force of the wind and energy that pressed against his body. Suddenly that pressure was gone and the shining light had vanished, and first they looked to the Ring to see it unmarked and unblemished, and then to where Ohtarmon had been flung back, only there was a small round creature with white skin sitting on the ground with an ashamed look on its face.

Sora rose and sighed sympathetically. "Oh, Ninquemon."

"I'm sorry," the In-Training digimon said in its higher-pitched voice as Sora picked him up. "I thought that as Ohtarmon I could end everything."

"I do not understand all this," a voice began. They turned, for Boromir was speaking. "Saruman is a traitor, but did he not have a glimpse of wisdom? Why do you speak ever of hiding and destroying? Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely defeat the Enemy. That is what he most fears, I deem.

"The Men of Gondor are valiant, and they will never submit; but they can be beaten down. Valour needs first strength, and then a weapon. Let the Ring be your weapon, if it has such power as you say. Take it and go forth to victory!"

"Alas no," said Elrond. "We cannot use the Ruling Ring. That we now know all too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own. But for them it holds an eve deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron's throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it."

"Nor I," said Gandalf.

Boromir's look was doubtful, but he bowed his head in respect to their counsel. "So be it," he declared. "Then in Gondor we must trust to such weapons as we have. And at the least, while the Wise ones guard this Ring, we will fight on. Mayhap the Sword-that-was-Broken may still stem the tide – if the hand that wields it has inherited not an heirloom only, but the sinews of the Kings of Men."

"Who can tell?" said Aragorn. "But we will put it to the test one day."

"And it will not be alone," Sora said quickly, looking up. "As far as we know, Maleficent's in Mordor. There will be Heartless, and the valiant Men of Gondor will need help dealing with them. We will go with you to Gondor, Aragorn, when the time comes."

"Sora you can't just deci—" Kairi began irately, but suddenly stopped herself and nodded. "Never mind, you're right."

"May the day not be too long delayed," said Boromir. "For though I do not ask for aid, we need it. It would comfort us to know that others fought also with all the means that they have."

"Then be comforted," said Elrond. "For there are other powers and realms that you know not, and they are hidden from you. Anduin the Great flows past many shores, ere it comes to Argonath and the Gates of Gondor."

"Still it might be well for all," said Glóin the Dwarf, "if all these strengths were joined, and the powers of each were used in league. Other rings there may be, less treacherous, that might be used in our need. The Seven are lost to us – if Balin has not found the ring of Thrór, which was the last; naught has been heard of it since Thrór perished in Moria. Indeed I may now reveal that it was partly in hope to find that ring that Balin went away."

"Balin will find no ring in Moria," Gandalf told him. "Thrór gave it to Thráin his son, but not from Thráin to Thorin. It was taken with torment from Thráin in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. I came too late."

"Ah, alas!" cried Glóin. "When will the day come of our revenge? But still there are the Three. What of the Three Rings of the Elves? Very mighty Rings, it is said. Do not the Elf-lords keep them? Yet they too were made by the Dark Lord long ago. Are they idle? I see Elf-lords here. Will they not say?"

The Elves were silent. "Did you not hear me, Glóin?" asked Elrond. "The Three were not made by Sauron, nor did he ever touch them. But of them it is not permitted to speak. So much only in this hour of doubt I may now say. They are not idle. But they were not made as weapons of war or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained. These things the Elves of Middle-earth have in some measure gained, though with sorrow. But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One. It would be better if the Three had never been. That is his purpose."

"And if the One is destroyed," Kairi asked, "what will happen to the Three?"

"We know not for certain," Elrond said sadly. "Some hope that the Three Rings, which Sauron has never touched, would then become free, and their rulers might heal the hurts of the world that he has wrought. But maybe when the One has gone, the Three will fail, and many fair things will fade and be forgotten. That is my belief."

"Yet all the Elves are willing to endure this chance," said Glorfindel, "if by it the power of Sauron may be broken, and the fear of his dominion be taken away forever."

"So now we're back at destroying the Ring," Sora stated, "and still we haven't really decided anything. How do we destroy it again, since it seems we can't just smash it?"

"It must be thrown into the Fire from which it was made," said Erestor. "What strength have we for the finding of it though? That is the path of despair. Of folly I would say, if the long wisdom of Elrond did not forbid me."

"Despair, or folly?" said Gandalf. "It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of his reckoning."

"At least for a while," said Elrond. "The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

"Oh wait!" Sora blurted out, smiling. "I know this story, it's the same as mine!" Kairi gave him an amused look, and Sora laughed at her, pointing at her upper lip where the moustache was still drawn on. She lunged at him again, but this time Sora deflected her fist with his right arm, forcing her knuckle to only barely graze his right cheek. She scowled as she returned her arms to their proper places.

A voice suddenly broke out to their right. "Very well, very well, Master Elrond!" said Bilbo. "Say no more! It is plain enough what you are pointing at. Bilbo the silly hobbit started this affair, and Bilbo had better finish it, or himself. I was very comfortable here, and getting on with my book. If you want to know, I am just writing an ending for it. I had thought of putting: _and he lived happily ever afterwards to the end of his days._ It is a good ending, and none the worse for having been used before. Now I shall have to alter that: it does not look like coming true; and anyway there will evidently have to be several more chapters, if I live to write them. It is a frightful nuisance. When ought I to start?"

Boromir looked in surprise at Bilbo, but the laughter died on his lips when he saw that all the others including Sora and Kairi were regarding the old hobbit with grave respect. Only Glóin smiled, but his smile came from old memories.

"Of course my dear Bilbo," said Gandalf. "If you had really started this affair, you might be expected to finish it. But you know well enough now that _starting_ is too great a claim for any, and that only a small part is played in great deeds by any hero. You need not bow! Though the word was meant, and we do not doubt that under jest you are making a valiant offer. But one beyond your strength, Bilbo. You cannot take this thing back. It has passed on. If you need my advice any longer, I should say that your part is ended, unless as a recorder. Finish your book, and leave the ending unaltered! There is still hope for it. But get ready to write a sequel, when they come back."

Bilbo laughed. "I have never known you give me pleasant advice before," he said. "As all your unpleasant advice has been good, I wonder if this is not bad. Still, I don't suppose I have the strength or luck left to deal with the Ring. It has grown, and I have not. But tell me: what do you mean by _they_?"

"The messengers who are to be sent with the Ring."

"Exactly! And who are they to be? That seems to me what this Council has to decide, and all that is has to decide. Elves may thrive on speech alone, and Dwarves endure great weariness; but I am only an old hobbit, and I miss my meal at noon. Can't you think of some names now? Or put it off till after dinner?"

Sora raised his hand for a moment, shifting as he held Ninquemon in his lap. "I agree with Bilbo. I missed breakfast and I'm hungry. I've been hungry through the last few of hours of discussion and I haven't said anything because I was trying not to be ruder than I've already been, I suppose. But since Bilbo's gone and said it, can we break for lunch?"

No one answered him, to Sora's, Kairi's, Ninquemon's, and Menelmon's disappointment. The noon-bell rang. Still no one spoke. The eyes of everyone at the Council were downcast, as if in great thought. The Keyblade Wielders and their digimon partners knew at once that they would not be the ones to carry the Ring, and they were certain that if it was going to be anyone, it would probably be the one who'd brought it this far to Rivendell. So they waited for someone to speak, holding on to stomachs that were rumbling, devoid of sustenance.

Sora glanced at Kairi. She'd been a lot more irritable today already than she normally would have been. He was pretty sure that it wasn't just because of the Princess' lack of food, but he wasn't sure what else could have been causing it. Yes, she'd been insulted a few times. Yes, they'd been given a ridiculous time-out. Yes, she'd had a French moustache drawn on her face by Mr. Hat 'n Clogs in a black marker, but there had to be something else…

A small voice broke him from his musings.

"I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way."

Sora looked. It was Frodo.

Elrond raised his eyes and looked at the hobbit, who shifted slightly. "If I understand aright all that I have heard," he said, "I think that this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will. This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck?

"But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty elf-friends of old, Hador, and Húrin, and Túrinm and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them."

"But you won't send him off alone surely, Master?" cried Sam, unable to contain himself any longer, and jumping up from the corner where he had been quietly sitting on the floor.

Sora and Kairi looked at him in surprise. "You're here!" the girl asked incredulously.

"No indeed!" said Elrond, turning towards him with a smile. "You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not."

Sam sat down, blushing and muttering. "A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo!" he said, shaking his head.

Ninquemon looked up from Sora's lap. "So does this mean that we can have lunch now?"

-A-D-

Maleficent sat at the head of a long black table in a room carved out the black rock underneath the Ash Mountains on the borders of Mordor. A passageway led up behind her, and one led up in front of her, with two leading down, one on either side. At the table a few seats away from her were seven individuals. The one nearest to her, at her right hand, was the silver-haired and yellow-eyed Nobody Nixion, her Second in Command and Supreme Commander of the Nobody arm of her forces. Dressed in the robes of the former Organization XIII, he had only recently returned from searches across the worlds for powerful Nobodies that had formed, and had only returned because he had been summoned. There were still worlds for him to search, and he believed that he could possibly find at least two more Nobodies to be placed under his command.

Beside him sat or stood six Nobodies that he had found. One was a male lion with dark reddish-brown fur and a black mane and a vertical scar running over the skin above and below the lion's left eye. Next to him was a man a bit under average height that Nixion had found in the burning ruins of a village. He had a pointed head and slanted eyes, his forehead completely bald and a pair of predatory orange eyes gleefully leering out from behind dark skin. There was a large amount of muscle hidden underneath clothes of black and grey. A thin coal-black moustache bordered his mouth on three sides, and the same black hair left the back of his head to drape around his shoulders, nearly concealing the hilt of a wave-bladed sword strapped to his back.

The third was a short woman of five-foot-three with hair the colour of copper. It was short, and only long enough to pass her ears. Her tanned face was rosy and attractive, and eyes of topaz looked out of them. Flat silver earrings in the shape of flames dangled from her earlobes, and she wore a bright red top that had diamonds cut out of the fabric in-line from just beneath the neck to the waist, revealing a little of the flesh and curves of her moderately sized breasts. Around her slender waist were two black belts hitching up on either side, a pair of slim black jeans were on her legs and black heels were fitted to her feet.

The fourth was a female as well, though she was of average height. Her long, ivory hair dropped down to her waist, her pale skin was covered by a jacket of silver and long white pants, a black shirt underneath her unzipped coat.

The fifth was a tall, slim, and lanky male. Curls of black hair and bright, intelligent sapphire eyes were partially hidden underneath a black and purple fedora with a pink feather in it. A brown trench coat covered most of his body.

The final person was male as well, and he towered above the rest. Standing at six and a half feet tall, the man's peachy skin and short brown hair did little to detract from the fact that the black muscle shirt and shorts he wore threatened to burst apart from the sheer amount of muscle mass that bulged underneath his rippling skin. Indifferent black eyes gazed directly at the sorceress at the head of the table, the Nobody's breathing slow and powerful.

"Nixion," Maleficent began. "There is a task that I wish for you to perform."

"A task?" he asked.

"Yes," Maleficent continued. "A task to prove to me that your time has not been wasted looking for these Nobodies behind you, bringing them to me, and having me give each of them control of the darkness."

"What would you like, my Mistress?" the Nobody in the fedora asked.

"Nothing of you, unless your Commander gives you the duty," the sorceress told him. She turned her head to the centre of the table, speaking to all of them.

"Tomorrow, there is to be a festival on Destiny Islands. One of you will be going there to… send them a message."

-A-D-

_And now I laugh at you. You just went through a whole lot of dry Lord of the Rings drabble with moments of Kingdom Hearts thrown in only to get to the end and find something heavy coming up._

_And remember, if you have fan-art or fan-art ideas, bring them up with me!_

_Unfortunately, I must take my leave for the time being. I have a re-write to go through, and shall explain when I have completed it and post the next chapter of __**The War**__ what all I have done for the re-write and why I have done it. I will still be hanging around, reading and reviewing, but please have patience, and await my return in hopefully a month's time. It shouldn't take too much longer than that. At most, it may take me two months to return. But I promise you that you will have a new chapter up for __**The War**__ by the end of November._

_So please leave a review, and until next time,_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	22. Return to the Islands

_The posting of this chapter means that I have completed re-written portions of __**The Beginning **__at least up to __**Maleficent's Revenge**__ and __**Lovers' Leap**__ and have (possibly) gone through and made minor edits to the rest of the fic in its entirety in order to keep continuity. So, while this is asking __**a lot**__ from you, I would advise that you at least go back and re-read the first fifteen chapters of __**The Beginning**__ and especially chapters XIV and XV. You know the ones, the ones where their parents died and they first met Nixion. REALLY go back and read those, and re-reading chapters VI and VII wouldn't be such a bad idea either, as they've changed dramatically and I did something that only made XIV harder on me._

_Remember that I have a fan-art section up on my profile now. However, I must draw your attention to the fact that my drawing skills are marginally better than Rukia's, so you won't be getting anything from me. I see things in my head and the only medium I have to present them to you in is with words. If I _could_ draw too you'd be getting drawings as well as chapters._

_I also have a quick announcement to make up here rather than down below, because the A/N at the end is reserved for something else:_

_Sora and Kairi are going to actually return to the Islands in the next chapter (it'll be a short, reading-wise, trip), just so you know. The rest of it will be devoted to the Blitz Festival, and an actual celebration of Sora's and Roxas' sixteenth birthday. Following that is going to be a very special chapter titled: __**The Battle of the Sexes Part I: The Karaoke Contest**__._

_The basic format is that the girls and boys will be facing off against each other in twelve rounds of karaoke. It'll start off with "Anything You Can Do [We] Can Do Better", and then the girls will sing one song to a theme/style of their choice, and the boys will have to answer with one along the same lines that is hopefully better. Then they switch as to who goes first and who has to answer. The girls start off the contest, and the boys get the last song in because the girls were the ones who are going to initiate the contest in the first place._

_I'm telling you all this so that you can get requests in for song match-ups you might like to see. Current themes that I've got selected are "Girl/Boy bands of the 90s", "Dance Songs", "Songs you might hear as battle music in an anime", and "Anything Goes (Finale)". And just so you know, the songs I've got in "Girl/Boy bands of the 90s" are "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by, you guessed it, the Backstreet Boys, against "Spice Up Your Life" by, again, you guessed it, the Spice Girls, as an example._

_The other reason why I'm telling you all this is because __**you all**__ are going to be the ones voting to decide who wins. You've got this chapter and the next one to decide upon and send me match-ups and/or themes. If you're going to send in a theme, I'd like song examples that would fit the theme. The winning group will sing one encore song after their victory at the start of the chapter after, and I already have the guys' victory song picked should they win._

_Everybody got it? Good._

_And without further ado, here comes the newest chapter of __**The Annals of Darkness**__! With an extra special treat to anyone who dislikes Cpt. Sobel!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square-Enix, the Lord of the Rings, or any source of media that is not originally created by me._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXII: Return to the Islands

_1400 hrs, Tuesday October 21__st__, 2003  
__Camp Maw, Radiant Garden  
__Riku_

The Sun shone down and a chill autumn wind blew as Riku jogged briskly on a circular circuit around the base that had been set up so quickly less than a week previously. Yuffie, Leon, Barrett, and Vincent were with him, for no other reason than it was something to do in terms of training that was simple to do. The added bonus was that doing it together made it a lot easier to accomplish the task and provided some extra drive not to stop or slow down.

Riku quickly wiped his forehead free of the sweat that was starting to get into his bangs He was getting hot, and it wasn't his fault. The semi-warm weather that had managed to inexplicably hold throughout September's decline and into mid-October had finally been swept away, and Radiant Garden's fall climate was returning with vengeance. Gone were the days when Riku had been able to stride confidently and comfortably outside in a sleeveless shirt, or that Yuffie or Naminé would have been able to get away with wearing their shortest pairs of shorts to showcase creamy, smooth legs. A thick white hooded sweater was now what Riku was wearing, along with an orange nylon spring jacket to block the wind as well as his blue jeans and running shoes. Yuffie had dropped her beige shorts for a pair of darker blue jeans, and a black sweater with the same white flower pattern on it as the t-shirt she wore underneath. Barrett was shrugging off the cold, the way that Leon dressed regularly made him suited for the weather, and Vincent seemed to be unaffected by it as well.

Riku tugged slightly at the collars of his hoodie and jacket. They'd been jogging around the base for the past hour and a half and in that time his chest and legs had started to burn and ache thirty minutes ago, and now it was getting to be almost unbearable. But he'd pressed on despite the fatigue that consumed his limbs, determined not to drop out and fall back so as not to appear weak.

His breathing was heavy as they started to pass close to a field used for training in melee combat, and Riku dared to spare a glance that way. The soldiers training were all in their armour, and in the few days that the army had been in training down here there was only one Company he knew of just from shouts and commands that already had them practicing in that gear: Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st UIR.

"Hey, isn't that Tidus over there?" Yuffie asked breathlessly, looking towards the field.

Riku looked again, and he was just able to see a face underneath the celeta helmet worn by the private holding onto a silver sword and round wooden and steel buckler with a diameter equal to about the distance from his lower hip to his neck. There was a small tinge of yellow hair underneath the helm, but he could recognize that face anywhere.

"Yep that's him," he confirmed. "I didn't know that he was here."

"Want to say hi?" Yuffie asked.

Riku glanced at the smiling raven-haired kunoichi. She was panting just as heavily as he was and was offering a way out for a break. It's impossible to get completely fit in a single day anyway.

"Alright, sure," Riku told her, smiling gratefully. "You guys go on ahead," he said to Leon, "we'll catch up later."

"Suit yourself," Barrett said, his pace picking up as Riku's and Yuffie's slowed to a crawl. Once the other three were out of earshot Riku gave out a gasping groan and hunched over his legs, moaning.

"Oh, I'm _soo_ going to hate myself in the morning," he chuckled. "Don't be surprised if I don't want to get out of bed Yuffie."

She didn't answer immediately, and Riku looked behind him to see her sprawled out on the ground in the yellow grass. "Whew…" she said tiredly with a funny smile on her face, "I'm pooped."

Riku laughed along with her and he limped a couple of steps to stand near her head. "Come on," he said, extending his hand, "let's go say hello to our friends in the military."

"Can't I just lie here instead?" Yuffie asked in a whine.

"You were the one who suggested it, so you're going to do it too," Riku told her. Yuffie gave a good-natured grumble and grasped Riku's hand, allowing him to help pull her up.

"Alright fine, but they'd better appreciate this," the eighteen-year-old kunoichi mumbled, still smiling. The two of them started to slowly hobble to the training square where Tidus was still practicing with around fifty other people in two lines. An instructor was calling commands for them to complete, and swords and shields flickered and flashed in tandem in the method of the command being called. Even from this distance Riku could see in Tidus' face a strain from wanting to do more than just what the command called for.

He and Yuffie reached the rope separating the exterior of the field with the interior and stood there, watching while catching their breath after their ninety minutes of running. Tidus' opponent, who was much taller than the blonde Islander, attacked to the left and Tidus positioned his buckler to block it. Then he swung for the right and Tidus swept his silver sword down to parry. The command 'Counter!' was suddenly given and the whole line Tidus was part of gave a loud shout and rushed forward with their shields to bash their opponents in the face, stopping just shy of actually hitting the opposite line.

They recovered, but the massive shout jolted Riku and Yuffie slightly. There was power in that aggressive cheer, and the aching burn in their legs and chests seemed to ease just slightly at the energy within the yell.

"Hey Yuffie," Riku asked after a couple more minutes of watching Easy Company practice, "do you think you have the energy to join them for a bit?"

He glanced at her and caught the girl smiling at him. "You read my mind Riku," she said, pulling herself up and over the rope fence. Riku forced his legs over as well, and found them responding a bit better after their short rest, though they still ached with a ravage fury.

The instructor halted for a moment as he noticed Riku and Yuffie entering the practice grounds. "Practice on your own time," he instructed quickly before turning towards Riku and Yuffie. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Nah, we're good," Yuffie told him.

"I'm sorry miss, but civilians aren't allowed to be in here," the man said apologetically.

Riku smiled and shook his head. "Oh don't worry," he told the man in the same uniform as Tidus, though he had a single gold bar painted onto the bracers on his wrists. What that meant, Riku had no idea. "We're not civilians."

Footsteps that thumped through the yellow grass rolled into Riku's ears and he turned slightly and smiled. "Hey Riku," Tidus said, coming up to him with his partner, "hey Miss Yuffie."

"I haven't been your Combat Mastery teacher for a while now Tidus," Yuffie said with a smile on her face.

"How's it going Tidus, Anar?" Riku asked, looking over both of them. "Man you guys sure look different in that armour."

"So do you," Anar said. "I think this is the first time I've seen you wearing a jacket and sweater Mr. I'll Tough It Out."

"The Islands don't usually get this cold jackass," Riku returned. "Even if I do have a Keyblade I still need to stay warm. How're you holding up?"

"Meh," they answered, shrugging their shoulders.

The instructor quickly looked at Riku. "You're Master Riku?" he asked, surprised.

"Oh!" Tidus began quickly. "Riku, this is our platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Winters. Sir, these are our friends Riku and Yuffie."

"And I've got a Keyblade now too," Yuffie said proudly.

"Congratulations," Winters said, extending his hand to the female ninja and shaking it.

"What happened to the weapons you guys had back when you were fighting Heartless with us in The World That Never Was?" Riku asked suddenly, looking at the swords Tidus and Anar were holding.

Both teenagers scowled. "They were almost confiscated by our CO, Captain Sobel," Tidus said, eyeing his officer warily. "But we were able to get them to Axel and Mulan before we'd never be able to see them again."

"We're still hoping that we'll be able to get them back," Anar added. "And Kia's been complaining rather loudly that she hates the bow she has to use now."

"How has Pvt. Kia been doing with it?" 2Lt. Winters asked, interested.

"Sir, she's all over the page," Anar answered his platoon leader. "With the longbow she had been using, and at the distance the target is, she'd have been able to get every shot into the yellow. Now with that shortbow she's pretty much praying to Artemis that she'll hit the blue sir."

"That's pretty serious if she can't be as good as she once was," Yuffie said.

Second Lieutenant Winters nodded. "I'll see what I can do about getting your weapons back," he sighed, "but don't get your hopes up too much."

"We appreciate the effort sir," Tidus said.

"At least we're lucky that we can't get these taken away from us," Yuffie said, holding a hand out and summoning Flower of Wutai to her right palm in a flash of light.

Those in Easy Company immediately took notice of the light and sound of the summoned weapon, and heads instantly flickered over to where Riku and Yuffie were standing with Second Lieutenant Winters and Privates Tidus and Anar.

Tidus was nodding his head slightly in awe at the marvellous weapon in Yuffie's grasp. He looked behind him. "Hey Marble, Melbourne! Come and see this!"

Riku looked past Tidus and saw two girls around their age rushing towards them without a moment's hesitation. Each of them had their helmets removed and nestled into their right armpits, allowing their blonde and dark red hair to be shown, even though Asta Marble's short blonde hair was still pulled back into a bun.

"What is it Tidus?" asked the bright red-headed Pvt. Jane Melbourne. Her eyes widened quickly after catching sight of the weapon in Yuffie's hands. "Whoa! Holy shit is that a Keyblade!"

Her exclamation seemed to attract the attention of the entirety of Easy Company that was within the training field, and within half a minute Riku and Yuffie were surrounded by the recruits and new soldiers; every awed eye was turned towards them, and every hand was inching forward like it wanted to touch the mystical weapon. Gaggling talk and questions leapt out of each mouth and Riku and Yuffie both blushed slightly in embarrassment at receiving so much attention. Yuffie dismissed her Keyblade.

"Hey, you're that Riku guy right?" Rai asked, looking square at the silver-haired swordsman. Riku looked at him curiously. He knew the Twilight Town native, even without having been formally introduced to one another, by sight and sound and reputation, but he still seemed to be a little on the rude side. "They say that you're strong, y'know, but you're probably still not as strong as Seifer."

"Are you kidding Bolter?" one young man asked. "I saw Lord Riku's match with Princess Naminé on that Wartime Battlewatch show a few weeks ago. It was fucking epic and pure pwnage! There's no way that Almasy would stand a chance against Riku!"

"Who asked you Miller?" Rai retorted.

"How's the show doing?" Riku asked. Ever since he and Naminé had gone on and been interviewed and sparred against each other for the show he'd become increasingly fond of the program that ran every Thursday (and especially after having received a bobble-head doll of himself).

"It's still awesome," the nineteen-point-five year old Pvt. Jackson Miller replied, pumping his fist. "They were able to get a few of their spherecams out to Star Command and they got sent out to some of the worlds that you guys went to without you knowing, but let's see. The week after your duel with Princess Naminé they showed Princess Kairi's fight with Maleficent, and that was horrifying to watch. Then it was a fight with King Mickey as a honeybee and Donald Duck as a butterfly against a huge bug Heartless. Last week had some weird battle in an ocean between a bunch of submarines, a Gummi ship, and this massive mechanical lobster until the spherecam got pulverized—"

"The Leviathan," Riku grumbled while nodding his head, remembering that experience. Yuffie paled.

"Oh _please_ don't remind me of that," she said, a hand going to her stomach. "Just thinking about the _Highwind_ moving around so much makes me sick."

"And tomorrow, I think it's supposed to be Princess Naminé and Sir Roxas against a bunch of Heartless or a big pig-like one," Miller finished, frowning in confusion. "I can't quite remember which one. Maybe it's both."

"Wait, that was _you_ against the lobster thingy?" Tidus asked, impressed. "Whoa. Who'd have thought that you'd be doing stuff as crazy as that?"

"Well who'd have thought that _you'd_ actually go into a military force?" Riku asked in reply, smiling slightly. "I always thought that you were really just taking Combat Mastery Advanced for the credits and pride rather than planning on going into the Guardians. I thought that you wanted to be a pro blitzer?"

"And I still do Riku," the blonde answered. "This is really just something that I feel I have to do now because we're in this time, at this place, in this moment in histor—"

"EASY COMPANY!" A loud voice barked over all the commotion. "YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN TRAINING, NOT GAGGLING LIKE A BUNCH OF MINDLESS ANTS!" The voice's owner came closer, close enough for Riku to just make out a face and a beret above the heads of some of the shorter people in the Company, every one of them seemingly restraining frustrated or panicked groans.

"Second Lieutenant Winters," the man continued irately, reaching the consortium of soldiers-in-training, "I expected much better of you."

"Sir we—"

"And who the hell are you two!" the man asked quickly, interrupting his subordinate as his eyes quickly found Riku and Yuffie at the centre of the gaggle and swiftly deduced that they were the cause of the disruption of his soldiers' practicing. A clear line formed for the man to pass through, and both Wielders of the Keyblade were already looking on him with dislike. "You are both civilians on a military base," the man said both firmly and angrily, "and you are interfering with the training of my troops. I can have you detained by the MPs and escorted off of this base, what business do you have here? And your answer had better be enough to wow a Colonel if you want to avoid prosecution."

"Is it a crime to say 'hello' to a few friends?" Riku asked incredulously.

"Congratulations little dipshit, you've just been banned from ever entering this base or even leaving the gates," the man said. "Winters, send someone to get the MPs, I'm going to make sure that these two never bother Easy again."

"But sir they—" began 2nd Platoon's leader.

"Lieutenant!" barked the man, fingering two silver bands attached to his beret. Winters fell silent and leaned towards one Private and began to whisper into her ear.

Yuffie stamped her foot and stormed past Riku to get right into the uniformed man's face. "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to!"

"Yuffie!" Riku hissed under his breath.

"I'm talking to a pair of insubordinate teenagers who are mouthing off to officers and sticking their noses into places where they don't belong!" the man retorted, his voice restrained from yelling, but still commanding firmness.

"We damn well have a right to be here!" Yuffie fired back, "because _we're_ going to be fighting alongside assholes like you!"

"You'll never make it two hours with an attitude like that," returned the man.

"That doesn't matter," Riku said, moving to stand beside Yuffie and glare daggers right at the man who towered over his girlfriend in physical size only, "because we aren't officially joining the military."

The man gave a dry, humourless laugh. "Freelancers?" he asked, "or vigilantes? It doesn't matter, you wouldn't last two seconds against the Heart—" He froze as light flared in the right palms of both Riku and Yuffie, and instantly there were swords gripped tightly in-hand.

"Guess again," Riku said, smirking. "Hello, my name is Lord Riku, son of Rekun and Riley, of Destiny Islands. I'm a Keyblade Master, and the Rose Star Wielder of Dawn."

"And I am Lady Yuffie Kisaragi, from the Wutai region of Radiant Garden, and a fellow Keyblade Wielder," Yuffie said, emphasizing her point with a subtle shake of her weapon.

"I guess that makes us your superiors," Riku supposed, looking specifically at the man's nametag. "You're Captain Sobel right, Commanding Officer of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st United Infantry Regiment?" The man did nothing more than nod and eye the Keyblades and Riku and Yuffie with nothing short of complete mortal terror. "Good. Well, we have a bunch of friends under your command from Destiny Islands and Twilight Town, and, well, we'd like them to get the weapons they started with before joining the military back. Furthermore, there's this festival being held on Destiny Islands on the twenty-seventh, and it would mean a lot to us and your people from that world if they could attend."

"I'm sure you won't find any problems with that," Yuffie said, smiling sardonically at the officer. Riku caught her glancing at him. "I think we've rested up enough," she told him. "Leon and the others are probably far ahead. What do you say we just jog back into the city?"

"Sounds good," Riku said, nodding his head. He looked at Sobel. "I hope we can put this little misunderstanding behind us. Have a good day Easy!"

"Yes milord!" the whole crowd belted out as Riku and Yuffie began to leave. "Good-bye milord! Good-bye milady!"

"Ooh, I like hearing that," Yuffie admitted, smiling and laughing. "Did you see the look on that guy's face when he found out who we were? It was totally priceless!"

Unknown to them, when they had gotten far out of earshot, Captain Sobel assembled the entire company and had them start on a run longer and more gruelling than the Consto run at Camp Summers, which they were supposed to complete in even less time.

-A-D-

_0830 hrs, Wednesday, October 22__nd__, 2003  
__Radiant Garden, Radiant Garden,  
__Princess Naminé Talerith_

"Come on Roxas, we're going to be late! The others are already waiting for us downstairs!"

"Just give me a second!"

Naminé sighed and placed a hand to her head at Roxas' reply. She had no idea why it was taking him so long in the first place. If he had been smart he would have spent the previous night packing instead of playing video games. Then again, what really did Roxas even own to pack anyway?

The blonde-haired girl crossed her arms and sighed again, revelling in the feeling of being able to freely move both appendages again. She had finally gotten her cast off the day before, and was back in the outfit created for her by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, her arms and chest covered up by a thick black jacket. It was still cool outside, much cooler than Naminé was used to after Destiny Islands, and the weather only showed signs of worsening. But that didn't matter to her, as they were leaving soon for Destiny Islands for almost a week to partake in the celebration of the Blitz Festival on the coming Monday. Then they would return and commence their rigorous and extreme training until Maleficent brought battle to them, if the witch would allow them to rest and train that long, but they weren't going to make it to Destiny Islands in the first place if Roxas was going to take forever in getting ready!

"What is taking him so long?" she grumbled, tapping her booted foot impatiently on the purple strip of carpet in the hallway. "That's it. I'm going to check on him." Naminé was only just beginning to move up the hall towards Roxas' room when his door opened suddenly. Out came the blonde Knight of Disney Castle, pulling a large blue travelling case by the extendable black plastic handle on the tip. He had a little bit of trouble getting it out of the door, but once that was done he quickly and easily started to come down the hall towards Naminé.

"Okay I'm ready," he said, sounding as if he was a little breathless. "Let's get going."

Naminé's annoyance was replaced by curiosity as she went up to him in order to walk beside him. "What took you so long?" she asked.

"Packing," Roxas answered with a single word.

Naminé looked back and down at the blue travel gear in interest. "Packing what?"

They reached the door just past the one to Naminé's room that concealed a small spiral staircase within it and she opened it for him. "Thanks. Oh, you know just clothes, bathing suit, towels and stuff."

"You did all of your packing in the last half-hour after breakfast didn't you?" the girl asked shrewdly, a small and amused smile on her face.

The travelling case made a loud _clack _as its black plastic wheels landed on the next stair down. Roxas smiled guiltily and replied, "Uh… yeah."

"So what were you doing instead?" Naminé queried.

"Reading."

Naminé snorted a giggle, "Yeah right, reading. Come on, what were you _really_ doing?"

"I really was reading!" Roxas answered indignantly. He picked the travelling bag up to half carry it on his thighs and he plodded on down the stairs.

"Suuure you were," Naminé added rolling her eyes in amusement. "So what's the novel called?"

"I never said it was a novel."

"You were reading a game manual weren't you?" asked the blonde princess.

"I didn't say that either…"

"A gaming magazine?"

"Nope."

"An adult magazine that Axel got you?"

"Who told you!"

"Roxas what!"

"I was joking, but you'll laugh at me if I tell you," the boy whined, quickly passing the landing to the second floor and continuing on towards the ground, grimacing as Naminé had already laughed his name.

"No I won't," she told him, shaking her head while her smile was seemingly permanently attached to her face. She was getting quite a kick out of teasing Roxas like this.

"Yes you will," Roxas retorted, obviously not believing her for a second. Naminé's smile increased fractionally. He was getting better.

"Come on," she whined after a few seconds, letting her voice drop down into a wounded pout. "Tell me, pretty please?"

"Not going to," Roxas said quickly, his voice hitching slightly as its tone made a bid for gruffness. The plastic bottom of his case made another loud _clack_ as he set it down on bottom of the hidden spiral stairs and he fished for the door handle.

"Please Roxie?" Naminé pleaded, still standing on the stair above him and placing her arms around his neck and dropping her head onto his shoulder, "With a cherry on top?"

He glanced at her. "You're not going to let this go until you know aren't you?"

"Uh-uh," the girl hummed, shaking her head slightly. Roxas opened the door fully and extended the handle. Naminé relinquished her hold on him and let him stride out the door, pushing his bag in front of him. She got down and followed Roxas out, staying by his side and continuing to pester him slightly. Naminé caught sight of the beautiful golden mermaid fountain in the entrance hall as they left the corridor and she skipped forward and quickly went down the stairs to join Riku, Yuffie, Lord Ramius and the four members of his guard, and Kensworth and Helia.

"There you are!" Yuffie said, slinging her pink and black duffle bag over her shoulder. "I was beginning to worry that you were never showing up."

Naminé grabbed her own pink and white bag and brought her arm around behind her shoulder. "He was procrastinating," she explained, jerking her head back at Roxas as his bag began _clunk_ing down the stairs. "Something about reading."

"Bullshit," Riku said slowly, chuckling and looking up at Roxas. "This guy wouldn't—hey what's that on the front of your bag?" Naminé turned around at Riku's question and for the first time looked seriously at Roxas' blue travelling case.

Her bag fell softly to the floor as she let out a high-pitched scream and bolted towards the golden-haired Keyblade Master. Her indigo eyes were a wild and fierce tempest, and the rest of her face was locked in pure disbelief and ecstasy. Roxas' bag dropped onto the landing with Naminé's flying fingers halting just inches away from something colourful held within black mesh netting.

"Is that a copy of _The Adventures of Mr. Incredible_, Issue #57, the first in a series of four where Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl team up to rescue Frozone and defeat Bomb Voyage and Picacid, a man whose face was burned by acid when he was young and now resembles a painting by Pablo Picasso?" she asked, her fingers and lips trembling and quivering with excitement.

"Yes," Roxas replied humourously, bending down and extracting the comic book. "And look, it's got a holographic cover too."

Naminé stamped her feet and squealed in delight, her hands clenched together in fists near her chin while she swayed back and forth, unsure of how she was supposed to express this sort of pleasure.

What seemed like an age ago, when she had been hospitalized after battling against Nixion in Twilight Town with Axel and Roxas, she had been given the first issue of _The Adventures of Mr. Incredible_ by a male nurse in order to pass the time while she was stuck in bed after having exhausted all of the Harlequins that she was able to stomach, and she had instantly become addicted to the comic book series and had fallen in love with it; its artistic style, the story and characters, and its witty dialogue were above par. In her spare time she spent a great deal of effort researching it and trying to find each issue in order so that she might read them chronologically, and so far she had found, purchased, and read up to Issue #23, but beyond that she had been unable to find the other two-hundred and forty-seven issues of the serialization.

When that passion had dried up after returning and being confined to the castle (since she was not allowed to go out and hunt for any further issues), she had turned towards different mangas and animes she'd gotten while on her comic book hunt to pass the time while stuck in the castle.

But Issues #57-60 to her in this moment were as valuable as Poseidon's trident was to the sea-god. Elastigirl was her favourite character of all, and she just adored seeing the beautiful and mysterious heroine alongside the hunky superhero.

And Roxas, her sweet and lovable boyfriend, had Issue #57!

Naminé's face melted into the cutest and dopiest pleading look she could bring to bear as her eyes became wide and starry. "Can I read it please Roxas?"

Roxas snorted and stepped past her. "No," he answered.

Naminé _almost_ froze, but quickly passed him and looked at him again, making her pleading look even cuter if possible. "_Pwease Woxas?_" she asked, going for the childish hope of cuteness.

"Nope," Roxas persisted, though his voice shuddered for a moment, as if she was cracking the wall to cuteness he'd placed around his heart.

Naminé felt her world shattering and crashing down all around her. She was falling, falling down into darkness and despair, with Roxas holding that shiny holographic issue high above her head with a cruel grin on his face.

"Please," she said in a low, needy beg; down on her knees and clutching at the base of Roxas' shirt and the folds of his cape. "Please, I need to read it. Please, just let me touch it."

"Naminé," Riku started nervously, "you're making a scene."

She didn't hear him, and ignored any and all looks she was receiving. Naminé started to rock back and forth, her forehead pressing against the backs of Roxas' legs through his purple and gold cape. "Please… I just want to hold it, just one page…"

"No," Roxas said one more time, looking down at the Princess with anxious laughter.

Naminé looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Why not!" she asked. "Please, please, please, _please_ just let me look at it!"

"Well, I'm not done yet," Roxas said, scratching his chin. "And I still have those other three after it to go through."

The Princess of Radiant Garden froze for a second as Roxas' words sunk in. He had the _whole_ arc!

"PLEASE," Naminé moaned, bowing her head once more and tugging. "I'll do anything…"

Roxas paused and looked down again "Anything?" he asked.

"Don't do it Naminé!" Yuffie quickly advised her.

"A comic book isn't worth 'anything'," Kensworth added.

"You have so much to live for!" Helia said.

"But it's all four…" she muttered. "It's all four…" Naminé looked up again imploringly and in submission. "Yes my master, anything."

Lord Ramius looked at his personal guard. "Take the luggage to the carriages," he instructed quickly, watching as Roxas pondered Naminé's offer. "And close your eyes and ears to anything going on here. Our Princess has just gone over the edge."

Naminé didn't hear him either; the only sound in her ears was the beating of her own heart and hers and Roxas' breathing. Her mind was empty and clear of nearly all thought, focussed only on the large echoing question of whether or not Roxas would allow her to hold onto the comics. There was nothing else, only her and Roxas and the four issues. Sora and Kairi and Destiny Islands did not even exist anymore.

She heard a sudden intake of breath from Roxas' mouth and Naminé's ears widened to their fullest extent as she watched his face. "Okay, but there are three conditions," he said, his face completely impassive and neutral.

"Anything," Naminé repeated, her voice betraying how much she craved them.

"Firstly, you can only read each issue after I've finished with it."

"Done," Naminé answered instantly.

"Secondly, you have to fly the _Hunter_ to Destiny Islands."

Naminé's eyes opened a bit wider in surprise and sudden terror. "But – but I don't know how to fly a Gummi Ship!"

Roxas smiled down at her. "Don't worry, I'll teach you."

"Done!"

"And thirdly…" Roxas started, drawing the word out. Naminé was holding on to his every syllable like it was a matter of life and death, and Roxas gave her a grin before his head dropped down to hers. He whispered into her ear.

Naminé blushed and considered his words, wondering for a moment what that would be like, before she looked him in the eye, gulped, and steadily said the word: "Done."

"Then let's get going," Roxas said loudly, straightening up and beaming widely.

Within seconds Naminé found herself face-to-face with Yuffie, the raven-haired and dark-brown-eyed girl looking at her with concern. "What was that last thing that Roxas asked you to do?" she demanded in a hushed whisper.

Naminé's blush deepened slightly and she barely answered, "I'm not telling."

Yuffie took her answer for the worst possible kind and brought a hand to her mouth. "No! Don't tell me that he's going to tie you down to a bed and do all sorts of dirty and naughty things to you!"

"What?" Naminé, Roxas, and Riku all asked simultaneously. Naminé's blush became even more pronounced as the image suddenly popped into her head. "No! No! It's nothing that perverted!" she said, her voice nearly hysterical in her denial.

"Where did that idea even come from?" Kensworth asked.

"None of your business!" Yuffie snapped in embarrassment, pink rapidly appearing on either side of her nose. She looked for her bag for a moment and then realized that it had been taken away by Ramius' guards. A slender hand grasped Riku's arm and the kunoichi began to hurriedly drag the seventeen-year-old Keyblade Master away before any more needling questions could be directed towards her.

"What do you suppose _that_ was about?" Naminé asked, her facial expression still flustered by Yuffie's assumptions as to the third part of the deal.

"I don't know," Roxas said, his voice shaking slightly, "but are you as creeped out by that as I am?"

"I think I'm going to go and have some chocolate," Helia said in a quiet voice, running a hand through her long and frizzy brown hair. She smiled at Naminé and gave the young Princess a hug. "Have fun dear," she said, "and try not to come back all roughed up again won't you? You have no idea what it does to my nerves."

"And mine as well," Kensworth added, giving the blonde a hug as well. "Give our best to your sister when you see her now."

"Alright," Naminé said sombrely, extracting herself slowly from the butler's embrace. "I'll try to be careful this time. I don't want to be stuck in a cast or hospital again."

"Or being forced to drink all of those potions," Roxas added humourously. Naminé gave him a wry smile.

"Or that," she acknowledged.

Ovan chuckled quietly and placed a hand on Naminé's shoulder. "Come, let us go. A paradise away from this oncoming winter awaits us."

_As long as I don't crash the ship_, Naminé thought worriedly, heading out of the castle. There was a single carriage drawn by four chocobos waiting for them. Three of Ovan Ramius' guards were mounted, with the fourth standing beside two chocobos with the birds' reins in his hands, waiting for the Marquess. Naminé drew her jacket around her more closely as she approached the footman, wearing his dull blue overcoat and black top hat, who was keeping the door to the coach open for her and Roxas.

"Thank you Gerald," she said, climbing in first and sitting next to Yuffie.

"At your service Your Highness," he said with a smile before closing the door behind Roxas.

Yuffie stretched her limbs our luxuriously as the coach started moving, two chocobomen in front, two behind, and Ramius on the coach's left side beside the driver and footman. "Ah," she sighed, "this is the life." She suddenly jerked back into a sitting position, one hand going to her stomach.

"Yuffie," Riku asked in mild concern, "you alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, though her voice held a slight hiss of pain in it, "just a cramp. Don't worry 'bout it."

Naminé smiled slightly in amusement at the eighteen-year-old. "You shouldn't have had all that food at breakfast Yuffie," she told her.

"So sue me Naminé, I was hungry," Yuffie said, grinning playfully at her. "When someone else is cooking and it's free, I'll eat as much as I want to."

"Oh boy," Roxas wondered aloud. "Then I wonder how Uncle Sal and Auntie Victoria are going to cope with putting us all up at their place for a week?"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "We're all staying at the ranch?" he asked. "Even Ovan and his knights?" Roxas paled as the thought came to him.

"Uh-oh," he muttered. "Didn't think of that."

"Do they even know that we're coming?" Naminé asked, looking at him with a strange mix of concern and amusement.

"Uh…"

That was all the answer Naminé needed to shove him playfully on the shoulder. "Roxas you dummy!"

"I thought that they'd like a surprise!" he answered.

Yuffie giggled. "Not this kind of surprise," she laughed. "This is a little on the extreme side as far as surprises go."

"Hi Aunt Victoria, hi Uncle Sal," Riku began, mimicking Roxas' voice, "sorry for the short notice, but can we stay over for a week before the festival? Oh yeah," he snorted, "I'm sure that _that_ will go over well."

"Shut up!" Roxas retorted. "There's still the _Hunter_," he added, his voice quieting slightly, "some of us could stay on there. Ramius and his knights, maybe."

"Isn't that a ship built for two people to live comfortably," Yuffie asked, "not five?"

"Is today 'pick on Roxas day'?" Roxas asked irritably.

"Hey, it was your idea to leave a week early," Naminé reminded him, also poking him in the chest with her finger. "So we're allowed to. And…" she leaned in towards his ear and began whispering, "since I'm your girlfriend and you want to do _that_ to me, I'm always permitted to pick on you."

Roxas blushed and Naminé pulled back, smiling and giggling at the look on his face. She really couldn't wait until they made it to the Islands, even if she was nervous about having the fly the _Hunter_ there. Because while she was flying the ship, Roxas would likely be reading that issue and as soon as he was finished then _she_ would have it in her greedy and eagerly waiting hands. The only thing she would have to remember would be to not drool on the pages.

-A-D-

_1132hrs, Friday October 24__th__, 2003  
__West Beach, Dunash, Destiny Islands  
__Riku_

The trip had proved to be a little eventful. When they reached the base that they had been to several times it was to find a squadron of pilots-in-training in simulation machines within a nearby hangar, while four Arrows landed before they were able to roll the _Hunter_ onto the flight line to take off for Destiny Islands. As it turned out, Ramius' four knights were to stay behind, so it would be only Naminé, Roxas, Riku, Yuffie, and himself that would be going to Destiny Islands and the coming festival. And, when they confronted the Marquess about the dilemma they encountered in the coach, he humourously reminded them of the perfectly novel and reasonable thing known as a hotel.

When the four Arrows landed it was to rampant excitement among the training pilots who had disconnected from the simulation machines, and they cheered even more as Roxas, in the _Hunter_'s pilot's seat, tore through Radiant Garden's atmosphere and into the depths of the space between worlds. It had been from there that he had Naminé sit in his chair and take the controls, and she hadn't done too badly with him staying by her side and coaching her through the job.

With the Warp Gummi engaged, it only took their ship two hours to reach Destiny Islands from Radiant Garden, as compared to the eighteen it likely would have taken them otherwise. Yuffie's airsickness didn't agree with the trip that much though, and she spent a good deal of time hovering around a toilet, complaining about cramps and that the ship (which did have the most powerful engines that could currently be put onto a gummi ship of its class) was going much too fast for her body. She was the most excited about landing, and nearly kissed the sandy white beaches on Dunash's west end. Common sense prevailed at the last moment though, and she blew a kiss to the grains of sand from inches away.

Regardless of any thoughts they may have had, Roxas' aunt and uncle were more than glad to see them again when they arrived at the ranch that was about fifteen minutes chocobo-ride away from town, and to put Roxas, Naminé, and Yuffie up for the week until the festival. Riku would spend his nights in the _Hunter_, and Ramius spent no time in booking a room at a motel roughly ten minutes away. Sade and Sikora, when they returned from school on their chocobos with heavily-laden backpacks draped over their shoulders, were excited to see the four as well, with Lord Ramius only a meagre curiosity.

The biggest surprise for Roxas, however, had been Cody. Despite having all of Sora's memories, for some reason he had no recollection of the 4-year-old Golden Retriever; he'd remembered their Border Collie Tracy, just not the fifty pounds of light-gold energetic muscle. As soon as he'd gotten through the front door he'd been tackled by the lovable creature and his face became uncommonly wet with dog slobber, another very new experience for him since becoming whole.

For the past two days since arriving the four youth had been either at the beach, or hanging around the ranch, helping the hired hands, Sal, and Tracy with the chocobos and cockatrice herds that they ranched on their fifty-eight hectares of land; and their ranch was considered on the smaller side of the three dozen ranching families that lived on the island. It was smaller too when compared to some of the vineyards, orchards, and regular farmland that occupied a great portion of Dunash' landmass. Roxas, Naminé, and Yuffie all had their first time riding the birds too, but they proved to still be novices at the art of chocobo riding despite their many hours atop the mounts in the two days that they'd had.

The primary reason for Dunash being such an agriculturally-based island was the rich volcanic soil that lay covered underneath its racing grasslands and forests of palm, coconut, and banana trees, as well as a good number of paopu trees that lined the northern edge of the island. All of the islands, except perhaps for the children's island between Felra and Dunash, were volcanic islands that rose from the seas by the ancient activity of these powerful eruptions from beneath the world's crust. Over the eons the rocks formed from this cooling lava weathered and were beaten down into soil prime for use in agriculture, and the people of Dunash especially exploited to their benefit and the benefit of all the islanders.

This aside, Riku was currently in a pair of steel and yellow swimming trunks that went to his knees, water swirling around his knees while he, Roxas, and Naminé were in the shallows with an inflatable beach ball. They were passing it around to one another, playing with it, while Yuffie lay stretched out on a towel underneath an umbrella with a book. The four had gone to the sandy white beaches on Dunash's western shores to pass the time and enjoy life, since it was the day that Roxas and Sora were both turning sixteen years of age. Ovan Ramius was about somewhere else; he had told Naminé that he was taking a look at the island as a whole.

Riku had no idea what that could have entailed, though he had a small suspicion that the Marquess was looking at property. But that thought flew from his mind as Naminé, in a yellow one-piece bathing suit where the front was tied on from behind, tossed the ball up into the air and served it towards him. Riku smiled and reacted instantly, whacking it off in Roxas' general direction with a firm slap from the back of his right palm. The blonde male sloshed through the water as quickly as he was able and dove for the beach ball. He was just able to bump it high into the air back towards Riku before splashing down into the water.

"Coming right for you Naminé!" Riku said, prepping his hand for an open-palmed strike to send the ball towards the blonde former Nobody.

"I got it!" she declared, jumping up to get the ball, but she jumped up too early and missed, falling backwards into the surf just as a wave came in underneath her. Naminé gave a slight shriek before she vanished beneath the water in a splash of white foam, the beach ball landing atop the water and spinning in a circle.

Riku and Roxas were both laughing as Naminé emerged from under the sea, spluttering up water and laughing a little at herself while her cheeks became a delicate shade of pink. The girl moved soaked white-blonde tresses out of her face and sloshed through the surf for a couple of steps to grab the ball before whacking it towards Roxas.

"Okay, this time I got it!" he declared, easily setting it back to Naminé, who jumped up and out just high enough that her feet cleared the waist-high water, and she struck her palm on the ball in a hard slap.

Riku dove towards the ball and bumped it, but the ball only continued in what (to it) was a forward motion and the inflated thing struck Riku in the forehead just before he dropped beneath the ocean's surface.

Emerging from the water with a sharp intake of breath and a laugh, Riku grabbed the ball and tossed it towards Roxas. He turned around and started to slosh his way through the surf to return to the beach, pulling his hair out of his eyes as he went.

Yuffie was watching him coming towards her. She half-closed her book and leaned forward in her black bikini top and khaki shorts. "Aw, you coulda had that one Riku," she said.

"You could play too," he said. "It wouldn't kill you."

"I don't feel like swimming today," Yuffie told him. "My fingers got all pruny yesterday and I tired myself right out. I couldn't even sleep last night because I was so tired."

"Yeah, and that'll make sense when the moon turns out to be made of cheese," Riku said, laughing slightly. "Whatchya reading Fie?"

"One of those Choose Your Own Adventure books," she replied. "I'm a ninja in this one," she added happily.

"But you already are a ninja," Riku laughed.

"And your point is?" Yuffie asked.

"Wouldn't you know exactly what to do then?"

Yuffie grimaced. "No, I've already died twice and gotten stuck in an endless loop. This is my third run-through."

"Come swimming with us," Riku said.

"Na," Yuffie replied, yawning and stretching. "Maybe I'll put the book up and get a tan. I would really like a tan."

"Hey Roxas," Naminé's voice drifted over to them as she held onto the beach ball, "have you finished Issue #57 yet? I _really_ want to read it, and I even did _that_ for you already."

"Wait what did you do? What did you do!" Yuffie asked loudly.

"Naminé, don't tell me that Roxas made you do something 'R' rated," Riku said.

"Get your minds out of the gutter!" she snapped. She suddenly stiffened.

Riku felt it too, and looked up towards the deceptively bright sky. A chill went through his spine. _You felt that didn't you?_ Xehanort's Heartless asked him. _That was the sign that your friends have just fallen into the darkness._

"No," Riku muttered.

Yuffie appeared to have noticed that he, Naminé, and Roxas had all become still and were looking into the sky. "Guys, what's going on? Guys? Riku!"

"What just happened to Sora?" Roxas asked.

"Did Maleficent find them?" Naminé asked worriedly. "Did something terribly bad just happen?"

"Maleficent? What are you talking about?" Yuffie asked, leaving her book on the towel and coming out into the sunlight to stand next to Riku.

"The world just got darker," Riku answered quietly.

"Darker…" Yuffie muttered, placing a slightly trembling hand on Riku's arm. "Something bad's just happened to Sora and Kairi hasn't it?"

"Yes," Naminé said frightfully. "But we don't know what."

"Anti's done something," Riku said, knowing that to be the cause. "Remember? Sora told us that Anti was bugging him, and Jiminy was saying that Anti-Form was taking control away from him. Whatever's happened, Anti's gotta be involved in it."

Blue light suddenly surrounded them, and Riku felt himself becoming lighter, as if he was being taken away from Destiny Islands. Someone was summoning them to a separate location, a location that Riku knew would be where Sora and Kairi were. He was glad; this time they were going to get answers right away.

-A-D-

_2000hrs, Sunday, October 26__th__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
__October 25__th__, 1418 (S.R.)  
__Sora_

Sora returned to the room he and Kairi shared in Rivendell from a walk outside with Aiwemon and Jiminy. After they'd eaten, Ninquemon had had a nap during the afternoon, and digivolved back to his Rookie level during his sleep. But there were a number of things on Sora's mind since the Council earlier that day, and he had felt that a walk in the surprisingly cool night air under the stars would do him some good. He'd never felt the air to be this cold in October before, but then again, he'd never been off of Destiny Islands and awake when in northern temperate climates the weather turned cold and harsh. One of those things that his mind had been dwelling on was Kairi. She'd acted strangely during the Council, and for some of her slights he could understand her reactions, but there were some moves she'd made and some things she'd said that just seemed out of place for her.

When he got back in Sora was both pleased and distressed to find that Kairi had also made it back from the Hall of Fire, where she'd gone to after supper that evening. She had already changed out of the clothing that they'd been found ready for them the previous evening that they'd swapped their previous clothes for (since it was too cold for them to be wearing clothes that exposed that amount of skin to the elements), and was instead in her golden-white nightgown.

She smiled when she saw him enter, and said, "Hi Sor," while striding towards him to quickly kiss his lips. Sora gladly closed his eyes and kissed them back while holding her sides for a couple of seconds. He felt the conversational topic that he knew he needed to broach weighted in his stomach like an uncomfortable and prickly clump of lead, but he decided to put it off for another minute.

"Hey Iri," he replied as Kairi slowly turned away and started heading back to the bed. "Why are you already dressed for bed?"

"Well," she answered slowly, "we're going to have to wake up early tomorrow for the trip to Destiny Islands."

"Uh, why?" Sora asked, slightly confused. Master Yen Sid had been able to almost instantly transport Riku, Yuffie, Roxas, and Naminé all the way from Destiny Islands to Middle-earth, so why would they have to get up early just for him to do the same for them?

"Well, I was talking to Master Yen Sid," Kairi began, "and he told me that he'd be leaving Middle-earth tonight. There are other things that he has to do, now that we're okay, so I'll have to make a corridor of light to get us to Destiny Islands. You remember how long it took us to get to Bree from the Digital World right?"

Sora groaned and placed a hand over his head. "Uh, yeah. That was like, ten or eleven hours or something right?"

"Uh-huh," Kairi agreed, nodding her head. "And I don't know if being in Rivendell instead of Bree will make the trip longer or shorter, so if we're gonna get there in time to actually do anything we're going to have to wake up super early."

"I see your point," Sora said, closing the door behind him. "But, Kairi, we need to talk."

He saw Kairi stiffen for the briefest of moments with the pillow she had been fluffing in her hands. Her back was still turned to him as she began to continue, her movements a bit jerkier and more forceful. "What about, dear?"

_Uh-oh!_ _Did Kairi just call me 'dear'?_ Sora started to sweat as his eyebrow twitched. Kairi had never, ever called him that, and the icy and dangerous tone in which she had said the word made him more than nervous.

He sighed and tried his best to suppress his nerves. "Kairi," he started quietly, "you hit me today." Sora saw her freeze in place, and it hurt him to make her feel guilty like this, but he didn't really understand. "And, you didn't even really have a reason to, like I was moping or something."

"You laughed at the moustache Urahara drew on me," Kairi answered, her voice rising, sounding defensive.

"It was funny," Sora told her. "You know it was funny. You laughed when you saw yourself in the mirror. But, Kairi, that still wasn't enough of a reason to break my nose," he added, his voice's volume dropping again with unease.

Kairi gasped and the pillow dropped from limp fingers as she turned around. Sora was barely able to meet her frightened and shamed eyes. "I… I broke your nose?" she asked.

Sora was silent for several seconds, unable to shrug away the guilt that was eating away at him for making Kairi feel this terrible. "Yeah," he whispered, looking at Kairi, but also away from her at the same time. "What was up with you today Kairi? I know that some things that Boromir and Erestor said ticked you off, but you're normally a lot more… reserved, than you were earlier. You even attacked me."

"No, Sora, I just…" Kairi began to explain in a tired voice, allowing the end of her sentence to hang in the air as she appeared to struggle to find the right words to say. She sighed and her head drooped as she turned around so that her back was to him again. "I'm sorry. I just…"

The brunette tentatively came towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kairi…"

She fidgeted slightly at his touch and her neck and head turned to look at him. "This is embarrassing Sora," she said quietly, but with enough strength to tell him that it was something that needed to be said, "but, I get a little short-tempered and cranky, and I've been told a bit abusive, around this time."

"Huh?" Sora asked, frowning in confusion.

"Sora, I'm PMSing."

Sora's eyes widened. "Oh, oh!" he said, backing away slightly. He laughed nervously and began to rub the back of his neck. "Oh, okay. So, you get a little bit cranky before your… okay."

"No, Sora," began Kairi, grasping his hand as he retreated, halting him. "You were right, we do need to talk."

"About what?" Sora asked nervously. Kairi motioned for him to sit down on the bed and he did, the girl sitting next to him on his left.

"Kairi, what do you mean you're PMSing?" Menelmon asked, looking down from a perch she had on the beams lining the ceiling. Sora and Kairi both froze at the thought of having to explain about bodily functions to their digimon partners, and looked at one another with horror.

"It's uh, something that most human girls who are biologically ready to bear children go through before they have their… periods," Sora answered nervously.

"And what's a period?" Menelmon asked. Sora looked to Kairi, saying without saying that he'd already talked as much as he was willing to about things adolescent and adult women went through to somebody who had no knowledge of the subject.

"It's when a girl starts bleeding once a month because she hasn't become pregnant," said Kairi, a little bit more confidently than Sora. He was glad that she was more confident, it was something that she had to go through after all, not him.

"What's pregnant?" Aiwemon asked, flying onto Sora's right shoulder.

Sora placed a hand to his head for a second. _Oh boy, I did not think that this conversation was going to go this way when I started._

"Well Aiwemon," Kairi began, her voice becoming a bit more confident than before and changing in tone to one more pleasant, as if she were speaking to a young child who'd just asked the fabled question of 'where do babies come from?', "a girl is pregnant when she's carrying a baby inside of her."

"How do you carry a baby inside of you?" Aiwemon asked bluntly, looking closely at Kairi. "You don't look like you have arms under your skin…"

"Are you carrying a baby Kairi?" Menelmon asked, clearly unaware of just how tactless a question that was, despite the wording she used. She must have realized that she'd said something wrong when Sora and Kairi both turned a deep shade of red and seemed incapable of speech for a few seconds. "What is it?"

"No, I'm not pregnant," Kairi said indignantly. Her face fell and Sora knew exactly why when he saw a few tears beginning to form in her eyes, and he hugged her tightly with his left arm. The night after they'd gotten together, the day before they'd left Destiny Islands when Cossex crashed the party the student body had thrown to celebrate them becoming an item, Kairi had learned that her mother Janet was pregnant. Had Maleficent not sent Cossex out to assassinate their parents, Kairi( and Naminé) would still have been looking forward to having a baby brother or sister.

For that injustice alone, they'd never forgive Maleficent.

Kairi sniffed and shook her head. Sora continued while his girlfriend composed herself, trying to build up his confidence in explaining these sorts of things. If he was going to be a father someday (and he _did_ want to be a father someday), he knew that he was likely going to be asked these questions by his children, because he had most assuredly asked his mother them. "Anyway Aiwemon," he began, "a pregnant woman doesn't actually carry a baby in her arms or anything. She's carrying it in her womb, which you could think of as a kind of pouch that gives the baby nutrients while it grows, and it's inside of every girl's body, right about here," he added, poking Kairi in her pelvis.

"Bit lower than there Sora," Kairi said, giggling very slightly at his touch. Aiwemon hopped off of Sora's shoulder and landed on the bed in-between the young couple, while Menelmon flew down from where she was perched and landed on Kairi's shoulder. Aiwemon was looking intently at the area where Sora had poked, making a slightly nervous and embarrassed smile grow on Sora's face.

_He's not seriously gonna ask the question is he?_ He thought.

"And how does the baby get in there?" asked Aiwemon, looking innocently up at his partner's face, which promptly turned red.

Sora didn't really want to answer that question, and he was just barely able to meet Kairi's eyes before he looked away again, thoughts suddenly going through his mind. He could still vividly remember the scene that had happened between him and Kairi while their hearts had briefly been lost in darkness. "Uh, sex," he answered. He quickly added, "But we're not even going to discuss that!"

"No, no we're not talking about that!" Kairi repeated hastily in falsetto, glancing down. Sora's eyes flickered towards her. Her cheeks were red as rubies, and her eyes were directed towards…

_Is she staring at my crotch!_

"Kairi!"

The Princess of Heart's head snapped up and her blush became even more prominent, if that were even possible. "Oh, I am _soo_ sorry Sora," she said quickly, her head moving this way and that in a flustered attempt to likely absolve herself of any thoughts she may have had. There was only one real thought going through her head:

She should never have peeked back then.

"Let's just go to bed," Sora said, somewhat loudly, looking away again. The weight of his words hit him like a tonne of bricks the instant after he said them.

_No! No, you didn't mean it that way Sora! Get those fantasies out of your head! You are not going to be 'sleeping' with Kairi anytime soon. You're much nobler than that and neither of you are ready for it. Besides, neither Riku nor Naminé are here and _he's_ dating Yuffie, so you can't have a threesome in either way… WAIT WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING! Am I going to start turning into Riku? Am I just some raging, perverted, hormonal nutcase, or is it actually natural to have these thoughts?_

Sora's face turned beet red and he took three long, deep, shuddering breaths and tried to rid himself of even more mental images that he'd just inadvertently given himself. "Kairi…"

"I know what you meant, and there's still something I need to talk to you about Sora," she whispered, "involving my, you know, my period."

Sora was about to ask her why they needed to talk about this, but then stopped himself. Kairi was serious about this, and maybe speaking candidly about the topic instead of running around it in circles would do him some good. "Alright," he said. "Shoot."

"Well," Kairi began nervously, "you know how on the first day and everything, I can't summon my Keyblade and I lose all of my powers, and then they slowly return over the next few days?"

"Yeah," Sora answered in a sigh, still not quite looking at her except out of the corner of his eye.

"If my calculations are right, and because my cycle's almost like clockwork, I won't be able to call my Keyblade in six days, on November 1st," Kairi told him. "And then I still won't be at full strength until the fourth."

"Six days?" Sora asked incredulously, looking at her properly. "You mean I'm gonna have to put up with a short-tempered and cranky you for _six_ days?"

Kairi frowned at him. "Sora!" she scolded in a slight hiss. "I'm not cranky all the time. It comes and goes you know. And it is actually worse _during_ my period, because that's when it hurts! "

Sora chuckled slightly. "I was just joking Iri," he said to her. "Now that I know why, I'll put up with it. I love you, and I wouldn't if I was unwilling to make some compromises." He laughed at the look on her face, but added tenderly and in all seriousness, "Just stop hitting me, alright? I don't like it."

"I'll keep the abuse under control and try to keep my temper down too, I promise," Kairi said. "But can I still hit you if you get stuck in a rut or a funk and need a beating to get you out of it?"

"I'd rather you get Riku or Roxas," Sora said, smiling. "Then I can at least hit them back."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kairi asked. "You mean you can't hit a girl?"

"I can't hit _you_," Sora answered. "The day I bring myself to hit you is the day that I've either completely lost it, or the day you've done something horribly wrong."

He saw Kairi's eyes flicker down and back up so quickly he thought that he must have imagined it. The girl shook her head. "Let's just go to sleep. We're going to have an early morning and a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah," Sora said, rising and going to change, "an unthinkably early morning."

Aiwemon flapped his wings a couple of times and made it into the air. He flew around, following Sora, and asking, "What's sex?"

-A-D-

_91 years ago, at the 11__th__ hour, of the 11__th__ day, of the 11__th__ month of 1918, an armistice was signed between Imperial Germany and the Allied Powers of Britain, France, and the United States of America along with the other allies. After four years of bloodshed that left Europe in shambles and a whole generation dead on the field The Great War, The War to End All Wars, had ended. Peace had been achieved, after the lives of millions of people on both sides of the war had been lost. An entire generation had gone to war, and had virtually been wiped off the face of the Earth. We should have learned our lessons then, but we didn't. As humanity devised cleverer and faster ways of killing one another in greater numbers, the lust for revenge grey in the hearts of those fascists who came to power, convinced that the Treaty of Versailles had given them the short end of the stick. War began again in earnest a generation later in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, and it wasn't until the dreadfully powerful and destructive A-Bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the Second World War came to an end in 1945. Since then there was an almost everlasting Cold War until 1991 with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Balkans, Rwanda, and a host of other conflicts too numerous to mention. War and Hate has not stopped, an unfortunately, likely never will, much though we try to live peacefully with one another in good faith._

_My country was born peacefully, given our first form of independence by the British North America Act of the British Parliament. But despite that, we stripped ourselves of being 'British Colonials' and became Canadians through fire and war. We were baptised by the mud and muck of the trenches in Flanders, by the flashes from the muzzles of Ross Rifles that frequently jammed, and from the urine pissed onto handkerchiefs to protect us from German-fired chlorine gas. Men came as British subjects and left as Canadians. _**We**_ were the ones who took Vimy Ridge when no one else could, _**we**_ were the ones who charged the heights of the Somme and took Passchendaele, and _**we**_ were the ones who the Germans feared most of any Allied force, becoming 'shock troopers'. In WW2, we came to Europe in the ill-fated landings at Dieppe, and returned via Sicily and Italy, and again on June 6, 1944, and stormed Juno Beach in Normandy. We became the liberators of Holland, and fought the furious and costly battle of Ortona. Since 1914, Canadians have lived and breathed and fought and died to bring freedom back to those people in occupied territories who had lost it to their wrongful conquerors or oppressors, and our countrymen who donned the uniform and never came home to their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, husbands, wives, and children should never be forgotten while in Flanders' Fields the poppies blow, between the crosses row on row. Today, on this day, __**Remembrance Day**__, take two minutes out of your daily lives as the clock chimes 1100, to remember those who have fallen in pursuit of the freedom for others, the same freedom that we take for granted._

_**We Will Remember Them**_

_Shire Folk_


	23. Blitz Fest Part I

_Okay, so this chapter is going to be long, fluff-filled, and maybe a bit boring. So, bear with me please._

_Plus, in hindsight I'm glad that I came to the decision to rate this as 'M'. It allows for the foul language when foul language is appropriate, allows for a darker tone when needed, and for actions suitable for reading by persons sixteen and over. Come on, mangas that are rated '13+' are really for sixteen and above in North America given all the fanservice and ecchi stuff that shows up in them, and it's not like many of those characters are any older than the main ones in this._

_**This does not mean that I will start writing lemons. Lime maybe, but lemons? No.**_

_By the way, this chapter has been split. I had originally planned on one huge chapter, but I don't want another __**To the Ford of Bruinen**__ mammoth, so the whole thing is being chopped up into different parts. Nearly all of it is filler so you can take it at face value since there really isn't anything in here apart from talking, storytelling, comedic antics, a blitzball game, and festival and birthday celebrations. So I now present to you Part I of the Blitz Fest!_

_Disclaimer: When University tuition fees drop down to absolutely zero, I will own Kingdom Hearts_

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXIII: Blitz Fest Part I

_2345hrs, Sunday October 26__th__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
__Rivendell, Middle-earth,  
__Sora_

Sora stared with open eyes at the dark ceiling above him. The alarm that Kairi'd set on the communicator she'd gotten from Star Command had yet to go off, since the girl had set it for midnight, allotting them roughly three and a half hours sleep before having to make the long and boring walk to Destiny Islands. But through all of that time, Sora had stayed wide awake.

It wasn't that he was making himself uncomfortable, since the bed in Rivendell was the most comfortable one he'd ever been on in his entire life, or that the silvery light of the newly waning moon on the floor and wall was bothering him, or that he was feeling sick or anything like that. No, Sora had stayed awake the whole time because his mind was awake, and his body didn't actually feel all that tired either. The conversation from before he'd gotten changed into sleepwear was still playing through his mind, along with all the related thoughts and questions, and the occasional fantasy that he probably wouldn't have found out of place in those stores that you had to be over the age of majority to even enter.

He continued to stare up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the night outside of the window that drifted into the room, while imagined sounds and inner monologue still entered his consciousness. Finally, he could bear that oppressive silence no longer, and spoke aloud in a hushed whisper. Even then it seemed unnaturally loud. "Kairi?"

He didn't expect her to answer, since she had been breathing softly and rhythmically the whole time since they'd extinguished the candles and fire that had been in the fireplace, removing both sources of light and warmth from the room. She'd even shifted and murmured inaudibly a few times. There was no logical reason to believe that she was awake, and that surprised him even more when she answered in a voice as equally hushed yet inexplicably loud. "Yeah?"

"You awake?"

Kairi was silent for just one more second before answering. "Yeah. You?"

"Yeah," Sora replied, answering her question that was equally as pointless as his previous one. "Can't sleep?"

"I gave up counting sheep at around six hundred," she said, the sound of her body shifting under the blankets while their digimon slept on the edges of the bed, leaving her and Sora together in the middle. Sora turned himself around and saw her face illuminated slightly by the reflected light of the moon. "You?"

"Haven't had a wink of it," he answered, smiling slightly at her. He saw Kairi smile in return and his left hand went out from underneath him to touch her cheek, the warm metal gently cupping her soft skin.

"You worried about going back?" Kairi asked, marginally biting her bottom lip. "You know, to the Islands? The last time... Cerberus and Talos, and Malef—"

Sora interrupted her. "Don't say her name now," he whispered. "We're going for fun, and we're going to have fun. You remember the stuff that always happened at the festival: the partying, the bonfires, the fireworks, the story of Blitzball, and the first Blitz games of the season!"

Kairi's smile returned, obviously at the smile that he knew was on his own face at the mention of the first Blitzball games of the regular season. Of the four islands there were seven teams, two for every island except for Nova, and the festival games were usually match-ups between two of the numerous long-standing rivalries between teams. Sora dearly hoped that even though they were going to Dunash, since the city of Felra had been razed to the ground and his relatives lived on Dunash, that his team, the Felra Furies, had survived and he'd see them in action against the hated Straca Stormbringers. If he had to watch a Battle of Dunash between the Dunash Dolphins and the Gibios Wranglers he'd grumble and try not to enjoy it, even though he would.

"Anyway, no I'm not worried," Sora said, his eyes gleaming with the thought of the Furies wiping the Stormbringers out of existence. "After all, we _are_ celebrating my sixteenth, which means presents."

"So are you awake from excitement?" Kairi asked, smirking at him while her voice remained as hushed as when they'd started.

Sora instantly blushed and looked away, thanking the gods that the darkness prevented her from seeing it. "Uh… not reeeally," he answered.

"Well then what?" asked Kairi curiously. She frowned. "You're not getting sick are you? Is your fever back?"

"No," Sora answered simply.

"Cramps?"

"Don't have those either," Sora told her. He didn't want to tell her just what he was fantasising about, she'd probably slap him in the face (again) if he did. So there was only one course of action left open to him: stretch the truth and lie a little. "Just," he added quickly after coming to this realization and before Kairi could come up with another malady, "I was thinking about that conversation we were having before bed." He looked at her again, and Kairi's lips formed into a perfect 'O' as she soundlessly said the word. "And, I also remembered something you said to me once," he continued. "I think you told me, a few months ago, that you maybe wanted five kids. And then," he started to chuckle, "I started thinking a little bit about how we're gonna have to go through the sex talk _five_ separate times! And each time it's going to be just as painful and embarrassing as a few hours ago."

"Sora…"

He saw her facial features droop into sadness, and Sora brought her eyes back to his by nudging her cheek with his metal fingers once more. "Kairi," he proposed, "let's make a promise. Either neither one of us dies on the other until long after this Maleficent business is done, or we go together and spend eternity in the Elysian Fields at each other's side."

Kairi's eyes widened and she gave a shallow gasp. "But, Kingdom Hearts! Or—"

"Or Kingdom Hearts," Sora relented, grumbling slightly, "if what Thessaura said is actually true. But do you really think that we'll end up in the Asphodel Meadows rather than Elysium? Besides, I think it'd be cool to meet Odysseus or Ajax or Leonidas. Ooh! _Achilles!_"

Kairi giggled slightly and Sora smiled at her and moved his right hand out, extending his pinkie finger. "Alright," she said, her smile returning and linking pinkies with him, "Until long after Maleficent is defeated or to Elysium together, we won't die on each other." They released their fingers from one another and Kairi moved closer to Sora in the darkness, and he held her in his arms as she kissed him softly. Kairi gave a slight _huff_ of laughter before speaking again. "That's kind of a morbid promise isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Sora said, having not realized it before. "Would you prefer we switch it to that we will move on if the other dies?"

"No," Kairi answered. "I like the idea of the Elysian Fields together. Though if we do change it, why don't we make it a rule instead of a promise?"

Sora raised his eyebrows in interest. "What do you have in mind?"

"There's only one rule: don't die," Kairi told him. Sora smiled and he saw her smiling in return.

"Oh I like that rule," he whispered into her ear before giving her a kiss.

"So," Kairi began quietly after a minute of silent kisses, "what were you really thinking about that was keeping you up?"

"Do you want the plain unaltered truth?" Sora asked, blushing again. Kairi nodded. Sora took a deep breath and his hands slowly left her shoulders and back. "Well…" he started, drawing the word out as long as he was able to while both metal and flesh drifted along the silken golden nightgown she was wearing. "I had been thinking about you," he said, his heart's beat increasing and his voice hitching slightly. Hips and waist entered his hands, and one stopped at them, but one of flesh that trembled continued on, and stopped and lightly pressed (without grabbing) against her right buttock, "and, doing this and that with you."

He could tell that Kairi's face was flushed an even brighter red than his own as she let out a gasp and looked down, moving his hands off of her body. "Sora! Why would you tell me—what the—what! Sora you—pervert—you—SORA!"

Her last uttering of his name saw the ringing of the alarm she'd set, startling both of them and waking up Jiminy and their digimon partners with a jolt. Kairi removed herself from the bed hastily, patting down the place where her nightgown had ridden up slightly with Sora's touch. Her voice was of a higher pitch than normal as she spoke. "Let's get dressed and get ready," she said, undoubtedly nervous and trying not to look at Sora. "Come on, we're burning daylight!"

"But it's still night-time Kairi," Aiwemon said sleepily, rubbing an eye with a wing. "Can't we sleep a little longer?"

"I'm afraid not Aiwemon," Sora sighed, looking at his digimon partner. "So we might as well get up."

"You both sure sound awake," Jiminy said groggily, rubbing his eyes as well as he rose from where he had lain next to Menelmon, asleep, between two pillows with the sheets pulled over him. He was dressed in a white nightgown and cap of his own, and blinked repeatedly at both Sora and Kairi. "What were you doing up?"

"We just woke up a few minutes before the alarm and talked a bit," Kairi said, her voice still a little panicky and shrill. Sora looked intently at Kairi and snorted slightly. It was her own damn fault for wanting to know what it was that had been keeping him awake. If anything it had been the fear that he wasn't quite sure if he trusted himself not to follow those erotic impulses while she was so near, or that she was actually asleep and that she'd roll over onto him and suddenly wake up to the feel of an organ that did not normally bulge. That would have been far more embarrassing than anything else that Sora could have possibly imagined, Kairi waking up during her sleep to find him with a woody.

If she didn't like that he was harbouring those sorts of thoughts in his head, well, then that was her problem. But they were going to be in there whether she liked it or not (and whether _he_ liked it or not for that matter). And besides, he'd caught her staring at his crotch! So he knew that in some way, girls were just as perverted as guys were when they thought that no one was paying them attention.

Kairi'd apparently heard his snort and fixed him with an accusing look. "What?"

"Nothing Kai," Sora answered, wisely keeping his thoughts to himself as he shed the covers. "Come on Aiwë, let's get ready." His digimon partner seemed to realise that there was some kind of tension going on between him and Kairi, and Sora stopped as a brown and white feathered wing went around his head. The soft white feathers on Aiwemon's small head nuzzled up against his cheek, and Sora had to admit that the gesture was much more soothing in these days than it used to be.

"Don't worry Sora," the bird digimon whispered. "I'm sure that she'll forget about whatever it is that's upset her soon, and then she'll be her loving, cheerful old self again."

Sora smiled and gave Aiwemon a gentle squeeze. "You're probably right buddy. It'll all blow over soon enough, and we're going to need all the cheer we can to get through whatever gruelling training is in store for all of us."

"I'm not all that worried," Aiwemon told him confidently. "We'll overcome it in the end and get stronger, just like we always do."

Sora's smile widened a bit and he nodded his head. "Yeah, of course," he agreed. "Why should I worry? Bring it Hat 'n Clogs! But before that, let's go have some fun, alright Aiwemon?"

"That sounds good to me Sora," his partner said, beaming at him from behind his green eyes.

Sora nodded again. "Alright, I'm gonna get ready," he announced. "You can wake Menelmon up again, since it looks like she's fallen asleep." Aiwemon nodded his head and proceeded towards the female bird digimon to rouse her once more, and Sora left the bed to get changed in the room, since Kairi had claimed the bathroom during his conversation with his partner.

-A-D-

Fifteen minutes later they were in Elrond's gardens near where the Council had taken place the previous day, and all five had had a quick midnight snack of whatever they'd been able to scrounge. There would be much more food waiting for them on Destiny Islands, even though it would be priced higher than usual on account of it being a festival. Hot dogs and burgers always cost more at festivals or blitzball or football games than they did normally.

Sora had his hood up and was taking turns in shaking his legs to try and get some warmth into the skin. There could be no way that he'd get used to the air being this cool in such a short amount of time. He normally wouldn't experience air as chilly as this until January or February, where people wouldn't even go swimming in the ocean because both the water and the air had cooled enough that one would get hypothermia if they didn't dry off and warm up fast enough. Even so, in those three months of 'winter' (including December) he'd have still gotten away with short-sleeved shirts or long-sleeved t-shirts and light jackets. He'd never even seen or felt the need for a winter or warmer coat before, let alone a full-blown sweater.

But here, in Middle-earth, he sure wished that he would quickly learn how to deal with cold, because if it started to dip under ten degrees Celsius he had no idea what he would do. It wasn't like the brief visits to the Tseng-Shao pass or Christmas Town, where he was only passing through the cold landscapes. He'd be stuck here this time around.

Kairi turned to look at him from under the light of the moon. "Are you ready to go?"

Sora yawned and stretched his arms out behind his head. "Like it matters much," he said thickly during the yawn. "We're gonna be stuck going all that way anyway, so we might as well start now."

Kairi smiled slightly and nodded before turning around. She flicked her hand forward and brilliant white light appeared in front of them, nearly blinding them with its intensity in the night. The ovular shape went right from the ground, which seemed to be bathed in a pool of liquid white light, to a couple of feet above their heads.

"It's so bright," Aiwemon said, shielding his eyes with a wing.

"What is this?" a gruff voice asked suddenly, startling them.

Sora turned around, away from the light, and saw the Dwarf Gimli, son of Glóin, dressed in purple clothes with his mighty battleaxe on his back and standing in the light cast by the portal behind him. He was looking at the magical work in both awe and fear.

"This is the entrance to a corridor of light, Master Dwarf," Kairi said, smiling in what Sora guessed was satisfaction at the look on his face. "And it's going to take Sora and me back to Destiny Islands for a festival that's happening from sunup to sundown today."

"A festival?" Gimli asked, intrigued. "Perhaps I should accompany you both."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Sora said quickly, looking at the Dwarf in surprise. "It'll be a huge culture shock."

"Nonsense," Gimli snorted. "A hunk of meat and a mug of malt beer and a Dwarf is at home even if not under stone."

"Oh, let's let him come Sora," Kairi said, looking at him. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Splendid!" Gimli said, chuckling slightly and stomping towards the edge of the portal. He motioned towards it. "Lead on gentle Kairi!" Sora looked at her and saw her smiling. She began to move towards the portal as Gimli requested and Sora shook his head and smiled himself. The Dwarf was sure going to be in for a surprise when they arrived.

He passed through the portal's entrance last with Aiwemon on his shoulder and Jiminy in his hood. The first thing he did was laugh at the look he saw on Gimli's face as the Dwarf stood, awestruck, at the soft and bright starlight that illuminated the long corridor in front of them, and the solid floor beneath them that appeared to mirror the skies at night. Gimli, who had tread fearlessly into lightless tunnels under dark mountains, seemed quite loth to move his feet forward one inch when it appeared as if there was nothing for him to place his foot down upon.

"This is surely magic or my eyes thoroughly deceive my senses," he muttered with widened eyes. "For as solidly as I stand, I cannot see what it is I stand upon."

Sora laughed with Kairi, Jiminy, Aiwemon, and Menelmon at Gimli's statement. "Just run with it," Menelmon said in a cheery voice. "There are a lot of things that happen to us that don't make any sense at all."

"And it doesn't stop us much," Sora said, looking at Gimli with amusement.

"And that's because we're used to it," Jiminy said, coming out of Sora's hood to stand between his spikes of chocolate-coloured hair.

"Case in point," Kairi began, waving her hand towards Jiminy as an example, "we're friends with a talking cricket."

"A cricket who is the conscience of living wooden puppet whose nose grows whenever he tells a lie," Sora added, smiling widely at Gimli. "Come on Master Dwarf," he said, "if we're going to get there in time to get you your meat we'll have to start moving now, even if you can't see what it is you're walking on."

Gimli snorted behind him as Sora turned away and began to walk ahead with Kairi. "Gya! Naughty brat," he muttered. "Are these islands of yours populated with more rascals like you?"

"Hundreds of them," Kairi replied, sniggering.

Gimli grunted. "So what are these islands like anyway…?"

-A-D-

_1000hrs,  
__Gyshal Green Ranch, Dunash, Destiny Islands  
__Sora_

"I think we're almost there," Jiminy said, looking at his pocket-watch after pulling it out of his coat.

"Finally," Sora said, his grumbling stomach and aching legs reminding him of the length of time it had been since he'd last eaten or sat down. "Hey Kairi, what's the first thing you're going to do when we get there?"

"Give everyone hugs and then demand food and for someone to carry me all the way to town," she answered.

Sora looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"The only place on Dunash I could remember well was the ranch," Kairi answered, "so we're going there."

"And this ranch consists of farming giant birds instead of cattle?" Gimli asked, clarifying what Sora and Kairi had told him earlier. Sora nodded his head. "Then the first thing that _I_ plan on doing is seeing one of these beasts with my own eyes," he told them firmly, with a note of excitement in his voice.

"What about you Menelmon?" Sora asked. "Anything you have in mind to do?"

"I like Kairi's idea," she said, smiling. Sora glanced up at Aiwemon.

"And I already know what you're going to say buddy," he said.

"That's because you know me so well," his digimon partner said, smiling widely.

"No," Sora told him, "it's because I know your stomach so well. You're a bottomless pit!"

"Well so are you!" Aiwemon answered. "We're hungry together!"

"Two of a kind," Sora laughed.

"Birds of a feather!" Aiwemon added.

"Now and forever!" they laughed together. "The first thing I do when I get there is eat," Sora said. "And I'm going to eat, and eat, and eat all day and night long because it's my birthday and I don't care if I get fat, because I never get fat and I'm never going to get fat, and I just can't get fat! My body won't let me, curse it."

He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and looked at Kairi, who was giving him a scathing look that he knew to be all in good fun. "Yes Sora, curse you and your skinny body. You're the envy of every anorexic girl everywhere."

"Hey that was low!" Sora retorted.

"Anorwhatic?" Gimli asked, frowning.

"Anorexic," Kairi said, a little sombrely. "Anorexia is an eating disorder common among young women with self-esteem issues about how their body looks in which they force themselves not to eat or to eat much less food than what they should be eating. Basically, they're always seeing themselves as too fat and starve themselves to become thinner."

"It's really sad when you see a girl whose ribcage is showing so prominently that you could use it as a xylophone," Sora sighed. "But at least we know that that's never going to happen to you Kairi."

"Of course not," she said proudly. "I love my body and try to take care of it as best as I can. Sure I'm a bit vain, but—"

"You're like Sora," Aiwemon interrupted her. "You love food too much."

Kairi's reply was snippy. "Who asked the peanut gallery?"

"A little bit vain is an understatement," Gimli said, "if your outburst at the Council is anything to judge by."

Sora looked at Kairi again and saw her blushing and looking away. "I didn't actually mean to go so far," she said, embarrassed. "I was angrier than anything, and that kinda came out in the words I said. I couldn't really stop myself. I—I know that I'm attractive, to a degree, but I'm not the prettiest girl out there, and I'm not the smartest or the funniest, or the sexiest or biggest breasted, or the thinnest or—"

"Kairi stop rambling!" Sora said, breaking through her self-deprecating monologue. "You were just saying how you loved your body and now you're beating yourself up. Get a grip."

Kairi looked at him in shock for a second before smiling and nodding her head. "Alright, thanks Sora. And, just so you know, I don't dress myself up like a… like that just so that boys notice me. It's just comfortable to be in a miniskirt or something similar because of the heat."

"Now why else would our school uniform have included a miniskirt?" Sora asked her.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "I don't know, because we look cute and or sexy in them and the school board was run by a bunch of pervy, dirty old men who thought that we'd just _love_ to be forced to wear miniskirts _all_ day long since it's _so_ convenient because the weather's _always_ warm," she ranted.

"That's harsh, but you're probably right," Sora said, looking up with his hands behind his head and beginning to think about it. "Either that, or they cost less because there's not as much fabric so they're just being cheap."

"Either way, they're still pervy, dirty old men for doing it," Kairi huffed.

"But you did look cute in the uniform," Sora argued. "You made that uniform look great!"

Kairi looked at him with something resembling a strange mix between embarrassed gratitude and annoyance. "But that's not the point," refuted Kairi, "the point is that I was being forced to wear it. What if I had wanted to wear long pants to school, maybe to hide a bruise I'd gotten on my leg for some stupid reason like falling down the stairs? I wouldn't have been able to and then I would have gotten a lot of awkward questions."

"But if the world is as warm as you say," Gimli broke in, having been listening quietly to the conversation since the topic had veered again, "and you frequently try to wear as little clothing as possible while maintaining modesty due to the heat, wouldn't you have roasted in trousers?"

"I think that you're the one who's going to roast when we get there Gimli," Menelmon said. "It is really warm on the Islands, and Aiwemon and I have only been there once."

"I didn't think it was that bad," Aiwemon said, shrugging.

"Well I'm an ice-bird," Menelmon told him. "I like it a bit cooler."

"Sorry Menelmon, but you're not going to find air conditioning out of doors on the Islands," Kairi said, still smiling at her partner.

"But there is ice cream, and snow cones, and cold drinks," Sora reminded them. He looked forward, a smile on his face like on everyone else's, and he went a warm and slightly humid breeze ruffle against his clothing. He stopped suddenly and inhaled, smelling the mixed scents of bird dung, hay and special grasses, and the tangy salt carried over from the sea. Sora looked down. The Middle-earth travelling clothes were changing right back into those made by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather upon contact with the incoming breeze from Destiny Islands, even though they were still in the corridor.

He smiled widely and gave a quick yell. "There's the exit!" he exclaimed, looking wildly at Kairi. "Last one there buys the ice cream!"

He took off, leaving Kairi to shout his name in laughing annoyance and Gimli to loudly question just what ice cream was. Aiwemon left his shoulder and quickly caught up to him, while he felt Jiminy holding on for dear life to the back of his hood. But he could hear laughter coming from Jiminy's lips, so he knew that the cricket was thoroughly enjoying himself despite that.

Sunlight greeted Sora as he burst out from the exit portal from the corridor, and he could see people standing in front of him, them all standing in front of a building he knew and loved from his memories. The large three-storey yellow-white ranch house beckoned at memories of earlier and happier days.

He could feel the warm sunlight streaming down onto him, the air wafting around his bare legs, and the faint sound of a chocobo crying out its distinctive "Kweh!" from somewhere out of sight. Aiwemon landed on his right shoulder, and Sora turned around as Kairi gave a sigh of longing from behind him.

"Oh, this brings back memories," she said. "Apart from that one time before you got your automail I haven't ridden a chocobo in years."

"Neither have I," Sora said, noticing that she was back in her pink dress with its black hood and her white blouse underneath. Gimli, in his somewhat thicker coat and pants, along with his thick red beard, surprisingly did not seem to notice, nor mind the increased temperature.

"Where is everybody?" Menelmon asked, looking around from Kairi's shoulder. "I thought that they would have all been waiting here for us."

"They're probably waiting inside," Sora said, looking back towards the building in front of them. "Come on, let's go."

The six of them walked quickly down a stone path, bordered on one side by a long flowerbed filled with differing brightly coloured bulbs, and went right up to the wooden door that was painted white. Sora rapped his knuckles against the glass of the screen door, and almost instantly from the other side came the loud sound of a dog barking.

A huge grin formed on Sora's face. He'd nearly forgotten about Tracy, and Cody had still been a little puppy when he'd last seen the Golden Retriever. "Back!" his uncle's voice called from the other side of the door, likely pushing the dog that had most likely grown much more since then, away from it, "Silly dog." The wooden door on the other side opened up, and an excited smile came onto the face of Sora's uncle Sal from behind the glass. His voice boomed out a chuckle and sigh.

"Barely a month goes by, and you already look so much older," he said, heartily embracing Sora. His uncle pulled back and gave Kairi a quick hug as well. "Glad you both could make it; come in, come in. We're just about to set off."

Sal moved out of the way, and Sora suddenly found an energetic fifty pounds of happy golden hair and muscle on his chest, the dog's paws against his upper abdominals, and its tongue lapping against his cheek. Sora laughed loudly with a smile as big as his Keyblade across his face.

"Cody!" he said, rubbing his hands through the dog's fur. "You've gotten bigger boy! Have you been a good dog? You've been a good dog haven't you?" Cody barked and dropped back onto the ground, panting and smiling up at Sora, Kairi just squeezing through the door after him to stand next to the Keyblade Master in the light-green hallway. Cody went up to her and started to pant, looking up at her expectantly.

Sora couldn't help but hold in a laugh as Kairi's face melted under the cute, dopy expression that Cody was giving her and she bent down in her knees to pet him and run her hands through the fur on his neck. "Ooh, you're such a cute puppy aren't you?" she asked. "And you know it don't you precious?"

"Nice baby face Kairi," said a voice Sora hadn't heard enough of in a long time. He looked and saw Riku standing several feet in front of him, the taller boy's aquamarine eyes smiling more than his face was, slightly hidden underneath long silver bangs. They smiled and nodded at one another.

Kairi continued to run her hands through the fur on Cody's head and neck and look at him with a puckered lip. "Don't listen to him Cody," she said, "Riku's just jealous because he's nowhere near as cute as you are, you lovable little puppy you." Cody gave a bark and licked Kairi's lips and cheek, causing her to stop for a moment in surprise before she started to giggle and wipe the saliva from her face. She stood up.

Riku jerked his head to the door. "You guys might as well just wait outside," he said. "We're just about ready to go."

"No way Riku," Sora said adamantly, placing a hand on his stomach, "I need sustenance before I can do anything else."

"And the same goes for me," Aiwemon told him.

"And me," Menelmon said.

"And me," Kairi added.

"And especially _me_," said Gimli, as the dwarf pushed his way past Sora and Kairi to stand in the forefront of their little group. Riku looked at the dwarf in surprise, the top of Gimli's head only coming to Sora's mid-torso, and Sora was still under five and a half feet!

"Um…" said Riku.

"Hey Riku, what's keeping you?" an energetic voice asked. Yuffie popped into the hallway and as soon as she saw Sora she frowned. "Oh, the jerk's here."

"Come on Yuffie, I didn't even _do_ anything!" Sora moaned.

She rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll forgive you if you buy me ice cream later."

"I'm not buying _anybody_ ice cream unless I get some food in me," Sora said, working his hunger and his impatience at it not being resolved, into his voice.

"Hey is that Sora?" another voice asked from somewhere out of sight. "Then let's go dad; we're all here."

"Welp, we'd better get goin' then!"

Sora froze on the spot and stared past Riku and Yuffie, the girl now looking at Gimli as well with interest. It'd be impossible to mistake that voice for anyone else's. He looked at Kairi and Gimli and said quickly, "Let's wait outside for a few seconds."

"Yeah, the hallway's too small anyway," Kairi agreed, their hunger completely forgotten for the moment.

"What is it? Whose voice is that?" Gimli asked, looking up at them as Sora gently pushed him back out the door with a steady hand on his back.

He didn't have to wait long, within a minute everyone who had been inside the farmhouse came out the front door. The first one out was King Mickey, and Gimli, who'd asked of Sora's and Kairi's adventures after lunch the previous day, was instantly able to recognize who he was from their descriptions of him, even if he was surprised that the mouse king was real.

Gimli swept low into a bow in front of the monarch, even though he was barely taller than Mickey himself. "Gimli, at your service," he said, introducing himself.

"King Mickey Mouse, at yours," said Mickey, speaking and bowing back after a moment's hesitation.

Sora looked around. It seemed as if the gang was all together. He and Riku and Kairi were there, as were Roxas and Naminé and Yuffie. King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were present too, and Max was with them, wearing a new pair of shades on his forehead rather than on his eyes. Sora's aunt, uncle, and cousins were there of course, since everyone got the day off of school and it was their ranch. Axel and Mulan were there with Mushu and Cri-Kee, and so were Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix, but what really surprised him was that Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, Anar, Isil, Kia, and Jeffery had also arrived at the ranch, each of them wearing a buttoned-up light green dress shirt with a black tie along with dark green pants and a black belt with a brass buckle. Sora could see that berets were tucked underneath their belts. And with them too were Yuna, Rikku, and Paine, in the flesh and full-sized like they'd become thanks to Bahamut.

But there was one other person who Sora had no idea who he was standing in with the crowd of familiar characters to him. He was richly dressed in white linens and brown cottons, and his concrete hair was parted into curtains on either side of his face. Twin amethyst eyes looked out towards them, and when they landed on Kairi, they instantly became filled with purpose. With a quick jerk of a hand, a long sword was drawn from a scabbard on his left hip, and he began to walk towards Kairi.

At the sound and sight of the sword, Remembrance was instantly in Sora's hands and he stood protectively in front of Kairi, the silver rapier-like Keyblade pointed forward in a warning gesture. He wasn't the only one to have acted; Menelmon had dropped from Kairi's shoulder onto the ground in front of her, the little bird digimon's wings spread out and her face looking as menacing as possible, despite the vast size difference between her and him. The man stopped, and smiled at them.

"Sharp, as you should be," he said. "But you can put your Keyblade away young Master and stand down; there is no need for you to defend our Princess today."

His voice was sincere, and Sora steadied a little, but he still stayed by Kairi's side with Remembrance held readily in his right hand as the man came to stand in front of Kairi, his height making her take a double-take, since she was still just a young girl. He dropped down onto one reverent knee, and held his blade horizontally on open palms towards Kairi.

"I am Lord Ovan Ramius," he said kindly and simply, "the Marquess of Ramius of the Marchlands of Ramius, and a Knight of Radiant Garden. In the sight of Your Royal Highness Princess Kairi, I do hereby and forthwith swear the affirmation of my fealty to the Kingdom of Radiant Garden and to Her Royal Highnesses Princess Kairi and Princess Naminé, of the House of Talerith, the Ruling House of the Kingdom of Radiant Garden. Do you accept my pledge of fealty and loyalty?"

Sora looked between Kairi and the man in complete surprise. He'd never expected something like this to have occurred within minutes of arriving. Kairi appeared to be under the same shock, except this man was swearing fealty to _her_. She gaped and stuttered for a second while the naked sword glimmered in the sunlight from above before she looked at Naminé, and saw the blonde nodding. She swallowed, and her voice was stronger and confident when she said, "I accept your pledge. Rise, Lord Ramius."

Sora dismissed his Keyblade as the man replaced his sword and stood. He was looking down at Kairi fondly. "You've grown into such a beautiful young woman Kairi," he said, "you look so much like your mother."

Kairi's eyes widened. "My mom?" she asked. "Like, my _real_ mom, the Queen?"

"Yes," he said, nodding.

"Naminé," Sora asked, "just who is this guy?"

"He's Lord Ramius," she answered. "He's the last surviving noble from Radiant Garden's peerage from before Maleficent and the Heartless came to the Garden and turned it into Hollow Bastion. He was the King's best friend, and he's also Kairi's and my godfather."

Kairi's head whipped back towards Lord Ramius, who was now looking at her uneasily. "Godfather?" she asked.

"If you want," he said quickly. "I mean, you and Naminé would be well looked after at the castle with the servants after this war is over. And you likely are pretty independent, so if you choose to live on your own it wouldn't be—just, if you'd like, I was looking into buying some land here and building a nice house. I'd bring my family of course, but if you'd like, you could live—"

"Oh stop rambling," Kairi said, stopping the Marquess cold by giving him a hug. "I can't say yes right away, since I don't know too much about you, but if you were my dad's best friend and you are offering a place to call home after the war is over, then you don't need to say anymore than that."

She pulled out of the hug, smiling at him. Sal checked his watch.

"Daylight's burning!" he declared. "So we'd better saddle up if we're gonna get these poor folks something to eat."

"Eat?" asked Obelix. "Eat what? Boar I hope."

"Sorry Obelix, they don't have boar here," Asterix said. "You'll have to make do with whatever they do have."

"Oh, all right Asterix," the well-covered Gaulish warrior sighed. Dogmatix yipped happily at his heels.

Sora rolled his eyes and looked to his right as he started to walk towards the corral. Kairi was on his left, but next to him stood Tidus. "So, how's military life?" he asked the golden-haired boy.

"Mostly it's okay," Tidus answered him, the smile he had slipping a little bit. "There's a lot of crap and regulations to put up with but they're mostly sensible stuff, and it is kinda strict like the military is supposed to be. The only pain in my ass has been my CO."

"CO?" Sora asked, frowning in confusion.

"Commanding Officer," Tidus said, snorting derisively. "Our Commanding Officer, _Captain_ Herbert Sobel. He's a fucking jackass."

Sora's eyebrows flew up on his head and he clapped his hands over Aiwemon's 'ears'. "Is he really bad enough that you have to swear Tidus?"

"Huh?" Tidus said. "Oh, sorry about that. I didn't realise that I had dropped that bomb. It's almost second nature for me to swear these days with all the shit I've had to put up with."

"Like what?" Sora asked.

Tidus smiled and chuckled slightly. "All-righty, story-time. We were out marching Friday night…"

-A-D-

_It was cold, dark, and snowing lightly in Radiant Garden, the first snow of the year. Tidus and the members of E Company in the 1__st__ United Infantry Regiment were spending it marching in full pack and armour. Lieutenant Kol, their DCO, was leading the whole company in the march, with the other officers and Sobel still back at the base._

_It was dull, boring, and tiring. The weight of the armour on their shoulders began to dig into them after six kilometres, and the constant movement underneath it warmed them despite the metal that chilled against the air._

_Tidus began to mumble to Anar who was next to him. "I want to say something," he said._

"_To who?" asked Anar._

_Tidus didn't answer him, but instead called out through the darkness. "_Lef_tenant Kol!"_

"_What is it Private Tidus?" the officer asked._

"_Permission to speak sir?"_

"_Go ahead."_

"_We have twelve Companies sir?" Tidus asked._

"_We do," Kol answered._

"_Well how come Easy Company is the only one marching every Friday night, full pack, in the pitch dark and blowing snow?" Tidus asked. "We were even doing it in George Company in Twilight Town."_

_Kol almost glanced back at him. "Why do you think Tidus?"_

_Tidus was able to tell that Kol's deferring question was sincere, that he wasn't being snubbed, and so he sighed slightly to himself and answered just as truthfully. "Because Captain Sobel hates us sir."_

_Kol was silent for a second. "Captain Sobel does not hate Easy Company Private Tidus," he said, ruffling his feathers with a shake of his owl head, "he just hates you."_

_Chuckles began to break out amongst the men and women and Tidus smiled. "Thank you sir!" he said, looking up at Anar._

"_I hate you too buddy," Anar said, patting him on the shoulder._

"_And I hate you Winchell," Kia said._

"_And I hate you too," retorted Pvt. April Winchell._

"_That's enough chatter Easy," Kol said good-naturedly, his head twisting all the way around to look at them. "And by the way, I hate all of you too." Tidus smiled cheekily and pulled out his canteen, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig of the cool water inside. He was getting thirsty, and his body was starting to get towards being uncomfortably warm, and there were still fourteen kilometres to go._

-A-D-

"So what does that have to do with him being horrible?" Sora asked.

"Just wait," Tidus told him, "I'm getting to it. So after the march…"

-A-D-

_The company was formed up on the road in front of their two barrack blocks. They were sweaty, tired, both warm and cold, and every last one of them wanted to strip down and hit the showers. Kol was standing in front of them with Captain Sobel. "Kol I want canteens out with the caps unscrewed," Sobel said._

"_Easy Company, canteens out and open," ordered Kol. The whole company moved quickly to comply with the order while Sobel continued to talk._

"_On my mark each soldier will empty their canteen," Cpt. Sobel told Kol._

"_On the CO's order you will upend your canteen," Kol relayed._

"_Now Lieutenant."_

"_Pour 'em!"_

_Tidus turned his canteen over along with everyone else in the company. The water still inside the multitude of plastic containers streamed out, splashing against the stone road and against their boots and guarded shins. Tidus winced as the water stopped flowing from his own canteen while it continued to pour from the ones of nearly everyone else._

_Sobel had been pacing up and down the different platoons, watching the water flow freely from canteens. Tidus' heart froze as Sobel spotted his empty canteen and stormed straight through the front two ranks to come straight up to him. "Who is this!" he asked, coming right up to Tidus and looking right at him, searching for his name that was painted onto the left breast of his armour. "Tidus! Why is your canteen empty? You drank from it didn't you!"_

"_Sir I—" Tidus tried to explain._

"_Lieutenant Kol!" Cpt. Sobel belted out._

"_Sir!"_

"_Was this man ordered _not_ to drink from his canteen during the Friday Night March?"_

"_He was sir," Kol answered._

"_Private Tidus, you have disobeyed a direct order. You will refill your canteen and repeat all twenty kilometres of the Friday Night March. Do I make myself clear?"_

"_Sir I—"_

"_Do I make myself clear Private?"_

_Tidus gulped and swallowed his pride and the anger boiling in his chest, consciously aware of every physical sensation in his body. His face and fingers were cold, his shoulders were sore from the straps that were attached the breastplate and back armour and held them up, and his feet were beginning to become sore, but he held all his resentment to Sobel back as he said, "Yes sir."_

"_Fall out!"_

_He broke formation and marched right away from the company to refill his canteen and begin the march anew, determined that before he began he would take a long draught from it and refill it once more before starting out, so he wouldn't be tempted to drink and be forced to repeat the march again. He already knew that when he'd returned he'd be ordered to dig a 6-foot by 6-foot hole with his entrenching tool and fill it back up again. Every step he took burned with his loathing of his Commanding Officer._

_Soon after he had started along the track up to the city, the drumming of feet entered his ears, and he saw figures approaching him quickly out of the darkness. He knew who each of them were by their silhouettes, and was glad and confused when he saw Elle Marshall (another former member of George Company) and Melody (an anthropomorphic cat from Disney Castle) coming towards him with Anar, Kia, Asta Marble, Jane Melbourne, April Winchell, and another two members of their platoon._

"_What are you all doing here?" Tidus asked when they arrived at his location, looking at the nine heads arrayed in two files that had come to him. "You don't have to do this. It's my fault I drank."_

"_Of course we have to do this Tidus," Pvt. Asta Marble said. "We're all in this together."_

"_We're in the United Forces aren't we?" Anar asked. "That means that we're all united. We all stand together. Stand firm."_

"_Remember Consto," Marshall told him. "That shithead didn't beat us down then and he's not going to beat us now."_

_Tidus smiled and nodded, and they fell in with him, forming three files of four ranks, with the fourth rank only being occupied by Pvt. Charles from Disney Castle. Tidus glanced around at them, Islanders, Twilight Towners, Gardeners, and Disneyans alike, and down at the Great Maw that was barely visible between the cliffs on his right as the snow kept falling on him in the pitch dark._

"_I just thought of a battle cry for us," he said aloud, their pace quickening slightly even though their tired limbs wanted otherwise._

"_What?" Kia asked._

"_Consto! The Maw! United we stand! Divided we fall!" Tidus bellowed._

_There was silence for a second before Anar's voice rose above the reverberations amongst the cliff walls. "Consto!"_

"_The Maw!" Marble and Tidus both answered._

"_United we stand!" came Anar's reply, now with about half of their group._

"_Divided we fall!" returned the rest of them. Their shout was loud and strong, and it echoed out of the cliffs and down into the Great Maw, into the ears and hearts of those who were still awake._

-A-D-

Sora's eyes were wide as saucers as Tidus finished his story, though he hadn't told Sora the part about the others coming up. "That lowlife slimeball!" he said heatedly. "I can't believe him, first for having you guys march twenty k, but then to have you do it again all because you took a drink of water!"

"That guy's so mean; he's bad news!" Aiwemon said, equally ruffled.

"Total jerk," Kairi said, having listened in from Sora's other side. "You shouldn't listen to him Tidus."

"But I _have_ to!" he argued. "He's my CO, so as much as I hate his guts, I have to do what he says unless the orders come from someone higher up than him. But to order us not to drink water when thirst is the third most dangerous enemy of survival, and nearly everybody else and with everything else we do they're all yelling at us to drink water, it's madness!"

"That's because Sobel's a dick," Selphie said, rolling her eyes. "I pity you Tidus, you're still stuck with the asshole." She looked sharply at Kairi. "Before you even start on me Kairi you can get off my back. He really is a total dick and he deserves every insult he gets for having given us all enough crap to make swearing a habit."

"Sora!" Gimli shouted suddenly. "Are those creatures these chocobos you've spoken of?"

Sora looked up at the dwarf's words and smiled when he saw the tall yellow birds that were being led out of the stables by his relatives (who'd run ahead). "Yeppers!" Sora answered, his legs moving faster as he began to race towards the birds. He slowed when he got to one and took the reigns from his uncle, his hand running softly against the bird's brightly feathered head. The chocobo snorted and ruffled its head before a loud 'Kweh!' escaped its orange beak.

"How you doing Brightfeather," he asked the chocobo softly, "how you doing girl?" She gave another excited 'Kweh!' and Sora's smile widened. He turned to look at Gimli. "Come here Master Dwarf," he said cheekily. "Today, you'll ride with me."

Gimli came forward but shook his head, looking up at the chocobo's head, proudly suspended above its body by its long neck. "Bah!" he said. "You'd be lucky to fit just me on there, let alone yourself. And no respectable dwarf would ride a stinkin' bird!"

Brightfeather hissed at Gimli, making the dwarf back away a pace. "Now you've done it," Sora said. "You've made her angry. Brightfeather's very sensitive and temperamental. And if you don't ride you won't be making it to the festival."

"I never thought I'd be asking the forgiveness of an oversized canary," Gimli muttered after a moment's thought. He bowed in front of the chocobo. "Forgive my affront, Brightfeather. Your feathers are bright as the golden Sun, and your eyes as brilliant as precious diamonds."

The chocobo seemed to scrutinize him for a moment, eyeing him and his artful tongue carefully, before she tossed her head to the side. "And that means that she forgives you," Sora said, smiling at Gimli. He popped an apple out of his pocket. "Go on, give it to her."

"No need to push me around boy," Gimli said gruffly, taking the apple from Sora. He held it out towards Brightfeather, reaching up as high as he was able to, just nudging the base of the chocobo's beak. The apple disappeared a second later into it with Brightfeather's beak clapping as it opened and closed, crunching and crushing the apple as tiny pieces of flesh and juice flew out. She swallowed and belted out one more loud 'Kweh!' before looking down at the dwarf.

Sora chuckled. If chocobos could smile, she would be; Gimli's praise of her must have made it down into her heart. Brightfeather bent down on her long legs and sat on the ground, waiting for them to mount her.

"You first Gimli," Sora said, stepping aside for him. Gimli grunted and got onto the padded leather saddle, taking up a good deal of it, and looked expectantly at the Keyblade Master.

"No soul in Rivendell finds out about this," the dwarf warned, "and especially no _elf_!" Sora swung his right leg over to mount Brightfeather from the bird's left side ahead of Gimli.

"Not a word," he assured him, tightening the saddle-straps and getting his feet into the stirrups. He kicked Brightfeather's flanks and she sprang back up again. Sora tightened his grip on the reigns and turned the bird around, looking at his companions as Gimli clutched at his back and Aiwemon swayed on his shoulder. Nearly everyone else had mounted the great birds or was in the process of doing so, with the only exception being Obelix, as the Gaulish warrior was just too big and heavy for a chocobo to carry his weight on its back.

"Could I have just the teeniest drop of magic potion Asterix?" he asked, standing next to the bird his friend had mounted. "I don't feel as if I could run fast enough to keep up with you right now."

"That's rubbish Obelix and you know it," Asterix told him. "After all, you—"

"—fell into a cauldron of magic potion when I was a baby and it had a permanent effect on me," Obelix finished in a grumble, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicking a stone away, the projectile shooting into the distance faster than an arrow.

"Ready partners?" Uncle Sal asked. They all replied in some form of affirmative answer, which took many seconds given their numbers. They probably could have composed an entire Troop's worth of riders in one of the Cavalry Squadrons. "Then let's go," Uncle Sal declared, kicking the sides of his chocobo. "Hiya!"

-A-D-

The journey from the ranch to the town of Dunash on the island of the same name went by relatively quickly. The twenty-nine mounted persons and running Obelix (with little Dogmatix sitting in his great big hand) travelled down the dirt road at a brisk pace, passing by other farms and ranches until they reached a sight that they received with mixed emotions. There seemed to be a shanty tent-city built around the outskirts of the town, and while they could see very few people inside of it, they knew that it had to be where the people who had fled Felra to the other islands after Cossex had attacked the city. Many of the people had been saved, but their way of life had been lost for the moment.

They rode past and soon after they came to the town proper, where music blared and banners streamed and vendors sold wares and historians told tales, and crowds milled about throughout the cobblestone streets of the town all throughout the square in the centre and beyond through the streets all the way to the square in front of Dunash's Blitzball Stadium, the Aqua Bowl.

"Hey Uncle Sal," Sora began to ask, "where are we going?"

"What do you mean Sora?" the man asked.

"I've never ridden into town before," Sora told him. "So where are we going to stable the chocobos?"

"Follow me everyone," Sade said quickly, apparently eager to impress his slightly older cousin. "I'll lead the way."

Sade took the lead on his chocobo Beaky, and took them down a less crowded street towards the north of the town nearer to the Aqua Bowl. There stood a single building that took up a whole block of the town, housing facilities for the stabling of many scores of the riding and working birds. It was well that it was so large, because the hands there had not seen a riding group of almost thirty for a very long time.

"Ah, help please!" Rikku said in a panic while in the stables. "I can't get off!"

"Rikku," Paine said quickly, standing beside the chocobo with Yuna, "take my hand."

"We'll get you down!" Yuna told her confidently. Rikku grasped hands with Paine and Yuna and swung her right leg over.

"Whoa!" she yelped as her body became unstable, and her flying foot nearly connected with her mount's neck. Her chocobo snorted as Rikku fell off of the bird, her left foot still getting tangled in the stirrup. She finally got her foot free, and fell backwards into Yuna as she did. Yuna backed up and tripped on Kairi, who was walking by from behind, and the mocha-haired girl's arm flew out and grasped Paine's upper arm. She wasn't ready for it, and her hand flew out to grab the nearest solid thing that was stable, which happened to be Yuffie. Yuffie in turn grabbed a hold of Kairi, who had just caught hold of her, but with Rikku falling onto Yuna; and Yuna falling onto Kairi and dragging Paine down with her; and both Kairi and Paine grasping a hold of Yuffie there was only so much any of them could do before the laws of gravity were inevitably enforced and the five of them all fell into a heap on the dirt ground.

"Are you okay Kairi?" Menelmon asked, standing in front of the girl's head as she lay at the bottom of the pile.

She answered with a thumbs-up and dizzied eyes that were swirling around, trying to catch sight of the stars circling above her head. "Perfectly peachy," she answered blearily. "I bet pancakes feel this way all the time."

"Oh," Yuffie groaned, "could someone tell me what just happened?"

"Monkey's got my money," Yuna said dizzily, sprawled over everyone but Rikku.

Rikku looked back at them from her position at the peak of the pyramid, a nervous smile on her face. "Uh, thanks for catching me guys."

"You're welcome Rikku," Paine grunted, extracting herself from being underneath Yuffie and partially under Yuna.

"Good thing that didn't happen to us," Kia said, glancing at Selphie as they looked at the human pile. "Our uniforms would be toast."

"You're right about that," Selphie answered, nodding. "But our boots are already ruined. Fuck, it's going to take me an hour to get these back to the way they were."

"Make it two," Kia said, looking down at them. "There's no telling how horribly scuffed they're going to get by the day's end."

"What are you guys even doing here anyway?" Riku asked, coming up to them. "Aren't you supposed to be in training?"

"Technically we are," Selphie said, "we're just on leave right now."

"And it's all thanks to you and Yuffie," Kia told him, smiling.

"Uhg, really?" Yuffie asked, shaking her head as she stood up. "What'd we do?"

"Well, even though what you told Sobel only made his jealousy and loathing towards you guys soar by leaps and bounds, Winters went up the chain of command through Lieutenant Kol, who went to Major Bradley from Battalion, who went to Lieutenant Colonel Repsy from Regiment, who went to Colonel Momes from the Division, who talked it over with the CO of the 2nd Infantry, and they decided that it would be a perfect idea to have a week-long FTX on Destiny Islands this week as part of our training." _(A/N 1)_

"So that's why we're here," Tidus finished for her, having heard her beginning to explain. "Even though it doesn't make a lick of sense, 'cause the people who joined up in Radiant Garden are barely able to do basic drill movements in time and they're having a lot of trouble getting used to having a weapon in their hands and all of the PT we're having to do."

"FTX?" Kairi asked wearily, having finally been able to extract herself from Yuna and Rikku, the latter of which was apologizing vehemently to any of the four people she'd landed on who'd listen to her. "PT?"

"Field Training Exercise," Selphie clarified, "and Physical Training." She stopped and looked at Kairi seriously. "You look different Kairi."

"You do too Selphie," Kairi said, still holding her head with one hand and another going to her stomach. "Can we get something to eat now?"

"Let's head outside before we talk about that," Paine said, moving in that direction.

The whole group of them assembled out in the street outside of the stables, after paying the nominal fee for stabling twenty-nine separate chocobos.

"So what are we gonna do first yah?" Wakka asked excitedly.

"Eat," Sora told him. "I'm starving."

"Me toooooo!" Aiwemon whined.

"And me," Kairi added.

"And me," Menelmon said, raising a wing.

"And me," Gimli harrumphed.

"And I could do with a little something too," Obelix said, rubbing his mighty hands together and shaking his head slightly. His braided red pigtails swayed back and forth and Dogmatix barked enthusiastically. "Nothing big, just a small pick-me-up should do."

"I want to hear the Blitzball legend," Naminé said eagerly. "I haven't heard it in person before. And that reminds me of something: Roxas you still haven't let me read Issue #59! #58 left me on such a huge cliff-hanger!"

"How does the Blitz story remind you of a comic book?" Roxas asked incredulously, laughing at the look on Naminé's face.

"And then there's the Blitz game that starts at one-thirty," Sade said excitedly. "Oh I can't wait! The Dolphins are going down this time. Wranglers all the way!"

"Aren't the Furies playing?" Sora moaned. "I wanted to watch them murder the Stormbringers!"

"What?" Sade asked. "The Furies? Stop cheering for those losers Sora, Wranglers for the win!"

"I'm from Felra you meat cake!" Sora retorted. "So you can stop dissing my team or I'll wrangle _you_ into a headlock!"

"And he won't be the only one," Riku said, him, Tidus, and Wakka pounding their fists into their palms and cracking their knuckles ominously.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered under her breath.

"And you can count me in on that too," Kairi said, leering malevolently darkly at Sade.

A bead of sweat appeared on Yuffie's forehead. "And apparently girls too… what is it with these guys and Blitzball?"

"Kairi," Sikora began hesitantly, "what were you thinking about having for lunch?"

The dark and scary look vanished from Kairi's face. "It'd be brunch to me," the red-haired princess answered. "Something, _anything_ familiar."

"Then follow me," Sikora said brightly. "I know the best place in town. Mom and I go there often."

"Hey Sora, want to know where the best ramen is?" Sade asked.

"Lead the way you horrible person!" Sora told him, slapping the slightly younger boy on the back.

"Okay, Victoria and I will grab the tickets, and we all meet up again at one in front of the stadium for the game, agreed?" Sal asked loudly before anyone could leave.

"Sounds good!" Tidus said. "Let's go have some fun!"

-A-D-

_A/N 1: These last two names are anagrams. Cookies and cake go to whoever figures out what they're anagrams of!_

_Hope you enjoyed Part I!_

_Oh, and my sincerest apologies to the greater Rider Nation for their loss-(breaks out in guffaws of laughter) Seriously! That was the most hilarious thirty seconds of my life! You guys lost the Grey Cup by **one** because you had too many men on the field! Can you count!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	24. Blitz Fest Part II: Tales and Chaos

_Sora: Hey, we get to meet up with two of my friends again in this one._

_Shire: Yep. Two of your friends from school come on back in this chapter. They were both introduced in the re-written version of __**The Beginning**__'s chapter IV, __**Back to School**__._

_Gimli: You'd better never put me on a stinkin' bird again you no-good hobbit._

_Shire: Your fault Gimli, you followed them._

_Naminé: (grinning) So how's winter in Canada Shire?_

_Shire: If you're referring to the twenty-plus centimetres of snow that got dumped on us in the Edmonton area on Friday and Saturday then f-you Naminé. I've shovelled four times since it started falling, and the fourth time was out on the road trying to clear away the wall of snow that's blocked our little bay off from the main road in the residential area I live in._

_(Roxas chuckles)_

_Shire: Oh don't laugh at me man. You're gonna be training in a climate that's similar to, if not exactly, mine: a nice temperate zone where I can unload snow and ice upon you by the shovel-load. So be wary for payback._

_Kairi: Good thing we didn't tease him Sora. Anyway, Shire Folk do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Gimli son of Glóin._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXIV: Blitz Fest Part II: Tales and Chaos

_1100hrs, Monday October 27__th__, 2003  
__Dunash, Destiny Islands  
__Sora_

He left the stables with Sade, Roxas, Riku, Axel, Tidus, Donald, Goofy, Jeffery, and Gimli, and of course Aiwemon, at his side. Every last one of them was hungry to some degree with some more than others and others less than others. At his cousin's mention of ramen, Sora's stomach became far more peckish than it already was and it began to demand in tandem with Roxas' and Aiwemon's that it be filled with noodles.

"Where's this ramen stand?" Sora asked eagerly, smacking his lips and looking down two inches at his fifteen-year-old cousin.

"What _is_ ramen?" Gimli asked.

"Noodles," Roxas answered, his tongue rolling over his lips. "Noodles cooked to deliciousness, covered in light sauces and mixed with meats and vegetables in a soupy broth."

"Noodles!" Gimli spat as he stumped along with them. "That's not food. Meat and bread and cheese is food."

"Then we'll buy you a hotdog while the rest of us enjoy our ramen," Axel said.

"Or would you like some fish Master Dwarf?" Sora asked humourously. "Or better yet, since you decided to follow me and Kairi here, we can just force you to have the ramen. This isn't your world Gimli; you have to follow our rules."

"Wasn't riding your damned bird enough?" the dwarf snorted.

"You're lucky that Brightfeather isn't around to have heard you say that," Tidus said. "She's a nasty piece of work when angry."

"That's because you know firsthand," Riku chuckled.

"What happened?" Jeffery asked.

"Back at Sora's eighth birthday party Tidus insulted her by accident, and she nearly took one of his fingers as compensation," Riku explained.

"Which makes me wonder why she was only satisfied with hissing at Gimli when he insulted her earlier," Sora pondered, placing a hand to his chin.

"I think seeing a Dwarf toting a big double-bladed battleaxe on his back would be enough to put a chocobo on their guard, don't you think?" Jeffery said.

"Well _my_ chocobo wasn't that bad," Donald said. "He handled pretty easily."

"He was actually a she Donald," Sade said. "Concorde's a female."

Goofy laughed. "Ahyuk, I guess Donald'd never make a breeder then."

"Ah be quiet ya big palooka," Donald grumbled, folding his wings in front of his body.

"How have you been doing anyway?" Sora asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I know that it's been a while since we've seen each other, and I haven't gone adventuring with you guys for what seems like _ages_."

"Ah don't worry about it Sora," Goofy said brightly, waving it off. "We've been alright. You an' Kairi are the ones that seem to keep gettin' yerselves into tight spots all the time."

"And you and Naminé aren't any better!" Donald said, yapping at Roxas.

"Hey, it's not _our_ fault!" Sora and Roxas retorted simultaneously.

"The King and Queen Minnie have been getting worried about you," Donald said. "First it was Roxas and Naminé after fighting Nixion, then it was you and Kairi after Hades and Maleficent, then it was Kairi after Maleficent, then we lost Tom to the Heartless, then Naminé broke her—"

"Wait, what happened to Tom?" Sora interjected, stopping in his tracks with fear in his voice and eyes.

"He's gone Sora," Roxas said sombrely. "He lost his heart on Amestris, protecting Naminé from a Neoshadow."

Sora's shoulders sagged and he sighed. "Keep going Donald."

"Naminé broke her shoulder, and then both you and Kairi fell into darkness," the duck finished. "It's no wonder that we're all starting to worry about you guys. You keep getting hurt!"

"Oh, and I got shot," Riku added, like it was an afterthought. "I'm fine now though."

"So now you know where I'm coming from when I say that I don't like getting shot at," Sora said, the slight sign of mirth appearing on his face.

"At least now I know why King Mickey and Master Yen Sid are putting us on such a big training program," Roxas said. "We really could use the help."

"You're getting help now though," Jeffery said proudly. "We're not about to let you guys handle everything alone."

"Yeah, so long as your commanders aren't all idiots," Axel said. "I really oughta give that SOB Sobel a piece of my mind."

"Trust me Axel, if he's still our CO when we're in combat and the Heartless and Nobodies don't kill him, one of us will," Tidus assured him.

"You might want to be a little quieter when saying stuff like that Tidus," Jeffery said. "It could be called insubordination or mutinous."

"How old do you have to be to join?" Sade asked unexpectedly.

"Technically you have to be seventeen," Tidus said. "But a few of us have lied. But you definitely are not getting in."

"I don't care if you really are almost sixteen, you still look too young," Axel said. "There's _no_ way in hell that you'd pass for legal age, got it memorized?"

"Dang," Sade muttered under his breath. "Well, there it is."

Sora looked up. Across the crowded street in front of him was a restaurant with the name 'Zorba's Noodle Shack' on a sign above it. It looked far from being a shack though, and much more like an establishment for casual dining.

"That's the building we're going into?" Gimli asked, looking both at it and at the surrounding buildings of the town. "This world truly is a different place from my home."

"This world is our home," Sora said, affection and fondness at the word and its association coming into his voice. "And we'll fight to defend it with everything we have."

"That's true," Riku said, nodding. "The Guardians Yuffie and I fought beside when the Heartless came are the bravest people I've ever seen."

They went into the restaurant and waited for several minutes in the lobby for a table. Sora watched with amusement as Gimli stared up at the light fixtures with their bulbs in them, completely baffled by how they produced light or even what they were. Eventually the hostess came over to them and had them follow her to a larger booth. The risers they sat on were high and the table was low, its height being just above their legs at about waist level. The group shimmied around the square table with Riku, Goofy, and Axel against the back wall; Gimli, Sade, and Donald, on the right; Tidus, and Jeffery on the front with their backs to the rest of the restaurant; and Roxas and Sora on the left with Aiwemon on Sora's left shoulder. There was an employee with pink hair on a ladder to the left of their booth, putting up something or other.

"This is a nice place," Sora said, placing his arms down on the table and looking around. They were pretty much the only group in at the moment.

"This is your table hon," the hostess said after giving them their menus, stopping by the girl on the ladder.

"Alright," her voice replied, sounding highly familiar to Sora. "I'll just finish putting this last one up and then—oops!"

Something black plopped down onto the table and the six people sitting at the table immediately turned their eyes towards it. Sora's expanded rapidly in fright and a sound between a squeak, a gasp, and a horrified howl escaped his lips, sounding very much like a quiet "WHAHHMAHIDER!"

"Sora, what's wrong?" Goofy asked, watching in confusion as Sora backed up as far against the wall as possible, his gloved hands and sleeved arms coming up near his mouth in surprised shock and terror, staring at the object that had fallen onto their table.

"Sorry about that," the hostess said sincerely, grabbing the rubber object from the table and handing it back to the employee who was on the ladder. "She'll be with you in just a few seconds."

Sora tried to shake the image out of his head and took a few deep breaths. Riku chuckled from his left. "You're still freaked out by spiders Sora?"

"You're frightened by spiders?" Gimli asked, sounding as if he didn't believe a word of it.

"You sure weren't that scared of Halloween Town," Goofy added, appearing to share a little of the dwarf's scepticism.

"I didn't actually see that many spiders in Halloween Town," Sora told him, shuddering still. "And even if I did, they blended in so well with the scenery that I probably didn't notice them. And it's all your fault you idiots!" Sora said louder, directing his attention towards Riku next to him and Tidus across the table towards his right.

"Hey it was funny!" Tidus snorted, trying to hold back a laugh.

"Hello, how's everybody doing today?"

Sora looked up at the voice and saw a girl about his age with vibrant short pink hair drawn into a tight ponytail and dark red eyes standing in front of them. She was dressed all in black in a nice shirt and pants, but Sora didn't need to look at the nametag to know who she was.

"Saji?" he asked before anyone could answer her, surprised. She looked at him directly for under a second before her dark red eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Sora!" she returned, stunned. "Wha—what are you doing here?"

Sora vaguely gestured at the table before looking back to his former classmate. "I—I'm here to eat stuff. What are you doing here?"

"I'm working here," Saji replied. "After Felra… wait a minute where did you and Kairi go off to! One day you're in class and then right after that party, poof! You're gone and we've all been worried sick about the two of—"

"Aren't you going to ask if we want anything to drink or start with?" Riku asked, pointedly cutting in.

She nearly jumped in shock. "Right, sorry. Can I get you any beverages?"

Sora looked back down at his menu for a second. "Yeah, can I get a coke please?" He glanced at Aiwemon. "Actually, make it two please."

"Alright," Saji said, jotting it down before looking at the person sitting to his right, which was Roxas. She paused. "You look kinda familiar."

"I was the ghost," Roxas told her, referencing what their English class had called him and Naminé for the one full day of school they'd had.

"Oh yeah, now I remember. You're solid now?"

"Yeah, and I'll take a coke too," Roxas said.

"Coke for me too please," Riku said as Saji looked at him. She looked at Goofy, who was sitting next to him, and her face showed that she was more than surprised to see a giant dog and duck sitting with them.

"Uh, I think I'll get a Sprite," he said, frowning as if he was unsure of his choice of drink. She wrote it down with a funny sort of smile on her face, as if she couldn't believe that she was taking the order of a talking man-dog.

"I'll have a Mountain Dew," Axel said as Saji's dark red eyes sought him out.

"Oh you sexually impotent fool," Tidus said, shaking his head at Axel from across the table. Axel tapped the side of his head with a finger.

"You gotta do the Dew dude, got it memorized?" he said.

"Mountain Dew," Saji mumbled, scribbling it down. She looked at Gimli and paused, "Uh…"

"He'll take a beer," Sora said, as Gimli appeared to be completely baffled and amazed at the menu in front of him. Without a doubt the shock of seeing something like a picture, enhanced to provide the best image of the food possible, and for so many different kinds of noodles and soups and beverages was leaving him speechless. And then there was the small notion of being addressed by a girl whose hair was a colour he'd only seen before on flowers. "And I'm not exactly sure what he means by a malt beer, but he'll take the best one of those you've got."

"A pint," Gimli muttered, his eyes widened by the culture shock he was experiencing. "And make it a strong one," he added.

"Dew for me as well please," Sade said.

"Good choice little man," Axel said, holding his hand out for a high-five, which Sade took.

"I'll get a Sprite too please," Donald said, looking up at her. Saji nodded her head slowly and looked at a face that was turned towards her and was at least familiar.

"I'll go with a coca-cola," Jeffery said, smiling at her. "Good to see you again Saji."

She smiled back. "You too Jeff. And what can I get you to drink Tidus?"

"Pepsi."

"You loser!" Sora shot at him.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your drinks," Saji said before walking away.

"I'm not going to start liking Coke more than Pepsi just because all the guys who are holding onto Keyblades like it more," Tidus said, glaring at Sora. "You can't influence my choice of soft drink!"

"No, but I think we can influence about fifty thousand girls instead," Riku said smugly.

"So how come you're scared of spiders Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Did something bad happen?" Donald asked.

Sora sighed and looked at both of them. "Do you really want to hear the story of why Kairi and I are terrified of them?"

"They may not, but I certainly do," Gimli said. "I know that you are just a boy, but from the skill you displayed at the Council I wonder why such a strong warrior as you is cowed by a mere bug."

"You mean to say you aren't scared of spiders?" Axel asked.

"Only the giant ones in Mirkwood," Gimli said quickly.

"I want to know too," Aiwemon said, looking at Sora from on his shoulder.

Saji returned with a tray full of drinks and began to place them down on the table when Sora opened his mouth again. "I'm not telling. It's too embarrassing."

Riku snorted. "If you're not going to say it, then _I'm_ going to tell them. Here's what happened…"

-A-D-

_Ten years ago plus two days,_

_A much smaller Sora was walking along the sidewalk back from elementary school with a red backpack on his shoulders over a white cotton t-shirt and a pair of plaid blue shorts. His hair was a bit lighter than it was now, but it was still spiked to the same degree of messiness and spikiness. Next to him was a little girl of about the same age with short cherry-red hair and indigo eyes wearing almost the same thing as him, except instead of shorts she was in a skirt. Even in first grade they wore school uniforms._

_The Sun was out and sending warm beams of light from her fair head down to the two little children who were walking home from school together. They were close friends and liked their walk home and, despite the occasional girl who would say that Sora had cooties, they weren't about to stop being friends with one another for a long, long time._

_Far ahead of them, in the branches of a big oak tree that had yet to have its green leaves change to browns and golds in Halloween's close proximity, sat three boys with a big white bucket. One had silver hair, another was blonde, and the third had hair that was a vibrant ginger-orange colour. The tree was right next to the sidewalk, and they were perfectly hidden within its branches._

"_Is she even coming?" Wakka asked._

"_Don't worry she'll be here," said Riku. "She'll be coming along with Sora."_

"_Why isn't Sora here with us?" Tidus asked. "Or is he actually leading her here?"_

"_If we told Sora he'd have told Kairi, or he'd have blown the surprise," Riku explained. He looked into the bucket. "Besides, I think he's a fradie-cat."_

_Wakka laughed. "Ya, he probably wouldn't have been man enough to get all of these guys ya?"_

"_But we did!" Tidus said. "Because we're men! And men aren't scared of nothin'!"_

"_Does that mean that Sora's not a man?" Wakka asked._

"_I guess he is," Tidus said slowly. "But he's been playing with Kairi a lot too. Maybe he's getting cooties."_

"_We play wit' girls too though," Wakka reminded him, scratching his head. "Are we gettin' cooties?"_

"_Nah, we're good 'cause we're _real_ men," Tidus answered proudly. "Girls are our friends, but we're like brothers. And I think Sora really likes Kairi."_

"_If he does have cooties, this'll get rid of 'em for sure, ya?" Wakka said, grinning._

"_Look!" Riku said in a hushed whisper. "Here they come. Be quiet now, or you'll ruin it!"_

_Completely unaware that the three boys were hiding in the tree, Sora and Kairi slowly walked right towards them. They were laughing about something or other, and it looked as if they were busy trying to play tag while at a pace just above walking._

_All three of them had their hands on the big white bucket, their fingers twitching as the two came closer. Kairi was the intended target, so they'd try to get as few onto Sora as possible, but it would likely be unavoidable. He was innocently in the way and they weren't going to stop just because he was there. It had taken them two whole days to catch this many, he'd understand._

_They were only feet away and Riku's fingers were quivering with anticipation. This was going to be so funny! "Now?" Tidus asked._

"_Not yet," Riku whispered, giving his head a tiny shake. They were close, easily close enough that if they looked up carefully they might have been able to see the three pranksters. Riku looked at Wakka and nodded his head slowly._

"_Reeeaaaddyyyy…" Wakka began slowly as Riku started to count down in his head. They were very close, almost underneath the tree's overhanging branches where Riku and the other two were hidden._

"_Now!" Riku said, just a moment before the two would have passed underneath their hiding spot. The three overturned the bucket just as both Sora and Kairi stopped, confused as to why they heard a voice coming from a tree._

_Four dozen black spiders plummeted with widely stretched out legs towards the two, and at least a dozen each of the arachnids landed on each head, with the rest hitting shoulders and hands and backpacks, or just missing and falling in front of their faces. Seemingly hundreds of tiny legs were crawling quickly through their hair and over their bodies and faces, the spiders undoubtedly scared out of their wits, but their terror completely outmatched by the fear and horror that had just erupted within Sora and Kairi at the feeling of their existence._

_Screams flew from their mouths and eyes jammed shut as both of them sped away as if their shoes had wings. The spiders were flung this way and that as their arms jerked out and ran through their hair, trying to get rid of the arachnids. The excessive movements didn't work as well as planned however, and more of the little black devils got to their skin under their shirts, and somehow a couple made it down Sora's shorts and Kairi's skirt, and their open, screaming, mouths allowed a few to even scurry inside and walk on their tongues and teeth._

_Riku, Tidus, and Wakka did their very best not to fall out of the tree, rolling with laughter at the reaction their prank had resulted in._

-A-D-

"That was mean Riku," Aiwemon said admonishingly after Riku'd finished telling the story, trying not to laugh while the rest of the table except for him and Sora was. Even Saji was laughing along with a girl with short dark blue hair and brown eyes wearing the same work uniform as the pink-haired girl. Both of them stopped and stared at the bird, who was actually standing on the table now and sipping at the glass of coke that Sora had ordered for him with his beak.

"He talks?" Saji asked, completely surprised.

"Of course he talks," Sora said, looking at them incredulously. "How else am I going to know what he's thinking? Well, apart from thinking about food."

"What can I say, I'm a hungry digimon who burns a lot of energy," Aiwemon replied, smiling cheekily before taking another sip of his coke. "Mmm, this is good. It has a weird tangy burning feeling, but I can't get enough of it."

Sora smiled and _clinked_ glasses with his partner. "Welcome to the goodness of carbonated drinks Aiwemon," he said before bringing the straw towards his mouth. He stopped. "But that wasn't funny! It was traumatizing!"

"So says you and Kairi, but it was still hilarious," Tidus said.

"I'm telling you it wasn't funny!" Sora retorted. Gimli laughed and Sora glared at him, but the Dwarf took a swig from his glass tankard and grinned at the silver-haired youth who'd told the tale.

"That was quite an achievement," he said, praising the pranksters by raising his mug. "Ah, what is was to be young."

Donald started to snigger and Sora fixed him with a look, but he could no less get rid of the mirth on any of his friends' faces than he could his fear of the creatures with eight legs and many eyes. "Can I get you anything to start," Saji asked, "or are you ready to order?"

"I think we're good to order," Axel said before placing his. They went around the table from him, placing their orders until Saji had got it all down and walked away. "Okay," he said, a little louder to demand attention, "now that that's out of the way, would you mind telling us just what the hell you and the Princess have been doing for the past month Sora?"

"Mr. Axel," the girl with blue hair started quickly, "could you tell me what's been going on ever since… since that night?"

"Yumi…" Sora whispered quietly, looking solemnly at the girl as she bowed her head down, likely lost in painful memories.

Roxas looked at Axel and Riku. "What really happened at Felra that day? How did our mom die?"

They sighed. "Alright," Riku began, "we were getting pummelled. We'd been able to hold them off for a while, but then they just swarmed us and broke through. It didn't matter how many times we regrouped and blocked the way, the Heartless just kept coming. Eventually they wore us down to the place on the beach where Axel had created a portal to get the civilians safely here. Most of them made it through, but then Cossex showed up and everything changed…"

-A-D-

_A sharp _clang_ entered Riku's ears as he spun and moved his Keyblade up and then to the right, blocking the silver blades of two axes held within Cossex's hands from cutting him up. They gleamed like silver, with spikes protruding from their ends, and each haft was red as blood with a golden pommel. Next to him, Yuffie's shuriken went up to defend against a similar stroke from one of the fell blades and the dagger in her left hand flashed out towards the Nobody. Cossex twisted away from her strike and kicked Yuffie in the girl's left arm. She let out a startled gasp of sudden pain and jerked backwards from the strike, her eyes filling up with the sight of an axe-blade falling towards her._

_Way to the Dawn was there before it, holding off the axe as Riku defended her. His left hand was wreathed in dark fire and a small blast of it shot out towards Cossex as he thrust the limb towards her. Cossex disengaged, spinning around to avoid the strike of fire, while her axes still sliced towards them. Riku ducked underneath the one aimed for his head while Yuffie dropped flat onto the ground, the blades missing both of them._

_Riku stared at Cossex as the Nobody stood in front of him. "You won't get them," he told her again, more confident now. As soon as he'd yelled at his parents to run, he'd rushed at Cossex and her Invisibles along with the others, and they'd finally given in to common sense and run for the portal. That had been a minute or two ago now, so they were likely inside the corridor by now._

"_You've stood in my way before Riku," Cossex said. "But this time I will complete my mission, horrible though it is. I want my heart back."_

"_And what makes you think that Maleficent will give it to you!" Riku asked._

"_She promised," Cossex answered simply._

"_Sorry, but that witch's promises tend up to be hollow and empty!" Riku spat. "You're a Nobody. She holds all Nobodies in disdain. As powerful as you are, you're nothing but a pawn to her. She would trust a Heartless more than you, because she actually has control over those."_

"_Maybe…" Cossex said slowly, looking down. Her tawny eyes flashed back up to Riku and her axes vanished. "But you were one of her pawns once weren't you? And even pawns have their uses. Mind Crush!"_

_Pain. That was the only thing that Riku could feel as his Keyblade vanished and he dropped to the ground, helpless. Pain, darkness, suffering, despair. These emotions welled up within him as memories and thoughts flooded into his mind: Maleficent with a hand on his shoulder as he gazed through a window at Sora standing beside Donald and Goofy and laughing. Capturing Princess Jasmine right after Sora had sealed Jafar back into his lamp. Kairi's lifeless body. Accepting the darkness. Fighting with Sora. Fighting the Beast. Stealing the Keyblade from Sora. Fighting Sora. Accepting Xehanort's Heartless. Fighting with Sora while Kairi's lifeless body lay on the ground. Fighting with an illusion of Sora made by Zexion. The kiss with Yuffie, followed swiftly by the sight of her dead with eyes and a mouth opened wide, right next to the bodies of his parents, Sora, and Kairi._

_And accompanying all of this was pain that resembled a jackhammer drilling into his head, and the faded face and cackle of Maleficent over all._

_Riku heard gasps and screams and he forced his eyes to open and look around, even while he lay collapsed on the ground with the others around him. Fear overcame him as he saw his and his friends' parents standing near the portal's entrance with now dozens of terrified people, some of whom were bloodstained, backing away as a man wearing the same cloak as Axel and Cossex exited from it. His hair was spikes of silver, and his eyes were the yellow of a hawk. In his hands rested two blood-soaked swords, swords that crackled with electricity that jumped up and down the metal._

"_What are you doing here?" he heard Cossex ask with something close to hostility and confusion._

"_You haven't reported in for days," he answered. "Maleficent was getting worried, so she sent me to make sure that you were doing your job. And I find that you're doing splendid work, except that you were letting too many get away." He flicked his sword and some of the blood that was on it dripped off. "I did find a few in that corridor that put up a nice fight. Brave amateurs, but they didn't last long."_

_Riku forced his legs to carry his weight, pushing that one happy image that Cossex had reminded him of to the forefront of his mind. That one thought of kissing Yuffie, the warm feeling he'd had when she'd begun to return his kiss, that all-encompassing warmth of happiness became his drive to keep moving through his fear. The enraged curiosity at who the man had felled his people drove him as well. He could feel the eyes of his companions upon him, and slowly, they too rose and grabbed their weapons while Cossex and the newcomer were having what seemed to be a petty argument. The man with silver hair pointed one of his swords towards the play island, and a great bolt of lightning was fired from his thunder blade. It struck against the mountain, and the creation of rock and stone burst apart, sending a shockwave through the seas and very earth to make Riku's trembling legs and feet almost give way underneath him._

"_Now, do your duty," the man said evenly, looking towards the five parents, who were scared stiff and completely speechless._

_Riku summoned Way to the Dawn back into his hands and leapt forward, blocking the one axe Cossex had summoned to her from striking his mother. "Who did you kill!" he yelled._

"_What?" the man asked._

"_Who fought with you?" Riku clarified, holding back Cossex's axe. "Who tried to hold you back you shitsucking Nobody!"_

"_Ooh, I seem to have struck something," he said in amusement. "Well, if you must know, there were three: two boys and a blonde girl. One boy had a nice, long, sword, compared to the swords of his friends."_

"_David," Selphie began in a slow and shaky voice, "Michael, Brittany… no!"_

"_You killed kids?" Acamas the Guardian began, enraged. "You bastard!" He rushed forward, yelling fiercely, his sword pointed aggressively towards the Nobody._

_He never stood a chance._

_The silver-haired Nobody darted to the left as Acamas came forward, and ducked underneath a slash the man delivered towards him. His two thunder blades flew up, striking against the man's sword in quick succession, driving it up high and leaving the Guardian's body vulnerable. One thunder blade slashed out across Acamas' chest, and the other came up and cut the man's neck. A strangled gurgle escaped from the Guardian's lips before he collapsed onto the ground, dead._

"_Cossex!" he yelled. "You have a mission to do."_

"_Mind Crush!" she yelled again._

_The pain came back to Riku, and he was unable to withstand it as the recent and happy memory he'd pushed to the front of his mind was swept away. Screams came from behind him, screams that cut through his whole being like a knife, and he knew that his family was being slaughtered. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about it._

_Tears of shame, humiliation, pain, and pure sadness flowed out of his aqua eyes as he lay defeated on the bloodstained sand beneath him. He could hear sobbing and pleading behind him. And he recognized the voice as Seymour's._

"_Please," he pleaded, his voice which before had been stubborn and defiant was now laced with terror and fear. "Please, spare my wife. She's pregnant for Aphrodite's sake!"_

_Riku forced himself to look, though he wished he hadn't. His father's lifeless eyes were staring at him across the sands of the beach, and thick tears obscured all of his vision. No matter how much he blinked he couldn't get rid of them. But Cossex had seemed to stand stock-still in rigid shock, as if she couldn't believe that her orders consisted killing a pregnant woman._

_Using the last of his strength, Riku summoned his Keyblade into his hand, and hurled Way to the Dawn at Cossex. It struck against her arm, and her axe began to fall, but beyond that Riku knew nothing as his head and back suddenly became overcome by immense pain, and darkness took him._

-A-D-

Sora stared at his best friend in shock, his chopsticks limp in his hands while his bowl of beef ramen sat in front of him. "So it was both Cossex and Nixion then?" he asked. "It could really have been Nixion who killed my mom?"

"Nixion?" Riku asked. "That silver-haired guy was really the same Nixion that I've kept hearing about?" He snorted. "Figures. I should have been able to put two and two together before now. Now I'm really gonna pound his face in at our next meeting."

"Do you have the strength?" Gimli asked, looking at Riku from above his mug of beer.

Riku glanced at the dwarf. "You'll find that I have plenty of strength," he said, the Guardian rearing up from his back. Everyone jumped back in surprise as it hovered above him, none of them part of the group that knew of Riku's renewed ability to summon it to him.

"Gawrsh, you're able to control it Riku?" Goofy asked.

"What is that thing?" Saji asked, nearly in a shriek.

"And why does it look like it's going to explode?" Donald wondered, pointing at it.

Sora and Riku both frowned at Donald in confusion for a second before they both looked back at the Guardian. The rosy pink spot on its chest was the centre of where many cracks of golden light were spreading from. The crevices shone with golden light, and they formed rapidly with loud and dangerous sounds accompanying them. Within seconds they were covering the entire Guardian, and it was shaking violently.

"Look out, she's gonna blow!" Jeffery said, diving away from the table. He pulled his small staff out and it was already glowing with blue light as he prepared to cast a Protect spell on them all. He was too late though, as golden light suddenly engulfed them all and the Guardian made an unearthly wail leave its mouth.

When Sora opened his eyes it was to the sound of a very relieved, and feminine sigh. "Whew!" the voice said. "It was _soo_ stuffy in there. I'm so glad you finally got rid of all that darkness and came into the light Rik." He looked up at the source of the voice and gasped.

Floating six feet above the table by the light and looking down on them, lying down in the air on a pair of elbows, was a girl. Her long hair was closer to white than it was to gold, and it flowed freely all the way down to the small of her back. Her skin was creamy, she was well endowed, and her orange eyes smiled flirtatiously at all of them from behind a pretty face. On her hands were white fingerless gloves with the emblem of the Heartless printed onto their backs. Dressed in an almost dangerously hot yellow top and pair of light pink jean shorts with white sandals, she made Sora's eyes widen in stunned surprise.

Gimli leapt to his feet and stood on the riser, his hands going to the battleaxe upon his back. "What is this magic?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Who, what are you?" Riku asked.

The floating girl giggled and smiled at him. She rolled over onto her back and looked down at them upside-down. "Now you can't really expect it to be _that_ easy Rik," she laughed, "finding out my name by just asking me. In fact, I'm even slightly offended; you know me better than anyone."

"What?" Tidus asked.

Sora narrowed his eyes, taking in every detail about this mysterious girl floating above them. There was something in his memory that was nagging at him. His eyes swept over the Heartless emblem on her gloves, and then the image of King Mickey's seal as a pair of earrings on a girl with green hair entered his mind.

He gasped and looked at Riku. His silver-haired friend looked to him. "Hey, I think she's—"

"Uh-uh-uh, Mister Twilight," the girl interrupted lightly, waving a finger at him from above. "He's supposed to figure these things out on his own. But…" she turned over again onto her elbows and lowered until she was at eye level. She gazed almost dreamily at Riku's face. "I suppose that if I was to have a name for you to call me by until you learn my _true_ name, you could call me Dawn."

"Dawn?" Riku asked, his aqua eyes going wider. Her arms wrapped around his neck suddenly in a very one-sided hug.

"Oh, it feels so good to hear you say that Rik," she said, rubbing his face against hers. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for you to talk to me, but you were always stuck in darkness. Mmmwha!" she said as she kissed him on the side of his cheek.

"Gya!" Riku cried, trying to get her off of him. "Hey, I've got a girlfriend! And stop calling me Rik!"

"Oh I know that Rik," Dawn said with a giggle, disregarding his protests. "I know all about you and Miss Night. But I'm yours and you're no one else's but mine and my sister's. Not even she'll be able to take _us_ away from you."

"Uh, _us_?" Riku asked, trying to back as far away from her as possible. "Um, Sora, a little help here?"

Dawn flipped on her head so that her body was completely inverted and looking towards them from the back of the booth. "Yep, me and my twin sis," she said, closing her eyes and nodding her head. "But you can't call her out here like you can me, because I was always stuck inside that shell of darkness you kept calling out. It really cramped my style you know. Anyway, sis has been a little busy hanging out with Miss Light ever since you handed her off to her back in that creepy castle. But Crown didn't like her hanging around with Miss Light so he sent her back to us." She cracked open an eye and she quickly dropped back down to floating at eye level, Her arms went around Riku's neck again except that this time she kicked Goofy and Axel out of the way so that she could be next to him. "Ooh! Jiminy! Take a picture of us!"

"Uh…" Jiminy said, having just left Sora's hood to understand just what kind of commotion was occurring. "Sure, okay…" he pulled out his camera and pointed it at Riku and Dawn, and she smiled and made a 'V' with two fingers with one closed eye, while Riku appeared to be caught completely off-guard by everything that was occurring and his eyes were looking at Dawn with apprehension.

"Well that's enough of that," Dawn said, standing up in the air on her sandals and running hands through her long hair. "I think I'll be going back inside now Rik." Her orange eyes looked back at Riku flirtatiously. "Call me out if you need me again. I'll protect you with everything I have, even though I feel better when you hold me." She winked and blew a kiss at him before she dove into his back.

The whole table was completely silent for ten seconds while Riku's cheeks continued to redden and redden until he slammed his fists onto the table, nearly upsetting his ramen bowl. "Dammit! Will someone tell me what just happened!"

"Riku, I think your—"

Dawn suddenly burst out of Riku again and softly placed a finger against Sora's lips. "I said no spoiling things Mister Twilight," she said with a slight giggle. "So don't do it, or I'll get Crown on your bad side by telling him that you're having dirty thoughts about who he chose. Ooh, and tell Keyla and Remby that I said hi, 'kay? Remember, no talkie Mister Twilight." She giggled one last time before falling back into Riku.

Sora blushed and withdrew into the back of his seat, picking up his glass of coke to take a long sip from it. "Would someone mind telling me what just happened?" Riku asked again.

"Would someone mind telling me why I'm not getting a piece of the action Silver here is getting?" Axel asked, a little rudely, as he sat back up again.

Riku shot him a look for being addressed as merely 'Silver' and Roxas glanced at his friend. "What about that lieutenant from Star Command you kinda had that date with?"

"What? Her?" Axel asked, smiling. "Oh I'm not dating her anytime soon Roxas, Dreyson's a friend and drinking buddy. Maybe after we get through all this craziness I'll ask her out, but we're just fine right now, got it memorized?"

Gimli grunted. "Sora, you have some explaining to do," he said while sitting back down again, looking towards the brunette Keyblade Master.

Sora blushed in embarrassment and looked down. "I can't. She's right, Riku's gonna have to figure it out on his own."

"Why was she calling you Mister Twilight?" Aiwemon asked before taking another sip of his coke.

"It's gotta be because you're the Wielder of Twilight," Roxas said. "That's what makes the most sense."

"And she also said Miss Light," Goofy added, "so that'd mean Kairi right?"

"But then who is Miss Night?" Donald wondered, placing a feathered hand to his head. It popped up after a second. "Wak!" he exclaimed as he, Sora, Goofy, and Roxas all came to the same conclusion and looked at Riku.

"Yuffie's the Wielder of Night!"

"Will someone explain what just happened?" Yumi asked loudly.

-A-D-

_It was pointed out to me that there's been very little war in here. Really there's a lot of fluff and filler. So I am considering, once again, to kick __**The War**__ title from here and restart __**The War**__ again when it becomes relevant, even though it is coming much closer to becoming relevant even now. Thoughts?_

_Oh, and I'm still looking for song themes for when the Karaoke Contest springs up._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	25. Blitz Fest Part III: Legends

_So that was with some of the boys, let's see what's going on with the girls._

_BTW, I've already asked one of you, but is it wrong that I'm already planning out Sora and Kairi's involvement in the whole Myotismon/VenomMyotismon affair in my head?_

_Oh, and I also heard this past week about the "Monster Storm" that has been responsible for at least five deaths in the States. It was moving north to Southern Ontario when I heard about it and is expected to drop between 5-15cm of snow on the Greater Toronto Area before heading into Southern Québec…_

_You bunch of U.S. pansies! We got hit by 20cm of snow in two days and as soon as it stopped falling the weather snapped right down to minus high twenties, low teens, with windchills of up to negative 30 degrees! And Crow's Nest Pass got 70km/hr winds this week, which likely gave them windchills of negative 50 degrees or less. We call the minus 30 weather, "Meh, it's cold outside," and some of us will still go out wearing jackets and gear only certified up to minus fifteen if we aren't going to be out for more than twenty minutes. Were we calling it a "Monster Storm"? No. Are we _really_ complaining? No. Are we dead? No. Stop your bitching and moaning about snow and cooler temperatures, or come up to Canada or go to Russia or your northern state of Alaska. You have no right to complain you lightweights!_

_I'm sorry about that rant, but I just had to get it off my chest to someone._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXV: Blitz Fest Part III: Legends

_1100hrs, Monday October 27__th__, 2003  
Dunash, Destiny Islands  
Kairi_

Kairi watched as Sora and a number of the male population of their group walked away, seemingly without a thought towards them. Kairi frowned at them for a moment before sighing and shaking her head with a tiny smile.

_Actually, I have been together with Sora everyday for a month. Maybe it would be good for me to spend some time away from him. Hm, I can't believe that a month ago I was being accused of treason. It's amazing what can happen in such a short amount of time._

"Come on Kairi," Sikora said, looking up at the older girl. "Let's get going."

Kairi shook her head kindly at the girl. "No offence Sikora," she told Sora's younger cousin. "But I think I'd rather just have a hot dog or a burger or something I can eat on the go. Naminé wants to hear the Blitzball legend, right?"

"I do," Naminé said, smiling and nodding her head.

"Then why don't we all go together?" Selphie asked. "It'll give us a chance to catch-up."

Kairi nodded, and she left the stables in a different direction with Menelmon, Sikora, Naminé, Yuffie, Selphie, Kia, Mulan, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. "How have you and Sora been, Kairi?" Naminé asked. "We were all really scared for you both a few days ago."

"What happened?" Selphie asked, looking quickly at Kairi.

The memory flashed into Kairi's mind. "Sora was defeated by his darkness," Kairi summarized. "And his Anti-Form, his darkness, threw him down into darkness. I jumped in after him."

"You said 'darkness' three times," Paine observed casually.

"Well that makes sense," Yuffie said. "You two are almost joined at the hip."

Kairi blushed as she remembered hugging him in the darkness after he'd told her that they'd defy destiny and keep her alive. _We almost were._

Naminé quickly glanced towards her. _What was that?_ She asked with narrowed eyes.

Kairi looked at her former Nobody. _I thought we agreed that my mind was private?_

_You were projecting that thought rather loudly, I couldn't ignore it,_ Naminé answered. _What happened between you? Did you—?_ Naminé suddenly gasped and a hand flew to her mouth. "Tell me you didn't!" she said aloud.

"What? Didn't what?" Rikku asked, suddenly interested.

"Nothing," Kairi said quickly, her blush increasing.

"What happened?" Paine asked coolly.

"Nothing happened, there was nothing that was even _going to_ happen," Kairi answered, louder and slightly shriller.

"So defensive Kairi," Yuna tisked while smiling in a way that unnerved Kairi further. "You're only making us more interested."

"Why are you so interested?" Kairi queried. "It's not like it concerns you."

"That doesn't matter," Selphie replied. "What did you and Sora do? Did he walk in on you naked or rub lotion on you or something?"

Kairi noticed that Naminé blushed horribly at Selphie's words and Kairi decided that she'd return her twin the favour. "Do you have something to hide from us Naminé?" she asked, cutting right through Naminé's sudden reclusive behaviour to make her the centre of attention.

"Wha—?" the blonde girl asked, her head popping up.

"You're red as a beet!" Selphie exclaimed. "Details Naminé, details. Did Roxas—?"

"No! Nothing happened!" Naminé returned, bringing an arm in front of her body.

_You hit me first,_ Kairi said smugly.

_That doesn't mean you had to hit back,_ Naminé whined.

"Come on, I know that there's some dirty little secret you're hiding from us," Selphie continued, needling her. She glanced slyly at Kairi. "Both of you."

"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, trying her best to sound clueless as to what Selphie was implying.

"Cut the innocent act Kairi," Kia said, folding her arms while smiling.

"There's no getting it past us, you're both hiding something!" Rikku exclaimed accusingly, pointing between the two of them. "The Princesses can't be as pure as they let on!"

"Rikku," Paine said. "Let it go."

"But don't you want to know what they've done?" Yuna asked Paine curiously.

"Even if I do, do you really think that Sikora's old enough to be hearing these things?"

"Hey I'm almost fifteen, I'm more than mature enough to hear about sex!" the girl retorted.

"No you're not," Naminé answered, "you only think you are!"

"And it wasn't sex, we hugged!" Kairi added. As soon as the words left her lips a hand flew up to cover them as her eyes widened in horror. She looked at the faces of her friends, ridged and frozen in terror at the onslaught about to be unleashed upon her. _Oh shit…_

"WHAT!"

"What do you mean 'we hugged'? Were you both naked when this 'hugging' was taking place?"

"How big is he?"

"Are you sure you didn't mean 'humped'?"

"But what _is_ sex? They wouldn't tell me or Aiwemon last night. Both Kairi and Keys became embarrassed and would avoid the question," Menelmon said.

"Well, when a man and a woman are in love," Yuffie started seriously, looking Menelmon in the eye. "Or they're drunk, or they're just bored—"

Kairi's hand slapped over Yuffie's mouth. "That's enough of that Yuffie! Menelmon aren't you hungry? Do you want a hot dog?"

"What's a hot dog?" she asked.

"Naminé! We're getting hot dogs and you're coming with us!" Kairi said, grabbing her blonde sister by the wrist and dragging her along as the red-head sped away from the scene. Her face was redder than a cherry, redder than a raw steak.

"Hey get back here you three!" Yuffie yelled.

"Leave us alone!" Kairi answered.

_What is with all of them? Is every last one of them out to embarrass me today? Why, why, oh why can't they just give it a rest?_

_Kairi,_ Naminé's voice began slowly, sifting into her mind. _I won't tell anyone if you decide to tell me, but what did happen, really? And can you let go of me?_

Kairi released her grip on Naminé and slowed down a little. Kairi continued to jog however, because she didn't want to be pestered again at the moment. _It happened when both of us were lost in darkness,_ she began. _You don't really have a body in that world, or state of mind, or whatever. It's just your consciousness, and your mind and thoughts and memories are completely bared to hundreds of unseen eyes. You're as naked as the day you were born. It's a cold and dreary place, but I went into it to find Sora and tell him about what Thessaura told us: that I would die to defeat Maleficent. Pretty soon, I started to lose most of my memories until I could really only remember my name and that I was searching for someone important to me to tell them something important._

Kairi started to blush slightly and ducked her head, glad that Naminé wasn't interrupting her. _I found Sora, and he found me, but neither of us could remember each other and being as naked and lost as we were in that place didn't bother us at all, it seemed natural at the time. We quickly became close and I started to wonder if I had met him before, then Sora called me 'Iri,' which is a special nickname for me that only he uses, and all of my memories started to return. Then his started to come back, and both of us realized that we were stark naked and that I was lying over top of him. We didn't do it but I was still on him! It was so humiliating! Then, after I told Sora that I was going to die, he laughed and told me that we'll do the impossible and defy fate. He told me that I was going to live. I was so happy when he said that that all reason flew from me and I hugged him tightly. Again, it was innocent and nothing happened._

Kairi looked back at Naminé, and found that she was smiling sincerely in understanding and nodding, even while blushing slightly. _Can I tell you about me and Roxas then?_ She asked.

Kairi smiled and nodded, glad to get that secret off of her chest. _Go ahead._

_It was the morning after Amestris,_ Naminé started. _Tom lost his heart to the Heartless, protecting me. Roxas and I were fighting. He had become jealous of Major Armstrong because I—I kinda stared at him when he'd taken his shirt off. You know what he looks like. Then when I tried to apologize, Roxas blew me off. After that I was stubborn and wouldn't forgive him or myself, and we said some nasty things to each other. Neoshadows came on us while we were fighting. I don't think I need to say anymore. Master Yen Sid showed up on our ship to comfort us that night, but after I'd just finished my shower the next morning Roxas walked right into my room and saw me!_

Kairi's eyes widened and she looked back at Naminé. _And that's not all,_ Naminé said quickly. _After I found out that he had Issues 57 to 60 for _The Adventures of Mr. Incredible_, his third condition on letting me read them was that I had to allow him to rub suntan lotion on me for whenever we were going out to the beach for this trip._

_What?_ Kairi asked, astounded. _You know what I found out from Sora last night? He's been having fantasies about doing me!_

Naminé looked at her in shock before her look changed. _Wait, isn't this a good thing?_

_Huh?_ Kairi asked.

_Well, at least now we know for sure that they aren't gay or something,_ Naminé explained. _So that's good right?_

_But it just solidifies the fact that they could cheat Nami!_

_Do you really think that Sora's going to cheat on you Kai? You're going to pretty much be the only girl he'll be with for months. Why would he cheat?_

_Because as soon as he sees another girl he'll be all, "Whoa, look at her!"_

Naminé frowned. "Aren't you not giving him enough credit?" she asked.

Kairi groaned. "You're right, I'm just thinking irrationally. Like Sora'd ever consider cheating on—oof!"

Kairi rebounded off the back of the person she'd just run into without watching where she was going. She cursed herself for not paying more attention as her bum struck the hard ground. Whoever she'd run into was likely big and heavy.

"Uh, sorry," she said through gritted teeth and closed eyes, rubbing her bottom with a hand.

"What? Huh, GIRL!"

Kairi knew that voice. She knew it well from months spent under the owner's wing in her determination to stop being a liability to Sora, to become an asset able to hold her own against the forces of darkness which he fought and to protect him from harm as he protected her. Instantly, the pain in her rear vanished and Kairi dropped onto her hands and knees with a bowed head, the stance she had learned to adopt whenever being reprimanded or addressed to by just her sex. "Forgive me Master!" she cried.

"Kairi, what are you doing?" Menelmon asked.

"Kairi?" Naminé asked.

She ignored them both and screwed her face up in apprehension, waiting. Even when Selphie's, Yuffie's, and Rikku's voices entered her ears with the girls finally catching up to them, she didn't react, only waited. Other questioning voices drifted around her, obviously she and the voice's owner were making a scene, and her cheeks started to burn slightly in embarrassment.

"Up," the voice commanded.

Kairi stood, and looked up into the eyes of a man past six feet and three inches. His granite grey eyes looked over her critically while he folded his thick, knotted arms over a toned and muscled chest, revealed by an unzipped white, collared, vest. He had white shorts on, and Kairi could see the hilt of his massive claymore past his short tail of thick black hair.

Kairi stared into his eyes, hoping and praying for acceptance to come from them, but her backbone stiffened irresolutely. She would not back away from him no matter what he said. In the back of her mind, she knew that this was a familiar scene for her.

-A-D-

_One year ago,_

_The sky was grey and it was raining lightly on the head of a girl with red hair, dressed in a white button-up shirt with a skirt and tie of blue and white plaid. A light and unzipped jacket, pink, covered her shoulders. A brown schoolbag was slung across her shoulder, and bounced bag with the motion of her body as she walked down the streets of town. Kairi was leaving school, but she had headed further into the city instead of returning to her home near the western shores of Felra._

_Her heart was in turmoil and it felt like there was an invisible hand squeezing it tightly with fingers of guilt. The overcast and slightly wet weather were the perfect manifestation of her mood. She cared deeply about both Sora and Riku, and when she had entered the Secret Place on their play island after the world had returned and saw that Sora had added to the drawings they'd done of each other, it almost felt like she'd been stabbed somewhere._

_As much as she tried to deny it to herself, she _did_ understand why Sora had left her here on the islands while he went off to search for Riku. He wanted her to be safe because he cared about her, the drawing and their parting words with one another made that clear enough, and he believed that back at home on the islands would be the safest place for her. But not knowing whether or not he and Riku were safe was eating her up inside, and when he told her that she'd only be in his way…_

_But the scariest part was that while her memories of Riku remained clear and crisp, she found that she was starting to forget things about Sora. He was fading, and she didn't want her memory of him to fade away. If he faded away, he might as well have been…_

_Kairi shook her head, raindrops that had laced themselves into her hair flying out. No, Sora wouldn't die on her, but forgetting about him might be just as bad. He would come home, with Riku, he promised. But as long as he had that Keyblade of his, he'd have to leave again, and she would be left here again to wait and worry._

But I don't want to be left waiting and praying that he'll come home,_ Kairi thought, stopping. She looked up at the building she had halted in front of. It was a two-storey structure, built with strong timbers. But it was expansive and covered a large area, with numerous outdoor courtyards within it. Kairi hesitated one moment before going through the main doors._

_There was a receptionist at a round front desk, which surprised her. This building was the main headquarters of the Guardians, the organization created by the people of Destiny Islands to protect them from fiends that wandered the untamed wilds of the islands, the jungles, and the depths of the mines of Straca and Nova. And the headquarters' interior looked like it was the head office of some big corporation._

_Kairi wrung some of the water out of her hair and swept the wet locks out of her eyes and, timidly, stepped forward to the receptionist. She hadn't expected something like this. "Can I help you sweetie?" the woman asked, noticing that Kairi was still just a young adolescent._

"_I'd like to see the Chief Guardian please," Kairi answered, a little slowly and unsure._

_The woman gave her a smile. "I'm sorry, but do you have an appointment with him?"_

_Kairi stopped and looked at the woman for a second. "I need an appointment with the man who leads the defence of the islands? What if it's a real emergency?"_

"_If it is a real emergency then that would be a different situation," the receptionist answered. "Is it an emergency?"_

_Kairi looked down and her spirits plummeted. "Well no…" A hope returned as she searched for a loophole. "But I'm the Mayor's daughter, can I speak with him? It's important."_

_The receptionist was still smiling at her as the woman shook her head. "I'm sorry sweetie, but unless you have an appointment or it's a major emergency concerning the safety of islanders, I can't let you in to see Chief Guardian Garda."_

"_Please?" Kairi asked._

"_You're cute Kairi," the woman replied, startling Kairi that she knew her name. "But cuteness and being the daughter of Mayor Seymour won't get you an audience with Garda."_

"_But, but you don't understand," Kairi said, beginning to get desperate, "I really need to talk to him. It's really important."_

_The woman was still smiling and shaking her head. By the gods that smile was getting really annoying! "I'm sorry, but until you have an appointment you won't be able to see him."_

"_Well then can I make an appointment?" Kairi asked._

"_You need to be a Guardian or a person of importance to the islands to make an appointment with—"_

"_I'm the Mayor's daughter!"_

"_But you aren't your father," the receptionist said, firmly for the first time._

_Kairi frowned at her. "Fine, then I'll just sit here and wait for him," she announced, turning around and striding towards a chair to sit herself down on._

_The receptionist shrugged and shook her head. "Suit yourself," she muttered, not surprisingly._

_And so Kairi waited in her chair. Her eyes would stray up towards the clock on the wall as the minutes grew longer, and slowly ticked by. Kairi looked out the window that was behind the receptionist. It was still raining outside, and she was looking into a training courtyard. There were Guardians out there, equipped for battle and practicing sword-movements in mock duels with one another. Some of them were using magic, and she could see them practicing. One of them shot a blast of fire out of his hand, while another raised her arms as her hands glowed with green light and the very earth beneath her began to rise and take a humanoid shape: a golem to do her bidding._

_Kairi's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't even know that people could become that proficient in the magical arts at all. Sora, Aerith and Merlin had told her very little about magic, and the only bit she'd seen had been Donald shooting off a fireball and a couple of bolts of lightning._

_Then a voice that she did recognize and a face she knew by sight alone became visible behind the window. Kairi stiffened and stood up, staring straight at it for a full second. So he was busy was he? The man didn't appear to be doing much, only watching his comrades practice._

_The receptionist had noticed Kairi rising suddenly from her chair, and her eyes grew wide and watchful. Kairi ignored the warning look she was being given and left her bag right where it was and walked right past the front desk, determined to look for a door, any door, that would take her to the outside interior._

"_You're not authorized to go there," the receptionist said quickly, half-rising, as Kairi walked briskly right by her._

"_Watch me," Kairi retorted, her mood lifting. She'd found a door._

_Kairi's pace quickened, hearing the receptionist starting to come after her. She worked for the Guardians, likely she was just as trained as they were. The red-haired girl's hand grasped around the handle of the door and threw it open, welcoming the spittle of rain that fell onto her face and the cool wind that washed over her. At the same time, the receptionist grabbed a hold of her arm and began to pull her back._

_A noise of struggle escaped Kairi's lips and she wrestled her arm out of the larger and stronger woman's grasp before dashing through the open door into the courtyard, her voice belting out the name "Garda!"_

_All activity stopped and the eyes of the tall man with black hair and a sword almost as big as himself fell onto her. They were narrowed, but Kairi didn't care, nor did she see, rushing towards him with a bowed head._

"_Kairi?" he wondered aloud before looking towards the woman who sat at the front desk. "What is the meaning of this!"_

"_I'm sorry sir," the woman said, regrettably. "She was very insistent that she speak with you."_

_Kairi stopped a few feet away from him and looked at the Chief Guardian right in the eyes. She knew that it would be difficult to convince him. Garda was the greatest of the men and women who protected the islands, legend said that he slew a Behemoth King single-handedly, and he never took on apprentices. "Please, teach me to fight."_

_Garda gave her his answer before she'd even finished her request. "No."_

"_Why not?" Kairi asked._

"_Girl, I've had a hundred young people like you come to me to ask me to train them," Garda said evenly. "And none of them showed me any real reason why I should bother to take them under my wing." He looked away, dismissing her. "You have a good family and a life of peace ahead of you, go back to your home."_

"_No, please, you don't understand," Kairi said, conscious that there were a dozen sets of eyes on her. "I want to learn how to fight. I want to fight!"_

"_If you are so keen on losing your innocence then get yourself to a nunnery!" Garda retorted. "I shall have no part in exposing you to the horrors of battle! Your father would never allow it, nor would he forgive me."_

"_My dad has nothing to do with this!" Kairi answered. "If you don't train me then you condemn me to a lifetime of misery and worry."_

_Garda laughed. "Misery and worry? Oh, let's hear this tale then."_

_Kairi stopped and stuttered, her cheeks beginning to redden. She hadn't actually expected that she'd have to go this far. "There're—there's this boy I know," she said quietly, hearing a whistle from someone who had heard her. "He's far away right now, and he's fighting dark things and looking for a friend of ours. The three of us are supposed to be together, but he left me here, behind, and promised to come back with our other friend."_

"_Then he wants you to stay safe," Garda said quickly and gruffly. "So stay safe and go home girl. Learning to fight will only make you want to fight, and your friends don't want you to be in danger do they?"_

_Kairi gasped and looked down. "Well, no… they don't. But they can both be reckless, and when they do come home, Sora at least may have to leave again and I don't—I don't want to…"_

"_You don't want to let him go," A female Guardian, who couldn't have been more than six years her senior, finished for her. Kairi didn't look at her, only remained looking at her shoes while the rain continued to fall._

"_I couldn't bear spending my life waiting for him to come home all the time," Kairi said quietly. "Always afraid that this time he may not keep his promise, that he may not be coming back this time." She dropped onto her hands and knees, begging Garda. "Teach me to fight so I don't have to endure that pain. Teach me so that I can go with him and protect him, as he protects me. Teach me Garda, please."_

_The raindrops fell onto her head and became enmeshed in her hair, and beaded themselves on the jacket that covered her shoulders. Muddy ground spread around and coated her fingers and her kneecaps sunk into the soft soil. The wind whipped into her ears, drowning out all sound and thought as she waited for a definite 'yes' or 'no'. If the answer was 'no', she would return again, and again, and again until Garda agreed._

_A grumble escaped Garda's lips, but Kairi didn't dare look up at him. "Congratulations girl, you are now my apprentice."_

_At this she did look up, a smile on her face. She almost couldn't believe that he was allowing it! "Thank you Garda!" she said elatedly._

"_What did you call me girl!" Garda fired off, his tongue lashing out at her with such strength that Kairi flinched. "You are no longer Kairi, you are my apprentice, and I shall address you as I see fit, girl. To you, I am no longer Garda, I am your Master, and you shall call me your Master whenever you speak of me. Now, what is my name?"_

"_Your name is Master, forgive me Master," Kairi said quickly, dropping her head back down._

"_Get up girl," Garda said disdainfully. "Get up off that muddy ground." Kairi did as she was told, and Garda gripped her chin in his hand and lifted it up, getting a better look at her. Kairi shifted nervously. "Keep still," he ordered. Kairi complied, and began to wonder if she was ready to be getting into something like this._

"_Tch," Garda muttered. "Boy do I have my work cut out for me. Alright girl, I'll train you, but not one word of this reaches your father or your friends, alright?" Kairi nodded. "Good. Now then, if you want to become a fighter you're going to have to be prepared to be drilled to the bone. Go home for now. Come by here again Saturday at eight in the morning and we'll get started. Now get!"_

"_Yes Gard—"_

"_GIRL!"_

"_I mean Master, forgive me Master. I'll be back on Saturday Master," Kairi said, bowing repeatedly and apologizing as she backed away to leave through the same door that she came through. She passed by the receptionist on her way out and couldn't help but smile at her. The woman just rolled her eyes and sighed._

-A-D-

Garda continued to survey her with critical eyes as Kairi stood still as a statue. Kia and Selphie were watching, and they both realized that they could learn a thing or two about standing at attention from Kairi with how solidly and how unflinchingly she stood. She appeared completely calm, and it almost looked as if she didn't even breathe.

The opposite was true. Kairi was trying desperately to maintain a neutral face and to regulate her breathing while her mind swirled with a whirlwind of negative thoughts. She hadn't seen her master in months, not since Axel had arrived on the islands and offered to take her to Sora.

"Garda what is the meaning of this?" a man who was standing next to the Chief Guardian asked. "What are you doing with to this poor girl, making her call you 'Master'?"

Kairi didn't look at him directly, but her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets from the sight in her peripheral vision. The man was richly dressed in a red tunic and brown pants with a white shirt underneath, a red and gold cape across his back. Golden hair was on his face, both sleek and curled in places, and his eyes were the purple of amethysts. He only showed his face on the islands rarely, and wasn't due for a visit for another couple of years, but this man was Duke Naivus: the man who technically _did_ rule the islands under the jurisdiction of their King, Alexander II, far away upon the mainland.

_What in the name of Zeus is the Duke doing here!_

_Wait, that's the Duke?_ Naminé asked.

Kairi didn't answer her. Her master had begun to speak. "You've gotten taller," he said. "I'm sorry about your parents, all four of them."

Kairi blinked in surprise. "You know, Master?"

"Your Grace, what is keeping us from our tour?"

Kairi looked for the source of the voice, and she saw a young man dressed even more richly than the Duke in reds, purples, golds, and blacks. He was several years older than Kairi, likely at twenty or twenty-one, and his face was both handsome and authoritative.

"I'm not sure, Your Highness," Duke Naivus said quickly before turning back to Garda. "Garda, His Royal Highness, Prince Alexander, would like to know what the hold-up is."

_Prince! The Crown Prince is here! Well that would explain the Duke, but why is the effing Prince here!_

Garda ignored them both. "Yes, I know Kairi," he said softly, still drawing his apprentice's attention back to him like he'd cracked a whip. "It surprised me when I was told that my apprentice wasn't only the adoptive daughter of the Mayor, but also the orphaned Princess and heir to the Kingdom of Radiant Garden." He sighed. "You've grown, but you look weak and starved on your feet. What have you been doing to yourself?"

"Hey Kairi is not weak!" Menelmon said quickly, landing right on Kairi's shoulder and getting right into Garda's face. "Kairi's the strongest person I know and she can do anything so long as she—"

"Calm down, there's no need to be upset," Garda interrupted her. "All I said was that she looks weak, but if she's so strong, I guess she can prove it to me later." He looked directly at Kairi. "You will spar with me later, my apprentice."

Kairi nodded her head submissively. "Yes Master," she answered. "Just say when, and I'll gladly show you what I've learned and how much I've improved."

Garda nodded. "The town square, twenty minutes after the Wranglers and Dolphins finish. I'll be waiting for you girl."

Kairi bowed her head again. Her stomach was twisting into knots. She couldn't beat her master. There was no way; he was just too good, too strong, too _everything_ for her to have a chance of beating him. But since he'd said it, there was no getting out of it now. "Yes Master."

Garda walked away with the Duke and the Prince, who spared Kairi a long look before continuing on. As soon as they were out of earshot, Yuna, Yuffie, Selphie, and the others were all over Kairi.

"You're going to be sparring against _Garda_!" Selphie asked, shocked out of her mind. "How can you even think of doing that?"

"Never mind that, he took you to be his _apprentice_?" Kia asked, as equally surprised. "Garda never takes apprentices! Never!"

"Who's Garda?" Paine asked.

Selphie looked at her and the other two Gullwings. "He's like, the strongest guy on the islands. A total living legend, and he's responsible for protecting everybody from fiends, and I suppose Heartless now too if they're here."

"If they are, those poor guys who don't have leave are in for a rude awakening for at the FTX," Kia said. "Hope they're okay."

"Never mind him, who were those rich guys?" Rikku asked. "The older one looked, well, old. But the other guy was kinda hot."

Kairi looked at Selphie and Kia more seriously. "The Duke and the _Prince_ are here!"

Both of them gasped. "The fucking Prince is here!" Selphie asked. "Oh shit, I've gotta tell everyone!"

Yuffie grabbed hold of her. "You're staying right here Selphie," she said firmly. "I'm hungry, and I haven't heard the legend of Blitzball either. Maybe then I'll figure out why you're all crazy about it."

"We don't have a Blitzball legend on Spira," Yuna said. "I want to see how different it is on this world compared to ours."

"Then let's go," Menelmon said. "We've already said a bunch of times that we're hungry, but we haven't done anything about it yet!"

Kairi laughed slightly. "You're right. Sorry Menelmon. Let's get going. Sikora, where do they have the hot dog vendors and the stage where the priests of Poseidon tell of Blitzball's coming to the islands?"

"Not far from here actually," she said. "Both are in the centre of the town square, just down that way."

-A-D-

It took them five more minutes of slow walking to reach the square Sikora mentioned. Garda, Duke Naivus, and Prince Alexander III had all gone in the same direction they were heading in, and Kairi had more than a few butterflies in her system. Not only was the prospect of facing her undefeated master intimidating, but the sight of him with two _very_ important people who were both so _very_ far from their homes on the mainland was making her worry.

Menelmon nudged the side of Kairi's cheek with her softly feathered head and Kairi looked into the bird digimon's brown eyes. "Don't worry and cheer up Kairi," she said, smiling. "I believe in you."

"Yeah," Yuffie added, throwing her arms behind her head in a very Sora-like gesture. "Garda's full of hot air anyway. You're a Keyblade Wielder, you'll come out on top, no worries."

"You'll do your best Kairi," Naminé said, smiling and sighing at the same time. "But no matter what, we'll still be proud of you."

Kairi smiled slightly and gave Menelmon's head a one-handed hug. Them and the bright sunlight were making the butterflies settle. "Thank you."

"Hey Kairi," Sikora asked questioningly from only a couple of steps ahead of her. "What would you like? A hot dog, a smokie, a chilli dog, a cheddar smokie, or a footlong?"

Kairi's eyes widened and the worries vanished as she got past Sora's younger female cousin towards the hot dog street vendor. "They have cheddar smokies?"

"Who cares about them? I want me a chilli dog!" Rikku said, bounding past a man holding up a cardboard sign above his head, black writing painted on it.

"The gods are displeased!" he was shouting into the crowd. "Lord Poseidon and his servants are angry with us. The end is coming!"

"Who's that?" Yuna asked.

"Just a crazy," Sikora said, rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders. "They come around from time to time, just ignore them. They're all crazy and keep saying that we're upsetting the gods and that the world is coming to an end. Like I said, just ignore them."

They got closer to the small line in front of the hot dog vendor, and Kairi's ears began to pick up a voice that shook resonantly with authority and truth. "_And there was strife amongst our people, and wars we waged between our islands…_"

"Dang, the priests have already started," Kia said.

The line slowly dwindled, and as they stood and waited to order their food they strained their ears above the noise of movement and idle chatter to listen to the words of the priest. _"Then one day, the sea-gods wept for us their children, seeing brother turn on brother and son against father as each island strove to be dominant._

"_Then Lord Poseidon's daughter Calypso turned her tears of grief into fury, and she sought the aid of the god Hephaestus of the fiery forge, and the almighty Zeus of the thunderous sky to unleash a vicious storm upon us. The skies grew dark; wind and rain poured and battered the islands. Thunderbolts stabbed through the sky, and the mountains belched fire and smoke. Our infighting ceased as the wrath of the gods at our horrendous acts towards our fellow men became terribly clear, and the horrendous storm of the gods lasted for forty days and for forty nights._

"_Then brother forgave brother, and father welcomed son back into his home, and all of our people aided one another in order to survive the ordeal. And when the storm ceased and Helios drove his fiery chariot into the clear sky once again there was joy and celebration and peace between our people. But it did not last for long. Soon, our differences began to gnaw at us once again, and our hearts started to harden and those who we had welcomed and aided with open arms seemed dark and dangerous once more._

"_Then Lord Poseidon wept once more and gathered his tears into two vials, finding a way to appease our martial spirits. From the vial in his right hand he poured his tears onto creatures of the lands, and they became fierce and hostile. And so he created the fiends with which to punish us for our actions, cursing us and forcing us to band together to protect one another from these rogue beasts. And from the vial in his left he poured his tears into the hands of our strongest and into the seas, and from these tears balls appeared. And doing this he said through his priestess, Agathe, "If you should still wish to fight your brothers and sisters who make their homes on a different piece of the sundered lands that you call your home, then use these to peacefully resolve the conflicts, for I wish to no more see my people murder one another in cold blood."_

"_And so we took the balls that Lord Poseidon gave, and thanked him, but we knew not what to do with them. And then he spoke once more through Agathe, and told us that they were to be used as a means of competition, but said no more. Then, in his confusion, Alkaios struck a ball with his hand and it soared through the air to pass between two palm trees, and the ball was quick as the blitz of the storm that the gods had sent to punish us, and Blitzball was born._

"_Even to this day, hundreds of years later, we still play the god-given sport to appease the rivalries that have haunted us for a thousand years. We stand united against the dreadful plague of creatures sent to punish us for our past sins, and thanks to Lord Poseidon and his wisdom and generosity, we have been granted a timeless pastime for peaceful competition between us. Never again will we forget, and never again will brother strike down brother in anger and war."_

The priest finished and bowed his head to the polite applause from the crowd. Kairi took a hungry bite from the cheddar smokie in her right hand, and held the left one up for Menelmon to gratefully take a bite herself. No matter how many times she heard that story told to her, it never grew old.

"So that's the legend?" Yuffie asked, nodding her head slowly. "Impressive. Gods punished you with the game. Now it all makes sense."

"Hey, don't mock us Yuffie," Selphie said. "If the gods hadn't, we'd probably have all killed one another long ago. We've got Blitzball, which was given to us by Poseidon, and we've got Football, which we invented on our own for the off-season."

"It's not like you've got any better sports on Radiant Garden," Kia snorted. "We've heard your people talking, all about ice and diamonds and stuff. You're throwing rocks across a sheet of ice!"

"Hey curling is awesome!" Yuffie retorted.

"Interesting legend," Paine muttered, placing her free hand to her chin. "Spira doesn't have anything like that concerning Blitzball's history."

"What does your world have?" Naminé asked.

"Nothing," Rikku said. "Blitzball's just always been around. There's no beginning and no end."

"It's been around longer than anyone can remember," Yuna said. "Since before the Machina Wars between Bevelle and Zanarkand even, I believe. And those ended with the coming of Sin a thousand years ago."

Kairi looked at the three Gullwings, nodding. She glanced across the square and caught sight of her master again, and with him the Duke and Prince. She paused for a second, Prince Alexander was looking in her direction; it may not have been directly _at_ her, but she could almost feel his eyes on her.

She fidgeted as Selphie spoke. "Well, we've still got some time. What should we do until the game?"

"I think I'm good for a hot bath," Kairi muttered. There was a chill going down her spine, and she wasn't sure where it was coming from, just that she had to get rid of it.

"There's the bathhouses," Sikora said slowly, having heard her. "They're always warm and clean."

"This place has public baths?" Yuffie asked, her eyes widening.

"They're divided, but yes," Sikora answered, nodding her head. The girl looked up at the bird on Kairi's shoulder. "How was your cheese smokie Menelmon?"

"Delicious," she replied, "but I think I made a bit of a mess." Her blue wing came up to her white beak and wiped away at some of the melted cheddar and ketchup that was coating it.

"Menelmon's the one who needs the bath, not you Kairi," Rikku said, laughing.

Kairi glanced at her partner and stroked a finger across the bird's beak to help clean it off a little, smiling slightly and shaking off the feeling she was getting. "Okay, then let's go and get cleaned up before the game."

Naminé giggled slightly in what Kairi knew was embarrassment. "This'll be my first blitzball game," she said. "I wonder what it will be like."

-A-D-

A few miles outside of the town, a man in black sat atop a motorcycle. He took off the goggles he wore and critically surveyed the land around him from behind blue eyes and underneath spiky blonde hair.

_Where is he?_

-A-D-

_I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but only two people got cookies and cake for guessing the correct anagram names of the officers mentioned. The correct names were 'Ypres' and 'Somme', the sites of many important battles to the Canadian Corps and the Allies in general in the Great War._

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. And Bleach fans, have you seen Diamond Dust Rebellion yet?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_

_P.S. I hate Marketing._


	26. Blitz Fest Part IV: Matchups

_(Laughing) Okay, I expected the reaction I got for that little bit at the end of the last chapter. I guess you guys like that he's finally shown his face then. And I apologize for the way I came off in my rant last chapter about cold weather. It was out of place._

_And I have a small announcement to make. I've changed my Profile Pic! The current one was made by __**Traskix**__ on the KHInsider forums for the RikuXYuffie Fanclub._

_Oh, by the way, if you haven't already seen Princess and the Frog, __**GO AND SEE IT!**_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or Blitzball._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXVI: Blitz Fest Part IV: Match-ups

_1250hrs,  
Dunash, Destiny Islands,  
Sora_

"I still can't believe that Yuffie's the Wielder of Night," Riku said, shaking his head.

"She's going to flip when she finds out," Roxas said.

"I just think that it'll go to her head," Tidus said. "Instead of being the Great Ninja Yuffie, she'll be the Legendary Ninja Yuffie."

Sora nodded his head. "I can only imagine how that's going to play out." He looked up and smiled. The Blitzball stadium was right in front of them, standing tall and proud with its dome shining in the reflected sunlight.

"It's not going to be good," Donald said. "I don't want to be around when she gets the news."

Aiwemon looked down at the other bird. "Why not?"

Donald looked up at him as Aiwemon sat on Sora's shoulder as was his custom. "She might lose control of herself."

Sora nodded again and looked down at the dwarf who was walking next to him, and looking up at the Blitzball stadium. "So, what do you think Gimli?"

"The food was fine, though not entirely to my liking, and my kin can do better than that," he said, indicating the stadium.

"You tell us that after we're inside and you see the machina that fill up the pool," Riku told him.

"Forgive us for not being dwarves of the Lonely Mountain," Sora said, rolling his eyes.

"HEEYYY!"

Sora looked up and smiled at the ear-splitting voice that belonged to Selphie. The group of nine girls and Menelmon that they'd left behind were all coming up to them, and for some reason they all looked like they had wet hair and skin.

"Were you guys swimming?" Axel asked as they got closer.

"Course not," Yuffie said, her voice soft and sounding dreamy. "Just soaking our bones in a hot bath." She glanced at Kairi. "You really _do_ look different Kairi. You're thinner but curvier than I remember."

The auburn-haired girl blushed and Sora looked at her. His eyes went up and down Kairi's frame, and he consciously noticed now that Kairi definitely had an appealing hourglass figure.

_How did I not notice that before?_ He wondered.

"I still can't believe that you spent a month in the wilderness," Selphie said, shaking her head in disbelief. "No baths, no showers, no haircuts, no electricity, no heating, and sleeping stuck in the rain."

"It wasn't bad," Kairi answered. "Just, there were some parts that weren't… good." Sora sighed and shook a hanging head when she glanced at him.

"I'm just glad he's gone," he said.

"Oh, Yuffie," Aiwemon said. "Guess what we figured out."

"What?"

"You're the Legendary Rose Star Wielder of Night," Aiwemon declared.

Yuffie stiffened and stared straight forward, completely expressionless.

"You shouldn't have done that Aiwemon," Sora whispered.

"Huh? Why?" his partner asked.

"Have you already forgotten why Donald said he didn't want to be—?"

Sora stopped and stared as Yuffie began to laugh. It wasn't a disbelieving laugh, or one that showed that she was sceptical and thought that they were playing a joke. Her laugh sounded almost evil.

"Mwahahaha!" She grinned. "I am now no longer the Great Ninja Lady Yuffie Kisaragi, I am now _Legendary_ Ninja Wielder Lady Yuffie Kisaragi! You shall all bow down before me and my mightiness! None can oppose me! Rule of all the worlds shall be mine! Mwahahahaha!"

"Sora, I'm scared," Goofy said, trying to hide behind him along with Donald, Aiwemon, and Kairi.

"Yuffie's scary," the little bird digimon mumbled, agreeing with him.

"You just had to say it," Donald grumbled at him.

"I am the greatest Ninja in the Universe! There is no one better than me! !"

"Yuffie," Riku said firmly.

She sighed airily and wiped her forehead. "Whew, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Okay, I'm done power-tripping now."

Sora felt his jaw drop.

"You mean all you had to do was one giant evil laugh and you're fine!" Kairi asked.

Yuffie just grinned at him. "Of course," she said, winking at her. "Every girl needs to have a moment where she can just belt out an evil laugh, right? Besides, you kinda already did let your evil side bust out."

Kairi looked down. "I didn't know that that was going to happen when I did it," she murmured.

"Oh I just remembered," Roxas said suddenly. "Kairi, Yuffie, which is better: coke or pepsi?"

"Coke, dur," Kairi answered.

"You kiddin' me? Coke all the way," Yuffie said.

Roxas laughed. "Haha! There we go Tidus. The four of nine currently known Wielders of Power agree unanimously: Coke beats Pepsi."

"Shut up," Tidus said.

"Hey fellas!"

Sora looked around and smiled. "Your Majesty," he said along with Donald and Goofy.

King Mickey was walking towards them along with Sora's aunt and uncle, Asterix and Obelix and Dogmatix, and Lord Ramius. There was a small group of five younger children, mostly girls, around Obelix and Dogmatix and cooing over the little dog.

"Ooh, he's so small and cute," one of them was saying when they got within earshot. "I just want to cuddle him."

King Mickey and Asterix both laughed while Obelix grumbled and Dogmatix dropped out of his hand and barked happily at the girl. He dropped onto his tummy and rolled around, looking for a belly rub, which he received.

"We've got the tickets," Uncle Sal said, coming up to Sora.

"Great," Sora said, excitement starting to develop within him. "How much do I owe you?"

His uncle chuckled. "Come on Sora, do you honestly expect that I'm going to want you to pay me back for blitz tickets?"

"Well, I mean, you got tickets for like thirty people," Sora said. "That had to hurt your pocketbook some."

Uncle Sal looked back and forth for a second before leaning in close to Sora. He leaned in as well to hear what his uncle was whispering, and Donald, Goofy, and Kairi also leaned in behind him. "Actually," he said, "Lord Ramius paid for the tickets. Don't tell anyone though, he doesn't want it to get around."

Kairi smiled from behind Sora. "Well that was nice of my godfather," she whispered.

"It was nice," Uncle Sal whispered back. "It would have cost us thirty-four hundred munny."

"So who all are we still waiting on?" Rikku asked, looking around.

Sora glanced around. He knew that there had been more people who had come to town with them. "Um, Wakka and Max, and uh…"

"Mulan, Anar, and Isil too," Tidus said.

"And Mushu and Cri-Kee," Axel finished.

"Hey! Guys!"

They looked around and saw the blonde and silver haired twins waving at them from a distance with Wakka and Mulan.

"Look who we—!" Anar started to exclaim before he was cut off.

"Privates Tidus, Jeffery, and Kia, why are you not wearing your berets!"

"Holy fuck no!" Tidus cursed quietly, quickly reaching for his beret as it hung snugly between his black belt and green pants.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

"They found our Company," Kia grumbled. "And Sobel just _had_ to be with them. Fuck!"

"Get over here now!" a tall, slim man with slick black hair and a fat and hooked nose belted out. "Your leave passes are cancelled."

"Fuckin' hell," Jeff muttered.

"Can you guys tone down the swearing a little?" Naminé asked.

"Can you kill that guy off?" Tidus whispered, sounding like it was seriously a request. "If you do, maybe we will."

"Sir, you can't do that," an officer who was a large owl said.

"Subject to the needs of the Company Lieutenant Kol," Sobel answered snappily.

"This bastard again?" Yuffie asked aloud. "I oughta show him why I'm legendary now."

Riku growled slightly. "Yuffie that won't help things."

Sora looked at the looks on the faces of his military friends as both the company of soldiers and his friends came closer together. He looked towards the Sobel character and said simply, "Their leave isn't cancelled."

"Yes it is you little snot," Sobel replied, somewhat casually.

"I don't think it is," King Mickey said, matching E Company's CO's tone of voice and moving to stand next to Sora.

Lieutenant Kol's already massive eyes widened and he dropped onto one knee along with all the other anthropomorphs from Disney Castle in Easy Company. "Your Majesty! It's an honour."

Captain Sobel looked wildly at his XO before quickly shifting his eyes to the King. His voice was shaky as he said, "Wait, _he's_ King Mickey Mouse?"

King Mickey smiled and nodded his head with a little laugh. "That's right, I am." He extended his right hand to Sobel. "Nice to meet ya, Captain Sobel."

Sobel reluctantly bent down and shook the monarch's hand. "It's a pleasure, Your Majesty," he said. His eyes were still on Sora though. "And, who is _he_?"

"Who? Me?" Sora blew air out of his mouth in a manner that indicated what he was about to say was trivial. "Oh I'm nobody really, just Sora." He put his hands behind his head and grinned his grin at the officer. Sobel's black eyes became tiny pinpricks and he started to stutter incoherently as Sora looked through the throng of soldiers. He smiled wider and waved. "Hey, Olette!"

"Hey Sora!" the girl said, taking his greeting as a sign that she could go and join him, sparing only a short glance at her platoon leader, 2Lt Comte, who nodded her head.

"How you doing?" Sora asked as she came closer.

Olette grimaced. "Sour," she replied.

"How come?" Kairi asked.

"What are you all doing here anyway?" Tidus asked, looking closely at her and the rest of their company. They were dressed in their combat armour and gear, even if their helmets were held under their arms. "Shouldn't Easy still be at the FTX?"

"We should, yeah," Olette grumbled. "But we aren't because we were eliminated." Tidus, Jeff, and Kia cursed under their breath, obviously understanding, but Sora just looked at Olette in confusion.

"Eliminated?" Roxas asked.

"What do you mean, 'eliminated'?" Rikku added.

"I mean we lost," Olette answered. "And it sucks that we got killed off so early too."

"Lost at what? What are you talking about Olette?" Sora asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "Alright, so on the Field Training Exercise out in the plains and close to the jungles you guys have getting closer towards the big shield volcano you've got on this island the bigwigs in charge of this whole fiasco, the division COs, decided that we should have a big week-long war game between the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. So, we have about ninety guys in a Company, twelve Companies in a Regiment without included the Battalion and Regimental HQ Companies, and three Regiments in a Division or so, so there's about…" Olette grumbled slightly as she tried to figure the math out in her head, "six and a half thousand people running around on the island in a big strategic exercise divided into the blue team and red team."

Sora blinked a few times as he tried to take that in. "Okay, that's a lot. Which team were you guys on?"

"Blue team," Olette said. "And we just happened to get slaughtered in an ambush."

"What do you mean 'slaughtered'?" Kairi asked.

"We all had these wards placed on us," Olette explained. "They protected us from physical damage, and after the magical ward had taken enough of a beating and deactivated, a weird _ping_ went off in our ear and we had to drop to the ground to signify that we became a casualty. We got wiped out fast."

"I thought we were better than that," Kia muttered darkly.

Olette threw her a look. "It didn't help us that second platoon was short two of their better swordsmen and best archer when she has _her_ bow, and, if I do say so myself, three of their best NCO leaders; that third platoon was missing an excellent mage; that another two people from first platoon were gone; that most of our company is made up of guys who were still having trouble staying in step and marching in a straight line on Saturday; _and_ that our CO decided to lead us right into an effing death trap!"

"Ouch," Anar said, having listened in. "That's gotta suck."

Olette gave an aggrieved sigh. "Tell me about it."

"How're Abel and Baker doing?" Wakka asked. "Hayner's in Abel right?"

Olette's face broke into a smile for the first time in a couple of minutes. "Yeah, he is."

"So, how're they doing?" Wakka asked again.

"I'm not sure," admitted Olette, her smile slipping. "They were still out there last we heard. Abel Company was able to do some damage to Red team without a loss, and Baker was tasked to hold some position, but that was twenty minutes ago now and anything could have happened."

Sora nodded his head, most of what Olette was saying flying right over it. "So… what are you guys doing down here now?"

"They're seeing the game with us."

Sora turned his head sharply at the rougher voice and heard Kairi gasp something, but neither was able to prepare him for coming face to face with the Chief Guardian.

"So you're the Chosen Master of the Keyblade?" Garda asked, looking down at Sora with a slight frown. "Word is you have an interest in my apprentice."

Sora looked at him blankly for a few seconds, an uncertain fear beginning to rise in his throat. Once before he had thought that together he and Riku would have easily been able to take the man down, but now with seeing the man up close, Sora wasn't so sure about that anymore. He gulped, trying to push the anxiety back down. "Apprentice?" he asked cautiously.

"Kairi," Garda answered with one word. Sora's eyes widened and his head swivelled around to look at his girlfriend in shock.

"What?" he asked soundlessly.

Kairi meekly shrugged her shoulders. "Surprise," she whispered.

_So that's how she got so good while I was away._

"I'm still looking forward to our match later girl," Garda continued. "But for now, you'd better hurry and take your seats; the game is about to begin." The man gave Sora one last nod before walking off with two richly dressed people following him. After them went Captain Sobel and the officers of E Company, leaving the rank and file Privates with Sora and his rag-tag group of world-hopping, world-order-obliterating friends, princesses, knights, kings, heroes, junior heroes, digimon, and one dwarf.

"Okay… what?" Sora asked aloud.

"I don't know," Donald said, "but something fishy is going on."

"I think I've got everything just about figured out," Naminé said quietly. "If you want I can explain it while we get to our seats."

"No you won't," Sade said, refuting her claim. "We'll be too busy getting through the crowds to our seats, finding our seats, getting drinks and snacks, getting back to our seats, avoiding already drunk people, and finally watching the actual game for you to fully explain _anything_ about what just happened."

"I think he's got a point," Max said, lifting his sunglasses off of his eyes as he came over to join them. "I don't really know what's going on right now either. Can we just watch the game? I've got fifty munny on the Dolphins against PJ."

"Wranglers for the win!" Sade retorted.

"Yeah, Naminé, if you want to tell me anything, tell me at half-time," Sora agreed, nodding his head slightly. "They may not be my team, but I've been dying to see some Blitz action."

"Gawrsh, well then we'd better skedaddle on inside," Goofy said, pointing. "Because it looks like we've been left behind."

"Huh?" Sora asked.

Sure enough, only he, Donald, Goofy, Naminé, Max, and Sade were still standing in front of the stadium. All the others were already nearing the small crowd at the doors. Sora reached down to his pockets for his ticket, and then froze when he came to a realization: his uncle still had the tickets!

"Hey wait for us!"

-A-D-

True to his cousin's word, it quickly became a chore for them to find their seats as the group of thirty tried to stay together while navigating the concourse of the stadium. As soon as they'd found their seats, they had to negotiate with a group of five fans who were sitting right in the midst of the block that they'd been assigned as per the seat numbers printed on their tickets, to get out and move to where the fivesome's tickets told them that they were _supposed_ to be sitting. It ended up taking some smoke from Mushu's muzzle and Obelix picking one of them up by the collar of their shirt and slapping them repeatedly in the face with his massive hand after one of them called him fat, to convince them that the seats they had paid for were better than the ones that they were currently sitting in, even if the seats they were sitting in were at the dead mid-point of the sphere pool and five rows up from the front row.

Sora ended up staying back with Kairi, Naminé, Mulan, Selphie, Rikku, Donald, Max, Gimli, the digimon, and Asterix while all the others went to get snacks. He had no idea how they were all hungry enough that they'd need more hot dogs, burgers, fries, ice cream and popcorn after whatever it was that most of them had consumed between arriving in town and now, but they apparently were still hungry. He'd only asked Riku to pick him up a coke, and that was all he'd go on at least until half-time. Sora's only worry was that he was not sure how the twelve of them were supposed to save thirty seats.

"Why don't you take your jacket off and hang it over a couple of seats?" Rikku asked him.

Sora looked back at her. "There's no way I'm doing that," he said, glancing uncomfortably at and briefly clutching his left arm, the automail concealed underneath the sleeve of the black jacket and the black glove on his hand.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I don't want to," Sora answered firmly.

"Aw," Rikku said, drawing out into a sort of pout. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to Rikku," Sora reiterated.

Rikku looked like she was going to ask again, but Mulan placed a hand on her shoulder to stay her. "Just let it go Rikku," she said. "Sora has enough problems already."

He smiled gratefully at the Hero of China. "Thanks Mulan."

She smiled back. "Anytime Sora. How are you holding up? This is your world after all, and after what happened to it because of…"

Her sentence trailed off, but Sora nodded his head slowly. "I'll be okay. Don't worry too much about it. You're still hanging in there, right?"

Mulan's smile slipped for a moment. "Once Maleficent's gone, my world will return," she said. "Then we'll be able to get on with our lives."

"But the memories will never leave you," Asterix spoke up. "I can still remember the war twenty years ago as clearly as you can smell Unhygenix's fish."

"And how bad is that?" Kairi asked in trepidation.

Asterix gave a small chuckle. "Come to my world when this is over and you'll find out, three miles out from the village," he said.

Donald groaned. "I'd rather not," he mumbled.

-A-D-

Riku and Yuffie were both at one concession stand, putting fixings onto hot dogs for the both of them. Riku placed a coke down on the table.

"Who's that for?" Yuffie asked, looking at the fountain pop. He already had his own coke, and she had hers, so why would he have an extra one?

"It's for Sora," Riku answered, holding his hot dog in a hand. "Now where's the mustard?"

With quick and deft hands, Yuffie snatched the pop while Riku went to the other side of the rack, pulled off the lid, and grabbed a nearby salt shaker.

Riku looked up at Yuffie from where he was putting mustard onto his hot dog and narrowed his eyes at the innocent expression on his girlfriend's face. "Were you just doing something?" he asked.

"Just lacing this thing with some onions," Yuffie replied. "Why do you ask?" Riku glanced between her hot dog, which did have ketchup, onions, and green relish on it, and the coke he'd gotten for Sora that he'd left on that side of the cart.

"No reason," he said, shrugging off the feelings of doubt he had concerning the legitimacy of her answer, "Just thought that I heard you doing something."

"Yeah, like you really heard me spooning onions into the bun over the sound of that guy over there tooting his massive horn," Yuffie said sarcastically. Riku shrugged and shook his head, looking into the crowd at the person Yuffie had mentioned, the man carrying a long, blue horn with the Dolphins' logo printed on the side. He turned back down to his hot dog to add a little bit of…

Riku did a double-take. There had been someone in the crowd near the man with the horn who looked familiar, but he couldn't quite remember from where. All he did know was that he had to look again, because a slight chill went down his spine as he tried to recall the face from memory. Aquamarine eyes roved the throng of people around where the man winding his blue Dolphins' horn stood, but they could not locate the man he'd thought he'd seen.

"Hey Riku, are you okay?"

Yuffie's voice was softer this time, and seemed more anxious than sarcastic or excited. She must have noticed the look in his face and eyes. Riku shook his head again and placed a smile onto his face. "Yeah, it's nothing," he said comfortingly, "just thought I saw my math teacher." His smile became a little more sincere as he saw the worry erased from her hazel eyes. "C'mon, let's get back to the gang."

"Yes," Yuffie purred under her breath, "let's." It was going to be entertaining, at least for her.

-A-D-

"—a colossal dog, a cheeseburger, a coke, and three bars of ice cream," Roxas finished, at the front of a concession line. Naminé and Axel had both told him to buy them stuff while Naminé stayed behind to watch the seats and Axel went to buy himself some things he said he "needed for the game". What those could have been, Roxas didn't know.

"Here you go," the cashier said after Roxas had paid him. "Would you like a tray?"

Roxas looked at his accumulated goodies with a pensive expression for a second before nodding his head. "Sure," he said, placing his coke under his left arm. The three bars of ice cream went into the same hand, while his loaded food tray went onto his right arm. The coke then left the crook of his arm for a cup-holder within the tray, and Roxas was off with a slight smile on his face, already anticipating the pleasure of sinking his tongue and teeth into the ice cream in his hands on this warm autumn day.

_Naminé and Axel are going to love that I got them ice cream too,_ he thought, looking through the crowded concourse to find the exit to get back to their seats.

"Hey Roxas!"

He turned around and laughed. "Axel, what's with all of that stuff?"

"What are you talking about?" Axel asked, smiling cheekily at him from underneath a foam blue hat with the picture of a dolphin striking a blitzball in front of it to the left with its tail plastered onto it. On his hands were two great big foam fingers with #1 written on them. "I've got to support somebody don't I?"

"Well, why are you supporting them?" Roxas asked, waiting for Axel to gain a few more paces on him. "I thought that since you and Sade hit it off, you'd be supporting his team."

"As if," Axel answered. "Just because your little cousin and I happen to both do the Dew does not mean that I have to go against my best buddy who'll be cheering for his cousin's team's rival, got it memorized?"

"So you're only cheering for the Dolphins because Sora and I are cheering for them to spite Sade?" Roxas asked.

"Sums it up, yeah," Axel answered.

Roxas laughed. "Want an ice cream?"

"No thanks," Axel said, showcasing his two big fingers. "I've got my hands full."

A little bit of disappointment stung at Roxas, but he shrugged it away. There was always Naminé. "Alright, want anything to eat then when we get back to the seats?"

"Nah," answered Axel, "got to support the team. I can't take one of these fingers off just to have a hot dog."

"But, you asked me to get you something!"

"Well, I'm not hungry anymore," Axel told him as they came out to where the seats were. "Ah here we are now."

They were the last two to return to the seats, with everyone else already either sitting or standing up and talking while trying to get to their actual seat. Obelix had a huge stack of hot dogs in his hands, and Roxas' eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets when he saw the Gaulish warrior snuff four of them down at once.

"—playing at Riku!" Sora was saying loudly and aggressively, out of his seat and staring at his best friend.

"Hey!" Yuna and Rikku complained from directly in front of Sora, what looked like pop dripping in their hair.

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked, confused.

"Take a sip of this and then you'll know what I'm talking about!" Sora retorted, shoving the drink towards him. "Remembering the spider prank wasn't enough for you? You had to go and prank me again?"

"Oh, please don't remind me of the spider prank," Kairi said, curling up into her seat and shivering.

Axel tapped her on the shoulder from a row above. "What's going on Princess?"

She didn't have time to answer because Riku had just spat a mouthful of pop into Donald's face. "Oh, blech! That stuff's nasty!"

"HEY!"

"Told ya!"

"Too damn… Yuffie!" Riku said, rounding on the ninja. "You laced this with salt when I wasn't looking didn't you?"

"Hm? Me?" she asked with a mouthful of processed meat. "Yu've gut the wong gur Ruk."

"Yuffie?" Sora asked. "You trusted my drink with _Yuffie_!"

The raven-haired kunoichi swallowed mightily and placed a hand to her chest for a second before looking forebodingly at Sora. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means!"

Yuffie placed her free hand into one of the pouches draping down from her belt. "Perhaps you can explain it to me."

"Yuffie, put the kunai down," Riku said. His head buckled and both his hands leapt to the back of it as he hissed in pain. "Hey what?"

"You spat in my face!" Donald said, having whacked Riku with his staff.

"Well I really didn't mean to," Riku apologized.

Roxas shook his head as he watched all of this happening and finished passing his load of food around between himself, Naminé, and Kairi, since Axel would no longer take any. "Hey Naminé, I've got some ice cream here for you too."

"Huh?" she asked, looking up at him as he stood to her right. "Oh, no thanks Roxas, I'm good with this burger."

Even more disappointment embedded itself into Roxas as he looked mournfully at the three bars of ice cream in his hands, which were now beginning to melt. "But, who else will I have ice cream with?"

"Ooh! I'll have one!" Selphie said excitedly.

"Wait don't give it to—too late," Kairi murmured as Selphie had already snatched one of the three bars up and immediately began to devour it. Roxas looked at Naminé, and he seemed so pitifully lost and confused that she couldn't help but sigh and give him a small smile.

"Alright," she said. "I'll have some ice cream too."

Roxas beamed at her and handed her the other bar. "Heeere you go," he said, "One for you, and one for me." He dropped down onto his seat and placed his lips around the top of the bar, a dopy smile of happiness melting onto his face as surely as his lips melted down the ice cream's soft form.

The lights started to dim as the energizing background music began to blare louder. "Yo Sora, Riku! Stop brawling and sit down yah?" Wakka said, laughing at the Keyblade Masters, who were currently engaged in mortal unarmed combat with Donald, Yuffie, Yuna, Rikku, and Obelix, who wouldn't let himself be excluded from the fun. Donald's wings were around Sora's throat, and Sora had his right arm gripping one of them and trying to pry it off and his left hand was blocking a backhanded slap Yuna was sending to him. Riku had his arms around Donald, trying to get the duck off of his best friend, and Yuffie had her hands on the ground with both of her legs wrapped around one of Riku's knees, about to twitch them and send him toppling to the ground. Rikku was being held in Obelix's mighty hand by her foot, and dangling from it. Her arms were both out, trying to hit the big Gaul and kick him with the only foot she still had under her own power.

All of them froze still and, grumbling, extracted themselves from the positions they had gotten into and returned to their seats before security could be called to remove them. The lights dimmed even further as the retractable dome on the top of the stadium began to close, shutting out the sunlight. Screens all around the stadium came to life, playing a video of Dolphins highlights set to a powerful song to pump up the crowd. The video and song ended, and a loud voice began to blare as the searchlights continued to rove the stadium and interior of the filled sphere pool, in which six players wearing brown and red were swimming around, tossing a blitzball back and forth while one stayed in front of the goal.

"**Ladies and Gentlemen…**"

"What the—?" Gimli asked, looking around wildly. "Where is that voice coming from?"

"Just relax and enjoy it Gimli," Sora called over to him, by now thoroughly not caring that his Furies weren't playing. He was just happy to be at a game this year.

"…**we are pleased to welcome you this magnificent afternoon of Blitz Fest to the season opener for the Gibios Wranglers and **_**your**_** Dunash Dolphins!**"

The cheers were thunderous.

"**Now, give a big hand in welcoming into the sphere pool: **_**your Dunash Dolphins!**_** On Offence, the Centre: Mike! His Left Wing: Comrie! The Right Wing: Jordan! On Defence, the Left D: Eberle! The Right D: Jeff! And, in the net: the man who broke the team record for highest save percentage last year, Deslauriers!**" (A/N 1)

Six players in blue and white swam into the sphere pool as their names were called, and the cheers of those wearing blue and white and waving blue flags and holding and wearing blue foam items grew so loud that it threatened to shatter decibel levels achieved at rock concerts. The overhead ceiling began to retract again, bringing the light of the glowing Sun back into the stadium to glitter through the rolling waters of the sphere pool.

The referee brought out the ball as the Dolphins and Wranglers sized each other up from within the pool, and each team formed up upon either side of the starting glyph for the opening blitzoff. Sora was nearly shaking in his seat from excitement and adrenaline. He was giddy, and completely unable to contain himself as the referee blew his whistle and the Dolphins' centre forward grabbed the ball first. "Run 'im over!" he yelled, meaning the centre forward of the Wranglers.

It was almost like Mike heard him over the din, or that the player had been planning on doing that already, when the Dolphins' centre ploughed right through the tackle the Wranglers' centre Jerome plied on him. He twisted around in a corkscrew, dodging a tackle coming from the Wranglers' left winger Iginla, and tossed the ball up in a rocket pass to his winger Comrie, who was bowled over and lost the ball a second later by Wranglers' right wing Steve, who passed it back and across to his left defenseman MacIntyre. MacIntyre then took the tackles of both Jordan and Mike and continued on to pass the ball up to Jerome, who lost it to a kick from Eberle coming in from above. Eberle picked it up and tossed it off to Comrie, who deked around another hit from Steve and threw it away to Mike before the Wranglers' other defenseman Curtis could hit him. Mike just barely grabbed it by the skin of his fingers and rolled underneath a pincer tackle from Jerome and MacIntyre to pass down towards Jordan. He struck out at the pass with a snapping foot and shot the ball from below towards Wranglers' netminder Joseph. He saved it off of his shins, drawing a massive groan from the blue and white and cheers from the brown and red, but the cheers were quickly stifled and the groans turned into mammoth shouts of joy as the rebound found the foot of Mike and the blitzball shot above extended arms to enter the triangular goal area a foot above and to the left of Joseph's head.

Horns blared and Sora could hear Axel screaming his lungs out with a lolling tongue and both his massive foam fingers up in the air. Sade and his immediate family were groaning, and many others among their group did not know who to root for, but Sora was surprised slightly when he was just barely able to make out Gimli the Dwarf make a small shout of 'Yes' before regaining a mildly interested, though not genuinely caring, expression.

Kairi suddenly grabbed his arm and Sora looked at her in concern. "Sora, there's something I forgot to tell you," she said.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked, half-watching the players return to the centre of the pool.

"**The Dolphins' goal, his first of the season, scored by centre forward Mike!**"

"Sora, the Prince is here," Kairi said.

Sora looked at her with mild confusion. "Prince? What prince? Who are you talking about?"

"**Jordan and Comrie with the assists. The time: two minutes, four seconds into the first half.**"

"I mean _the_ Prince," Kairi restated. "Prince Alexander III, from the mainland."

It hit home and Sora momentarily forgot about the game. "Wait, him! What's he doing here? He's never come here before!"

"I don't know," Kairi said, "but I think he might have overhead Master saying that I was Princess and Heir of Radiant Garden." She looked down worriedly.

"And…?"

"Princes marry Princesses Sora," Kairi reminded him. "He looked at me kinda funny."

"Don't worry Kairi," Menelmon said suddenly, the digimon's soft feathers rubbing against her cheek. "I'm not going to let some random prince take you away from the people you love, and that's on a digimon's honour."

Sora chuckled slightly and kissed his royal girlfriend on the cheek. "Have you forgotten already Iri?" he whispered. "I'm Prince of the Pride Lands." Kairi smiled again, reassured, and Sora turned back to the game.

It was sure becoming an interesting day.

-A-D-

Outside the town, eyes watching from the peak of a hill, two men stood side-by-side. One had his slanted orange eyes cruelly surveying the town, roving here and there as if he were prying open doors and windows with just a look, and the other's intelligent sapphire eyes were watching the other from underneath his black and purple fedora, pulled down low to nearly obscure them along with the curls of his black hair.

"I still think that it was unwise to send him in so soon," he said to the other man, who was dressed as if he came from a harsh land and spent most of his life in a saddle. "You can spy anything as easily as a hawk."

"Better than a hawk," the other replied with only a casual glance back at his hat-wearing friend. He was bald, and hair only grew around his face and from the back of his head.

Fedora shrugged at the bald man. "It is a funny thing," he said, stepping in front of Bald and looking at the town himself. "On this board you stand as King, but who among them stands as their King?"

Bald threw him a look, but Fedora did not see it and continued. "I cannot help, for Nixion did not send me. If you should fall here, the Mistress' message will waver and the battle will be lost. But which among them must be taken to end the game?"

"I don't care for your riddles," Bald told him. "I'll take them all if I have to."

"But that is not the purpose of the game to be played today," Fedora said, turning around. "Today we need only threaten their pieces, not take them outright."

Bald grunted and gave him a curt nod of respect, but he smiled wickedly. "I will take what is in my grasp. I must know if he is here, so I can feel his life slip away between these fingers."

"Which is why you sent in that lowly pawn," Fedora said, turning back to look at the town and the blitzball stadium within it. "If he's discovered and taken, it'll put the Keyblade Wielders on their guard; they'll know that you're here Xayn Shu."

He looked back at the Nobody of Shan Yu, who was smiling in confidence. "Perfect," he said.

-A-D-

The score was now four to one in favour of the Dolphins most of the way through the second half, and Dolphins fans cheered joyously as Wranglers forward Steve took a huge hit from a tackle by Dolphins defenseman Eberle, the ball leaving both hands and beginning to spin and drift through the sphere pool. The Wranglers defenseman MacIntyre didn't seem to like his fellow player getting hit, and within three seconds he was at Eberle's side, firmly shoving his shoulder.

Eberle shoved back.

"**It looks like we're about to get a little action between MacIntyre and Eberle folks.**"

"Wait?" Yuffie asked suddenly, looking up in excited interest. "Are they going to—?"

"YES!" Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Sade, Tidus, Wakka, and about the entire crowd cheered as both MacIntyre's and Eberle's gloves came off and MacIntyre grabbed Eberle's shirt and threw a punch at his gut. Another one followed, and then another. Eberle kept a hold of MacIntyre's shirt and sent a shot to the side of MacIntyre's head, but he was sorely outmatched. MacIntyre was at least four inches taller and fifty pounds heavier. Another one of the enforcer's heavy punches struck against Eberle's chest, and the Dolphins' defenseman struck out at MacIntyre's head once more, both their bodies circling around in the pool.

"Come on!" Yuffie yelled. "Go for the head Mac! Yeah! Blitzball has hockey fights! This is awesome!" MacIntyre landed another jab to Eberle's chest. "Yeah! Hit him again!"

"Don't give up Eberle!" Tidus roared.

Blood was leaving the forehead of MacIntyre and was beginning to stain the shirt of Eberle and mixing with the waters of the sphere pool until it was indistinguishable. Both players kept hold of the other's jersey, keeping each other close. The Dolphins player was looking a little poor, even though he hadn't taken any blows to the head, but he threw another punch at MacIntyre's head, and then another and another. Two more blows rained down on the head of his opponent in quick succession, who was now looking like he was the one on the ropes. But then one solid slug from the Wranglers player's fist connected with the side of Eberle's head and sent the Dolphin down, reminding everyone why MacIntyre's nickname was SmacIntyre.

"YEAH!" Sade roared. "MacIntyre owns Sora! Wranglers all the way!"

"You're down by three with a minute to go," Sora reminded him. "I think you've lost."

"Who cares?" Sikora asked. "We won the fight!"

"And what a fight that was," Yuffie said, placing a hand to her chest. "It was so exhilarating. Ooh, I wish that we had our hockey back!"

Kairi tugged on Sora's shoulder. "I have to spar with my master in twenty minutes," she said. "We'd better get going if we're going to make it to the town square in time, what with this crowd."

Sora looked at her in disbelief. "But the game isn't over yet!"

Kairi rolled her eyes. "The Dolphins are going to win Sora, you won't miss anything."

Sora glanced up at the clock, and gave one last painful look towards the action in the sphere pool before rising at his girlfriend's urging and leaving with her.

-A-D-

Twenty minutes later, Kairi was waiting by the stage where she'd seen the priests of Poseidon retell the legend of how blitzball came to the islands. The warm wind blew through her hair, bringing with it the smell of the ocean. It was a comforting feeling, but it did little to still her mounting nerves. Over the countless hours of the many weeks she had trained by Garda's hand she had come to know him very well. He was thirty-seven, had never been married or had a girlfriend, and had been born and raised on the island of Nova. He'd spent a number of years in his childhood roaming the jungles of that island near the mines by its dormant volcano, and had learned at an early age of the dangers that wandered free about the islands. He'd made his first kill defending a friend when out camping at the tender age of nine, and he'd never looked back. Since that day, her master had dedicated himself to becoming stronger and mastering his skills in the art of wielding any manner of weapon, his preferred being the great two-handed claymore he always had strapped to his back. He looked to the betterment of himself and of any comrade who wished to fight alongside, and to the safety of his people wherever he went. He had had no need for intimately close relations with any one person because he kept himself close but distant to every person he came into contact with. Why he was keeping himself far away, Kairi had never been able to pry out of him. But there was one thing that she did know above everything else: from the day he'd killed his first fiend onward, any opponent he faced had never beaten her master.

She looked into the crowd in anxiety, both hoping and dreading to see the man's face above the heads of the number of people milling about in the square. She felt Sora's hands on her shoulders but did not look around.

"Don't worry so much Kairi," he said. "You'll do fine."

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose," she repeated under her breath, meaning to only say the words in her head.

"No you're not," Menelmon said encouragingly. "I believe in you Kairi."

"Yeah," Aiwemon added, "have a little faith."

Riku, who was taller than the rest of them who waited in quiet, spoke up. "He's coming."

Kairi paled and spotted Garda striding towards her confidently. "I'm going to throw up," she mumbled.

"You can hurl after you've beaten him," Rikku told her.

Kairi shook her head but didn't say anything, thinking that opening her mouth might just cause her statement to come true. Time was acting in funny ways, because the next thing she knew, Garda was standing right in front of her.

"Are you ready girl?" he asked.

Kairi started and her breath hitched. "Ye—Yes Master!" she said, trembling slightly.

"Good," he said with a slight smile as his big right hand went back to the hilt of the mammoth sword upon his back. "Then show me what you've learned," he added before leaping onto the stage. His sword rang out as he drew it during his leap, and the Sun's light reflected off of the black metal of the long and thick claymore.

Kairi gulped and looked up at her master, unsure of herself. Then another voice spoke from behind her. She turned her head around and saw King Mickey standing there with Asterix. "We're all behind ya Kairi," the King said encouragingly, nodding his head at her.

Asterix nodded as well. "Show him what you can do," he said. "We're all here for you, Your Highness."

"You've gotten good Kairi," Riku told her calmly. "We're proud of you."

Kairi smiled slightly, but she still felt like the entire world was crashing down around her. There was still no way that she'd ever be prepared to fight him, and even if she was prepared, she couldn't possibly win, not alone.

_You are never alone,_ a voice in her head spoke firmly.

Kairi stepped up onto the stage without even thinking about it. That voice was just as commanding as her master's, and just as important. With four simple words, the voice had reminded her of a pact she'd made when her life had been in jeopardy, and had briefly given her the strength to overcome the challenge that had immediately been before her.

Kairi's right hand glowed with white light and Crowning Flame appeared within it, the smaller white weapon glittering in the sunlight and contrasting the massive black sword held by her master. Garda looked at the weapon in interest, and Kairi steadily held onto it with both her hands, her nerves stilled.

"I will show you what I've learned, Master."

-A-D-

_A/N 1: In case you didn't know, all of the names used for players in the Blitzball game came from the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. Mike Comrie; Jordan Eberle, even though he's down on the farm team but he played for the Oilers in the preseason; Steve MacIntyre; Curtis Joseph, he used to play for the Oilers; and Jeff Deslauries for the Oilers; and Jerome Iginla for the Flames._

_Happy Holidays!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	27. Blitz Fest Part V: Master and Apprentice

_I hope everybody had a good holiday season. Let's get to the fight between Kairi and Garda shall we?_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Final Fantasy._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXVII: Blitz Fest Part V: Master and Apprentice

_1550hrs, Monday October 27__th__, 2003  
__Dunash, Destiny Islands  
__Kairi_

The wind blew around Kairi, its warm, moist breath heightening her sense of anticipation. Every muscle in her body was tensed as the nerves that before had plagued her subsided. She was here now, her master was here now, and there was nothing else of importance in front of her. The eyes of her friends were on her, and she knew that they were not the only ones. The people of the island had their eyes on the stage, having spotted the Chief Guardian with his sword out. Whispers in the crowd reached her ears.

"_Hey, it's Garda."_

"_Who's that he's with? She doesn't look like a Guardian."_

"_Whoever she is, she's gotta be nuts for taking on Garda. He hasn't lost to anyone or anything, ever!"_

"_Isn't she a little young? How does she expect to be able to do anything against him?"_

"_Who is she anyway?"_

"_Wait a minute, I know that face. That's Kairi, the mayor's kid!"_

"_What? She survived? But those dark things that hit Felra, and her whole family…"_

"_Yeah, I know. Poor kid. And now she's going to fight with Garda. Must have a death wish or something."_

"_Maybe she just has something to prove. Like, that she won't go down as easily as her parents did."_

Kairi bowed her head slightly, trying to shut the voices in the crowd out. She shook her head as the forgotten grief partially came back with a tiny sting, and her anxiety about facing her master came back.

"You can do it Kairi!"

She turned her head at Sora's voice, and saw his smiling face nodding at her. A tiny smile made it back onto her face and she nodded gratefully at her boyfriend. The indigo eyes underneath her red hair looked down at the Keyblade she held onto, and she nodded once more to herself.

_Sora's right, I can do this. I _will_ do this._

"You ready girl?" Garda asked her, preparing himself and his massive black claymore.

Kairi nodded her head and spun Crowning Flame in front of her before holding it readily in her hands. "I'm ready Master," she said. "Come and get me."

"_She's letting him make the first move?"_

"_Hey, she just called him 'Master'! Does that mean…?"_

"_No way, Garda just doesn't take apprentices."_

Garda smiled, almost as if he'd heard the whispering voices himself, and leapt straight towards his apprentice. The stage they stood on was wooden, and a hundred square metres. They both knew the rules: the first one to be incapacitated or leave the ring for more than fifteen seconds would be the loser; there was no time limit.

Kairi's eyes zeroed in on her master's descending black sword and raised her own white blade to block it, finding that it seemed very similar to when she and Sora had used to spar against one another with the Oathkeeper and the Oblivion, only the similarities ended there. She was already moving off to her right to circle around Garda as she lifted Crowning Flame to deflect his sword, and when the two connected, her arms jarred with the force he had brought the blade down with. But Kairi held onto her sword, and brought it out swinging towards Garda's midriff to parry the swift attack he followed with.

She turned her blade around in her hands and sent it on a downward arc to her left, barely holding off a strike to her legs, and leapt backwards to dodge a stab to her chest. The tip of Garda's six-foot long sword was mere inches from her body, and Kairi nearly tripped on her own feet as she backed away again, still circling off to her right to bring her into the centre of the stage.

Garda's arms pulled back and he swung his blade down for her left shoulder again. Kairi again wove both of her arms into place to defend herself with her sword, and once again the black and white met with a resounding _clang_. Her master's wrists twisted, bringing his mammoth sword down at speeds she'd only seen him accomplish, and her own wrists and elbows worked hard to keep up and foil him from cutting her waist. Her master reversed directions, and brought his sword around to strike at her right side. Kairi just barely saw it coming and ducked and rolled underneath it. His swing carried through, and Garda pursued her. "It's over my girl!" he called.

Kairi was kneeling on the ground as she came up from her roll, and saw her master advancing quickly towards her with a lunge that would skewer her. She knew that he had healers standing by to revive and heal her should just that happen, but Kairi wasn't about to take that chance. Quickly thrusting out a hand, she desperately called out, "Reflega!"

The honeycomb dome formed around her, and Garda's black blade struck against it and was turned aside, sparks forming where the blade skittered against the magical defence. "What?" he asked, surprised to find his strike blocked in such a fashion. Then a large smile formed on his face and he started to laugh. "You cheeky little girl, you really have gotten better! Why'd you keep this a secret from me?"

Kairi didn't answer, but rose fully from the crouch she had been in as her magical shield condensed itself into numerous balls of blue energy and streamed towards Garda. He batted three of them away with his sword, and ducked underneath the others, rushing for his apprentice. Kairi rushed towards him as well, and lashed out with her sword towards him, being stopped from connecting with his upper chest near the hilt of his claymore. "How long have you been using magic for?" he asked, still smiling. "You hadn't even touched the subject before you went and vanished on me, and now you're already using third-tiered defensive spells? You've got some mighty big chops kiddo."

"Please don't call me kiddo, Master," Kairi said, a wry smile on her own face as she traded blows with her master, her arms straining every single time their swords connected. "I've learned a lot more than just that."

"It seems you have," Garda acknowledged as Kairi continued to strike his sword near its hilt, stopping him from finishing a strike. "Five months ago you wouldn't have lasted this long; your arms would've already turned to jelly."

_They feel like they're about to,_ Kairi thought to herself, gritting her teeth as Garda dropped a powerful hit onto her Keyblade. Tremors shot through her wrists and arms, and she saw another attack coming down from above. She dropped to the ground and rolled again, quickly springing up and twisting her body around in a circle, her legs spinning in a wide arc above her head as she sent a slash to Garda's shoulder.

"Ha, wonderful dodge!" her master said, swinging his sword up to block her attack, "but you're still not that strong girl." His swinging claymore made contact with Crowning Flame, and the force Kairi had put behind her slice wasn't enough to even halt his parry. Kairi winced as her Keyblade was shoved back into her body, and she flew backwards through the air, losing her grip on her Keyblade in the process.

_Crap_, Kairi thought hurriedly, feeling the air rushing over her bare arms and pushing at her back. She looked behind her, seeing the wall of a building coming up close as she flew beyond the confines of the open-ended square wooden stage.

-A-D-

"Uh-oh," Sora said quietly as Crowning Flame clattered onto the stage. "Kai's not doing so well."

"She's fighting the Chief Guardian," Riku reminded him. "He's faster and stronger than we know, and far more experienced than any of us. Just that she's made it this far is impressive enough."

"And that _was_ a really good dodge," Naminé added, nodding her head.

"Hey, that girl fighting Garda's pretty hot," someone nearby said.

Sora stiffened, and felt a hand come to his shoulder. "Let him go," Riku said, glancing behind them at the young man who had spoken. "He's drunk," he added, turning to look back at their female best friend once more. He paused and looked back into the crowd. The man from the stadium, he thought he'd just seen him again.

-A-D-

Kairi hit the wall and held herself there for a moment, clinging onto it with the backs of her fingertips and her shoes before she could begin to slide down it. She took some pride in that she was able to do it. Her master was beneath her, and many metres away near the stage's centre.

"Are you going to give up girl?" he asked, more than loud enough for her to hear.

Her right arm flew out to her side and her left curled in a fist in front of her, leaving her pink boots her only hold on the wall. "Like hell I am Master!" she yelled, pushing off from the wall to streak towards him as her Keyblade appeared in her hand once again. "Light, give me power; strengthen my sword!" she yelled, Crowning Flame beginning to shine with pale radiance as her fist began to glow red with fire. "Hiya!"

Jets of burning flame flew from Kairi's fingertips as her body streaked, straight as an arrow, towards Garda. They struck ahead of her, crashing into the wooden stage and breaking the planks of wood that made the deck. Her left hand went to the hilt of her Keyblade, and Kairi brought the sword down hard towards where her master had disappeared to behind the flames.

Garda's black claymore visibly emerged from them, coming up defensively and stopping her cold as Crowning Flame flashed with white light, and even as the wood beneath him cracked and splintered beneath his feet he stood unflinchingly through it all. The only thing that Kairi did notice was that he was smiling widely even as the stage burned around him. It looked as if he hadn't taken a scratch.

_No way! I can't have missed him with all of them._

Her master quickly slashed at her Keyblade while she remained stuck in the air above him, and Kairi flipped backwards to land on the stage. "I see you've still got a few tricks up your non-existent sleeve," Garda said heartily through his smile. "You've done well, my apprentice."

Kairi steadied herself and kept a firm grip on her Keyblade. "It's not over yet, Master," she declared, bringing her sword out to her side and starting to run towards him. A horizontal slice came towards her master, blocked quickly by a black claymore with its point vertically down. Her arms did not jar as much this time. She sent another slash down, and it was blocked as well, his sword's position changing only slightly to turn it aside, and he leapt backwards from her third, dodging it completely.

-A-D-

Sora watched as Kairi continued to come on, her attacks whether they were physical or magical always being foiled, and Garda's counters being stopped as well. But it was clear to him that the Chief Guardian was still vastly superior to Radiant Garden's Warrior-Princess, as Kairi strained to hold him back at every attempt, even with her light-empowered Keyblade, and Garda wasn't even breaking a sweat.

But it was hard for him to concentrate on the match, because the drunk guy behind him had a few buddies, and they were still talking!

"Hey," the first guy said, "I think she flashed us her panties when she flipped like that."

"Dude, that was so awesome," his friend agreed.

_Keep breathing Sora. Just Breathe in…. Breathe out… Breathe in…. Breathe out…_

"Now here's the question," one of the guys said. "If she were willing, would you do her?"

"Hell yah I would!" said one.

"Nah," another one said. "Her tits aren't big enough."

_BREATHE IN…. BREATHE OUT…. BREATHE IN…. BREATHE OUT…_

"Oh man, I so just want to take her and—"

"HEY!" Sora snapped, turning around and glaring at them. "That's my girlfriend you're talking about, so would you just shut up!"

"News flash buddy, your bitch's hot."

"What did you just say?" Riku growled.

"I really hope you didn't just call my sister that," Naminé said.

"What, you mean calling her his bitch?" one of them asked. "Well then what would you prefer we call her bitch? Hoe? Scamp? Slut?"

"You take those back right now!" Goofy ordered, standing in with Sora's crowd.

"Ooh," one of the six drunkards said while his friends laughed. "The man-dog freak's angry. I'm scared fellas."

"Hey! Watch your mouth you big palooka!" Donald said.

"Shut the fuck up you stupid duck!"

"Why I oughta…"

"Ooh, I hope your girl fucks as well as she fi—"

"SHUT UP!" Sora roared, stomping a foot. "You can stop talking about Kairi like that right now!"

"Aw, has somebody's wittle giwlfwiend not been giving him any?" the first asked patronizingly. Sora growled and turned around. He could smell the alcohol heavily on the guy's breath. He shouldn't be getting so worked up about this. Maybe if he just stopped looking at them he'd be able to concentrate on Kairi's match again.

"His sword's probably too small for her," a friend of his laughed, turning his back.

"Bigger than yours!" Aiwemon shouted, likely not knowing what he was doing.

"What was that!" the guy yelled, turning around and thinking that Sora had said that. "Say that to my face you little shit!" he raged, his fist pulled back before flying right for the Keyblade Master's head.

-A-D-

Kairi ducked underneath one of her master's attacks and twisted around, blocking him with a vertically held Crowning Flame with both of her hands. She released her hold with her left hand and thrust it out towards him. A water-bomb formed and struck Garda in the face, the deluge bursting apart and soaking both of them. Kairi used the brief distraction of his vision being blocked to back away a few paces and catch her breath.

Her master burst through the water screen a second later, his black sword leaping towards her as he came on with a pleased smile. Kairi's eyes widened and she dodged to her left, his sword just missing her. He cut up, and she dropped onto the ground to duck underneath it. She kicked out at his shins with her booted feet, and grinned slightly when the toe of her boot connected with the inside of his right knee. Her master fell onto one knee, and Kairi dashed past him, lashing out with her Keyblade towards his defenceless right shoulder. The _clang_ of metal clashing against metal entered her ears and she knew that she'd been foiled again.

_Damn! Thought I had him that time… wait, Sora?_

The grit left her teeth as she glanced into the crowd. Sora and her friends had their backs to her, and were exchanging what looked like angry words with a group of six, or was it eight, young men in their early twenties. Sora had just turned around to look back at her again, and she tried to give him a smile. But Aiwemon said something suddenly and one of the jerks who had been laughing began to yell instead, and his fist was moving towards Sora's turned head.

"Sora watch out!" Kairi yelled. She felt something lick her cheek and leave, and then some liquid substance began to dribble down from where she'd been touched. Her left hand came to it and returned in front of her eyes. Her fingers were shining red.

-A-D-

_What?_ Sora thought just as Kairi had started to yell his name, but then a quite solid object connected with the back of his skull and he stumbled forward. The world around him suddenly became a rushing roar of voices and noise as seemingly all of his friends surged towards the group of drunkards like the angry seas in retaliation. It was all a blur for a couple of seconds as he rubbed the back of his head, knowing that he'd just gotten slugged.

Riku delivered a punch straight to the jaw of the one who'd struck him, and Naminé kicked the same person in the stomach. Yuffie had jumped into the air, leaping towards one who was right in the middle. She grabbed his face with one hand and shoved it down beneath her, stepping on his head in the process and shoving him down before lashing out at another one with a quick kick to the head. Obelix punched one in the gut, and the unlucky young man flew more than fifty feet before firmly striking a tree in the trunk and stopping. Tidus and Wakka both advanced on one and took him down with three well-placed punches. Roxas elbow-checked one hard in the gut, forcing him to bend down from being winded and struck him in the back to drop him to the ground, and Axel followed by gripping one other by his head and striking it hard with his own before throwing him to the ground.

The remaining three drunk jerks managed to get the message through to their inebriated brains and turned tail, half-dragging their punch-drunk companions along with them before they could fall victim to the remaining people who hadn't seen any action.

-A-D-

Kairi stared at her blood for a second before turning around to look at the man who'd done it. "Master?" she asked, realizing the instant she said it that it was over. He was standing directly in front of her with the point of his sword perfectly motionless three inches away from her neck.

"You stopped," he said. "Why?"

Kairi opened her mouth slightly. "I—I…"

"You let yourself get distracted," Garda added further. "Why?"

"I had to try to warn him," Kairi answered, glancing back at Sora and where the goons who'd been aggravating them were running away. "I couldn't just—" White-silver tendrils suddenly formed around them and Kairi's eyes widened in surprise. "What the— Nobodies?" she asked, watching as Dusks rose up from the ground.

Garda growled. "Not these things again!"

Sora shook his head quickly from where he stood with his friends, not quite comprehending what his eyes and ears were clearly telling him. Nobodies were arriving all over the place, and the Dusks were just standing there, swaying on their legs.

"What's going on?" Tidus asked, looking around at the Dusks. Panic started to erupt in the civilians and they started to scream and shout in surprise and alarm before running this way and that, like headless chickens.

"Just great," Donald grumbled, his small wizard's staff topped by its brown hat coming out. "Why did these guys have to show up?" A running man nearly knocked him over with an errant leg. "Hey, watch where you're going!"

"Sora!" Gimli barked, his hands reaching for his battleaxe, "what manner of creatures are these?"

"They're Nobodies," Sora answered slowly. "But, what are Nobodies even doing here?" An elbow struck him in the back and he turned around. "Hey! Watch it!" he retorted in annoyance.

"Isil!" Anar said, calling to his twin brother. "We've got to—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," the silver-haired boy answered. "But I don't think they're going to settle down much."

Kairi had a much better vantage point compared to the others, up on the stage, which is why she frowned while overlooking the dozens of Dusks that had appeared. Not a single one of them was moving from where it was standing. Even as people shoved into them in an attempt to escape from the unknown beings, the Dusks simply stood in place.

"What's going on?" she asked in confusion, wiping more of the blood from her cheek away with the back of her hand as Menelmon landed on her shoulder. Two more people came up onto the stage, and Kairi paused before grimacing slightly when she saw who they were.

"Garda what is the meaning of this?" asked Duke Naivus.

Garda fixed him and the young man next to him with a look. "Your Highness, Your Grace, this is not the time nor the place for me to explain anything to you." He looked around before spotting one of his Guardians near the stage. "Helena!" he called. "Get the Duke and the Prince out of here!"

"Helena?" Anar asked quietly, hearing the Chief Guardian.

The girl Garda had called to looked up at the Chief Guardian with light-blue eyes underneath blonde hair. She only looked to be about seventeen, and had a tight grip on a one-handed mace as long as her forearm. She was dressed in a short-sleeved green shirt and tan-coloured shorts with an orange belt. "Uh—Yes sir!" She ran up the steps and stopped in front of Duke Naivus and Prince Alexander. "If you'll please come with me," she said, her voice unmistakably revealing that she was nervous.

The Duke looked back to Garda and sighed. "Alright," he said, "if you insist." He nodded at the girl, and the Prince reluctantly followed him as Helena quickly began to lead them off the stage.

A flash of movement caught Kairi's eyes, and she looked to see the golden-haired twin Anar running straight for the steps that led onto the stage. His mouth opened and he cried out, "Helena!"

The girl paused and turned to look for the voice's owner, but before she was even able to get a good look at him the seventeen-year-old had swept up to her, wrapped his arms around her, bent his head down to her level, and begun to kiss her.

In all honesty Kairi thought that if a complete stranger had suddenly called her name, rushed up to her, and begun to kiss her out of the blue, she would most certainly have struggled and pulled back, likely following up with a slap and a few choice words to the man's face, or woman's if for whatever crazy reason it happened to be a girl. Which was why when the girl's mace slipped from Helena's fingers and her eyes closed and fingers pressed against the shoulders and back of the head of the adolescent whose name meant 'The Sun', Kairi felt her face go a little funny.

_Wha…?_ Kairi thought, looking at the exchange with a twitching eyebrow. "They're not seriously making out in front of us are they?" she asked, slowly panning her head towards her Master, watching as a Dusk flitted back and forth several metres behind him, near a still-burning hole in the stage.

Garda's face was stern, and he barked the Guardian's name loudly. Anar and Helena slowly broke off their kiss and stared into the other's eyes with soft, warm smiles on their pink faces. Helena looked back to the Chief Guardian and said without a trace of anxiety, "Please let him come with me sir."

Garda sighed like he was in pain and rolled his eyes. "Fine, just get Duke Naivus and the Crown Prince to safety." Helena smiled and tugged on Anar's arm before nodding at the Duke and Prince. The four of them took off into the now deserted, apart from the Dusks that were widely spread out and swaying on their spindly legs, street seconds later.

Sora looked up to Kairi on the stage, and they shared a confused look. "What was that all about?" Menelmon asked from the auburn-haired princess' shoulder.

"Gosh, I'm not really sure Menelmon," King Mickey answered, all thought about the Nobodies that were still just standing there and still just watching them, completely gone. A heartbroken sob entered their ears and all looked towards Kia, as the girl's hands came up to a face that was red with hot blood. Another sniffling sob came, and she turned and ran down the opposite street.

"Oh no, Kia!" Selphie called, starting to go after her.

"Kia come back!" Tidus added, joining with Selphie.

"Just leave me alone!" the archer howled back.

"This is so going to screw up, Easy," Jeff groaned.

"You're right Jeff. Shit, well this is just great," Isil muttered, running to catch up to Tidus and Selphie as they ran to catch Kia and running a hand over his forehead and through his hair. Yuna followed him, mentioning something about not wanting Tidus to be comforting some other girl just loud enough to be heard.

"Sheesh!" Rikku said, shaking her head at the departing parties. "Yunie just isn't going to let him go."

"Gawrsh Sora," Goofy said, looking at the spiky-haired Keyblade Master, "do we have ourselves a couple of love circles goin' on?"

Sora smiled politely. "I think you mean 'love triangles' Goofy," he said. "But I don't want to think about that and I really don't understand what all of these Nobodies are doing here."

"Yeah," Donald said, looking around. "There's too many of us here together for them to start stirring up trouble."

"_Are their numbers too few now?"_

They looked around for the source of the voice, but before they could locate it a sound that was much closer at hand and signified a more immediate problem entered into their ears. Swirls of darkness were appearing in large numbers near the Nobodies, the appearing Heartless surrounding them completely.

Gimli's two-handed axe was in his hands and he looked around with shrewd, but bewildered eyes. "What in Erebor's name is happening here?" he asked.

"Heartless Gimli," Aiwemon answered him.

Riku frowned at the appearing creatures and he suddenly realized who the person he'd thought he'd seen a few times that day resembled. The Heartless he was staring straight at was in the shape of a man, a foot or so shorter than him, and with skin of a slight purple hue. It was dressed in bands of armour and held a tower shield with the emblem of the Heartless on it. He hadn't seen the Legionnaire Heartless since Gaul, and that thought alone told him who was in control of both the Heartless and Nobodies.

"Asterix!" he called. "What was the name of that centurion who'd captured you?"

"I was just thinking the same thing," the Wielder from the village of Indomitable Gauls said. "It was Newyearus from Totorum." His hand flashed with light, and a Keyblade appeared within it. Its hilt was carved like two boar tusks, leaving the bottom open. A keychain that resembled a horned cap helmet hung off of the end of a brown handle. The blade was brown as oak with a pattern of a black wild boar fleeing for its life painted down the shaft towards the tip of the blade. A curved golden sickle reared up near the brown tip of the blade. The Indomitable.

"Wait, so some dude you guys fought before is here now?" Mushu asked.

"_Not quite!"_

They looked up for the source of the voice, and saw a man standing on the roof of a building overlooking the stage. He was dressed in a blue breastplate and blue fauld; there was a blue plumed helmet on his head, with horsehair in black and orange stripes defining the plume.

"Who are you!" Garda asked roughly.

"Uncle Sal," Sora whispered, backing up slightly, "you guys might want to get out of here. Things could get ugly real fast."

"We would, if we weren't surrounded already," his uncle said anxiously, glancing around and keeping a tight hold on his wife, daughter, and son.

"You may call me Newyearsux," the Nobody standing on the building's roof declared. "Which one of you is the one called Sora?"

Eyes glanced to the brunette before looking back at Newyearsux. "What's it to you?" Axel asked rudely.

"Ah, so he is here," the Nobody said emotionlessly. "That is good. He will be most pleased."

"Who'll be pleased Centurion?" Asterix asked loudly, jumping up onto the stage to stand a few feet away from Kairi, the Indomitable pointed directly at the Nobody of the former Centurion Newyearus of the fortified Roman camp of Totorum.

Newyearsux looked at Asterix suddenly and he jumped, startled, with his fingers in his mouth. "It's the crazy Gauls!" he screamed, his eyes becoming mere pinpricks as they took in both Asterix and Obelix and a barking Dogmatix.

Riku smiled slightly in relief and amusement. This Nobody obviously had no recollection of what happened to him after he became a Heartless, otherwise he'd be hungering not only for his heart, but for revenge on the ones who'd killed his other form. That, and that since he was a Nobody he shouldn't even be able to _feel_ fear in the first place, was quite entertaining.

A full second after finishing his scream, Newyearsux disappeared in a portal of darkness, his Nobodies and Heartless vanishing along with him. Crowning Flame vanished from Kairi's hands and she looked at the Wielder from Gaul. "How did you do that?" she asked.

"Our village has a bit of a reputation," Asterix replied smugly with a sly smile.

"These Romans are crazy," Obelix grumbled, kicking a pebble away with shuffling feet and mammoth hands stuffed into equally gargantuan pockets. "They spring up out of nowhere and then leave before we can even get started."

"This was a little anti-climactic," Paine said, putting away the sword she had drawn to be ready for the fight.

"A little my butt," Mushu said. "They wussed out and ran like chickens."

"They couldn't have won; how many of us that fight are there?" Naminé asked, looking around.

"Well," King Mickey said, looking around at the members who were still present. "Looks like about twenty-seven of us if we include Garda and the other four Guardians standin' around."

"Hey where'd Lord Ramius go?" Yuffie asked after a second, looking at their members.

"Now that you mention it, I don't know," Naminé said, looking around. "He was here earlier."

"You think he slipped out right after I lost?" Kairi asked.

"It had to have been in the confusion after the Nobodies arrived," Garda said firmly. He placed a hand onto Kairi's shoulder, and she looked up at him. He was smiling at her. "You did good, Kairi," he said.

Kairi hesitated and ran a hand across her cheek again; it had stopped bleeding. He had spoken to her by her name. "Do you really mean that, Master?"

"Of course I do," he said quietly, nodding. "And I also know that you held back."

"What?" Kairi asked, backing up a half-step.

"There's strength in you that you didn't use," he said. "This wasn't real to you. It was important, but it wasn't real."

"What do you mean it wasn't real?" Menelmon asked. "She was bleeding! That's _real_!"

"You knew that I wouldn't really kill you and you wanted to beat me without killing me, and we weren't using training weapons," Garda answered simply. "In that way, nobody's life was on the line. I'm sure that in the time you've been gone you've fought your best when the only options were kill or be killed, am I right?"

Kairi looked down, remembering the last real fight she'd been in; the one where she'd fought Pete's small army of Heartless including those Charr ones. How did he know things like this? She nodded her head, "Yes Master."

He went down to a knee and let go of his claymore, placing it on the stage. Both of his hands went to the sides of Kairi's shoulders and gripped her tight enough to make Kairi force herself to look into his eyes. "From what I know, you're about to get into a really big war," he told her seriously. "You won't be fighting just creatures of darkness and nothingness, you'll be fighting living things too. You mustn't be afraid to take their lives. The underlings won't show you mercy or hold back because you're still just a kid; they will _kill_ you if they can. Make sure that they _can't_."

Kairi nodded her head, stunned by the seriousness in Garda's voice. "I will Master."

"Good," he replied, standing up. "Now then, I think somebody here was supposed to be having a birthday celebration?" he asked, looking out towards Sora.

"Oh," the boy said. "Uh, yeah I was. But…" Sora looked at the roof where Newyearsux had been standing.

"Don't worry about them boy," Garda said firmly. "If any of them show up again, we'll take care of them."

Sora looked at him for a second, and then nodded his head with a smile. "Alright, we'll leave it to you then. Let's go to the beach guys!"

"The beach?" Naminé asked suddenly, glancing at Roxas. The blonde was looking at her suggestively. "Why do you want to go to the beach?"

"Because I'm the birthday boy and I want to go to the beach," Sora answered complacently. Kairi rolled her eyes and dropped down off the stage, waving goodbye to her master. The man had never gotten especially close to anyone, but it looked like that was changing.

-A-D-

_Short chapter. Man, I haven't written ones this short in a long, long time. I don't know what's getting into me. Oh well, all this means is that we're going to get another long chapter soon. I'm guessing two chapters from the next one. You'll know which one it is because it'll be called 'Ultimate Warrior'. After that, I should be bringing the length back up to normal._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	28. BF Part VI: When the Sun Goes Down

_I'm feeling kinda washed up writing filler after filler and not getting anywhere…_

_Oh well, at least I have songs in this one! Here it is! I've actually been waiting since December 08 to write this chapter. Oh, and New Year's does not suck, my twin sister and I got Wii Sports Resort from our older sister and brother-in-law and the insides of my elbows are sore from the Sword Fighting event, and the Jump Festa 2010 trailer for BBS will make your brain explode! Seriously!_

_And to my UK and European readers. I heard about the cold snap that's got all of you frozen or something and buried in snow. And, uh, that's pretty normal and even a little on the light side over here in Canada._

_Disclaimer: I am not epic enough. And I don't own the Happy Birthday song or any other song._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter XXVIII: Blitz Fest Part VI: When the Sun Goes Down

_1700hrs, Monday October 27__th__, 2003  
West Beach, Dunash, Destiny Islands_

Sora closed his eyes, smiling at the feel of the warm wet wind of the oceans of his home upon his face. Their passing was like sweet music, and the calming, familiar scent and embrace stole through his senses, easing any doubts and worries he'd had about the Nobodies and Heartless that had appeared an hour earlier. It had taken thirty minutes to gather everyone together again and get to the chocobo stables to ride out to the beach, but even so, Kia would get a sad, wounded look in her eyes whenever she looked at Anar, and she had become very quiet.

Anar, on the other hand, was the largest embodiment of cheer possible, even if they had left Helena behind. It didn't take a genius or Riku's and Isil's information to know that Helena had been Anar's girlfriend before Maleficent had ordered Cossex to strike Felra, and that the two of them being reunited again, if only for a brief time, was enough to make the blonde extremely happy.

But, Sora put all of that behind him as he lay on a towel in the shade of a beach umbrella, dozens of other people on the sunny white sands around them. The umbrella was facing forward to block the rays of the lowering, sinking, sun, not that that would matter too much in another couple of hours. He had even witnessed Roxas rubbing suntan lotion on Naminé earlier, and that was something to watch and listen to.

_Yessir,_ Sora thought comfortably, lying on his towel with his eyes closed. _Life, right now, is good._ He yawned, contented.

Footsteps in the sand, and then something plastic struck him in the face. Sora jolted and snapped his eyes open. Kairi was standing in front of him, wearing a red monokini, and a playful smile on her face. She bent down and picked up the beach ball she had obviously tossed into his face.

"Get up you lazy bum," she said.

"Can't I just take a nap?" Sora asked her.

"You're the one who wanted to go to the beach," Kairi reminded him. She sighed and shook her head. "Why did you want to come here anyway?" she asked quietly. "You can't go swimming because you won't take off your jacket; your automail will show too easily." Sora nodded his head. He actually hadn't initially considered that he'd have to remove his jacket if he wanted to do anything in the ocean without getting dragged down by its weight after the water had soaked into it.

"There's more than just water at the beach Kairi," Naminé reminded her sister, wearing her yellow bathing suit and on a towel under another umbrella to Sora's left. She had her sketchbook and coloured pencils out, but she had yet to place the tip of one to her paper. Her eyes brightened slightly. "Like beach volleyball."

"What?" Sora asked. Naminé pointed. "Ooh yeah," the Keyblade Master said, rising from his towel. "Volleyball net at ten o' clock. Here I come. Hey guys! Anyone got a volleyball?"

"Come on Sora," Selphie began, laughing, "who are you trying to kid? You suck ass at volleyball."

"That's only because my team in gym class always sucked," Sora retorted, motioning for her to throw him the ball she was setting across the net over to Rikku. All of the 'soldiers' had finally discarded their uniforms for beachwear, and they looked a helluva lot better for it. Their hair was down and styled back in the ways they were normally in, except for Wakka because his hair had been cut. Selphie was in a modest two-piece swimsuit of yellow, and she did toss Sora the volleyball instead of sending it to the blonde whose beachwear was skimpier than hers.

"Alright," Sora said, catching it in his gloved hands, "who wants in?" Numerous voices and hands rose into the air, enough that there could have been two teams of boys and two of girls, which is exactly what happened. Sora lined up on one side with Sade, Goofy, Roxas, and Tidus, while upon the other side stood the fivesome of Riku, Wakka, Donald, Isil, and Jeff.

Kairi sat on Sora's now vacated towel with the other girls and a few more of their friends who were spectating near her. Yuffie was shaking her head as the sounds of the boys arguing about who would be starting where drifted over to them. "I don't get it," she said at last. "Why doesn't Sora just take off his gloves and jacket? He's going to roast and none of us give a darn about his automail. He's still Sora."

"It isn't our feelings he cares about," Naminé said, taking up her pencils and looking intently at the boys, now debating who was going to serve first. "Yes, I think I'm going to draw them."

"Huh?" Sikora asked, looking towards her covered-up cousin in confusion.

Kairi answered solemnly. "Sora's afraid," she said, "that's why he doesn't show it whenever possible."

"What does that mean?" Yuffie asked. "He's afraid? Afraid of what?"

The ball went up, and Riku served it over the net with a two-handed underhand serve. Naminé's pencil began to scratch against the white page as she tried to capture the image in her mind's eye and relay it to the paper. "Of being different," she said. "And he's scared of rejection," she furthered, watching as sand kicked up around Goofy as he fell over while bumping the ball up.

Kairi nodded her head at her sister. "Sora's been well-liked by most of the people he's met," she added. "The Keyblade and his strength and magic didn't matter because it was invisible at first, or he'd used them to protect his friends. But the automail isn't invisible; you can physically see and feel it at first glance or when touching his arm. And, it isn't natural; it isn't _human_."

"So he could be branded as a freak or even a monstrosity by the ignorant who don't know him," Lord Ramius said. "They'd find anything that'd make him different, and turn Lord Sora into an outcast."

"But why?" Yuffie asked. "Jeff's different, he's black and he's doing fine."

"Jeff was born with the colour of his skin and has lived with it his whole life," Kia countered. "If he gets any racist comments, he knows how to deal with them. Sora's only had his automail for a little over a month, and Jeff is at least still fully human."

"Don't talk about my partner that way!" Aiwemon snapped.

"She didn't mean it that way," Menelmon said in a soft tone to quiet him.

"I saw the faces of Boromir and the Elves and Dwarves at the Council of Elrond when I told Sora to show them his automail," Kairi whispered quietly. "They were repulsed and horrified."

"At first, yes," Gimli said gruffly, forced out of the purple garments he had been wearing and into an oversized green t-shirt, wide-brimmed straw hat, pair of beige shorts that almost reached his ankles, and sandals. You could hardly recognize him. "But after today, his left arm being metal and not flesh and bone is completely moot. All I want to know is who could have the skill to craft a working limb out of metal."

"He really has nothing to fear," Uncle Sal said, watching the game. "Sora's just too likable for people to shun him for long because of an arm."

The ball carried back over the net to Sora's side from another one of Riku's serves, the silver-haired boy's team having won two points already, and Goofy bumped it, steadily this time, to Roxas. The boy's fingertips went up and he set the ball over to Sora, who leapt into the air and struck it with his gloved left hand. The ball streaked to the ground near Donald's webbed feet faster than an arrow, striking the sand and spraying it up into the magician's face.

"Plus it gives him a wicked spike," Kairi said, impressed.

"Imagine what would have happened if the fight with those drunk idiots hadn't ended so quickly," Sikora said. "A metal fist to the jaw would've broken bone."

"What was that fight even about anyway?" asked the red-head.

"They were talking about shagging you," Yuna answered. "And I'm really surprised that Sora was able to keep his cool about it as long as he did."

Kairi shook her head quickly with wider eyes. "Wait, _what?_ Those guys were talking about—"

"Well it first started off about you just being attractive," Naminé said, her eyes flickering back and forth between the volleyball game and her page. "But then it started to escalate."

"Yeah," Rikku added. "One of them even said that he wouldn't get jiggy with you because your boobs were too small." Kairi's face steamrolled through twelve shades of red before she even had time to glance down at the barely revealed curved tops of the globes on her chest. She ploughed through another three shades before her arms could come defensively to her aid after she heard Rikku's continued, "What are you anyway? An A or a B?"

"None of your beeswax!" She retorted, ducking away. Kairi grabbed the beach towel she had been sitting on and tied it over her torso just beneath her armpits and stayed hunched over, preventing _any_ eye from looking at any revealed flesh while some laughter slipped out of covered mouths.

"A or B?" Gimli asked, confused, and looking to Kairi to explain it. She only shied away more.

"This is getting really awkward really fast," Asterix said to King Mickey.

"I agree, old friend," Mickey answered.

"Ah, who cares?" Yuffie asked aloud, lying down on the sand and watching the boys playing volleyball with a smile on her face. She sighed. "We just can't compete Kairi; you me and Naminé, none of us have anything on Tifa or those three."

"Who do you mean by 'those three'?" Selphie asked.

"The Gullwings," answered Yuffie.

"Wh—why are you seemingly so intent on comparing breast sizes?" Kairi asked shakily, glancing towards the raven-haired girl. _And besides, _Kairi thought to herself while looking down, _yours are _still_ bigger than Nami's and mine, so shut up!_

"I'm not," Yuffie said simply. "Rikku just started it and watching the guys play like that, and especially a shirtless Riku, is kinda turning me on."

"Are you serious?" Naminé asked sceptically, quickly glancing at her before looking back to her drawing. Her eyes were now only occasionally flickering up to the game, staying focused more on her artwork. Yuffie didn't answer her, only moved her legs as her feet and shins hung in the air above her.

"Coming right for you Riku," Tidus said, holding the ball in one hand before tossing it up into the air. He jumped and slammed his palm against the volleyball. It streaked straight across the net, barely touching the top white rim, and plummeted for the ground. Riku bent his knees and bumped the ball up towards Donald. The duck's fingertips made contact with it and he set it up high. Isil leapt up and spiked it down. It struck sand just inches away from Roxas' fist as the blonde dove to try and get it.

"Dammit," he muttered, spitting sand out of his mouth and chucking the ball under the net.

"You gonna give up?" Riku asked, Wakka spinning the volleyball on his finger. The five on Sora's side all looked at each other.

"Not a chance!"

-A-D-

Xayn Shu stood upon the same hill as before, overlooking the town. The man wearing the fedora was still with him, and standing in front of him now was the Nobody of Centurion Newyearus, Newyearsux. Newyearsux and several other Nobodies had not been present at the meeting with Maleficent and Nixion the previous day, not being as strong as those who had sat at the table, and were delegated by Nixion and Maleficent to becoming the stooges of anyone under the bosses or the, currently, six Nobodies directly under Nixion's command. For all intents and purposes on the hierarchy, Newyearsux= Pete=Gantu.

"So you ran," Xayn Shu emotionlessly. "Didn't even put up a fight." It wasn't a question, it was a statement of truth.

"The fat ogre and the tiny menace were there," Newyearsux explained. "Those two crazy gauls can handle anything. Not even a whole Roman Camp can defeat them."

"Strong opponents," Xayn Shu mused, smiling slightly. He was silent for a few seconds. "Tell me, was Sora with them?"

"Um, yes, yes he was," Newyearsux answered.

"Where are they now?"

"They headed west, to the beach," Newyearsux told his superior, tossing something to him.

Xayn Shu's smile widened and he held the object up in his hand. "Perfect. The beach will provide us with the ability to send Sora the message. Besides, the little girl will be missing her doll, I suggest we return it to her."

"Then we should strike now!" Newyearsux said, two Legionnaire Heartless appearing behind him.

"Patience," Xayn Shu said. "The Sun is still up."

-A-D-

_1817hrs_

In the end Sora's team lost by a single point, and by that time the Sun had nearly gone down and only a fraction of those who had been watching the game had stayed watching it, the rest off by the fire that had been lit on the sandy beaches themselves by Sora's uncle and Gimli. They were already roasting marshmallows and hot dogs on sticks and sitting down on logs, talking and laughing as the Sun's lower half began to dip into the fiery waters of the ocean.

"_Whew_, that was some game," Riku said loudly, grinning as he stretched his arms out to drop onto a log. "Beating these guys has made me all tired out."

"You want to wind up in bed for a month?" Roxas asked darkly.

"I'm not that tired, dirt-face, and you'd never be able to follow through with it," Riku shot back.

"Wanna try your luck?" Roxas growled.

"Stop fighting boys," Aunt Victoria began, "there are a few more things that must be done first."

"Like what?" Aiwemon asked.

"Like these," Uncle Sal stated, returning from the chocobos with Sade, Lord Ramius, King Mickey, Axel, and Anar. All of their arms were loaded with boxes and packages covered in wrapping paper, a few of them with brightly coloured bows tied onto them.

Sora's eyes widened and an ecstatic smile came onto his face. "Presents!"

"And cake!" Sikora added brightly, becoming visible from behind, holding a large rectangular cake covered in white and blue icing. Thirty-two different lit candles were stuck into the cake, sixteen of them were made of white wax with brown edging on the edges of a spiral that wound around the core, and the other sixteen had yellow edging. On the cake was writing in red that read "Happy 16th Birthday Sora and Roxas". She was starting to strain a little under the weight of the thing, but she didn't show it well.

"_Happy Birthday to you,"_ their female cousin started to sing enthusiastically. _"Happy Birthday to you…_

"_Happy Birthday dear Sora and Roxas (Sora and Chocobo-head_, sang Riku)_, Happy Birthday to you!"_

The cake was placed down on Sora's and Roxas' laps, and they were lucky that they hadn't started to roast marshmallows yet, and he and Roxas both looked at each other with excited eyes.

"Go on," Axel said, knocking Roxas on the side of the head. "Blow 'em out and make a wish." The two looked at each other, grinned, inhaled deeply, and blew. The thirty-two flames lighting the thirty-two candles flickered as their breath passed over them, and they started to go out as the artificial wind robbed them of the heat needed to continue burning on the candle wicks. When all was said and done there were five left lit, three of Roxas' yellow candles, and two of Sora's brown ones.

Great bouts of laughter erupted from the mouths of their friends as they looked at Kairi and Naminé, who were each smirking at them with playfully furrowed eyebrows. "So, who are the other girlfriends then?" Kairi asked.

"Promiscuous boys," Yuffie laughed. "Apparently they have five between the two of them."

"Way to go Roxas!" Axel said, putting him into a headlock from behind and giving the blonde a noogie.

"Come on Kai," Sora said, smiling and laughing before blowing the other lit one on his side out, "you know me better than that. Well, there's you, and Naminé, and Yuffie—"

"What, me?" she asked.

"Course," Sora answered before going back to counting. "And there's also Tifa, and Aerith, and ah, what other girlfriends am I missing?"

"Just for that, you're on the floor when we get back to Rivendell," Kairi said, turning her nose up at him and looking away.

"What does she mean by that?" Mulan asked.

"They sleep together in Rivendell," Menelmon answered. Kairi face-palmed.

"Oooohh…"

"She means we sleep in the same bed," Sora corrected her. Kairi face-palmed again.

"Oooohh…"

"Because we share a room," Sora tried again. Another face-palm for Kairi.

"Oooohh…"

"Well we only get one room and there's only one bed in the room so we have to sleep together!" Sora explained. Kairi's head was beginning to hurt.

"Ooooooohhh…!"

"I mean, you guys are all perverts with dirty minds and sex on the brains!"

Everyone laughed while Yuffie did one more "Oooohh," just for the heck of it.

"But what is sex?" Aiwemon asked Menelmon quietly, the strange word having been thrown around but never actually explained.

"Yuffie said something about when a man and a woman are in love, or drunk, or just bored," Menelmon began in a hushed whisper, "but Kairi cut her off before she could say anything else."

"Whatever it is," Aiwemon said, "Sora and Kairi seem to get all red in the face really quick." Menelmon nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, if we all have dirty minds," Yuna began, "then you should _really_ open our present first Sora." She and Rikku plopped a moderately sized box down in the sand before his legs while the cake still sat on his and Roxas' laps. It was wrapped in red and gold, with a tag on it that said, 'To Sora, from The Gullwings'.

Paine's head dropped down to Sora's right head. "Just so you know," she whispered, "I had nothing to do with it." She placed a different present down on the log next to him, which was in the shape of a small rectangular box. "Happy sixteenth Sora."

Sora looked between her and the other two Gullwings and said, "Thanks guys, but do you think we could have cake first?"

"Yeah," Roxas added, sounding a little jealous that his 'twin' was getting his presents already and he wasn't. "Besides," he added, looking at the thing half on his lap, "this is pretty cold. It's ice-cream cake isn't it?"

"Yep," Sikora said, smiling brightly in the firelight and golden rays coming from the setting Sun in the west.

"Alright!" the blonde said, pumping his fist and blowing out the last of the burning candles.

-A-D-

The cake was delicious, and it didn't take long for it to be devoured by all the hungry mouths there. The Sun had only half-set by the time every piece was gone, and they all sat or stood around the bonfire as the pile of presents was placed on either side of Sora and Roxas, with the brunette's on his side to the right, and the blonde's on his side to the left. It didn't matter that they'd already technically been sixteen for four days, they had eaten their cake, and there were gifts to open. It had been getting colder as the Sun dipped down, and each changed into more appropriate wear than swimsuits. They'd also brought along a punch bowl and punch, and while it had a bit of a strange bite and burn to it, it was pretty good.

Since Yuna and Rikku had been so kind, Sora opened up their present first. Wrapping paper was ripped, torn away, and chucked into the fire, and Sora held up a black box with red and white writing and the outline of a human head and brain on it, a game.

"Dirty Minds," Sora said through laughter with raised eyebrows. "The Game of Naughty Clues." He turned it around, completely curious and amused, and read off the back. "Is also known as 'The world's cleanest dirty game.' The dirtier mind you have, the worse you will be at playing _DIRTY MINDS_ because all of the answers are clean! Hm. Will provide two or more adults, thanks for thinking of me as an adult guys, with hours of laughter."

"Ooh," Roxas said, looking over at the back. "Test how dirty your mind is by reading the following clues: I'm a four letter word, I'm a name for a woman, and I end in u-n-t."

_Cunt_, Sora thought the exact same instant that Roxas did, both of them looking at each other and blushing. They each knew what the other had thought, and looked at their friends, most of whom were smiling and blushing guiltily, looking down or away.

"Let's see what the answer is," Sora said quickly, flipping the box to see the answer, which was printed upside-down.

Aunt.

He couldn't help but say it aloud and laugh. "Thanks Yuna, Rikku," he laughed, placing it down. "I'm pretty sure Kairi and I are gonna have some fun after training for a few nights at least." Kairi didn't answer him, but Rikku made another 'Oooohh' noise and Sora casually told her, "Oh, stuff it."

"Hey, we should play it right now," Axel said, grinning maniacally. Sora shook his head slowly but firmly 'no'.

"My turn," Roxas said, already tearing the wrapping paper from a box wrapped in green. He was eagerly going into opening this one. Not only was it his first birthday present ever, but it was also from Naminé. "Hey! It's a portable sphere player!" he exclaimed with a wide smile. "Thanks Nam," he said, blowing the girl a kiss.

"Guess I'll open Kairi's then," Sora said aloud, looking around for the present from his girlfriend. He located it after about ten seconds, it was a small package, and tore the wrapping paper off. "Oooohh, an mp3 player! I guess that kinda tops Master Yen Sid's."

"And it has 16GB of hard drive space _and_ it already has music synched onto it," Yuffie said proudly. "That's what Kairi had us doing while you guys went out for your one-month anniversary."

"Aw," cooed Sora, looking at Kairi again, who was still giving him the silent treatment. "Thanks Kairi. I really like it."

"It was nothing," she said indifferently.

"No, it wasn't nothing Kairi, this is great. I mean it. Thanks a lot."

Kairi seemed to be at a loss for a second before she looked down at her feet with a small smile on her face. "Well, you're welcome."

"C'mon, you know I was only joking about that girlfriend stuff." She nodded her head and rose from the log that she had been sitting on to come and squish in next to him.

"Yeah, I guess. Ooh, this game _does_ look like it'll be fun," she said, picking up the box and looking it over. She glanced at Menelmon. "You and Aiwemon are _not_ going to be around when we're playing this," she said, her tone leaving her partner with absolutely no room for argument.

"It's a comb," Roxas said after having completely ignored Sora defusing the situation with Kairi, it would have worked out eventually, and opened his present from Riku.

"Yeah, maybe you should use it," the silver-haired Keyblade Master said.

"I already _do_ use a comb."

"It's a nice comb isn't it?" Riku asked.

Roxas looked back at the black object in his hand and ran his fingers along the item's teeth. "Yeah it is. Thanks."

Sora was tearing off the wrapping paper of the present he'd gotten from Paine herself, and his eyes widened slightly in confusion after he'd chucked the ball of paper into the fire. "Shaving cream?" he asked. "But I don't have a—" He stopped and dove into the smaller pile of presents, only six left now: one from Naminé; one from Riku and Yuffie; one from his aunt, uncle, and cousins; and three from Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey. He grabbed the one from Riku and Yuffie, it looked to be the right size, and ripped it open.

His smile was wide and his positive exclamation was loud and filled with laughter as he triumphantly pulled out a three-bladed razor.

"Okay, now this one's from Kairi," Roxas said, looking at the present in front of him. The auburn-haired princess smiled and looked across Sora at Roxas as he began to open it. He stopped for a moment as he saw the box underneath the wrapping paper and reached his finger under the lid to break the tape on the lid's three sides. Up went the lid and Roxas held the object out so that it hung in front of his eyes in the firelight and dying sunlight.

"Ooh," Yuffie laughed. "Naminé's going to know if Roxas likes his present or not."

"I will not," she shot back, blushing at the thought.

"They're just boxers Naminé," Kairi giggled. "You don't have to be doing anything to end up seeing them."

"Hey what are those on them?" Kia asked from somewhere on the other side of the fire. "I'm too far away, so I can't make them out."

"It's a pair of yellow boxers with blitzballs on them and a black waistband," Roxas said, describing them. He smirked satirically at Kairi, the boxers dropping onto his lap, and he nodded at her in the same manner while saying, "Thanks Kairi."

"There's more Roxas," she replied, still smiling.

"Ooh," he said, looking back into the box. "Just what I always wanted: a fluffy pink robe."

"Now you can be the master of the house," Kairi said, holding back her giggles. "Strutting around, proud as a peacock, in your yellow blitzball boxers and your pink robe. All will know exactly who they're dealing with."

"A poofta!" Wakka answered, laughing.

Roxas looked at Kairi again. "_Thanks_ Kairi."

"You're welcome," she said, still holding her giggles back while Sora ripped more wrapping paper.

"Naminé's present now," he said. His eyes brightened. "Hey, it's a stereo for the mp3 player! Thanks a tonne Naminé!"

"Glad you like it," she said. "And I included a picture with it too." Sora looked around for the picture she spoke of, and when he found it he couldn't help but laugh and pass it to Kairi. It was a drawing of hers, showing him jamming air guitar with his eyes closed and his ears plugged in while she and Kairi looked in from a doorway with teardrops by their heads.

"This is great," Kairi said. "Now we won't have to share headphones if we want to listen to music together to keep us sane."

"Why would you need it to keep your sanity?" Axel asked.

"You haven't met Hat 'n Clogs," Sora answered. Roxas startled to chuckle next to him and Sora looked at his twin brother. "What is it?"

"Thanks Axel," the blonde said. "You got me a gift card for ice cream and a lighter."

"Oops," Axel said, grabbing the lighter. "This was supposed to be mine, got it memorized?" He flicked it on and stared at the flame. "I like fire," he said aloud.

"As if that wasn't obvious," Mulan said, smiling at him.

"Okay," Sora said, taking the present from Donald. "Let's see what we have here." Roxas grabbed his own from the duck. Donald sniggered as the boys tore off the wrapping paper and pulled the lids off of the brown cardboard boxes that had been hidden by the paper.

Cream pies hit them in the face. The cream got all over their faces and chins and even into their hair.

Donald's sniggering degraded into full on laughter, joined by nearly everyone. Kairi giggled as she stuck a finger to Sora's cheek and wiped some of the cream pie from it. "You're tasty Sora," she said, likely fully knowing how many ways that could have been taken. "Naminé, get over here so you can have a taste of Roxas."

The Princess' finger scraped against his face again and Sora turned, blearily blinking enough so that he could see fuzzily. "You like it?" he asked. Kairi nodded her head, smiling. Without warning, he placed his face against hers and kissed her. The pie filling stuck to her face too as they came together, and Kairi pulled back after an instant and gasped.

"Sora!" she said, looking down and trying to spit some of the pie off her lips. "Pf!" Sora stopped her quickly before too much of the cream could leave her lips by placing a few fingers against her chin and capturing her lips once more with his, his tongue lapping up the cream.

"You're right," he said, "it _is_ good." He kissed her cheek, taking more of the pie filling in, and this time Kairi couldn't stop giggling. She pecked his nose, sucking in pie cream.

"Could you guys do that on your own time, in a room?" Tidus asked.

Towels flew into Sora's and Roxas' faces, and the two grabbed them and started to rub the whipped cream from their faces. Naminé had a small smile on her face to Roxas' left, sucking on her finger which she'd removed from his face moments before the towel had gotten to him. Sora finished wiping his face clean and then began to wipe Kairi's face off. She couldn't stop giggling and lightly pushed him away to take the towel and clean her face and the tips of her hair off herself.

"Gawrsh Donald," Goofy said. "Wasn't that a little mean?"

"What are you talking about Dad?" Max asked. "It was brilliant!"

"Least we know that Goofy wouldn't give us anything like that," Roxas said, grabbing his present from the Goof. Sora nodded and grabbed his own, and they opened them together. Both of them smiled widely and laughed as they opened the presents. Their arms reached in, and they came out holding an object in each hand. In their four combined hands were four plushies. And while Sora held ones of him and Kairi, with his holding a Kingdom Key high above his smiling head, Roxas had ones of himself, holding crossed Oblivion and Oathkeeper above his head with a smile, and Naminé. Both of the plushies of the girls showed them with splayed out arms and smiles to show them brimming with happiness, as if each were about to lunge towards the plushie of either Sora or Roxas and capture him in a hug.

"Kawai!" Kairi cooed, swiping the one of Sora with an expression identical to the one still in her boyfriend's hand. "He's soo _cute!_" She then hugged the little plushie Sora against her cheek.

"Hey let me see!" Naminé said, grabbing the one of Roxas from the blonde's hands. She twirled around, holding it high above her head with a laugh dancing from her lips. "Can I keep it Roxas?" she asked, coming back around and placing it by her cheek and chin with a dopey smile.

Roxas looked at his brother and chuckled. "Sure thing Naminé," he said. "As long as Little Naminé says you can."

"Oh yes you can," Roxas said in a higher-pitched voice, nodding Little Naminé's head with his fingers. "I have my big Roxie right here."

"Why thank you Little Naminé," Roxas said, looking down at the doll. 'She' responded by latching herself to the side of Roxas' cheek.

"I love you Roxas," 'she' said.

"Aw, I love you too Little Nam," Roxas said, 'pulling apart' from 'her' and giving 'her' a kiss.

Sora laughed and turned towards Goofy. "Thanks pal, but I think we each lost half of our gift."

Goofy chortled. "Aw, that's alright Sora. I kinda figured that sumthin' like that might happen, ahyuk!"

"Come on Roxas!" Selphie said. "It's time to open your stuff from the King."

"But I don't think Little Naminé wants me to let go of her," Roxas said, smiling at the doll still in his hands.

Naminé swiped it and fixed the doll with a very scary stare. "You're stealing my boyfriend you little witch," she whispered. "If you know what's good for you and your stuffing you'll stay out of my way."

"Whoa, take a chill pill Naminé," Axel said. "It's not like the doll can really do anything."

"Besides," Kairi said, looking in amusement at the blonde, "aren't you kind of threatening yourself there?"

Naminé stopped and blushed slightly in embarrassment. She looked at Little Naminé, and then at Little Roxas as he was still in her hands, and placed the two of them together, with Little Naminé's arms going around Little Roxas' back. "There," she said softly, sitting down next to Roxas. She mimicked her doll somewhat and placed her own arms around his waist and leaned down so that her head was resting in his lap, "Now everything's as it should be."

"Get a room!"

Naminé opened her eyes and went upright again as Roxas went to grab his present from his King, just as Sora was handed the one from the King by Kairi. They were both moderately heavy boxes, and the two of them looked at each other in confusion. Wrapping paper was ripped, torn, crushed into a ball and thrown into the fire. All looked at the boxes, not quite sure what to think. They were each wooden crates with a symbol Sora and Roxas had only seen once before stamped in black ink on top.

It was of the Kingdom Key overtop of a teardrop shield, the head of the shield being not round, but curving to make three points. It was the emblem of the Chasers Organization.

"What the—?" Sora asked quietly, looking over the crate.

"Back when the Chaser Knights still existed," King Mickey said, "when an Initiate became an Acolyte they were given something to identify them as being on their way to Knighthood. From what you've done presently and in the past, I think ya both deserve this. Kairi, Naminé, Riku, Yuffie, you'll be getting yours soon." He looked proudly at Sora and Roxas, having already made the latter one of his knights. "Call your Keyblades and tap the crates in the middle of the Crest of the Chasers," he instructed.

Sora and Roxas did not hesitate to comply, and when touched by the Keyblade the top of the crate vanished in a shimmer of white light. The light from the Sun was going as three-quarters of it had dropped beneath the sea, but in its light and the flickering red-orange glow from the bonfire that crackled in front of them they were still able to see the contents of the crates quite clearly.

_This brings back memories_, a feminine voice spoke in the back of Sora's mind as he stared. Slowly, with trembling fingers that knew exactly how much this was supposed to have meant, Sora placed his hands into the crate and extracted the items from their bed of straw one by one. A pair of bracers for his wrists; a pair of greaves to go on his shins; a mail shirt; and a white tabard, with gold edging, with the Crest of the Chasers on its front, except with the Star Seeker Keyblade instead of the Kingdom Key. All of the armour except for the mail was the colour of burnished bronze, but they were all comparably light, even the mail, and Sora realized that most of the weight had been from the crate itself.

"Whoa," he and Roxas said simultaneously, the blonde having received a set exactly identical. The brunette felt as if that one word was able to express the entire swirling jumble of emotions he felt as he looked at the tabard resting above the mail shirt on his knees. There was a lump in his chest, containing his pride that the King felt he was ready to receive something that at one time had been a monumental achievement for a young Keyblade Wielder, and his amazement that he was considered worthy enough to achieve it. He'd muddled his way through Xehanort's Heartless, Castle Oblivion, and Xemnas and he'd since realized that, as much as he hated to admit it, he'd grown weaker instead of stronger in the few months since that final encounter.

There had been such strength flowing through him when he and Riku had squared off in that last final battle. He had been able to do things with the Keyblade that he hadn't done since that day. True, he'd picked up a talent here or there in his time travelling with Kairi, but really he'd gotten weaker while the Princess of Heart next to him had become so much stronger. And he knew why. He'd become lax, and lazy, while he languished in the happiness of continuously being with the girl he'd fallen in love with. The fight hadn't gone out of him, it'd been softened, but Kairi had become the one under constant pressure from their enemies; not him. She'd continued to climb up that ladder, while he'd been knocked down rung after rung. He wasn't being constantly tested, constantly challenged, anymore. Even Roxas and Riku and Naminé had seen more action than he had since leaving the Islands.

Was he really worthy of something like this?

Sora looked up to King Mickey, and the monarch of Disney Castle seemed to see his thoughts from within the boy's eyes, and nodded his head. "I wouldn't have given it to ya if I thought ya weren't ready Sora," he said kindly.

Sora sighed profoundly and replaced them all in the crate and tapped the side with Remembrance's silver blade. The crate's lid appeared on the top again, sealing it shut. "Well I sure don't feel ready," he whispered to himself.

"Come on," Kairi said, touching his shoulder softly. "There's still one more present to open."

"Yeah Sora," Sade said triumphantly. "I don't know how we're going to top armour, but you're going to love this at least!"

"Let's let Roxas open his first," Aunt Victoria said, smiling and looking towards her newer nephew. The blonde replaced the armour he'd been given by the King and tapped the crate's side with Twilight Thorn, just as Sora had done with Remembrance, and the box sealed itself shut. He then took up the box given to him by his aunt, uncle, and cousins, tore off the wrapping paper, and opened it.

An amused smile came to his face as he pulled out a white straw Stetson hat, a pair of boots with little silver spurs on them, and a rattlesnake skin belt with a big ol' silver buckle on it. He placed the Stetson on his head, smiling and laughing. "Your turn Sora."

Sora smiled and nodded his head, his doubts about the gift he'd gotten from the King vanishing as his thoughts turned to what could possibly await him in the package from his relatives. It was easily the biggest package of all of the presents being given, and it was oddly shaped too. His interest piqued, Sora carefully removed the wrapping paper, but he'd only gotten a little of it off before he stopped, instantly knowing what it was after seeing the black material of the case underneath the wrapping paper.

"Is this a—?"

"Hurry up and open it!" Sikora urged him. Sora complied and tore off the rest of the paper and chucked it into the fire until a large black case was sitting on his lap. He placed it on the sandy ground in front of his feet as the fire crackled and a plume of sparks went his way, and undid the snaps and lifted the lid.

He carefully extracted a brand new acoustic guitar from the case. Everyone was hushed as they looked at it in the reflected firelight. Sora removed his gloves and ran his fingers over the chords. He plucked at a few of them; they were in tune. His mind went back to the guitar he'd used to have before the city of his home island had been wiped out. He'd annoyed the hell out of his mother for a month until she'd agreed to get him an acoustic and guitar lessons. At first he had wondered why he had done something like that for something that was so hard to learn and master, but after he became better and it stopped feeling like he was fighting the instrument in order for it to make music, it had become an easy way for him to pass the time. Besides, after he'd told Riku and Kairi that he was learning to play the guitar, Kairi had thought that it was really cool.

"Play something Sora," Kia said, urging him. Sora took the strap from the case and attached it, swinging it over his shoulders. He looked at Roxas.

"You're helping me on vocals with this," he said.

"What?" Roxas asked. "Why?"

"Because you're wearing the hat," Sora answered jokingly. "And you're the birthday boy too, and there's no way that Kairi and I will be able to take all of this back with us, so you're going to be babysitting this little beauty here for me."

"Ah shucks," Roxas pouted. Sora ignored him and quickly strummed a couple of bars before starting to sing with a bit of a country accent.

"_Suntanned toes, ticklin' the sand;  
__Cold drink chillin' in my right hand.  
__Watchin' you sleep in the evenin' light,  
__Restin' up for a long, long night._

"'_Cause when the Sun goes down,"_ he started the chorus, _"We'll be groovin'  
When the Sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright  
When the Sun sinks down, over the water,  
Everything gets hotter when the Sun goes down, yeah."_

He nodded his head as he continued to strum the chords on his guitar to get the rhythm and tune just right and looked to Roxas.

"_All day long just takin' it easy,  
Layin' in a hammock where it's nice and breezy.  
An' sleepin' off the night before  
'Cause when the Sun goes down we'll be back for more."_

Sora started up the chorus again.

"_When the Sun goes down, we'll be groovin'.  
When the Sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright."_

And Roxas finished it.

"_When the Sun sinks down, over the water,  
Everything gets hotter when the Sun goes down."_

By now everyone was bobbing their heads as Sora played that guitar that he'd just been given. The notes were flying off of his fingers, metal or otherwise, and the firelight and last flecks of golden sunlight flickering on his face and the wooden instrument made it look like it was on fire.

"_This old guitar and my dark sunglasses," _Sora sang.

Roxas held up a drink. _"This sweet concoction as smooth as molasses."_

"_Nothin' to do, but breathe all day,_ Sora sang again. _"Until the big moon rises and it's time to play._

_When the Sun goes down, we'll be groovin'.  
When the Sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright.  
When the Sun sinks down (sinks down), over the water,  
Everything gets hotter when the Sun goes down (when the Sun goes down)._

_When the Sun goes down, we'll be groovin'.  
When the Sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright.  
When the Sun sinks down, over the water,  
Everything gets hotter when the Sun goes down, yeah."_

He kept bobbing his head and strumming, looking down at the guitar as the light played on it. He played one chord and let it fade out for a second, before bringing it up again softly.

"_When the Sun goes down, we'll be groovin'  
When the Sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright,"_

"_When the Sun sinks down,"_ Roxas cut in, _"over the water,"_

"_Everything gets hotter when the Sun goes down,"_ they sang together.

"_When the Sun goes down,"_ Sora started,_ "we'll be groovin'."_ Roxas then cut in and stole the rest of the chorus.

"_When the Sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright.  
When the Sun sinks down, over the water,  
Kai thinks Sora's sexy when the Sun goes down."_

Everyone laughed as Roxas sang that, Kairi shoving him playfully and sticking her tongue out, and he bobbed his head while Sora continued to strum. _"Mmm mmm mm."_

Sora came in again. _"We'll be feelin' alright."_

"_When the Sun sinks down, over the water,"_ Roxas continued. _"Naminé is hotter when the Sun goes down."_ More laughs ensued, this time with the mentioned blonde blushing, and Roxas started to sing the chorus one last time.

"_When the Sun goes down, we'll be groovin'.  
When the Sun goes down, hey B-boy Sora,  
When the Sun sinks down…"_

"_Over the water,"_ Sora snatched from him.

"_Everything gets hotter when the Sun goes down,"_ the two of them finished in harmony.

"Yeah!" Selphie yelled, raising the punch-filled cup that was in her hand towards the two. "That's the darn truth."

"So this is some of the music of your world," Gimli said. "It is certainly different." Sora smirked.

"You haven't heard anything yet Master Dwarf," Kairi said.

"You know, we should go to karaoke if you two have voices like that," Sikora said, her lilac eyes looking at her two cousins in surprise and admiration.

Sora looked at her in surprise. "Karaoke? Are you serious Sikora?" She shrugged.

"Why not?" she asked, flicking a hand through her raven-coloured tail. "We haven't been to karaoke in ages, and you both sound great."

"We could sing better," Yuna said in a half-mutter.

Sora heard her. "Oh, is that so?"

"As a matter of fact, it is so!" Rikku challenged, pointing a finger at the Keyblade Master. "You've just decided your fate Sora." An unexpected voice then rose to Sora's aid.

"He's not going down without a fight, or alone." Riku stood up as he spoke those words and stood in front of his friend.

"Riku?" Kairi asked, half in a laugh. "Since when did _you_ sing?"

He shrugged slightly. "I've had a slight change of heart," he answered, glancing slightly towards Yuffie and keeping the faintest of blushes away with a wave of his hand.

Naminé raised an eyebrow. "Riku singing?" she asked. "Now _this_ I've got to see."

"So are we going to karaoke or what?" Mulan asked, smiling and stretching her arms out.

-A-D-

The karaoke establishment closest to them was even on the beachfront, almost within sight of where they had been having their bonfire and party. They managed to get a hold of the largest room of the house, which had a monumental stage and a retractable wall that could turn amateur karaoke singers into pop-stars in a concert setting for a night, with passersby able to come in and watch without charge. On the stage there were as many as four small screens at the rim directed towards where the singers stood, and behind them there was a massive screen that could play additional video to go with the song being sung. There were also many other devices used for lighting and other visual effects.

"Okay," Selphie said in a strong voice, instantly taking charge of the whole affair. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do this right. Now, the debate is whether or not girls can sing karaoke better than boys, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Alright," she said. "Then we should figure out who among us are the best singers and make up two 'bands', and have a couple of warm-ups to get our singing muscles in tune. Alright?"

"I'll go first," Kairi said instantly, smiling and handing the punch-filled cup she had off to the brunette in yellow. "I've got a song in my head that reminds me of the time Sora and I spent in the darkness."

"Really?" Naminé asked, the girl knowing full well what had happened during that period of time thanks to Kairi telling her.

Kairi nodded at her sister as she got onto the stage and started rummaging through the songs on the machine. "Really." She grabbed the microphone and stood in the centre of the stage as the rest all sat down and music in a pop style started to play. She swayed a little and closed her eyes before her lips opened and she started to sing to the synthesizer and electric guitar.

"_Haven't we met?  
You're some kind of Beautiful Stranger.  
You could be good for me;  
I've had the taste for danger._

_If I'm smart then I'll run away,  
But I'm not so I guess I'll stay.  
Heaven forbid,  
I take my chance on a Beautiful Stranger."_

Kairi's eyes had opened by this point and they found Sora as she sang out to them, and to him.

"_I looked into your eyes,  
And my world came tumbling down.  
You're the Devil in Disguise,  
That's why I'm singing this song._

_To know you, is to love you.  
You're everywhere I go,  
And everybody knows:  
To love you, is to be part of you.  
I paid for you with tears  
And swallowed all my pride_

_Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum,  
Beautiful Stranger.  
Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum,  
Beautiful Stranger._

_If I'm smart then I'll run away,  
But I'm not so I guess I'll stay.  
Haven't you heard?  
I fell in love with a Beautiful Stranger."_

She was almost dancing on the stage by herself now, with the way her feet were hardly moving and her free hand was waving around her body and gesturing towards Sora and their friends.

"_I looked into your face,  
My heart was dancing all over the place.  
I'd like to chance my point of view,  
If I could just forget about you._

_To know you, is to love you.  
You're everywhere I go.  
And everybody knows._

_I looked into your eyes,  
And my world came tumbling down.  
You're the Devil in Disguise,  
That's why I'm singing this song to you._

_To know you, is to love you.  
You're everywhere I go.  
And everybody knows.  
I paid for you with tears,  
And swallowed all my pride._

_Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum,  
Beautiful Stranger.  
Da-da-da-dum da-dum da-dum da da da-da dum,  
Beautiful Stranger…"_

Kairi stayed standing, holding the microphone as the music from the song wound down and faded away. She was smiling and looking towards her friends, and each and every one of them clapped and cheered for her.

"That was great!" Selphie said, now sitting at a rectangular table with Yuna and Yuffie, facing the stage. "You're in the girls band Kairi."

Axel cracked his neck to the side. "Alright Princess," he said, swinging his arms around and bouncing up to the stage. "You've had your audition, now let me have mine."

"You're going to sing?" Roxas asked. "Maybe we shouldn—"

"Keep yer yapper shut Roxas until you've heard a load of this," Axel said, his fingers spinning through the track selection until he smiled in a way that made nearly everyone uncomfortable. Kairi gave him the microphone, and she had barely gotten off the stage and started to make her way towards Sora when a hard rock with heavy amounts of guitar and drums started to blare from the speakers.

"Do you feel that?" Axel asked. "You better hold on, this one's about to get ugly." He started to laugh creepily as the guitar started a new rif, and then he roared in time with a sudden crescendo. Axel had left the mic on the stand, and was instead playing lead air guitar, and even though it looked silly, he had serious shredding skills. And they'd all thought that Demyx was the only one in the Organization who'd been able to play a musical instrument.

"_She's a ten, hell bent, I'm in heaven tonight.  
Six speed, sex scene playing out in my mind.  
One look, I'm hooked for the runnin'.  
Wrapped up my heart started pumpin'.  
Are you ready for the best damn ride of your life?"_

Flames shot up from the stage around Axel as the sheer magnitude of the song itself multiplied the intensity by a factor of three. Laser lights shot from concealed locations and dry-ice smoke poured out from the sides. Axel had only gotten through the first verse and he was already playing it like he was the star of a rock concert, and he wasn't even a bad singer at all.

"_Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now!  
Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now!_

_Get ready to go!  
She ain't movin' slow!  
She's takin' control!  
Pushin' the pedal through the floor!  
I'm beggin' for more!  
You better hold on tight."_

Axel had already done so well in capturing the younger population listening to him, that they were all near the stage already, and they could not resist joining in with him when appropriate.

"_Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!  
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!_

_Got a taste, gotta say I'm a junkie for life.  
She fuels my fire and adrenaline high.  
My need for speed's got me gunnin'.  
One touch, she screams 'Keep it coming'.  
Are you ready for the best damn run of your life?_

"_Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now!  
Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now!_

_Get ready to go!  
She ain't movin' slow!  
She's takin' control!  
Pushin' the pedal through the floor!  
I'm beggin' for more!  
You better hold on tight."_

The guitars screamed and the drums rolled, keeping the tempo up as the lights flickered and flashed around them.

"_Almost home,"_ Axel said, laughing.

"_Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!  
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Come on!  
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!  
YEAHHHHH!_

_Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'! HELL YEAH!  
Stand up right now!  
Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now! Right now!  
Give me a 'HELL' Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now!  
Give me a 'HELL' Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Stand up right now!_

_Get ready to go!  
She ain't movin' slow!  
She's takin' control!  
Pushin' the pedal through the floor!  
I'm beggin' for more!  
You better hold on tight._

_Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
Give me a 'HELL'! Give me a 'YEAH'!  
HELLLLL!_

_HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!  
HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!  
HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!  
HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY!"_

And on those last excited 'HEY's, Axel's song ended with a flash of flame and smoke and a sudden drop of all light before they all came back on. No one needed any further convincing, Axel would be in the band composed of males. Everyone else was picked out through volunteering for a place on either gendre's band; no girl wished to see another boy's 'audition' if Axel could come out of nowhere like that. They were already getting a slightly sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs when they wondered what the guys would turn out with Sora, Roxas, Axel, and Riku in their karaoke band, and they didn't even know how good Riku, Tidus, or Wakka were.

Selphie took another sip from the punch she had in her cup. Anyone who'd been to Camp Summers knew instantly after tasting the fruit punch that somebody had left it unattended, because there was nobody in their immediate group who would have spiked it with rye whiskey, but they'd kept their mouths shut to see what would ensure. Evidently this may just have been a creature spawned from the little bit of influence it'd already had. She just hoped that the buzz would help her and the girl band, because if the boys were able to perform as well and convincingly as Axel had just done soloing, they were in some mighty deep trouble.

-A-D-

_Okay, so that was this chapter. The next one is the contest, and the one after that is titled 'Ultimate Warrior', which has already generated a bit of interested buzz._

_Anyway, the songs used in this chapter, in order, were __**When the Sun Goes Down (Kenny Chesney and Uncle Cracker), Beautiful Stranger (Madonna), **__and__** Hell Yeah (Rev Theory)**__._

_Hope to see you all at the next chapter, and remember, _you_ will be the one voting on whether the girls dominated, or the boys took home the victory, at the end of the contest._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	29. Battle of the Sexes, Karaoke Contest

_Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Or in my case, Happy you don't have a girlfriend because you're still a single bachelor Day!_

_What a spectacular weekend! It's the start of Reading Week, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics have opened and our Canadian Women's Hockey Team trumped Slovakia and we have a finalist in the 1500 metres Mens Speed Skating event (if he wasn't allowed in, I was going to hate the French (France French mind you) even more), and the Opening Ceremonies were spectacular! Okay, the hydraulics weren't working right for the lighting of the first ever indoor cauldron and one of the arms failed to rise, but that was the most wonderful torch-lighting I've ever seen! No one person lit that Olympic Cauldron, they lit it together!_

_And then Wayne Gretzky, the Great One, got to light the outdoor Olympic Cauldron at the waterfront across from Stanely Park. But even better than that, Bobby Ore and Romeo Dallaire got to carry the Olympic Flag! That, in my opinion ,was even better!_

_But, nothing would have been complete without the sincere silence for Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger who tragically died training on the final turn of the run the day of the Openinc Ceremonies. We will remember and honour him in these Games._

_Okay, current events aside, I know that many of you are probably wondering where I've been for the past month. Well, to put it simply, I've been busy writing the chapter after this one and figuring out the different songs to use for the contest and the themes. I'm giving you a list of the themes, an unordered list mind you, and you'll only find out the different songs used when you go through._

_Just so that you know, all the songs used combined will take you roughly __**one-hundred and five minutes**__ to play through assuming you have them all or can find them on Youtube, which wouldn't be all that hard._

_Anyway, here's the theme list:_

_Girl/Boy Bands of the 90s_

_Songs From Other Worlds (Disney)_

_80's Music that doesn't suck_

_Finale_

_Sappiest Love Song Ever_

_Songs about dancing_

_Classics_

_Songs that just make you want to get up and dance_

_Fight Music_

_Butterfly_

_(This one's a surprise)_

_About a Girl_

_Also, if you have me on alerts, you will have noticed that this wasn't the only update today. I have decided, after some consideration, to return __**The Beginning**__, as it stands upon this site, back into its original version, and to place a second one up that records the re-written chapters. The original __**Beginning**__ is to be used for all __**Beginning**__ and __**Troubles**__ canon and continuity purposes, while __**The **__**Beginning v II **__is to be used for __**The War**__ canon and continuity. I updated the first 3 chapters of it, and I'll be doing a chapter every few days over the next few weeks until I hit number XVII, which is the last one I've done. I'm not sure I'm going to go any higher than that anyway, the rest is pretty much how I want it._

_Trust me, this actually makes more sense and will make things easier on the newer readers. I've figured that having them jump instantly into a world of detail that I'd been thinking up for months to be too much for someone to handle all at once (plus the style changes between the original and re-written versions). Also, keeping the original version up probably works better, because not only does it allow me to compare what I was writing when I first started to what I'm writing now, but it also allows you, the readers, to do so as well._

_Anyway, in the immortal words of AC/DC, for those about to rock, we salute you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own any songs used without permission in this work of fanfiction. I also do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney._

**The War**

Chapter XXX: Battle of the Sexes: Part I: The Karaoke Contest

King Mickey stepped up to the microphone as the retractable wall finished retracting itself from the karaoke establishment. They'd talked it over with the manager, and owner, and they'd agreed that something as monumental as boys vs. girls singing karaoke against each other would be a great crowd attractor and business opportunity. Plus they'd also reviewed the tapes taken by the camera while Kairi and Axel had done their two bits of singing, and realized that they would really draw in crowds.

It was actually the owner who gave the order to retract the wall to attract patrons in so that they might buy enjoying refreshments while the contest was under way. Business was business after all, and this could give them some good publicity.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," King Mickey announced, drawing the attention that hadn't already been gained by the moving wall, "boys and girls, this night of Blitz Fest, we are providing you with a once-in-a-lifetime entertainment opportunity. Backstage behind me, are thirteen young men and women, determined to once and for all put an end to questioning which sex can produce and sing the best music to fall on non-deaf ears. On one side we have our talented male singers, the Melodious Males of Masculine Muse (the King called their names and Sora, Riku, Roxas, Axel, Tidus, and Wakka came onto the stage to cheers from their friends and interest from passersby) and on the other we have the Voluptuous Vixens of Veritable Vocals in the Vernacular (Kairi, Naminé, Yuffie, Selphie, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine came on from the other side as their names were mentioned by King Mickey, to cheers from their friends and even greater interest from passersby, who had now stopped)."

"They're going to put up a great show for you tonight," King Mickey said, laughing slightly at the competitive looks on the faces of the twelve. "They'll sing twelve rounds of karaoke of one song each, and each round must be completed according to a general theme chosen by the lead-off group, which will switch after each song and there will be a break after six sets. At the end, the winner will be chosen by audience applause via decibel level. So when that time comes, I want you to cheer 'em on as loud as you can. (He laughed) And so, without further ado or hullabaloo, let's get singing, starting with a classic old as time to get us rolling!"

King Mickey zipped away from the stage, and the speakers started to toot as the girls and boys turned to regard each other. Selphie opened her mouth, and her untrained and slightly scratchy voice came out. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't particularly pleasing either.

"_Anything you can do we can do better,  
we can do anything better than you."_

Wakka shook his head. _"No you can't."_

"_Yes we can."_ Naminé returned, her voice much more appealing than Selphie's.

"_No you can't.  
Yes we can.  
No you can't.  
Yes we can, yes we can."_

Riku shook his head and took a step forward. He pointed at the girls. _"Anything you can be, we can be greater._

_Sooner or later we're greater than you."_

Yuffie scoffed. _"No you're not."_

"_Yes we are."  
"No you're not."  
"Yes we are."  
"No you're not."  
"Yes we are, yes we are."_

Tidus came to the forefront. _"I can shoot a partridge, with a single cartridge."_

Yuna countered. _"I can get a sparrow, with a bow and arrow."_

Roxas was undaunted. _"I can live on bread and cheese."_

Paine was unimpressed. _"And only that?"_

"_Yeah."  
"So can a rat."_

Sora shook his head and pulled Roxas back. The outcome of this song didn't mean too much. The song itself was designed for their defeat. He looked square at Kairi from a foot away. _"Any note you can reach I can go higher."_

Kairi raised her eyebrows and came poked him in the chest. _"I can sing anything higher than you."_

"_No you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"No you can't."  
"Yes I can."_

Sora went higher.

"_No you can't."_

Kairi followed.

"_Yes I can."  
"No you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"No you can't."  
"Yes I can."_

Sora went high as he was able to, drawing it out as best as he could.

"_No you caaaaaaaan't."_

Kairi topped him.

"_Yes I caaaaaaanaaaan."_

Rikku came out in front of the girls, her voice barely better than Selphie's, but still not one you'd want singing to you all day long. _"Anything you buy I can buy cheaper,_

_I can buy anything cheaper than you."_

Axel was intrigued. _"Five munny."_

"_Four munny,"_ she shot back.

"_Three munny."  
"Two munny."  
"No, you can't."  
"Yes, I can, yes, I can."_

Roxas shook his head and motioned to Naminé with his fingers. She came forward competitively. _"Anything you can say I can say softer."_

"_I can say anything softer than you,"_ Naminé told him firmly.

"_No you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"No you can't."  
"Yes I can, yes I can!"_

Tidus was getting really tired of this, and he wasn't particularly fond of 'Annie Get Your Gun' in the first place. This was all Sora's idea. _"I can drink my liquor, faster than a flicker."_

Selphie bit back at him. _"I can do it quicker, and get even sicker."_

_You're proud of that?_ Axel thought with a smirk before doing his own bit. _"I can open any safe."_

"_Without being caught?"_ Paine asked with narrowed eyes.

"_Sure."  
"That what I thought, you crook!"_

Sora frowned at Axel and pushed the taller Nobody out of the way. Kairi eyed him with folded arms and came forward again for another rumble. By now at least a dozen people had stopped and were watching and listening with mild interest, a couple of them going so far to lean against the seats technically inside of the karaoke bar. _"Any note you can hold I can hold longer."_

An undaunted Kairi rose to the challenge. _"I can hold any note longer than you."_

"_No you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"No you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"No you can't."_

Kairi braced herself.

"_Yes I can, yes I .  
Yes I caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan."_

Sora was truly impressed. _"Yees yoou caaaaaaaaaan."_

Roxas grabbed Sora's shoulder and pulled him back. He was giving up too easily. Yuna smirked and came forward. _"Anything you can wear I can wear better,_

_In what you wear, I'd look better than you."_

"_In my coat?" _Roxas asked._  
"In your vest."  
"In my shoes?"  
"In your hat,"_ Yuna answered, grabbing it and putting it on with a flirty wink.  
_"No you can't,"_ Roxas sang, trying to grab it back.  
Yuna ducked. _"Yes I can, yes I can."_

Wakka shoved his way in front of Roxas, and by now the two lines were only a couple of feet away from each other as the tension mounted. Naminé touched Yuna's arm and motioned with her eyes at Roxas' Stetson, to which she only giggled and shrugged. _"Anything you can say I can say fasta."_

Rikku came right to his face. _"I can say anything faster than you."_

"_No you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"Noyoucan't."  
"YesIcan."  
"Noyoucan't."  
"YesIcanyesIcan!"_

Axel emphasized himself now. _"I can jump a hurdle."_

Yuffie rolled her eyes. _"I can wear a girdle,"_ she returned.

"_I can knit a sweater,"_ Riku sang.

"_I can fill it better,"_ Naminé returned.

Roxas took one more small step forward. _"I can do most anything."_

"_Can you bake a pie?"_ Paine asked.

"_No."  
"Neither can I."_

She sighed, and Sora stepped up for the finale, touching Kairi on the cheek. _"Any note you can sing I can sing sweeter."_

Kairi smiled sardonically at him. _"I can sing anything sweeter than you."_

Sora smiled warmly at her and his voice did become sweet to listen to as everything slowed down. _"No you can't."_

Kairi's voice became like honey. _"Yes, I can."_

"_No you can't."  
"Yes, I can."  
"Nooo, you can't."  
"Yes I can."  
"No you can't."  
"Yes I can."_

Sora and Kairi were now on opposite sides of each other, with Kairi's back to the other boys and Sora's to the girls. They each had a hand to the cheek of the other, and they softly rubbed them together as their voices became even softer and sweeter.

"_No you can't, can't, can't."  
"Yes I can, can, can."  
"Yes I can (No yoou can't.)."_

The music from that song cut off, and the people that had stopped by started to clap and take seats. It was starting to look interesting, and it wasn't as if many of them had anything better to do while waiting for the fireworks. Besides, it was theoretically free.

The boys dashed off the stage and behind the curtain. Each of them collapsed onto a couch or chair in the lounge-esque room out of sight from the seats of the karaoke bar, and from the outside world since the wall was gone.

Sora winced as Riku slapped him on the back of the head. "You buffoon," he said, chuckling slightly as he went to plop down on the couch next to Tidus. "Why'd you go ahead and do that?"

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Do what?" he asked.

"Go and nab up all the freaking mushy parts," Axel answered for Riku. He sighed and shook his head. "You, are a complete sap. Got it memorized?"

"He already has Axel," Roxas said, smiling and leaning against a wall. He looked out towards the doorway. "Wonder what song the girls are going to go with."

"Who care about the song?" Tidus replied. "It's the theme that matters."

"Ha," Wakka said, leaning against the couch. "Why don't we just have some fun, yah?"

"Hey," Riku said, his head turning towards the stage as Yuna's voice started to drift from it, "they're starting."

"Hi, I'm Yuna, and my friends and I are calling ourselves the Voluptuous Vixens of Veritable Vocals in the Vernacular, whew, try saying _that_ ten times fast; and we're going to start things off with the Classics pardner," Yuna said, winking and pulling Roxas' Stetson a little further down her forehead. Soft guitar music started to play, and each of them got into positions with microphones.

"_If I could turn back time,"_ Yuna started, _"if I could find a way,  
I'd take back those words that hurt you,  
And you'd stay._

_I don't know why I did the things I did;  
I don't know why I said the things I said.  
Pride's like a knife, it can cut deep inside,  
Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes."_

She looked apologetic as she sang, and the song came out both sweetly and sincerely. Her voice drew people into the karaoke bar as blue lights lit up behind her, and the other girls on stage swayed slowly on their feet, waiting to come in for the chorus. But for now, Yuna continued on her own.

"_I didn't really mean to hurt you,  
I didn't want to see you go.  
I know I made you cry,  
but baby…"_

"_If I could turn back time,"_ they all sang together, their different voices melding together into harmony as white light joined the blue and spun around them from a disco ball, _"if I could find a way,_

_I'd take back all those words that hurt you,  
And you'd stay._

_If I could reach the stars,  
I'd give them all to you.  
Then you'd love me, love me,  
Like you used to do."_

"_If I could turn back time…"_

Tidus sighed and looked up at the ceiling as he listened to Yuna. Her voice was sincere, and he _knew_ that there was pain in there and that he was at the root of it. He also remembered what he'd told Selphie in Twilight Town, that when he'd been in Spira he'd only been infatuated with Yuna, that it hadn't honestly been love.

"_My world was shattered, I was torn apart,  
Like someone took a knife and drove it deep in my heart.  
You walked out that door; I swore I didn't care,  
But I lost everything darling then and there."_

It hadn't been simple infatuation. He _had_ loved Yuna; he had fallen for her and wished that he could have spent the rest of his life with her in Spira after saving her from Sin, from his own father. But after returning to the Islands with Yu Yevon's defeat he had convinced himself that he would never see Yuna again, and had moved on. He had rejoined Selphie and her smiling face, and he had realized how much he had missed that, no matter how closely Rikku's attitude had resembled hers (that was probably why he'd gotten along so well with Rikku in the first place). He started to notice the smaller things about the brunette, and the tiny jolts of pleasure he felt whenever she laughed or smiled at him, even just from hanging out with her like old times.

"_Too strong to tell you I was sorry,  
Too proud to tell you I was wrong,  
I know that I was blind, and darling…_

_If I could turn back time, If I could find a way,  
I'd take back all those words that hurt you,  
And you'd stay._

_If I could reach the stars,  
I'd give them all to you.  
And you'd love me, love me,  
like you used to do._

_If I could turn back time  
(If I could turn back time)  
If I could turn back time  
(If I could turn back time)_

_If _I _could turn back time,_ Tidus thought, troubled. He realized why he told Selphie what he told her, and why listening to Yuna was hurting him inside.

He had been afraid of Selphie's reaction to him being in love with someone else because he loved her, and Yuna's song was stinging him because he was still in love with her. Tidus groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. _What a mess._

"_If I could turn back time, oh baby!_

_I didn't really mean to hurt you,  
I didn't want to see you go.  
I know I made you cry,  
but baby…_

The lights and smoke machines were working wonders on the stage, illuminating Yuna and the Voluptuous Vixens in the spotlights and drawing all eyes to them.

_If I could turn back time,  
If I could find a way,  
I'd take back those words that hurt you._

_If I could reach the stars,  
I'd give them all to you.  
Then you'd love me, love me,  
like you used to do._

_If I could turn back tiiii(turn back time)iime,  
If I could find (find) a (a) way (way),_

_Then maybe, maybe, maybe you'd stay."_

Wakka patted Tidus on the shoulder as the music softened and some cheers and applause started to arrive for the girls. "We need to think of what we're singing, yah," he said aloud.

"It's the Classics," Sora said, smiling with a cocked head, "this one's going to be a synch!"

"But which classic song?" Tidus asked, shaking off his feelings. "There're a lot of them."

"Well yeah," Axel said, leaning forward with a gleam in his teal eyes, "_but_, we want to top the babes right? So, now we have to nail down which classics are better than Cher, or more to the point, better than Yuna singing Cher. And I have one that's a guaranteed success. And we're doing the follow-up song that they'll have to try and beat, so here's my idea."

He told them, and nods came from everyone present.

"That'll work," Roxas said, glancing around, "but I'm not sure about the second one. I think that (he told them) to (he told them his theme idea) will do better.

"I agree with Roxas on the second one," Wakka said, nodding his head, "but who'll take lead for the first? Not me, that's for sure. And not Tidus, Roxas, or Sora either."

"Which leaves just me and Silver here," Axel said, smiling at the uncomfortable gulp Riku took and shrugging off his second song being snubbed. "But don't worry Riku, I'll handle this one. You guys can just worry about being backup and playing air."

"Sure thing," Sora said, rising. The girls suddenly came backstage, smiling at their counterparts.

"So," Selphie began, "think you can do better than that?"

"Oh we know we can do better sweet cheeks," Axel said, "and we'll be kicking your butts song after song after song, got it memorized?" They chuckled knowingly, and strode out onto the stage.

In front of them now, besides their friends who were all seated below, there were at least fifty other people sitting down, many of them having ordered drinks or food but hadn't received them yet. Axel looked out past the sitting people at those who had gathered just beyond where the wall had retracted from, where another twenty were standing or sitting, waiting for what they were going to pull out. Another few dozen were walking by slowly, interested, but not enough yet to stop.

Axel smiled, they were going to get mesmerized, and it was going to be sweet.

He came up to the microphone that Yuna had been using while he and the others slung fake instruments around themselves, mostly electric guitar, and Wakka sat at a fake set of drums. It was a karaoke bar, and the words did show up on screens set at the front of the stage for them to read off of, and there were also notes for those with the fake instruments to play, but that didn't matter too much. The music track would play above any mistakes that they could possibly make, the only thing that could go wrong would have been a terrible singer. And for these kinds of songs, Axel knew that he was anything but terrible.

He tapped his finger to the microphone. "Is this thing on?" he asked, recoiling when the obvious answer came to him. "Alrighty then. The name's Axel, here with the (he paused) dammit, who picked 'Melodious Males of Masculine Muse' for our band name? It's even worse than the Superior's name for Demyx."

"Forget the name Axel, and it was the King," Sora answered.

"Tch," Axel said, shaking his head and turning away from Sora. "Whatever. Anyway, matching the theme of Classics, we're going to go with a classic from a little guy who _almost_ shares my name."

A rif from the guitar in Roxas' hands started to play in a continual, unmistakable pattern, soon joined by Wakka on the drums. Axel opened his mouth, to a burst of roman candles, and a near perfect Axl Rose came out.

"_She's got a smile, and it seems to me,  
Reminds me of childhood memories,  
Where everything  
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky._

_Now and then when I see her face,  
It takes me away to that special place.  
And if I'd stare too long,  
I'd probably break down and cry._

_Whoa-oh-oh sweet child of mine,  
Whoa-oh-oh-oh sweet love of mine._

_She's got eyes of the bluest skies,  
As if they thought of rain.  
I hate to look into those eyes  
And see an ounce of pain._

_Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place,  
Where as a child I'd hide,  
And pray for the thunder  
And the rain  
To quietly pass me by._

_Whoa-oh-oh sweet child of mine,  
Whoa-oh-oh-oh sweet love of mine._

The girls watched the front stage from the entryway to the backstage, out of sight of the rapidly forming crowd in front of the boys. Their first performance had been good, no mistaking that, but Axel put himself in the role of an entertainer perfectly, singing directly to girls in front of the stage. His looks, charm, and the coolness that automatically radiated from him coupled with his strange ability to sing rock anthems perfectly became an instant crowd pleaser.

_Whoa-oh-oh-yeah Whoa-oh-oh sweet child of mine  
Whoa-oh-whoa-oh sweet love of mine  
Whoa-oh-oh-oh sweet child of mine  
Oh yeah,  
Oooh ooh sweet love of mine._

Roxas' fingers slid up and down the fake electric guitar he held, joining with Axel and drawing the attention of the crowd as he made the appearance of shredding the notes of Guns N' Roses, and there were scattered cheers and whoops from males and females in the still-growing crowd. The music shifted into a lower key, and all but Axel started to sing low.

_Where do we go?  
Where do we go?  
Where do we go?_

"_Where do we go now?"_ Axel added, joining in with them.

"Uh-oh," Rikku said, watching and listening as the boys were finishing up. "They _are_ pretty good."

"It's just Axel," Yuffie said confidently. "They can't _all_ be that good."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Kairi said anxiously. "They'd be able to find songs to fit just about any theme if they looked into rock, classic or not, and Sora's got a huge compendium of music from classic rock to country to pop to parody and comedy trapped up in his head. And Roxas isn't so bad with jazz."

"And Tidus likes some rap as well as rock," Selphie said, looking worried as well. "This really could be trouble. They'd be able to find anything."

"Hey look," Paine said, pointing out to the stage where the now hundred-strong crowd was cheering and applauding, "Riku's going up to the microphone."

"I'm Riku," the silver-haired youth said, standing there microphone. "And it looks like these guys are forcing me front and centre, so I'm going to get you lot up on you feet with Songs About Dancing." Electric and Acoustic started, and within several seconds Riku started to sing, surprising the girls backstage with how strong and attractive his singing voice really was.

"_Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell,  
It was love from above that could save me from hell.  
She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see,  
How the devil himself could be pulled out of me._

_There were drums in the air as she started to dance,  
Every soul in the room keepin' time with their hands._

_And we sang ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And the voices rang like the angels sing.  
And singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And we danced on into the night._

_(ah-oh-ay-oh)  
(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
And we danced on into the night!_

_Like a piece to the puzzle that falls into place  
You could tell how we felt from the look on our faces,  
We were spinning in circles with the moon in our eyes,  
The room left them moving between you and I._

_We forgot where we were and we lost track of time,  
And we sang to the wind as we danced through the night._

_And we sang ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And the voices rang like the angels sing.  
And singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And we danced on into the night._

_(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
Danced on into the night!  
(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
Danced on into the night!"_

"Oh crap," Rikku muttered as the lights illuminated the boys playing their instruments while Riku took a breather. "Riku's _that_ good!" Sora was on acoustic, and his fingers were keeping up with the notes just as easily as Roxas, Tidus, and Axel were handling the electric and base.

Girls in the crowd were on their phones, calling their friends. "Hey, get over to The Singing Clam right now! There's a hottie singing in song kind of concert. Like, a ten-out-of-ten hottie who looks like Adonis and has a voice like a god, and all of his friends are total hotties too!"

"_Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell,  
It was love from above that could save me from hell.  
She had fire in her soul, it was easy to see,  
How the devil himself could be pulled out of me._

_There were drums in the air as she started to dance,  
Every soul in the room keepin' time with their hands._

_And we sang ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And the voices rang like the angels sing.  
And singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And we danced on into the night._

_(ah-oh-ay-oh)  
Ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay, and the voices rang like the angels sing  
(and we danced on into the night!)  
And singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay  
And we danced on into the night!_

_Ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay  
(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
Ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay  
(ay-oh-ay-oh)  
An' singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay  
And we danced on into the night!"_

Kairi placed a shaking hand to her head as she bit her bottom lip. _This_ was Riku? This was the voice cracking during an elementary school talent show and since abstained from singing for the rest of his life Riku! If he could dish out Santana featuring Chad Kroeger as Chad Kroeger and get away with it with a good enough voice to be as good as the singer without actually sounding like him… then they were in trouble. What else could Riku do that they didn't know?

"Okay," Naminé said, licking her lip as she looked down. "Theme was 'Songs about Dancing' right? I don't know if it'll top it, but I think I've got one that'll come close."

They switched places with the males, and she stepped up to the microphone. She was a little apprehensive, but glancing back at Kairi and receiving a nod told her to keep on going.

"Glad to see you all again," she said, a smile coming to her face. "The Voluptuous Vixens and I hope that you're enjoying yourselves, and in answer to the Melodious Males' song, I think that this one will let you know that girl power is greater than boy brawn."

She nodded, and the music started to play for a few seconds. Unlike the boys, no girl grabbed hold of a fake instrument, all of them had microphones. Then drums came in hard and they all joined together.

"_All I want to do is stay right here on the floor,  
Get lost in the night and dance like there's no tomorrow.  
Don't care about the sunrise, somebody please just hit the lights.  
All I wanna do is dance like there's no tomorrow."_

Naminé started the first verse by herself, taking the microphone from its stand as white and blue light streamed in through thin, rising, fog from dry-ice. Her arms and hands moved around her, as did those of the other girls, drawing the crowd in with their moderately energetic and flirtatious body language. The girl came forward to the front of the stage and bent down, singing to a few of the boys in the front row.

"_Today just wasn't my day, everyone's getting me so fed up.  
I've gotta find a way, I know what came make me feel better.  
Stepping out of my bath, looking hotter than ever,  
Wherever the party is, that's where I'll be in a second."_

She left the front mid-way through the verse, walking across the stage as her hands and head moved to the music. Yuffie came forward now, drawing the attention to her with a loud breakout in song before the rest of the girls joined in for the chorus.

"_I'm so ready to move my body, forget about all my problems.  
When I hear my song, I'ma lose control, h-here I go."_

"_All I want to do is stay right here on the floor,  
Get lost in the night and dance like there's no tomorrow.  
Don't care about the sunrise, somebody please just hit the lights.  
All I wanna do is dance like there's no tomorrow."_

Kairi took centre stage now, her eyes lighting up and a small smile on her face.

"_I'm loving the atmosphere, feels like I'm floating in heaven.  
The music's all in my ear, taking over me; my heart's racing.  
Feeling so Hollywood, how I got everybody staring,  
Their eyes are the cameras, and I'm lovin' all the attention."_

Selphie took the next part from Kairi.

"_I'm so ready to move my body, forget about all my problems.  
They play my song, I'ma lose control, h-here I go."_

"_All I want to do is stay right here on the floor,  
Get lost in the night and dance like there's no tomorrow.  
Don't care about the sunrise, somebody please just hit the lights.  
All I wanna do is dance like there's no tomorrow."_

Kairi and Naminé took it up together, coming to the front side-by-side and looking imploringly at the sky before looking flirtatiously at the crowd as the verse progressed.

"_Please DJ, don't say it's the last call,  
'Cause I know what it means and I don't want you to play no slow song.  
I'm still building an urge to talk to that guy,  
Just give me another song and make it right."_

They all walked across the stage for a few seconds as they waited for the moment to come in again while bursts of drums continued to come. Stylishly they got into a trapezoidal formation, and suddenly they burst into dance as all the Voluptuous Vixens started to sing once more with Yuna in the lead.

"_All I want to do is stay right here on the floor,  
Get lost in the night and dance like there's no tomorrow (no tomorrow).  
Don't care about the sunrise, somebody please just hit the lights.  
All I wanna do is dance like there's no tomorrow (oh-oh-ohh)."_

"_All I want to do is stay right here on the floor (here on the floor),  
Get lost in the night and dance like there's no tomorrow (no tomorrow).  
Don't care about the sunrise, somebody please just hit the lights.  
All I wanna do is dance like there's no tomorrow (oh-oh-ohh)."_

The music faded and they stopped their dancing to applause and cheers and whoops from the now hundred-fifty plus people watching from tables, standing near the stage, and sitting or standing on the grass and path outside of the karaoke bar.

"Hm," Axel said from the back, rubbing his chin, "we may just have a competition on our hands boys."

"Bring it on," Tidus said, pumping his fist. "We'll show them that we can beat them."

"Yeah," Roxas added enthusiastically. "The girls have been beating us at everything recently. We need to claim a win here."

Rikku bounded forward. "Hey everyone!" she called. "I'm Rikku, one of the Vixens, and are you having a good time?" The response came back overwhelmingly positive. "That's great! Well, the gals and I are going to get ya'll up on your feet, with Songs That Just Make You Want To Get Up And Dance!"

"Really?" Sora asked, looking at the guys in the back. "Wonder what they're going to go with."

A really fast techno beat started to come up for several seconds, and then all the girls burst out in pop-stardom. _"Ike! Ike!"_

"What?" Sora asked again, looking out as he heard something that sounded like a techno remix of 'We Like To Party' by the Vengaboys playing. Then the girls started to sing altogether again, dancing in a very energetic, teeny-bopper way.

"_Misete koi wa dokyou ni aikyou mite'te ato wa nariyuki deshou  
Kokoro no junbi wa chanto shitokou WOW OH WOW OH  
8BEAT yori mo SEXY DANCE de AH HA HA HA  
Odotta toori ni hajikete hora tenshi no POWER"_

"What the heck are they singing!" Riku asked, staring out at the girls.

"_IKE IKE! HAPPYNIGHT NORItai dake  
IKE IKE! motto atsuku FEEL THE POWER  
odoritai shoudou tanoshinde shimaou WOW WOW  
IKE IKE! FOREVER owaranai yo  
IKE IKE! PARTYTIME yo ga akeru made  
seishun to toki wa jiyuu na ima dake YEAH! YEAH!_

_IKE! IKE!_

_LOVE wa jibun aisuru koto LOVE wa totemo okubukai  
hoshigaru bakari ja te ni irenai WOW OH WOW OH  
mou yaru shika nai CAN YOU FEELING! CAN YOU FEELING!  
Koukai nante shinai kokoro subete dekiru kagiri!_

_IKE IKE! KIMOCHI hitotsu ni naru  
IKE IKE! Motto tsuyoku FEEL THE POWER  
odoritai jounetsu tanoshinda monogachi WOW WOW  
IKE IKE! FOREVER kawaranai yo  
IKE IKE! PARTYTIME eien ni tsudzuku  
Seishun to toki wa kagayaku mirai e YEAH! YEAH!_

_IKE! IKE!_

_IKE IKE! HAPPYNIGHT NORItai dake  
IKE IKE! motto atsuku FEEL THE POWER  
odoritai shoudou tanoshinde shimaou WOW WOW  
IKE IKE! FOREVER owaranai yo  
IKE IKE! PARTYTIME yo ga akeru made  
seishun to toki wa jiyuu na ima dake YEAH! YEAH!_

_IKE! IKE!  
IKE! IKE!"_

_(GO! GO! Show me love that's brave and charming Look and the results will come after  
I'll prepare my heart properly WOW OH WOW OH  
More than the 8-beat, my sexy dance… AH HA HA HA  
In the way I dance… look! I'm shooting the power of an angel_

_GO GO! I just want to ride the happy night  
GO GO! Hotter, feel the power  
Let's enjoy the urge to dance! WOW OH WOW OH  
GO GO! Forever, it won't end  
GO GO! Party time, until the day breaks  
Youth is only the freedom of right now! YEAH! YEAH!_

_GO GO!_

_Love is loving yourself Love is so deep  
You can't get it just by wanting it WOW OH WOW OH  
I don't have any choice now but to do it! CAN YOU FEELING! CAN YOU FEELING!  
I won't have any regrets as long as my heart can do everything!_

_GO GO! Our feelings have become one  
GO GO! Stronger, feel the power  
The ones who enjoy the passion of dancing are the winners! WOW OH WOW OH  
GO GO! Forever, it won't change  
GO GO! Party time will go on forever  
Youth continues towards the shining future! YEAH! YEAH!_

_GO GO!_

_GO GO! I just want to join the happy night  
GO GO! Hotter, feel the power  
Let's enjoy the urge to dance! WOW OH WOW OH  
GO GO! Forever, it won't end  
GO GO! Party time, until the day breaks  
Youth is only the freedom of right now! YEAH! YEAH!_

_GO GO!  
GO GO!)_

"Okay," Roxas said slowly, looking around at his fellow members of the Melodious Males, "just how the heck are we going to beat out a techno J-pop song in a theme that's 'Music That Just Makes You Want To Get Up And Dance'?"

"Folk," Sora answered in one word. Everyone looked at him and he elaborated. "We can't sing another techno song in order to beat them. They did Ike Ike too good. We need to switch styles altogether to a more wholesome style that is more appearing to the heart and soul than it is to the feet. We need a song that compels a person's heart to dance, rather than their feet, and I've got one."

Axel stared at Sora as the boy took a sip of his punch. "That's deep man, coming from you." Sora ignored him.

The girls entered just a second after he finished speaking, smiling smugly at the boys but saying nothing. The males scowled and walked out, to an immediate roar of approval from the girls in the audience, many of whom screamed "RIIIKUUUU-KUN!"

"Sorry to disappoint you," Sora said, speaking to the crowd as they picked up their 'instruments' again. "But I'm Sora, and I'll be taking this one away from the silver-haired man-whore over there." Riku scowled at him, and Sora started slowly with a few soft strums from acoustic accompanying him.

"_I am the fountain of affection,  
I'm the instrument of joy.  
To keep the good times rolling,  
I'm the boy, I'm the boy._

_You know the world could be our oyster,  
You just put your trust in me,  
'Cause we'll keep the good times rolling.  
Wait and see, wait and see,_

_Oh wait and see!"_

Suddenly he was joined by the now strong strumming of acoustic guitar and the soul-lifting aria of a fiddle. Sora couldn't resist. He grabbed the microphone from its stand and went right up to the edge of the stage, reaching out to them with one hand as his singing voice cast them into a spell.

"_His exaltation, a sweet disintegration.  
A few discolourations, then it comes along.  
Up is why he chooses, the kisses and the bruises.  
There ain't nothing he refuses, then it comes along.  
It comes along, and I am lifted. I am lifted, I am lifted!"_

Sora's voice rose above the voices of the others as they started the chorus, and together they sang as everyone down in front of the stage started grooving to the song. Either while standing or sitting, their heads were bobbing and their hips, shoulders, and feet were moving; and that was something that the girls had not achieved at all.

"_When I'm up I can't get down.  
Can't get down, can't get level,  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Get my feet back on the ground.  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Can't get down, can't get level,  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Get my feet back on the ground._

_He just needs something to bind him,  
Something to wind him up.  
It won't take too long to find him,  
When it comes on strong._

_Wise guys are grinning, street lights are spinning.  
The night is just beginning, and then it comes on strong.  
It comes on strong, and I am lifted. I am lifted, I am lifted!_

_When I'm up I can't get down.  
Can't get down, can't get level,  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Get my feet back on the ground.  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Can't get down, can't get level,  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Get my feet back on the ground._

_Ooohhhh._

_I can't get down!  
Oh no no no no, I can't get down."_

The girls behind stage were even slightly dancing on the spot as they listened to the music and to Sora's voice. There were no fancy lights or dancing, but even they had to admit that the sex with the Y-chromosomes had won this round too. Then the music quieted, and Sora softened his voice.

"_Oh it comes on strong, and I am lifted.  
It comes on strong, and I am lifted.  
I am lifted, I am lifted!_

_When I'm up—"_

He stopped suddenly and held the microphone out to the crowd and the music cut out. But the crowd knew exactly what to do, and sang out on Sora's cue. _"I can't get down._

_Can't get down, can't get level,  
When I'm up—"_

"_I can't get down!" _the Melodious Males broke in,  
_"Get my feet back on the ground.  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Can't get down, can't get level.  
When I'm up I can't get down.  
Get my feet back on the ground._

_Ooohhhh,"_ Sora continued by himself,  
_"I can't get down."_

"_Oh no no no no, I can't get down._

_Oh no, oh no,  
Noooooo, I can't get down."_

The music died off and the audience roared in approval, cheering out Sora's name. He smiled appreciatively and nodded off to Tidus while the others smiled and nodded at or mock-saluted him. He had definitely picked a big winner there.

"Are you guys having a good time!" Tidus roared into his microphone. He shook his head slowly at their response. "I said, 'Are you guys having a good time'!" Wakka had to clap his hands to his ears to block out some of the sound. "That's good!" Tidus exclaimed. "I'm Tidus, and we're gonna kick it up with some Fight Music!"

"Fight Music?" Rikku asked from the back, looking at the other girls. They all shrugged.

Several guitars came in slow for a few seconds, before suddenly being joined by an energetic drum beat and more definitively rock-sounding electric guitar. The spotlights shone down on the boys while the backlights went out, and flames and sparks shot up from the back while lasers shot through dry-ice fog. Tidus started off after a very short drum solo and a burst of song from the rest of the band.

"_(Hey!)_

_It doesn't really matter where you go,  
It makes no difference, baby, who you know,  
This thing has gotten way out of control._

_(Hey!)_

_It doesn't really matter who you are,  
You might as well be a superstar,  
'Cause everything has gone way too far oh-oh-oh."_

"_It's the strangest thing,"_ Wakka added, scratching his head in confusion. Then the whole group came together to belt out the chorus.

"_It's getting stranger and then,  
It's getting harder to win.  
It's getting digital then,  
It starts happening all over again."_

"This is fight music?" Yuffie asked. "It's not like any fight music I've ever heard."

"I think they meant 'Music that would be played in a fight'," Paine said, watching them.

"_(Hey!)_

_It makes no difference, baby, what you say,  
It's getting weirder every day by day.  
I think that something's really gone astray._

_(Hey!)_

_It doesn't really matter what you try,  
It's getting even harder to deny,  
'Cause reality has just said goodbye._

_It's the strangest thing."_

They reached the bridge, and the crowd was head-bobbing and jumping as the intensity mounted into a crescendo. Then it died out before coming back suddenly with Aiwemon flying overhead, his green eyes glowing blue as he streaked above the crowd.

"_It's getting stranger and then,  
It's getting harder to win.  
It's getting digital then,  
It starts happening all over again._

_It's getting stranger and then,  
It's getting harder to win.  
It's getting digital then,  
It starts happening all over again._

_It's the strangest thing."_

They faded out, and Aiwemon soared up quietly into the sky. The Melodious Males bowed graciously before the applause and went to the back, initially smiling smugly at the women who were trading places with them, but that smugness dropping down to slight anxiety at the smiles that the Voluptuous Vixens gave them in return.

Paine, for the first time, came up to the head microphone. It surprised the boys watching from the back, because it was clear that Yuna, Kairi, and Naminé were the best pop singers on their side, and all that the girls had done was pop in its different forms. What were they up to?

"My name is Paine," the steel-haired girl said coolly, her body and body language drawing the stares from the men in the crowd. The way she stood, the indifferent way in which she talked, and the way she looked screamed into their minds that this young woman was smoking hot. The males wanted to get to know her better, and the females were envious of her. "And I'll be singing the next song."

Rock music, honest rock music, started to play. It blew away everyone's minds. The girls came together in the intro before dropping out to sing backup to Paine, and her voice revealed that she was the perfect choice for a rock song.

"_(Oh-ohh!)_

_Ooh-ohhh  
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)_

_If you wanna see some action,  
Gotta be the centre (of attraction).  
Make sure that they got their eyes on you,  
Like the face that you see on every magazine._

_Be the focus of attention,  
Be the name that every(one must mention).  
Come out from the shadows, it's your time,  
'Cause tonight is the night for everyone to see._

_(It's natural)  
You know that this is where you gotta be,  
It must be your destiny.  
(Sensational)  
And you believe that, (this is what you've waited for,  
And it's you that they all adore)"_

Paine wasn't Yuna; Paine wasn't Kairi; Paine wasn't Naminé. She didn't have the same appeal or style that those three traded around and altered to suit themselves. She couldn't be a pop star, but she could most certainly become a rock star if she wanted, and she was just as much an entertainer as Axel was for the Melodious Males. She drew all eyes towards her, held their attention, and made the audience swoon at her feet on even the slightest of cues.

"_So baby,_

_Now you feel like Number One,  
Shining bright for everyone.  
Living out your fantasy,  
The brightest star for all to see.  
Now you feel like Number One,  
Shining bright for everyone.  
Living out your fantasy,  
The brightest star there's ever been!_

_Feel the heat that's all around you,  
Flashing lights and ecstasy (surround you).  
Everybody wants a piece of you,  
You're the Queen of the scene living in a dream._

_(It's natural)  
You know that this is where you've gotta be,  
It must be your destiny.  
(Sensational)  
And you believe that (this is what you've waited for,  
and it's you that they all adore)_

_Now you feel like Number One,  
Shining bright for everyone.  
Living out your fantasy,  
The brightest star for all to see!"_

_Oh, (this is what you've waited for,  
And it's you that they all adore)_

_Now you feel like Number One,  
Shining bright for everyone.  
Living out your fantasy,  
The brightest star for all to see.  
Now you feel like Number One,  
Shining bright for everyone.  
Living out your fantasy,  
The brightest star there's ever been!"_

Even as the music continued to play in the background after Paine had finished singing she was able to keep them hooked by grabbing one of the fake electric guitars and playing it herself, shredding her way up and down the stage. Finally it finished, to rampant cheers and applause. The red-eyed Gullwing smiled and put the guitar away, bowing and blowing a single kiss to a single young man in the front.

"Whoa," Roxas said as Wakka whistled. "I was not expecting that."

"Neither was I," Axel added.

Yuna and Kairi both came forward to their microphones, Yuna still wearing Roxas' straw Stetson hat on her head. "How you doing everybody?" Yuna asked. They cheered, completely uncaring that they'd been asked that question several times already. "That's great, because Kairi and I are going to be doing the next one together, just because you're all so special."

"It's like you guys have the wings of a Butterfly," Kairi said.

A mandolin started to play quickly, and Kairi and Yuna nodded to each other quickly before breaking out into song, each of them holding a microphone in hand.

"_Ai yai yai,  
Ai yai yai,  
Ai yai yai,  
Where's my samurai?"_

The two joined together in what looked like a synchronized dance routine to the quick music before switching singing parts with one another.

"_I've been searching for a man,  
All across Japan,  
__**Just to find, to find my samurai.**__  
Someone who is strong,  
__**But still a little shy,  
**__Yes I need, I need my samurai."_

The whole group joined together for the chorus, jumping in from behind in a flash of light and sound. Red, green, black, and blue laser lights shot up and down the stage as the other girls sang and danced in the back while Kairi and Yuna stayed up front.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky.  
Ai yai yai  
I'm you little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky._

_I'm searching in the woods,  
And high upon the hills,  
__**Just to find, to find my samurai.  
**__Someone who won't regret,  
To keep me in his net,  
__**Yes I need, I need my samurai.**_

_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky.  
Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky._

_Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Where's my samurai?"_

Attention was slowly being drawn to Naminé now as she stood in the centre, behind Yuna and Kairi as they stood apart from one another. Naminé was starting to glow with white light, the light forming around her in a complete sphere and obscuring her from view.

"_Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Where's my samurai?"_

The light suddenly flashed as the tune softened and Naminé was revealed to be standing with a pair of white angel wings. She slowly took off into the air, flying low and slow over the crowd as white sparkles fell from her wings with each flap.

Kairi flipped backwards as the music suddenly picked up again, and she landed at an angle on the stage and jumped straight for Naminé.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky."_

Naminé turned around as Kairi sprang towards her and she grabbed hold of one of the red-head's feet with both her hands. She threw Kairi straight up into the air as rings of fire appeared above the two of them.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky."_

Kairi flipped end over end as she slowly rose up through the flaming rings before she reached her zenith with closed eyes. Her body stopped motionless in the air for a moment.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky."_

Her head tipped down to earth, and Kairi began to plummet with closed eyes to the crowd below, falling through the dead centre of each ring. Her head felt fuzzy, but she knew what she was doing.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky."_

Three feet above the heads of the crowd Kairi's eyes opened and she pulled out of the dive, flying using the pixie dust that had been on her since Tinkerbell came to the Islands so many months ago. She was up in the air, grabbing hands with Naminé and swinging each other around, one wingless and the other angelic.

"_Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Where's my samurai?_

_Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Ai yai yai  
Where's my samurai?"_

They both flew down to the stage from opposite ends, and collided with one another in a flash of light. Then they were revealed standing back to back to back with Yuna and Yuffie, swords in the hands of three of them while Yuna had her pistols crossed above her breasts.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky."_

Glorious.

Axel took a sip of his punch. "Okay…" he told them, nodding towards the girls, "the chicks have panache, that's for sure."

"I don't think they can top themselves," Tidus added. "That was pretty impressive."

The seven girls came in suddenly, giggling like mad. "That was great!" Kairi exclaimed, collapsing on the couch. She held a hand to her forehead. "But now that song's in my head. _Ai yai yai, I'm your little butterfly. Green black and blue—"_ She cut herself off, snorting.

Sora shook his head, smiling at her. "Well you're my butterfl—" He stopped himself. "Roxas!"

"Gotcha!" he responded. "We're gonna make every gal in the house go crazy." They all nodded at each other and quickly left, to cheers of "RIIIKUUUU-KUN!"

"Wonder what they're going to do," Rikku said.

"I'm Roxas, and I'm seeing a lot of pretty ladies in the house," the blond said, looking out with a hand above his eyes. None of them had instruments this time. They had to do their answer to the girls, then they had their last song of the first half before coming back after a short break with the opening song of the second half.

This time they got a pop beat going, and all the Melodious Males came up to the front of the stage, singing out to the crowd as the girls tried to get as close as they could.

"_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby._

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby._

Roxas took the lead, strutting around the stage and waving his free arm out at the females below him.

"_Such a sexy, sexy pretty little thing,  
Fierce nipple pierce you got me sprung with your tongue ring.  
And I ain't gonna lie 'cause your loving gets me high.  
So to keep you by my side there's nothing that I won't try.  
Butterflies in her eyes and looks to kill,  
Time is passing, I'm asking 'Could this be real?'  
'Cause I can't sleep, I can't hold still  
The only thing I really know is she got sex appeal._

_I can feel too much is never enough,  
You're always there to lift me up  
when these times get rough.  
I was lost, now I'm found  
Ever since you've been around.  
You're the woman that I want  
So yo, I'm putting it down._

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy._

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy."_

There were massive smiles on the faces of the Melodious Males as they sang to the crowd. This impromptu karaoke concert was giving all of them and the girls publicity in a way that they'd never thought possible. In just a few short songs and long minutes, they were gaining huge amounts of fans of both gendres. They were becoming idols, heroes, sex icons; everything that celebrities and rock and pop stars were without any of the monetary hassle.

Roxas looked at Riku, and permitted the silver-haired boy to take the spotlight away from him. It didn't matter too much to the blond; he'd gotten them fired up and he was leading the next song too. Might as well let the girls have what they want when they could get it.

"_I don't deserve you unless it's some kind of hidden message,  
To show me life is precious,  
Then I guess it's true.  
But to tell truth, I really never knew till I met you.  
See I was lost and confused,  
Twisted and used up.  
Knew a better life existed but thought that I missed it._

_My lifestyle's wild I was living like a wild child  
Trapped on a short leash paroled the police files  
So yo, what' s happening now?  
I see the Sun breaking down into dark clouds  
and a vision of you standing out in a crowd._

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy._

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy._

_Hey sugar momma, come and dance with me.  
The smartest thing you ever did was take a chance with me.  
Whatever tickles your fancy,  
Girl it's you like Sid and Nancy.  
So sexy, almost evil, talkin' about butterflies in my head.  
I used to think happy endings were only in the books I read,  
But you made me feel alive when I was almost dead._

_You filled that empty space with the love I used to chase,  
And as far as I can see it don't get better than this.  
So butterfly, here is a song and it's sealed with a kiss,  
and a thank you miss."_

"_Come and dance with me," _Axel sang,_  
"Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
So come and dance with me.  
Uhh-ha-uhh-ha_

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy."_

Tidus took the next chorus.

"_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy."_

Then Sora.

"_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy."_

Then Wakka.

_Come my lady,  
Come come my lady.  
You're my butterfly,  
Sugar, baby.  
Come my lady, you're my pretty baby.  
I'll make your legs shake,  
You make me go crazy."_

And Riku and Roxas finished off, switching with each other as they sang out to the audience.

"_Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me.  
Uhh-ha-uhh-ha_

_Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me._

_Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me,  
Come and dance with me."_

"Riku, I want to have your babies!" some random girl yelled from the middle of the pack.

The Melodious Males looked at her funny for a second before Axel spoke. "Okay dudes and dudettes, we're going to do our last song of the first act. You're going to figure out the theme before you've even heard a full bar of music, got it memorized?"

"Take us away Roxas!" Wakka said.

Everyone's eyes widened to their limit as an iconic and completely unique and recognizable piece of rock music started with a blast of sound. There were some laughs, but mostly huge cheers of nostalgia as an animated video showing clips from an SV series played on the screen behind them.

The girls had a very similar reaction, mostly.

"What the fuck!" Selphie yelled, staring out in disbelief.

"What in the name of Yevon?" Yuna asked.

"By the light they didn't," Kairi said, smiling widely and shaking her head.

"_I wanna be the very best,  
Like no one ever was.  
To catch them is my real test,  
To train them is my cause._

_I will travel across the land,  
Searching far and wide.  
Each Pokémon, to understand,  
The power that's inside._

_Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all.  
It's you and me.  
I know it's my destiny.  
Pokémon.  
Oh, you're my best friend,  
In a world we must defend._

_Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all.  
A heart so true,  
Our courage will pull us through.  
You teach me and I'll teach you.  
Pokémon!  
Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all."_

Everyone was expecting it to stop, but it didn't and Roxas kept on singing.

"_Yeah._

_Every challenge along the way,  
With courage I will face.  
I will battle every day,  
To claim my rightful place._

_Come with me the time is right,  
There's no better team.  
Arm in arm, we're in the fight.  
It's always been our dream._

_Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all.  
It's you and me.  
I know it's my destiny.  
Pokémon.  
Oh, you're my best friend,  
In a world we must defend._

_Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all.  
A heart so true,  
Our courage will pull us through.  
You teach me and I'll teach you.  
Pokémon!  
Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all!"_

The rock music lost its heavy edge and became a sudden very energetic piano and synthesized keyboard, an effect that drove the crowd wild. They had no idea that the theme was actually _this_ awesome when played in its entirety.

"_Gotta catch 'em all._

_Gotta catch 'em all._

_Gotta catch 'em all.  
Yeah!"_

It came back to its original intensity, and everyone was singing along.

"_Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all.  
It's you and me.  
I know it's my destiny.  
Pokémon.  
Oh, you're my best friend,  
In a world we must defend._

_Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all.  
A heart so true,  
Our courage will pull us through.  
You teach me and I'll teach you.  
Pokémon!  
Gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em all.  
Pokémon!"_

The boys bowed to massive cheers and applause, while Kairi took charge behind the curtain.

"Okay," she asked. "Who was a huge fan of Pokémon back when they were a kid? (No response) Oh come on! Not even you Selphie!"

"Sorry," she said meekly, "but I didn't really get into it as much as you and the guys did."

"And we didn't have that SV show in Spira," Rikku said.

"Even if we _did_," Yuna added, "we sure didn't get in Besaid."

Kairi sighed before smiling in excitement. "Then I guess I'll be doing the hard part."

They switched places with the guys, and Selphie spoke first and a countdown appeared on the screen behind them. "Okay girls, we've got to rap some Pokémon."

"You just do the singing," Kairi assured her, getting her microphone ready in her hand as she ran the names through her head, "I'll take care of the hard part."

"Let's get it on," Yuffie said. She took it away.

"_I want to be the best,  
There ever was.  
To beat all the rest,  
Yeah that's my cause."_

Kairi came in hard, her left hand running up and down as the image of each one came on behind her. _(A/N 1: I can actually do this and am typing it from memory. Yes, I'm a loser, but at least these are pretty much the only Pokémon worth committing to memory, the original 150!)_

"_**Electrode, Diglett, Nidoran, Mankey,  
Venusaur, Rattata, Fearow, Pidgey,  
Seaking, Jolteon, Dragonite, Gastly,  
Ponyta, Vaporeon, Poliwrath, Butterfree**__."_

"_Catch 'em catch 'em,  
Gotta catch 'em all.  
Pokémon!"_

"_I'll search across the land,"_ Naminé sang,  
_"Looked far and wide.  
Released from my hand,  
The power that's inside."_

"_**Venomoth, Poliwag, Nidorino Golduck,  
Ivysaur, Grimer, Victreebel, Moltres,  
Nidoking, Farfetch'd, Abra, Jigglypuff,  
Kingler, Rhyhorn, Clefable, Wigglytuff.**__"_

"_Catch 'em catch 'em,  
Gotta catch 'em all.  
Gotta catch 'em all,  
Pokémon!"_

"_**Zubat, Primape, Meowth, Onix,  
Geodude, Rapidash, Magneton, Snorlax!  
Gengar, Tangela, Goldeen, Spearow,  
Weezing, Seel, Gyarados, Slowbro!**__"_

"_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Gotta catch 'em all."_

"_**Yeah!"**_

_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Gotta catch 'em all."_

"_**Yeah!"**_

"_Gotta catch 'em all, Pokémon._

_Ow!"_

"_**Kabuto, Persian, Paras, Horsea,  
Raticate, Magnemite, Kadabra, Weepinbell,  
Ditto, Cloyster, Caterpie, Sandshrew,  
Bulbasaur, Charmander, Golem, Pikachu!**__"_

"_At least there's one hundred and fifty,  
Or more to see.  
To be a Pokémon master is my destiny!"_

"_**Alakazam, Doduo, Venonat, Machoke,  
Kangaskhan, Hypno, Electabuzz, Flareon,  
Blastoise, Poliwhirl, Oddish, Drowsee,  
Raichu, Nidoqueen, Bellsprout, Starmie!**__"_

Rikku wiped her brow. "Whew! We're at the half-way point, doing great so far."

Kairi faked offence. "We? What's all this 'we' stuff? I'm doing all the hard work!"

"Break time's over," Yuna declared. "Here we go!" Kairi dove in again.

"_**Metapod, Marowak, Kakuna, Clefairy,  
Dodrio, Seadra, Vileplume, Krabby,  
Likitung, Tauros, Weedle, Nidoran,  
Machop, Shellder, Porygon, Hitmonchan!**__"_

"_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Gotta catch 'em all!"_

"_**Yeah!**__"_

"_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Gotta catch 'em all!"_

"_**Yeah!**_

_**Articuno, Jynx, Nidorina, Beedrill,  
Haunter, Squirtle, Chansey **__(Pokémon!)__**  
Parasect, Exeggcute, Muk, Dewgong,  
Pidgeotto, Lapras, Vulpix, Rhydon!**__"_

"_At least there's one hundred and fifty,  
Or more to see.  
To be a Pokémon master is my, destiny!"_

"_**Charizard, Machamp, Pinsir, Koffing,  
Dugtrio, Golbat, Staryu, Magickarp,  
Ninetales, Ekans, Omastar!  
Scyther, Tentacool, Dragonair, Magmar!**__"_

"Whoa!" Selphie said, waving her hand in front of Kairi. "Catch your breath girl, shake out those lips."

"It's downhill from here," Kairi told them all, "just twenty-four more to go."

"Now it gets tricky," Paine said.

"So listen _real_ good," Naminé added.

"_**Sandslash, Hitmonlee, Psyduck, Arcanine,  
Eevee, Exeggutor, Kabutops, Zapdos,  
Dratini, Growlithe, Mr. Mime, Cubone,  
Graveler, Voltorb, Gloom!**__"_

"_We're almost home!_

_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Gotta catch 'em all!_

_Yow!_

_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Gotta catch 'em all!_

_Hurah!_

_Gotta catch 'em all, Pokémon,  
Hey-ey…"_

"_**Chameleon, Wartortle,  
Mewtwo, Tentacruel, Aerodactyl,  
Omanyte, Slowpoke, Pidgeot, Arboc"  
**__"That's all folks!_

_Catch 'em, catch 'em,  
Gotta catch 'em all._

_Ooh, gotta catch 'em all,  
Pokémon._

_Catch 'em, catch 'em,  
Gotta catch 'em all._

_Ooh gotta catch 'em all,  
Pokémon._

_Catch 'em, catch 'em,  
Gotta catch 'em all._

_Gotta catch 'em all,  
Pokémon!"_

The music stopped and Kairi took a few deep breaths before she and the other girls all bowed and blew kisses to the cheering crowd. The Voluptuous Vixens of Veritable Vocals in the Vernacular left the stage at the ushering of King Mickey, who laughed a little as they retreated backstage.

"Welp, you all sure sound like you're enjoying the show," the King said. "Don't forget, when we get to the end, you _will_ have to decide the winner. Will it be the Voluptuous Vixens of Veritable Vocals, or the Melodious Males of Masculine Muse? We'll be continuing the contest in a few minutes with the Males kicking off the second act.

"But for now (he laughed), ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, a little bit of magic: Abra Kadabra!"

His voice echoed and he waved his hands and lights started to shine at the back of the stage as Mickey left. Smoke poured out of the portal and a man and a few women came out of the light as an eerily magical music started to play. The man started to rap.

"_Uh-huh.  
Check him out now,  
Mickey Mouse now.  
In the house now._

_Get ready now,  
Yeah, come on.  
Sing along now,  
Here we go._

_Sometime in the night time,  
Is the right time,  
Stirring up a little magic brew.  
Just hear what he's saying,  
The music's playing,  
He's got something in store for you._

_You know it's like A-B-C,  
or 1-2-3  
Mix it slowly now at the beat.  
You know it's done easily,  
With M-I-C, K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E.  
Check it out now."_

Both bands were relaxing backstage and drinking the punch to replenish their liquids after singing for the better part of fifty minutes. They listened to the song, Rapamagical, from the King's summoned artist, and were glad for all of them to have a break for a moment.

"So was there any subliminal messaging you might've wanted to tell us about in your song, Kairi, Yuna?" Axel asked, smirking at the two of them.

"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, glancing at the other red-head.

"_Ai yai yai, I'm your little butterfly_," he said, mimicking her. "Want to tell us something Princess?"

"It's just a song Axel," Yuna said, placing a hand on her hip. "Like you guys actually meant anything when you were singing, _I'll make your legs shake, you make me go crazy_?"

"Maybe _they_ didn't," Axel replied, smiling lewdly and taking a sip of his punch. "But you know what Kairi, you're a very peculiar girl."

"Huh?" she asked.

"Not a lot of chicks like fire," he said, nodding at her, "but you're drawn to it like a moth."

Kairi frowned at him. "Are you calling me a bug, Pyro Lea?"

Axel frowned back. "How'd you know that my true name was Lea?" Kairi rolled her eyes but Riku spoke instead.

"What kind of mother would honestly name their kid Ale?" he asked.

"A drunk one?" Tidus asked.

"The question was supposed to be rhetoric."

"Well then you should have said that it was rhetoric."

"You couldn't tell!"

"I think it was more of he didn't care," Paine answered, looking at Tidus.

"No, he was trying to be a smart-aleck," Yuna said, coming up to him and playfully punching his shoulder. Tidus laughed. She laughed. Then he laughed again.

"This is so weird," he said, a funny sort of smile on his face.

"You two going crazy again?" Wakka asked.

Rikku sighed loudly and stretched. "Is it just me, or is it getting a little warm in here?"

"Yes it is," Axel said quickly, "maybe you'd be cooler if you took something off."

"Perv!" Naminé shot at him. "If she took something off she'd be topless!"

Every guy glanced at each other, mentally exchanging the same words. _She's right, she would be topless._ Four of them then looked as far away from Rikku as possible, while the other two found their gaze inexplicably drawn to the blonde's chest. Rikku seemed to take in all in stride.

"Well, they are pretty nice aren't they?" she asked rhetorically, her hands moving towards them.

_Oh please, stop trying to tempt me,_ Sora thought through a red face as he did his best to avoid looking at the Voluptuous Vixen. He took a sip of his punch to try and cool himself down when he looked into the fruity, raspberry flavoured, drink.

"Are we drunk?" he asked loudly, staring at the liquid in his hands.

"No we're not drunk," Selphie said quickly. "She is, and Axel probably is, but we're not drunk."

Sora believed her. He didn't know why, but he convinced himself that Selphie was right.

"It's our turn now yah," Wakka announced, hearing the music stop. "Let's get out there guys."

"Sure," Riku said, pushing himself off the wall. "Let's start off with a strong comeback. How hard was it for you to learn the Pokérap anyway Kairi?"

"It was actually pretty easy," she answered after a second. "Memorizing the different streams of Pokémon was a breeze. The _hard_ part is remembering when to sing each one of them. But once that's down it's a snap. _Electrode, Diglett, Nidoran, Mankey, Venusaur, Rattata, Fearow, Pidgey, Seaking, Jolteon, Dragonite, Gastly, Ponyta, Vaporeon, Poliwrath, Butterfree._"

"Yeah," Roxas said, "we'll take your word for it."

"You're just jealous 'cause you can't do it," she called after him as he left. Kairi took another sip of her punch. She rose from the couch, sighing. "Ugh, I need to take a piss."

The Melodious Males of Masculine Muse returned to the stage while it was completely dark, hiding them in a veil of darkness. Music started to play behind them, and they began to sing from the blackness.

"_Everybody yeah,  
Rock your body yeah,  
Everybody yeah,  
Rock your body right.  
Backstreet's Back alright!"_

The music kicked into a funky pop groove as the lights came on with a flash, and the males all turned around, dressed in light dance clothes of whites, yellows, and blacks instead of what they'd been in before. Riku was wearing an undone, sleeveless vest on his chest, no shirt underneath. Sora had on a white shirt with a yellow vest and white gloves, Wakka, Roxas, and Tidus were in sleeveless, slightly undone shirts and vests to show a bit of their chests, and Axel was in a black shirt done up about halfway. All of them were still wearing their pendants, crests, or crystals slung across their necks.

They started to dance and Axel took it away.

"_Oh my God, we're back again.  
Brothers, sisters, everybody sing.  
We're gonna bring the flavour, show you how.  
Gotta question for ya,  
Better answer now."_

"_Am I original?" _Sora asked.  
_"Yeah"_  
_"Am I the only one?"_ asked Tidus.  
_"Yeah"_  
_"Am I sexual?"_ Riku asked.  
_"Yeah"_  
_"Am I everything you need?  
You'd better rock your body now._

_Everybody yeah,  
Yeah.  
Rock your body yeah,  
Yeah.  
Everybody yeah,  
Rock your body right.  
Backstreet's Back alright!_

_Alright!"_

Axel took it up again, singing out to the crowd while he and the other males danced.

"_Now throw your hands up in the air,  
And wave 'em around like you just don't care.  
If you wanna party let me hear you yell,  
'Cause we've got it goin' on again._

"_Am I original?"  
"Yeah"  
"Am I the only one?"  
"Yeah"  
"Am I sexual?"  
"Yeah"  
"Am I everything you need?  
You'd better rock your body now._

_Everybody yeah,  
Yeah.  
Rock your body yeah,  
Yeah.  
Everybody yeah,  
Rock your body right.  
Backstreet's Back alright!_

_Alright!"_

Roxas came out as they all nearly stopped moving, the spotlight shining down on him and him alone while the guys slowly got into a v-shape with him at their head.

"_So everybody, everywhere,  
Don't be afraid, don't have no fear.  
I'm gonna tell the world, make it understand.  
As long as there'll be music:  
We'll be coming back again."_

When the music reached the crescendo of its rising action, they burst into dance from the video, hopping right, then left, swinging their arms, hips, shoulders and hands in synchronized dance.

"_Everybody yeah,  
Yeah.  
Rock your body yeah,  
Yeah.  
Everybody yeah,  
Rock your body right.  
Backstreet's Back…_

_Everybody yeah,  
Yeah.  
Rock your body yeah,  
Yeah.  
Everybody yeah,  
Rock your body right.  
Backstreet's Back, alright (alright alright)!"_

They ended with their hands held high to the sky above the crowd, the cheers from the females hurting their ears. The Melodious Males smiled and left the stage for the girls to take it instead.

As soon as they got on, they immediately challenged the boys with flash, glam, and style. Golden light dropped down onto them, and they were positively radiant as they sang and danced.

"_La La La La La La La La La  
La La La La La La La  
La La La La La La La La La  
La La La La La La La_

_When you're feeling sad and low  
We will take you where you gotta go  
Smiling, dancing, everything is free  
All you need is positivity_

_Colours of the world  
Spice up your life  
Every boy and every girl  
Spice up your life  
People of the world  
Spice up your life  
Aaahh!_

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh and around_

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh Hai Sí Ja Hold Tight!"_

"Ooh, Spice Girls," Wakka said, nodding approvingly. "That fits for Boy/Girl Bands of the 90s ya."

"They're doing a good job too," Axel added.

"_La La La La La La La La La  
La La La La La La La  
La La La La La La La La La  
La La La La La La La_

_Yellow man in Timbuktu,  
Colour for both me and you.  
Kung Fu Fighting, Dancing Queen,  
Tribal Spaceman and all that's in between._

_Colours of the world  
Spice up your life  
Every boy and every girl  
Spice up your life  
People of the world  
Spice up your life  
Aaahh!_

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh and around._

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh Hai Sí Ja Hold Tight!"_

_Flamenco,  
Lambada,  
But Hip-Hop is harder.  
We Moonwalk the Foxtrot,  
Then Polka the Salsa.  
Shake Shake Shake, haka!  
Shake Shake Shake haka!  
Arriba!_

_Colours of the world  
Spice up your life  
Every boy and every girl  
Spice up your life  
People of the world  
Spice up your life  
Aaahh!_

The girls were all smiles as they sang and danced to the music with one another. This had been a wonderful idea of Sikora's; they were all really enjoying themselves. It was the perfect ending to a relaxing break, which was short for some and longer for others.

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh and around_

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh Hai Sí Ja Hold Tight!_

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh and around_

_Slam it to the left  
If you're having a good time  
Shake it to the right  
If you know that you feel fine  
Chicas to the front  
Uh Uh Hai Sí Ja Hold Tight!"_

The British pop music ended with their voices echoing, and Kairi came forward to speak through the microphone. "Now, I know we love our mythic heroes here on the Islands," she said, "but we know a song from a place where a certain hero of ours is loved even more than he is here. So we're gonna bring you Songs From Other Worlds!" A gospel tune pianoed, trumpeted, and saxophoned in from the speakers, and Yuna started them off.

"_Oh yeah!_

_Bless my soul, Herc was on a roll."  
_Kairi came in next. _"Person of the week on evr'y Greek opinion poll."  
"What a pro,"_ Naminé added.  
_"Herc could stop a show," _Yuna continued,  
_"Point him at a monster and you're talking SRO!  
He was a no one."  
"A zero, zero,"_ Yuffie and Selphie sang.  
_"Now he's a honcho,  
He's a hero!  
Here was a kid with his act down pat!  
From zero to hero, in no time flat!  
From zero to hero, just like that!"_

_When he smiled,  
The girls went wild with,  
"Oohs" and "aahs".  
"And they slapped his face on evr'y vase,"_ Kairi sang.  
Rikku lightly smacked the back of her head with her palm. _"Oh every __vase__!"_

"_From appearance fees and royalties,  
Our Herc had cash to burn.  
Now nouveau rich and famous,  
He could tell you,  
What the Greek should earn!_

_Say "Amen",  
There he goes again.  
Sweet and undefeated,  
And an awesome 10 for 10.  
Folks lined up,  
Just to watch him flex.  
And this perfect package,  
Packed a pair of pretty pecs._

_Hercie he comes,  
He sees, he conquers.  
Honey, the crowds were going bonkers.  
He showed the moxie, brains, and spunk.  
From zero to hero, a major hunk.  
From zero to hero, and who'da thunk?"_

Sora snorted slightly. "Wow, I wonder where they picked that one up."

Roxas looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"None of them have been to Olympus Coliseum," Sora answered.

"Yuffie and I have been there," Riku told them. Sora and Roxas looked at him. "I'm serious, we have been there with Max. It was pretty much right after you two managed to separate from one another and you and Kairi were both lost on The New World."

"Oh so that's where you went," Roxas said. "And here I was with a broken arm at the time."

"_Who put the glad in gladiator?  
Hercules!  
Whose daring deeds are great theatre?  
Hercules!  
Isn't he bold?  
No one greater.  
Isn't he sweet?  
Our favourite flavour.  
Hercules! Hercules!  
Hercules! Hercules!  
Hercules! Hercules!_

_Bless my soul!  
Herc was on a roll.  
Undefeated!  
Riding high!  
And the nicest guy,  
Not conceited._

_He was a nothin',  
A zero, zero.  
Now he's a honcho,  
He's a hero!_

_He hit the heights at breakneck speed!  
From zero to hero,  
Herc is a hero!  
Now he's a hero!_

_Oh yeah!  
Yes indeed!"_

A giant picture of a smiling Hercules showed up on the screen, his curls of orange hair above his golden skin and baby blue eyes. Cheers came from both males and females in the crowd at seeing the face of the legendary Hercules. "Now let's see what our boys can do," Rikku giggled before leading the way off the stage.

Kairi stopped as she passed by Sora. "You went through the same thing too, right Sora?" she asked. Sora paused for a moment before nodding his head. He really had been a bit of a nobody before the Keyblade had chosen him. "Well, you were never a zero in my eyes."

They both blushed and Sora felt his face growing hot. He shook it quickly and smiled at Kairi before glancing towards the stage. There was a tiny conflict in his mind, and he quickly decided on the right course of action. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, seen by only a few people in the crowd who had their eyes towards him instead of Riku, and all of those twenty or so 'oohed' at once.

"Thanks Iri," he said, winking at her. "You were never a zero either." She blushed and went back to the girls backstage, all of whom noticed her blushing. But Kairi ignored all their questions and badgering, even the mental ones of Naminé, and kept her mouth shut.

"Take us away ya Riku," Wakka told him. The silver-haired boy nodded and more pop music started, with a jazzy harmonica thrown in.

"_Baby I knew at once that you were meant for me,"_ Riku sang, drawing cheers from the girls in the front who he was looking directly at.

"_Deep in my soul I know,  
That I'm your destiny.  
Though you're unsure,  
Why fight the tide?  
Don't think so much,  
Let your heart decide._

_Baby I see your future,  
And it's tied to mine.  
I look in your eyes,  
And see you searching for a sign.  
But you'll never fall,  
'Til you let go.  
Don't be so scared,  
Of what you don't know."_

The rest of the Melodious Males joined in, apart from Sora, and they sang that which all Keyblade Wielders should know.

"_True to your heart.  
You must be true to your heart.  
That's when the heavens will part,  
And baby shower you with my love.  
Open your eyes,  
Your heart can tell you no lies.  
And when you're true to your heart,  
I know it's gonna lead you straight to me.  
(Got to be true to your heart)"_

Harmonica came in at the end of the chorus as Roxas, Axel, Tidus, and Wakka sang the echo. Then Sora took the spotlight by coming straight to the front of the stage and singing out.

"_**Someone you know is on your side,  
Can set you free.  
I can do that for you,  
If you believe in me.  
Why second-guess,  
What feels so right?  
Just trust your heart,  
And you'll see the light.**__"_

The rest of the Males came in to sing the chorus with Riku leading them through the first part, and then he switched with his best friend for the second half.

"_True to your heart.  
You must be true to your heart.  
That's when the heavens will part,  
And baby shower you with my love.  
__**Open your eyes,  
Your heart can tell you no lies.  
And when you're true to your heart,  
I know it's gonna lead you straight to me.**_

_(Ya know it's true)  
__**Your heart knows what's good for you.**__  
"(Good for you)  
Let your heart show you the way.  
(Ya know it's true)  
__**It'll see you through.**__  
(Got to be true to your heart)_

_**Girl my heart is driving me to where you are.**__  
You can take both hands off the wheel and,  
Still get far.  
__**Be swept away,**__ enjoy the ride,  
__**You won't get lost,**__  
__**With your heart to guide you**__._

_True to your heart.  
You must be true to your heart.  
That's when the heavens will part,  
And baby shower you with my love.  
Open your eyes,  
Your heart can tell you no lies.  
And when you're true to your heart,  
I know it's gonna lead you straight to me.  
(Got to be true to your heart)_

_**True to your heart.  
You must be true to your heart.  
That's when the heavens will part,  
And baby shower you with my love.  
Open your eyes,  
Your heart can tell you no lies.  
And when you're true to your heart,  
I know it's gonna lead you straight to meeeeeeeee.  
(Got to be true to your heart)**_

_When things are getting crazy (crazy),  
And you don't know where to start (to start),  
Keep on believing baby (baby),  
Just be true to your heart __**(true to your heart)**__.  
When all the world around you __**(yeah)**__,  
It seems to fall apart (fall apart),  
Keep on believing baby (baby),  
Just be true to your heart (__**true to your heart)**__._

_You've got to be true,  
To your heart.  
__**True to your heart.**_

_You've got to be true,  
To your heart!"_

They stopped, and Roxas came forward amidst the cheering and applause and began to speak. "This next theme, the fourth last of the night, is titled 'Songs About A Girl'. That's right, 'About A _Girl_'. Not the opposite sex, but a girl in general. So it's going to be tough for the Vixens huh? Having to sing a guy's song?"

"Jackass," Yuna muttered.

"But anyway, I'm going to kick this one off with one of my personal favourites, except this one isn't about just any girl, it's about a lady, like that sweet Naminé backstage."

Naminé placed her hands to her face, the pale skin making her blush even more evident.

"I think this loser's trying to score some points with his girlfriend," Tidus joked.

"He already has," Naminé whispered to herself.

Roxas was true to his word, and took the stage himself while the rest of the Melodious Males all dropped to the back to sing backup for the very few parts that required it.

"_Well she's all you'd ever want,  
She's the kind I'd like to flaunt,  
And take to dinner.  
But she always knows her place,  
She's got style, she's got grace,  
She's a winner._

_She's a lady.  
Oh, whoa, whoa, she's a lady.  
Talkin' about that little lady,  
And the lady is mine._

_Well she's never in the way,  
Always something nice to say,  
What a blessing.  
I can leave her on her own,  
Knowin' she's okay alone,  
And there's no messing._

_She's a lady.  
Oh whoa, whoa, she's a lady.  
Talkin' about that little lady,  
And the lady is mine."_

Yuna was shaking her head in disbelief backstage. "I can't believe it," she said. "He's singing Tom Jones. Roxas is singing Tom Jones for Naminé. Why can't Tidus sing Tom Jones!"

"Watch it Yuna," Selphie fired off, glaring at the mocha-haired female who was a few inches taller and at least one cup size bigger. Yuna returned the glare with hostility from underneath Roxas' Stetson hat, which she had still neglected or refused to remove.

"Has he ever kissed _you_ before?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"_Well she never asks very much,  
And I don't refuse her.  
Always treat her with respect,  
I never would abuse her.  
What she's got is hard to find,  
And I don't want to lose her.  
Help me build a mountain,  
From a little pile of clay, hey, hey, hey!"_

"No, but I don't need to dress like a scank either," Selphie retorted.

Kairi placed a hand to her head. "Oh please don't get into a catfight, oh please don't get into a catfight. (She looked up at them and grumbled) They're going to get into a cat fight. Selphie!"

"What?" the brunette asked as Kairi grabbed her arms and dragged her away from Yuna. It was difficult, until Paine came and helped her; Selphie wanted to fight for her right to lay a claim on Tidus.

"Just lay off will you?" Kairi said. "Naminé's enjoying this and we're trying to come up with a song to sing in answer to it."

"_Well she knows what I'm about,  
She can take what I dish out,  
And that's not easy.  
But she knows me through and through,  
And she knows just what to do,  
And how to please me._

_She's a lady.  
Oh whoa, whoa, she's a lady.  
Talkin' about that little lady,  
And the lady is mine.  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's a lady.  
Oh whoa, whoa she's a lady.  
Listen to me people, she's a lady.  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's a lady!  
Oh whoa, whoa, she's a lady.  
Talkin' about that little lady.  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,  
She's a lady!  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's a lady.  
Oh whoa, whoa, she's a lady,  
And the lady is mine!"_

He drew out the 'mine' as long as he could, thirteen seconds at least, a feat which turned his face purple and gave him wild cheers and applause. Then something happened that hadn't happened before: a tank-top flew onto the stage.

The Melodious Males stopped and stared at it; Roxas, Sora, and Riku were looking at it with terror and praying that whatever stupid girl had thrown it onto the stage had been wearing a bra or a bikini top underneath. Axel strode right up to it, snatched it up in his gloved right hand, and kissed it before holding it aloft.

The three with terribly white faces who were all suddenly feeling cold even in the warm air wafting in from the nearby oceans keeping them moderately warm came backstage first, and instantly went straight to the couch and hung themselves over its back with their knees on the cushions. "That was horrible," Sora moaned.

He felt a hand softly on his right shoulder and he turned at the sound of Kairi's giggling voice. "You're being _way_ too serious Sora," she said. "It's not your fault if some drunk girl decides to throw her top off."

"You're right Kai," Riku said, smirking and turning to sit down instead, "it's chocobo-head's."

Roxas grumbled. "Whatever." He looked at Naminé. "So how'd you like it?"

"It was wonderful," Naminé replied.

"That's what she said," Axel muttered more than audibly as he came in with the lime-green tank-top slung across his left shoulder. Naminé stuck her tongue out at him.

"Come on," Selphie said, giving Yuna an icy look as her green eyes swept across the room, "let' go girls."

They got onstage, walking with swagger and apathy (a very interesting combination), and Selphie took the microphone. "Let's put the 70s aside and mix things up with a little earlier 2000s punk." Head-banging commenced seconds after the guitar started, and Selphie surprised them all by taking the lead. But for once, it was okay, because this was probably the only style of music that her voice was adequately suited to.

"_8 o'clock, Monday night and I'm waitin',  
To finally talk to a girl a little cooler than me.  
Her name is Nona, she's a rocker with a nose ring,  
She wears a two way, but I'm not quite sure what that means._

_And when she walks,  
All the wind blows and the angels sing.  
She doesn't notice me!_

'_Cause she is watching wrestling,  
Creamin' over tough guys,  
Listenin' to rap metal,  
Turntables in her eyes._

_It's like a bad movie,  
She is lookin' through me.  
If you were me, then you'd be,  
Screamin' "Someone shoot me!"  
As I fail miserably,  
Tryin' to get the girl all the bad guys want.  
She's the girl all the bad guys want!_

_She likes the Godsmack and I like Agent Orange,  
Her cd changer's full of singers that are mad at their dad.  
She says she'd like to score some reefer and a forty,  
She'll never know that I'm the best that she'll never have._

_And when she walks,  
All the wind blows and the angels sing.  
She'll never notice me!_

'_Cause she is watching wrestling,  
Creamin' over tough guys,  
Listenin' to rap metal,  
Turntables in her eyes._

_She likes 'em with a moustache,  
Racetrack season pass,  
Drivin' in a Trans-Am,  
Does a mullet make a man?_

_It's like a bad movie,  
She is lookin' through me.  
If you were me, then you'd be,  
Screamin' "Someone shoot me!"  
As I fail miserably,  
Tryin' to get the girl all the bad guys want.  
She's the girl all the bad guys want!  
She's the girl all the bad guys want!  
She's the girl all the bad guys want!_

_There she goes again,  
With fishnets on, and dreadlocks in her hair.  
She broke my heart, I wanna be sedated,  
All I wanted was to see her naked!"_

There was inexplicably a sudden cheer as Selphie sang that line, as if the crowd was pleased of that and even more pleased that a girl was singing this song and so declaring that she wanted to see another girl naked. The Voluptuous Vixens ignored that as it softened a little.

"_Now I am watchin' wrestling,  
Tryin' to be a tough guy.  
Listenin' to rap metal,  
Turntables in my eyes.  
I can't grow a moustache,  
And I ain't got no season pass,  
All I got's a moped...moped...moped..._

_It's like a bad movie,  
She is lookin' through me.  
If you were me, then you'd be,  
Screamin' "Someone shoot me!"  
As I fail miserably,  
Tryin' to get the girl all the bad guys want. _

'_Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
(There she goes again)  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
(There she goes again)  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys want!  
'Cause she's the girl all the bad guys—"_

Selphie stopped right there, holding the microphone triumphantly above her head as the drum did its final _dun-dun-dun!_ She walked around the stage a bit with her band mates, trying to get a feel for them. "You guys are a great crowd," Selphie said.

"We're on the home stretch!" Rikku shouted. "We're about to start the third from last set! So you'd better listen up and not strain those cheering muscles too much, because we're counting on you to make sure we kick the guys' butts into the stratosphere! Right girls?"

Yuffie smiled and shook her head as the cheers came back even louder than before. "Let's knock it back a couple of decades," she said, "with a little soft rock from 80s Music That Doesn't Suck!"

The lights dimmed and smoke poured in from the sides. Soft blue light illuminated the stage, and a clear spotlight fell onto the raven-haired kunoichi. Her voice came out amidst the music of Sora's favourite decade, and she captured the audience as effectively as Yuna had done so when she had sung her own hit song from that era.

"_You must understand,  
That the touch of your hand,  
Makes my pulse react.  
That it's only the thrill,  
Of boy meeting girl,  
Opposites attract._

_It's physical,  
Only logical.  
You must try to ignore,  
That it means more than that."_

Riku had his eyes closed as he listened to Yuffie's voice singing Tina Turner's song. She was good enough, though he wondered why Yuna, Kairi, or Naminé hadn't been the one singing it, and he found himself wanting to drift off. It had been a long day, but he couldn't fall asleep just yet. They had at least three more songs to sing and the fireworks to go to before he could pass into that blissful realm.

"_Oh, what's love got to do, got to do with it?  
What's love, but a second-hand emotion?  
What's love got to do, got to do with it?  
Who needs a heart,  
When a heart can be broken?_

_It may seem to you,  
That I'm acting confused,  
When you're close to me.  
If I tend to look dazed,  
I've read it someplace,  
I've got cause to be._

_There's a name for it,  
There's a phrase that fits,  
But whatever the reason,  
You do it for me._

_Oh, what's love got to do, got to do with it?  
What's love, but a second-hand emotion?  
What's love got to do, got to do with it?  
Who needs a heart,  
When a heart can be broken?_

_I've been taking on a new direction,  
But I have to say,  
I've been thinking about my own protection.  
It scares me to feel this way._

_Oh, what's love got to do, got to do with it?  
What's love, but a second-hand emotion?  
What's love got to do, got to do with it?  
Who needs a heart,  
When a heart can be broken?_

_What's love got to do, got to do with it?  
What's love, but a sweet old-fashioned notion?  
What's love got to do, got to do with it?  
Who needs a heart,  
When a heart can be broken?"_

The music faded away, and Yuffie withdrew from the grand applause and whistles with a small smile on her face. They switched places with the boys, and Sora took the microphone.

"Give me a beat guys," he said. Riku started to play a rif on guitar, then Wakka came in on drums, and Roxas started to get a little funky with a synthesizer, and Sora nodded his head the whole time. "Yeah, that beat goes on."

"_Hey Judy,"_ Sora sang, _"get Trudy.  
Ya said to call ya up if I was feelin' moody.  
Hey little Donna, still wanna?  
Ya said to ring you up when I was in Toronna._

_I have lots of friends that I can ding at anytime,  
Can mobilize some laughs with just one call.  
Like a bunch of lunatics we'll act to way past dawn.  
Sure we'll be rockin' 'till our strength is gone.  
Yeah, this beat goes on._

_An on, and on, and on."_

"_Hey ladies!" _Axel cried out,_ "Ooh, you crazies,  
Well, me and Zero request you in the Mercedes.  
And then we'll ride, so zoomy inside.  
The sky's the limit, this time I'm switching to glide._

_I don't give a hoot about what people have to say.  
I'm laughing as I'm analyzed.  
Lunatics Anonymous, that's where I belong.  
Sure 'cause I am one, 'till my strength is gone.  
Yeah, this beat goes on._

_An on, and on, and on._

_I have lots of friends that I can ding at anytime,  
Can mobilize some laughs with just one call.  
Like a bunch of lunatics we'll act to way past dawn.  
Sure we'll be rockin' 'till our strength is gone.  
Yeah, this beat goes on."_

"_This beat goes on," _sang Axel.  
_"__**Beat goes on,**__" _Sora sang.  
_"__**This beat goes on,**__"_ Riku sang.  
_"__This beat goes on,__"_ added Tidus.  
_"_This beat goes on,_" _Wakka furthered.  
_"_**This beat goes on,**_" _Roxas sang.

"_This beat goes on."  
__**This beat goes on and on…**__  
__This beat goes on.  
__**…On and on…**__  
__**This beat goes on.**__  
__**…On and on…  
**_This beat goes on.  
_**…And on and on…  
**_**This beat goes on.  
**_**…On and on…**_**  
**_This beat goes on.  
__**…On and on…  
**__**This beat goes on.  
**__**…On and on…  
**__This beat goes on._

_**THIS BEAT GOES…!**__"_

The beat changed from earlier, and now it was nearly completely unrecognizable from the original beat of the song. It sounded almost like a marching tune, and Axel sang furiously into his microphone.

"_Nothin' matters but the weekend,  
From a Tuesday point of view.  
Like a kettle in the kitchen,  
I feel the steam begin to brew._

_Switchin' to glide, switchin' to glide.  
Switchin' to glide, switchin' to glide."_

"_Energy can be directed,"_ Tidus sang,  
_"I'm turnin' it up, I'm turnin' it down.  
Even love can be affected,  
Harmony's the sweetest sound._

_Switchin' to glide, switchin' to glide.  
Switchin' to glide, switchin' to glide."_

Wakka took up the next bit, running a hand through his cropped ginger hair.

"_Balancin' on my head,  
Inside of me, taking the glide path instead."_

Then along came Riku as the music started to march again.

"_Everybody gets the note now.  
Hear it ringing in their ears.  
Lots of ways that you can go, Go!  
Look around, no disappears._

_Switchin' to glide, switchin' to glide.  
Switchin' to glide, switchin' to glide."_

Roxas and Axel decided to finish the song together after all the Males sang the chorus.

"_Switchin' to glide, yeah… switchin' to glide.  
Yeah, switchin' to glide, ah…hey…oooh…aaaaa.  
I'm switchin' to glide, I finally found some way outta this hole, ya know?_

_OUTTA THIS HOLE!"_

"Did you all enjoy that!" Sora asked loudly through his microphone. He paused and waved them up as the audience cheered. "That's good! I'm glad you've got a lot of enthusiasm, but we're going to tone that down now that we're at the final four songs. Let's slow down a little as we go into the second last category, of Sappiest Love Songs Ever."

Cue violin and a small amount of soft drums and the spotlight falling onto Sora and Sora alone as the rest of the lights dimmed. Then his voice was accompanied by piano almost as soon as he started.

"_I could stay awake, just to hear you breathing.  
Watch you smile while you're sleeping.  
While you're far away, I'm dreaming.  
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender.  
I could stay lost in this moment, forever.  
Where every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure."_

The guitar and drums came in, and the lights fell onto the rest of the Melodious Males and one struck a slowly revolving disco ball. Already the entire crowd was swaying slowly, and many of them had managed to find dance partners and were actually slow dancing while the Melodious Males of Masculine Muse sang Aerosmith.

"_Don't want to close my eyes,  
I don't want to fall asleep,  
'Cause I'd miss you, baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

'_Cause even when I dream of you,  
The sweetest dream will never do.  
I'd still miss you baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

_Lying close to you, feeling your heart beating,  
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming,  
Wondering if it's me you're seeing.  
Then I kiss your eyes,  
And thank God we're together.  
I just want to stay in this moment forever,  
Forever and ever."_

Each one of the girls backstage had tears in their eyes as most of them danced slowly on the spot, pretending that they had a special one or that their special one was with them in their arms instead of onstage.

"_Don't want to close my eyes,  
I don't want to fall asleep,  
'Cause I'd miss you, baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

'_Cause even when I dream of you,  
The sweetest dream will never do.  
I'd still miss you baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

_I don't want to miss one smile,  
I don't want to miss one kiss.  
I just want to be with you,  
Right here with you, just like this.  
I just want to hold you close,  
Feel your heart so close to mine,  
And just stay here in this moment,  
For all the rest of time.  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah._

_I don't want to close my eyes,  
I don't want to fall asleep,  
'Cause I'd miss you, baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

'_Cause even when I dream of you,  
The sweetest dream will never do.  
I'd still miss you baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

_I don't want to close my eyes,  
I don't want to fall asleep,  
'Cause I'd miss you, baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

'_Cause even when I dream of you,  
The sweetest dream will never do.  
I'd still miss you baby,  
And I don't want to miss a thing._

_Don't want to close my eyes,  
I don't want to fall asleep, yeah,  
And I don't want to miss a thing."_

The Melodious Males slunk back as the song's music faded out, and when the music had finished, they were standing shyly, and smiled as they received enviable applause and cheers and whistles.

As they quietly made their way backstage to relax before bringing out their final song, they noticed with some curiosity that Kairi was alone in leaving where the Voluptuous Vixens were hanging out back there, and that there were fresh tears in her eyes that she was refusing to let fall.

"What's with Kairi?" Riku asked upon entering, seeing that the Vixens were all there still and making no move to leave.

"She said that she wanted to do this next one alone," Paine answered.

"Really?" Axel asked, looking back out at the slender red-head as she appeared onstage, so lonely and isolated.

"I'm going to be singing this next song alone," Kairi declared solemnly, "and I'd like to dedicate it to the one I love, and to everyone who ever has been or ever will be led into battle. May we all come home safely."

You almost couldn't hear the very soft music that accompanied Kairi's voice as it rose into the night.

"_After the guns are silent,"_ she sang,  
_"After your wounds have healed,  
After those crosses,  
Have been planted in all those fields.  
After that long boat ride,  
All the way across the sea,  
And after this train carries me…"_

She raised her head and, maybe it was the glistening and falling tears on her cheeks, her voice inspired a quiet respect and awe as she and it became hauntingly beautiful, like a tender nightingale. None could speak, for there were lumps blocking their throats, and the thought of speaking, even in a hushed whisper, horrified them, for it looked as if this beautiful creature singing to them was so frail that any noise would break her.

"_I will love you, after the war.  
Love you, for always, forever more.  
I will love you, after the war.  
Forever, for always, and more._

_After your boots dry,  
And the tobacco's all but gone,  
Long before those  
postcards you've,  
carried,  
under your arm.  
After I remember,  
The words I couldn't say,  
And after this long night fades away…_

_I will love you, after the way.  
Love you, for always, forever more.  
I will love you, after the way.  
Forever, for always, and more."_

Sora couldn't take it anymore. He ducked his head down and placed his eyes in his sleeve. It was nearly impossible not to cry.

"_After this blackbird,  
Lifts up from your chest.  
And after your soul,  
Takes its final rest.  
My love, I forgive you,  
I never planned to die,  
And love, I'll place two pennies over your eyes._

_I will love you, after the war.  
Love you, for always, forever more.  
I will love you, after the war.  
Forever, for always, and more."_

Sora had to go and sit down. All he could think about was the rule they'd made:

Don't die.

There was no applause or cheering for Kairi for a good fifteen seconds after she had finished singing, but the whole atmosphere was that of complete reverence for her. Then, one person started to clap, and then another, and then another, and then four more, and the whole crowd was clapping enthusiastically as the rest of the Vixens all rushed out and enveloped her in hugs and with friendly hands, wiping tears from their eyes. Kairi smiled and nodded at each one of them until her the indigo eyes she had caught sight of a pair of cerulean.

Sora was walking towards her from offstage, smiling sadly but not even trying to hide the fact that he had been crying. Within two heartbeats, Kairi had left the vicinity of the girls and was wrapping Sora in a hug as his arms were around hers. A hushed respect came out of the crowd for the two as they allowed them a little intimacy.

"That was beautiful Iri," he whispered, "and I swear I'll remember that rule."

"I will too," she assured him softly, her cheeks cupped in his gloved hands. Her head fell into the crook of his shoulder and she forgot that they weren't the only two people in the world in that place. "I love you so much."

"I do too." Sora forced himself to pull apart, and he rubbed some of the tears from his eyes and he smiled at her. "Now go on, you've still got one more song to sing. Don't lose the intensity you just had."

Kairi beamed at him. "Alright, make sure your crew doesn't disappoint us either. Theme's 'Finale", so pull out your absolute best." She skipped away, back to the Vixens, and Sora returned to the Males backstage.

"So did you get all of your mushy out?" Tidus asked, sniggering at Sora as he returned.

"Shaddup," Sora retorted in good nature. "Anyway, the theme's 'Finale', so we have to pull out our best, especially since Kairi just blew us out of the water with that song."

"Yeah," Wakka agreed. "We need to go out—"

He stopped as the voice of Paine accompanied by rock music blasted into their ears.

"_Well you're the real tough cookie with a long history,  
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me.  
Well that's okay, let's see how you do it.  
Put up your dukes, let's get down to it!_

_Hit Me With Your Best Shot!  
Why Don't You Hit Me With Your Best Shot?  
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!  
Fire Away!"_

"Oh so is that how they want it?" Axel asked with a gleam in his teal eyes. "Alright then. Silver, get your ass over here!"

"I thought I told you to stop calling me—Hey! Watch it idiots! I can move myself!"

"Here you go Axel," Tidus said, having grabbed Riku with all the other guys. Axel gave Riku a quick look-over.

"We're gonna have to get you out of those clothes," Axel declared.

Riku bristled. "What!"

"We need to hit them with the best," Axel said as he started to rummage through the closet they had gone through to get the change of clothes for 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)'. "So we're going to need to make sure that we're all smooth, got it memorized?"

"Smooth?" Wakka asked.

"Our last trump card," Roxas said, catching on to what Axel was saying, "Riku's sex appeal. This'll definitely work."

Riku blew a bit of wind out of his mouth as it was struck by the brim of a white fedora with a black band above the base. "Here, put this on," Sora said, handing him a white suit, blue shirt, and white tie while he grabbed a black set with a white shirt and black tie for himself. "And hurry! That's not a long song they're singing and we don't have much time! Plus, we don't want to be seen by anyone until we're onstage."

"Aaow!" Tidus said, seeing Axel placing a black fedora on his own head.

Riku looked at the clothes and something clicked in his mind. "Wait a second… we're doing _that_! And you want _me_ to do it? You're all out of your minds."

He turned to leave, and Sora suddenly grabbed his arm. "Riku wait! Fifty years down the road when you look back on this moment, don't you want to say that you had the guts to do something this gutsy and stupid?"

"You're only seventeen once," Axel reminded him, "got it memorized?"

"Besides," Wakka added, "we need you man."

"Yeah, you're the only one with enough sex appeal to do it," Tidus said, trying to convince him.

"What does sex appeal have to do with singing and dancing like that?" Riku asked. "No matter how much girls swamp me because they think I'm _that_ good looking, I can't do it."

"You're a Keyblade Master, of course you can do it," Roxas said. "That Rathgar god up there, wherever he is, isn't going to allow you to not be able to do it."

"Why would he care?" Riku asked, looking down at the blond. "In fact, why would he even be watching us right now anyway? He's probably got a lot of bigger and more important things to do, being a god."

"Shits and giggles man," Axel answered, "shits and giggles. Even gods need a break."

Riku looked at all of them for a long and hard moment. "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once," he told them. "You guys are as crazy as a barrel of monkeys doped up on heroine driving a bus, crashing it, and getting stranded in a banana plantation with cream-pie rocks, streams of unicorn-piss, and a pooh factory." He paused, as the rest of the Males were hanging on to his every word.

"_Well you're the real tough cookie with a long history,  
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me.  
Before I put another notch in my lipstick case,  
You'd better make sure you put me in my place!"_

"And I'm the one standing on the roof of the bus as its crashing and waving around a stick with two points on one end that's got a white shirt with a brown streak in the middle on it like a flag," Riku finished, nodding his head, looking away, and smiling. "Let's do it!" He snatched the clothes being handed to him as the band crowed and cheered, and they all rushed away into hiding.

"Wait a minute!" Tidus said suddenly, looking back towards the stage in fear. "We need a woman."

"Don't worry about that," Riku assured him, "I've got one. She's going to be more than thrilled, and Yuffie'll probably have my head if I can't BS my way out of it, but I've got one."

They'd never changed clothes faster in their lives.

When the girls returned backstage en masse they were all smiling smugly, ready to challenge the boys and do better, but when they entered they all stopped. The boys were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are they?" Rikku asked.

"Probably ran away," Selphie giggled. "They knew that they couldn't handle us."

"It's not like them to run," Kairi said, frowning, she looked out towards the stage. "It doesn't look like they're on the—"

_Phhweem!_

Her eyes widened at the sudden blast of sound. The stage was pitch dark, and then she thought she saw shadows rising up from the ground, veiled by the darkness but unmistakably there as light barely reflected off their figures. Seven shadows were rising from the ground from a lift built within the stage. Seven? But the Melodious Males numbered only six.

_Neeraowwwwwww_

"_AAOW!"_

The light flashed on suddenly, and there the guys were, standing in suits and wearing fedoras, with Riku in the centre dressed as closely as possible to Michael Jackson. Next to him was a young woman. She had long golden-white hair closer to the latter colour, creamy skin, orange eyes, and a bust that bettered Tifa's and the mocha-haired Yuna's and made Kairi jealous; dressed in a shimmering, elegant, and sleeveless golden dress with a jewelled and glimmering headband that had a feather stuck in it, and a pair of gloves with the Heartless emblem on their backs, Kairi had to wonder who she was.

The five males behind Riku stood still, nodding their heads up and down while Riku kicked his legs out and flexed his pectoral muscles forward. He smoothly walked forward while the girl followed him with an intrigued air about her. He stopped, knocking his hat further down upon his head with a smooth movement, and his legs jittered about.

"Ho…ly…Hera," Kairi muttered with eyes wide as her head. Everyone was watching Riku as the girl he was with placed a hand on his chest and he started to smoothly sing, putting his hat back the way it was supposed to be.

"_As he came into the window,  
It was the sound of a crescendo.  
He came into her apartment,  
He left the bloodstains on the carpet.  
She ran underneath the table,  
He could see she was unable.  
So she ran into the bedroom,  
She was struck down, it was her doom."_

He followed after her midway through the first verse, and he slid off to the right with the other five Males behind him. Now they danced smoothly.

"_Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?"_

Riku left them as the other five as they had their backs turned to the crowd, snapping their extended left fingers, while he himself ran up to a microphone and sang while dancing on the spot.

"_Annie are you okay?  
Will you tell us, are you okay?  
There's a sign in the window,  
That he struck you,  
A crescendo Annie!  
He came into your apartment,  
He left the bloodstains, on the carpet.  
Then you ran into the bedroom,  
You were struck down, it was your doom."_

Dawn had flitted off to the side, and two of the Males had cornered her while the other three were squatting further down on the stage, seemingly with a pair of dice. Riku strode up to the two, Axel and Wakka, and pushed them aside before his hand went to Dawn's hip, and their bodies moved like waves for a couple of seconds before Riku went into a quick three-sixty spin and his hand graced Dawn's in a parting gesture.

Axel and Wakka had joined the dice game, and there was a pile of munny on the floor. Sora held the dice and was waving his hands back and forth and shaking his head.

"_Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?"_

Roxas won the game, and had grabbed the munny and was doing a little dance. Riku grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground, smoothly taking the munny from the blond's outstretched hand.

"_You've been hit by,  
You've been hit by,  
A Smooth Criminal."_

The silver-haired Michael Jackson impersonator and the four Males behind him that were not lying on the floor immediately went into the Smooth Criminal dance, performing it perfectly. They danced flawlessly, as if they were Michael Jackson himself, like they were extensions of the legend. If the King of Pop himself had been there, he would have been proud to dance alongside them and take the show from Riku.

"We had them!" Rikku whined. "We _so_ had them! Kairi's love song and Paine's Pat Benatar, it was ours!"

"And now they've fucked us!" Selphie said.

"Right up the ass," Kairi added in a quiet voice, her eyes glued to Riku and the other Melodious Males. They. Were. Amazing.

"_AAOW!_

_So they came into the Outway,  
It was Sunday—What a black day.  
Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,  
Silent heartbeats, intimidations._

_Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay? (Annie are you okay?)  
So, Annie are you okay? (Annie are you okay?)  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay? (Annie are you okay?)  
So, Annie are you okay? (Annie are you okay?)  
Are you okay, Annie?  
Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?"_

Riku was again at the microphone by himself, dancing and moon-walking on the spot with smooth grace that praised the man who had created this masterpiece.

"_Annie are you okay?  
Will you tell us, are you okay?  
There's a sign in the window,  
That he struck you,  
A crescendo Annie!  
He came into your apartment,  
He left the bloodstains, on the carpet.  
Then you ran into the bedroom,  
You were struck down, it was your doom._

_Annie are you okay?  
So, Annie are you okay?  
Are you okay, Annie?_

_You've been hit by,  
You've been struck by,  
A Smooth Criminal."_

"_Okay, I want everybody to clear the area right now!"_

The rest of the Melodious Males walked and danced on the stage behind him, while Riku walked, moon-walked, and danced his way across the forefront of the stage, Dawn occasionally being taken into his arm and dancing with him in a style befitting the song.

"Is it wrong that I am getting so incredibly turned on right now?" Yuffie asked aloud.

"I thought you'd be wondering about that girl Riku's with," Yuna said, glancing at the raven-haired kunoichi.

"Purlease," Yuffie replied, "like Riku'd really be attracted to some tramp like that."

Kairi looked at Yuffie and her scowl curiously. "Is that, _jealousy_ I detect there Yuffie?" The girl didn't answer her and her eyes widened exponentially.

"Did they just do the anti-gravity lean!"

"What!" Selphie asked, looking out at them. "Oh shit, we just got fucked again."

"Right up the ass," Kairi grumbled.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Paine asked coolly.

The Males all got into formation with Riku in the centre and Dawn next to him, and they started to perform the full version of the dance without fault as they went into the final stretch.

"_AAOW!_

_Annie are you okay?  
(I don't know!)  
Will you tell us, are you okay?  
(I don't know!)  
There's a sign in the window,  
(I don't know!)  
That he struck you,  
A crescendo Annie!  
(I don't know!)  
He came into your apartment,  
(I don't know!)  
He left the bloodstains, on the carpet.  
(I don't know why baby!)  
Then you ran into the bedroom,  
(I don't know!)  
You were struck down, it was your doom._

_Annie are you okay?  
(Dad gone it!)  
Will you tell us, are you okay?  
(Dad gone it baby!)  
There's a sign in the window,  
(Dad gone it baby!)  
That he struck you,  
(Hoo!)  
A crescendo Annie!  
(Hoo!)  
He came into your apartment,  
(Dad gone it!)  
He left the bloodstains, on the carpet.  
(Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!)  
Then you ran into the bedroom,  
(Dad gone it!)  
You were struck down, it was your doom Annie!_

_AAOW!"_

The music stopped at a crescendo and a flash of light and white sparks with the group of seven standing in the exact places they had entered from. The lights dimmed down and went out amidst the wild cheers and screams and the platform they had entered upon lowered, taking them off the stage.

The Melodious Males without the girl entered the backstage lounge area less than a minute later from a concealed door in the wall, dressed in their normal clothing. The eyes of the girls whipped towards them in silence for a second.

Yuffie spoke first. "Riku, I want you to make love to me, right… now!" Kairi smacked her on the head and Yuffie looked down. "Right, that was stupid. Forget I said it."

"Were we really that good?" Axel asked, striding past them to look out at the crowd.

"Good?" Kairi asked as she came up to Sora. "You guys were AMA-ZING! I don't care anymore, I'd vote you all in as the better ones in a heartbeat."

"But that's not for us to decide now is it?" Tidus asked. "It's for the guys out there."

Silence descended upon them as King Mickey's voice filtered into the lounge area. "Welp, that's the last performance from both our bands. Now, by audience applause and measured by decibel level, who thinks that the Voluptuous Vixens of Veritable Vocals in the Vernacular had the better Karaoke Karma? (He paused as the cheering deafened them) And who believes that the Melodious Males of Masculine Muse had the Definitely More Delicious Ditties?"

King Mickey paused again as the cheers rose to heights matching the ones for the girls, and everyone backstage drew into themselves, waiting in their own way for the winner to be announced. Roxas looked up at Yuna, felt his head, got to his feet and finally succeeded in taking back his Stetson hat.

A runner came up onto the stage and handed the King a piece of paper. "And the winner is…"

-A-D-

_And here it is! The moment you've been waiting for! Head on over to my profile to vote for the winner, which will influence the starting scene of the next chapter. A vote for Riku counts as a vote for the Melodious Males of Masculine Muse._

_Names were inspired by the continued use of alliteration from CBC Radio's comedy program called "The Debaters", hosted by Steve Patterson, where two debates are held between two different comics (so four comics total) on a variety of topics and the winner is decided by the audience deciding who had the better combination of facts and funny, or laughs and logic._

_Now, for the song list…_

_Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better (Annie Get Your Gun)  
If I Could Turn Back Time (Cher)  
Sweet Child Of Mine (Guns 'N Roses)  
Into the Night (Santana ft. Chad Kroeger)  
Dance Like There's No Tomorrow (Paula Abdul)  
Ike Ike (Hinoi Team)  
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down) (Great Big Sea)  
Strange (Jason Radford/Digimon Adventures 02, and Digimon: The Movie during the 02 part)  
Number One (Hazel Fernandes, MASH, Shiro SAGISU/ Bleach)  
Butterfly (/DDR)  
Butterfly (Crazy Town)  
Pokémon Theme (Pokémon/2B A Master soundtrack)  
Pokérap (Pokémon Pikachu's Jukebox/2B A Master soundtrack)  
Rapamagical (Mickey's Dance Party)  
Everybody (Backstreet's Back) (Backstreet Boys)  
Spice Up Your Life (Spice Girls)  
Zero To Hero (Hercules)  
True To Your Heart (98 Degrees with Stevie Wonder/Mulan)  
She's a Lady (Tom Jones)  
Girl All The Bad Guys Want (Bowling For Soup)  
What's Love Got To Do With It? (Tina Turner)  
This Beat Goes On (Switching To Glide) (The Kings)  
I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (Aerosmith)  
After The War (lyrics by Paul Gross, vocals by Sarah Slean for the film Passchendaele)  
Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar)  
Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson)  
? (?)_

_That last one is the encore performance song by the winning band. If you go around searching for 'After The War', and you __**do**__ find Sara Slean's cover, I warn you that it will induce tears._

_Anyway, before you go jumping off to my profile to vote, if you're submitting a review (which I sincerely hope) I would like you to tell me in the review who you're voting for and why. Some of them would probably make me laugh, and I could use the laughs especially since I'm taking a tax class this semester and my Business Communications teacher tells me that I write too negatively._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	30. The Ultimate Warrior

_Shire: "Wow, 500 reviews. I guess I'd better grab the cast to do this again shouldn't I? Oh, and the poll tally is up on my profile."_

_Rikku: "That wasn't fair Shire!"_

_Shire: "What wasn't fair?"_

_Yuna: "You just had Riku go out and do Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal right at the end. How were we supposed to beat that?"_

_Shire: "By doing better beforehand. Besides, I don't think Yuffie thinks it's unfair." (He looks away from Rikku and Yuna, and sees Riku and Yuffie engaged in a very heated non-verbal discussion.) "Anyway, Kairi, would you like to do the honours?"_

_Kairi: "Sure. Shire Folk does not own us, Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or anything used in his works that isn't already owned by somebody else. He would also like me to pass congratulations and howling cheers onto Jon Montgomery, who just now won Gold for Canada in Men's Skeleton, to Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir for placing second just a point behind the Russian pair of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin in the compulsory event for Ice Dancing tonight, the Canadian Curling Rinks of skips Martin and Bernard, and the Canadian Men's and Women's Hockey teams. (She snorted and glanced at him, as the young man was grinning widely) Personally I have no idea what he's talking about, but he wanted me to pass his congratulations along as well as wishing the best to all the athletes and medal winners, especially the Canadians, over the past eight days at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games!"_

_Shire Folk: "__**GO CANADA GO!** Wait, before I go. You may not be aware, but there is also a fanfic competition going on between me and fellow Canadian author (who actually happens to live where all the action is going down right now) **SirAngelo**. We are in the midst of a friendly contest to see who can write the better battles/battle chapters, especially after I went and did an I am not worthy move in a review to his story. I am hoping that this one will give me a bit of a leg-up in the Canadian Battle Face-off! And again: **GO CANADA GO!**__"_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXI: The Ultimate Warrior

"And the winner is…" King Mickey began, reading off of the queue card in front of him.

Sora had both sets of his fingers crossed.

Kairi was biting her bottom lip.

Riku was stoically leaning back against the wall.

Yuffie was perfectly still.

Tidus had stopped in his pacing and had his head directed towards the King.

Rikku was rocking back and forth on her heels.

Axel was staring intently at a small flame burning above his extended finger with zero expression on his face.

Naminé was shuffling her feet.

Yuna had her fingers crossed like Sora.

Roxas was sprawled against the couch and had his hat across his face, completely masking his expression

Paine was mimicking Riku.

Wakka was doing a hand-stand, waiting.

Selphie had her arms wrapped around a pillow, squeezing it to her chest.

"The Melodious Males of Masculine Muse!" announced King Mickey.

A great weight was released from the hearts and bodies of everyone in the room, as massively broad smiles appeared on every male and looks of disappointment struck the faces of their feminine counterparts. But it had become clear especially after the last song that they had been completely outclassed and upstaged, and that was able to make the boys even happier. For the past few months the female population had been on the rise with a string of victory after victory against the less refined sex, and now the males had finally gotten some sweet payback.

They rushed onto the stage to wild cheers and applause, and Sora shook hands with the King and took the offered microphone. "We're going to do one more song because we _love_ you guys so much!" he roared, his words announcing an encore nearly being drowned out by the shouts of joy from fangirls in the front row, all of them trying to get closer to the masculine personas on stage.

Acoustic guitar began to play softly, and the crowd hushed to try and listen to it. Then Sora started to sing softly, and almost as soon as he'd begun there was a rushing roar of approval.

"_You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best;  
I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left.  
These so-called vacations will soon be my death,  
I'm so sick from the drink, I need Home for a Rest."_

The music suddenly picked up to an energetic folk-style including fiddle, accordion, drums, and pan-pipes. The whole band joined in singing gaily.

"_We arrived in December and London was cold;  
We stayed in the bars along Charing Cross Road.  
We never saw nothing, but brass taps and nook.  
Kept a shine on the bar with the sleeves of our coats._

_You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best;  
I've been gone for a week, I've been drunk since I left.  
And these so-called vacations will soon be my death,  
I'm so sick from the drink, I need Home for a Rest.  
Take me home!"_

The pan-pipes winded, throwing a flutter and swing into the music. Everyone was up on their feet, singing and dancing and twirling. The girls had already lost the sombre feeling that had sunk into them at their defeat, and they came out onto the stage to wild cheers to join in the singing.

"_Euston Station the train journey North  
In the buffet car we lurched back and forth.  
Past old crooked dykes through Yorkshire's green fields  
We were flung into dance as the train jigged and reeled._

_You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best;  
I've been gone for a week, I've been drunk since I left.  
And these so-called vacations will soon be my death,  
I'm so sick from the drink, I need Home for a Rest.  
Take me home!"_

Sora had his arm around Kairi and she had hers around him as they all danced on stage and off stage to the sound of the pan-pipes and guitar. The beat was too lively and energetic for them to ignore, and the fact that each of them had a small smattering of unknowingly consumed alcohol in their blood only amplified it. Tidus was dancing with Yuna on one arm and Selphie on the other. Riku and Yuffie were doing some kind of folksy waltz, and Axel had somehow managed to get a hold of Mulan and was twirling her. But all of the males had kept firm grips on their microphones, and as soon as each new verse began they broke feminine contact only to briefly regain it upon finishing a chorus.

"_By the light of the moon, she'd drift through the streets,  
A rare old perfume, so seductive and sweet.  
She'd tease us and flirt, as the pubs all closed down,  
Then walk us on home and deny us a round._

_You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best;  
I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left.  
And these so-called vacations will soon be my death,  
I'm so sick from the drink, I need Home for a Rest.  
Take me home!"_

Sora yelled out 'home' one more time as the pipes played, and it seemed more to him that he was singing to Kairi rather than the crowd beneath him. His face was almost apologetic whenever he looked at her during the chorus, but then realized that he didn't care. He was having enough fun for a month's worth of birthdays.

"_The gas heater's empty, it's damp as a tomb.  
The spirits we drank are now ghosts in the room.  
I'm knackered again, come on sleep take me soon,  
And don't lift up my head 'till the twelve bells at noon._

_You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best;  
I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left.  
And these so-called vacations will soon be my death,  
I'm so sick from the drink, I need Home for a Rest._

"_Take me hooommeeeee!"_ Sora screamed before his lips became captured by Kairi's in a spell-binding kiss. He dropped the microphone and she fell into him as their lips met once, twice, and thrice before breaking apart, neither of them vouching for anything deeper as hordes of girls screamed both approval and disapproval and tried to jump the stage to get at him. Roxas and Riku had apparently suffered the same treatment, for the shouts of "RIKU!" were the loudest by far, even though the silver-haired wielder was further backstage than Sora and Roxas, both sixteen-year-olds up front.

The music ended and they all bowed to great cheers and screams before leaving the karaoke bar through the back with their chosen companions.

Fireworks erupted in the clear skies west on the beachfront, and it was there that the company journeyed to, somewhat staggeringly, and they collapsed on the sandy beaches, comforted by the sky that broke into beautiful conflagrations of reds, oranges, golds, yellows, blues, purples, and greens. The salty wind, warmed by the ocean's warm waters, blew over them and lulled their excited bodies into contentment and peace. And one by one, each of the thirty-some who had put the worlds aside and come together on this one day to celebrate the passing of the years for two of their number, drifted to a gentle sleep among the hundreds of others on the same strip of sand. It didn't matter their age, for all of them felt young tonight.

None of them could have imagined how swiftly that peace would shatter and their troubles would return.

-A-D-

_0045hrs, Tuesday, October 28__th__, 2003  
Four kilometres south-east of the town of Dunash, Destiny Islands,  
Hayner_

The young man yawned as he gazed into the silent night, the wind whistling around him. His helmet was discarded, and he scratched the back of his neck. The rest of him itched a little underneath his sweaty armour; it had been a tiring day. His platoon was on night watch, and since the war games weren't over yet the red team could still attack at any time. And despite the fact that they were able to claim this position from the reds earlier, he still wasn't comforted by the little fact that Selphie was missing from the platoon.

Pence was next to him as he yawned again, looking out east across the mound of dirt made from the pits dug by their enemy's entrenching tools, and shifted to their own needs. He, Pence, and a female and male from his section, Grace Ellaiot and Josh Hethen, were in the same foxhole, watching and waiting. There were another three foxholes dug to the north, Hayner's left, making a somewhat broken line. Theirs was the southernmost, and they were close to a line of cliffs.

"I'm bored," Hayner struggled to say through yet another yawn. "When's the relief show up so we can sleep?"

"We just relieved the guys already here fifteen minutes ago," Ellaiot said, looking at Hayner with an amused smile. "Nobody's going to be showing up for a few hours at least Garneky."

"Arg," he grunted, throwing his arms up in the air and going the two paces to the other side of the foxhole. He sat on the dirt with his back leaning against the sloped back wall of the foxhole. "I mean, it's bad enough that my girlfriend's older brother is my platoon leader," he began, "but now I'm stuck on night duty. I swear Odeon's got it in for me!"

"Not so loud Hayner," Pence said jokingly, "he may just hear you."

"Ah, it doesn't matter," Hayner said, looking off to the side. "There's no way he's going to see me as anything but a punk kid anymore."

"Could be worse," Hethen said, looking at him. Hayner looked at him questioningly and he continued. "This Lieutenant Sobel guy who trained you guys in Camp Summers could be our CO too."

"Oh, don't even get us started on Sobel," Pence started, shaking his head. "He had me do Consto in thirty minutes, top and back, after yelling at me for a good five minutes." He looked at Hayner. "If it wasn't for you guys deciding to run it with me I would never have made it."

"Yeah, well, Sobel was dropped on his head as a baby and someone probably stepped on his nuts too," Grace Ellaiot snorted, looking back at them. She glanced east over her shoulder.

"And they're probably still about the size of a pea," Hayner said, smirking. Pence and his fellow soldiers laughed at that and returned to looking out to the east, watching and listening for a possible red team counter-attack. Josh Hethen kept fondling the hilt of his sword that lay sheathed on his hip. "Do you even know how to use that Hethen?" Hayner asked.

The young man, he couldn't have been more than two years older than the blonde, looked at him. "Well enough," he answered. "We took out the guys defending here without loss, remember?"

"Of course I remember," Hayner said, "I just can't remember if _you_ actually got one of them," he said. "We caught them from behind, remember?"

Hethen looked back at Hayner defiantly. "I got _two_ of them Garneky," he retorted. "How many did _you_ sport?"

Pence half sighed, half groaned at Hayner's smirk. "You just _had_ to ask him."

"I took out the wards on _ten_ of them Hethen," he said slowly, leaning in. "Three mages, two archers, and _five_ of their swordsmen." He stopped suddenly and withdrew back, looking at his weapon. "It was nothing like then," Hayner muttered. He had reclaimed the sword he'd received from Mulan, and had discarded the round buckler he'd been issued. It clashed with his style. He picked up the sword and held the hilt in one hand and the blade in the other. His eyes flickered closed as his head came closer to the sword's blade.

"What are you doing?" Ellaiot asked curiously.

Hayner didn't hear her. His ears were filled with the sound of thunder and falling rain, of shouts and clattering bullets, and of a man's strangled and pained gasp. His fingers quivered with the feel of the sword in his hands meeting, and instantly cutting through, resistance to its push. Hayner's nostrils flared and he openly whispered, "I can still smell the blood on my blade."

Pence sighed fully this time. "You just _had_ to ask him."

-A-D-

Yumi pulled her deep blue hair out of her eyes, standing in the moonlight next to a boy several inches shorter than her who wore rectangular silver glasses and had short, spiked, green hair. Saji was also with them, shuffling her feet against the hard rocky dirt and gazing eastward slightly apprehensively. At their backs a fire crackled merrily, spreading additional warmth and light, and if they looked hard enough past its light they could see the dark figures of those many people who'd passed out and fallen asleep on Dunash's western beach's shores. The tide was starting to come in, and if anyone had fallen asleep too close to the water's edge they were in for a rude awakening. To their right was a rocky fifteen-foot cliff that ran east-west along most of the island's southern coast-line, its height varying between a small ten-foot drop to upwards of sixty feet. And if they really strained their eyes in the darkness, they could see Felra's northern shores beyond the span of water between the two islands.

"What do you think it was about Yumi?" the green-haired boy asked, looking at her. She glanced at the shorter person questioningly. "About those Heartless and Nobodies showing up at the stage?" he clarified.

"I don't know Val," she answered her twin brother. "But whatever it was about it probably wasn't a friendly message." She gave a haggard breath and looked down. "They've never been friendly."

A moment of uncomfortable silence passed between the three. "It's time we moved on a little Yumi," Saji said quietly. "They were my friends too."

Yumi shook her head slightly, a tear welling up in her eye. "Before our first day back, I used to think that there wasn't a person who was able to beat David," she said. "He was top of the class, and he'd always gotten good grades in our cores too. It seemed like he could do anything he set his mind to. Then Sora came back, and he beat him so quickly and soundly it was insane. Then I saw Kairi fight, and she was really a secret apprentice to Garda over the past year, and Sora beat her too. And then there were Mr. Axel and Miss Yuffie themselves. I began to wonder how and why they had both gotten so strong, and then the Heartless started to show up all over the place, and it wasn't until we had to fight them ourselves to make sure that helpless people like you, no offence Saji, could get away that I understood. Sora'd been telling the truth when Mr. Axel and Miss Yuffie started to instruct our class. He'd been fighting these things for what seemed like forever, and he'd been forced to get better and stronger in order to survive and defeat their masters and save the worlds and his friends. Kairi'd gotten better because she didn't want Sora to fight alone, because she loved him and didn't want anything to happen to him, so she somehow got Garda to take her as his apprentice so that she could fight alongside him and watch his back. Mr. Axel had been a Nobody, intent on regaining his heart and being a bad guy in the process, so he naturally had to be strong, and Miss Yuffie to reclaim her homeworld and protect it and its people from the Heartless."

"Now," she continued, her hands going down to touch the grips of the two daggers she had on her hips as the tear fell, "I know why I joined the Guardians after we got to Dunash safely. David, Brittany, and Michael sacrificed themselves to give us the time to escape. To honour their memory, and to protect those who can't protect themselves."

"And you're my sister," Val said, smiling at her and nodding, his hands on a long staff. "I'm not going to stand by and let you get yourself killed." Yumi smiled at her smaller twin brother.

"My best friend died so that I could live," Saji said sadly. "There was nothing I could do to help her, and I felt so ashamed in that moment. I've picked up her fallen torch now, and I'll proudly hold it high until her fight's over." She patted the wide-bladed sword that was about four feet long resting next to her, and the kite shield with slants in the sides on her back.

Yumi nodded her head and turned to look back at the two of them, her face becoming filled with the firelight. She looked beyond the bright dancing flames at the sleeping masses on the beach and smiled at a thought. "Our friends, our heroes, the Keyblade Wielders, are peacefully sleeping giants right now. Let's make sure that their rest stays a peaceful one."

-A-D-

Olette sat, mostly awake, in front of a fire on the edge of the town's western outskirts, just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from the beach where so much had taken place the previous day. All of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st UIR (except for Anar, Tidus, Kia, and Jeffery), were either asleep in nearby tents or on fire-picket with her. She still held onto the staff that had been given to her by the supply officer, but had much preferred the one topped with the blue wizard's hat she'd gotten from Axel and Mulan. The small staff, topped by a curled and gnarly piece of wood that made it resemble the hook on a cane, was tucked into her belt. Her hands were occupied with the dagger she'd been issued as she tried to twirl it between the two by its hilt, without cutting herself or dropping it.

She was still slow at it and hadn't made much progress in perfecting the useless skill. She'd been able to twirl it over a few fingers and the palm of one hand, but beyond that the dagger kept dropping to the ground. It wasn't surprising, really, since it was a dagger and not some small knife that was better suited to the task.

She sighed and picked it up again, trying once more and imagining that either Sobel or a Heartless was in front of her. The girl briefly wondered about how Hayner was doing, and the dagger slipped again and dove, point-first, into the ground. Olette yanked it out by the hilt and ran a cloth next to her over the blade's edges. She'd never felt as disgraced as when their whole company had been wiped out so soundly in the games earlier, and she knew that everyone around her was filled with hearts as pissed off as hers, hearts that hungered for a chance to redeem themselves and climb above everyone else; even their nugget recruits who'd had trouble marching in a straight line two days ago had caught it. She'd caught a whole group of twenty of them practicing both their ceremonial parade drill and sword drill earlier, and they were noticeably better than they had been two days ago.

The whole company had been on an ordered stand-down since the end of the Blitzball game they'd somehow managed to attend. The nuggets she'd caught had practiced for three hours straight, and she'd joined them, using her dagger. She didn't like the staff she'd been issued. It wasn't as sturdy as her previous one, which was still in Axel's care. Afterwards, she led them in P.T.

Olette finished wiping the edges of her dagger and set herself to trying to spin it again while her eyes looked into the fire. The whole Company around her hungered for redemption for the injustice of their fall from grace, in their books, and they hungered for it badly.

-A-D-

_0100hrs,  
Under the Ash Mountains, Middle-earth_

The Nobody who had been standing next to Xayn Shu and Newyearsux was sitting down at a small table with two chairs set at it. Fires burned in open-ribbed steel cauldrons in two of the chamber's corners, the smoke leaving through ventilation shafts bored down through the mountain.

He looked up at a clock mounted on the wall before glancing down at a board in front of him. His hand gloved in black came up, the brown trench coat he wore shifting with the movement, and he adjusted the fedora on his head. "The desired hour has arrived," he said aloud as his hand came down to the board and took hold of a piece. "So it begins."

The _chink_ of his pawn being moved forward was louder than the crackle of the fires burning in the room.

-A-D-

_0105hrs,  
Four kilometres south-east of the town of Dunash, Destiny Islands,  
Hayner_

A sound behind him made Hayner shake his head awake and look. The newly promoted 1st Lieutenant Forrest jogged down into their foxhole and nodded at each of them in turn, a little more curtly in Hayner's case, but still with a manner that made them relatively at ease with the platoon leader's arrival.

"How're things on your end?" he asked openly.

"Nothing yet sir," Ellaiot said, looking back across the rim of the dugout. "No sights, no sounds… nothing."

"It doesn't feel like the reds are gonna launch a night-rai—" Pence began, but he stopped suddenly as the radio Hayner had crackled to life.

"_This is Grey in Foxhole 2 to all Foxholes. We've spotted movement, over."_

Hayner was fully awake instantly and the radio was in his hand a second later. "This is Garneky in Foxhole 1, understood, over." Even as he was speaking, Pvt. Grace Ellaiot had nocked an arrow to her bow, Hethen had drawn sword and shield, and Pence had his small mage's staff readied. Only Lt. Forrest and himself hadn't drawn a weapon.

"Bethal, binoculars," Lieutenant Forrest ordered, holding his hand out. A pair was given to him by Pence, and he brought them up to his eyes.

"_This is Shaw in Foxhole 3, understood, over."_

"_This is Chubb in Foxhole 4, understood, over."_

"Pvt. Garneky," Lieutenant Forrest said, still looking through the binoculars with a furrowed brow, "remind the platoon to use rank in radio communications when next you get the opportunity."

"But sir, apart from you we're all privates," Hayner started, somewhat awkwardly.

"Doesn't matter," his officer said, a small note that he wasn't to argue in his voice. "It's just standard proto—what is _that_?" He looked back, "Garneky, radio."

Hayner handed him the device quickly. There was an unknown quiver that he'd barely been able to detect. "This is Lieutenant Forrest in Foxhole 1 to all Foxholes. Movement spotted by Pvt. Grey confirmed. Unknown enemy approaching in unknown numbers. Enemy is not members of the Red Team. Repeat, enemy is _not_ of the Red Team. Pvt. Chubb, send a man to rouse the Company. All Foxholes hold positions until relief arrives. Lieutenant Forrest out." He tossed the radio off to Ellaiot and she hooked it to her belt. The officer turned towards Hayner. "Garneky, I want you to go and get the Guardians and Easy Company."

"But if they're Heartless you're going to need me sir," Hayner replied, instantly and adamantly. "I've fought them before."

"_No!_" Odeon Forrest countered, stopping Hayner in his tracks. "You're to follow my orders and go for relief. Make sure the Guardians know what's going on and come back here with Easy Company. Understood?"

Hayner growled submissively, realizing that he wasn't going to win this one. "Yes sir."

"Then get moving Private," the Lieutenant said firmly. Hayner sheathed his sword and donned his helmet before running up the ramp of earth that led west towards where he'd distantly seen a fire manned by the Guardians. He was still cursing inside of his head when the ground all around him lit up, bright as day, as a flare streaked up into the sky. He just hoped they'd be alright until he got back.

-A-D-

Yumi, Saji, and Val all looked up in surprise as an orange star streaked up from the ground some distance in front of them and brightened exponentially as it soared and finally stopped many dozens of feet in the air. So much light streamed from it that they could even distinguish the few individual blades of grass from the rocky dirt under their feet, blades of grass that the light from their fire wasn't able to reveal.

"What's that?" Saji asked, amazed by the light.

"Not sure," Yumi answered.

"It's a flare," her brother said. "Something's going on with those United Forces guys that came over and have been practicing. They're doing some exercises, so maybe the other team is making a night raid or something."

"So they're letting their own team know that the other team's attacking their position? Calling for help?" Yumi asked.

"Likely," Val said, nodding and looking up at his sister. "Or it's a signal for some kind of operation that they're undertaking. Like, "Commence the attack when we send up the flare." Still, it's nothing for us to worry about."

"If you say so," Saji mumbled before shuffling back to the fire, watching the flare fizzle out from the corner of her eye. Not two minutes later another flare rose up, and they could start to see tiny flashes from the ground that would vanish as quickly as they appeared.

"Okay, what do you make of this?" Yumi asked, looking at her brother as the two continued to gaze out to the east.

The green-haired twin was silent for a few seconds with his fingers on his chin, thinking. "The enemy team's attacking," he answered. "That much is clear, but…" he let his sentence drop as the flashes continued even after the flare's light had vanished again. "This is taking too long for a simple engagement," he said after another five minutes.

The bright flashes continued for a while afterwards, and they were still going on ten minutes later when their eyes were able to pick up movement in the gloom beyond the firelight. Saji stood up again and reached for her sword and shield, while Yumi's daggers had been drawn in a flash and Val's hands went to the ends of his long staff. They tensed, expecting a fight, but a young man in armour who couldn't have been any older than them ran into the firelight and stopped. He barely seemed to be drained at all from running, his breathing was only a little more accelerated than normal, and his brown eyes looked stonily at them from behind an open-faced steel celeta helmet.

"Hey, you guys Guardians?" he asked. His tone of voice indicated that he'd rather be anywhere, likely far behind him, than right here.

"Yeah," Yumi answered, still holding her daggers out in a manner that meant 'try anything and you're dead'. "And you are?"

"Private Hayner Garneky from Abel Company of the 1st United Infantry Regiment," the young man answered, taking off his helmet and showing his sand-blonde hair. "But that's not important right now. Where's your leader?"

"That depends," Val said, "what do you need the Chief Guardian for?"

"I was sent here to tell him that my company is under attack by something that is _not_ the other team," Hayner answered. He made a scoffing noise. "Personally I think that Heartless started to attack, but I was sent to get relief before we knew for sure."

Yumi's eyes widened at the boy's words. "Heartless?" she asked.

Hayner looked at her with narrowing eyes. "I take it you've heard of them then."

"_Heard of them?_" Val and his twin sister began at once. "We've _fought_ them before."

Hayner's body language showed that he was surprised by that tidbit of information. "Then we're in the same boat then."

Yumi sheathed her daggers. "C'mon," she said. "Val and I will take you to Garda. My name's Yumi by the way." Hayner nodded his head and replaced his headdress. Yumi looked at Saji. "Saji, I want you to go to the beach and wake Sora and the others."

Hayner balked. "You mean Sora's here?"

This time Yumi was surprised. "You know Sora?" Hayner nodded vigorously.

"Of course I do! I'm friends with him, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. Not to mention that Roxas is my best friend." Yumi and Saji looked at him in shock.

"We'll figure this out later," Val said quickly. "Yumi, let's go."

She nodded her head at her brother. "Right. Saji?"

"I'll lead them to you guys," she said. Without another word or glance, the pink-haired girl bolted down towards the sandy beaches below them to locate the sleeping figures of the Keyblade Wielders amongst the crowds. Yumi took off in a slightly different direction with her brother and Hayner at her heels.

-A-D-

Saji moved carefully through the sleeping bodies on the beach's sand-covered surface, trying her best to navigate with only the moonlight to guide her and keep her from treading on body parts. She really had no idea just where Sora and his other friends had fallen asleep on this strip of sand, but she knew that she had to find them or everything was going to fall apart again. She remembered what had been going on when her home island had been ravaged by the dark creatures that were far worse than fiends, the flames that rose from the burning city, the smoke that blackened the sky, the towering black things with snake-like hair and leering yellow eyes. Even with Riku, Miss Yuffie and Mr. Axel there they had barely been able to get most of the population out with everyone awake and able to move. But this night-time strike was unthinkable. Most everyone was asleep, and if she couldn't…

Her red eyes spotted a brown hairstyle she knew only one person to have and she made her way as directly as possible towards him. Saji dropped to her knees and started to shake him as her eyes took in those around him in the moonlight. A large duck, large dog-man, Riku, the taking hawk, and the ghost-made-whole, oh and there was Kairi so this was definitely him. She leaned her head closer to him. "Sora," she whispered.

Sora barely stirred, not even moving much more than the muscles required to breathe and snore. Saji frowned and shook him more insistently. "Sora," she tried again, more urgently.

Still no reaction.

Saji's frown increased and she stood up and kicked him in the side. "Sora!"

That woke him up, and it also woke up Riku and Kairi beside him. The Keyblade Master clutched his hands at his side, and then at his head, and groaned. "Ooh, my head feels kinda funny. Hey, why is it still dark out?"

"Because it's still night," Riku answered.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," Kairi said groggily, placing a hand to her head too. "My goodness, why does my head hurt like this? It's like I got a headache or something."

"Hey, Yuffie, get up," Riku said, prodding her with a toe.

"Uhg, can you be a bit quieter Riku?" Kairi asked, pained.

"Whasgoinon?" the raven-haired young woman mumbled drunkenly, half-asleep.

It was then that Sora looked at the one who woke him up. He blinked stupidly at her. "Saji? What are you doing? It's still dark out. Can't you give us—?"

"There's no time," she answered. "I had to wake you."

"Ah, my head," Yuffie moaned, sitting up with a little bit of Riku's help. "Stupid hangovers."

Kairi yawned loudly, slowly shaking a head that had a hand to it. "Why?" she asked Saji through it, not hearing Yuffie's almost casually thrown-out remark that solidified the answer to the burgeoning question in her mind of whether she'd been drinking without knowing it.

"We think it's Heartless," the pink-haired girl answered.

The four wakened Keyblade Wielders looked to her instantly. It was always amazing how much one word was able to clutch a tired and sleepy brain and slap it into full gear, even if the brain was suffering from a hangover.

"Where?" Riku asked as Kairi and Yuffie started to quickly move around, rousing their friends, family, and companions. "When? How many?"

"As for where and when, a guy named, oh what was it? Haybler? Hayder? ("Hayner," said Sora.) Yeah, that's it! He told us they hit Abel Company (she pointed) about… twenty or twenty-five minutes ago. He didn't know how many, but was sent to get relief."

"Well they're about to get relieved," Roxas said, smiling slightly with Twilight Thorn and Oblivion appearing in his hands.

"About time!" Donald quacked. "I've been getting pretty bored. Let's get 'em Sora!"

"I'm with you there Donald," the brunette Keyblade Master said, looking at his friend with excitement.

"Val and Yumi took Hayner to see Garda," Saji explained, and all of Sora's accomplices had risen and were moving towards the chocobos with them. "I'm to take you to him so we can plan a defence and counter-attack."

"That's a good plan, but we probably don't have enough time," Selphie said grimly, looking out east. "That's _my_ Company getting hit right now; they need me."

"And me," Isil added. Selphie was in 1st Platoon with Hayner and Pence, and he was in 3rd Platoon.

"But if we show up as a trickle—" Asterix started.

Mulan interrupted him. "A single grain of rice can tip the scale," she said.

"Donald, Goofy, and I will go and help them out," Sora volunteered instantly. He looked around; his two companions were nodding in agreement. "Mulan, you and Gimli are more than welcome to come with us."

"I've been without a fight for too long," Gimli said, patting the axe on his back. Mulan nodded her head.

"It's bad-guy butt-kicking time!" Mushu exclaimed.

"We'll back you up as soon as we can," Kairi said, walking next to Sora. They reached the chocobos, who were all down asleep. "Saji, you're riding with me, show us the way." Sora gently rubbed Brightfeather awake, and the great bird stood up and shook her head. She belted out a loud 'Kweh!' and Sora quieted her, and had her sit down again for Gimli to mount.

Kairi was already on her chocobo with Saji sitting in front of her and came up behind him just as Brightfeather was standing again with the dwarf firmly in place. "Good luck Sora," she said. "Remember the rule."

Sora mounted Brightfeather and flashed her a smile. "Never gonna forget it," he said. He looked at a flying Aiwemon beside his shoulder, and the bird digimon nodded his head. Donald, Goofy, and Mulan came up next to him and Sora turned his gaze forward. He dug his heels into Brightfeather's flanks. "Hiya!"

Saji leaned forward as Kairi, sitting in front of her on the lead chocobo, watched Sora leave. "What rule?"

Kairi looked back at her seriously. "Don't die. (Saji's dark red eyes widened) Where're we going?"

"That way," the pink-haired girl said, pointing. Kairi spurred her chocobo onward.

They were all too far away and with their eyes on the ground when a shadow obscured the moon's light and descended from the skies onto the sands of the beach.

-A-D-

Pence leapt out of the way as a Shadow rose up from the ground in front of him and raked its claws towards the black-haired teen. The sharp fingers missed his armoured chest, and Pence pointed the small staff in his right hand at the Heartless, a fireball streaking out and blasting it in the head. The Shadow recoiled, stunned and likely already beaten, and another burning projectile struck it between its chest and neck and the Heartless firmly disappeared into darkness. Pence looked up at the lip of the foxhole and sent a lightning bolt streaking out of the tip of his staff towards a Soldier that came into view. The sizzling bolt struck it in the chest, and was joined by another one that clipped the Heartless in the shoulder from a different direction. A sword stabbed in and finished it off.

Pence looked off to the right and saw another Soldier Heartless kicking out at Pvt. Josh Hethen, who blocked the iron-shod booted foot with his shield. Pence aimed to freeze the Heartless with a good ice-dart, but a rifle fired from a man crouching behind him and the Soldier burst apart into darkness, its head being struck by a bullet.

"Medic!" a frantic yell came from somewhere down the line to his left. Pence spared only a small glance at Lt. Forrest, whose sword was unsheathed and dealing death to a pair of Shadows that had risen on opposite sides of him, and went to the call. Less than two seconds later he was out of the foxhole and on the plains where his eyes were privy to the swords that flickered in the light of the fires that burned on the ground, created from other magic-users like him to provide light with which to see their enemy.

The whole company was up and making a pitched defence between the four foxholes against a seemingly endless horde of Heartless. Shadows and Soldiers kept pouring at them endlessly, with an occasional one of a different kind that would surprise the inexperienced soldiers and officers. But Pence was not surprised, not once, because he'd fought several times before and even in The Castle That Never Was against the very formidable Invisibles.

He dropped down in the light of a fire and looked at the wounded man. He recognized that the wounded was one from his own platoon, and even that from third section, his own. What was remarkable was that the man had called for someone to come and heal him, when the third section in every platoon was the magic-using one.

"Where're you hurt?" Pence asked, knowing that now was not the time to ask Pvt. Collin Lynch why he couldn't cure his own wounds. The magical wards that prevented damage for the purpose of the war games had long since been expended.

"Chest," Private Lynch replied in a raspy, pained voice. Pence had already started to move towards it to look at it, having spotted where he was wounded before the young man of nineteen had even spoken. It was a deep claw wound, and Pence looked at it grimly. It shouldn't have happened, not when they were all wearing breastplates and a shirt of mail underneath.

"What happened?" he asked as his staff started to glow with green light as he checked it out. Lynch hadn't been wearing his armour at all. He must have taken it off to sleep, the fool.

"Really big Shadow came out of ("Cure," said Pence softly) nowhere. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground with half my fuckin' chest cut open." He chuckled weakly, and then winced and gasped slightly, the pain from laughing while Pence's curative magic was only starting to take effect forcing it out.

Pence sighed. "Neoshadow (he shuddered), I hate those ones. I want you to stay down for a couple of minutes, two at the very least, so that the bleeding stops and the wounds close. I'm not the best at healing magic."

"Hn," Lynch said, his head shaking. "Better than me, Bethal, better than me. I don't know jack shit about healing. I can't feel the pain anymore."

"Cure is deceptive," Pence said quickly, pushing him back down as he tried to sit up. "Cure's mostly effective against small cuts and scrapes. For the larger stuff, like what you've got, it takes most of the pain away and stops the bleeding but it hasn't finished its work yet. You get too active too soon and you'll rip those wounds of yours back open. Only the higher level cure spells will have you back up and running in seconds."

"Glad to know for when I actually start learning about this stuff," Lynch said, sighing and dropping his head back down on the ground. "Good thing we've got you. Go give 'em hell Bethal."

Pence gave him a reassuring smile. "You got it." He turned away from his charge and was about to sprint away before pausing and looking back. "Put your armour back on you big idiot," he said, a laugh almost coming through despite how serious a remark it was supposed to be, and he sprinted off in the direction of the line of mages interspersed among the archers and riflemen between the first and second foxhole. He stopped for a just a second with his raised staff, barely being able to see a clear target through the fighting bodies of his comrades, and then gave a yell and charged straight for the Heartless.

He came in to the right of a swordsman he knew by the name of Jeff, a dog-man from Disney Castle and not to be confused with his friend Jeffery from Destiny Islands, and his staff dropped down onto the bulbous head of a Shadow that had been about to swipe at the anthropomorph's side. Pence unsheathed his dagger with his left hand, holding it hilt down, and slashed it across the Shadow's head just above its beady yellow eyes. The Heartless vanished in darkness, but Pence had already acquired a new target as soon as he'd begun his slash. He stabbed his staff between the eyes of a Soldier that was standing just to his right, and a bolt of lightning blew its head open an instant later. Pence looked beyond for a quarter of a second. Thrusting his staff outward, he gave a yell of "Fira!" and a moderately sized fireball rocketed out and struck against the shield of a Heartless that was much larger than the Shadows or Soldiers, and looked to be in the likeness of an armoured man with sickly purple skin. The fireball disintegrated the Heartless' shield, and Pence quickly fired another one off that struck it in its chest. The Heartless stopped for a moment, but then it started to come forward again, running straight for him with a pointed spear.

Pence glanced around frantically before looking at the Heartless again, trying to come up with something. Out of all the Heartless that had been showing up that he'd seen since the battle started, he hadn't encountered one that could withstand a direct hit from one of his 'fira' fireballs. If there were more than just this one, they'd be in trouble. He tried to put that out of his mind as the Legionnaire Heartless continued towards him and him alone and raised his staff again. "Freeze!" he yelled, a blue snowflake shooting from the wizard's hat that topped his staff and swirling towards the Heartless' legs. They froze in a block of ice, temporarily immobilizing it, and Pence let a bolt of lightning streak towards its head. He missed.

A sudden yelp next to him broke his concentration as he meant to send another bolt for the Heartless and saw that Jeff hadn't quite been able to fend off a Soldier's red claws and had been raked across the back of his thigh. The dog-man growled and slashed down viciously, hacking the Soldier to pieces and completely ignoring the pain. Pence turned around again and struck down a Shadow that had just risen in front of him with a brutal strike from his staff. He looked up and saw that the Legionnaire Heartless had managed to tug its legs free of the ice and was starting towards him again, before two arrows struck it in its burnt chest and eternally ended its advance. Pence looked beyond where the Legionnaire Heartless had vanished from as another flare shot up into the sky.

What he saw made him shake in his boots.

There were still more Soldiers clacking their way towards the line, with Shadows slithering on the ground around them. But they were spaced out and their formation, if any, was little more than a disordered mob. But beyond them he saw a full line at least four Heartless deep of the Legionnaire Heartless, easily four or five times the number of soldiers in his company. And standing behind them, laughing, was a man dressed in bright blue armour, obviously leading them on.

Pence ducked as an iron-shod foot came for his face. He spun around and slashed his dagger twice at the last remaining Soldier Heartless close to them, gouging its forehead from underneath its helmet before finally stabbing it between the eyes. He looked apprehensively at Jeff, standing next to him still. "You want me to look at you?" he asked, his eyes flickering down at the back of the man-dog's leg.

Jeff glanced down at where the blood was soaking the grey fabric of his pants. "Nah, it's nothing. I'll live," he said firmly.

"Hold your positions!" the voice of their CO, Lieutenant Lance Spiers, yelled out to the men and women within and between the four foxholes. "Don't give them an inch of ground!"

"1st Platoon archers, riflemen, and spellcasters, hold between Foxholes 1 and 2," Lieutenant Forrest ordered from somewhere off to Pence's right, near Foxhole 1. "Slow them down and give them hell!"

"With pleasure sir," Pvt. Heather Bloom, another mage in Pence's section, said as she came to stand beside the raven-haired teen. The rest of the mages, archers, and riflemen in the platoon, which amounted to ten mages plus four bows and two rifles, formed a line between the foxholes with their melee fighters hanging back. The flare had dissipated by now, but that didn't matter anymore. They knew where to aim.

"Fira!" Pence yelled first, shoving his staff out. His moderately-sized fireball blazed out into the darkness and blasted a Soldier Heartless into oblivion. His comrades similarly opened fire, the muzzles on rifles bursting to life and the twang of bows singing as arrows were released. Fireballs and lightning bolts streaked out for the oncoming Heartless, lighting up the area as they flew and struck into Shadows and Soldiers, the little buggers screening the fire from hitting the incoming ranks of Legionnaire Heartless. All between the four foxholes the situation was the same. Magical and physical ordinance was fired towards the marching formation of Heartless, and was soaked up by the weaker Heartless standing in the way.

Another fireball left Pence's staff as sweat beaded on his brow. He was beginning to feel drained, and realized that he was using up too much of his energy with his more powerful spells compared to his brothers-in-arms. Even so, the casters around him were looking as haggard as him from the repeated use of their own lower-tier ones.

He shrugged it off and tried to remember that there were people snoozing peacefully on the beaches just a few short kilometres behind him, and loosed another bolt of lightning. It tore a hole through one Shadow and ended another one behind it. Then he launched one more fireball towards the Legionnaire Heartless, and it struck a Soldier in the head and blasted it to the ground. One next to it burst apart into darkness as a well-placed shot from a rifle placed a bullet between its eyes.

"There's too many of them!" Ellaiot yelled, firing another arrow over the smaller Shadows and Soldiers only for it to strike the shield of a Legionnaire, not slowing it down at all.

"Just keep firing!" Pence yelled. He made a few quick calculations in his head, looking at the closing Shadows and Soldiers. There were very few of them left now, with only a small number still screening the advancing Legionnaire Heartless with their bodies. He thrust his staff outwards. "Thundara!"

Five thin bolts of lightning arched from the tip of his staff, striking against five separate Shadows and Soldiers. The Heartless stopped in their places as the five bolts continued to jolt into them, sending them writhing onto the ground, the lightning skittering all over their bodies. The way was clear. Pence barely watched as they convulsed and yelled, "Hit them! Hit the bigger ones with everything!"

Fireballs, bolts of lightning, arrows, shards of ice, and bullets all flew across the field and above the writhing Shadows and Soldiers on the ground, that were only now reaching the limits of their endurance, towards the Legionnaire Heartless. They struck the slowly marching ranks in their shields and their armoured chests, but each impact barely caused more than a flinch or a half-step; the Heartless barely slowed down at all, shrugging off the attacks.

Pence cut off his spell and the five, weak Heartless he had trapped by it burst apart into dark clouds. He was sweating, and his breath was heavy with saliva. He launched a fireball of his own at the oncoming Legionnaire Heartless and it struck one in the neck, immediately following an arrow that had pierced it in its chest, and being followed after by a bolt of lightning to its head. It finally disintegrated into darkness, but the ones behind and beside kept on coming.

A hand dove down into a pocket in his pants and Pence retrieved a blue cube with fumbling fingers. He crushed it against his head and felt a rush of energy return to him. He sent another fireball out, and it just clipped the shoulder of a Legionnaire Heartless.

"HAHAHA!" the man who appeared to be leading them on from behind yelled. "There is nothing you can do! Nothing any of you can do against the Heartless!"

"He can shut up," growled Ellaiot, nocking another arrow to her bow. Pence nodded and cast another fireball.

Someone down the line fell back nervously.

"Hold your ground!" Lieutenant Forrest ordered, standing back with most of the platoon's swords with him, ready to engage as soon as they got too close. But Pence was able to detect the anxiety within his voice. One of the rifles in the line started to back away, feeling that the Heartless were getting too close, which they were, and that they weren't doing enough, which they weren't.

"Where's the fucking relief!"

Fear entered into Pence's brain through his nostrils, and he looked around frantically but did not shuffle back. The Legionnaire Heartless were closer than twenty feet now, and the people around him were starting to shuffle back in the wake of their seemingly unstoppable advance. He suddenly realized the differences between those standing around him and those who had stood with him before.

It wasn't just experience, because when he'd first fought he'd had as much as Ellaiot or Lynch did, but they were likely just as afraid as he was right now and they were allowing their fear to consume them and override their movements. They couldn't control it yet.

Fifteen feet.

_Okayokayokayokay,_ he started to think quickly, looking around hastily. _What do I do? What do I do?_ His body was telling him to run, but he knew he couldn't run. He simply could not force himself to run away, but he had no idea what he was going to do to slow the Legionnaire Heartless down. Screams were coming from down the line to his left where the Heartless had already advanced close enough to engage the swordsmen and other members of Abel Company, screams of pain, maybe even death.

Years later, he still wouldn't figure out what caused him to do what he did next.

Pence's staff thrust out in front of his body at an angle and his left hand went down to the dagger sheathed on his belt. The yellow wizard's hat started to glow with blue light and he yelled, "Protectga!" Pence felt a significant amount of his regained strength leave him as glowing blue shields of light wrapped around the bodies of him and the two closest comrades and embedded themselves against their skin and armour. He drew his dirk with a quick jerk of his wrist and gave an insane yell, charging towards the Legionnaire Heartless with their sharp-tipped spears in front of him.

Blue beams of light suddenly struck against a few of the Legionnaire Heartless in front of him, stopping them in their tracks and knocking them down. Pence skidded to a stop as three Legionnaire Heartless faded into darkness and the whole line, or at least the part of the line that was rushing Foxholes 1 and 2 and between them, stopped. Pence looked back behind him, and had to shield his eyes from a bright light.

"Aiwemon digivolved to, Ohtarmon!"

Something human-shaped wearing grey plate armour and wielding a massive mace in one hand was dropping down to the ground at a very fast pace. The man took the mace into both hands and it started to glow with white light. "Deciding Swing!" he yelled, bringing his brightly glowing weapon down right into the middle of the Legionnaire Heartless in front of Pence.

The black-haired teen's legs wobbled like jelly underneath him as the ground shook violently with the crash of the massive humanoid and his mace, a bright explosion of white light nearly blinding him. The rocks hidden underneath the grass and dirt shattered and rose up to reveal themselves. The Heartless that had been underneath the mace and the man's feet were utterly destroyed, and the man hefted his mace back up from the small crater he'd made and swung it out in front of his body to the right and then back across to the left, pulverizing the Heartless caught in its path and sending others flying like ragdolls.

Pence stared from the ground at this hulking armoured man in amazement. Within three seconds he had shattered the advancing ranks of Heartless that were about to tear into him and his comrades.

He heard a shout and looked off to the left. Leaping from a chocobo, Sora crashed down into the ranks of the Legionnaire Heartless that were fighting with some members of 2nd Platoon. His silver Keyblade was in his hand, and chopping up at the Heartless from the ground as the Keyblade Master rose. Thick bolts of lightning dropped down around him as the roar of an angry duck entered his ears, and Goofy rushed in with his round shield, blocking a spear-thrust from a Legionnaire Heartless before bashing it in the head.

Pence's spirits rose. Sora was here. Donald and Goofy were here. His cheer joined the dozens of the members of Abel Company as they threw themselves into the fray with restored morale. They could survive their first battle with the Heartless; they could win.

-A-D-

Olette looked up from where she was still sitting, watching the fire as Pvt. Wilson shifted a couple of logs around with a long stick resting in his hand. A plume of sparks rose up into the sky, reminding her of the flares she'd distantly seen over the past half-hour. Everyone in Easy was awake and around the fire, each one of them glancing in that direction every couple of minutes to see if whoever was there would send up another flare. The conversation concerning the unknown reason for the flares had since died out, but the thought that another one might come up any second kept them awake, and Olette could feel a tingling through her skin.

None of them were able to sleep anymore, and she'd since lost interest in trying to spin her dagger in her hands. Everyone was on edge, tensed and ready. She could feel that something serious was happening, but the waiting to find out what it was drove them up the wall.

There came another _crack_ from the fire, startling more than a few of them as a cloud of sparks shot up into the sky and a couple of embers leapt out and landed on the dirt. Olette giggled slightly at how jumpy they all were and tossed another log on the blaze. Wilson shifted it around to a spot where it'd burn better with his stick.

Slapping footfalls and a loud 'Kweh!' entered Olette's ears and she looked up and past the fire towards the sound. People around her were half-rising from where they had been sitting to get a better look, and sudden gasps and stunned noises escaped several lips.

"You there!" a voice commanded, "where's your commanding officer?"

Olette saw Captain Sobel moving quickly out of a tent at a fast pace from the corner of her right eye and she got onto her feet. "Who's the—Privates Tidus, Anar, Kia, and Jeffery what are you wearing!"

"You can reprimand them later sir," said another voice, one that caused Olette to start pushing to try and get a look at the arrivals, "there's a bigger problem."

"I should have them court-martialled for showing up in non-regulation contraband clothing, Private Bullshit," Sobel countered. Olette made it through to the front and she saw Captain Sobel standing in front of and looking down at Hayner, who was staring up at him defiantly. Behind the sandy-haired boy were many people she recognized mounted on chocobos or running in from behind.

"We don't have time for court-martials," Garda said, riding up beside Hayner to draw Easy Company's CO's attention towards him. "You'll have to forgive them for now. This boy's unit has come under attack, likely Heartless. He was sent for reinforcements."

Olette gasped slightly and knew that it wasn't her place, but at the moment she didn't care. She strode out and touched Hayner on the shoulder even as whispers about the truth of the flares stirred up behind her. He looked at her, surprise melting into mild delight. "Heartless? How're Pence and my brother?"

Hayner's smile slipped slightly. "They're both fine, or at least they were." Olette could hear the grumble in his voice, and knew that he was having issues with his platoon leader, but she also knew that now was not the time or place to bring them up.

"Lieutenant Kol," Sobel started, turning to his XO, "get the men ready, we're moving out in two minutes or less."

"You heard him ants!" the owl officer bellowed. "Get moving!"

Olette gave Hayner's hand a quick squeeze and a comforting smile before dashing off to comply with whatever her platoon leader wished of her.

Anar, Kia, Tidus, and Jeffery all dismounted from the chocobos that they had been riding in order to join the ranks of their unit when the four stopped and searched themselves frantically. Their faces became filled with panic. Their issued kit had been left behind on the beach.

"Missing something?" Sobel asked snidely. He grinned.

"Not quite," Axel drawled, reaching down into saddlebags. Objects flew through the air towards the four on the ground, and their faces brightened as they caught them.

"My bow," Kia said quietly, lovingly holding the wood, "my quiver…"

"Where'd those come from?" Roxas asked, looking at Axel curiously.

The pyromaniac smirked. "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," he said.

Sobel took an angry pace forward. "Those are—"

"Kairi," Lord Ramius began quietly, seeing the dilemma unfolding, "Naminé. You're the Princesses and heiresses of Radiant Garden. Think about what that means, militarily speaking, for a second, Commander."

Kairi did, and her eyes widened when she realized it. "Captain Sobel!"

The man looked at her, and Kairi steeled her face into a stern and demanding one. She did not like to have her friends treated like dirt continuously. "As Co-Commander-In-Chief of all Radiant Garden military forces and as the Wielder of Light and a Wielder of the Keyblade from Destiny Islands, I hereby order you to permit our friends Privates Anar, Tidus, Kia, and Jeffery of Destiny Islands, and Private Olette Forrest (the girl and Hayner both looked up in surprise as her name was mentioned) of Twilight Town to retain the weapons given to them by Axel and Mulan of the Fa Family."

"As Co-Commander-In-Chief of all Radiant Garden military forces and Wielder of the Keyblade, I approve and agree," Naminé said, nodding her head.

"As the Wielder of Dawn and a Wielder of Destiny Islands," Riku began, equally as stern, "I second that motion."

"As the Chief Guardian of Destiny Islands, I concur."

"As a Knight of Disney Castle and a Wielder of Destiny Islands, I do as well."

"As the Marquess of the Marchlands of Ramius of Radiant Garden, I agree with them."

"As the Wielder of Night and a Wielder of Radiant Garden, I'll kick your butt if you don't do it!"

"As a Knight of the Chasers and the Keyblade Wielder of Gaul, I heartily agree."

"And as the King of Disney Castle, I concur with everything my pals beside me have stated and recommend that you do as the Princess orders," King Mickey said at last.

Captain Herbert Sobel's face was white as a sheet and covered with sweat as he faced the daunting prospect of denying an order given to him by a princess and backed up by another princess as well as a king, a noble, the head of the defenders of the world he was currently on, and four other Keyblade Wielders. He didn't need the whispered words of his XO to tell him what to do.

"Do as you will," he said, stalking away.

Kairi's chocobo Sunbeam snorted and tossed her head to the side, stamping her foot. The girl grappled with the reigns of the clearly impatient bird and looked to Garda. "We'll go on ahead, catch up with us."

"Oh no you won't girl," Garda told his apprentice sternly. "I'm going with you. Got to keep an eye on you, or who knows what trouble you'll get yourself into. Darius!"

"Sir!" a Guardian replied, standing on the ground.

"I'm with them, you're in command here," Garda told him.

"Yes sir!" the man answered.

Yuffie reared her chocobo and let out an excited yell. "Let's ride!"

-A-D-

Gimli struggled with Brightfeather's reigns the instant Sora decided to go all dramatic on him and leap over the bird's head and neck to slam into the creatures already fighting with the thin line of soldiers. "Easy girl!" he yelled, trying to calm the massive riding bird. "Slow down already!"

He tugged too hard, and Brightfeather dug her heels into the ground and came to a sudden stop. Gimli lost his grip on the reigns of the chocobo and his position on the saddle and tumbled off. He landed with a _thump_ onto the ground, rolling once before stopping next to an archer with a raised bow. He growled as he got to his feet, brushing dirt out of his beard and glaring at the chocobo. "Stinkin' bird," he muttered under his breath. Brightfeather suddenly glared back at him, hearing the insult, and leaned forward with an outstretched neck and extended wings, hissing at him. The Erebor Dwarf was surprised for a second and Brightfeather turned her back on him, leaving Gimli with nothing but her rump and tail feathers to look at.

Gimli muttered curses under his breath and turned away to where the battle was being earnestly fought. He caught the archer he'd landed next to staring at him and Gimli withdrew his massive double-bladed axe, the only weapon he'd brought with him to the Islands. "You've never seen a Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain before?" he grumbled. The stunned archer shook his helmeted head vigorously. "Bah!" Gimli snorted, hefting the axe into both hands. He gave a wild roar and rushed forward, barrelling past the legs of the soldiers fighting and above the bodies of the wounded lying on the ground. The Legionnaire Heartless were directly in front of him, and though they were not orcs, his mighty axe came sweeping towards their necks.

He cleaved through two of them with his first stroke, and a follow-up shredded both shield and chest armour of another. A spear came down towards his smaller figure and the dwarf raised his axe with both hands and swung it to the right, knocking the spear aside with the leather-wrapped metal haft of his battle-axe. He pushed forward, bashing the Legionnaire Heartless in the head with the head of his weapon before swinging it again and cleaving its head from its shoulders, as well as the heads from the two beside it. The three vanished into dark clouds and Gimli gave a heartened roar.

"That's six!" he bellowed, smiling and swinging his axe, taking care not to harm any of the soldiers in Abel Company behind or around him. "And seven! And eight! And number nine!" The men and women in the Company nearby nearly stopped and stared. Wherever the dwarf's axe went, a Heartless fell. No spear seemed able to touch him, and the dwarf of the Lonely Mountain had left his dwarf-made hauberk and helm in Middle-earth too.

"Really?" Sora yelled from many feet away from him. "Only nine Master Dwarf? I've got a dozen at least!"

"Keep quiet you cheeky brat!" Gimli bellowed. "If it weren't for your acrobatics and yer stinkin' bird, I'd already be over that. They may not be orc-necks, but these enemies at least do not run from my axe!"

Gimli swung the aforementioned item towards another Legionnaire Heartless, but just before the blade connected the Heartless was overtaken by a torrent of flame and a sword with an intricately carved golden hilt stabbed it in the head.

"Yee-haw!" Mushu yelled, sitting on Mulan's shoulder with a muzzle belching smoke, "I'm on FIRE!"

"They fear only one thing," Mulan told Gimli, "and Sora's holding it in his hands. They'll swarm its bearer, trying to kill the one who wields the Keyblade, and erase their fear."

"Hmph!" Gimli snorted as Mulan's sword turned down and parried a thrusting spear. "Little brat gets all the fun." His axe swung down again just as she slashed out as well. "Ten!"

Sora smiled, hearing Gimli's count. The Legionnaire Heartless that had been attacking the soldiers of Abel Company were all in front of him, Donald, and Goofy, and he readied Remembrance in both hands. He dashed forward, stabbing his Keyblade into the one directly in front, and then swung out to the right, catching that one by its neck. Just as both of them were vanishing into clouds of darkness illuminated only by the pink light from their released hearts, he had already turned around and delivered a series of three quick and shallow strikes to one to their left. His first had caught its shield, bringing that out wide and cutting the Heartless' left arm; his second dropped down and cleaved through the extended right arm that held its spear, removing half of the forearm from the rest of its body; and his third he had brought back up and right, striking against the Legionnaire's belly and leaving a gash that spilled more than leaked darkness from the wound. Remembrance started to glow with white light, and Sora did a funny sort of half-skip into the air before striking the ground directly in front of the Heartless' sandaled feet with his Keyblade, generating a shockwave that rippled through the ground and carried upwards into the legs of the Legionnaire he'd just been attacking and the five ones nearby (one of which was having its jaw bashed repeatedly by Goofy's thrown and spinning shield). They all burst apart into clouds of darkness, crystalline pink hearts rising from their defeated bodies.

Sora was surprised for half of a second after he'd finished his combo before catching a quickly advancing Legionnaire out of the corner of his right eye. A spear jabbed out towards him and Sora ducked, the steel tip just missing his left shoulder. Remembrance went horizontal in one hand and Sora yelled "Firaga!" Six thick fireballs the size of his head (including spiky hair) formed around him and spun in a circle, striking two Legionnaire Heartless thrice before they could take no more and vanished into darkness, the fireballs still passing through the dark mist once more before dissipating.

_That's twenty-two,_ he thought proudly, seeing Donald smack one in its helmeted head four times in quick succession with his staff before dropping a lightning bolt onto it. He hadn't fought alongside Donald and Goofy, his old adventuring buddies, since Xemnas; something about the experience of having them at his side once more was bringing him back. He knew everything that they were doing or were about to do before he or the dog and duck even knew themselves. He didn't have to worry about that Heartless that was at his two-o-clock, because Donald would take care of that one with a well-placed and well-timed spell, and the one at his nine would be looked after by Goofy, all he had to do was concentrate on the ones ahead of him.

Speaking of which…

Sora leapt back and into the air as a spear jabbed out towards him, and pointed Remembrance's sabre-like blade towards the Heartless. "Blizzaga!" A bolt of ice, spiked dangerously with several thick spires of crystalline frozen water, shot towards the Legionnaire Heartless and struck it in the chest. The Heartless became nothing more than a black fog as Sora fell back onto the ground. He dashed forward again, passing by Donald on his right and running another Legionnaire through with his Keyblade. One that was to his left stabbed out at him with its spear, but Sora quickly turned and parried it with a swipe of Remembrance. His left hand thrust forward and a fireball emerged from between the gloved metal fingers. It thudded directly into the face of the Legionnaire Heartless, and the boy's Keyblade swept low and cut off the Heartless' legs. It dropped onto its back, and Sora was quick to finish it with a strong stab. Thunderbolts fell around him as the Court Magician of Disney Castle cast a Thundaga spell, striking more of the Legionnaires directly in their heads and destroying them.

Sora dove right through the dark mists, his Keyblade flashing out in front of him. A _clang_ pounded against his eardrums as Remembrance struck against the shield of one of the Legionnaire Heartless. He pulled his sword back as the Heartless swung its spear up at him. He didn't get out of the way fast enough and the tip of the spear grazed against his chest. He bit back a shallow gasp and Remembrance swiftly cut it down. Sora turned his head as the Heartless directly to his left, which he realized too late had been about to strike at him with its spear, burst apart in a cloud of darkness and he saw Goofy standing there.

"Gee Sora," he said, chuckling a little, "yer gettin' sloppy."

Sora laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head with his left hand. "Yeah, I know. I haven't really been getting into too many fights recently."

"Well you're still better than those guys behind us," Donald said, leaping over a Legionnaire to get to them while still striking it with his staff. Sora nodded his head and lunged towards the Heartless Donald had just dazed. His Keyblade pierced through the blue helmet and into its purple-hued skin and, with a quick downwards jerk of the Keyblade, the Heartless disintegrated into mist with its released heart rising into the dark sky.

"Well, that takes care of that," Sora said, swinging his Keyblade twice in front of him before placing it onto his shoulder to rest. "And that makes twenty-seven," he added, looking around. There were very few Legionnaire Heartless left, and they were all caught up fighting against the men and women of Able Company, the tables turned and the soldiers now vastly outnumbering their attackers. Ohtarmon, Mulan, Mushu, and Gimli were leading the mop-up of the dark creatures, and standing in front of the trio, nearly hidden by the darkness, was the Nobody Newyearsux.

"So I see that what they say of you is true," he told Sora, watching as the boy held the confident and relaxed pose he'd copied from Leon, "you do have the air of a hero about you."

"And you have the air of a cowardly monkey," Sora answered, his eyes slowly coming into a glare at the Nobody commander, "so I think I should give you the chance to give yourself up peacefully before my friends and I take you out." His eyes widened slightly when the only answer he received was a loud and boisterous laugh from the Nobody.

"What's so funny?" Donald snapped.

"I don't think that's going to be happening today, little heroes" Newyearsux answered.

"You'd better start making some sense if you know what's good for you," Sora replied, Remembrance leaving his shoulder to be pointed towards the Nobody.

Newyearsux only laughed again, which frustrated Sora even further. "If _I_ know what's good for _me_? No no no dear Keyblade Master, it's only if you know what's good for _you!_"

"Stop tryin' to mess with us," Goofy said. "It's not gonna work."

"You'd be better off listening to me, by Jupiter, if you value the life of the Princess," Newyearsux told them.

Sora's eyebrows flew up in surprise for a moment before narrowing in suspicion. "The Princess? What does this have to do with Kairi?"

"What'd you do with her!" Donald asked.

"And no lies!" Goofy added, holding his round shield aggressively in front of him.

Sora watched Newyearsux closely, looking for any indication in his body language for a sign of his true intentions. The brunette knew that Kairi was fine, at least right now; he could feel it. But, mentioning Kairi like that out of the blue was more than a tad suspicious. Was he bluffing?

Cerulean eyes darted left and right as they caught signs of large spheres of darkness forming beside Newyearsux. He was summoning four more Heartless, but the ones that emerged made Sora take an involuntary step backwards in surprise. They stood at two and a quarter times his height, with long four-legged black equine lower bodies and the torsos of men. Golden horned helmets were on their heads, and red capes were clasped about their necks, and in their hands were long spears with jaggedly shaped and detailed golden heads. The Assault Riders had frequented the Land of Dragons, but how were they—?

"I see that you recognize them," Newyearsux said with pompous bluster, "good! Then you must understand who it is that is above me and ordered me here."

"What?" Sora asked, shocked. "But—no! He can't be. We defeated him!"

"Not true," Newyearsux said, wagging his finger. "You only defeated his Heartless. And he is more powerful than ever before, thanks to Maleficent. And he is here as well."

"Then he can show himself!" Donald fired back. "Let him come, we'll take him on again!"

"A word of warning, water fowl," Newyearsux said, still with a booming laugh. "You have all been outclassed by him. I have heard, Keyblade Master, that your Princess consort was nearly defeated by Pete. I am stronger than he, if only marginally, and your reborn enemy is three times stronger than I, and our Lord Nixion is stronger than him even, with the Queen of Darkness even stronger than he is! Knowing this (Newyearsux drew a gladius from the scabbard on his belt and pointed it in mockery of Sora's previous action at the youth), do you still wish to fight us?"

Sora glanced at Donald and Goofy, who were each looking confidently at Newyearsux, before fixing the Nobody with a stare. "You still haven't answered me, what does any of this have to do with Kairi?"

"Imagine the terrified look on her face," Newyearsux began, "when she sees your mutilated remains staining the ground, and when I tell her how you begged for death before the end."

"Fat chance of that happening," Sora replied.

Newyearsux chuckled again. "Such naïve overconfidence."

"No!" Sora shot back, wiping the smile from the Nobody's face. "It's faith." He waited a second as Newyearsux paused, confused. "You see, Kairi and I have this little pact we made about twenty-five hours ago." Remembrance snapped out to Sora's side and Sora rushed forward, Donald and Goofy moving in the same instant to clear the distance between them and the former Roman Centurion.

The four Assault Riders leapt forward in a counter-charge, and their four massive spears lunged out towards the trio. Goofy rolled to the side to avoid them and Donald ducked underneath, while Sora leapt over them all and streaked towards the Heartless. A trio of fireballs left Donald's staff and struck the one furthest right, while Goofy threw his spinning shield at the one furthest left. They both recoiled from the hits while the two in the centre started to rapidly spin their spears in a whirring circle in front of their equine bodies. Sora landed on the ground just before the spinning blades, remembering just how painful getting caught by them was, and waited for half of a second for the Assault Riders to stop twirling them. The movement slowed and the spears came out to their sides, and Sora leapt towards the one just slightly to his right. His Keyblade clashed with the haft of the creature's carried spear, his slash being foiled, and he found himself being overpowered as the Assault Rider swung its weapon out.

Sora flew backwards through the air and landed in a crouch fifteen feet away from the pair of Assault Riders Donald and Goofy had left for him. He scowled and his left hand dove into a yellow pocket on his black shorts and pulled out a white ovular charm with the head of a white wolf on it. The charm started to glow and Sora tossed it into the air above him, the moonlit night sky hearing his call of "White Fang!"

A rolling mist filled his mind. The mist sifted through a pine forest in the dead of night and silver light of the moon. The moon's light filtered through, and revealing the snow-covered ground. The soft sound of swiftly moving paws crunching on the snow could be heard through the mists. A black figure of a wolf started to form in the distant mist as the sound increased in volume. Then the figure came closer and broke through the mists, revealed to be a great wolf/husky hybrid with a white coat. White Fang ran past the last of the pine trees and up a promontory spire of a cliff. He howled as the moon sat behind his silhouette, shining down on him and his forest.

He burst into existence next to Sora in a golden light, and the hybrid nodded at the boy as Sora nodded at him. White Fang howled once and then growled, and he and Sora both dashed forward towards the two Assault Riders. They lunged out with their spears, and Sora jumped and twisted through the air to avoid them in an aerial dodge, while White Fang dove underneath with his smaller body. The wolf/husky hybrid leapt up, snarling, and his claws shone with white light as they tore into the left flank of the Assault Rider on the right, while Sora slashed Remembrance across the Heartless' torso repeatedly, causing it to flinch and stagger. White Fang dove towards the Heartless again from the other side, and ripped at its back while scrambling to take on the other Heartless facing them. The hybrid was a blur of white fur as he leapt back and forth between the two, his claws raking into the bodies of the Assault Riders and his sharp canine teeth biting them. Sora was equally quick with Remembrance, the Keyblade darting this way and that as the Keyblade Master kept himself in the air and delivered stab after stab and slash after slash at the two Assault Riders. Within a few short seconds the combined attacks became far too much for the Heartless to handle, and their failing bodies disintegrated into sizeable clouds of darkness, illuminated interiorly by their strong captive hearts.

White Fang barked and Sora nodded his head. The two jumped back, with the hybrid wolf leaping powerfully and Sora flipping backwards and twisting his body to land next to the summon. They looked forward and saw Newyearsux standing beyond where they had defeated the Assault Riders, a little unnerved, and an image of a full moon appeared behind Sora as he pointed Remembrance into the sky.

A low howl left White Fang's muzzle as he reared his head up to the moon, and silver mist rolled in from the sea off to Sora's right and blanketed the ground. White Fang's howl became more pronounced as an eerie note came into the wolf's call, and the mist started to swirl around, with Sora and his summon companion the epicentre of the maelstrom of mist. From above, it looked as if he, White Fang, and his Keyblade were the eye of a hurricane that was slowly starting to spin more and more rapidly and violently. Still the pale light of the moon shone across the blanket from behind Sora, and White Fang rose his muzzle again and another low howl serenaded the celestial body. The hair covering Sora's legs began to cool as the shimmering droplets of water now enveloped them to the sixteen-year-old's waist, and the spinning accelerated further until it was as fast as a child's top. It wound up his torso, branching off as it reached his shoulders and broke off to travel further up his arms before joining again at Remembrance's hilt. The mist shone brighter silver as it touched the Keyblade, and the whole blanket spun and travelled quicker until it completely encased the weapon from its tip, to the seven-pointed star-key, to the tourmaline gemstone on the pommel.

"Kairi and I made a pact," Sora repeated loudly, to Newyearsux only. "When it comes to fighting we have only one rule: Don't die!" He brought Remembrance back behind his head, still holding it up like some kind of bat. "Arctic Fang!" Sora slashed his Keyblade in Newyearsux's direction, and the energy of the mist was released in the Limit's finisher. The head and front half of a wolf's torso led the silver beam that rushed towards the Nobody, its diameter being nearly equal to Sora's total height.

Unlike Cossex, who had rolled away from the attack when Sora had first called upon White Fang in Agrabah, Newyearsux was unable to avoid the blast, and the wolf struck him head on. The Nobody became enveloped in the silver blast that lit up the night and sent tremors through the rocky ground beneath Sora's feet. Sora lowered his Keyblade and nodded at White Fang, who returned it and vanished in a flash of golden light.

Newyearsux had his head bowed, and his back was bent over forward. Sora glanced left and right as Donald and Goofy wordlessly came to his side, and then Ohtarmon arrived on the right, his mace held in one hand and lightly shouldered on his right side. Mulan, Mushu, and Gimli came in on his left, and Sora saw Pence running up from behind, though he could only recognize the Twilight Town native by his face and eyes. His helmet was gone, likely lying on the ground somewhere, and his black hair had been cut, and Pence was definitely thinner than he'd remembered him being. There was another one with Pence, a man over half a foot taller than him (making him about six-foot-one or six-foot-two). He had a crew-cut and black hair, covered by his helmet, and a slight smile on his hardened face. He was probably around twenty-four or so, and wore the same armour that Pence did, except on his helmet was a single bar.

Gimli's axe was in the dwarf's two hands, the head popping up and down as he moved it with his right hand. "Twenty-one," he said gruffly.

"Twenty-nine," Sora replied, smiling. Gimli scowled.

"Hey Sora, that was amazing!" Pence exclaimed. "We'd have been done for if you guys hadn't shown up."

"You were great too Pence," Goofy said, looking at him.

"And now we just have to take care of this bozo!" Donald said, brandishing his staff and glaring at Newyearsux.

Sora nodded his head slightly and looked at the man that had come with Pence. The man suddenly came to attention and saluted him. "Thanks for the relief Master Sora," he said, still smiling. "Your timing couldn't have been better or more dramatic."

"Well, even though we try not to, Sora likes to make entrances," Mushu said, tisking Sora and shaking his head. The Keyblade Master laughed.

"Oh!" Pence said, his brown eyes suddenly lighting up. "Sora, I'd like you to meet my CO, First Lieutenant Spiers." Sora dismissed his Keyblade and they shook hands.

"Nice to meet you," Sora said, smiling slightly and nodding.

Ohtarmon's green eyes glanced out to his partner. "Sora, shouldn't the others be here by now?" he asked.

_They should be,_ Sora agreed, lowering his head and closing his eyes. He reached out, trying to find his brother. _Roxas, can you hear me?_

The blonde's answer came back after a few seconds. _Yes, I can hear you Sora. How're things on your end?_

_We took out the Heartless attacking the company, and Newyearsux is here. Where are you all?_

_We're stuck,_ Roxas answered heatedly. _A whole lot of Heartless have showed up, and we're getting bogged down trying to break through, even with Garda and Easy Company. Tidus and Wakka are _really_ good too. We'll catch up with you as soon as we can, but it'll take a whi—gotcha you stupid Heartless! That's what you get for trying to jump behind me and backstab me! Thanks Nam!_

Sora's right eye twitched from underneath his eyelid. He could almost hear the sounds of the battle going on in his former Nobody's commentary, and he could still feel that Kairi was fine, so that part of his heart rested easier. _Alright, we'll see you when we see you. Give 'em hell._

_Can do!_

Sora opened his eyes and raised his head. "So what did Roxas say?" Goofy asked, having been watching Sora and realizing that he must have been talking with him.

Sora flashed Remembrance out to his side again. "They're being attacked," he answered. "Heartless are swarming them. It'll take them some time to get to us."

"So let's take this one out," Ohtarmon said while turning towards Newyearsux, who still had his back bent down.

"Then we can go and help," Mulan added. Donald nodded his head.

Laughter reached their ears, and all nine of them looked at the Nobody from whom the laughter was originating. Newyearsux's back was still bent, but it was shaking with laughter, insane laughter. He reared up, stretching his muscles in the opposite direction as his head became parallel to the sky and loud, booming cackles streamed unchecked from his lungs.

"What's with this guy?" Sora asked.

"Is he crazy?" Lt. Spiers asked, backing away a couple of paces.

The laughter abruptly stopped and Newyearsux's head snapped back down and he cocked his head to the side, giving the group a weird smile. Sora felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as his nerves prickled. There were a number of things about this that weren't right. The air around him felt different somehow.

"None of you will be able to go and help your friends," Newyearsux said. "In a couple of minutes, the message will be delivered; furthermore, you won't even be able to stand."

"Tough talk for someone who just got his butt kicked!" Mushu yelled.

Newyearsux laughed again. "When did I say that I would be the one giving you the message?" A portal of darkness covered him, and Newyearsux was gone.

_What?_

A face suddenly appeared upside down in front of him. Sora gasped, as did Mulan, Mushu, Donald, and Goofy. There was no way any of them wouldn't be able to recognize that face, with his slanted orange eyes and pale, rugged skin.

"Boo," said Shan-Yu.

Sora was flying backwards through the air before he even knew what hit him. His breath had left him completely, and his arms and legs were all facing forward as his back tore through the air. He could feel that he was crashing into people, his back was telling him that much, but it didn't feel as if he was slowing down at all. Then again, Sora was too shocked to tell. A pained yell was ripped from his lips as his back crashed into one of the foxholes, a deep crater forming in the piled dirt and rock behind him.

He coughed and struggled to bring his head up to look past all the soldiers he had ploughed through, all of them looking at him in stunned horror, at Shan-Yu. None of them had been able to retain enough of their wits to even yell the word "medic". _What was that!_

The Hun chuckled, standing on the ground with his wave-bladed sword on his back. He was now a man of short stature, but that mattered little with how solidly he had punched the Keyblade Master. "We meet again, warrior."

"No way!" Mushu yelled. "We roasted your hide!"

"Shan-Yu!" Mulan's voice was highly aggressive. "Why are you here?"

He chuckled again and looked at the Heroine of China. "Shan-Yu? Not quite girl. Xayn Shu is my name now, and you'll find that I'm full of surprises." As he said that last word, he cleared the distance between himself and Mulan, and stuck her chest with an open-palm. Mulan stumbled back, and the Nobody followed up with a strike to her chin, a movement that was barely followed by watching eyes. As Mulan's feet were just beginning to leave the ground Xayn Shu's hands darted out and snatched Mushu up between them. He stretched the tiny red dragon out, directing his head towards Gimli, and fire belched out of Mushu's muzzle towards the dwarf. Gimli gave a shout of surprise and stumbled backwards, barely avoiding being barbequed. Carelessly, Xayn Shu then tossed the little dragon at Abel Company's Commanding Officer's face.

"Fira!"

Xayn Shu spun around as the fireball left Pence's staff. He rushed towards the offending spellcaster, the fireball exploding on his chest as he darted towards Pence. He could barely feel it. He roared, landing a powerful punch against Pence's breastplate. His fist conformed the hard steel to the contours of his knuckles, and it, the chain mail, the grey wool shirt and dark green undershirt all sunk into the boy's chest and blew Pence back until he was lying slouched next to Sora. He was out cold. Goofy's shield then struck into Xayn Shu's side, and Donald blasted him in the chest with a bolt of lightning, but he only growled. His hand reached out and grasped the very nearby Goof by the throat, and Xayn Shu raged and cleared the distance between him and Donald in under a second and slammed Goofy down on his friend.

Ohtarmon's mace started to glow as he wound it up, preparing to swing for the Nobody's left side. "Deciding Swing!" he roared, unleashing it at the Nobody, Xayn Shu's head turning from Donald and Goofy to look at the brightly glowing instrument at the last instant. Light streamed from where Ohtarmon's mace connected with the Nobody's skull, the ground shuddering and the air blowing by. Disbelieving green eyes that belonged to the Champion-level Digimon opened wide. "What the—?"

"I'm sorry," Xayn Shu said, smiling at him while his left hand lightly held back Ohtarmon's mace, "but was that supposed to finish me?" His right hand flashed up to the hilt of the sword across his back and he twisted it so that it was pointed down from his shoulder to his thigh, and there was a ringing _clang!_

"No," Sora growled, Xayn Shu having stopped Remembrance in its tracks. Mulan was getting back to her feet; Mushu had scrambled off of Lt. Spiers' face with the officer quickly moving back, he was smart enough to know that his men had no chance against this adversary; Gimli was hefting his axe up and down; and Donald and Goofy were untangling themselves from each other. "That's supposed to be our job."

Xayn Shu's smile widened. "Come and try!" he roared.

-A-D-

Kairi ducked underneath a kick from a Soldier Heartless and she spun around, Crowning Flame slashing out towards the Heartless and cutting it into ribbons. She turned around again and quickly darted forward a couple of paces, and sliced horizontally at a Shadow. She missed, the Shadow melting into the ground before her brightly glowing Keyblade could connect with it. Kairi shook her auburn-covered head and ignored it, leaping towards a group of Heartless of a variety she hadn't seen before they'd been ambushed. Its skin was green, and somewhat resembled some kind of web-footed fish. Three yellow fins with red and black markings on them sprouted from its back, and its tail was long and scaly, with two more fins protruding from its topside in opposing angles. Two short appendages left its underside near the tail, allowing it to stand upright, and another two came out of the flanks, barely distinguishable from the Heartless' fins apart from distinctive knees and three-toed webbed feet on the bottom and three-fingered claws on the hands. The Heartless emblem was on the white underbelly.

The Sahagins' yellow eyes leered at her and a claw swiped out for the girl. Kairi countered with a quick slash of her Keyblade, the blade moving in a complete circle from being held out to her side, and the glowing weapon sliced the claw right off. She sliced Crowning Flame into the same Heartless twice more and it vanished into darkness, leaving Kairi now in the middle of a pack of them with a couple of Shadows behind her.

The Princess wasn't worried at all.

Crowning Flame's glowing blade became encased by white flames and she slashed it horizontally towards the ones directly in front of her. The flames spilled out in a crescent and three of the Sahagins became enveloped in them. Kairi was already past them by the time they were fading, her left hand stretched out in front of her with lightning bolts flying from her fingertips to strike another one. Another Sahagin's claw swept out towards her legs, and Radiant Garden's Princess leapt over it, her Keyblade slicing up against the Heartless' belly. She dropped down on the other side and stabbed the Sahagin from behind and under her armpit. The Heartless vanished in a cloud of darkness, its pink heart rising into the night sky.

Kairi was smiling inwardly. This was nowhere near as difficult as the battle she'd fought on the Road before the Ford of Bruinen.

_I am Princess Kairi,_ she thought smugly to herself, _Wielder of Light and Heartless Killer extraordinaire_.

_Are you _really_ all that Reddie?_ Naminé asked, though the auburn-haired girl was easily able to read the amusement in her sister-Nobody's voice.

_Yes I am Blondie, yes I am,_ Kairi replied proudly, her feet dancing her out of the way of a Shadow's claws and her arms swinging her Keyblade through its head. _I took out a helluva lot of Charr Heartless all by myself at the Ford of Bruinen. There were like, ten, twelve, fifteen, twenty-five, maybe thirty of them! And I bagged them all!_

_Thirty? Reeeally?_

Kairi smiled guiltily to herself. _Okay, so maybe thirty's a bit of a gross exaggeration. If there _were_ thirty I probably wouldn't be here. But still, I kicked Heartless hi—crap!_

She hissed in pain as a Large Body ploughed itself into her back, the girl too distracted in her boasting to Naminé to pay attention to it. She cursed under her breath and pushed herself to her feet, throwing her arm out towards the Large Body and yelling, "Flash Arrows!" Three arrows of white light emerged from her brightly glowing palm and streaked for the Large Body. They tore into the Heartless' rotund abdomen, digging their way in deep before detonating in explosions of light and ripping the Heartless to shreds.

Spinning on her heels, Kairi danced away from a Shadow's grasping claws and her Keyblade slid right through its head as a stream of giant icicles cascaded into a thicket of Sahagins. She looked around. Soronmon was flying above and in Kairi's general vicinity, the Champion-level digimon's attacks devastating the numbers of Heartless facing them. Behind her and in varying distances from her were her comrades; some of them were still mounted on chocobos and others had taken to their own two feet like she had.

Her master's long black claymore was constantly sweeping down from where he sat atop his mount and cutting through the small Heartless; Hayner and Olette were fighting back to back in the midst of the soldiers of Easy Company, the two of them complimenting each other perfectly as Hayner slashed his sword and Olette utilized her arsenal of basic black magic spells; Tidus, Wakka, and Anar were by themselves, with Tidus carving his way through the Heartless almost as good as Leon, Wakka's spiked blitzball now striking against multiple dark creatures before returning to his hands, and Anar doing his best to try and keep pace with Tidus without hurting himself; Kia's bow was a flurry as her hand continually went to her enchanted quiver to draw a slender arrow from within, nocked it, drew back, and released, the bowstring always vibrating with a soft and musical _thrum_ as the arrow left and streaked into a Heartless' vital area, and she didn't miss once, making her smile. Selphie fought alongside the Gullwings, the hyper brunette at the side of the equally energetic Rikku while Yuna was slightly behind and between her blonde cousin and the silver-haired, calm, and cool Paine, and the merging of their styles seemed to meld perfectly. Isil and Jeffery were with Axel and Roxas, with the Keyblade-Wielding one still mounted on a chocobo; Axel's chakrams were completely ablaze as the former Nobody juked and jived out of the way of the Heartless' attacks, and he slashed and threw them with deadly force and a twisted smile on his face; Roxas had one hand on the reigns of his chocobo, the other grasping Twilight Thorn's hilt and slashing down at any Heartless in reach; Jeffery was firing off spells so fast that to look at his staff would be to see a blur of ice, fire, and lightning; and Isil stayed within three steps of him, handling any Heartless that were getting too close with more than adequate skill. King Mickey and Asterix were fighting side-by-side, the two of them engaging any Heartless near or far with grit, speed, and style befitting the two small, quick, and powerful warriors; Max fought alongside Obelix, the boy having taken some of the magic potion concocted by Getafix before they'd left the Village of Indomitable Gauls, and Obelix's fierce punches and swinging tree-trunk arms that hurled Heartless around like rag-dolls, and Max's sword cut them too quickly for the Heartless to realize they'd been defeated, and so strongly that they flew back into their fellows and both would disintegrate into clouds of darkness. Guardians and soldiers in Easy Company milled about throughout, and Riku and Yuffie fought together, guarding two special people.

Sade and Sikora, Sora and Roxas' cousins, had disobeyed the instructions given to them by both their parents and everyone else, and followed the warriors on chocobo. Both were nearly completely useless, but they refused to leave, and had their chocobos ride down any Heartless they felt confident enough to engage.

Needless to say, Riku and Yuffie weren't too pleased that they had gotten stuck babysitting, especially since they also really _were_ babysitting.

"Victory is mine!" Stewie Griffin roared, shirtless and in only his diaper while dressed as Rambo. Ammo belts were strung across his tiny chest, and fragmentation grenades were strapped to him as well, while in both his hands were his two plasma pistols. Two knives, long enough to be swords for the toddler, were also sheathed to his hips, and a tiny M-16 Assault Rifle was slung across his back along with his teddy bear, Rupert (who was wearing a red bandana like Stewie's). The terrible toddler was back, and hungry for blood. He burst through a cloud of darkness formed by destroyed Shadow and pointed one of his plasma pistols straight for the head of a Soldier that had its right clawed hand reared back, ready to strike. "Go ahead," Stewie said with his eyes narrowing, "make my day, Joe."

Kairi shook her head, watching as the toddler blasted the head off the Soldier, and saw Naminé coming up to her from her right, cutting down a Sahagin that was in her path. She smiled and was about to give a shout in greeting when she suddenly felt something squeezing her sides slightly and stretching her arms out so that her limbs were spread out, like a star. Her feet left the ground as she noticed a blue glow around her, and then her body was forcibly turned around and she realized that she'd been caught in the beam of a Bolt Tower.

_When did these things show up?_ She wondered, shocked at the appearance of the large Heartless. Her eyes looked beyond it, and they widened in stunned horror. An entire army of Rapid Thrusters were buzzing in the air and heading straight for them, more than thirty Bolt Towers among them. There had to be hundreds of the Heartless, and after the many that they'd already dealt with, it seemed as if it was going to take them a very long time to meet up with Sora and the others.

Kairi almost growled. She didn't want to get caught up fighting this many for long. Her fight at the ford had taught her that she couldn't go on forever.

She screamed for a moment as the electrical shock from the Bolt Tower struck her, the girl too busy taking in the sight of the advancing Heartless to pay any attention to trying to escape. She dropped to the ground and landed on her knees, numbing pain racing through her limbs.

"Devil's Lash!" Naminé yelled, swinging Nobody's Pride towards the Bolt Tower's face at its base. Fire coiled around her weapon and lashed out, wrapping around the cannon-ball face of the Heartless and drawing back quickly, spinning it like a top. It stopped after a few seconds, and the whole tower drooped and wobbled drunkenly. Naminé struck out again, the flaming lash slapping against the face of the Heartless with the _crack_ of a whip. It shuddered momentarily, and then the large Heartless disappeared into darkness with its captive heart rising into the sky.

Kairi rose to her feet as Naminé quickly came over to her. She smiled slightly. "Thanks Naminé, but I could have taken care of it."

"You're welcome and sure you could have, Heartless Killer extraordinaire," Naminé replied, smiling too. "I just didn't want my sister to get flattened like a princess pancake."

"Ha, ha," Kairi said sarcastically. Naminé giggled slightly, and then looked towards the approaching mass of Heartless.

"There's going to be no end to this," she said anxiously. "I don't think we're going to make it in time."

Kairi looked at her in confusion. "Time for what?"

Nobody's Pride flicked out to Naminé's side as her left hand went in front of her face, light beginning to shine from the tips of her fingers. "Not now, there're already here." She was just about to fire off some kind of spell towards the closest Bolt Tower when something distracted them.

The deafening roar of an engine filled their ears, and something black soared above them. It landed on the ground, and there were both metallic mechanical and biological grunting noises as the object's sides extended and something flew from it. It took both Kairi and Naminé a second to realize that the object creating the terrifyingly loud noise was a large black motorcycle with sides extended like wings, and that a person with spiky blonde hair dressed all in black had just withdrawn and thrown a sword from the wing-scabbards within the bike. The sword spun through the air on a boomerang path, eliminating the very Bolt Tower Naminé had been about to magic to death with one cut, and slicing through at least a dozen Rapid Thrusters in its curving path to come back to the hand of the one who had thrown it. He caught the sword by its red grip and turned his bike around on a dime to direct it towards both Kairi and Naminé. He placed the sword back in its place as he drove towards them, and they took a couple of steps backwards, trying to see his face and eyes behind the goggles he wore. But there was no denying their eyes or the feelings in their hearts: this man was impressive.

The bike stopped and he removed his goggles from his eyes, revealing a striking pair of blue eyes, and placed them on his forehead. He looked directly at Kairi, and she couldn't help but blush slightly as she looked at him. He was cool, end of story.

"Kairi," he said calmly, surprising her that he knew her name, "let's go."

"What?" she asked. "Why? Who—?" She was interrupted by a puff of black smoke in front of her.

"You pain in the ass!" Yuffie yelled, shaking Flower of Wutai at the man. "Where the hell have you been! Don't you know how worried we've all been, Cloud, especially Tifa?"

Kairi and Naminé's heads went back again in surprise. So _this_ cool blonde guy was Cloud? No wonder Sora spoke so highly of him. But that still didn't answer the question of how he knew Kairi's name or instantly knew who she was.

Cloud looked away and replied, almost regretfully, "I didn't want to get any of you involved. This is my fight. I have to do this on my own." Yuffie opened her mouth to say something more, but Cloud cut her off by looking past her. "He's not here. But… all the same, Sora's in trouble."

Kairi's eyes widened slightly and she strode forward to stand beside Yuffie. "He's in danger?" Cloud only nodded and held his hand out to her again. Kairi took it and said, "Let's go then," while climbing onto Fenrir behind him. Crowning Flame vanished from her hands and they went around his chest. She knew that he was right; as her thoughts went towards Sora, her heart started to tug at her.

Indigo eyes turned into the air to find her digimon partner. "Soronmon!" The ice-eagle digimon slowed and began beating her large wings to keep herself in place while she looked at Kairi. "I'm going to help Sora," Kairi continued, "can you finish things off here?"

"Don't worry about us Kairi," Soronmon replied. "You just go and help Keys and Ohtarmon. We'll handle everything on this end."

Kairi nodded her head and her arms clutched tighter against Cloud's muscular chest, hidden of course by his black shirt and coat, as Fenrir's engine kicked into high gear and the tires spun rapidly, spraying up dirt and grass as they gripped for traction. The bike turned around to face the direction of the oncoming Heartless and Cloud spoke. "Hold on, we're busting through." She nodded again and leaned her head closer to Cloud's back as the bike took off suddenly, streaking towards the swarm in a straight line.

The wings expanded on the motorcycle again and Cloud's hands left the handlebars and his legs clenched tighter against the sides of the bike, steering only with them. Kairi looked up slightly and saw that there were six separate sheathes within Fenrir's body, each one of them holding a sword. Cloud grabbed two: a long claymore with circular holes running down the middle that she'd seen him throw earlier, and one that had its hilt built into the upper back end of the blade itself.

_Am I about to let this guy have all the fun?_ Kairi asked herself. Her jaw had hardened before she even finished her self-questioning, and her right hand left Cloud's shirt and white light began to pool in her palm.

Cloud's long sword struck out on the right as they brushed right past a Bolt Tower, and he cut right through the head of the enemy in one swift stroke. The sword in his left hand dropped down on that side, cutting through two of the Rapid Thrusters. Kairi threw her right hand out as they sped through the swarm, sending four of her Flash Arrows straight into the mob. They didn't bend or home in on Heartless like Riku's Rays of Dawn did, but with this many Heartless, it didn't matter. The four arrows sunk into four separate Rapid Thrusters and, after a moment, detonated in bright explosions of light that filled a portion of the sky for a second.

A Bolt Tower reared up just in front of them, preparing to slam down on the ground, but by the time it did the pair were already too far away for the shockwave to affect them, and seconds after that, they broke through the last of the Heartless and were speeding off to where Sora had gone earlier.

"Cloud," Kairi asked as her heart gave a particularly strong lurch, "how did you know who I was?"

"Hn, you mean you don't know?" he returned. She shook her head against his back. "Anyone who's ever met Sora can tell just by looking at you. I've overheard him talking about you. It's not hard to see. You're his light." Kairi was silent for a few seconds before her head darted upwards in surprise and fear. A dark masculine voice was ripping through the air, causing the particles to tremble in its malice. It encompassed the entire island, and even those who were asleep woke to it in a cold, frightened sweat.

"YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!"

"We'd better hurry," Cloud muttered, Fenrir accelerating at a heightened rate.

-A-D-

"Come and try!" Xayn Shu roared, pushing back against Sora's Keyblade with his own wave-bladed sword. The Keyblade Master leapt back, and Xayn Shu's left hand shoved Ohtarmon's mace onto the ground and kicked the warrior digimon in his armoured chest. Roaring, he dove straight for Sora with his sword held back and ready to strike. Goofy crashed into his side with his shield, and Xayn Shu staggered for a second, just long enough for Sora to regroup and come back in with Mulan and Mushu at his side.

"Mulan!" Sora called.

"Let's do this together!" she said, looking towards the small dragon.

"I'll handle this," he assured them, standing atop Mulan's head. The dragon opened his small mouth, and burst of fire blew from it to strike Xayn Shu as he stood nearby. Sora and Mulan then flew forward, Mushu's bursts of flame leading the way as they flew around him. But they were scowling as they made fiery passes on him or fire burst around them and struck at Xayn Shu, because it looked as if the flames that raged out from the gullet of the guardian dragon didn't bother him at all.

One of the bursts of fire struck Xayn Shu right in the chin, and Xayn Shu recoiled from it and dropped to the ground. "Mushu!" Mulan yelled, and he leapt up into the air and blew fireballs twice his size into the sky. Sora and Mulan landed on the ground again and Mushu dropped onto Mulan's shoulder just as the fireballs started to rain down from the sky. "For China!"

"Take that!" Sora said confidently.

"I'm on fire!" Mushu exclaimed energetically, watching as the storm of fireballs dropped onto Xayn Shu, and sent him rising up into the air and crashing down again, the crater deepening slightly with every additional crash. Dust rose up from where he had finally settled, and Mushu looked anxiously at Sora and Mulan. "Do you think we got him?" he asked.

A chuckle rose from within the dust, and Xayn Shu walked out of the shallow depression that had been made by his own body. He was brushing his shoulders off, but other than that appeared completely unscathed. "Funny," he said, "I remember that that used to hurt."

"Does that answer your question?" Ohtarmon asked, glancing at Mushu.

"Now," Xayn Shu continued, rolling his neck, "you will all bow to me, or you will kneel… _in pieces!_" He rushed forward again, and Sora was only barely able to get Remembrance up in time to stop him.

_Fast!_ He thought, wide-eyed.

Xayn Shu's sword flashed out to the right, parrying the hasty chop Gimli had been attempting with his axe, and then it went down and cut the dwarf on the leg. Gimli cursed and spat at Xayn Shu, furiously driving his axe towards the Nobody in a horizontal slice. The former Shan-Yu was taken by surprise, having never encountered a creature with the tenacity, ferocity, and stubbornness of dwarves. But his surprise was for but an instant, dropping back three quick half-steps to put him out of Gimli's terrible axe's reach. As soon as the dwarf had finished his swing, he came in on the vulnerable fighter, and punched him in the gut. Because of Gimli's size, he had been forced to bend down slightly before rising to his full height again, his punch directing the dwarf backwards and upwards and launching the dwarf several feet into the air before Gimli could come crashing back down to earth.

"Firaga!" Donald yelled, his staff directed at Xayn Shu's back. The magician's fireball struck Xayn Shu as he started to turn, and he paused momentarily. The Nobody started to chuckle as Sora, Mulan, Ohtarmon, and Goofy came in close again. He ducked underneath a stab Mulan made for his head, and struck her chest with an open palm. She gasped as her body flew backwards, and Xayn Shu, staying low, slashed at Goofy with his sword. Goofy blocked it with his shield, but the strength Xayn Shu had put behind it caused him to skid backwards by several metres; Goofy was just barely able to keep his balance. Xayn Shu started to glow with purple light for a second, and he streaked towards Donald, the eye barely able to follow his quick movements. His sword struck at Donald and the duck flew up into the air. Xayn Shu jumped, and the spring from his powerful legs propelled him higher than he had sent Donald, and he spun himself around in the air, striking at Disney Castle's court magician again. The Nobody ceased his spinning and raised his sword above his head with both his hands, and with a loud roar he slammed it down against Donald's hastily raised staff.

The duck was on the ground an instant later, another depression forming in the ground where he landed. His eyes were rolling around from where he lay, helpless in a daze. Xayn Shu was still standing in the air, and Sora jumped in a strong leap, spinning in the air to give him enough momentum, to reach his target. A torrent of razor-sharp feathers followed him, courtesy of Ohtarmon, and he brought his Keyblade down in a powerful slash towards Xayn Shu. The Nobody's wave-bladed sword blocked his weapon in a blinding movement, and Xayn Shu struck at Sora's Keyblade with a quick diagonal slash. Remembrance was wrenched from his grip and Sora looked at Xayn Shu in shock.

His enemy pulsed with purple light, and the feathers that had been mere millimetres away from striking Xayn Shu struck the aura instead and bounced off, falling harmlessly to the ground. Xayn Shu still held his sword in his hand, and he roared and bashed its hilt onto Sora's head, sending the unarmed Keyblade Master down to the ground.

"Sora!" Goofy yelled, rushing towards him.

He winced and shook his head, pushing himself up off the ground. Ohtarmon was still sending his feathers at the airborne Nobody, who was effortlessly deflecting them with rapid movements of his sword as gravity's hold grasped him and brought him to the ground. Sora wiped his forehead with his gloved hand, and was barely able to see with the light of the moon, though he could surely feel, that there was blood on it. The hilt had cut his forehead.

"RAH!"

Sora whipped his head around, trying to ignore the pain, and saw Xayn Shu darting right through the rush of feathers still streaming from Ohtarmon's mace towards the Champion-level digimon. His aim wasn't off, but the feathers just didn't affect Xayn Shu at all. They bounced off his forehead and body, not even cutting his fur clothing where they only glanced him. The mace started to glow and the feather storm stopped. "Deciding Swing!" Ohtarmon roared, winding up and lashing out towards Xayn Shu.

An explosion of white light ripped through the darkness and forced Sora and Goofy to duck their heads as Mulan and Gimli both came back to them. There was the sound of something slamming into the ground, and another roar of false anger from Xayn Shu. Then there was a guttural gasp of pain and Ohtarmon flew backwards and rolled and skidded on the ground, his mace breaking the rocks as it bounced by itself, wide to the digimon's left.

"Ah," Ohtarmon grunted, lifting his helmeted head and slowly pushing himself onto one knee. His armour was dented, and they could tell in his voice that he was either in pain or weary. "That hurt, you clown."

"This one's more persistent than any troll," Gimli said, spitting on the ground. There was a bloodstained bandage around his leg, explaining what the dwarf had been doing since Xayn Shu had injured him.

The dust settled from around Xayn Shu, and Sora recoiled slightly. He'd changed. His body had grown back into the six-foot-tall behemoth that he used to be, and a dark pair of wings from a falcon had sprouted between his shoulder-blades. He eyed Sora with a malevolent smile that made him gulp.

"Now things are about to get interesting," Xayn Shu said. He roared again, and Sora barely had time to summon Remembrance back to his hands and get it up to block Xayn Shu's falling sword. The sword pressed against him, and Sora held his position, pushing back against Xayn Shu's blade with his silver Keyblade. "You can't overpower me," the Nobody told him, his own weight and strength pushing Sora back down until he was on one knee and his muscles were straining to hold Xayn Shu back. "I am not the one you defeated before. I am Xayn Shu: The Falcon of the Steppes!"

A shove, and Sora collapsed on the ground. A kick went solidly to his chin and Sora cried out in pain as he flew back twenty feet in an arching path. He recovered, spinning his body to land upright, and skidded back through the grass, dirt, and rock until coming to a stop a few feet away from where he landed. Sora blinked blood out of his eyes.

_Shit,_ he thought, watching as Xayn Shu traded blows with Mulan, Goofy, and Gimli. The three warriors were in trouble. _He's too fast, and he's too strong. I've got to end this quickly. I _will_ end this quickly._

Sora closed his eyes, reaching inside of himself. His Crest of Valour started to glow, and Sora's cerulean-blue eyes snapped open and he felt strength exploding from within him. "Light!" It burst from him, and Sora's clothes changed from black to silver, and Remembrance and the Kingdom Key were hovering around him, held near by a strong mental grip. Orbs of silver light rose and fell around him as his silver clothes pulsed white occasionally. He was floating inches off the ground, and strength ran through his blood. Final Form.

Shouting out in challenge, Sora soared through the air towards Xayn Shu, his two Keyblades chopping the air in front of him in repeated circles. Both blades struck against Xayn Shu's sword, driving it down low, and Sora tackled the Nobody to the ground and passed over him. He twisted his body around and raised his hands to the sky while both Keyblades zipped back to be near him. "Thundaga!" he roared. Thick, white-hot bolts of lightning fell from the sky and struck Xayn Shu as he lay on the ground, Mulan, Goofy, and Gimli backing away, clutching at different sore spots on their bodies. Sora charged in again, and twisted his body around in a corkscrew-spin, both Remembrance and the Kingdom Key arching around his body and slashing at Xayn Shu. The former leader of the Huns grunted in pain as they both struck him in the shoulder, and plasma's most common apparition, fire, burst into existence around Sora and struck against Xayn Shu even while his two Keyblades continued to strike at the Nobody.

Sora turned around again after finishing that pass, and came on once more with the Kingdom Key and Remembrance both bared above his head, ready to land two more powerful hits against him, when a sudden crescent of purple streaked out from where Xayn Shu had been lying on the ground. The two Keyblades formed an 'X' in front of Sora as he called out "Defence!" and a reflega shield formed around his body. The purple force struck against his shield, and Sora felt his mind being strained to maintain it even as it pushed him back and high into the sky. Stinging sweat merged with the bloody cut, that was _still_ bleeding, on his forehead.

He stopped moving, and the purple force broke to either side of the shell. Sora looked behind him as the two halves carried on into the sky, and imploded in a dark burst of energy. _That didn't look good,_ he thought, turning back towards where Xayn Shu was as he released his reflega shield. Bright blue balls streamed out from where the shield had been, and Sora made the mistake of looking directly into Xayn Shu's eyes as he sped towards the boy on his falcon wings. His irises were pure amber, and they were like those of a bird of prey zeroing in on the kill. Xayn Shu's sword darted faster than Sora's eyes could see, slicing through the orbs of fiery magical energy that had been sent his way.

Sora was frightened, but he charged down towards his rapidly climbing opponent anyway. Running just wasn't an option. Remembrance and the Kingdom Key flew out ahead of Sora, spinning around and glowing brightly with white light. Xayn Shu's sword came up and they came down, all three swords ringing together in the music of battle. Remembrance rose off of Xayn Shu's sword and swept out to the Nobody's right, while the Kingdom key reared back and struck down again. The strong Nobody spun with his wings, his sword slapping down to turn away Remembrance and then moving to parry the Kingdom Key. He was faster than they were. The two Keyblades twirled around in the air and, still glowing brightly with white light, beams of light shone out from the ends and they spun around Xayn Shu as Sora moved in close. At last it seemed to hurt him, as he bowed down before the pressure of the light and grunted in pain. Sora somersaulted in the air, and both Remembrance and the Kingdom Key spun around him in a blinding light, slashing horizontally at Xayn Shu and drawing a wound that leaked darkness from his chest. Sora grabbed them both as they finished their circle around the Nobody, and he darted forward at his unbalanced foe with speeds he had only achieved in this form.

Sora froze as the Nobody's sword stopped them cold. That had _never_ happened before; Anti was the only one who could've even come close! Sora flew backwards as the Falcon of the Steppes punched his head. Sora recovered with a flip and flew forward again despite the throbbing pain in his forehead and the newly developing black eye, both of his Keyblades lunging out in front of him. The Nobody ducked underneath them, and his sword stabbed out and pierced Sora's side. He gasped, blood leaving the gash to his abdomen and his body falling back. Sora's Keyblades flew about him again, slashing for Xayn Shu's midsection. His left hand reached above the two Keyblades and grasped Sora around the neck, stopping him dead in an instant, while his sword darted out and struck against the boy's left forearm. Sora choked and was brought close enough to feel Xayn Shu's breath; enough to examine every detail on the Nobody's surprised face as his sword bounced off the concealed metal.

He regained his composure quickly though and smiled at Sora after looking underneath the cloth that his blade _had_ managed to cut. "Well," he said, while the Keyblade Master's hands flew to his neck to try and pry Xayn Shu's hands from it, "it seems I'm not the only one who's changed, am I?" His hand squeezed tighter around Sora's neck, and the boy's heart pounded fiercely in his chest as he tried desperately to free himself. Stars were exploding in front of him, and the world was starting to go dark and out of focus.

Sora dropped out of his Final Form, both of his Keyblades falling onto the ground. He struggled to keep his hold on consciousness as his brain demanded blood and, as well as the rest of his body, screamed for oxygen. But it was getting even harder to move. His limbs felt like lead, and gravity was also demanding that he return to the ground below.

The pressure was suddenly released from his neck, and Sora's diaphragm exploded in a rapid contraction and expansion as he evicted all the putrid air stuck in his system from the lungs and gasped in new gases. His head swam with sudden pain as the blood left and returned, and he felt as if it'd burst. Stars appeared in front of him again, and his vision swam as he vainly attempted to bring it into focus. Something grabbed at his leg, and then the air he was gulping in was swiftly passing over his face and through his hair. The world was spinning around him, his body not liking the change of orientation and direction, and his stomach wanted him to throw up. Sora had no idea where he was going.

The ground smashed into his face a second later. There was a pain-wracking _CRACK_ and Sora's mouth opened wide in a roar of agony, taking in the gushing blood that ran freely from a newly shattered nose. A loud, booming, laugh filled the air, and Sora struggled through the pain and the oxygenated blood that was leaving his face to look up at Xayn Shu along with the others of his party. He was still hovering in the air, his terrible falcon wings keeping him airborne.

A small dark portal appeared next to his extended left hand, and within it appeared a little girl with blonde hair, she couldn't have been older than eight. She had a terrified expression on her face, and the whimpers and cries that left her mouth when Xayn Shu grasped her wrist tightly with his left hand frightened and angered Sora more than anything else that night, and he didn't even seem to care about the gash Sora'd left in his chest. But Sora couldn't move. His body was wracked with signals of pain as he bled out; he could barely even muster the strength of will to move his automail arm.

"Now, as you lie bleeding and broken on the ground, I shall impart the message I was ordered to give," Xayn Shu told them. His eyes glowed with a menace, and his voice shook the air and echoed off the rocks and penetrated into the deepest part of Sora's being as he roared:

"YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!"

"And to show it," he added, softening his voice so that Sora had to strain his deafened ears to hear, "I shall give this little girl back her missing doll, and then she'll smile no more."

A wave of defeat crashed into Sora as Xayn Shu's laugh filled the air once more, and he didn't even hear the roar of a motorcycle as his world faded into darkness. Xayn Shu was too fast; he was too strong.

-A-D-

_Is this the end?_

_Have I finally lost?_

**Sora!**

_Huh?_

**Sora!**

_Who's there?_

_Where am I?_

**Sora, open your eyes!**

**Wake, Wielder of Twilight!**

It felt like the weight of the entire world was on his eyelids, but he finally managed to open them, and what he found surprised him so much that he had to blink. Above him was darkness, but standing out against it were two faces. One was the beautiful face of a female with long green hair and earrings shaped like the King's seal, and the other was that of a lion's with silver fur and a great mane with a silver crown pendant hanging around his neck.

Sora frowned and shut his eyes, wincing as he felt an ache from lying on a hard surface. His hands went up to his face and he carefully rubbed his eyes before opening and closing them several times. He looked at the two faces again. "I know your faces…" he said, looking between them and leaning forward into a half-sitting position. "You're the souls of my Keyblades aren't you? The Kingdom Key (he looked at the girl) and Remembrance (he looked at the lion)."

The young woman held her hand out to Sora, which he took, and she pulled him up. "Yes, we are Sora," she said, the lion nodding his head. "Though those are not our true names, you may call us as such until you discover what our real names are so that you may draw out all our power."

Sora rubbed his own head and looked away from her ashamedly. "What happened?" he asked slowly. "We lost, didn't we? And now that little girl—" he choked and stopped. Neither Keyblade spirit said anything, and Sora took that to mean the worst. "He's just too strong," he said shakily. "I went all out in Final Form, and he took it all with barely a scratch. And if he's that strong, then there's just no way that—"

"He's not strong Sora," Remembrance, who Sora just remembered that Dawn had called 'Remby', said suddenly.

"What do you mean he's not strong?" Sora asked. "He just mopped the floor with me!"

"Xayn Shu does not have true strength of heart," said the girl who was the Kingdom Key, who Sora also just remembered was referred to as 'Keyla' by Dawn. "You do."

Sora sigh was mixed in with a growl directed at himself and he rolled his eyes. "And I _know_ that I'm going to sound dumber than a rock for asking this, but what does that mean?"

'Keyla' turned away, her silver harp, though Sora now realized that this time it wasn't a harp but a lyre, appearing in her hands. "Do you know why we have chosen those with strong hearts over the eons?" she asked.

"To protect the light, Keyla?" Sora answered, though he wasn't sure and formed it as a question. Dang it, he didn't like being asked questions like this. Considering the level of stress he was feeling and the shame welling up inside him he felt that this was far worse than any test he could ever have been given at school.

The young woman looked at him strangely, then an eyebrow quirked up in amusement. "Keyla?" she asked, nearly laughing.

Sora stared at her for a second. He hadn't realized that he'd said that. "Uh… yeah. You see, Dawn told me to say hi to 'Keyla' and 'Remby' for her, and I guess it just kinda slipped out." She laughed, and her fingers stroked the strings of her lyre.

'Remby' groaned. "Oh, so she's come out to play then has she? And I suppose her sister has started to rouse as well. I pity poor Riku."

"You pity him?" Keyla asked incredulously. "I pity Yuffie. The poor girl is Riku's girlfriend after all."

"I don't pity her," Remby countered. "She _is_ the Wielder of Night remember? That means that _he_ chose her. She can take care of herself, Dawn and Destiny or no Dawn and Destiny." He ended with a shake of his mane to indicate the finality of his stand on the issue. Then a smile broke onto both their faces and they laughed for a few seconds.

"You were right, in theory Sora," Keyla said, returning to the matter at hand. "To protect the Realm of Light from darkness, we chose masters with good and strong hearts who would not be tempted by that same darkness and the evil that lurked inside it. But we older Keyblades, and those who are held by the Legendary Wielders of Power, have always looked at something else as well."

"Really?" Sora asked, interested. "What's that?"

"Those who truly do have strength of heart," Keyla answered, her lyre dropping to her side and vanishing in a flash of light. The Kingdom Key formed in her outstretched right hand, and she gave Sora a serious look. "You wavered on me once before Sora (she raised the Keyblade up so that it was pointing at him), are you going to let your heart waver now? Are you going to make me regret choosing you?"

Sora took a step back, feeling threatened by his own Keyblade. "What do you mean?"

"You. Gave. Up," Keyla said. "I chose you because of your unbreakable spirit, your never-say-die attitude, and your determination to win along with all your other good qualities. These things surfaced in you because you had something that gave you your true strength (she came forward and tapped the tip of the Kingdom Key against the silver crest that lay in its golden tag). And it is reflected in this, Child of Valour."

"What is Valour?" Remembrance asked rhetorically. "Some would say that there is no valour in fighting what appears to be a losing battle, that recklessness is mistaken for valour, but your heart knows different; _we_ know different. The difference is that valour requires something far more important than yourself, and until you recognize what that is once more, your true power will remain forever sealed."

Sora lightly pushed the tip of the Kingdom Key away from his chest. "I know that you're both getting at something. (He sighed and closed his eyes) When you first came to me and brought me out of the darkness, and I saw Riku vanish into it, there was only one thought in my mind and in my heart. I had to find Kairi. Then after I did, and her heart migrated to mine, I was lost and confused, and fought the Darkside before arriving in Traverse Town. After that my purpose was to find Riku and Kairi, and I made many friends along the way as darkness tried to destroy them and their homes. My friends gave me my strength, and I think I see now why they did."

Sora opened his eyes, and saw both Keyla and Remby smiling at him. "It was because they were precious to me, and their homes, their worlds, were precious to me. I wanted to protect them from harm. (He laughed bitterly) And now I've been so focused on Kairi now that we're finally together, I'd forgotten just how precious every friend I've made and every world I've visited is. Well no more!"

His hands flashed with light, and the Kingdom Key appeared in his right and Remembrance in his left. "They're all precious to me; and I'll protect them all!" he declared.

His Keyblades were beaming at him, and Sora noticed now that the spirits of all the others who resided in his heart were now out and smiling. And it wasn't just Riku, Kairi, and the others, every last one of the friends he'd made over his adventures had a place in his heart, and they were applauding in approval.

"That is true strength of heart," Keyla said.

"That is Valour," Remby added. "And that is why I now release the powers of Twilight to you, when you need them most."

"Huh?" Sora asked, bewildered for a moment as an orb of shining silver appeared in the air in front of him. "But, but I thought that—"

"Your power has been awakening," Keyla told him. "But (she shook her head slowly), you have been slow in accessing and manipulating the strength of the Twilight within you. This will aid you for a short time, but you must still develop your control over the Twilight if you wish to grow strong enough to protect those precious to you from the enemies you now face."

She took a step forward, and her face became respectful and strong, and her voice commanding and loyal. "Now, take the orb. Wield your strength in the name of the light with purpose and passion. Protect from evil those who cannot protect themselves. Keep your head held high and don't look back. Don't stop walking, and never forget that you are the one who will open the door to the light. Take the orb, Sora, my Chosen Wielder, the Grand Master of the Keyblade and Legendary Crown Star Wielder of Twilight, the first of the New Chasers!"

"And by the way," Remembrance added, "Riku was able to manipulate the Dawn as soon as he was granted it."

Sora looked at him in interest before observing the silver orb in front of him again, this time with a determined smile on his face. "Well, if _he_ can do it…"

The orb vanished into Sora's closing fist just as he heard a shrill and distant voice from up above crying out, "Wake up you lazy bum!"

-A-D-

Sora's eyes snapped open and he raised his head as strength flowed through him. He threw up, blinking blood out of his eyes. His nose was tender and his head ached, the places where cuts had been were stinging him. His side where he'd been pierced was particularly painful, even more than where his nose had been heavily broken.

He'd never felt better.

"Sora!" exclaimed Kairi, her arms about to wrap around him but stopping as he stood up. She could feel pulsating waves of strength leaving him, and a silver aura was surrounding his body. It felt like he was about as strong (maybe even stronger) than she had felt before she had sent Pete packing.

"Kairi," he said, glancing at her and not at all surprised that she was actually there, "let me handle this one. I've got some unfinished business with this guy to take care of."

"Alright," Kairi answered, nodding her head and moving to the side anxiously. Despite the curaga spell she'd cast on him after finding him like that only thirty seconds ago, he still looked to be in poor shape.

Sora looked up at Xayn Shu, who was still flying in the air with the girl firmly in his left hand. His cerulean blue eyes widened in surprise when he saw who he was fighting. "Cloud?" Sora asked aloud in disbelief, watching as the blond-haired swordsman kept up with Xayn Shu's rapid movements, his Buster Sword and Cloud's own strength matching that of the Falcon of the Steppes.

Xayn Shu's sword glowed purple for a moment, and he roared as he slashed at the fake ex-SOLDIER. Cloud blocked it easily, but the strength put behind it forced the warrior to fall back onto the ground. Sora'd seen enough. "Xayn Shu!"

The Nobody looked at him in what appeared to be surprise. Sora looked like a bloody mess, and Xayn Shu had left him without the strength to even raise his hands or call his Keyblade. How Sora was now confidently standing on the ground before him with a look in his eyes that, if he'd had a heart, would have made Xayn Shu feel slightly ill at ease was a mystery to him.

"Let the girl go," Sora ordered.

Xayn Shu glanced at the child who he still held by her wrist, the doll stolen from her clutched tightly to her chest in her right arm and hand. He looked back at Sora from sixty feet up, and smiled. "As you wish."

He released her.

Sora dashed forward, a great flash of light streaming from his brightly glowing Crest of Valour. His body became encased in white light and he started to change. His jacket became silver with vine-like golden accents curling around its edges, and the image of a seven-pointed star formed by golden lines across its back. His shirt underneath the jacket became black, and three silver lines ran parallel to each other on either side, cutting diagonally at the front to intersect just above his navel. The three lines continued their race down the sides of a pair of black pants, ending as silver rings above a pair of black boots. He wore a golden belt with a sterling silver buckle with his crown pendant embossed on it, and out from his shoulder blades sprouted a pair of wings. They were not the large, soft-looking, white angel wings that Naminé obtained in her Angelic Form; they were smaller and more pointed, like the speedy bird-of-prey wings of a hawk, and the razor-looking feathers were all of silver while the wing-bones were white-gold. If folded over they would just barely cover the length of his body with feathers just grazing each other on both sides of his abdomen. The Kingdom Key was in Sora's right hand, and Remembrance was in his left. This was his Valiant Form.

At the same time as Sora felt his new limbs and had them beat for the first time, Ohtarmon raised his tired head from the ground. His voice grew from a groan to a strong growl as the scream from Sora's digivice became loud enough to hear. "Sora, I can feel your strength flowing through me. I can digivolve!" Ohtarmon stood suddenly from the hard ground in his battered armour, his mace still lying far out of reach to his side, and his body started to glow with golden light.

"Ohtarmon digivolve to…"

His body started to grow, so that instead of eight feet he stood at a towering ten feet tall. Ohtarmon's beak shrunk so that it was now inside of his helmet, which melded slightly to fit the point of his mouth. His armour turned from grey to gold, and his helmet sprouted two small swan-wings pointing up towards the sky. The seven-pointed star of Valour became imprinted in the golden helm's centre. A cape formed around his shoulders and swept down the length of his body, its width encompassing him from the exterior of one leg to the exterior of the other; it was edged three inches deep with golden thread, and the cape's interior was an invigorating red. Light flared in by his left arm and clawed hand, and the digimon grabbed hold of the red tower shield that was forming there. Embossed in the blazing red shield's centre was a silver three-pronged crown, and behind it was the picture of a diving hawk with outstretched talons in white paint. A sword sheathed in red leather with a golden and jewelled hilt appeared strapped to his left hip. Light shone in front of him, and the digimon's right hand came out and grasped at the light, and withdrew from it a long silver lance. He swept it back with a flourish, and his green eyes opened from behind the helm as wind stirred the cape at his back and light shone from behind. "…_MaltaOhtarmon_!"

Kairi watched both of the transformations take place with eyes wider than those of the fighters who had withdrawn from the fight with Xayn Shu. "Ohtarmon?" she asked, looking at the digimon standing proud and strong where Ohtarmon had been lying weakly on the ground.

"I am MaltaOhtarmon," he declared, "the fully evolved form of Aiwemon and a champion among good digimon. Be wary of my Shining Lance, it may just blow you away."

Without another word, the Ultimate level digimon ran forward on his strong legs covered in their golden plate armour to aid his partner.

Sora heard and felt his partner digimon digivolve to his Ultimate level, and he was unable to keep a wide smile from taking control of his face for a moment. But his eyes zeroed in on the little girl, the ground closing in fast on her. He had never flown before using a pair of wings, but it seemed to come to him almost instinctively as he urged them to beat harder, propelling him forward at a speed that he realized was almost as fast as Xayn Shu's own quickness had increased to after the wings of Hayabusa had sprouted from the Nobody's back.

But it was going to be close. Sora threw his Keyblades to free his hands, and the two weapons curved in the air and followed him like they did in Final Form.

The girl had her eyes jammed shut with tears leaking from them as Sora finally caught her a foot from the ground. His silver wings folded around them as much as they were able to and he crashed into the ground, the appendages protecting both him and the little girl. They bounced up from the ground and the Keyblade Master's wings unfolded and propelled him a few feet off the ground with two strong flaps. Sora lightly touched down onto hard earth and chuckled slightly as the girl's eyes stayed closed, still expecting the inevitable. At the sound of his voice she opened them in confusion, and looked up at his face in wonder. His face was slowly mending, but it was now smudged with dirt and the drying blood had become a murky brown as it mixed with the earth.

"Hey," he said softly, smiling kindly at her as he held the girl close, bridal style, "you okay? That bad man didn't hurt you did he?" She shook her head and Sora gently got her to her feet. "I'm Sora. What's your name?"

She was silent for a second, still looking at him in awe, before she answered. "Rei. Did you just save me?"

Sora chuckled again, kneeling down in front of her. "Yes I did," he answered, nudging her nose with a finger. She giggled, and Sora felt a strong wave of affection for this girl enter his heart at the cute sound of her laughter. She reached her short arms out past his shoulder, and he felt her touch his wings. A jolt of dopamine shot through him as her fingers fondled his feathers.

"Ooh," she cooed, looking at his face again. "They look sharp, but they're really soft."

"Mm," Sora mumbled contentedly, "that feels good Rei."

She giggled again and turned her attention towards his wings when her eyes suddenly lit up in fright. "Onii-chan behind you!"

Sora had spun around so that he was facing the opposite direction in an instant, and he curled his wings protectively around both himself and Rei. The Kingdom Key and Remembrance appeared in front of him in a flash of light, forming an 'X' between himself and Xayn Shu's sword as the Nobody tried to strike him. The Keyblades held fast, despite the Falcon's immense strength.

"Don't be afraid Rei," Sora said evenly, glaring into the hostile face of Xayn Shu, "I'll protect you."

Xayn Shu smiled slightly, appearing to enjoy the newfound strength within Sora. "What makes you so sure of yourself now?"

Sora smiled back, both of his Keyblades still holding Xayn Shu back as they pressed against each other. "Because I have friends."

"Huh?"

_Thwack!_

Xayn Shu growled in pain as he dropped to the ground, the red tower shield of the four-foot taller MaltaOhtarmon crashing through one of the Nobody's wings to strike his head. "Hope you didn't forget about me," he said, his lance grasped firmly in his right hand. Xayn Shu slashed his sword at MaltaOhtarmon, getting in beside the digimon's guard and striking at the golden breastplate. His blade bounced off the armour, something that hadn't happened when the digimon was smaller and in grey, and he leapt backwards and jumped into the air, scowling as he avoided a slash of MaltaOhtarmon's lance.

"You won't harm me that easily this time Xayn Shu," MaltaOhtarmon said. "Unlike my Champion form, my weapons and armour are made from Chrome Digizoid, the strongest metal in the Digital World. Even your strong sword won't dent them." The Ultimate nodded at his partner. "Sora."

"You digivolved even higher," Sora said, smiling. "That is _so_ cool. What do you say we tag-team and take him out?"

"Do you even need to ask?" MaltaOhtarmon replied. "I can feel your strength coursing through me."

"Then let's use it," Sora said. He glanced to his left, at the awed face of Rei as she gazed at the magnificent form of MaltaOhtarmon. Sora smiled kindly again and knelt down, the silver wings of his Valiant Form still enveloping them. "Rei," he said, gaining her attention, "do you see that lady over there with the red hair? (Rei nodded her head.) Her name's Kairi. I want you to run over to her as fast as you can. My friend and I will make sure that the bad man won't ever hurt you again. Do you understand?"

Rei nodded her head again, a small smile on her face and a look of confident pride in her eyes. "You get him Sora nii-chan!" Sora nodded at her and stood up. His wings unfurled and extended to their maximum reach, and both of his Keyblades came back into his hands.

"Here we go!" he yelled, and his silver wings flapped and propelled him into the air. Rei took off towards Kairi, and MaltaOhtarmon followed Sora from the ground.

Xayn Shu roared, and his sword glowed with dark purple light. He reared it back as if to stab at Sora. "You won't overpower me, Hunter's Strike!"

Both of Sora's Keyblades glowed with silver light, and he swept them up and down in broad arcs. "Shield of the Twilight Mists!" Thick silver mist enveloped him in a shell, and he continued forward. He could see through his own shield, but was invisible to anyone outside of it.

Xayn Shu roared and stabbed at the mist shield, and dark and silver bolts of energy shot out from the sword as its point connected with the surprisingly _very_ solid mist. They were held motionless in the air for two seconds.

Sora pushed harder, and Xayn Shu's sword was forced to skitter down to the shell's lower side. The pent-up dark energy in the blade poured out, bouncing off the side of the shell and shooting down into the ground. The earth shuddered as a crater six feet deep was blasted into it. The Nobody let out a yell as Sora in his spherical shield flew over him, bashing the Falcon of the Steppes in the head with his solid mist shield.

The shield vanished as Sora turned himself around behind Xayn Shu, and he rocketed towards him on his wings. He slashed out at Xayn Shu's sides and wings with both blades on that pass, turning him around with the force of his blows. Black feathers fell from the sky from a wound the Kingdom Key left in them. Sora stopped again as he flew past Xayn Shu, turned around, and shot for the Nobody's back again.

This time Xayn Shu turned to meet him, and his wave-bladed sword fell down as Remembrance came up in Sora's left hand. The two met with a solid _clang_ and Xayn Shu's sword struck down to keep the Kingdom Key at bay. Remembrance came in on the side again and Xayn Shu's wave-bladed sword parried it out of Sora's hand before slapping the Kingdom Key up high and jabbing forward, cutting the underside of Sora's arm underneath his jacket. Remembrance was a blur as it dropped down on its own, wrenching Xayn Shu's sword-arm down with it, and the Kingdom Key darted forward under Xayn Shu's left arm and jabbed him in the chest. The Nobody recoiled and Sora flew backwards. His wings started to glow with white light, tracing a line through the sky. Sora flew faster around Xayn Shu, darting here and there with the lines of white that turned to silver staying behind.

Xayn Shu spun around, trying to keep Sora in his sights as the insect flew around him and drew insignificant lines in the sky. What could the child possibly be doing? He had suddenly grown strong, and if Xayn Shu had had a heart, he would have been unnerved by the strength Sora now possessed. But it was still futile. The boy was not strong enough to completely defeat him, not yet, and there were others still who were stronger than him.

Sora was above him now, and the Keyblade Master banked hard and made a quick, tiny circle. "Twilight Entrapment!"

Suddenly he felt that he couldn't move, and he realized that the lines Sora had been leaving behind him were now glowing brightly with white brilliance. They were in the pattern of a seven-pointed star set within a circle, and bound from the seven points with the smaller circle that Sora had just made, just wide enough for Xayn Shu himself to fit inside, directly above him. That tiny circle dropped down and wrapped itself around him, and the Nobody struggled in vain.

Sora watched from above. "MaltaOhtarmon now!"

The digimon pointed his lance into the air, and its tip began to shine like a distant star in the night sky. "Shining Lance!" he yelled, before turning the lance around and plunging it straight into the earth. He let go of the hilt, and an orb of white light formed above the end of the grip. It glowed and broke apart into a dozen arrowed shafts of light. They streaked through the night sky towards Xayn Shu as he lay trapped in Sora's net, and each shaft struck home against Xayn Shu's sides and chest.

He retched and his mouth opened wide in pain as the shafts tore into him, darkness leaking out from his wounds. MaltaOhtarmon drew his sword from its scabbard and he jumped with his strong legs, streaking through the air towards Xayn Shu. Sora clapped his hands and Keyblades together and grasped both their hilts with both his hands, and he started to spin. His silver wings became a blur and sparkles were left behind as he dove down at the Nobody, a spinning tornado with a shining green point in a pincer move with his Digimon Partner. MaltaOhtarmon's sword was enveloped by a red and silver aura.

Xayn Shu watched helplessly as he lay trapped in the net.

"ZEPHYR DFA!"

"SWORD OF VALOUR!"

The sky was torn asunder by lights of red and silver and green, only the dark silhouettes of Sora and his partner escaping from it.

Sora fell out of his Valiant Form five feet from the ground and tumbled onto the earth without grace. MaltaOhtarmon glowed with golden light from about the same distance and he landed in Sora's waiting hands as Ninquemon, their strength used up. The light in the sky disappeared. They turned at the sound of a crash, and saw Xayn Shu, his sword stuck in the ground and his arms clutching at his shoulders and sides, trying to keep the losses from his wounds at a minimum. His wings were gone, and his yellow eyes glared at Sora and Ninquemon in hatred.

"You came here to send us a message from Maleficent," Sora said, standing up wearily and rubbing at his still-tender nose, "a message that we weren't prepared for her. Well you can tell her this when you go running back to her to fix you up. No, we aren't prepared, but we will take what she throws at us and return it tenfold."

Sora raised his head, and despite his weariness, his eyes still held a defiant gleam that would have made Xayn Shu hate him all the more if he'd had a heart. "We're not 'prepared', but we're unafraid."

Xayn Shu gnashed his teeth together and roared, his arm darting out to grab his sword's hilt. He was going to put an end to this skinny little kid once and for all, orders or no orders. He'd used up all of his strength; he had nothing left to defend himself with but his puny voice.

"Ray of Dawn!"

Xayn Shu looked up, and jumped back just in time to avoid the golden arrow that would have struck him in the head. The ground ahead of him exploded in golden light and one more crater was formed. Skating above him on trails of golden light was another young man, this one with silver hair. Up in the sky with him was a giant ice-blue bird. Chocobos snorted and stamped as they rode in from behind Sora, and warriors mounted on them and on the ground surrounded him. There was that blond-haired one with the sword who had stopped him from killing the little girl, and the woman who'd stolen his victory before. The red-haired girl who'd arrived with the blond one stood next to Sora, pointing a Keyblade of her own at him.

He sighed bitterly and replaced his sword on his back, and stood up and extended his wings once more to grow to his full menacing height of six feet. It pained him to open his injuries up like this, but he would not let them have the final say in this.

"Maleficent will rule all before the end!" he declared in as loud a voice as he could muster. "And you will be afraid!" He laughed, and Xayn Shu created a portal of darkness over himself with which to escape.

-A-D-

"Hm, this could be interesting," the Nobody in the fedora said, smiling and standing up. He left the room he had been in, and started to walk down a corridor.

"What are you doing up so late Xokor?"

He turned, finding the female Nobody with copper hair dressed in red and black leaning against a wall, yawning.

"I could ask you the same thing Lexai," Xokor answered. She shrugged.

"I woke up hungry and was looking for a snack," she replied in an offhanded answer. "I wonder how that Attila the Hun reject, what's his name, is doing?"

Xokor smiled. "He's made things interesting, to say the least," he answered. Lexai raised an eyebrow and he patted her on her shoulder, leading her towards the kitchen the Heartless had finished boring out and furnishing only two days ago. "Let's get you fed and back to bed. Things could start to get lively around here."

Lexai looked at him enquiringly and glanced at the room he'd come out of. She could see a chessboard there, but was too far away to make anything out clearly.

Had she been closer, she would have seen the pieces moving back to their original positions on their own, clearing the results of the game; it had ended with white placing black into checkmate, with the black king surrounded by white queens.

-A-D-

_How was that? I'm out of practice; I haven't written a battle chapter since the summer when I was almost committing fanfiction suicide._

_Hope you enjoyed it at any rate. Home for a Rest (Spirit of the West) was used at the start. And if you saw any references that might just be coincidental, they probably weren't. Ask me if you think you found one._

_And also tell me what you think of Rei, please._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	31. First Day is Always Hell

_A lot of you guys went crazy about the last chapter which, I have to admit, pleased me to no end. But…_

_In the words of fellow Canadian Randy Bachman, Baby, you ain't seen nothing yet._

_And the allusion in the last chapter was to Illidan Stormrage. If you know who that is and actually care, I'm pretty sure that your mind has just exploded._

_BOO-YAKA! CANADA, GOLD MEDAL IN WOMEN'S HOCKEY IN 2-0 WIN OVER STATES! CANADA BEATS DOWN RUSSIA 7-3 IN MEN'S QUARTER-FINAL!! FOR 50 YEARS WE'VE WAITED TO BEAT THE RUSKIES AT THE OLYMPICS, AND NOW WE DID IT ON OUR HOME ICE IN SPECTACULAR FASHION!! HELL YEAH! CANADA TAKES DOWN SLOVAKIA 3-2 IN SEMI-FINAL!! WATCH OUT YANKS, WE'RE HUNGRY FOR GOLDEN PAYBACK!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Bleach, or anything else used in this fic that is not of my own creation._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXI: First Day is Always Hell

Golden light dripped down amidst a partly cloudy sky, the deep blue punctuated by the varied fluffy forms of cumulus clouds that drifted above the green landscape, littered by white buildings, pristine cobblestone roads, lush gardens, and mirror-smooth ponds. Wild songbirds flew on their wings and a fair breeze, their voices lifted up in cheerful song, searching for a mate. These were the Fields of Elysium, a peaceful and happy place, where one would live in eternal bliss and comfort forevermore.

A woman sat on a bench in the shade of a lonely gazebo standing upon a hill, small flowerbeds flanking one side of one of its entrances and the shore of a small pond down the hill's other side. Her hair was brown as milk chocolate with a length that went just past her shoulders, and she wore clothes of blue and white as she gazed into a dish of water that rested upon a pedestal. And the water did not reflect the ceiling nor her face, but instead that of a young man with spikes of chocolate hair and cerulean eyes, standing defiantly before a rugged man who had false hatred in his amber eyes. Suddenly many friends were beside the young man, and the rugged and evil one retreated in a portal of darkness, but the woman had already been smiling after the words she'd heard the young one say.

"That's my boy," she whispered to herself, eyes the same colour as the boy's gazing affectionately at the image in the scrying bowl. Sora's mother, Anne, had indeed passed on, but when the enemy came to the Islands she had died bravely in the face of Maleficent's two Nobodies, and when judged had been granted into Elysium, where she now watched over her son from the afterlife. She had gained strength and magic she had not known while alive, and had been able to send a shade of herself to the Pride Lands to aid Sora in his heart's wandering and doubt, and now she used this bowl to scry him and watch over his journeys, steadfastly proud of him.

Oh how her heart ached and yearned to be with him, so that she could watch him from that earthly plane of existence and witness the end of the dark threat herself, and so that she might grow old and watch her child grow and marry the darling red-head standing next to him, father children, and then watch her grandchildren grow up and do great things themselves. But fate had been cruel to her, and her time had come before she had wanted it to, and even her husband was not here to greet her with his smiling face and strong arms, and she learned that fate had been crueller still to him, that the father of her son and only child was a slave to Davy Jones aboard the _Flying Dutchman_.

And she had come to terms with the injustice of her demise, and had resolved herself to live in the afterlife as best as was able, and to watch over her son from beyond and patiently await the day when the three of them could be reunited once more. For surely Sora as a hero would be granted into these Fields even if he was doomed to dwell within Kingdom Hearts with the gods of his weapon, and her husband's noble sacrifice to save the remainder of the fishing fleet from that cursed ship would not have been for naught, and he at least would be permitted to come and dwell with her in eternity.

So she would watch and wait, though the years would slowly pass and her unchanging ethereal body would not show them, she would wait with patient and sorrowful anticipation for the day when the three of them could be together again, something that had not been for more than twelve already long years.

Anne's head turned suddenly at a strange sound and her eyes widened in fright for a fraction of a second before two small demons, one turquoise and the other a red-purple, ploughed into her. She fell off the stone bench at the sudden onslaught of her attackers, and she struggled as one of them grabbed her hands and the other her feet, trying to contain her.

Her brain realized that an instant later, and the woman no longer merely struggled but fought back against the two demons, lashing her arms out against the green one trying to restrain those and kicking at the fat other one attempting to grasp hold of her feet. That one, Pain, went reeling backwards into the stone pedestal, which stood firm, rooted to the marble floor of the gazebo, and Anne stood and threw the other one away, Panic's pointed head striking squarely against a column. He slid down it, wincing at the pain he was in.

Anne didn't smile, too concerned that these two were here, and a sudden voice drew her attention.

"Good, I want that fighting spirit."

Anne barely had time to look in the direction of the voice before her back bent down under its own accord, and her arms snapped out to her sides and her legs locked at shoulder-width apart. She could barely crane her neck up to look upon the face of the one who was magically binding her, but her vision was already darkening as a great pressure built up in her head.

_Hades…_ she thought soundlessly, just before her eyelids drooped closed and she lost consciousness.

-A-D-

_0232hrs, Tuesday October 28, 2003,  
Corridor of Light_

"Ow! That hurts!"

"It wouldn't sting as much if you kept still!"

"That's a fat lie and you know it Kairi!"

Kairi made a noise between a sigh and a groan as she sat on Soronmon's back with Sora, Ninquemon, and Gimli, the ice-eagle digimon flying through a corridor of light to take them back to Rivendell as quickly as possible. Sora's shirt and jacket were off, and Kairi was _trying_ to disinfect the gash Xayn Shu had given his side, but every time she touched it with the sterile cloth he would jump and shift away. She just couldn't wait until she got to his face, he'd _love_ that. Normally she would have just used the simple, but effective, cure spell, but she was already weary from curing him once, fighting through all those Heartless just to get to him, and subsequently worrying herself to death when he wouldn't wake up, as well as from tending to the injured soldiers of both Abel and Easy Companies.

"Just stay still," she instructed him, pressing the cloth against his wounded side again. Sora hissed and looked away, but he did as he was told. Even after Xayn Shu had escaped from them there had still been a few things to do before they were able to leave. Olette and Kairi did their best on Pence, but he was going to need at least a couple of weeks in hospital to recover from the punch to his gut Xayn Shu had given him. Not one heart had been taken by the Heartless, but the first losses of the United Forces had been incurred. Four soldiers in Abel were dead, and there were more than a dozen wounded between both Abel and Easy. Sora's cousins were also dealing with a loss.

While neither Sade nor Sikora had been harmed, thanks in part to Riku and Yuffie, Sade's chocobo Beaky had been slain by a mob of Shadows while protecting his master. The boy had raised Beaky since the day he had been born on their ranch, as a gift from his father, and the bitter loss burned in his heart. Both he and Sikora vowed to join the battle in honour of the fallen beast, and nothing Sora or the others, or even their parents, said could dissuade them.

Cloud had also disappeared on them after the fight with Xayn Shu, so Yuffie couldn't drag him back to Radiant Garden with her by his ear.

And lastly, they had to make sure that little Rei was back with her family. Sora had let her ride with him on Brightfeather, while Gimli was with Kairi on Sunbeam, and together with Rei they found her mother and father on the beach, frantically looking for their lost daughter. Her parents had been very relieved when they brought Rei back to them, and thanked them endlessly for finding her. They didn't go into any detail about how they found, or rather saved, her, and Rei didn't either. Before they left her though, she made Sora promise to come and visit her, and Sora gave her one of the silver feathers from his Valiant Form as a parting gift.

"Rei's cute, isn't she?" Kairi asked, smiling tiredly at Sora as she dabbed at the cut on his side, a cut he had put up with after it had opened again while bringing Rei home.

He sighed. "Yeah she is."

"She's even looking up to you as an older brother," Kairi remarked, "Sora _nii-chan._"

Sora chuckled slightly, and then winced. "It hurts to laugh," he grumbled.

Kairi sighed and looked around. "Xayn Shu really did a number on you. Here, keep the pressure on this," she said, moving his hands so that he was holding onto the dressing while grabbing his t-shirt and ripping a ring around the bottom off.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sora asked.

"Keep applying pressure to that," Kairi snapped, seeing that his hands leaving the reddening dressing. He grumbled and did as he was told. "I need something to use as a bandage Sora," she answered. "I don't want you bleeding out on me. I—I almost thought that you'd forgotten the rule."

Sora sighed as Kairi looked away from him. He glanced beside him. Ninquemon was asleep, as exhausted as he was, and Gimli was listening to Sora's mp3 player, and humming something that sounded distinctly like _Carry On My Wayward Son_. "I'm sorry. I—I didn't mean to make you worry."

Kairi nodded wordlessly, though Sora thought he heard her sob, and she wrapped her arms around him to tie the cloth up with the piece of his shirt as a bandage. "I'm frightened Sora," she whispered. "I already made up my mind when I found out, but I still don't want to die."

Soronmon answered her this time rather than Sora. "Don't worry Kairi," she said. "Ninquemon, Keys, and I aren't going to let anything take you away from us. You just keep remembering that rule of yours, and we'll help make sure you don't break it."

She smiled, reassured at the confidence in her partner's voice, and tightened the bandage around Sora's side. He grimaced and she glanced up at his face. "Too tight?"

"Nah, it's fine."

"Then it's not tight enough," she muttered, undoing it and tying it tighter. This time Sora gasped and his hands came off his side, leaving the cloth under the makeshift bandage. Kairi gave him a stern look. "Did I tell you you could stop applying pressure?"

"No," Sora replied guiltily, replacing his hands upon the improvised gauss. Kairi looked at the shirt she had ripped and realized that she had taken too much off, because if she was going to make another bandage from the shirt they might as well write it off and Sora would be stuck without it, not that that would be a bad thing. Sighing, her hands went to the zipper on her pink dress.

Sora's eyes widened, and even Gimli turned slightly as the noise of the zipper penetrated the ear buds he was wearing. He'd mostly been ignoring them to this point, too intrigued by the device he was listening to and vast amount of music stored on something so tiny, but even now he had to acknowledge that they _were_ there.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked, the tempo of his heart increasing fractionally with every tooth the zipper cleared on its way down.

Kairi slipped out of the dress as she got it completely unzipped and she turned around so that her back was facing Sora. Her reply was sensible, but there was also a faint hint of snippiness in it, like she was chastising herself. "I used up too much of your shirt, so I'm going to need some of mine to finish bandaging your dressing. And don't think that because I'm not looking that you can stop pressing your hands to it!"

Sora nodded, noticing in the back of his mind that even while Kairi kept her shirt on while ripping part of the bottom off, his eyes kept getting drawn to either the strap of her bra underneath the white halter-top, her skin beneath, or went all the way down.

_Snap out of it Sora!_ he told himself after realizing that he was looking right at Kairi's panties while the sound of her ripping shirt raged in his ears. His head snapped up and he looked off to his left, looking at nothing but the soft starlight illuminating the corridor and making sure to keep his hands pressed against the gauss and one bandage to occupy his mind from… other things. The whole process involved a brief struggle within himself that couldn't have lasted more than a second, but it was a hard-fought victory on the part of Sora's morality not to take too much advantage of the situation. The smell of the leftover sweat on her body from the battle, the sight of her dress lying abandoned against Soronmon's blue feathers, and the sound of her shirt being ripped apart were affecting him in ways he hadn't been affected before, it was all too… _erotic_ for the moment.

It was just then that the thought that Kairi might've actually been doing this on purpose entered his mind, but he swept that notion away as absurd. It wasn't that the situation didn't have its merits. She was his girlfriend, good, she was half-naked in practically just her underwear, great! There was an audience, not so great, and her face, last he'd seen of it when he'd decided to get a good look of it, was pretty red; something was up but he didn't know what.

Her hands were suddenly on his chest again and Sora looked down once more, consciously aware of just how close she was to him and what were directly beneath his eyes. Sora forced his head up, determined not to look there while she was busily bandaging up his war wounds. He moved his hands at Kairi's request, but she seemed to be having a little more trouble this time than last time at tying the knot.

Gimli removed the ear-buds from their places in his ears, having been watching her since the Princess started to remove her dress. "Kairi," he ventured to ask, "how many glasses of that punch did you drink?"

Kairi blew air out of her mouth, pausing as she considered his question. "I dunno," she replied after a few moments' hesitation, "Six or eight? I had been singing and dancing around a lot so I was pretty thirsty."

The Dwarf slowly nodded his head twice. "Hm, right. I want you to give me that bandage, replace your dress, and lie down on your bird's back and go to sleep. You've had more liquor than what's good for you."

"Huh what?" Kairi asked. She shook her head as her fingers fumbled with the knot. "No, I'm fine Gimli."

"You're tired, get some rest," he said, more roughly and insistently, "You will thank me later." He took the ends of the bandage from her hands and tightly finished it. Kairi looked like she was about to refute him when a yawn quickly came to her lips. At Kairi's yawn, Sora couldn't restrain himself, and yawned in turn. Gimli looked at him. "And you as well. Get some rest; I'll tend to your broken face while you're asleep. And don't worry about me. As Bilbo said, Dwarves can endure great weariness, and _I_ can shrug off the need for sleep until many hours hence."

"Alright Master Dwarf," Sora said, lying down as Kairi started to zip her pink dress back up again, "we'll see you in the morning."

"Or until I get to the end of the portal and wake you," Soronmon answered, looking back at them with a smile. The three of them smiled in return, and Sora closed his eyes, feeling the Champion Digimon's soft feathers on his body and hearing the beat of her wings. A couple of minutes later he was asleep.

-A-D-

_0850hrs, Tuesday October 28__th__, 2003  
Radiant Garden_

The _Hunter _tore through the cloudy atmosphere of Radiant Garden as it returned in the early morning after the battle. It broke past the clouds and dropped into the grey and white sky, falling snowflakes brushing against its hull as it dropped lower towards the base it had left from.

"You're getting pretty good at this Naminé," Roxas said, watching from over her shoulder as she piloted the craft down. She yawned, rather loudly, and a hand left the wheel to touch her head.

"Urg," she replied, "I'm surprised I'm even _alive_. My head is throbbing!"

"Hey, mine is too," Roxas answered, wincing slightly, "but you don't see me complaining."

Naminé looked back behind her for a half-second, searching for Yuffie. "Does this always happen when people drink?" Yuffie wasn't there. Air-sickness combined with nursing a hangover had left her permanently beside her white throne.

Lord Ovan Ramius answered for her. "Only when you over-indulge," he said, with a kind of smile that said, 'You made your bed, now lie in it'.

"Why didn't you stop us?" Riku asked him, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I was too busy listening to all of you sing Lord Riku," the Marquess replied. "Besides, you can never learn these things without personal experience."

"Haha!" Stewie Griffin yelled, still not going back into his charm after the battle. "So he _can_ sing! Well then, how would you like to sing, on my fist!?" The toddler leapt towards Riku and punched him in the head. Riku went down with Stewie standing over his head, sending another punch down on the silver-haired head. "This is for sending me back into that stupid charm!"

Dawn suddenly burst out of Riku's back and picked up Stewie, holding him at a slight distance, glaring at him. "Hit him again and you're dead kid!" Then a strange kind of smile appeared on her face. "Are you hungry sweetie?" she asked.

Stewie put a finger to his mouth in contemplation. "Well my tummy is rather peckish, and with melons like yours you ought to be able to feed me quite well." Dawn's face suddenly scrunched up into one of outrage and she threw him at the wall.

"I'm not breastfeeding you, you little brat!" she hollered. The Keyblade spirit folded her arms and tisked. "Tch, see if I care about you anymore," she said before becoming a golden light and dropping back into Riku, who was getting back onto his feet while clutching his head.

"I think I made a doody," Stewie announced, rising from his place on the floor after colliding with the wall.

Roxas groaned. "It's your turn Riku."

Riku shot a look at the blond. "Why is it always _my_ turn?"

"Because he's your summo—wah!"

_Ba-Poom_ was the sound the ship made as it touched down, a little too aggressively but still safely, on the flight line. It was accompanied by a loud _"HUELYA"_ retching noise from the bathroom.

"She doesn't sound so good," Riku said anxiously, looking down the flight of stairs that led from the bridge to the rest of the ship.

"_I'm gonna die… it's stealing my soul, since I have nothing in my stomach left to give…"_

"How the heck was I even able to do that?" Naminé asked herself. "I barely learned to fly almost a week ago, and I just fricking _landed_ without killing myself with my first hangover! How in Dionysus' name can I do this!?"

"Just thank that you were able to," Lord Ramius said, running a hand through his concrete-grey hair. "Let's get you back to the castle. Helia will likely want to fill you all up before Master Yen Sid's trainers start to work on you."

Roxas groaned. "Oh man, I forgot that we're starting that today. Just our luck."

Riku rose. "Well, let's go. I'll grab Yuffie."

Stewie looked at them all indignantly. "Am I to stand here wallowing around in my own feces? (He clapped) A little service here."

"And I'll get her to change him," Riku muttered. "Riding in a carriage with a stinky baby is too horrible to imagine."

The six of them left the _Hunter_ after spending many frustrating minutes with Riku and Yuffie arguing amongst each other who was changing the baby before finally both of them agreed to do it and get it over with. And another several hair-pulling minutes as Stewie had fun making changing him into a new diaper the worst experience of their lives, including firing a stream of pee at both Riku and Yuffie, in their faces, and taunting the girl by saying that she liked what she saw down there.

Finally, they were able to leave, and a number of technicians ran out to roll the _Hunter_ into a hangar, and the four Keyblade Wielders staggered with pounding heads and white faces, especially in Yuffie's case, across the flight line. Stewie was strapped in on Yuffie's back. The wind barely blew as snow fell from the white-grey sky, the large flakes, heavy with moisture, slowly piling up by their feet. It was at least six degrees Celsius beneath freezing, and the air, so cold after leaving the warm winds of Destiny Islands, stung against their noses and faces. They were very lucky that there was no wind, else the pleasant thoughts of the Islands would turn into an action that resembled three of them returning there, _permanently_.

The footman, Gerald, closed the door behind them after they'd entered the waiting coach as Lord Ramius mounted a chocobo brought along with his four closest knights, and they provided escort back to the castle along the snowy road as they did before on the trip out. Not much was said inside the carriage this time though, the four of them holding their heads and wondering who the hell had spiked that punch they were drinking and wishing painful deaths upon him while Stewie stood up and watched the scenery go by outside the coach.

When they reached the castle it looked to have been taken straight out a Christmas card. Snow laced the cracks in the white stonework like even whiter icing and draped across the boughs of the trees in the gardens. Their breath steamed in the air, and they hurried inside.

As soon as they entered the castle with their luggage once more being carried in behind them by the servants, Kensworth was expectedly there to meet them and ushered the foursome up to the second floor for a nice hot breakfast. He opened the door and the succulent smells of egg and bacon and ham and pancakes and hash browns exploded into their faces.

They ran for their lives with hands slammed over their mouths. Stewie, however, lit his face up with delight.

"Pancakes!" he declared happily, running towards a chair on his little feet and getting up onto it. He had to stand on the seat to see and eat the food, but when he did, he breathed in deeply. "Oh, this is an absolutely perfect morning," he said, grabbing a knife and fork and cutting a piece off. He placed it into his mouth and his face melted in delight. Suddenly his head snapped towards a few of the waiting servants. "You! Bring me syrup! You! Orange Juice on the double! You! Bring me a newspaper! And you! Try and find some good music to put on. Something that says, "I'm the king" but not too openly arrogant or flippantly gay."

-A-D-

_1100hrs, Tuesday October 28, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
October 27, 1418 (S.R.)  
West of Rivendell, Middle-earth,  
Sora_

"AAAHHHHHH!!!"

Sora's cry pierced through the woods as he flew through the air, crashing through tree branches on his way back down to solid earth. He crashed on his elbows and knees in a tall thistle plant, and swore that Hat 'n Clogs put him there on purpose.

"You alright?" Ninquemon asked worriedly, bouncing up behind him with a haggard expression on his face.

"Just keep RUNNING!" Kairi screamed, grabbing Sora's arm on the pass as she came up from behind and beginning to drag him along with her. The Keyblade Master's legs pumped and he regained his balance, throwing a quick glance behind him. Ninquemon was bounding behind him and Kairi, and Menelmon was actually running on the ground too, both of them panting as they kept up with the two teenagers and their longer legs. Beyond the two digimon, Sora could see nothing but the trees and plants of the undergrowth of the forests outside of Rivendell.

His eyes widened suddenly as Mr. Hat 'n Clogs appeared directly behind him, his sheathed shikomizue already swinging towards him. With less than half a second to react, Sora Quick Ran as far away from the man as he could, pulling Kairi along with him from the sudden surge forward. The tip of the cane still struck against his back, pushing him forward farther than he wanted to go, and forcing Sora to stumble face-first into the trunk of a large fir tree.

Sora clapped both his hands to his nose, his eyes watering in pain. The thing had practically been completely shattered only that morning, and now it was under duress again. Damn it hurt!

"Was it Jinta again?" Kairi asked, looking behind them but seeing nothing.

"No," Sora answered, shaking his head in a futile quick jerk to try and get rid of the pain. "It was Hat 'n Clogs again."

Ninquemon and Menelmon came up to them, now that they'd finally stopped moving, and both the digimon were huffing and wheezing horribly. "How much longer?" Ninquemon gasped as Sora and Kairi both succumbed to the needs of their lungs and muscles. The stuff that Glorfindel had pushed them to do was nothing on this.

"My my my," Kisuke Urahara's voice echoed out from the woods around them, but the man remained unseen. "I don't believe we told you to stop yet, Sora-kun, Kairi-chan." The air rumbled, and the ground beneath them exploded as a crimson blast suddenly struck just a couple of feet away from where they had been standing.

The four dropped back from being airborne several metres away from where the blast had struck, cuts on their faces and tiny rips in the jackets and pants once more worn by Sora and Kairi. The two were back in their Middle-earth adventuring attire, courtesy of the magic in the clothes made by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Their packs and cloaks weren't on them, left behind when they'd joined up with Urahara and the others after exiting the portal. Dirt sprayed up behind Sora's feet as he kicked his boot out behind him, labouriously pushing the boy forward.

"Alright, we get the message!" he retorted over his shoulder. Sora looked forward again and nearly missed jumping over a fallen log that would have tripped him up. Kairi cried out from his back right, and he had barely started to turn his head in her direction when she crashed into Ninquemon and then him with eyes jammed shut. The three tumbled through the underbrush, rolling head-over-heels-over-head in a ball. Ninquemon was ejected out some distance forward through the air, yelling all the way, as they struck a boulder, and Sora and Kairi rolled over it before finally stopping on a bed of pinecones and needles right at a tall spruce.

Sora pulled his head out from between Kairi's breasts and reached back to brush the seat of his bum free of needles while giving the red-head room to sit up and do the same. "You alright?" he asked, glancing at her face.

She was half-way between a pained and annoyed scowl and a pained and annoyed smile. "Nothing broken so I guess I'm alright," she answered. "Damn, that Ururu girl can really throw a punch."

Menelmon dragged herself up to them a couple of seconds later while they continued to check and make sure that they were both still in one piece. "Where'd Ninquemon go?" she asked haggardly, moving past them and not daring to stop. If she stopped, she'd have stopped and fallen asleep.

"He flew ahead," Sora groaned. "Let's keep mov—"

"HELP! SORA!!"

"I'm coming buddy!" Sora replied, rushing back into the cool autumn air to reach the place where his partner's voice was coming from. A few trees later, Sora threw himself to a stop, because otherwise he would have run right off a cliff.

"Whoa!" he yelled, his arms flailing backwards as he regained his balance after stopping himself so suddenly. He looked around as Kairi and Menelmon caught up to him, the blue ice-bird digimon flopping onto the ground and breathing heavily. Glorfindel's push to the Ford had _nothing_ on this. "Ninquemon!?" Sora yelled, his hand up by his mouth to amplify it slightly.

"I'm here Sora!"

Sora continued to look around. "Where's here!?" he called.

"Down here!"

Kairi glanced at Sora, and the two of them carefully came up to the edge of the cliff. About twenty feet down, and hanging in the branches of a tree growing out of a small cleft in the cliff, was Ninquemon, maybe a further three metres up from a river.

"The Loudwater," Kairi said, looking at it in surprise. "I didn't know we'd come this far west already."

"Wait, what?" Sora asked. "But, isn't this river supposed to be like, almost ten clicks away from Rivendell? We've done ten K in forty minutes!?"

"Urahara's a horrid slave-driver," Kairi muttered under her breath. She looked down the cliff again. "I don't know how we're going to get to him."

Sora took a few deep breaths. They were all really feeling the strain from running so hard and so long. Menelmon almost looked to be passed out already. "We're going to have to fly," he said, the green box given to him by Tinkerbell appearing in his left hand.

He flipped up the lid and Kairi said, "But that's the last of the pixie dust, and Urahara told us—"

"Forget what he told us," Sora answered, "I'm getting my partner." Kairi sighed and shook her head with a smile.

"Yeah, let's stick it to him," she agreed. She knelt down and picked up her partner as Sora sprinkled half of the remaining golden dust on her. "Come on Menelmon, we're going to fly."

"Okay…"

The bushes rustled behind them, and Sora glanced fearfully at Kairi as she looked up at him. He grabbed her arm as the now empty box vanished and dove off the side of the cliff. Kairi's arm left his and Menelmon woke up fully, the wind in her face and under her wings as they dove for Ninquemon, the little In-Training digimon sitting on the branch above the waves. Sora scooped him up in his arms and the three levelled out, preparing to proceed to the other bank. "You okay buddy?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Ninquemon answered. "The tree caught me, so the fall didn't hurt too mu—!" He gasped as a shadow passed over them, and Sora turned around to get a look. His eyes widened in horror.

Ururu had leapt into the air above the bank, holding a massive multi-missile launcher on her shoulder. "Urahara-san said that none of you were to fly," she said, deadpan. "You must be punished." The missile launcher jerked as she fired one after the other, four missiles flying out of the device and heading straight for them, only halfway across the Bruinen and maybe only six metres above the water.

Menelmon turned around to face them defiantly. "Snow Slurry!" she cried, a storm of snow spiralling out from her white beak towards the missiles and Ururu. They broke right through the snow, not exploding on contact like the digimon had hoped.

Sora saw Kairi's eyes widen exponentially as she flipped herself over and extend her hands. "Light!" A shell-barrier of light surrounded them, and all four of the missiles burst into it and exploded violently. The light shield wasn't strong enough though, and the force from behind their detonations broke through and struck the four, eliciting pained yells from them and blasting them down into the mountain coldness of the Loudwater.

Far above them, Kisuke Urahara stood in mid-air, watching them. "They shouldn't have tried flying," he said to himself. "Well, now they aren't going to try again. But still, that was some quick-thinking there Kairi. It'll be fun training you two for the next month."

-A-D-

_1220 hrs,  
Radiant Garden_

After some time, most of it spent sleeping, the severity of the hangovers had left the four teenagers, and they were finally able to get some food and non-alcoholic drink into their bellies, and they felt much better for it.

"Wonder when Master Yen Sid's trainers are going to be getting here," Roxas said, the four of them sitting in the den on the third floor with Kensworth and Lord Ramius. Helia was having a field day with Stewie, being the first baby in the castle for some years.

"Doesn't matter," Yuffie said aloud. "I'm not going to be training with you guys." Roxas, Naminé, and Riku all looked at her sharply.

"What?" Naminé asked. "But, but you're a Keyblade Wielder now too! Why wouldn't you be training with us?"

Yuffie looked at the blonde princess apologetically. "Sorry Naminé, but I have my own ninja training program already worked out. And it involves hiking up into the secluded woods and doing my own thing."

Riku stared at her with an 'are you serious' look. "So this means I'm in the apartment by myself then?" he asked.

"I'm sure we could put you up in the castle as we did before," Kensworth said, standing by the door as he customarily did in case anyone needed anything. A servant suddenly came running into the room, and they turned and looked at her. It was the girl Agatha.

"Kensworth," she said, sounding a bit more than slightly breathless. She must have run the whole way there in her heels. "There are some strange men in the entrance hall, and they want—"

"We wish to see the Princess," an ancient and gravelly voice spoke from behind her, not unkindly. Agatha turned around in startled surprise as an old man strode into the room through the open door, dressed in blue robes and a pointed hat.

"Master Yen Sid!" Naminé exclaimed, getting up off the couch. Roxas, Riku, Yuffie, and Lord Ramius similarly rose, and the sorcerer nodded his head at them.

"I have told you and Roxas that you would begin training after the Blitzball Festival concluded," he spoke, "and now that you have seen how necessary that training is, it is time that we—"

"Hey, old man!" a young and brash voice declared from behind the door. "When are we getting started? Aizen's not going to just sit around and wait you know." In walked the voice's owner, a tall young man who appeared around twenty-four or so, with long crimson red hair pulled back into a multi-spiked pineapple tail and a white headband across his forehead. There were black tattooed lines above his eyebrows and on his neck. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, and was glancing out at the snow-covered balcony as more of the white stuff continued to fall from the sky. "Damn, it looks like winter's here already."

"That is just normal weather for this world," Master Yen Sid said, giving the young man a stern look. From behind him walked in a giant of a young man. His skin was of a heavily tanned copper, and he had a mess of short brown hair that partially obscured his brown eyes. He was dressed in a pink button-up short-sleeve shirt with red flower petals on it, and a pair of black pants.

"Princess Naminé, Sir Roxas, Lord Riku and Lady Yuffie, this is Sado Yasutora, better known as Chad (Master Yen Sid indicated the giant who'd just walked in), and—"

"Renji Abarai," the red-head interrupted him, pointing a thumb at himself, "Lieutenant of the Sereitei's 6th Soul Reaper Division. I take it that we're supposed to be training with you kids then."

"Not me," Yuffie said, placing her hands behind her head. "I've got my own training to do, and it doesn't involve you. See ya!" She gave a wave, and pulled Riku aside. "I'm going to be gone for a while Rik," she whispered. "I wish I could take you with me."

Riku sighed and held back his request that she take him with her. "If it's something that you've got to do, then it's something that you've got to do," he said at last, holding her hands. "Just be safe, okay? And I'll see you in a month."

Yuffie smiled very slightly, and Riku could tell that she was feeling as sad as he was about their parting. He kissed her, and drew her into a hug that started to last longer than he anticipated. "This is just so unexpected," he whispered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I actually just thought it up in the last hour," Yuffie answered, somewhat sheepishly. "If I am the Legendary Rose Star Wielder of Night, then I need to become an even better ninja than I am now—de gozaru."

Riku laughed slightly and pulled back, smiling. "Well, take care then Lady Kisaragi," he said before bending his neck down and kissing her on the tip of her nose. She squealed and batted him away.

"And you'd better not get yourself any new girlfriends while I'm away, Lord Riku," she retorted playfully, smiling as she left his embrace. "Well, bye Naminé, bye Roxas, Master Yen Sid, tattoo-man and new guy."

"That's Lieutenant Abarai!" Renji retorted as she left through the open door. Riku watched her go with a small smile on his face and a shake of his head. Yuffie didn't always show it, but he knew that she was strong, and that she would be alright while she trained in her own way. She had left them behind, but they were still together.

He froze, and whipped his head back towards the door. "That little witch!" he exclaimed quietly. "She left us behind!"

"Yeah, and what are you getting at?" Roxas asked, rolling his eyes.

"She didn't take Stewie with her," Riku explained. "That means that _we're_ stuck with the psycho toddler!"

Naminé's palm said 'hello' to her face. "Can we just get started training then?" she asked. "So we don't have to deal with him until later."

"I don't know who Stewie is, but I agree with you Your Highness," Renji Abarai said. "There's not much time, so we're going to have to give it our all."

"I'm ready Renji," Chad said, looking at the red-head.

"Then let's get to it," Riku said, summoning Way to the Dawn in his hand. Renji smirked.

"I like your attitude kid," he said, bringing what looked like a duck Piz-Dispenser to his mouth. He squeezed it, and a tiny candy popped out and entered his mouth. He swallowed, and suddenly his body burst backwards while another one of him stood in front of them, this one dressed in a black kimono and sandals. There was a white headband on this one's forehead like the other, and he had a sheathed katana on his hip and an insignia band on one arm. The robed one turned around and looked at the one in the shirt and jeans. "Stay here in the castle," he said, "and keep my body safe."

"You got it boss!" the other one said energetically before plopping down on a couch, proceeding to become highly engrossed in the program on the SV.

"_Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed?"_ asked one of the two people on the screen.

"_Busted, without a doubt,"_ the other replied.

Roxas glanced between the one on the couch and the one with the sword, a look of confusion on his face. "Okay, what just happened here?"

"I'm a Soul Reaper," Renji said. "That body over there is just a gigai, a temporary physical body to contain a Soul Reaper's soul when they need to interact with the living. Spiritually aware people, such as you apparently since you can see me, are able to see souls around them. A Soul Reaper is just that, a soul."

"So, if you're just a soul, we could walk right through you?" Roxas asked.

"Get that stupid idea out of your head," Renji retorted. "Don't go confusing souls with whatever ideas you have about ghosts. We can no more run through solid objects than you can. The only difference is that people without strong souls cannot see, hear, or sense our presence."

"Sir Roxas," Kensworth asked, "who are you talking to?"

"Apparently this guy doesn't have a strong enough soul to see me when I'm like this," Renji added, looking at the Castle Steward. "That's where the gigai comes in, you see?"

"Then why don't you just train in the gigai?" Riku asked.

"There're a few reasons to that," Lieutenant Abarai said, looking at the silver-haired youth. "One: it restricts my reiatsu, my strength, so to train in one wouldn't be practical. Two: I can't move quite as well in a gigai as I can when I'm a Soul Reaper. And three: (he rubbed his neck) It just isn't comfortable." He looked at Master Yen Sid. "Alright old guy, that's enough explanations, don't you think?"

"Yes, quite," Master Yen Sid answered.

"Well then where're we going to train?" Renji asked. "Mr. Urahara said that I needed to train Chad because he needs to experience fighting against a Bankai, and if we do it here we'll tear this castle apart."

"The area beyond the northern wall would be the best place," Lord Ramius, who had been quiet throughout the whole conversation, suggested. "It's large, spacious, and there's no need to worry about people getting in your way. Besides," he added, "I need to be heading that way myself."

"Huh?" Naminé asked. "What do you mean?"

Lord Ovan Ramius smiled kindly at her. "My dear Princess," he said, "I have lengthened my stay in the Royal City for too long. I was only to be here a day or two for your sister's trial, but arrived to find that over and done with, and now I must take my leave and return to my previous duty of overseeing our people's reconstruction efforts in Woodburgh. As well, I would like to see my wife and children again, and tell them all about you and Kairi."

Naminé gulped but nodded her head in understanding. Of course Ovan couldn't stick around forever, he did have other obligations to fulfill after all, but, she had become rather attached to her godfather in the past several weeks. He chuckled and the next thing Naminé knew, she had been drawn into a loving hug by the noble.

"Grow strong Naminé," he said to her. "I expect great things from you and your sister, and I intend to be there to guide you through this war."

His words profoundly struck Naminé, and she felt a tear come to her eyes as she returned the hug. "I promise that I will," she whispered back.

A small, intriguing, growl rumbled from the back of the Marquess' throat, and he pulled her back and looked down at her. "I think I know a way for you to remember that promise," he said.

"Huh?" asked Naminé.

"Kneel," the lord ordered. Naminé's eyes widened and she did as she was told. She looked up at him, and found herself compellingly captivated by the twin gems of amethyst that were his eyes. Her entire mind was on him as his lips parted once more and he began to speak, his words commanding her very being. "Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that the Light may love thee. Speak the truth, always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong. That is your oath." He reared his right hand back and struck her across the cheek with its backside. Naminé's head snapped out to the left as the pain of the blow stung her both physically and mentally.

"And that is so you remember it," Lord Ramius said as she looked up at him again, feeling her right cheek with a hand. "Rise, a Knight of Radiant Garden."

"Can he actually do that?" Riku whispered to Kensworth.

"He is a noble, he can," the older man replied.

Naminé stood up, and though she still physically looked the same as when she had knelt down, there seemed to have been a change within her. She stood straighter, her eyes were more confident, and her body was poised upright with pride. The Princess looked to Master Yen Sid.

"Let's get this training started then."

-A-D-

Coughing and spluttering, Sora and Kairi emerged from the waves of the Bruinen as they finally reached a place near its banks that the river was shallow enough for them to kneel down on. Menelmon was draped against Kairi's back, and Sora still barely held onto Ninquemon with one arm. They were completely drenched, their waterlogged clothes weighing heavily on their bodies and Menelmon's feathers so horribly sopping wet she was completely flightless. The icy-cold waters from the Misty Mountains had soaked beneath their skin and into their bones, making them even wearier than they already were after running from attack for so long and fighting to stay above the water-line while the river dragged them downstream.

Kairi's teeth were chattering so lively it was as if they were trying to have a heated conversation with themselves while she grasped at the dirt on the west bank to drag herself forward. "Th-th-thi-is, was an ep-epic fa-ail," she stuttered through the cold that plagued her body and mind. Her booted feet were still in the river when she collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily in exhaustion. They were freezing too, her socks icy compresses stuck to her feet and every particle of free space taken up by the Loudwater's flows.

Sora dragged himself just a little bit further up the bank than she had, the water in his own boots sloshing around as his toes touched the moderately dry ground. The wind was very, very light, but even the slightest breeze stole any heat that he was generating, so much so that he could not feel or imagine a blaze with which to use a fire spell. The faint breeze was a deadly tempest to their senses. Ahead on the Road he could see cleared remains of the battle Kairi had had with Pete and the Heartless, but only barely through foggy vision. He let go of Ninquemon and collapsed on his back right next to his girlfriend, completely drained. "So-oo c-c-c-cold…" he added.

He'd never felt this cold before in his life. Not in the darkness, not on the Tseng Shao, not ever. His mind and body wanted him to rest, and it was with great effort that he forced himself to disregard those impulses. Although it almost never got cold on the Islands except for occasionally on the mountainous volcanic peaks, they had learned of the dangers of the cold that can come from wind and water.

Sora glanced at Kairi. If they couldn't manage to get warm soon, the both of them were stuck in an icy death trap. Willing every part of his body to move, Sora rolled towards Kairi to get on his front, and pushed his left side up with his tireless, except for when he couldn't summon the mental strength to move it, automail arm. "Co-come on," he said, reaching out with his right and grabbing her as he forced himself onto his knees first. "We've got to—got to keep mo-oving." His fingers, frozen stiff, fumbled both with grasping the soaked hood of Kairi's jacket and taking hold of Ninquemon, who had slipped into sleep, and a frustrated growl worked its way out of his chilled chest. Finally he scooped him up under his arm, and Sora prayed that his partner would be okay after they were able to get a fire going.

"S-Sora," Kairi started, shifting as she slowly worked her body into a position mimicking his, "I can't—I c-can't c-cast a fire sp-spell."

"I c-can't either," Sora answered, forcing a knee up to prepare him to stand while he finally got as good a grip on Kairi as he could. "But we nee-eed to get under some c-c-cover from the w-w-w-w-wind." Kairi nodded, and she grabbed both him and Menelmon, who was muttering incoherently from Kairi's back.

It took them another thirty seconds to rise, and they slowly pushed their cold, wet, tired, and hungry bodies north into the woods, towards the location they knew they were supposed to have been going to before being swept away by the Bruinen. Across the Road from them, completely unknown to both of the teenagers and their inebriated digimon partners, stood Kisuke Urahara and the cat Yoruichi Shihōin, Jiminy Cricket standing on Urahara's shoulder.

"Shouldn't you help them out?" Jiminy asked. "They're freezing over there, and you took everything but the clothes on their backs from them."

"No," Kisuke Urahara said seriously. "Those two are strong. I saw the armour that they came with. It's the armour of an Acolyte, and surviving this far with us on their tails and hitting them tells me that both of them are already at a level halfway through Acolyte training and are closer to the knighthood of a Wielder-ranked Chaser. If they were Soul Reapers, right now they'd be holding around third or fourth seat. They need to survive this training on their own to prove to themselves that they're ready for the fights ahead."

"And besides," he added with a sudden airy tone, placing a hand to his hat and tilting it slightly further down his head. "If they make it to where we're setting up camp near the clearing their Heartless made, they shouldn't have any worries about comfort at all. (He glanced at Yoruichi) I'm going to go see if Tessai has the tea ready, coming?"

"Yes," the cat answered, nodding his black head. Jiminy prepared himself by firmly grabbing onto Kisuke's robes, and the man and cat jumped into the air before vanishing from sight, travelling faster than a normal eye could see.

-A-D-

"Hadō #31, Shakkahō!" Renji yelled, his body heading backwards through the air while his left hand, the right holding onto the unsheathed zanpakutō katana, flashed open-palm in Riku's direction. A ball of red energy formed in front of the palm and shot for the silver-haired Keyblade Wielder, flying through the sky on trails of golden light. Riku wove around it, not watching as the ball of energy struck the snow-covered canyon beneath and blasted a crater twelve feet deep into existence in the rock, and zipped underneath Renji with Way to the Dawn coming up towards the Soul Reaper. Renji parried the strike with his sword, and leapt backwards before vanishing from Riku's sight.

_Where'd he go now?_ The Wielder of Dawn thought, looking around and trying to feel for where his opponent had disappeared to. He had used this technique a couple of times already, and each time it had ended up costing Riku a cut somewhere on his body. Blood dribbled onto the snow below from his left arm, near the back of his right knee, and his back.

He felt it just a second too late, the sound and movement of the air being cut by a sharp blade from behind and to his right. He turned to try and block, but the zanpakutō's tip had already delved into right side and cut the fabric of his shirt and skin, leaving a shallow wound there.

"Tch," Renji said as Riku gasped in pain and spun around on his sun skates to give himself a bit more distance from the Soul Reaper who seemed able to stand firmly on the air itself. "And here I was expecting a challenge."

"This isn't over yet!" Riku retorted, glaring with aquamarine fury at the red-pineapple-head. "Dawn, come forth!" From his back out popped the figure of the female Keyblade spirit, dressed now in a white fur-lined coat, hat, white pants, and mitts with the Heartless emblem on their backs. She stood in front of him and glared at Renji, looking positively cute in the outfit.

"I'm ready Rik!" she declared. Riku just stared at her.

"Uh, Dawn, what are you wearing?" he asked. She turned around, her breath steaming the air.

"In case you haven't noticed Rik, it's COLD!"

"I _have_ noticed Dawn! I'm freezing out here. Look at this, look at this! Some of my blood is freezing on the bottom of my shoes before it can fall."

"You wouldn't be losing blood if you stopped letting him cut you up," Dawn huffed, turning her back on him to face Renji. "But don't worry anymore," she said, glancing back, "I'm not going to let him lay another finger on you." She winked, and Riku half sighed.

Renji's eye was twitching uncomfortably. "Hey Riku, who the heck is she? Where'd she come from?"

"I don't feel like answering that right now," Riku told him. "Dawn."

"You got it," she answered, knowing exactly what he wanted her to do. Riku thrust his left hand out towards Renji, the palm glowing with golden light.

"Ray of Dawn!"

Renji's eyes widened slightly as the golden ray streaked from Riku's hand and headed straight for him. He jumped up higher to avoid it, but the ray arched and continued to come towards him. The Soul Reaper slashed down at it with his sword, destroying the ray as it detonated on contact with his sword, and Renji was forced up higher by the magic's power. He grunted and looked down at Riku, but he was no longer there.

"First Light's Fire!"

6th Division's 2nd Seat turned around as Riku's voice came from behind him, and he saw the kid's Keyblade burning with golden fire that was black at its base, the woman hovering above and behind his back. He raised his zanpakutō to block the horizontal slice, and felt a strength in the Keyblade Master's strike that he hadn't felt before. Riku brought his sword out and up, bringing it down on Renji's defence, and then cutting back up again towards the Soul Reaper's right arm. He just barely missed scoring a hit even with both blows blocked, and started to quickly circle around Renji to the man's right. The Soul Reaper struck out for Riku's already wounded right side, but Dawn was there instead, blocking it with an arm. Renji jolted in surprise as his blade struck against her coat and the flesh underneath, it looked normal, but likely could have passed for a coat of pure tempered steel for how resolutely it stayed his weapon.

Then Dawn was gone, and he felt her coat against his back and on his arms, but it was soft now, _what_? She had him in her grasp, and Renji realized this only as she called out to Riku that she had done so. In his surprise, she must have slipped in under his guard, and to try and hit a girl who could apparently change the consistency of her clothes to make them fleecy or concrete at will wouldn't work well for him.

Riku was smirking at him in victory, and the flames on his Keyblade died to be replaced by constant golden light instead. He swept the weapon in front of him twice, yelling out "Refraction Rays!" as a dozen small rays broke off the weapon and streaked for Renji.

Even caught in Dawn's grip, he twisted his arm around so that his zanpakutō would deflect as many of them as possible, but the rays that did strike him burned somewhat as they impacted his legs, torso, and arms. Riku's left palm opened, and all the rays converged into a glowing orb of golden light that encased Renji entirely as Dawn vanished. She appeared next to Riku again just as he turned his open palm into a clenched fist.

The golden sphere imploded and burst asunder from the focal point, Renji, in a great flash and wave of energy. The grey sky turned gold for a moment, and Riku could see the Soul Reaper falling towards the ground. He smirked slightly and popped a potion from his pocket with his left hand.

"And that's that," he said to Dawn, beginning to spray the green healing liquid over his wounds while still maintaining his grip on his Keyblade. She smiled and nodded back at him. Riku looked back at the ground while he continued to spray the potion's contents over the cuts Renji had given him, and he began to frown. The Soul Reaper was standing in the snow, and looking up at Riku with a confident smile on his face.

"I'll admit," Renji called to him, "that was pretty good."

_What!?_ Riku thought in shock, seeing that the man appeared pretty much unscathed after suffering the strongest attack Riku had currently developed in his arsenal. Dawn slowly sifted through the air until she was between Renji and Riku, both her and her Wielder watching as Renji's left hand rose and he began to chant.

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." Blue light flared at his fingertips, and Renji held his hand out towards them. "Hadō #33, Sōkatsui!"

Streams of white-blue spiritual energy shot out of Lieutenant Abarai's fingers towards Dawn and Riku. They quickly expanded and grew in size until they were completely blocking Renji from sight, and still they grew in size and strength. Dawn spread her arms and legs out, determined to take the whole force of the blast, but as soon as it struck her she cried out in pain and was thrown backwards into the air as Renji's kidō continued barrelling forward, against her and around her. The spell touched Riku's leg before Dawn's entire body plastered against his, and he gasped at the biting pain. The blue burst exploded, momentarily blinding the watchers on the ground for a fraction of a second as the sky turned blue and white in the area of the destructive spell.

Riku groaned as he landed in two feet of cold snow lying on the frozen stone ground. His body burned and ached, and the red snow around him let him know that he was still bleeding. Dawn moaned from next to him as they both staggered to their feet.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I've—I've never felt something like that before."

"Roar, Zabimaru!"

Riku looked up, and saw Renji's katana glowing with red light. Suddenly it changed as he passed his hand over it, and the blade lengthened and widened. It appeared to split into six segments with a white edge and a black backing. From each segment sprouted two white pick-like protrusions, one on the front and one on the end, but from Riku's view it appeared as if there was only one protrusion at the end of each segment.

Riku looked to Dawn as she gasped, her eyes wide in surprise. "Is that a—" she stuttered, "is that a _Shikai_? He can do Shikai!?"

Renji slashed his zanpakutō towards them as he ran for them, and both Riku's and Dawn's eyes widened when the segments separated and came out towards them on a thick stretchable cord. Dawn rushed in front of Riku and raised her arms in front of her in a defensive 'x', and the largest of the segments struck against them and deflected off. Dawn shrieked slightly as the power behind the strike pushed her off balance and down into the snow on her back. Renji swung again, and his sword's segments flew above and past Dawn and came in against Riku. He raised his Keyblade with both hands and barely held off each segment as they drove against his defence. He hadn't felt such strain in holding a sword at bay before. Zabimaru whipped out again and the sixth and final segment struck against Riku's left shoulder. Riku gasped in pain and shock as the sword's segments retracted to the hilt, ripping back through the tendons and muscles in that part of Riku's body.

"RIKU!" Dawn yelled, looking back at him with shock and horror in her eyes as the segments flew back to the hilt, where Renji was holding it fifteen feet away from where she stood. She suddenly gave a strangled, gasping cough and lay on her side, seemingly in pain.

Riku's blood flowed out of the wound the Soul Reaper's zanpakutō had left in his shoulder, staining the snow crimson as Riku looked at it with disbelieving eyes.

Roxas and Chad stopped their own sparring, Roxas with both Twilight Thorn and Oblivion out in his hands and the young man of Mexican descent with some form of armour encasing his right arm from his shoulder to his fist, and looked at Riku and Dawn, Roxas completely shocked that the silver-haired Keyblade Master was down on his knees and bleeding so badly.

"It's over for you today Riku," Renji said, watching him as he held Zabimaru out in his right hand. "But, there is one more thing that I want you to experience before you go to get yourself fixed up, because it's something that from today on, you'll all be fighting against." He held Zabimaru horizontally in front of his body, and Renji spoke one more word that rippled with power in each of its two syllables.

"Bankai."

Zabimaru glowed suddenly and brightly with red light, blinding all in the canyon of anything else. The wind ripped through the area in savage strength, blowing all the snow away to form drifts against the canyon's walls and the northern wall south of them. Pressure built up against Riku, and he knelt down, frozen in place, staring at the whirlwind that was surrounding the Lieutenant of 6th Division.

_What is—what is this power? I've never felt anything so strong. I—I can't move my legs! I can't—I can't raise my arms!_

With gargantuan effort, Riku glanced towards Dawn and asked her. "What is this!?"

Dawn's response was garbled. Her own mind appeared to be baffled as she answered. "Bankai too? 'S something we will be able to do… when good enough… so strong, unbelievable."

The wind surrounding Renji vanished, and the Soul Reaper was surrounded by what looked to be a mammoth skeletal snake with a red mane behind its bone-white skull. The vertebrae were all segmented like the pieces of his Shikai. The man now had a light red fur cowl, the fur resembling that of an ape's, with an ape's skull on his left shoulder. The cowl continued down and covered his right arm. "Hihiō Zabimaru," Lieutenant Abarai declared. He raised the hilt of the sword in his hand, which was now the very end of the massive skeletal snake's tail.

"You fought bravely Riku," Renji shouted, "but today ends for you right now! Remember this strength, because you'll be fighting it every day from now on!!" He brought down his arm, and Hihiō Zabimaru reared up and streaked towards Riku and Dawn, its fangs, the size of a full-grown adult male, strikingly prominent in its gaping maw. Both the Keyblade Master and the spirit of his Keyblade who defended him were caught by the Bankai's mouth, and they cried out in pain as they were dragged against the ground and slammed into the blue cliff wall.

Renji glanced off towards Roxas and Chad before the cloud of dust and snow had even begun to settle. "Which one of you is next?" Roxas gulped, and hoped that Naminé was doing better with her own training.

-A-D-

The Princess, and new Knight, in question was panting heavily and shivering horribly, her teeth chattering loudly as she rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms, hoping to put some warmth back into them. Her bare feet felt deathly cold as the snow touched them, her ankles, and the lower part of her shins. The wind nipped at the cheeks of her bum and stung the exposed flesh of her upper chest, the Princess dressed _only_ in her white bra and panties. Staring in disbelief at the unperturbed woman who was standing in front of her, herself dressed only in her own blue underwear, Naminé still couldn't fathom just _how_ this had managed to happen.

-A-D-

_Forty minutes ago,_

_Naminé left the gate of the northern wall with confidence, dressed in winter gear, alongside Riku, Roxas, Renji, Chad, and Master Yen Sid at her side. She felt… changed… inside after her godfather had made her into a Knight of Radiant Garden, and she knew that she would do her absolute best to live up to that designation._

_The snow-covered canyon stretched before them, and Naminé glanced at Master Yen Sid. "So, should we start now Master Yen Sid?"_

_He looked at her seriously, and gave the Princess a quick look over. "They shall," he answered in his gravelly voice, "but I believe your talents lie outside swordsmanship, Your Highness."_

_Naminé looked at him quizzically and he nodded at Renji. The man in the black kimono nodded his head and drew blade, lunging for Riku. The silver-haired Keyblade-bearer raised his own weapon in defence, and lashed a quick retaliatory strike for Renji's abdomen. The Soul Reaper jumped back, but before Naminé could follow it any more, the voice of the sorcerer drove her to look at him again. "Come."_

_She obeyed, trudging through the snow, and Master Yen Sid began to speak further. "I have watched you, Naminé," he told her, "and what I have seen has changed my intentions for your training. Unlike Riku or Roxas, and, indeed, unlike even your sister Kairi, you have a much smaller aptitude for and ability with physical weapons."_

_Naminé bristled at the perceived insult but held her tongue as the Master continued. "You are not as adept at using your Keyblade as the others are, and I fear that you shall never be able to match them in its usage as a sword. You alone use both sword and shield, while your friends fight with sword alone. However, you have something that many of them do not. You, Naminé, have shown a much stronger magical ability than any save Sora and Kairi, and with proper training you will likely eclipse your other in that regard."_

_Naminé's eyes widened slightly at the sorcerer's words. She could become better than Kairi at something? Better than Kairi at something that did not necessarily involve tampering with the memories of another even? "Re—really?" she asked._

"_Yes, really," Master Yen Sid replied. He looked at her as the ringing sounds of steel on steel faded behind them and they reached roughly the mid-point of the canyon. Naminé looked around in surprise, they hadn't been walking that fast, and they couldn't have been walking for that long, could they? Was the cold affecting her perception of time?_

"_Naminé," he began in an inquisitive tone, "what would you say is your favoured elemental magic to work with?"_

_Naminé stopped and stared at the venerable sorcerer in his blue robes. What was her favourite magic? "Well…" she began slowly, "I've always liked using fire magic, but… I don't exactly know if fire is right for me. Whenever I look at Axel his flames radiate with raw strength and power, and Kairi's fire is both strong and beautiful at once. But mine is just there. It is good, but it doesn't quite… I don't really feel a strong tug towards it. I feel the same with thunder, and water is a little different. I feel a little more drawn towards it than fire or thunder, and the feeling is stronger with cure and protective or healing spells, but…"_

"_But what?" Master Yen Sid asked._

_Naminé gulped. The cold was already getting at her covered skin. "It surprises me, because while I really feel at home on Destiny Islands with the sun and the sand and the wind and waves, I think that I'm best suited to using ice magic."_

_Master Yen Sid nodded. "I suspected as much," he said. "You don't have quite the same fiery personality as your other does. Although you have gained a recent spunky, rebellious streak, you have a cooler head and are more complacent than Kairi is. That is why I have brought someone else I have met in my time here, so that she may teach you how to manipulate the ice to your will. Treat her with as much respect as you would treat me, for she is a powerful mage from her own world."_

_Naminé nodded her head, grateful to the sorcerer for going to such lengths just for them, and also wondering how he knew the things he knew. "I will."_

"_Very well," Master Yen Sid said. "I will be in and out of Radiant Garden in the coming month and shall instruct you further, but the great majority of your training I am delegating to her. She comes now." He turned and looked at Naminé directly. "I wish you all the best. Good luck."_

_Naminé bowed. "Thank you, Master Yen Sid." He smiled kindly, and vanished in a flash of blue light. Naminé turned at the sound of crunching snow. She was greeted by the sight of a woman who looked to be in her last year of her twenties or her early thirties. Her hair was short and violet, and she was dressed in only a light beige jacket that was undone, a burgundy shell tank-top that left the skin from her waist to a little above her belly-button exposed, and a pair of black jeans._

"_So," the woman said, placing a hand on her hip and surveying Naminé, sizing the girl up to see if she could be deemed up to the task, "you're the one that the Master said I should take a look at huh?"_

_Naminé nodded her head. "Ye—Yes," she answered. "I am Naminé of Destiny Islands, a Princess of Radiant Garden and a Wielder of the Keyblade."_

"_Yes I know," the woman answered, nodding her head. "But that doesn't matter at all. Do you want to learn magic?"_

_Naminé nodded again. "Yes."_

"_Are you willing to undergo my training?" she asked, a small smile coming to her face at the determination that was evident in Naminé's voice. "I warn you, my training is hard, especially for one as delicate as you."_

"_I'll go through it!" Naminé answered. "I'm not quite as delicate as I look," she added, more to herself than to the woman. The woman's smile increased._

"_Alright then," she said. "I'll train you. My name is Ur, it's nice to meet you Naminé."_

"_Nice to meet you too," Naminé replied pleasantly, shaking hands with the woman. Ur's smile stayed on her face, and Naminé looked at it curiously. Ur seemed to know something that she didn't, and she wondered what it was._

"_Right, let's get started," Ur declared. Her jacket suddenly slipped off her shoulders, and her hands went to the bottom of her shirt._

_Naminé's eyes became dinner plates as the shirt came up and over Ur's head, revealing the woman's above-average sized breasts held back by a blue bra. "Wha—what are you doing?" Naminé asked nervously, not prepared in the slightest for her new teacher to suddenly start stripping in front of her. Was she some kind of creeper? Was she one of those weird pedophiles who was going to suddenly kiss her? The Princess' mind went back to when she had still been a Nobody in Castle Oblivion, and to the horrifyingly sickened feeling she had somehow gotten when Larxene had once caressed her cheek with the back of a gloved hand. That had just felt so _wrong_ that Naminé took two cautious steps backwards while the memory was fresh in her mind. Maybe she was being paranoid because that had been Larxene, but she still wasn't comfortable with the situation. Ur giggled throatily at Naminé's actions and her pants dropped._

"_Strip," Ur told her, and Naminé's head went backwards, not expecting the command either. "Just to your underwear is fine," Ur added, stepping out from her black pants and boots to stand in the snow in nothing but her underwear. She appeared completely unfazed by it all._

"_Why!?" Naminé half-shrieked. "It's cold!"_

"_Exactly," Ur told her, turning around. "To control the cold, to master the cold, you must become one with the cold. (She glanced back) Or do you not want to learn?"_

"_I want to learn," Naminé answered, almost instantly._

_Ur's head was still glancing at her from over the woman's shoulder. "Then strip," she said again._

_Naminé sighed, and grudgingly did as she was asked as quickly as possible to get it over with. This woman wasn't Roxas, no need to give her a tease. Off came the warm coat, hat, and mitts. Off went the zippered and hooded top and the skirt. Off went the white dress beneath and her footwear, and Naminé now stood in only her two pieces of white underwear, blushing and feeling very exposed and self-conscious, not to mention _cold_! She hoped that none of the guys could see her like this._

"_Very good," Ur said, turning around and getting a better look at the Princess. "Well, let's go for a run, shall we?" She started to run north, towards the gap in the high cliff walls that led out and away from the city._

"_Hey, wait up!" Naminé called, rushing after her and consciously feeling every flake of snow that brushed against her shins and every breath of wind that touched her body._

-A-D-

She was panting, sweat from the running keeping her cold, while her muscles themselves were a mix between chill and heated. They hadn't done any magic yet, but Naminé already knew one thing about this training.

_She's right, this is going to be really tough. The others probably aren't having an easier time than me either._ She hung her head. _November is going to be hell._

-A-D-

_Ice, snow, cold, the very things the Islanders are not used to is the very thing that they all experience with a gusto. Coincidence? Maybe, but…_

_These Olympics are OURS. And Sunday at 12:15, we're going to let everyone know just whose game they're playing! The Men's Gold Medal in Hockey will be Canadian on Canadian ice!_

_Yes, I'm emphatically declaring the thing that everyone with a Canadian heart is hoping for, but I need to declare it dammit! It's OUR game, and it's OUR time to take it!_

_And in case you don't know, Ur (or Ul if you prefer from the anime's subs) is from the anime/manga Fairy Tail._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	32. Sora's Good Day

_This is where I would normally make some kind of comment, but I'm still high from the Olympics to really say anything except…_

_**CANADA!! OH MY GOD, OH CANADA!! WE BELIEVED!! GOLD… HAS NEVER LOOKED OR SOUNDED SO SWEET!! Congratulations to all the athletes and podium finishers in the 21**__**st**__** Winter Games, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. These were Games that will undoubtedly go down in history as the best Games ever! Sydney? They were nice. Salt Lake City? They were pretty good. Athens? They were GREAT, but not the best. Torino? Yeah, okay. Beijing? China had NOTHING on these! Vancouver 2010? Best Olympic Games in History! Never before has the spirit of this proud nation that we Canadians call home been like it, and BC Place and General Motors Place, or Canada Hockey Place as we will now like to remember it, will likely NEVER look the same again to a Lion or a Canuck. Congratulations Canada and congratulations world!**_

_My über loving-Canada moment has now passed, at least until the next World's in Hockey, or Curling, or the Summer Games in London England in 2012! We'll see you there!_

_And because of the above, it takes the place of what I would have normally written, being some kind of celebratory thing about having achieved the _**Three-Year Anniversary of The Annals of Darkness this past March 4****th****!**

_Oh, and just a note, this one gets a bit limey. So, be warned. On the other hand, you'll probably be crying tears laughing through it because I'm not here to write lemons. If I was, I'd be off on the adultfanfiction site._

_And, one more note. I don't know how much coverage this got south of the 49th Parallel, but our Prime Minister is officially the country's biggest douchebag. We hear our national anthem sung impromptu a thousand times over in seventeen days, and fourteen times officially while standing on the top of the podium on the world stage, and as soon as our prorogued Parliament comes back in, Stephen Harper has the nerve to include in the throne speech, read by the Governor General, the suggestion that we should change Oh Canada! The total douchebag!_

_Disclaimer: I, Shire Folk, do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Bleach, Fairy Tail, Lord of the Rings, or any other media used in this that is not my own._

-A-D-

Chapter XXXII: Sora's Good Day

"So," Maleficent muttered, looking at Xayn Shu and Newyearsux as they stood before her, "the message has been delivered?"

"Yes," Xayn Shu answered her. "But, they are not reacting as you anticipated."

"On the contrary, they are reacting _exactly_ as I expected them to."

Xayn Shu looked at her with something resembling surprise. "You expected them to grow stronger and more defiant?"

"What I expected of them is not your concern," Maleficent answered, a small smile on her face. She dismissed them with a wave of her hand, and after they had gone she turned to Diablo. Her green-tinted hand caressed the side of the raven's face, and her voice took on a purr. "Yes, my sweet," she said aloud, talking only to her familiar. "I was wrong before, they are going to continue onward like the fools that they are. Perhaps it _would_ be best if we… interfered with whatever plans that they may have."

-A-D-

_2132 hrs, Tuesday, October 28, 2003  
Radiant Garden  
Riku_

"We're in trouble."

"Achoo!"

"You said it."

Respectively, Riku, Naminé, and Roxas together in Naminé's room in Radiant Garden's castle the night after their first day of training. Renji was in his gigai in the den with Chad, and Stewie was thankfully off somewhere else. Riku and Roxas were both shirtless in Naminé's company and sporting numerous bandages on their bodies while the Princess was dressed in as many warm clothes as she could wrap herself in, so much as even including the comforter from her bed.

Looking like a giant multi-coloured marshmallow didn't exactly help the fact that she was also working to cure the wounds that her boyfriend and good friend had gotten. Naminé sneezed again, and her only free hand grabbed one more tissue and wiped her red nose with it. She put it away and touched Riku's shoulder again, and the silver-haired youth hissed in pain.

"Cura," Naminé said, her eyelids fluttering before green tendrils of magical energy grew from her fingertips and wrapped around Riku's body. Riku looked up at her as he felt the pain from his injuries lessening substantially.

"Are you okay Naminé?" he asked. Her nodding head popped up suddenly in a jerky movement.

"I'm just (yawnnnnn) tired," she answered, her arms moving to wrap around her body. She swayed for a bit. "Even though Ur didn't teach me any magic at all today, I'm still exhausted and recovering."

"Recovering?" Roxas asked. "Recovering from what?" Naminé glanced at her boyfriend.

"Oh, nothing that you really need to be concerned about," she said, turning her face away to hide a faint embarrassed blush on already rosy cheeks.

"She started her period a few days ago," Riku told Roxas. The blonde and blond both blushed and while Roxas looked away and began to whistle, Naminé turned her eyes on Riku.

"How did you know?" she asked curiously.

"You said that you were recovering and your answer didn't imply the hangovers we all had this morning," Riku answered logically. "So, the only option left was that you recently had your period."

"Perceptive, perverted jerk."

"Thank you," Riku answered. He stared ahead of him suddenly as golden light began to shine in a human-sized space, and Dawn was now standing in front of them, dressed as she had been in the restaurant.

"He's right though," she said while Naminé looked at her in surprise, enough surprise to even slap the Princess fully awake. "We are in trouble." She glanced at Riku, and her eyes began to hungrily devour his chest, bare except for the bandages. She licked her lips. "I gotta say Rik, I adore the shirtless you, even when you're cut up." Her gloved hand pressed up against his chest and she leaned in. Her face was now inches away from Riku's, her breasts were squishing up against his chest, and her expression was a loving and, somewhat, seductive one.

Riku rolled his eyes and turned his face away right before Dawn could kiss him, red in the face regardless of how cool he tried to act about it all. He coughed. "Would you please stop it? I've got a girlfriend."

"Yes, and Miss Night's gone," Dawn answered with a slight and playful giggle as she worked to get the angle right. "That means that it's just us."

"Riku," Naminé started as the silver-haired Keyblade Master continued avoiding her lips like the plague, "I didn't ask earlier, because I thought she was just some kind of weird hangover hallucination, but who the heck is this girl?"

Dawn looked around, still half kneeling on Riku. "Oh right, we haven't actually met yet have we Miss Moon? You can call me Dawn, 'kay?"

Naminé looked at her questioningly, and then shook her head. She was _really_ tired after healing both Roxas and Riku. "Um, okay Dawn. What are you?"

"She's the soul inside my Keyblade," Riku answered. He slipped out from underneath the girl with orange eyes as she gave an 'oh' of surprise and Riku stood up. "And I figured that out on my own," Riku added, looking at Dawn's inquisitive look.

She smiled. "Hmm," she purred, "smart boy." Her tongue went up to lick her lips again and Riku shook his head and sighed.

"You were saying that we're in trouble?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, and you agreed with me so why are you asking?" Riku countered.

"To get us back on topic," Roxas said, his voice rising slightly. "So, how are we going to deal with Renji?"

"Build up your resistance to Renji's and Zabimaru's strength," Dawn answered, somewhat serious now as she stood up. But then she floated into the air and hovered above them, lying on her front with her elbows propped up and feet kicking into the air. "Renji surprised us by using Shikai and then going full strength with his Bankai. We likely haven't seen all of his tricks yet, but as soon as you two are accustomed to fighting an opponent who's letting his strength flow out of him, Renji won't be too much of a challenge. Hihiō Zabimaru is strong, but he's also big and slow. And, there's something else."

Dawn smiled widely and looked down at Riku. "Once Rik gets to know _me_ better, and I decide that he's ready for it, I'll let him try to Ascend. And then, if he's successful and doesn't die on me, maybe I'll let you know what my real name is. Or who knows, you may just figure it out on your own. Once you know my true name though, _we'll_ be able to do Shikai and, if we get along well enough, I'll be able to release my full power, and then we'll also have a Bankai."

"So you'll have a Bankai vs. Bankai fight?" Roxas asked Riku, smiling.

"Don't start looking too far ahead," Dawn said, looking down at Roxas quickly. "It can take a Legendary Wielder of Power _years_ to achieve Bankai. In fact, it took my last, and first, master, Balhafa, twenty-one years, three months, two weeks, four days, sixteen hours, forty-one minutes, and seven seconds after learning my true name to finally achieve Bankai with me."

Naminé yawned. "Wow, you really kept track. I want to go to bed guys, can I sleep now?" Riku, Roxas, and Dawn all looked at Naminé. She already looked to be nearly asleep on her feet already, all wrapped up in her warm sweaters and blankets and bed comforter; her eyelids were heavy, and her feet were swaying.

Riku nodded. "Sure thing Naminé. See you in the morning." Dawn dove down from above for Riku, and she disappeared into his body like she'd just dived into a lake. Roxas whispered something to Naminé and gave her a kiss goodnight, and followed the Wielder of Dawn out of the Princess' room, only stopping to pick up their shirts and vests and turn off the lights.

Riku shut the door behind the blond, and spoke up as he was taking his shirt and vest back from Roxas. "Did you hear what Dawn said?"

"Yeah," Roxas said, looking at the closed door like he could see his girlfriend through it. "She called Naminé 'Miss Moon'."

"The Shield Star Wielder of the Moon. That makes five," Riku said to himself, turning to go towards his room to get some sleep himself. He was going to need it. "Five of us are Legendary Wielders of Power. Dawn's being very liberal with her tongue."

"I wonder what else she knows," Roxas said, following a couple of steps behind Riku.

"I say! Silver-haired tall one!"

Riku and Roxas both stopped and turned around to see Stewie standing on the red carpet with folded arms, looking very cross. "Where is the shrew who was with us? The airsickness prone ninja with the black hair?"

"Yuffie?" Riku asked. "She's gone for a month. She's off training herself."

Stewie's eyes widened with delight. "You mean she's gone? For a whole month!? This calls for a sexy party!" His hands suddenly went to his shirt and overalls and they flew off him, revealing a sailor suit underneath, including a hat. He whipped the white-top onto his head and Stewie was suddenly surrounded by six women in stockings, suspenders, and lacy lingerie, and the seven of them started to laugh and giggle as Stewie began chasing them around the corridor.

Riku and Roxas looked at each other and for once agreed that it was best to turn the other cheek and walk away from the mad baby. Sora and Kairi couldn't have had to deal with stuff this crazy. Within two minutes, Riku was inside of the room he'd been given by Kensworth, and almost as soon as he'd opened the door music began to blare from somewhere inside.

"_All aboard! Hahahaha!"_

_Crazy Train?_ Riku thought as he flipped the lights on and quickly strode towards the sound. _Who's that again?_ He reached the communicator he'd gotten from Star Command and looked at the screen. "Oh, Sora. (He answered it) Hello."

"I swear that they're trying to kill us Riku!"

Riku was about to bite back at Sora's sudden whining, but decided to humour him. If Sora's first words for him were like that, his day had to have been a thousand times worse than his. Riku could use a few good laughs knowing that he had it easy. "So, how was your day?"

-A-D-

_Sora_

It couldn't have been more than a half-hour since they'd dragged themselves out of the Bruinen, but while Menelmon had managed to mostly recover by now and Ninquemon was awake again, even if a little groggy while placed close to his partner's chest underneath Sora's wet shirts and jacket, the two teenagers were still struggling to keep moving and stay awake. Just recently they'd climbed up a small hill, and then descended down its other side into a grove of trees, only to find themselves against a ridge about thirteen feet high.

At the moment, they didn't have the strength to try and climb it nor the will to find another way up. That thirteen-foot ridge was an insurmountable obstacle to their cold, wet, tired, and hungry bodies that filled them with despair.

"Tha-at's it," Kairi said, still shivering, "I'm stopping." To prove her point, she dropped onto the ground and leaned against the rock-face of the ridge. Sora glanced around as both of them had their hands underneath their armpits.

"You still as co-old as I am?" he asked, looking down at Kairi.

"I'm not cold anymore," Menelmon said, looking between them.

Kairi's teeth chattered slightly and the wind blew faintly through her cold, damp, hair. "That's great Menel, but what do you think Sora?" she retorted. Her eyelids half-closed and she looked down. "You know what we-we're going to have to do, r-right?"

"Yeah," Sora sighed, coming closer to the ridge. "Share body heat. Here we go again." Kairi heavily nodded her head, and she gave it a tiny jerk that meant 'come here' as her hands left her armpits to undo the buttons on the front of her jacket.

"No funny business," Kairi told him lightly, giving her boyfriend a smile as he worked to undo the buttons on his own sopping wet jacket. He dropped down to sit next to her, an unbidden smile coming to his face.

"Can you cast a fire spell yet?" he asked Kairi.

"Ma-maybe in a few minutes," she answered, "but we don't have any wood for a fire anyway."

"Leave that to me," Menelmon said confidently. "I'm feeling a lot better now, and I'm used to cold anyway. I'll be back with firewood in two shakes of a digimon's tail!"

Sora heaved his soggy sweater and sodden linen shirt over his head and Ninquemon popped out. "Wait for me," he called, bounding after Menelmon. "I'm feeling a bit better too, and I'll carry what you can't! (He turned around and looked at Sora) Don't worry Sora, we'll be back before you know it! And then we'll have a nice, warm, campfire!"

Sora and Kairi nodded at them, Sora shirtless and Kairi about to remove her bottommost layer of abdominal clothing, apart from her underwear. "Just be careful!" Sora called, though he was smiling now that Ninquemon appeared to be better, "and try to find some food too if you can!"

"Just don't eat all of it on your way back!" Kairi added. Menelmon and Ninquemon vanished under the boughs of the trees, and Kairi's shirt went over her head. The motion drew Sora's eyes to her just as his back felt the cold shiver of placing his wet jacket on it again, and the look and smile that Kairi gave him made his heart race in both nervousness, and excitement. Her jacket went over her own shoulders again and she looked at him. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Kairi leaned in and hugged Sora, pushing him back against the rock-wall of the ridge, while his own arms welcomed her in and drew around the skin of her back and behind the wet leather of her jacket. They pressed as closely against each other as possible while still making sure that Sora wasn't too closely sandwiched against the rocks, and Sora was briefly reminded of the many times they had done this before, sometimes with Riku, after staying on their play island later than they expected after swimming, except they'd been wrapped up completely in towels rather than partially wrapped in wet leather jackets and pants.

Kairi hissed slightly. "Sora, your automail is _freezing_!"

He chuckled a little bit and looked down on her. Kairi's head was just beneath his chin. "Yeah, I know."

She looked at him incredulously, leaning a little further against him and her side of the hug tightened slightly as she worked her way up. "How are you not bothered by it?" she asked.

"Kairi, I could stick this arm in lava and it wouldn't bother me anywhere near as much as the thought of what Winry would do to me when I went to get fixed up," Sora answered with a smile. Kairi smiled and giggled faintly before drawing herself closer.

Now by this point, Sora could no longer ignore the thoughts going through his mind at the sight of the smile that Kairi was giving him and the feel of continued pressure from a thin piece of fabric across Kairi's chest and the revealed curved flesh above the red bra. While he was privately enjoying the feeling immensely (excepting the fact that her underwear was just as soaked as the rest of their clothes and therefore just as uncomfortable), he had to ask the question that had resurfaced since they had been flying on Soronmon. He smiled, hoping that she didn't take it the wrong way, but the thought was just so ludicrous no matter how he considered it that he couldn't help but smile. "Iri, are you trying to seduce me?"

The corners of Kairi's smile twitched upwards and a sparkle came into her indigo eyes. She leaned forward further, and her voice dripped into a husky whisper that made Sora's smile turn into a funny lopsided grin. "Now Sor, what would ever give you _that_ idea?" Sora felt his brain begin to turn to mush as Kairi's hot breath brushed against his ear. "No baby, if I _was_ trying to seduce you, I would have done something like this."

A quiet, yet distinctively loud, _click_ made it to the Keyblade Master's ears, and Sora suddenly realized that Kairi's arms and hands were no longer around him, but at her back, and that the last damp fabric barrier between their chests had been removed. She pressed her upper body against his again, now completely flesh on flesh, and wrapped her arms around him again. Sora's heart pounded furiously and his blood pumped piping hot through his veins.

His voice shook as his smile left him, a bitter struggle between his brain and a raging hormonal monster for dominant control of his body embroiling him. "I-Iri, what are you doing?" he asked, a small part of him praying that she really _was_ seducing him and telling him that he was allowed to give in to whatever dark desires were buried inside him. Kairi didn't answer vocally, but kissed him softly on the lips.

Sora's eyes widened. Her lips graced his again, and he kissed her back, his eyelids fluttering closed. He moved to kiss her again, but found the girl's lips gone, instead trailing kisses along his jaw towards the neck. The fire Kairi was igniting burned inside of every artery and vein. His extremities no longer felt cold even within their damp containers, and the coolness that seeped in from his pants was now liveable instead of just barely tolerable. The monster inside him was rattling at the bars of its cage, demanding release from the prison Sora's brain confined it to. Sora groaned as Kairi's kisses reached the back of his jawbone. "Kairi, if you keep this up, I don't think I'll be able to hold myself back."

"Just hold on a little longer Sora," Kairi answered softly and quietly in between butterfly kisses down the side of his neck towards his right shoulder. "I'm not ready for that yet, but I need you warm so that you can warm me up."

_Huh?_ Sora wondered, his eyes opening again. It was then that he finally paid attention to the feeling of Kairi's skin against him, and why he felt such a fire racing through him at the touch.

Compared to him as he was right now, Kairi was an ice cube.

Sora enveloped her again in with his arms and hands, hands that had gone to the sides of his head in disbelief and awaiting ecstasy. Kairi's own left their places around his torso and neck and drew closer to her chest, slightly grasping the sides of her damp jacket and drawing the wet material closer to her body.

"You sly, sexy, little minx," Sora chuckled, holding her close. His brain had just shot the monster with a tranquilizer, and it was going into a nice sedated sleep.

"Whatever works," she mumbled, looking at him with a smile. "Besides," she added, "watching you start turning into a total horndog, who wanted nothing more than to do me right here and now, without breaking into laughter has got to have been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life!"

"So you _were_ seducing me!"

Kairi giggled. "I've got to admit, it's fun being in control and acting sexy for a change."

"You weren't just acting sexy Iri," Sora laughed. "You just are sexy."

Kairi gave him a look with a raised eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that taking my bra off helped a lot though."

"Yeah, why did you do that anyway?"

"A few reasons," Kairi answered. "It was cold, it was wet, it was uncomfortable and starting to itch, and you've already seen me topless once thanks to that _stupid_ corset and seen me completely naked once too so what difference does it make if you see my breasts when we need to share body heat to warm up?" She paused and smiled in a way that told Sora that she knew something. "Sorry, what difference would it make apart from insanely turning you on and giving you a raging erection?"

Sora's face turned beet red in embarrassment. "Y—you know about that!?" Kairi huddled closer under their wet jackets and giggled.

"Sora sweetie, I'm half-lying on you, and half-sitting on your lap. Of course I know about it. And you're just so adorable when you squirm because you're embarrassed."

Sora muttered something under his breath about her manipulating him to take advantage of his hormones to get his blood pumping, but he had to admit, he was feeling a lot warmer now. Kairi shivered again against his chest, and Sora got an idea.

"Let's get you warm Kairi," he said tenderly. Heat shot through his automail, bringing the metal's temperature up from ice-water to warm-summer-day, and his fingers tingled with warmth. Sora's hands went up and touched Kairi's ears, and the warmth he was generating from finally being warm enough to feel the heart of his blood seeped into the girl's ears and turned them red as blood rushed to them again.

Kairi closed her eyes and moaned in contentment as Sora's fingers left the top tips of her ears and moved down to the rest of them. His hands then cupped her cheeks, the tips of his fingers near the pressure points at the back of her jaw, and his hands warmed her face as it turned red as well, but whether it was actually from the warm blood returning to her skin to give it colour or whether she was blushing Sora couldn't tell.

The red-head's breathing had softened and she was smiling, and a noise that Sora associated with the purring of a kitten escaped from her. Sora couldn't stop smiling himself. Once her cheeks were warm enough, Sora's hands trailed down to her neck, then to her collarbone, and then her shoulder blades as he worked his way down.

Sora reached her chest and paused, uncertain if he should continue down that way, or if he should just go down her back. Kairi spoke, showing that she hadn't fallen asleep as Sora had started to wonder. "Keep going."

His cerulean eyes widened and Sora stuttered in his surprise. "Se-seriously!? You want me to—"

"Keep going," Kairi said again. "I don't mind. You're giving me a heated massage and they're cold too. I _know_ you're going to enjoy it so you might as well because you're not going to get another chance to touch them for a long while."

"Have I ever told you before just how much I love you?" Sora asked.

"Yes, now hurry up before Menelmon and Ninquemon get back and start asking questions we don't want to answer."

"Hm, good point. Okay, here I go."

Kairi gasped suddenly and looked up at Sora, her face redder than her hair. "I don't think you needed to announce that you were about to place your hands on my boobs Sora. And the next time, could you maybe _not_ squeeze so hard?"

"Sorry Kai, I just haven't done this before."

"That's what she said."

Sora blinked and scowled at her. "That line doesn't sound right coming from you," he said.

"If you said it I'd have slapped you, and you set me up for it. It was too good for me to pass up."

Sora grumbled. "It still doesn't sound right coming from a girl's mouth."

Kairi gasped again as Sora squeezed while moving his hands around to get as much of them warm as quickly as possible. "They aren't blitzballs Sora, and they certainly aren't as big as those are either." Sora looked at Kairi's face as she shied her head away from him. There had been a depressed note in her voice that interested him.

"Something wrong Iri?" he asked. "Am I bad at this too?" She shook her head.

"No," Kairi replied. "It's just… Yuna, and Rikku, and Tifa, and even Yuffie… I mean—"

Sora broke her off with a chuckle. "_Oh ho ho_, I see. You're worried that I think that you're too small considering who else I have for friends." Kairi's blush intensified, signalling to Sora that he had read her correctly. "Kairi, while their breasts are bigger than yours, it's you that I want, not them. Besides that, how many of them do you think would be comfortable with letting me do this? And if you're really worried about size, you're still growing and I already think that they're perfect."

The blush deepened, and Kairi's voice came back coy. "Thanks Sora." As the seconds went on Sora noticed that her breathing was getting faster and sharper, and she was starting to elicit tiny, unbidden sounds. Sora smiled; it served her right for doing the same to him.

His hands finally left his girlfriend's breasts to hit the underside of her bust and her cold abs and the small of her back. "You're more than welcome Kairi," he replied to her thanks at last, "and thank you for letting me warm them up."

"Are you sure you're not the one trying to seduce me?" Kairi asked quickly. "I'm fighting down urges right now. Memories of _Smooth Criminal_ are still affecting me."

"I promise I'm not trying to seduce you Kairi," Sora answered, pretending to be shocked. "But if you want me to later…"

"Since we've already seen everything we each have, we need some ground rules," Kairi said suddenly and snappily. "We can look and we can touch, but nothing else and only with the other's consent. And I do not consent for your hands to go north again right now."

"Done," Sora said, rubbing his right hand up and down Kairi's back, supplying it with heat. "But later…?"

Kairi smiled again and her hands went to the sides of his face once more. "Depends on how dead we feel after Urahara's through with us after we get to where we're supposed to be going."

"Or we could just play that game Yuna and Rikku got me," Sora said, thinking it best to supply an alternative, just in case.

Kairi smiled. "You're still insanely turned on aren't you?"

"Like you can't believe."

-A-D-

Menelmon and Ninquemon returned not ten minutes later, Menelmon carrying a nicely sized pile of sticks and branches in her wings and Ninquemon dragging a fallen branch from a spruce tree in his mouth, a few nicely-sized fish lying on the branch. Feeling much warmer, both teenagers rose and helped the digimon search for a suitable place for a fire.

The ridge they had been leaning up against ran east-west for maybe seventy metres, curving south slightly near its eastern end close to the river, and tapering out into a steady slope near there as well. There were several spruce trees only a short distance away from there as well, so the curved end of the ridge was well protected from the wind. They decided that the location was perfect and set the wood down.

Kairi held her left hand out towards the pile of wood, her right hand and arm holding onto her shirt, sweater, jacket, and bra (since it was still wet and according to her it made no sense at all to put it back on until it was warm and dry). "Fire." A stream of flame shot out of her hand and licked at the base of the wood pile. Seconds later the wood had caught fire and was burning merrily, as if it had already been doing so for hours.

"Nice one Kairi," Sora said, already sitting down and in the process of removing his boots.

"Thank you," she said, taking some of the longer and sturdier sticks from Menelmon and planting them into the ground near the fire. She held out her hand and Sora started to pass her his clothes and jacket, and she draped them over the sticks so that they could dry by the heat of the flame.

An hour later the four of them had devoured the cooked fish down to the bones, keeping the heaviest pangs of hunger away at least, and the clothes of the humans had become dry enough for them to be returned to their bodies in full. Once dressed again, the four set off north again at a brisk pace to make up for lost time.

It took more than an hour for the four as they travelled up along the heights above the river's edge to reach the place where they had tried to fly across the Bruinen before getting shot down by Ururu, except this time they were on the opposite bank. "Now we head west then," Kairi said, turning to her right and looking into the wilds again.

The land was much the same as it had been when they'd first come this way with Strider to dodge the pursuit of the Black Riders: hard, rocky, ground that rose and fell on a whim in hills and ridges, mountainous country under the cover of the forest. For whatever reason, Sora felt that the trip seemed harder now than it had on the opposite bank, where they were being continuously chased and attacked by Hat 'n Clogs and his employees.

The sun had nearly set by the time they reached a section of wood where the smell of a campfire, cooking meats, and the faint waft of tea, was able to reach them. Weariness vanished from their exhausted bodies and smiles of jubilation came to the faces of the foursome. They bounded forward, their stomachs grumbling loudly.

"Awaken, Benihime."

Sora froze and turned around at the voice. Standing on a bough of a great tree behind them stood Kisuke Urahara, holding onto his released zanpakutō. His face was hidden by his bucket hat, but the eyes that looked at him from under the shadows were completely serious. "Mr. Hat 'n Clogs…" Sora whispered.

"Well well well," Kisuke began, looking down at the four. "Look who finally decided to show up. You certainly took your time."

"That wasn't our fault!" Kairi retorted.

"You broke the rules, it was," Kisuke answered. "I told you that none of you were allowed to fly to get here, but you tried to fly across the river. You reap what you sow, after all." His left hand snapped out, and there was a fan in it.

"But hey," he began lightly, holding the extended fan up near his mouth, "you survived. So I guess it wasn't that bad at all. Now that you're here (the fan snapped closed and he smiled) let's begin."

Without another word Kisuke leapt off the tree branch and dashed down towards them, Benihime wound up behind him and prepared to strike at Sora. Remembrance just barely appeared in his hands in time to block the man's sword, and his Keyblade was pushed back into his chest. Sora felt his wind leave him as he flew backwards before striking a tree.

"Ah, hello young master," spoke a voice. "I see you've finally arrived." Sora turned his head just as Kairi tumbled past him through a bush and the boy saw that Tessai was sitting cross-legged by the fire, a cup of tea in his massive hands.

A shadow clouded the side of his vision, and Sora saw Kisuke Urahara standing in front of him with Benihime pointed towards him. The Soul Reaper tisked, "Boy oh boy, do we ever have our work cut out for us." His zanpakutō rose up to lean against his shoulder. "I suppose we've put you through enough for one day. The _real_ training will begin tomorrow. Come in, come in! Eat and drink with us; you've had a long day."

Kisuke walked away, and Sora slowly rose and stumbled towards the fire. Three orange tents were set up around it in a semi-circular pattern, there were a few lines strung up between trees, and a stack of pots and other cooking devices against the side of one of the tents. In front of another were two packs covered by brown cloaks and a wooden crate with a black ink stamp on it.

Kairi sat down next to Sora about twenty seconds later, and her right hand came out and touched his left one. Sora looked up at her as her face was bathed in the rose glow of the fire and his spirits rose at the small smile on her face.

Jinta was chowing down on a leg of something or other that had been roasted on the fire, and Ururu was as well, though far more politely. "I'm sorry about earlier if I hurt you," she said quietly, glancing meekly up at Kairi.

"Oh don't worry about it," Ninquemon said as he bounded up onto the log that Sora and Kairi were sitting on. "We're alright."

"Yeah, I knew you guys had hard enough heads," Jinta said, knocking his own lightly with a fist. Sora shook his head and reached out to the massive plate of meat that had already been roasted over the fire, the meat still steaming hot.

"Oh, before you begin," Hat 'n Clogs began before Sora's fingers could touch the meat, "I want a hundred push-ups from both of you."

"WHAT!?"

-A-D-

"And all our stuff is here in this tent," Sora finished, glancing back around him to look at the inside of the tent he was sitting in.

Riku nodded his head, watching Sora as the brunet Keyblade Master finally fell silent on the screen. "So despite everything you said, your day was actually better than mine."

"Huh?" Sora asked, confused.

"You made it to second base man!" Riku answered. "I wouldn't think that you two would get so far already. Through the phone high-five!"

"Is that Riku?"

Riku watched as Sora turned his head back to look into the tent, and Riku saw Kairi standing there and leaning to look at the screen of the communicator on Sora's end. "Hey Kairi!" Riku chuckled. "You know, we were _just_ talking about you."

The Wielder of Dawn smiled at the frown that came to Kairi's face as she looked down on Sora. "Did you tell him about that?"

"Riku asked how my day was so I told him how my day was," Sora answered. "And it was a private conversation until you walked in."

Riku watched as Kairi clearly rolled her eyes. "Boys are so stupid," he heard her mutter, "always telling their buddies about every new thing in their sex lives."

"Actually the way I heard it, I never would have guessed Kairi," Riku returned, giving a chuckle as Kairi's head turned to regard him through the screen. "You're a Princess of Heart girl. I thought that _you'd_ be too pure to encourage this loser to fondle your cleavage like that." He held back a laugh as Kairi blushed crimson and turned her head away. She turned around after another second to answer, but Riku interrupted her before she even got a word out. "And I heard you liked it too. Did you cream your pants you naughty Princess?"

"Urgh!" Kairi grunted exasperatedly and threw her arms in the air before stalking out of Riku's sight. "Why is it that boys are so stupid and my two best friends are total pervs!?"

"News flash Kairi," Riku called, "_all_ guys are pervs to some degree!" There was a sound like a tent-flap opening, and Sora's head turned from watching Kairi retreat to looking through the communicator at Riku again, a wide smile on his face.

"Don't mind her, she's just PMSing. Phone-five again."

"_I HEARD THAT SORA!_" sounded over the slapping noise made from Riku's palm connecting with the screen of his communicator as the same thing happened with Sora's.

"You're in the doghouse buddy," Riku told his best friend, smirking at him.

"Shut up, you're still on first."

-A-D-

_Yeah, this one's shorter and is again, a bit more of a fillerish chapter, but the next one brings us to Halloween. Just don't expect it for a while because, well…_

_**FINAL FANTASY XIII COMES OUT TUESDAY, THE 9**__**TH**__** OF MARCH!**_

_So you all know what I'll be doing instead of writing. But as I watch the International Trailer and all other trailers, I keep getting this sinking feeling in the pit of my gut. I know that this game is going to be legendary and completely awe-inspiringly awesome and that FF XIV has been announced, but FF XIV is another FF MMORPG and I can't help but feel that XIII may just be the last great Final Fantasy Numbered Title RPG in the series. Better judgement tells me that there will always be a new Final Fantasy, but my heart feels like XIII will be the last._

_Anyway,_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	33. Flashes and Frights

_So this is coming off the greatness that is FF XIII. I don't give a crap about reviews for it or what anyone else thinks, I love it! I love the character design. I love the voice acting. I love the artwork. I love the stunning visuals. I love the lighting. I love the way that their hair moves. I love the story. I love the way the whole plot is interwoven, and I love the characters themselves. I just LOVE this game!_

_Except for one little thing during the final boss battle onboard the _Palamecia_ at the end of Chapter 9... IF ANYONE WAS ABLE TO 5 STAR BARTHANDELUS OR AT LEAST BEAT HIM IN UNDER 12 MINUTES, I WANT TO SEE THAT WITH MY OWN DAMN EYES!! IT TOOK ME 23 MINUTES WITH LIGHTNING, HOPE, AND FANG TO KNOCK THAT SON OF A BITCH DOWN!_

_Disclaimer: Not awesome enough to own it. I also do not own any ghost stories used._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXIII: Flashes and Frights

_1101hrs, Friday, October 31, 2003  
Middle-earth_

Scratching his head, Sora half-smiled at the auburn-haired Princess of Heart as he stood in the middle of the clearing that had been created by the massive release of energy when both his and Kairi's Heartless had briefly taken over their bodies. She was standing just a few metres away from him with her Keyblade, Crowning Flame, out in her hands. Dozens of wooden targets, large and small, were flying through the air around her, and she was firing at every one she could see with fire spells per Tessai's instruction. Her face was set deep in concentration and sweat was rolling down her face in sheets and soaking into the non-descript grey tank top she wore. It was cooler outside than Sora'd liked, but Kairi was working up a sweat regardless. He was wearing a t-shirt of similar design, being black instead of cement-grey, and black shorts.

He hadn't been in the doghouse, as Riku had called it, long. Kairi had barely spoken a single word to him more than was absolutely necessary for about five minutes, and then she had given him a warm smile and let him off the hook. Apparently she'd managed to talk to both Naminé and Selphie at the same time and told them almost the exact same thing as he'd told Riku, and Selphie had started to act _the exact same way_ as Riku had! She had also given him a kiss and said that it was impossible for her to stay mad at him long anyway, especially for something so minor.

_Wow, Kairi's gotten really good,_ he realized quietly to himself. _Heck, she may even be better than I am. No, that's not right; Kairi _is_ better than me. I need to work harder if I'm going to catch up with her. She's making magic look so easy._

"Sora-kun," the cat, Yoruichi Shihōin, started in his voice that seemed far too masculine for a black housecat, "you're supposed to be working on learning the Flash Step."

He jumped slightly, jolted out of his thoughts. There was a sudden presence behind him, and the next thing Sora knew he was sliding through the cold dirt ground on his face and chest.

"You're still pitiful," Kisuke Urahara said, having flashed behind him and delivered a solid kick to the Keyblade Master's back. "After two days, you still haven't managed to grasp it. Kairi-chan was able to in only three hours."

Another three fireballs left the white blade of Crowning Flame as its wielder swept it in an upwards arc towards some of the targets circling around her. Sora was watching her. Kairi knew that Sora was watching her, and the very thought made her extend her left hand forcefully and make the air spontaneously combust around a small target in a contained explosion of flame.

_I can't afford to be weak,_ she thought. _I need to get stronger. I need to get better. I don't want to die; I _won't_ die!_

She spared a glance towards him, and saw Sora vanish suddenly and then appear about a foot ahead of where he had been standing, his arms flailing around as he fell forward onto his face, looking all the while as if he'd just tripped over his own feet. Kairi allowed herself a tiny, amused, smile at how comically Sora was failing. She'd mastered the Flash Step so quickly compared to him, thought the experience had been long and embarrassing. Both of them had been so unsightly two days ago when first being taught the basics of how to perform the move. Both Sora and she had largely fallen flat on their faces or on their bums as they'd tried to do it, but finally Kairi had mastered the flow and control of her energy required to Flash. She could still only take about three or four steps before losing her breath, but that was twenty times better than Sora could do at the moment.

"Keep casting Kairi-san," Tessai ordered, the large darker skinned man still sitting cross-legged several metres behind her, his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. She did as she was instructed despite the weariness that was beginning to assault her, and unleashed more red fireballs towards the moving targets.

Sora yelled in pain as he struck a tree dead on, trying to Flash Step again but failing miserably. Urahara and Yoruichi sighed heavily as he staggered his way off the tree's truck to stand in front of them, swaying on his feet.

"You really should stop trying Sora," Aiwemon said, perched with Menelmon up in the branches of the tree he'd smashed his face into. "You're going to end up hurting yourself too much."

"Nah," Sora said, drunk with pain, "I'm alright. I can get this thing sorted out, no problem."

"Maybe later," Urahara said, looking off to the side. "Oh Ururu-chan…" he said in a sing-song voice.

"Yes Urahara-san?" the girl asked quietly, slowly coming towards him in her white shirt and flowery pink skirt. Kisuke Urahara bent down and whispered something to her, also giving her something that Sora couldn't quite see, and she nodded her head. Hat 'n Clogs then blocked her from view, and when he moved aside Sora could see that she was wearing a red and white mushroom-shaped helmet and red gloves, like a boxer. The man then tossed Sora something, and when Sora caught it he saw that it was a pair of white gloves like the one's Ururu was wearing and a white headband with flaps down the sides to protect the cheeks.

His brain's curiosity fighting with the sensation that was threatening to make him loopy, he looked up from his hands. "Uh, Mr. Urahara, just what are these for?"

"They're to protect you Sora-kun," Kisuke answered.

"Ooh," Jinta muttered from where he was standing near Tessai, "this is going to be good. Spike's going down hard." Kairi heard him and looked up towards Sora, panting hard. Something was going to take Sora down? Impossible, especially after what she'd seen him and MaltaOhtarmon do on the Islands against Xayn Shu.

"Protect me from what?" Sora asked, looking at the items in his hands skeptically.

Kisuke Urahara held his fan out with an extended arm. "The great warrior who stands against you!" he declared.

Sora's eye began to twitch at the sound of his voice. Kisuke was pointing his fan at Ururu. "You're kidding right?"

"The rules are simple," Urahara said. "The winner is declared when one combatant is no longer able to continue the match. I suggest you go for the knockout punch."

"You're not serious!" Sora shouted, throwing the headband and gloves onto the dirt. "There's no way I'm fighting her! She's just a little girl!"

"Please put them on Sora-kun," Ururu said in her quiet voice as she got into a fighting stance, "I don't want to kill you." She punched the air in front of her, making a tiny sound of effort.

Kairi knew that Ururu could punch, she'd been on the receiving end once, but she looked too cute in her fighting stance to possibly take seriously. The sound of paws on the dirt attracted her attention, and Kairi saw Yoruichi padding his way over to her to observe. "This should be interesting."

"There's no way you can expect me to punch a little girl," Sora said, looking at Urahara in disbelief. He'd just risked his life only a few days ago to _save_ a little girl, now he was supposed to fight one?

"It's not wise to underestimate your opponents Sora-kun," Kisuke said from behind his fan.

Ururu suddenly darted forward towards Sora and directed a punch right for him, flying down towards his face. Sora's cerulean eyes widened at suddenly seeing her directly in front of them. A cloud of dirt and dusty debris blew up from the ground as the outcome of Ururu's strike became questionable.

Another bead of sweat came to Kairi's face to join the ones already there from magical and physical exertion. "You're not serious," she muttered. "That much power from one little girl's punch?"

"Hey, where'd he go?" Jinta asked, looking through the dust cloud as only Ururu was able to be clearly seen through it.

"Hard to say," Kisuke said.

"Do you think he's dead?" Tessai asked.

"Not likely," answered Yoruichi. "Oh, there he is."

Kairi's eyes strayed to the right edge of the dust cloud as Sora rolled out of it, looking startled but no worse for wear.

_That looked like it would have hurt,_ Sora thought. _Good thing I dodged it._ He rose onto his feet and started running towards Ururu.

"Hey, looks like he's going after her," Jinta said, smiling eagerly. Kairi glanced at the flame-haired boy. It didn't look like that to her. Sora's revealed automail went down and scooped up the headgear and gloves.

"She hits me with one of those punches and I'm going to be wiping the taste of dirt from my mouth all night!" Sora yelled, running past the little girl rather than sending a punch her way. "Hey Hat 'n Clogs, how do I put these on anyway!?" Sora asked.

"Strap the headgear onto your forehead Sora-kun!" Urahara instructed. Sora stopped at the edge of the clearing in front of a large birch tree and placed the headgear around his forehead.

"Like this?"

"Great!" Kisuke said. "Now yell as loud as you can: Amazing Headband of Justice in place! Amazing Armour of Justice protect me now! Go on, say it!"

Kairi couldn't help but giggle. _Good thing I'm not Sora, that's just too silly._

Sora thought exactly the same thing. "No way! That's just so stupid!"

"Look out," Urahara said, pointing. Sora turned his head to see Ururu almost on top of him. He leapt out of the way just as Ururu made a punch for him. Her fist connected with the tree instead, and the thirty-foot tall living construct of nature keeled over. Even the thicker roots around its base were ripped out of the ground and snapped roughly further down.

"It's interesting how the fear of imminent death will change one's mind," Kisuke said, smiling from behind his fan.

"Alright I'll say it!" Sora yelled, slamming the headgear against his head again as he ran. "Here goes nothing. Amazing Headband of Justice in place! Amazing Armour of Justice protect me!!"

"Wow, he actually said it," Yoruichi said, looking up at Kairi. "Men are so gullible." Kairi nodded at the cat, trying her best not to smirk at just how dumb Sora sounded

"I can't believe you really said it," Urahara said, holding back a laugh.

"WHAT!?" Sora asked. "You mean that that was completely pointless?"

"Behind you."

Sora looked behind him, and saw that Ururu was still advancing. "Oh great!" He gasped, slamming the headgear onto his forehead again. This time the straps on the back tied together of their own accord and Sora placed the gloves on. He gave Ururu a look that meant that he was ready.

She punched, and Sora just barely dodged it in time. Another cloud of broken rock and dirt flew into the air and Sora rushed off in the opposite direction. He couldn't stand and fight against a little girl, no matter how much strength she had! It was wrong on so many levels.

Yoruichi looked up at Kairi again. "You know Kairi," he said, "most people I've met haven't been as unquestioningly accepting of a talking cat as you and Sora have."

"Huh?" Kairi asked, looking away from where Ururu had just missed another punch for Sora and creating a cloud of debris instead. "Oh, well after all the stuff that's happened, a talking cat isn't really a big deal Yoruichi-san."

The black cat's eyes surveyed Kairi curiously. "Oh, you know honourifics?"

Kairi nodded. "We don't really use them a lot on the Islands, only occasionally when we feel like it. But since you and Urahara-san have been using them, I've felt that I should start using them too. That doesn't mean that Sora is going to use them though," she added, folding her arms and smiling at Sora as he leapt away from another lunge from the little girl, this time her gloved fist just barely missing his chest while he still struggled to avoid her. He hadn't been hit yet though, so that was a plus for him. "He just doesn't like using them much."

"Hm," Yoruichi mumbled, nodding his head. "I figured as much, hearing his nickname for Kisuke."

"Hey," Jinta said aloud, pulling Kairi's attention back to the fight. "Looks like Spiky's fighting back."

"What?" Kairi asked, looking towards where Sora and Ururu were still going at it. Jinta was right, Sora had stopped running and dodging, and was finally on the offensive. His fists lunged out for Ururu, always aiming just a little shy of her head.

Sora was still having misgivings about having to fight a little girl, but he kept his head after finally regaining his cool from the embarrassing fiasco with the 'Amazing Armour of Justice'. _I'll just tap her headgear,_ he thought. _Ururu's just a little kid. If I give her a little tap, it should be—_

Ururu didn't dodge his right fist fast enough and it scraped against the side of her cheek. Sora saw a tiny bit of blood leave her flesh with a rising feeling of anger at himself. _Dammit! I cut her. Great job Sora, for the first time you your life, you're the bully._

Sora froze as Ururu's eyes began to water slightly, and they contracted in a way that was beyond description. Those eyes, they were terrifying with how emotionless and inhuman they looked. Suddenly Ururu was standing on his arm, and her leg was winding up behind her head in preparation for a kick that was likely ten times stronger than any of her previous punches.

Kairi cried out, "Sora!" and rushed forward, vanishing from where she stood. Her speed increased dramatically, and Kairi Flashed towards her boyfriend, appearing right behind him. Taking him by surprise as she grasped him around the shoulders, Kairi Flash-Stepped away with Sora in tow. They reappeared back where Kairi had been standing near Jinta and Yoruichi an instant later, and Kairi dropped to her knees, panting.

"That took a bit out of me," she said, placing a hand to her chest while trying to catch her breath.

"Kairi…" Sora said, looking at her in astonishment. "You just Flashed while carrying me... That's incredible! Wish I could do that."

Kairi laughed, still hanging her head, but she could hear the tiny bit of resentment and jealousy in Sora's voice. "Yeah, it is incredible. You guys tried to do it often enough when you both had crushes on me, so can you forgive me for showing off?"

Sora smiled at her. "Forgive you for what Kai?" Kairi looked up sharply, about the remind him, but then she saw the smile and her words died before they could even form on her tongue.

"Yeah, well so what if I can Flash Step better than you?" she asked. "You can Drive and I can't yet. That's what's really cool. I can't wait until I can do it." She smiled in anticipation, wondering what her first Drive form would be like when she finally learned how to go into it, before looking behind her.

Ururu was running straight for them, her eyes exactly as Sora had seen them. Eyes possessed; eyes that could not show that there was any conscious process behind the actions being performed.

"Your feet," Kairi said abruptly.

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking at Kairi.

"Flash Step," she said. "You have to concentrate; pool your energy around your feet, then rush forward while willing yourself to move at that fast a speed in one step. It's a lot faster than your Quick Run, even faster than a Haste spell, but it drains you at a faster pace. I was only able to do one step to you, and one step back while carrying you. (She glanced at him and smirked) You're heavier than you look, lazy bum."

"You calling me fat Kairi?" Sora asked, sounding offended.

"Look out!"

Ururu was in the air, flying towards the Keyblade Master with her foot high above her head. She was preparing to slam it down right atop him.

_Concentrate, gather, shape, visualize, release._

Sora obeyed the whispered instructions of 'Keyla' without question or thought. It started at Sora's feet, and then his entire body flashed with silver light for the briefest of moments before he vanished right before Ururu's foot was about to connect with his skull. He reappeared almost instantly above and behind the girl, and his right hand lunged out towards her headgear.

His knuckles lightly rapped against her mushroom-shaped helmeted head.

The punch, though insatiably light by the standards of how strong Sora actually could punch when he put his whole mind into socking someone, was more than enough. Ururu was already unbalanced while she was airborne, her body positioned in ways that compromised her ability to withstand attacks. She spun around in the air, her head tumbling down while her legs flipped up and her whole body twisting around.

Kisuke Urahara caught her just as she was about to hit the ground on her back. "Safe!"

Yoruichi smiled and nodded his feline head. _Well, it took him longer than Ichigo, and he was a little flashy about it, but good work Sora,_ he thought to himself. He looked at the smiling faces of Sora and Kairi, and nodded again. _Hm, they haven't even noticed what day it is today._

-A-D-

_Naminé_

Radiant Garden's blonde Princess shivered as she stood inside of a little shack that had been quickly erected for her teacher's, Ur's, usage since they had started training. The ice mage was currently residing inside of the castle, like Renji and Chad were, but she'd insisted on having a small location nearer to where she was training the Princess for the purposes of her methods, and one other reason.

After their second day of training, which had consisted entirely of running around in the snow again to get Naminé more used to the cold, they had been met at the north gates by Leon. He had been wondering what sort of training Master Yen Sid had put in place for Naminé, since Yuffie hadn't said a word of it when she briefly stopped by Merlin's before heading out herself. Then again, Yuffie didn't even know herself, so it wasn't entirely her fault.

They had both still been in their underwear upon meeting upon the gunblade wielder's arrival. They had left the castle in only their indecent attire, and, according to Ur's plan, would have returned to the castle in just the same.

Leon, blushing thoroughly, had to explain to Ur that it would cause a major scandal if word got out to the public that their Princess was training practically naked. Not only would it undermine the good reputation Naminé had already worked to achieve after first revealing that she had been a Nobody, but it would likely have invited an unwelcome audience of young men who would undoubtedly try to sneak a peek at their Princess, or the self-righteous ones who would interrupt their training to demand that Naminé be allowed to wear proper winter clothing and to remark that Ur was a bad example as a teacher and should do so as well.

Ur saw his point, so now there was a homely three-room wooden shack along the northern edge of the field in front of the wall, only about fifty metres to the east of the narrow, winding, ravine that led out to the north. She and Naminé would leave the castle fully dressed, come here, strip down, and then head out. They would return for lunch in the kitchen the shack was given. After they were done training they would come back, maybe soak for a little in the tub in the bathroom, warm up a little in the den, get dressed again, and then return to the castle.

"It's cold," the Princess stated, pulling her hands back from the liquid she had just touched to wrap them just underneath her bosom, covered by an orange bra with black trim; she was wearing a pair of panties of a similar colour scheme. She didn't care if it was only just underwear, she, at least, knew that it was Halloween today.

"Of course it is," Ur said, smiling and looking down at the tub of water in the bathroom of the shack. The wooden tub was big enough for five people to fit inside comfortably, and there were floating chunks of ice in the water. "You did after all just fill it with water, and then placed ice in it with blizzard magic like I told you to. Why wouldn't a nice ice-bath be cold?"

"But, I mean it's _really_ cold Master Ur," Naminé said, looking at the ice-water with apprehension. She'd been building up a small resistance to the cold since starting with the woman across from her, Ur wearing a black set of underwear.

"I'm not so sure about this either," another voice said in a slightly quieter tone. Naminé turned to look at the speaker, another young woman only two years her senior and about an inch and a half taller at five-foot-nine. She had blonde hair as well, though while Naminé's was a softer white-blonde, this young woman's was more a vibrant canary-gold. Her brown eyes glanced back and forth between the ice-bath, Ur, and Naminé in trepidation before glancing down, only wearing a grey sports bra to cover her C-cup breasts and black and pink panties. This, _all_ of this, was completely new territory for her, even after a whole day of it.

The same night that Ur and Naminé had met up with Leon, which had been Wednesday the 29th, Kensworth, Helia, and Roxas and Riku also discovered the nature of the beginning of Naminé's training. Riku had thought that it was funny and had joked that he wouldn't mind going through it with her compared to fighting Renji and Hihiō Zabimaru, Roxas had blushed and abashedly said that it was no wonder she was constantly wrapping herself up in warm clothing and blankets, and Kensworth and Helia had been horrified, for a moment. The good-natured Head Cook was far more accepting of this, with a heavy sigh, and took pity on her and made hot chocolate with marshmallows for Naminé with a promise that there would always be some waiting for her when she was done every day.

The Castle Steward, on the other hand, griped a bit more and confronted Ur, and insisted that there be one of the staff present at all times to ensure that Naminé had anything that she might need. Ur countered by asking him if he was volunteering for the position. Stuttering, the elder man denied outright, but maintained that if Naminé were to react unfavourably to the cold, that she have someone else nearby instead of solely Ur.

It stung Ur to know that the Steward didn't trust her or her methods, but it wasn't particularly hard to see why. Naminé had returned to the castle first, and then Kairi after Sora had lost his left arm. The return of the Princesses had given Philip Kensworth his life back, and with the death of their parents and the absence of their godfather Lord Ovan Ramius, he was their caretaker. To not know how Kairi was doing and to learn that Naminé was being stripped to run in the cold…

Ur could relate to his feelings. She had had a daughter, a daughter she'd lost, and though he was no father as far as anyone knew, Kensworth certainly felt almost a father's love towards the children of the Royal Family, having been there when they were born and waited on them and watched them grow every day until the assassin came and Ansem took over, to be later deposed by Xehanort and then abandoned to Maleficent. She consented, and permitted one of the staff to come with Naminé to watch over her in case she needed help with anything.

The one thing Ur had neglected to mention was that if there was going to be someone else tagging along they were going to be getting trained as well, willing or no.

This was why the other blonde was standing in the room with the ice-bath with both Naminé and her instructor, stripped down to her underwear the same as them. Out of all thirty-six members of the castle staff, including the Steward, servants, Head Cook, kitchen staff, Stable Master, stable-hands, coachmen, footmen, and two blacksmiths; it had landed on the much-pitied eighteen-year-old servant Agatha Quin to be the Princess' retinue, the only female servant apart from Helia to have any previous relationship with Naminé or Kairi; and in two different ways as a matter of fact. Agatha herself had been the one to discover that Kairi wasn't in her bed during the thunderstorm the night Kairi had tried to surrender herself to Maleficent, and Agatha's older sister, Rachel Quin, was the young FIST operative who had bugged Sora's hospital room and assisted in taking Kairi into custody on charges the Princess wasn't guilty of committing in the first place.

Sometimes, like right now, Agatha really wished that she hadn't realized that serving and caretaking were her callings after she started babysitting in Traverse Town.

Ur placed a slender leg into the frigid water, not showing the cold on her face in the slightest. "Come on you two," she said, cocking her head to one side, "the water's quite nice."

"Easy for you to say," Naminé muttered. She glanced at Agatha, pitying that the older young woman was stuck doing this with her. "Could you make sure that we have a big stack of towels waiting for us when we get out please?"

"O-of course milady," Agatha replied, stuttering slightly with a blush before ducking through the open door. Naminé sighed slightly and called after her.

"Agatha I've already told you three times today, when we're out of the castle like this just call me Naminé. It's only the three of us and I don't think it's possible to be dressed any more informally."

Ur withdrew her leg from the ice-water, smirking as she placed her hands on her hips, her fingertips tugging at and lingering on the waistband of her underwear. She was smirking and her eyes were closed, but there was nothing in her voice to suggest evil when she spoke. "It is possible, we could be naked."

"Don't even start!" Agatha said as she returned from the room directly adjacent, a stack of fluffy white, pink, and light blue towels in her arms. Her face was flushed. "It's weird enough, being just a servant and having to look at my Princess all day long with both of us in just our underwear."

"Class, birth, and upbringing have no place here," Ur said, her eyes opening and fixing both Naminé and the older girl with a look that seemed colder than the bath in front of them. "You are both my students and, despite whatever that butler says, neither of you will receive special treatment."

"I wasn't expecting any, and don't worry Agatha, I'm not used to it either," Naminé said. "I felt embarrassed enough having to strip the first day, and I nearly died when Leon found out, and then again when I told Roxas and Riku. Now I just (she made a defensive gesture with her arms, crossing them in front of her chest) feel so humiliated and small."

There was a splash of water as Ur's voice rose to their ears. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," their teacher said from in the tub while Naminé and Agatha's faces turned bright red. "You've got a better grasp of blizzard magic than any other amateur I've seen. There are few things that I could teach you beyond better control and power, so I think we'll start with Ice-Make magic tomorrow while Agatha continues with the basics."

"Are you _naked_!?" Naminé asked shrilly, her head and Agatha's turning away as soon as the words left the Princess' mouth.

Ur smiled at them in amusement. "What? You don't take a bath or shower wearing clothes do you? Even underwear goes."

Steeling herself, Naminé turned to look at her teacher again, trying to keep her eyes focused solely on Master Ur's face. Agatha was muttering next to her. "No, no, no no no, this is so _not_ happening. I'm not doing it. I can't strip butt-naked in front of people, especially not..."

Ur sighed, like she was relaxing. "You're doing this to become one with the cold," she said in contentment, her head leaning back and her arms resting against the rim. "To control the cold, to master the cold, you must become _one_ with it. Running in the snow and letting the chill wind whirl around you is a fresh start, but there's nothing better than soaking your bones in a nice cold bath. They're very therapeutic, and especially for preparation for a night like tonight."

Naminé stayed silent for a few seconds, watching Master Ur and listening to the woman's breathing. A part of her was intrigued. What was going to be happening tonight? What were Naminé's own plans for tonight, her first Halloween?

"What do you mean?" she asked her teacher.

Ur only turned one hand over and flexed her wrist a few times in a beckoning gesture. "Come on in, and maybe I'll tell you. There's no need to be shy, we're all equal women here."

_Some more equal than others,_ Naminé thought in embarrassment, glancing down. Another few seconds passed before another sound entered Naminé's ears. The blonde Princess looked to her right, and saw that the Agatha Quin was making the first move in removing the remainder of her clothes and was now topless.

Blushing, but realizing that there was no point and that it really didn't matter, Naminé's hands went to her back before stopping suddenly at the clasp of her bra. Her eyes widened slightly and glanced back at the open doorway. "I'll go make sure that that door is locked tight," she announced, heading into the kitchen to then go for the front door in the den. "And I'll make sure that not even a Keyblade can unlock it short of breaking the door down."

-A-D-

_0704hrs,  
Radiant Garden  
Riku_

This Halloween was going to be awesome.

Riku knew this single statement to be a fact as he waited patiently for the first trick-or-treaters to come waltzing up towards the castle, the great wrought-iron main gates of the wall that surrounded the keep and its gardens wide open in contrast to the one off to the west that had direct access to the gardens. That gate was closed and completely inaccessible, but not just because the portcullis was firmly buried beneath.

Massive brambles made entirely of ice had formed around the entire wall. Ice roses and thorns glittered above the snow that sat off the paths, but the most striking thing about them was that all of that glittering ice had been painted the darkest black. Woven amongst the rose garden composed of ice were scattered tombstones and an occasional scarecrow with a Jack-o-Lantern head.

The gate itself that Riku was nearby also had Ur's icy touch added to it. She had crafted the ice to make the gate look like the gaping maw of some fearsome beast with pointed ears and horrifically sharp teeth. They eyeholes were set deep within its pointed head, and two tiny lanterns were set inside, the light from the flames of the candles within tainted an eerie yellow. The road straight through the gate was lined with a number of gravestones and coffins. Some of the caskets were open and revealing bodies in various states of decay, from the recently deceased right on through to full skeletons. Other caskets were standing straight up, some of which were closed, and others had their lids slightly ajar with a rare zombified hand grasping the lip of the lid. Other standing caskets were fully open, revealing nothing, and there were two that were resting on their side, the contents unknown.

Beyond the gate there were a few more tombstones and coffins, but there was also a large black cauldron with a fire lit beneath it. The cauldron was bubbling with some green liquid, and there was a bowed and blue-skinned witch stirring it with a great wooden spoon, another one leaning nearby, rummaging through numerous vials of different coloured liquids.

Riku himself was costumed as a vampire and hiding within the first standing coffin inside of the wall, actually placing him closer to the witch and cauldron than to the gate. The coffin was leaning back slightly so that he was pointed slightly skyward and leaning back on the pillow set near his head and the soft red padding lining the inside. Sharp-looking fangs were on his incisors and a dark cape was draped over his figure. He'd gotten his bangs cut back a little so that now he wasn't having to continually push them out from his eyes and Riku was prepped and ready for the first trick-or-treaters of the night. There hadn't been any between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. because the castle had always been, _always been_, the last stop of the night for the trick-or-treaters. They would wait until it was dark, because the King and the castle staff had always found a way to make it the best one in the past and to go when it wasn't dark was like pouring water into a glass that didn't have a bottom anymore; you just didn't do it.

That is, he was ready for the first ones who made it through the gate. Roxas was waiting inside one of the caskets that were lying on their sides, all kitted out as a dead body and ready to loudly roll right out of the coffin and come to a stop right next to the path, completely motionless. And right next to one of the black-ice fangs was one more coffin, turned inwards towards the castle rather than outwards. Inside that one was Renji in his Soul Reaper state, who would moan (without being heard by most of the trick-or-treaters, since they doubted that there would be _that_ many people on Radiant Garden who would be spiritually aware enough to see and hear him) and graspingly reach out for a trick-or-treater's arm before retreating back into the coffin without ever leaving it. To most people it would appear as if the coffin's lid was opening and closing by itself, and they would feel a touch but see absolutely nothing there. Cobwebs and hanging bats and live spiders were strung throughout the inside of the gate, hanging low enough that if a person was over six-three it would be more than their hair that was brushing against the décor. Who knows, Renji and the gate might just be enough to scare some people away. Riku might not even see a trick-or-treater.

But after Riku would make his appearance, leaping out of the coffin and spreading his arms and cape out wide with a feral hiss and a hunger in his eyes for human blood, the spooks and scares would be over. Naminé was the witch stirring the cauldron (and there were even spiders on her wide-brimmed hat, something that would most definitely have never happened had she and Kairi switched places), the Princess having dyed her skin that light-blue after training, and the witch's brew that she and the other witch, her servant Agatha, had created was actually _quite_ tasty. There would be warm light leaving the entrance hall once the mighty oak doors were opened with loud creaks, and a venerable pirate Kensworth would hand out candy, a bag of chips, and a plastic cup with instructions to go to the witches to get it filled. The plan was that they get horrified, and then they get served by the Princess and they could then sit down on bales of straw near to the cauldron and drink their brew, making small talk the whole time before the trick-or-treaters would head off.

It was also planned that once or twice during the night Ur would leap down from the top of the keep's very high walls and fly down on a dragon made of ice while cackling insanely.

_Oh yeah,_ Riku thought as he heard the first startled screams coming from beyond, _it's going to be a fun Halloween._

_You'd better scare them good cutie,_ Dawn said as her voice sifted through his mind. _Just make sure you don't kiss anyone on the neck. You're lips are mine Rik._

_My lips belong to me and Yuffie,_ Riku answered while counting down in his head. _Not you._

_Aw,_ Dawn cooed. _That sounds so sweet of you Rik, saving yourself for Miss Night. You know, I'd say that you actually had _feelings_ for her. And don't pull out that 'of course I do because she's my girlfriend' crap,_ she added quickly. _There are lots of couples who date but aren't in loooove._

_You are one seriously mistaken Keyblade,_ Riku thought, rolling his eyes while stiffening.

Dawn's voice came back smug. _Oh? Am I? Yuffie. Yuffie. Yuffie. Yuffie. Yuffie. Yuffie. I can tell that your heart's beating faster Rik. Yuffie. Yuffie. Yuffie. Yuffie._

_Shut up!_ Riku answered, his face burning red and threatening to break the effect of the white face-paint he had on. There was one good side-effect though, he wasn't feeling the cold anymore.

_Avoiding the issue, a surefire sign to show that you looove her,_ Dawn giggled. _Oh well, I guess that I can't really compete with love, though I can sure try you sexy beast._

_Stop hitting on me,_ Riku told her. There was another shriek, and Riku guessed that that meant that Renji had just reached out and grasped a person's arm.

"Wah! Something just touched me! Did you see anything!?" a frightened female voice in the darkness asked.

"No," another one answered. "But that coffin just closed by itself."

"It—it was probably just the wind," answered a third girl.

"But there _is_ no wind!!"

"Maybe it's wired to open and close by itself? You know, like motion sensors?"

"I don't know, I don't see any…"

"But that doesn't explain how something managed to touch m—AAAHH SPIDERS!!"

"Don't be such a—EEK! It's _moving!_"

"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!!"

"Are those things alive!? I didn't think _anybody_ used live spiders!"

"We should go guys. This is just too much."

"Oh, come on! The door's right _there!_ You want to miss out on the castle's candy?"

"No amount of candy is worth this."

Riku had been having a hard time restraining his laughter to a bare minimum from within the darkness of his padded coffin, but at those words he felt that even if they were a little ways away from his place of hiding, it would be worth it to reveal himself now. If they made it past Roxas, Renji, and the gate without fleeing, but then to fly before meeting him and making it to the doors wouldn't do. His hand lightly pressed against the lid, and he slowly pushed it open with a loud _creeeak_.

He saw three girls give frightened squeals when he opened the lid and his eyes. They were all around fourteen or fifteen, and one was dressed as a princess, while another was a warlock in blood-red robes and the third was a witch with a wide-brimmed hat. Riku smiled and hopped out of the coffin to land lightly in front of them. "Good evening, my beautiful ladies," he said, bowing in front of them. He rose from the bow, noticing that they were staring at him in surprise. "I must say, you are all quite enchanting. (He took the hand of the princess and kissed it) Such beauty and bravery to come this far deserves rewarding."

His eyes glinted as he stared into the blushing eyes of the princess and he smiled, revealing the vampire fangs he had on. The two girls next to the princess were startled and began to inch backward, anxious looks on their faces. But Riku withdrew his free hand into his cape and withdrew three blooming red roses between his fingers. All three of the girls blushed and looked away shyly as Riku handed each of them a rose, placing it within their hair with tender care.

"And now, a kiss to strengthen you on the rest of your journeys this fearful night," he said. All three of the young teens looked at him in surprise, and with eyes to show that this was the most pleasant surprise than any of them could have ever thought of to occur on a Halloween night. How often was it in real life that right when you were most terrified a handsome young man dressed as a vampire would present you with comforting smiles, flattering words, roses, and a kiss to chase your fears away?

Dawn was screaming in protest within Riku's mind, but he was having far too much fun playing the suave, gentlemanly vampire that was so often portrayed in films. He still remembered what he had told her about his lips belonging to himself and to Yuffie, so he decided not to claim the lips of these three younger, shorter, teens in front of him to be his own, and so placed a kiss each on the sides of their necks, making sure that they felt the vampiric fangs he was equipped with.

The three looked at him in surprise and Riku chuckled throatily. "I have a lady vampire waiting for me," he said, answering their unspoken question, "and she bites those she discovers as unfaithful." With one last bow to them Riku said, "Goodnight and good luck my loves," and he flourished his cape and leapt back into his coffin, the lid snapping shut behind him.

_Bull-fucking-shit you hypocrite!_

Riku just chuckled as he heard the three girls slowly amble forward towards the castle, talking in a dreamlike state. He knew that they would be dreaming of him tonight. A few minutes later he heard the sounds of more people coming, and the voices were ones belonging to boys. This time he waited until they were almost on top of him before opening the coffin, and when he did it was done quickly and snappily. He flew out, baring his teeth and hissing with extended arms and Way to the Dawn appearing in his right hand in a flash of light. He was wild, hungry for their blood, and ready to cut them open if it meant partaking in the drink.

The two 'brave' twelve-year-old boys who had unflinchingly made it past Roxas and Renji with laughs practically wet their pants at the sight, and degraded into screaming babies as they ran away from Riku and towards the door. Riku watched them go with a smirk as Way to the Dawn vanished from his hand, the two dressed as monsters not even sparing a glance behind them. The silver-haired Wielder of Dawn spotted the three girls sitting on straw bales with Naminé, still drinking their witch's brew, and he bowed at them once more with a sweeping gesture before rising again. He winked, and would have tipped his hat if he had one, before retreating into his coffin again, noticing that there appeared to be another group of people coming. He wasn't sure yet if they were all boys, all girls, or mixed, but he wouldn't be able to pull the same stunts he'd done on the girls still sitting on the bales if they were there.

It was definitely going to be an awesome Halloween.

-A-D-

_2102hrs  
Kairi_

Long after Riku entertained the three trick-or-treating teenage girls, Kairi was sitting calmly by the fire with Sora and their digimon and Jiminy Cricket, enjoying some alone time that they'd been given by Kisuke and the others. It seemed a little fishy that they were being allowed time like this, especially since right after Sora had gotten the basic aspects of using the Flash Step down, Urahara had proclaimed that it was now time for them to stop playing nice. He said that he was going to keep pushing them and pushing them in ways they hadn't ever imagined before.

It was all Kairi could do to even stay sitting up straight while looking into the fire in a calm and comfortable silence with Sora. They'd suddenly had to run an obstacle course, using only the Flash Step for her and Sora while Menelmon and Aiwemon were allowed to fly it, and then all four were forced to fight against Kisuke, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu until they ran out of energy.

That had taken the rest of the afternoon. Kairi's body was sore all over, they hadn't been healed at all (something BS about the pain being part of the process), and she could barely move her arms. They felt limp like overcooked noodles, and she had to use all of her strength to keep herself standing when she was on her legs. Sora wasn't doing much better, and Aiwemon was now Ninquemon again, having been forced to go to his Ultimate level of MaltaOhtarmon to fight against Urahara with them, a move that didn't go over so well. He'd barely been MaltaOhtarmon for a minute before he'd run out of energy and reverted right back to his In-Training level. Sora'd even done something that Kairi found utterly insane and disgusting when he'd gotten hungry, he'd slurped three large snails that he'd found right out of their shells. She'd nearly thrown up at the thought of it.

But despite the pain, the aches, the fatigue, and the utter grossness of snail slurping, they were both happy. They'd finally realized that tonight was Halloween night, and they were alone in the woods in front of a brightly and cheerily burning campfire. The best part was this: Ninquemon and Menelmon had never experienced Halloween before.

Jiminy had come prepared, and along with his journal he'd brought a book scaled down to his size filled with Halloween stories, and he was currently reading one to them from the top of Sora's spiky-haired head. He'd already gone through Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and now he was nearing the horrific conclusion to "The Girl in the New Dress" by Larry Letemplier.

"_She hurried toward him,"_ Jiminy spoke, reading from his book,_ "Do you like the dress?" she said. She twirled as if she modeled for him. "I bought it especially for you."_

_He looked at her strangely. Where was the sparkle in his eyes and the wide-eyed smile she expected? He doesn't like the dress, she thought. She couldn't understand. He liked surprises, and it was a new dress. It was his favourite color._

"_I'm sorry," he said. "You have mistaken me for someone else."_

_Her heart sank. Her lips quivered._

"_No," she cried. "You are my Blair."_

"_My name is Todd," he said. "I'm sorry."_

"_You're doing it to me again," she blurted. "I thought you had changed, but you're still a deceitful bastard."_

_He gaped at her. My God, she thought, he's looking at me as if I were some kind of freak._

"_I have something for you," she said. She lifted the cover off the box. The black handle blade shone in the half-darkness. She gripped the handle and pulled the knife out of the box."_

Kairi gasped and huddled closer to Sora at Jiminy's words. Sora's eyes widened of their own will as Jiminy continued.

"_She swiped at him and the blade slashed his throat. Now he gives me that wide-eyed gaze, she thought. Still no smile. Only an expression of shock, and terror. A neat bloody gash along his throat. He tried to speak, as if to call out, but only a gargling sound could be heard, and she was the only one there to hear it. _

_She slashed him again and blood spurted from his chin."_ Kairi gave a frightened squeak and her hands covered her mouth while Sora tentatively placed a hand to the base of his neck, almost as if he could _feel_ what a slice there might feel like. Menelmon was shaking, her wings over her eyes._ "He raised his hands in front of him, as if to ward her off. She slashed his hands. He turned and tried to run but collapsed on the pavement. He wasn't her Blair. Not the one who had promised to marry her and love her forever. She slashed him again. He was the old Blair. The one who had run out on her. She slashed him again and again until his suit was splattered in blood. He twitched like a dying fish stranded on a beach. _

_She watched him gargle. Drown in his own blood. Just has she had watched the four others. The gargling stopped. The twitching stopped. He stared up at her with unblinking eyes. She wiped the blade over her dress. The dress didn't matter anymore. It was worn. She would go home and dispose of it in her backyard as she had done with the other four dresses._

_When she finally found her Blair, and she would find him, she wanted him to see her in a new dress, because he liked surprises. His eyes would light up and he would give her that broad smile she adored. That is how she would know her Blair from the deceitful one. Until then, she had the happy faces of "her children" to fill the void._

_She picked up the box, put the knife back in it, and returned to the Neon. She pulled out of the driveway, humming the words to "their" song. She was in love, and she deserved to be."_

Jiminy's voice became silent, only the loud crackle of the flames and the noises of the crickets and other nocturnal bugs providing any sound. The imagery was filling Kairi's mind, of an attractive young man in a suit covered in and drowning in a pool of his own blood while a love-crazed woman in a blood-spattered blue dress stood over him with a knife that still dripped with and steamed from the hot liquid.

Suddenly it was her holding the knife above someone who looked eerily like Sora but wasn't, and there was a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder above her in the image.

She shuddered, feeling cold, and Sora turned her towards him and comforted her with a kiss. They broke apart. "I love you," she whimpered as her hands went around his chest and the top of her head went beneath his chin. "Please hold me."

The fact that his arms were already around her was moot as he drew Kairi in closer. "Alright, just don't stab me okay? I am the Sora you're looking for."

"That wasn't funny," Kairi muttered.

"Yes it was," Sora answered. His hold on her became tighter and she sat on his lap. Her back was curled and he bent his neck down and kissed her forehead.

Kairi smiled. His arms were just as tired as hers (well, probably not the automail one), and still he was holding her like she'd asked. She felt warm between them, warm and safe. Soon the images from the stories in Jiminy's book would be gone, but Sora would still be here to hold her when she was afraid, and to protect her when she needed him to; to protect her with everything he had. He didn't have to say it; they both knew that he would, and that she would return the favour.

Jiminy hopped off of Sora's head and onto the log they'd been sitting on. "Want me to read another one?" he asked, holding the book of tales out.

"No!" Menelmon pleaded, looking up at Kairi as the girl sat next to Sora, hugging him. "Please Kairi, don't let Jiminy read another one. I'm scared."

"The forest hasn't ever looked so dark and spooky before," Ninquemon added, shuddering before looking up at his own partner.

"Come on guys," Sora chuckled. "They're just spooky stories. They're _supposed_ to freak you out. They can't hurt you."

"You're starting to sound like Riku," Kairi muttered.

She saw Sora looking at her curiously while his hand went up and down her back in a calming gesture. "You were never this scared of spooky Halloween stories before Kai."

"I'm not!" Kairi refuted indignantly, breaking free from the hug she'd asked for but still sitting on his lap. "What freaked me out was that I suddenly had this image of _me_ being the slasher killer."

"Ooh!" Sora said, looking towards Jiminy in excitement. "You should read that one about the insane killer with the hook on his hand! You know, the one with the couple who are making out in a car alone in the woods and the guy with the hook—"

"I know the one you mean," Jiminy said with a smile, turning the pages in his book to try and find it.

Kairi smiled, remembering the basic premise of it too. "That's a Halloween classic. Always gives me a fright."

"The willies," Sora added, shuddering likely for effect alone.

Kairi looked at Sora impishly. "You know, when it gets to that part, what do you say to adding a little authentic atmosphere to spice it up?" Sora grinned at her.

Menelmon whimpered. "Why would you want to hear something that you know is going to scare you? It doesn't make sense."

"Oh, because this is Halloween Menel," Kairi answered tenderly, carefully grabbing hold of the small bird digimon and placing her on her lap while she continued to sit on Sora's. "On Halloween night, the boundaries between our living world and the world of the dead are supposed to be thinner than usual, and the spirits of the dead are said to be able to roam the earth again. In our culture, spooking others and being spooked is all part of the tradition. Be glad that it isn't Walpurgis Night."

"Wha-what's Walpurgis Night?" Ninquemon asked, quivering. "It can't be spookier than Halloween can it?"

"It's not inherently spooky, but thinking of Halloween is making me worry about it," Kairi said. "Halloween is when the spirits of the dead rise again and everyone gets a fright. The night of Walpurgis is when the powers of darkness are at their strongest."

"I found it!" Jiminy exclaimed triumphantly. "The Hook! A dramatic retelling of the urban legend."

"Oh, wait!" Sora said, holding out a hand. "Nature's calling. Be back in a few. Don't start without me." Kairi giggled and shifted off of Sora as he rose and hopped back over the log before Flashing into the bushes.

"Show off," Kairi said, smirking at him as he made his exit. He'd only learned how to do it today with her help, and he was already using it at every opportunity he had. Sora was lucky that he rebounded quickly; she was still low on energy.

The night grew quiet except for the snapping crackle of the burning fire. Kairi sighed and smiled, leaning forward and looking deep into the blaze. The flames flickered and danced from the bed of the wood which they burned, and the forest beyond the tents became very dark in contrast, shadows playing across the leaves of the bushes underneath the boughs of the naked trees.

Her eyes glanced up from the fire quickly. She thought for a moment that she'd seen a much more solid shadow moving through those trees. She peered beyond the flames and into the wood, but there was nothing there that her eyes could see. Her shoulders shuddered as a chill feeling involuntarily ran down her spine and Kairi slowly rose from the sitting position she'd taken on the log. Holding her right hand out in front of her, Kairi spoke a single word: "Light."

Bright white light streamed from her fingertips and palm in a concentrated wave, like a flashlight, illuminating the forest where she directed it. Her hand and the light passed over the area once, twice, before Kairi sighed and closed her hand, sitting down again.

"What are you doing Kairi?" Ninquemon asked. Kairi glanced at him, and then saw that Menelmon was also looking at her worriedly.

Kairi put on a smile. "It's nothing. I just thought that I saw something is all." She was just imagining things. It was Halloween, and she'd just listened to two spooky stories and had her mind on another one. Her mind was just playing tricks on her. There was nothing out...

The snap of a twig somewhere off to her right made Kairi jump slightly and her eyes whipped towards the sound, light flaring out from her palm again. There was nothing there but the rustling of bushes. A slight breeze was blowing, so that could be the reason that the leaves were moving and rustling, or it could also mean that… that there had been something there just a moment before.

Kairi felt her spirits sink as a high-pitched cackle filled the air, sounding at once as if it were all around her. Her head spun around as she looked out in all directions. She waved her hand all around her, shining her light on the ground, into the slender branches of the naked trees, and around waist level between the trees, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Did you hear that?" Menelmon whimpered, coming closer to Kairi and wrapping her wings around the girl. The bird digimon nuzzled her head into Kairi's chest. "I don't think I like Halloween Kairi, can we stop it right now?"

Jiminy even shivered. "Gosh, I haven't felt like this since I saw Monstro," he said.

The cackling died out, and the wind whistled all around them. The fire burned higher and flickered in the wind, and with a loud _CRACK_ a large plume of sparks shot out of the blaze. Then the wind suddenly died and Kairi noticed that even the crickets had stopped chirping. The fire still burned in front of them, but it seemed eerily quiet now and somewhat subdued. Cold fingers clawed their way up Kairi's back and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She whipped around but, again, there was nothing there. Only the dark outline of the forest filled her eyes, and it seemed even darker and more menacing than it had only a minute ago. The firelight was dimmer, oppressed, and the darkness was inching closer.

"Okay Sora," Kairi said, her voice rising but unable to rid itself of the fear within it, "you can stop now. We're completely terrified." Her words sounded dead even to her. If Sora had been doing this, he'd have stopped a long time ago or allowed himself to be caught. Which begged the question, where was he?

"Stop what Kairi?"

Within a second, all of the hair from her feet to the top of her neck stood on end in a move reminiscent of the wave as Kairi shrieked and jumped nearly a foot and fell backwards over the log, landing hard on her back. She glared up at Sora as his face showed a confused and amused expression from in front of the fire.

"Have you had your fun now?" she asked.

Sora's brow furrowed. "I don't think I've ever called peeing fun before Kai. Relieving? Yes, but fun? No."

Kairi sat herself up and groaned. "Not about that. Have you had enough fun scaring the living daylights out of us?"

Now Sora really appeared to be confused. "Uh, what are you talking about Kairi?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Kairi answered, though she was beginning to have doubts considering the face Sora was giving her. "The rustling in the bushes, the cackl—"

The high-pitched cackle filled the air all around them again and Kairi froze, her eyes widening on Sora in terror. It wasn't him. It really _wasn't_ him. Then—then who was it!? The bushes behind her loudly rustled once more and Kairi leapt off of the log towards Sora, burying her face in his chest.

"Okay, I'm really scared now," she whimpered while Menelmon hugged her leg and Ninquemon hid beneath hers and Sora's legs. Jiminy jumped up and buried himself in Sora's hair. "Heartless I can deal with, Nobodies I can deal with, but if there's a ghost or a ghoul or a skeleton or a werewolf or a real vampire or some kind of thing from beyond the grave I'm going to scream."

"Don't worry Kairi," Sora answered, holding her tight with his automail left arm and his right out in front of him. "I've got you." Kairi nodded her head into his shirt, fear still gripping her but confident that Sora would protect her. He always had before, and he always would; she was too afraid and too tired to fight for herself right now.

Sora suddenly gasped and Kairi opened her eyes to look into his face. It was slowly being drained of its colour as he eyed his right hand in shock and horror. "No, no this is _not_ happening!" he said. "Come on! You can't have abandoned me again! This isn't like the last time, I'm not giving up!"

"What is it?" Kairi asked, though she already knew the answer with how much dread was displayed on her boyfriend's face.

"The Keyblade," he answered in a whisper, "it won't come." Kairi's eyes widened even further, hearing him confirm it. Something suddenly flew past them and she ducked her head, feeling both of Sora's arms now around her like iron bands as he ducked down as well. There was a splattering noise, and Kairi turned her head to look after a second. She half shrieked but held the rest back to one more whimper at what she saw.

Against the trunk of a thick tree were a number of jagged words, appearing to have been written in human blood. YOU WON'T LEAVE THIS WORLD ALIVE…

The fire died, encasing them in the darkness of the night.

"I think we should be going, _now_!" Kairi said emphatically. Sora nodded, his face ghostly white. They turned.

Green flame sprouted from behind a tall, spindly figure all in black, a figure who towered above them by several feet. The head was that of a round skull, and his hands were all long, bony, fingers. The skull was contorted into a menacing face that put the fear of death into them, and its black mouth was open wide in a terrifying scream that rattled their ears and shook their hearts with fright.

All thought of fight or flight was gone as both Kairi and Sora stood rooted to the spot, screams of terror and panic leaving their mouths. Kairi began to cry through her scream and buried her head into Sora's chest again. This was it, they were going to die. They were frozen in place, terrified, until Sora's screams choked back and he began to laugh. "JACK!" Kairi looked at the skeleton man a second more before she too recognized him. Tears began to leave her eyes again, but this time they were tears of relief and joy.

The Pumpkin King smiled and stood up straight, bowing. "Thank you, thank you," he said cheerily, extending his hand towards them. "Halloween greetings and scares to you from the one and only Knight of Nightmares, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!" he declared, striking a dramatic pose.

"Happy Halloween Jack," Kairi said, laughing and breathing a sigh of relief. It was Jack, it was Jack the whole time!

Jack Skellington looked down on them again and frowned, a finger to his chin in thought. "How did I do?" he asked. "I keep thinking that I should have taken off my head and started reciting from either Macbeth or Hamlet, or that the bloody message was too corny. What do you think?"

"You were downright terrifying," Sora told him.

Kairi nodded her head enthusiastically. "Yeah, you really scared us. (She paused) In fact, you scared me so much, I need to go and… do something." Blushing, Kairi removed herself from Sora and dashed towards their tent. She needed something dry and she needed it now. Embarrassment forced a cough out of her as she ignored what was likely a hastily stifled laugh from Sora; she hadn't done something like this since she was nine!

-A-D-

_Well there we go, the Halloween chapter written far after, or far in advance of, Halloween because this is when it is actually happening within the story. Hope you all enjoyed it._

_And if you're worried about Sora and the Keyblade, don't be. It really isn't such a big deal this time and you'll find out why in the next chapter. Actually it's all quite simple really._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	34. Playing Hooky

_I've realised that I have a strange ability to turn filler chapters into chapters that aren't filler or aren't _quite_ filler. This one is a prime example._

_Also, there's something that I've been wondering about. Do American businesses actually reject Canadian coins while our businesses treat your coins at face value like Canadian ones? I ask this because when my sister was in New York City a couple of years back for a fine arts trip in which they saw a number of Broadway shows, she was buying something at a store and she was paying with exact cash and didn't have any U.S.A. pennies so she ended up using one of ours. The salesgirl spotted the penny and pushed it back across the counter to my sister, saying snidely, "This is Canadian."_

_When my sister, who also works in retail, asked if it was really a big deal that it was a Candian penny the salesgirl answered that they didn't accept them. When asked if the bank would freak out after receiving the nightly deposit because Canadian currency was included in it, she answered that yes, it would._

_OMG! A store in NYC received a penny from a Canadian High School student on a school tip that had a Maple Leaf and the Queen on it instead of the the Lincoln Memorial and Honest Abe! It's a terrorist plot! Seriously, IT'S A FREAKING PENNY!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own it, not going to lie._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXIV: Playing Hooky

_0331hrs, Saturday, November 1, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
November 1, 1418, (S.R.)  
Urahara's Training Encampment, West of Rivendell, Middle-earth  
Sora_

He couldn't sleep.

Sora stared unblinkingly at the dark outline of the orange tent curving above him, his right arm and hand stretched out in front of his face. His hand flexed once or twice every minute or so, trying, as he had last night, to summon his legendary weapon to his hand. But the Keyblade would not materialize in a flash of light and burst of sound like it customarily did; it didn't appear at all.

Sora sighed and dropped his hand down after another few fruitless minutes of attempting to call the Keyblade to him. He rubbed his face with both hands, now completely used to the automail that was his left, and an uncontrollable frustration rose up within his gullet.

_Why?_ He asked himself bitterly. _Why can't I summon it this time!_

Sora glanced to his right. Underneath the thick and comfortable sleeping bags that they had unzipped fully to make the semblance of a bed, Kairi slept peacefully next to him, turned towards his body. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically, and he could just faintly feel her warm breath against his face. Menelmon was enshrouded by the sleeping bag behind her, and Ninquemon was snugly covered behind Sora.

A finger from his right hand came out and brushed a bit of hair away from Kairi's face in the darkness. He didn't understand it. He wasn't filled up with thoughts of self-doubt, he didn't believe that he couldn't protect Kairi, and he no longer wavered at the thought of facing Maleficent. If anything, his resolve to defeat her and bring peace to the worlds had only strengthened. The Kingdom Key's Spirit, dubbed 'Keyla' by Dawn, had told him before that he had given up before, and he could only take it that that was why she had appeared to abandon him until he fought to protect Kiara and Kovu in the Pride Lands. He wasn't giving up now; he was going to give it everything he had…

So why couldn't he summon the Keyblade this time!

Shifting carefully so as not to disturb anyone who was sleeping, Sora rose from underneath the fluffy synthetics of the sleeping bag bed, dressed himself in his sweater and jacket, and left the tent. As soon as he'd left the warmth underneath the bed he'd been introduced to the cold air, but he shrugged it off as he zipped the tent back up and put his boots on. They were crisp and cool, and Sora felt his feet begin to lose some of their heat to them even through his socks. Turning around, Sora walked the few paces to where the logs around the fire pit were and sat down. They'd rekindled the blaze after Jack had it blown out for his terrifying appearance, but it had died again, now reduced to the embers left protected from the wind and other elements by the wood covering it.

Sora glanced around, spotting the pile of firewood nearby. The night wind nipped at him, and he was glad he'd had the sense to grab his jacket before coming out. He grabbed a piece of wood and looked at it in the darkness for a second before turning his gaze up to the sky. The stars were partially veiled by a few rolling clouds, and the waning moon that was still mostly full shined its light upon the bare trees.

He glanced towards the fire pit and extended his left hand. "Fire."

A tiny puff of smoke left his metal palm. Sora brought his hand back and looked at it before returning it to its original position. Concentrating even harder on the feeling of intense warmth and a fireball striking the half-burnt wood and glowing embers, he said the word again. "Fire."

This time his results were even weaker than the first.

_Guess I'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way,_ Sora thought, sighing through a scowl as he dropped onto his knees.

It took him several minutes, but he managed to get a strong enough flame going to heat up and burn the fresh wood he'd grabbed from the pile. He threw another few pieces on for good measure, blew some more, and watched intently as they caught and started to burn in front of him. He didn't retreat back to the sitting logs, but stayed nearer on his knees as the red and yellow glow from the fire washed over his face and the heat it generated radiated into him. Finally it grew too much and he had to pull back, but continued to watch the fire burn and tend it in the same manner as humans have for countless years. He felt weak, fatigued, but he still continued to watch.

He didn't know how much time passed before he looked away from the blaze and down at his own right hand again, but the burning flame and the crackle of the wood and the release of the orange sparks were a comforting constant, while the Keyblade that should have been resting in his hand was becoming more and more mysterious.

He had never known before that the Keyblade had a soul. And if it had a soul, did that mean that it had a heart and feelings too? Dawn certainly appeared to have feelings of her own, as did the spirits of the Kingdom Key and Remembrance, and Crowning Flame too if he actually did see the spirit of Kairi's Keyblade. If they had feelings, did that then mean that they could become upset at their Wielders and act in different ways? Did he do something that would have upset both of his Keyblades so that neither one would come to his call? No, no he couldn't have done anything that would disturb both of them to that degree. And even before when Keyla had not come when he'd called, he had still been able to use magic. But now he couldn't. It was just like he was…

Sora laughed at the thought. He was damn sure that he was a male! He had the equipment that told him so and the hormones, desires, and stubborn pride of one too. There was _no way_ that he was having a 'man-period' because there was no such thing!

_No,_ Sora thought, shaking his head and looking into the fire once more as one of the pieces of wood suddenly shifted and a column of sparks went into the air, _it has to have something to do with the Keyblades._

"Sora?"

The brunet turned around at the soft sound and saw Kairi coming out of the tent, wrapping her own jacket up around her body as she walked with booted feet towards him.

"Kairi," he said, slightly surprised. "You should be in bed, sleeping."

"So should you," she answered calmly, coming up to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Her head leaned down next to his. "What are you doing out here at five in the morning?"

_It's five?_ Sora thought, the time startling him slightly. He sighed. "Couldn't sleep."

"The Keyblade?" Kairi asked, catching on instantly. Sora nodded wordlessly. "Well, if it's any consolation…" Kairi's right hand went out in front of her, and nothing happened.

"You can't either?" Sora asked. Kairi removed her arms from him and sat down on his left.

"Nope, just hit that time, and right on schedule," she answered regretfully. "No Keyblade or magic from me all day long." Her face went towards the fire and Sora wrapped his left arm around her.

"Well what a mess we're in then," he said, snorting slightly even though the situation was far from humourous. He turned to Kairi after a few seconds. "Have you ever thought about why?"

"Huh?" Kairi asked. "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever thought about why you can't summon the Keyblade or use magic on the first day of your period?" Sora clarified.

"Of course I have," Kairi answered. "It's incredibly frustrating. For one day every cycle I feel incredibly weak, get irritable because I'm in pain, and I can't do anything as far as the Keyblade and magic goes. But all the same, I can't for the life of me figure out why it happens."

Sora sighed again. "Do you think Naminé might know?" he asked. Kairi shook her head.

"Naminé probably knows just as much as I do about it," she answered. "But, we can always try asking her. The gods know that we've got no clue where Master Yen Sid is, so he can't exactly answer that question for us." She turned to look at Sora. "So, how do we want to do this, the communicators or the connection between our hearts?"

"Let's go with the hearts," Sora said. "We haven't talked to them that way in a while." Kairi nodded her head, smiling slightly as if she liked the idea. Sora closed his eyes, shrugging off his tired state in favour of what he knew he had to do.

-A-D-

When Sora opened his eyes again he was standing on his platform, the mural underneath looking the same as it had for the past several months. He was sitting on the bent paopu tree looking up into a starry night sky, a blue cape with gold trimming on his back.

"Welcome back."

Sora turned at the voice, and saw the blue circle that contained Riku's face glow for a second before his spirit appeared on the platform. Sora smiled. "Riku."

"Good job on second base man," Riku's spirit said, nodding at Sora with a grin.

"Oh please!"

Naminé's face glowed and her spirit appeared on the platform as well. "Is that all that you boys talk about? All you and Spirit Roxas have been going on about for the past few days has been the fact that Sora made it to second base. It's driving me and Spirit Kairi up the wall!"

"Why?" Spirit Riku asked. "Disappointed that it wasn't you he was warming up? Or are you too busy remembering how Anti treated you and Spirit Kairi?"

Naminé fell silent for a few seconds and Spirit Riku realized just how much he shouldn't have said that. "That was really low Riku," Naminé whispered, the hurt in her voice making Sora look away in guilt. He'd been unable to stop Anti from ravaging them both, after all.

"Sorry," Riku apologized. "Forget I said it."

"I'm still having trouble blocking that out," Naminé said, rubbing a hand down her arm.

Sora was silent for a few seconds. "Naminé…"

"I don't blame you Sora," Naminé said.

"Maybe not, but I blame myself for not being able to stop him from doing that to you," Sora replied.

Naminé blushed slightly. "No, Sora, it's really alright. You fought with all you had and he was taken care of before he could do the same things to the real Kairi and the real me. That's what's important."

"How long are we going to keep standing here for?" Riku asked, glancing at Naminé. She raised her eyebrows.

"Well it doesn't really matter now does it?" she asked, taking a couple of steps this way or that with an outstretched finger. "Whenever Sora or any of our real selves actually dive into their hearts, time passes differently. A year down here is only a tenth of a second in the outside world. You could spend six hundred years training yourself here and only a minute would have passed outside. However, the conference room that my real self can create for the five of you to sit in passes time as it normally does in the real world, so we could spend a year here doing who-knows-what and the real Naminé would still have been able to retain that precious tenth of a second of sleep."

Sora nodded his head mockingly, surprised that he could train himself for six hundred years and only a minute would pass in the real world but hiding it. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that Naminé. Can you go and—?" She interrupted his request with a roll of her eyes and vanished in a flash of light.

"Well do you have any ideas?" Sora asked.

"I don't know why you can't summon the Keyblade either," Riku answered. "None of us spirits do, and the Kingdom Key and Remembrance sure aren't telling us anything. Now I'm wondering if my real self won't be able to summon the Keyblade himself."

Sora nodded his head and he started to feel a tug. "Looks like she's awake," he said. "I guess we're—whoa WHOA!" He was jerked back suddenly by an insanely strong pull, and his platform vanished from his eyes.

Suddenly he was standing again on another one, this one a simple golden pattern interlacing around the image of the Kingdom Key.

"Why are you waking us up at five in the morning!" Sora turned to look at the angry voice, and couldn't help but laugh.

Roxas was standing across from him, wearing a white shirt and the yellow boxers with blitzballs that Kairi had gotten him for a birthday present. Naminé was also in his field of vision, wearing a light-yellow two-piece set of flannel pyjamas barely visible underneath at least three fleece blankets. Her skin and hair were also very slightly tinged with blue, which made her look rather green. He suspected that it was some sort of remainder from face paint or something she might have used for Halloween last night. Sora had to stop laughing and turn his head to look at Riku, who was just in a simple dark red muscle shirt and pair of long black fleece pants.

Kairi was giggling when she caught sight of the spikey-haired blond. "Nice boxers Roxas," she said.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yes Kairi, _thank you_ for noticing that I'm wearing my birthday present."

The egg chairs appeared behind them and Sora sat down in his while he looked at Roxas. Riku was on his left, followed by Naminé, then Roxas, and then Kairi. "Because, Roxas, we've got a bit of a problem," he said slowly, answering his brother's question.

"Couldn't it wait?" Roxas whined. "Riku and I have to go up against Renji's stupid Bankai today, _again_. Jeeze, it seems like that's all we ever do is fight him and Hihiō Zabimaru with Chad."

"We're getting better Roxas," Riku reminded him. "Dawn and I can actually hold it back now." Roxas just rolled his eyes. Apparently he wasn't improving as much as Riku was.

"Hey, we're sore too," Kairi retorted, running a hand down her arm. "Urahara-san decided to step our training up to the next level yesterday. We're going to be running obstacle courses and twenty K hikes and doing push-ups and sit-ups and constantly fighting against him and the other people from his shop."

"You're lucky," Naminé said. "At least you aren't stuck out in the freezing cold every single day in nothing but your underwear to become better in ice magic."

Sora looked at Naminé and blushed, suddenly thinking about what she would look like in just her underwear. He then glanced at Riku, caught his eyes, and the two were unable to keep small grins from coming to their lips. Kairi, though, looked at her sister in shock. "Why didn't you tell me about that earlier?"

"Because I didn't want to worry you and I swear that Ur's a pervert. I mean, she does it too, strips down and everything, and she is a nice person, but why couldn't I get acclimatized to the cold by slowly cooling down rather than stripping down to practically nothing and running around in the snow?"

Kairi shrugged. "I don't know. Fanservice?"

"I told you that I wouldn't mind doing that training with you Naminé," Riku said with a sly smile.

Naminé looked at him. "You've already got a girlfriend, and I'm sure you would have _really_ liked to have stripped down butt-naked in front of me when Ur had us take an ice bath yesterday."

Riku was silent for a second. "Oh."

Kairi sighed loudly. "Anyway, like Sora said, we've got a bit of a problem."

Riku's subdued voice left him as he groaned. "No, don't tell me. After a taste a few days ago, it escalated, you had sex, and now Sora's knocked you up."

Sora and Kairi both recoiled with violently red faces while Roxas and Naminé looked at the pair in shock.

"You didn't!" Naminé said.

"Did you?" Roxas asked.

Sora's tongue struggled to form a sentence at the stunned surprise that Riku would even suggest something like that. "N-no! No it's more important than that!"

"What?" Riku asked. "You mean I was right! And what could be more important that having a pregnant girlfriend? Remember what we're getting into right now Sora."

"Kairi can't stay out of the action for nine months," Roxas added. "That'd be insane."

"Nine months?" Naminé asked incredulously, looking at Roxas. "You really think that Kairi's going to just up and leave her baby as soon as she has it so that she can go and fight Maleficent? Try about a year Roxas!"

"I'm going to forgive Sora for putting his foot in his mouth because that never actually happened!" Kairi said hysterically. She took a few deep breaths before continuing. "I'm going to make this clear. Every last one of us sitting around here is still a virgin."

"How do you know that?" Riku asked, smirking.

Kairi returned his look with a smirk of her own. "Because your girlfriend has gone up to the mountains to train by herself, you're not sitting there with that dopey 'I just got laid last night' look on your face, and the rest of us aren't ready for sex just yet."

Riku opened his mouth but then shut it. He didn't want to get into an argument with Kairi, he'd only lose.

"So what's the problem then?" Naminé asked. "If you're not pregnant and we're not here to complain about our individual training programs, then why are we here?"

Sora sighed. "I can't summon the Keyblade anymore—"

"You idiot," Riku muttered.

"—and I don't know why," Sora finished, not pausing for Riku's interruption. "I'm not giving up, I don't feel as if I can't protect the people who are and worlds that are precious to me, and I'm not mourning anything. I've got no clue why I can't summon the Keyblade this time, and I don't know why I can't use magic right now either."

"And I just started my period today, so I'm getting hit by the same stuff," Kairi said, biting her bottom lip and running a hand through her hair while she glanced off to the side. "If we were to be attacked right now, without Urahara-san or Tsukabishi-san we'd be screwed."

Naminé giggled slightly as a thought apparently came to her. "Sora's having a man-period."

"There's no such thing as a man-period!" all three males retorted in synch.

"Why don't we go see a doctor?" Kairi asked, glancing at Sora. "Maybe whatever's happening to you is related to me."

"Are you suggesting that you two are so closely connected that when you're having your period Sora gets weakened too?" Riku asked. He scoffed and looked away. "That's a load of bull Kairi and you know it. I'm not going to believe that. It's too much of an inhibition."

"Well what else are we going to do?" Sora asked.

"Well, like Kairi said, you could see a doctor," Roxas suggested. "I'm sure Dr. Fraiser would be happy to examine you both."

"But they were fine before they left the hospital," Naminé said, remembering that they had each had physicals before they were released and Sora went off to the Pride Lands.

"Well something's wrong now," Sora griped. "But even if we were to go see Aerith or Dr. Fraiser… wait, doesn't she look a _lot_ like Doctor Janet Fraiser from Stargate SG-1?"

The five shared looks with one another before simultaneously saying, "Nahhh, couldn't be."

"Anyway," Sora continued, "if we were to come back to the Garden to see a doctor, how are we going to be able to? We don't have a ship, Kairi can't create a portal of light to get us there, and we can't teleport like Master Yen Sid. Even if we did have a ship, we'd probably get blasted out of—"

"A corridor of darkness."

All eyes slowly turned to Naminé.

"I-I can still make dark portals," Naminé said, looking down ashamedly. "Despite what King Mickey said about how they could be dangerous, with Maleficent's agents lurking inside, I could still make one to get to you."

"Yeah, but," Kairi started slowly. "How would we make sure that we aren't ambushed?"

"Simple," Riku answered. "All three of us ditch training today to come and get you."

"What?" Sora asked. "No, no, you don't have to—"

"But we do," Roxas said. "You're our blood and you need help, so we're going to help you. That's all there is to it."

"_You sure said that right!"_

Sora looked behind Riku's chair for the voice, and he wasn't entirely surprised to see Dawn standing there. "Sooo, we get to play hooky today do we?" Dawn asked, leaning over the top of the egg chair to look at Riku's face.

Riku sighed. "Yes Dawn, we're playing hooky."

"Yippee!" she exclaimed. "I know all the perfect, kinky, hiding places in those dark—"

"Not going to happen Dawn, so stop trying," Riku said.

"Aw," she pouted. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not going to fall in love with a Keyblade," he answered, swivelling around to look at her. "I find you a nice and attractive, fun-loving, energetic spirit, but I'm not attracted to you in _that_ way."

"Is that because you're already attracted to someone else in _that_ way?" Dawn asked mischievously.

"Stuff it."

She giggled. Dawn began to float up from the platform's floor, moving her body so that she was on her belly and spinning around with outstretched arms and splayed hands. "Riku loves Yuffie! Riku loves Yuffie!"

"You're like a child!" Riku shot back. Dawn stopped her exclaiming to the world and floated down to Riku's level, smiling.

"Just accept it Riku," she purred. "You and I and my sister are bonded for life. I'm never going to leave your side, even if I have to live with little Miss Night."

"Yeah, about that, how come I haven't met your sister yet?"

Dawn giggled again. "Why? Does the pretty boy want a three-way with us? Ooh, you're giving me wonderful ideas you naughty boy."

Sora was having a very hard time restraining his laughter at Riku's predicament. Kairi and Naminé were rolling around in their seats, arms clutching their sides in fits of silent giggles. Sora was very glad that the Kingdom Key did not act like this.

Riku breathed hard a few times as he got his emotions under control. "No," he said evenly, "it's just that you've mentioned your sister a number of times now and I haven't met her yet. And even if we _are_ bonded for life, being bonded with a person isn't the same as being completely infatuated with them like a little kid's first crush. Just look at me and Sora."

Sora's laughs froze like his heart at Riku drawing attention towards him. "Uh, Riku, we're not gay."

"Of course we're not gay you idiot," Riku admonished him. "But, we're pretty much bonded for life, aren't we? Same with Kairi. You've gone to the end of the worlds and back to find us, and we'd both do the same for you."

Sora nodded his head, understanding entirely what his best friend was saying.

"Dawn," Riku began again, "I'm really flattered that you think of me that way, but I'd rather have the same sort of relationship with my Keyblade as I do with Sora and Kairi. You understand?"

Dawn was silent for a second. She smiled suddenly and closed her eyes. "Very well, you win." Dawn stopped floating and dropped onto her sandaled feet, standing in front of Riku. She extended her hand. "Alright Riku, you've resisted me, and so you shall Ascend and gain full control over the powers of the Dawn."

"Uh, pardon me?" Riku asked.

"All the flirting, the ravaging, the attempted kisses and other things were all part of my test," she said. "If you'd given in to the desires buried deep within you even once, you would have failed to Ascend and I would have struck you down. But you have succeeded, and so I congratulate you."

Riku looked at her in surprise, actually, all of them were looking at Dawn in surprise. The silver-haired Wielder of Dawn extended his hand. He grasped Dawn's within his own.

"To the start of a new partnership and beautiful friendship," Riku said, smiling at her as he stood up. He started to shake her hand with his.

Dawn's sincere smile was still there. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Rik." She winked.

Riku sighed and rolled his eyes while Sora finally allowed himself to chortle out loud. Apparently some things still didn't change.

-A-D-

For once, their plans went down exactly as planned. The three on Radiant Garden got dressed and Naminé was able to find where Sora and Kairi were and create a dark portal to take them there. Sora and Kairi, in turn, got themselves ready in secret, and barely a half-hour passed after their meeting before Naminé and the others arrived.

It was a sobering thought to both Sora and Kairi. It took them over ten hours using one of the portals of light that Kairi could conjure up, but a dark portal had made the trip in under thirty minutes.

"Wow," Riku said, looking back at the clearing that was only a few trees away from the small campsite as the portal vanished. "Nice place you guys have here. Did you redecorate the woods?"

"Ha ha," Kairi said, rising from her place near the fire, where she and Sora had been waiting. "Very funny Riku."

"No, seriously, what is that?" he asked, pointing at a certain tree where the words 'YOU WON'T LEAVE THIS WORLD ALIVE…' were printed on in what looked like blood.

"Uh, that was part of a Halloween joke played on us by Jack Skellington last night," Sora answered.

"We can worry about that later," Naminé whispered. "Let's get going before we're caught." She turned around and extended her hand. A moment later a swirling black, purple, and blue vortex appeared a few feet in front of her, a portal into a corridor of darkness.

Roxas frowned. "Where are your guys' digimon?" he asked, looking around. "Aren't they normally always by your sides?"

"We-we decided that it might be best to leave them behind this one time," Kairi answered. "If we're going to play hooky, we're going to play hooky, and Menelmon and Ninquemon are a little too naïve if you ask me."

Sora nodded and said, "Let's go." He stepped into the portal first. Despite the shiny turquoise look of the place, he still felt the darkness inherent in it pressing in around him. It didn't feel all that comfortable, but he would tolerate it for as long as he must as he had before.

Riku came in after him. "What are your teachers going to do once they've figured out you're missing?" he asked.

"Kairi left a note," Sora answered. "Basically all it said was—"

"_Sora can't summon the Keyblade, so we went to Radiant Garden to see a doctor to figure out what's wrong. Don't worry, we're with Naminé, Riku, and Roxas. We should be back around nine or ten tonight. If we aren't, we're waiting for test results or something and you can reach us on the communicator I left behind. –Kairi_" Kairi answered, entering the portal after them with Roxas next to her. She glanced around at the turquoise landscape with Nobody symbols flying around. "I never really liked this place," she muttered.

Naminé entered last, and the light from which she had entered closed behind her. "Well, shall we?" she asked, referencing with her hand the area in front. Four heads nodded, and they started to move out.

Riku took a sudden breath before waving a hand in front of his face. "Whew!" he said. "I just noticed, but you two _reek_! When's the last time you took a bath?"

-A-D-

Travelling back through the portal to Radiant Garden was just as uneventful as the travel to Middle-earth, and Naminé had been careful and set the end destination to being in an alley only a short distance from the hospital.

"—that you put that in a playlist titled 'Naminé's Music' Naminé," Sora was saying as they exited the portal, his mp3 player out and in his right hand.

"It was really surprising," Kairi agreed, giving Naminé a smug smile. "I never would have guessed that you'd be into club music."

"But you've never been into a club," Riku said, looking at Kairi. "None of us actually have, seeing as how we're all underage."

"Does that matter?" Sora asked. "It's pretty obvious that it'd be played in a dance club."

"What's wrong with me liking dance music?" Naminé asked with widened eyes, extended hands, and shrugging shoulders. "Why is it such a big deal that I like _Get Low_?"

"It really isn't, but it's just surprising because you seem so much purer than Kairi," Riku answered.

Naminé placed her hands on her hips and looked at him while Kairi tried to stifle giggles at Riku's implied calling her a bad girl. "And what's that supposed to mean?" the blonde asked as the portal vanished behind Roxas.

Riku widened his eyes. "_Ooh…_" Sora and Roxas both joined him before they broke out of the 'Oh' simultaneously and into the song. "_Three-six-nine, standing real fine…_" Kairi even joined them as they rapped though the chorus in all its unruly and dirty lyrics while Naminé just blushed and bobbed her head.

They stopped, laughing uncontrollably at the thought that Naminé actually liked such a song, before looking around at their surroundings. They were in an alley, but Sora and Kairi suddenly became aware of a certain chill in the air and the crunching white powder beneath their feet. "Snow?" Sora asked, having never actually seen or felt the stuff outside of Christmas Town or the Tseng-Shao Pass in Land of Dragons. He looked up. It was still dark out. The clouds that he could see were grey, and more flakes were slowly drifting down onto the land in the light from streetlamps.

"Yeah, snow," Riku replied snappily. "Lot o' cold, lot o' wet, lot o' snow. We're definitely not on the Islands anymore." He shivered, despite the jacket he was wearing. "Let's get going so we can figure out what's keeping you from calling the Keyblade."

They entered the doors to the hospital a couple of minutes later, and they brushed the loose snow off of their clothing. No one was around apart from a man at the admissions desk, and Kairi recognized him as the very same man who had tried to deny her access to see Sora the night that she'd…

She shook her head. She didn't want that memory to come up now.

He, too, looked up from where he was once again playing tic-tack-toe with himself and saw the newcomers. "Oh crap," he muttered to himself as the colour drained from his face. "Both Princesses, Lord Riku, Sir Roxas, and Master Sora. Hi, Your Highnesses, my lords, how may I help you this morning?" Mr. Admissions nearly puked inside. He _hated_ his job.

Riku pushed Sora forward. "This guy needs to see a doctor," the silver-haired Wielder of Dawn explained. "He stepped on a nail and a bird bit him, so we need him tested for tetanus and rabies."

Sora gave Riku a sharp look. "What?" he whispered. "But I haven't—"

A swift elbow in the ribs from Roxas kept him quiet. "Right. Yeah, I'm in pain. My stomach's constantly upset and I keep getting hot and cold flashes and Kairi thought that she saw me foaming at the mouth earlier, and all of my limbs are sore. I'm also really tired. (He yawned) In fact, I can barely stand."

Sora let his legs buckle underneath him, and Kairi and Roxas were barely able to catch him and prevent him from crashing onto the floor of the waiting room.

"Easy Sora," Kairi said, steadying him.

Mr. Admissions knew that it was all an act. It wouldn't have fooled a mouse. He knew better than to question the five in front of them though, and decided to play along. "Hm, sounds serious. You'd better go off to Emergency then, down that hall (he pointed). Speak to the clerk at the desk there and you'll get more instructions."

"Thank you," Naminé said politely with a smile, joining with Kairi and Roxas in helping Sora walk. Despite that he'd walked into the building perfectly, he now had a very, very noticeable limp and weak legs. Sora was acting like dead weight, and Riku pushed Kairi and Naminé away to help Roxas practically carry him from their shoulders down the hallway.

"Anytime Your Highness," Mr. Admissions said, smiling and watching them go. Maybe his job wasn't so bad after all. He turned to look at them again after a few seconds, and Sora was still keeping up the act of being incapable of walking. His feet and legs were now dragging along the floor and Roxas and Riku were holding his arms and dragging him that way. By the look of things, they were trying to dislocate them to give him a real injury.

"Ow! That hurts Riku."

"Then stop acting like an invalid," Riku chuckled in an answer, twisting at Sora's right arm as he pulled. "You walked in here like a man, walk to Emergency like a man."

"That was before I had tetanus and rabies," Sora replied. "Now I've got to keep the act up, carry me! And the tired part's actually true. Carry me!"

Kairi suddenly grabbed one of his legs and lifted it up quickly. Sora gave out a slight yelp as his body spun in reaction before laughing. Riku held onto Sora's right wrist, Roxas his left, and Kairi his right ankle. "Only one more now," he said, looking back at Naminé.

Riku shared a look with the other three, and Naminé stifled a laugh as she grabbed Sora's other ankle and hoisted it up. Now Sora was lying spread-eagled in the air, hanging by his arms and legs.

"Onward Wielders of the Keyblade," Riku declared, letting go of Sora with one hand and pointing forward, "onward, to victory!"

"Dunahdundun-dunah," left Roxas' mouth, mimicking a trumpet.

"Charge!" declared the four carrying their hapless 'paralyzed' leader. They sprinted down the hallway, Sora swaying from side to side as the tiny shifts in velocity jostled him. He was laughing; they all were.

The Emergency waiting room was coming up fast. Riku, Kairi, Naminé, and Roxas prepared themselves, their intentions completely unknown to Sora. They picked up speed, rushing towards the room and minutely changing direction to make a straight line for the desk. Riku and Roxas broke out of the hall and into the wider space of the room and they suddenly stopped moving but pulled Sora forward by his arms. At the same time, Kairi and Naminé pushed off with Sora's legs, and they threw him at the desk. Sora's laughs quickly switched into startled yells of impending doom, and he crashed into the circular wooden construct.

The nurse manning the desk looked at the four who had thrown their companion in surprise before glancing down at Sora as he lay against her desk in a daze. His hands were over his eyes and he was grumbling incoherently. "Uh… may I help you?"

Naminé now started to push Kairi forward. "We need a doctor for him and my sister," she said pleasantly. "He's got tetanus and rabies, and he may… oh, shoot, did we just give Sora a concussion?"

"Here," Riku said, "I'll know." He went down on his knees next to where Sora was lying on the ground. "You alright buddy?"

"I'm going to kill all of you. That friggin' hurt."

"You'd even kill me?" Kairi asked, feigning hurt.

"No, I've got better plans in store for you Kairi."

Riku snorted. "Yeah, the guy who's had buildings thrown at him is complaining that crashing into a wooden desk hurts. Whatever. You ready?"

"Yeah," Sora answered. He removed his hands from his eyes, and Riku took a good look.

"Eyes look good. How many of me do you see Sora?"

"One."

"Good. No concussion this time, bad luck buddy."

Sora smiled despite himself and lightly punched Riku on the older teen's shoulder. "You ass." He looked up at the nurse's face as she leaned over the edge of her desk to look at him. "Hey, could we please see Dr. Fraiser or Dr. Gainsborough?"

"I don't think Aerith actually does blood tests," Roxas pointed out.

"It's Dr. Gainsborough's day off today and Dr. Fraiser won't be in until eight," the nurse said. "If you like, I can take your names down and let her know to expect you when she comes in."

"Sounds good," Sora said before anyone else could say anything. "It'll give us a chance to eat breakfast. I'm starving."

"If you're having blood work done, you have to have been fasting for twelve hours Master Sora," the nurse said quickly.

Sora looked up at her as if she'd just signed his death warrant. "Nooooo…" he moaned quietly, to the amusement of her and his friends.

-A-D-

A bald man with a goatee walked quickly through the underground tunnels of Maleficent's fortress in the mountains bordering Mordor. Dressed in black, the man commanded the respect of all who saw him. And why wouldn't he? His voice commanded legions of men and women. He was their prophet, he was their saviour. He would cleanse the worlds of those who did not believe, and create a utopian future for his followers. All the wars on their home world would end because of their strength, because of _his_ strength.

He was their Messiah. He was Kane, the influential and charismatic leader of the Brotherhood of Nod.

Entering a monumental chamber beneath the mountains, Kane stopped and looked around. Many dozens of large treaded vehicles with a mounted cannon were within this chamber, and soldiers of his army scurried around, checking their Tick Tanks or their weapons. They were getting restless in this base beneath the mountains, and so continuously checked over their equipment again and again, waiting for the moment when they were to strike.

As soon as he entered all activity ceased and every man turned to look at him. "Hail Kane!" they cried. "One Vision, One Purpose!"

"One Vision, One Purpose my brothers!" Kane replied, grinning. "Continue your good and glorious work!"

"Peace Through Power!" they chanted in answer to him.

Kane strode up to a man who regarded him reverently. The man had short blond hair, gelled back behind his revealed forehead. He was Serbian, his name was Anton Slavik, and he had earned the nickname "The Serbian Wolf" for sheer ruthlessness in combat. Raised by the Black Hand, the arm of the Brotherhood that was part religious priesthood (spreading the word of their prophet, Kane, and putting down dissidents) and part elite covert/combat force (it was also rumoured that the Black Hand was the continuation of the same secret organization that Gavrelli Princep, the man who had assassinated the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, was said to have been a member of), Slavik was young, but brilliant, and one of Kane's most devoted field commanders. He knew that he could trust him. "GDI will have been wondering where we've vanished too. Vega will be able to hold their interest for only so long. We shall announce to the worlds just where our allegiances lie. It's time we showed these Keyblading heretics and their growing army our power. Assemble a small group and send them to Radiant Garden, and make sure you include a tank or two. That ought to show them who they're dealing with. Oh, and work with Xokor on this one. Make it a joint Op."

"It shall be done," the man responded. "But with a Nobody?"

Kane looked back at him and smiled. "Nobodies like him are what gives us an edge. The Dark Mistress wants this done, and the Brotherhood shall do it. Tiberium may be the next step in our evolution, but darkness presents another path, one which only the most worthy of the Black Hand shall tread. One Vision, One Purpose."

"One Vision, One Purpose," Slavik repeated. "It will be done." Kane nodded his head and clapped him on the shoulder before stalking out of the monolithic chamber. He gazed up at the ceiling, imagining that he could see the stars.

With Maleficent's help, his message would be spread to all worlds. Nod would prosper, grow rich, and destroy those who opposed them. They would spread the Tiberium, which came to their world, and they would embrace Kane's new future for the human race. All that they had to do was wipe out the non-believers.

-A-D-

Naminé was the first out of the hospital. "So what do we do now?" she asked. "It's a little past six, so we've got two hours before we need to be back here."

"Hayner and the others are getting back from that exercise on Destiny Islands today," Roxas said, kicking at the snow on the ground. "And it's Hayner's 16th birthday today too. I was hoping that we could wish him a Happy Birthday later."

"We could have breakfast at the Seventh Heaven," Riku suggested. He put his hands in his armpits to warm them up. "But I don't think Tifa opens this early."

"You're deliberately trying to antagonize me," Sora muttered. His stomach grumbled and he shot it a look of loathing. "And _you_ aren't helping me!"

"Didn't you and Yuffie have an apartment here?" Kairi asked.

"It's Yuffie's and yeah," Riku said.

"Couldn't we go there and pass the time instead of staying out here in the cold?" Kairi asked.

"It's actually not all that bad," Naminé reflected, looking around. "I think Ur's training is actually starting to work. I'm getting used to the cold."

"Yeah, great for you Naminé," Sora said, following Riku's example and stuffing his hands into his armpits. He looked down after a second. "Crap, this doesn't work anymore!"

"What do you mean?" Roxas asked.

"Think about this for a second Rox," Sora answered. "I'm putting my right hand under my left shoulder, and my left hand under my right shoulder. My right arm and shoulder are actually flesh and blood and producing heat, and my left arm and shoulder are actually metal and becoming as cold as the air around us. This doesn't work anymore!"

"You could just use a—" Naminé began before hissing slightly as if chastising herself. "Right, no magic. Sorry I mentioned it."

They reached the apartment without too much incident, though most of them were colder than they'd have liked. Even worse was that they entered to find the abode cold, since Riku and Yuffie hadn't been living in it for about a week now.

Naminé took care of that while holding onto two balls of brightly burning fire, just in case anyone had forgotten that she could use more magic than just ice.

"Make yourselves at home," Riku said, tossing his key onto a counter in the small kitchen while Naminé walked around the small five-room apartment with the flames clutched in her hands to heat the space up.

"Sure thing," Sora said before yawning. His eyes widened suddenly and he snatched a case off the carpet. "You've got Street Combat?"

"Yeah," Riku replied, grinning as he shucked off his jacket while Kairi was still working on removing her boots. "You prepared to die?"

"So we're going to play video games for two hours?" Kairi asked, grinning.

"Got a problem with that Kai?" Riku asked.

She shook her head. "Not at all," the red-head answered. "Although, I would rather watch a video sphere or something if you have one."

"Sorry," Riku said, "but Yuffie and I didn't actually have any. We could only rent some, and that SV is staying in game usage!" he added as Sora turned on the console.

"I could quickly rush back to the castle and grab my portable one and some of Naminé's spheres," Roxas offered, though he too was looking at the SV screen with longing. Sora'd just put in the sphere for Street Combat, the company logo screens were coming up, and he was itching to have the fight announcer's voice order him to "FINISH HIM!" against Riku.

Kairi looked at Roxas in astonishment. "You'd do that?"

Naminé came back into the living/dining room, still holding onto the balls of fire. "Don't worry about it Roxas," she said. "You stay here and enjoy yourself. _I'll_ go and get them."

While Kairi and Naminé discussed the video spheres that the blonde had managed to acquire and which ones she should bring back with her, Sora and Riku had already started the vicious stage of character selection, smack-talk, and friendly insults, eagerly joined by Roxas. A minute later Naminé was in a corridor of darkness and Kairi was egging on Sora, and her tongue lashed out at Riku effectively as any of the guys' could.

-A-D-

_0645hrs,  
Middle-earth_

"Wakey-wakey!" Kisuke Urahara said lightly as he opened the zippered entrance to the orange tent that was occupied by Sora, Kairi, and their partner digimon. "It's time to get up lovebirds. Huh?"

He blinked as he caught Menelmon and a recently re-digivolved Aiwemon in the middle of what had evidently been a hushed and harried conversation above the synthetic fabric of the sleeping bag bed that had been made on the tent's floor. They both looked at him in horrified surprise, and Menelmon shifted slightly, hiding something behind her, but there was no sign of Sora and Kairi.

"Uh, where are Sora-kun and Kairi-chan?" Kisuke asked, looking back and forth between the two small birds. He didn't sense them in the tent, or in the immediate area either.

"Er…" Aiwemon began.

"They went out for a run!" Menelmon declared. "Yeah, they woke up early and left a note behind that said that they went out for a training run. It's quite simple if you ask me."

"Really?" Kisuke asked, surprised. "A run? What the heck could Kairi-chan have bribed Sora-kun with to get him out of bed early enough to go on a run?" A thought suddenly came to him and he grinned boyishly. "Oh young love, it's such a beautiful thing. They're going to have many healthy and lovely children when they grow up."

He turned away from the tent and let the flap drop. Menelmon and Aiwemon looked at each other and waited a few seconds before sighing in relief.

"Well," Aiwemon said, "that worked. Good thinking."

"Thanks, but it won't distract them forever," Menelmon answered. She suddenly felt something move behind her and turned to look.

Kisuke was standing there, holding a piece of paper in his hands and looking down at them.

"Not that I don't trust you," he told them, "but I think I'd like to see this note for myself."

The two digimon gulped as Kisuke brought the piece of paper up to his eyes. His expression swiftly soured. "Oh those kids," he muttered.

-A-D-

_0750hrs  
The Castle, Radiant Garden_

"So," Kensworth said, pinching the bridge of his nose in anxiety from inside the dining room on the castle's second floor. "They aren't in the castle?"

"No," a male servant answered. "We couldn't find them."

"Then where could they be?" Helia asked. "It's not like them to skip out on breakfast."

"Could they have gone and gotten an earlier start in training?" Chad asked, looking at Renji as he sat and ate in his gigai.

"How should I know?" he asked between bites of his pancakes. "If they want to fight each other rather than wait for me and Zabimaru to stomp 'em then that's their problem."

"Who cares where they are?" Stewie asked from a highchair, a knife and fork in each hand. "There are blueberry pancakes in front of me. All else pales in comparison, even my plans to kill broccoli and become Supreme Ruler of the Universe."

Renji's eyebrow twitched. "Has anyone ever told you before that you are one seriously messed up kid?"

"Silence!" Stewie barked. He pointed his fork at Renji menacingly. "When the worlds are mine, your life shall be the first I claim. I have big plans for you, slave."

Ur sipped on a teacup filled with coffee while she read the daily paper, fully dressed in her burgundy top, undone beige jacket, and a pair of black slacks. "What a pity if Naminé is playing hooky today," she said. "And she knows that I was going to start her on Ice-Make magic today. Oh well, I guess it's just me." She smiled, full-knowing that she was still going to be stealing the servant-girl Agatha to continue to teach her the basics. But the others didn't need to know that.

Renji looked at her sharply. "Playing hooky?" he asked, a serious look taking control of his face. The seriousness degraded into anger as he forcibly stood up. He took his Piz-Dispenser out of a pocket and squeezed the duck head with his index finger once. A brightly coloured piece of soul candy popped out and flew into his mouth. Renji's gigai jolted backwards as his soul reaper form stayed in place, and his hand went down to the hilt of his zanpakutō. "If those two idiots think that they can skip out of training today to play in the snow like a couple of pinheads, there's going to be hell to pay!"

-A-D-

_0805hrs  
Shinra General Hospital, Radiant Garden_

"I still can't believe you lost to Naminé," Riku joked as they walked down the hall to Emergency this time.

Sora scowled. "She just got lucky," he replied.

"Two perfect wins?"

"_She just got lucky!_" Sora repeated, fuming while the others laughed. Sora was not about to admit defeat. He _knew_ that he could beat her and that he _should have_ beaten her. The fact that he hadn't and that he didn't know why he didn't even land a hit on her despite his vastly superior skills and experience didn't seem to register yet.

"It's because you're an idiot Sora," Naminé said, smiling with bubbly pride. "You should never have tried to beat me as soon as I got my hands on a controller."

"And why is that? You, my precious little witch, are a complete amateur. You just got totally lucky."

"Ahem? _Excuse me?_ Who here is the biggest fan of WD Comics? I am Elastigirl's number one fan! I know all her moves, crime fighting style, catchphrases and everything to possibly know about her! Not even you in your _epic Frozone mastery_ can beat me! Once I saw that you'd switched games, my victory was assured!"

Kairi smiled. "Ego boost much Naminé?"

"For once in my life, _I'm_ the champ! I want to gloat," she replied, giggling slightly at the end.

Sora rounded on her, his wounded pride driving him. "You're going down hard!"

"Just try it spikey!"

A brown-haired, blue-eyed woman was standing by the desk at Emergency, conversing with the nurse. She was just putting on a white coat over a red shirt and cream-coloured pants and running a hand through her short hair. It looked as if the woman had just gotten in.

She turned at their approach, more than likely hearing them rather than seeing them coming from the corner of her eye, and her arms folded in front of her chest while she gave them a small smile. "And how are my favourite patients doing today?" Dr. Janet Fraiser asked. "I just found out that you came in earlier, something about tetanus and rabies?"

She was clearly looking at Sora, and the fivesome developed symptoms of embarrassment as the subject of their previous conversation dropped. It was painfully obvious that Riku's excuse was weaker than stage glass.

"Uh, can we talk to you somewhere more private?" Sora asked, glancing around. There were already a few people waiting on chairs and benches. Dr. Fraiser nodded and began to walk away. They followed her.

"Shut the door," she said as she led them into an empty examination room. Riku did as he came in last. Dr. Fraiser turned to look at them. "Alright, what's up?"

"We've got a bit of a problem," Kairi said, glancing at Sora.

"I can't summon the Keyblade, again," Sora elaborated before Fraiser could answer, "or use magic."

"Oh joy," Dr. Fraiser remarked. "And you came to see me why? Magic and magical weapons aren't exactly my expertise."

"Because we figured that you'd be the best person to go to," Riku answered. "We already know that girls can't use magic, and that Kairi, Naminé, and Yuffie can't summon their Keyblades, when having their periods."

The doctor's eyes widened slightly. "Well _that_'s something that I didn't learn at med school. Women can't use magic during their period, whoever thought up that wonderful handicap?"

"Trust me, we're thinking the same thing," Kairi told her, catching onto Fraiser's sarcasm. Kairi started to bite her bottom lip. "Well, you see, we came to you because we thought that it might have something to do… well, to do with me."

There was silence for a few seconds. Then, "Go on."

"Well, I-I just started my period today, so I'm going through the same thing that Sora is, and so—"

"You thought that there may be a connection between your period and Sora's apparent weakness," Dr. Fraiser surmised, turning around. She started to rummage in a drawer. "Alright, I can see that logic." She turned around again, gloves going onto her hands. "You both know the drill, strip down to your undies. Come on, drop 'em. Actually, while I'm at it, I might as well do a check on all of you."

-A-D-

One hour later after physical examinations and remarks on the recent cuts, bruises, and scars that four of the five had acquired and more than a few places where Naminé had developed frostbite, as well as a number of other tests both medical and thrown together on the spot, Dr. Fraiser had yet to figure out what the problem was.

"Hm," she said, looking between each of the five as they stood fully clothed again with their jackets off on a coat rack. It had been a new and, somewhat, embarrassing experience for them as she hadn't asked any of them to leave the room when she'd been conducting her physical examinations. The memory would likely never leave them, however, all that it would do is strengthen their relationship with each other. "Could you all try summoning your Keyblades?" Dr. Fraiser asked, looking at Sora first as he stood at the end of the line.

Sora sighed, dreading this moment. It was the one thing she hadn't asked of them yet. Dr. Fraiser stood in front of him and Sora held out his hand. He closed his eyes, willing the Keyblade to come to him, imagining its weight resting comfortably and firmly in his grasp. A second passed, then two, then three, but still no Keyblade appeared.

Sora opened his eyes and sighed again in disappointment, glancing down at his empty hand.

Roxas was next, and the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn easily flashed into existence in his hands. Dr. Fraiser nodded. Kairi stood next to Roxas. But even with a face screwed up in concentration she, like Sora, could not bring the weapon out of hammerspace or wherever it went when not summoned. She also sighed in shame, even though she knew beforehand that she wouldn't have been able to call it.

A flash of light heralded Nobody's Pride's appearance in Naminé's hands, and Dr. Fraiser nodded at her before moving to Riku and stopping in front of him. "Do I really have to?" he asked. "What's the point of this?"

"To make sure that everyone who is supposed to can, and that it isn't just Sora and Kairi having this problem at the moment," Dr. Fraiser answered. "Now come on, let's see it."

"Right," Riku said, seeing the reason in her logic. He held out his hand…

And suddenly there were _two _flashes of light, one in each hand! The whole line jumped in surprise, Riku most of all, as a second Keyblade appeared in his left hand. Way to the Dawn was still loosely grasped in his right, but in his left he held a Keyblade with a guard in the shape of a heart. One side of the hilt was in the shape of a breaking ocean wave, while the other was a sand-coloured vine that wrapped around the weapon's shaft, the shaft's colouring going from a light yellow down through the spectrum to the deep red of sunset. The key of the weapon burst out in a bouquet of golden flowers, and the keychain that dangled by a red fibre chord was a paopu fruit.

Kairi was the first one to recover, and she couldn't help but laugh hysterically. "When did you get the girly Keyblade back?"

"Island's Fire…" remarked Naminé, looking at the blade that she too had once held.

"No," Riku answered swiftly, staring at the weapon. "No, not Island's Fire, Destiny's Embrace. (He looked between the two blades) Dawn and Destiny…my Keyblades. _My_ Keyblades," he repeated to himself, closing his eyes and smiling slightly.

He couldn't see it, but the other four Wielders in the room noticed that a golden glow surrounded his body for a few seconds, and a calming warmth and strength radiated from him. Even Dr. Fraiser was able to feel the change within Riku.

The glow faded away as Riku opened his eyes, and he let his Keyblades vanish from his hands. He looked to his right, and chuckled slightly as his eyes met theirs. Despite two of them being unable to summon their legendary weapons, none of them could stop smiling.

"It's still a girly Keyblade," Kairi said.

"No it isn't," Riku retorted, his smile slipping from his face.

"Yes it is," Kairi answered back.

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is." This time it was both Kairi and Naminé who said it.

"No it isn't!" Riku fired back. "It represents Destiny Islands."

"Yeah," Kairi replied. "And its defining feature is its key-tip, which, in case you've suddenly become blind and haven't noticed Riku, is a bunch of bright and pretty flowers."

"Well… yeah, but—"

Kairi leaned across Naminé to look Riku dead in the eye, and her voice playfully took on an air of finality. "It's a girly Keyblade," she stated.

"Hm," Dr. Fraiser hummed again, looking down the line as Kairi righted herself and Riku blushed. "Well, I guess the only thing we can do now would be to take a blood test."

Sora paled suddenly. "Uh, a blood test?" he asked. "Are you sure that that's necessary?"

"Sora what's wrong?" Kairi asked quickly, noting the anxiety in his voice.

"I-I don't like blood tests," he said, an embarrassed blush rising to his cheeks. "The needles and the… just the sight of my own blood…"

"How are _you_ queasy about blood Sora?" Riku asked. "You've probably drank and bled out all the blood in your veins at least once by now."

Sora shook his head vehemently. "No, it's not that. I can look at it perfectly fine when I'm bleeding but not when I'm _bleeding_."

"Um… Sora I'm confused," Naminé said. "Right now you aren't making any sense."

"I think I understand," Dr. Fraiser said sympathetically. "You're fine if you bleed because you have a wound, but you're not fine if you're having blood taken from you from a needle and it's going into a vial or pouch through a tube and you can see it." Sora nodded. The doctor shrugged. "I'm sorry you feel that way, but the only option I have left if we're to figure out what's keeping you from summoning the Keyblade is to check your blood to see if there are any similarities with Kairi's. The best I can do is to have you lie down and turn your head the other way until it's finished."

It took her fifteen minutes to take blood samples from the five and said that she'd call them in when the tests were finished. Sora gave her the number of the communicator he'd been given from Star Command and they'd decided that she'd call that.

"Okay, _now_ we eat breakfast," Sora said, the first one to go through the main doors of the hospital. Now his right arm ached slightly from where the needle had pierced him. It was all he needed, one more pain. People walked and bustled about on the street, going about their daily Saturday business. He looked up into the grey sky, shivering as white flakes continued to descend onto the ground. "It's half past nine and I'm _starving_."

"To the Seventh Heaven we go then," Kairi said, patting her own stomach. "I'm so hungry I could eat a—"

Exactly what Kairi could eat they never found out, for as soon as Riku and Roxas had both exited the hospital doors a loud and obviously irritated voice yelled. "There you are!"

The speaker was a young man with red hair, spiked up and back like a pineapple. He had numerous black tattoos and was dressed in a black kimono and sandals with white socks. Resting on his shoulder was a drawn katana, and his facial expression was one of anger.

"Renji…" Roxas said quietly.

"I've been waiting for you lot," he said, coming forward slowly and tapping his sword against his shoulder. "Trying to skip out on training today are yah? Not on my watch you're not."

"Riku," Sora began quietly, "a friend of yours?"

"More like a friend of a friend of yours," Riku replied.

"How did you find us?" Naminé asked quickly. Her eyes were already darting around, trying to look for an escape route through the staggered groups of people who couldn't see or hear the Soul Reaper.

"Simple," Renji stated arrogantly. "You guys have some of the weirdest reiatsu I've ever felt. Not only that, but you're even more useless at controlling it than that moron Ichigo. I felt yours flare up suddenly not too long ago Riku, and it was..."

He stopped, his eyes suddenly shifting towards Sora and Kairi. He looked them over, and it was clear enough that he knew who they were just from the descriptions he'd been given of the two. He glanced back at Riku, and then his eyes encompassed all three at once. "Aha," he muttered, his voice rising. "Now I get it! I had been wondering why Mr. Urahara sent me to train with you two while also training Chad. He needs to get stronger by fighting my Bankai, but you guys already have crazy strength of your own. You just need to learn how to harness it and control it. _That's_ why I'm here."

"Wait," Kairi said. "You know Urahara-san?"

Renji snorted. "I guess that you two are his protégés. Boy are you in for a rude awakening when you get back."

"Naminé," Roxas whispered.

"It's risky, but we may have to use another corridor to get away from Renji," she said.

"No," Riku told her. "No more corridors; they corrupt. How can we get to Tifa's bar from here?"

White mist started to form around Naminé's right hand. "Just leave it to me," she whispered back. "Crystals of the winter wind, come to my aid! Freeze him in place!" she yelled, extending her palm.

Renji gave a sudden yelp as snow circled out of Naminé's hand, blinding him in a flurry of whiteness. The snows that fell from the sky turned on a sudden shift of wind and fell harder. One flake became thousands, and they swirled around Renji fiercer than any natural blizzard. At the same moment, the snow that he had been standing in rose up from the ground and tightened around his ankles. More snow came flowing into them from the surroundings, squeezing together into two tightly packed hands. They froze themselves to the cold, hard, ground, and grasped firmly at the Soul Reaper's feet, immobilizing him.

"Let's go!" Riku ordered, turning and running while Renji was still blinded by the snow that continued to blow around his face.

"That was cool," Kairi praised, smiling in awe at Naminé.

"Thanks," Naminé said, smiling but already breathing harder than what the others were. "I just came up with it now. Didn't know it would take so much out of me though."

"You can recover when we make it to the Seventh Heaven," Sora said. "And I'll buy you breakfast."

"Really?" Naminé asked, blinking in surprise. "What happened to taking me down Mr. Ultimate Frozone?"

"A nifty bit of spellwork like that deserves rewarding, right Rox?" Sora smirked at his brother as he said this.

"Yeah, which means that _I'm_ buying my girlfriend breakfast," Roxas answered.

"Suit yourself," Sora replied, shrugging. Sora smiled cheekily to himself. _Way to go me_, he thought.

"Hey, you guys are slow!" Riku called from ahead, the older teen glancing over his shoulder at them before rounding a corner.

"Your legs are too long!" Kairi retorted after a moment, snow flying around her ankles as she rounded the same corner that Riku had. She dodged out of the way of a group of three teens about their age, walking far too slowly for her tastes.

"'Scuse me, pardon me, 'scuse me!" Roxas and Sora called in tandem from barely three steps ahead of Kairi and Naminé, by all appearances racing each other to see who could catch up to Riku first, Sora slightly in the lead. It was just their luck that they were passing by a four-storey mall (excluding the underground floor) built over three city blocks.

Or maybe it _was_ just their luck. Naminé's spell likely wouldn't keep the determined Lieutenant contained for long, and if they got caught up in a crowd he'd be unable to do anything without causing a huge scene or possibly hurting bystanders.

Finally, it appeared as if somebody decided to take a close enough look at the five running teens and recognized who they were. "Princess Kairi!" the man, who none of them had even seen before, yelped as he kept pace with them. "Is something wrong? Are we under attack Your Highness?"

"Hey Riku!" Sora called with a smile, hearing the stranger. "We're making a scene!"

"No, we're not under attack or anything," Kairi answered. "We're just doing the common teenage thing called 'running away'!"

"Running away?" the man asked in confusion, slowing down and allowing the twin princesses to keep going. "Running from what?"

"From authority!" Kairi laughed over her shoulder. She could just see the man chuckle and smile.

"This is what we get for playing hooky," Naminé laughed, breaking off from Kairi to go around a group of two who were in their way.

"You're still too slow!" Riku called from up ahead.

"I'll show you who's slow!" Sora retorted, running even harder and pushing ahead of Roxas.

"Chocobo!"

"Whoa!"

"Kweh!"

"Watch where you're going kids!"

"You're going to cause an accident you idiots!"

"Sorry about this!"

"Shit, there's Renji! Whatever you do, don't stop running!"

"What? Where?" Roxas asked, looking around frantically, his eyes sweeping past the chocobo rider who had barely pulled on his reigns in time to keep from running Sora over as the brunet flew off the side-walk and into the street in pursuit of Riku.

"In the air behind us! Quick this way!" Riku ducked into an alley, and the others followed, picking up speed to pull even closer to the silver-haired Wielder of Dawn.

"The Seventh Heaven shouldn't be too much farther now, should it?" Sora asked.

"How should I know?" Naminé and Kairi asked simultaneously. "We've only been there once before."

"Okay, that was kinda creepy," Roxas said.

"Only one more block!" Riku answered. "One more block, then we're safe."

Renji's voice filled their ears as he appeared not ten feet above them in the air. "You can't hide from me," he declared.

"Oh crud," Sora said, looking over his shoulder and spotting him. "We're all in a line. There's nowhere to hide! We're sitting ducks here."

"Not for long we aren't," Roxas said. He turned around, not missing a step or losing any of his speed as he drew Oblivion. It burst into flame and he threw it at Renji. "Fire Raid!"

"Riku, how 'bout you?"

"Can't. All of my moves would blow holes in the walls. Just keep running."

The Soul Reaper raised his zanpakutō to block the Keyblade's attack just as Kairi turned to Naminé. "Nami, use your light!"

"But I don't know how to use the light, you do!" she answered.

"Look into me, look into your heart, whatever, just find it and use it!" Kairi told her just as there came the _clang_ from the blocked Fire Raid.

"But…"

"You can do it Naminé, just do it now!"

"But…" she began again, looking even more uncertain and hesitant than before.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" Renji yelled, his sword suddenly transforming into the six-segmented blade that had first given Riku so much trouble. He swung it down, the blade arching on a path that would hit all five of them at once.

"Naminé!"

"Shielding Moonlight!" the blonde girl suddenly cried, sweeping her hand above her. A bubble of opal light surrounded them, shining softly. Renji's zanpakutō struck against the light, and bounced off as if it had hit something impenetrable.

"What?" he asked aloud in surprise, the segments flying back on the cord to reform the blade.

The shield faded, and Naminé turned her body around as Roxas had. Her palm extended towards Renji. "Light!" The brightness of a searchlight surged out from her hand, and Renji hissed as the light blinded him. He glanced back, trying to look through the light at them.

He didn't see the two fireballs the size of a fist until the instant before they struck him. One hit his forehead, and the other his upper chest. Another slight hiss, this one more of annoyance than any real pain, and he looked again. He couldn't see anything at all, his vision still effectively nullified by the intense light he'd been witness to. He could only sense that all five had left the alley.

"Almost there," Riku huffed. "I can see it now!"

"Naminé, you can have _anything_ you want for breakfast, lunch, and supper," Sora said. "I don't care if Roxas is going to buy your breakfast, but I'm buying you at least one meal today."

"And if we decide to go shopping," Kairi added, "I'm paying for that too."

"It wasn't really anything—"

"Door!"

Riku stopped on a dime right before he would have careened into the front door of the Seventh Heaven, and grabbed the handle. His chest was rising and falling at an accelerated pace, but he smiled as he said, "After you Princess Naminé."

"Oh stop it," she said, blushing coyly. "I really didn't do anything."

"Don't be so modest Naminé," Kairi laughed, pushing her through the door. "You kept him off our backs twice."

Roxas nodded and followed Kairi and Naminé through, Sora coming in after him and Riku bringing up the rear. He started to brush the snow from his jacket and smiled at the warmth of the inside of the Seventh Heaven, but he looked at Naminé. That was now the second time she'd created a shield like that, the first being when they were fighting the massive Boar Heartless in The Big Top. The shield had brought back his memory of the event, and he glanced down at his own hands.

_That red wave and X,_ he thought. _Could—could I be one of the Nine too?_

Tifa's voice broke him from his thoughts. "Morning you guys," she said, smiling as they strode up to the bar. "I sure haven't seen you in a while. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing too big," Sora said easily, sitting himself down on a stool. "Just coming in for breakfast."

"Yeah," Riku added casually as Tifa set down a tall cool glass of dumbapple juice in front of him. "Ditching training, playing hooky, all that jazz."

Tifa laughed and raised her eyebrows. "Playing hooky?" she said, chuckling. "Sora, I would have never guessed."

"It's a Saturday Tifa," Sora replied as if that justified everything. "Who actually expects us to train on the weekend?"

"Apparently the guy with the eyebrows standing outside," Tifa answered.

"HUH?"

The five of them all looked around, and standing outside of a window, scowling and looking in at them, was Renji. He watched them for another second before stalking away.

"Well," Roxas muttered, "at least he's not stupid enough to try and cause a scene indoors."

"So," Tifa began again, "if you're here for breakfast, what'll it be?"

Riku glanced around for a second. "Just give us the usual Tifa," he said, adding in a quick wink. Tifa caught it and smiled.

"Alright, five usuals coming up Riku."

"Usuals?" Sora asked, glancing at his best friend. Riku smiled as he took a sip of his dumbapple juice. He raised it.

"Dumbapple juice, pancakes, and eggs," Riku answered.

"Do we get any bacon with that?" Kairi asked eagerly from between them, licking her lips. The thought of a breakfast like that after not having one like it for so long was making her mouth water. And, it was _bacon_, the lord of lipids and prince of pork products.

Tifa giggled slightly. "You can if you want sweetie," she answered, placing the glasses of juice down in front of each of them while she spoke. "But, if you don't mind me asking, aren't you and Sora supposed to be training on another world?"

"Well," Sora started slowly, "technically yeah."

"Sora's having a man-period," Naminé snorted before quickly burying her blushing face into her glass of juice, knowing that Sora was sending a glare her way.

"Man-period?" Tifa asked with a falsely dramatic air, placing her hands on her hips and cocking her head at Sora.

The brunet returned his gaze from the white-blonde at the end. "It's _not_ a man-period," he growled, despising the term. "I just can't summon the Keyblade or use magic right now just like NAMINÉ when it's that time of the month."

"So he and Kairi swung by to see a doctor to figure out what's wrong with him," Roxas finished for him. "Hm, your juice tastes great Tifa."

"Thanks Roxas," she returned. "I get it straight from Banora." Tifa then turned away to place their orders through in the back.

The door opened and Riku gave a cursory glance towards it, crediting it to human nature, and his eyes suddenly widened. Renji walked in, still in his black robes but with his sword sheathed on his hip and his Lieutenant's badge tied around his arm. Riku's arm went out and touched Kairi, who sat next to him on his right.

She almost spilled her drink. "Watch it Ri—" The red-head's voice caught in her throat as she spotted Renji striding up to the bar as well, and a second later all five of them were watching the advancing Soul Reaper with apprehension. He was walking straight for the final stool on Naminé's left with his hands in the pockets of his robes, and acting as if he didn't know them at all.

"Why's he back?" Roxas whispered. "I thought he'd gone away."

"He wouldn't cause a scene in here would he?" Sora whispered. "Would he?"

"Most people in here probably don't have strong enough hearts to see or hear him," Naminé said. "But I don't think Renji's stupid enough to—"

"Don't worry I'm not going to attack you or anything," Renji told them, getting within six feet of the stools they were sitting at. "But don't think that I'm going to let you guys out of my sight," he added, stopping. "You're supposed to be in training, so you can forget about ditching it for even a minute."

"But," Naminé started, "Kairi, and Sora…"

"If you're so insistent on skipping out of training, then I'm going to chase after you all day," he continued, grinning. "And I'm going to push you and push you until you can control that crazy strength of yours; you guys could even give that blockhead Ichigo a run for his money. Hey! Barmaid! Can I get some sake over here?"

Tifa nearly started, spotting the robed man sitting at the very end of the bar. "Uh… sure, coming right up!"

The five shared grim looks. Their plans, which had started off so well, were beginning to crumble.

-A-D-

_No quip today except for a quote, "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	35. Drive

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Square-Enix, or Disney. They all belong to their respective owners and shareholders._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXV: Drive

_1337hrs, Saturday, November 1, 2003  
Radiant Garden_

"I hate running!" Kairi panted as she leaned up against the cold rock side of the blue cliffs. "I hated it in track, I hated it when Glorfindel had us run to the Ford, I hated it when Urahara-san did it to us in the woods, and I hate it now."

"We know Kairi," Sora replied, panting next to her as the snow continued to fall. It wasn't the light flurry that had been falling when they arrived. It had strengthened and the flakes were now smaller, but they fell faster and thicker. He shook his head, getting rid of some of the white flakes that were caking the black hood of his jacket, and shivered slightly; it was thinner in this weather than what he'd liked. "We've known for years."

"Did we lose him?" Roxas asked, glancing around the corner of the cliff-face. They were in the ravine, on their way down to the currently vacated Great Maw training camp.

"He can sense our presence by feeling our individual magical energies," Naminé answered, shaking her head. "We haven't lost him."

"Doesn't that mean that he can't track Sora and Kairi?" Riku asked. "Since they can't use their magic right now?"

Naminé shook her head. "I don't know."

"I'm too slow…" Kairi muttered to herself. "That's why I've always hated track. I'm slow."

"Kairi," Riku reasoned in a slightly comforting voice, "if we were back home right now, and dealing with track in gym class, you'd be right up at the top." Kairi glanced at him and smiled funnily, as if she weren't quite sure that what he said was true.

Sora looked up, blinking away the snow that fell towards his eyes. "Where is he? Did we lose him in the snow?"

"It has picked up," Riku agreed.

"He can track us," Naminé reminded them, "and he's faster than all of us."

"Wait," said Kairi. "If Renji can track us by feeling for our energy, then we can track and locate him by doing the same!"

"Great plan Kairi," Roxas said. "Except, how do we do that?"

She shrugged sheepishly after a second. "Beats me. That's as far as I've gotten."

Sora glanced around at his companions as the snow continued to fall, an idea coming to him. "Hm…" he said, drawing their attention towards him as he stalled for time. "I think…I think I have an idea."

"Ha! I _knew_ your head wasn't as empty as it looked!" Roxas laughed.

_You can shut up, thank you very much,_ Sora retorted.

_Come on bro, it was only a joke._

"What kind of idea?" Riku asked, glaring at Roxas for a moment before returning his attention to Sora.

"Well, we can feel each other's presence can't we?" Sora said, playing it safe and making it a question. "If we can feel each other's hearts, then why can't we reach out with our own and feel Renji's?"

"Yeah, but," Naminé started apprehensively, glancing at Sora and Kairi in particular. "Wouldn't that require magic?"

"I can feel everyone's presence around me," Kairi answered. "I can also see your auras if I try hard enough and close my eyes, letting everything go."

"Don't let everything go," Sora said abruptly, looking at Kairi sharply. "It works fine, but it's not right."

Riku stared at Sora for a moment. "Where did that come from?"

Sora ran a hand over his forehead for a second. "I learned that way from Piximon, but, it-it doesn't feel right anymore, doing it that way," he answered. "We're Keyblade Wielders," he said, balling his hand into a fist and placing it over his chest, almost without thinking about it. "We get our strength from our hearts and the bonds we form with the friends we make. Our strength comes from our friends and our emotions, our hopes, our dreams, our love. If we throw all of that away, we aren't really being true to ourselves, are we?"

He looked up and smiled, wrapping his arms around both Kairi and Roxas' shoulders. "We don't need to meditate or find a 'oneness' within ourselves and the universe. We're not Jedi. Sure, it's calming and it wouldn't be bad to do it every once in a while if we're under a lot of stress or whatever, but it isn't our path to walk."

The other four were quite for a few seconds, and Sora started to wonder if he'd said something wrong, when Riku suddenly spoke the words, "Well who'd have thunk?"

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking at his silver-haired best friend in confusion.

"Who'd have thought that words like that would actually leave _your_ mouth?" Riku asked, chuckling and smiling. He playfully pushed Sora's shoulder, upsetting his tenuous hold on Kairi and Roxas. "You're actually starting to sound like the Keyblade Master, like you're our leader."

"What?" Sora asked. He shook his head. "No, King Mickey's our leader."

"Maybe right now," Naminé said, glancing at Sora with a more thoughtful look on her smiling face. "But we're young, and the King won't be able to lead us forever. Like the gods said, you're the Chosen Master of the Kingdom Key; you _are_ our leader."

Kairi giggled slightly and poked Sora. "How about that huh? Not only are you a Prince now, but you're also the head of a new Chaser Order, Grand Master Sora."

The brunet smiled and snorted. "Alright, fine. If you're going to shove the leadership role on me, I'm going to declare that the new order will be led by a council of seven, all six of us, Yuffie included, and King Mickey."

"Headed by you," Riku pointed out.

"If you all insist," Sora conceded, holding his hands out helplessly.

"Uh, great as this discussion is and all," Roxas started, "couldn't we be having it at a later date?"

"Yeah," Kairi agreed. "We're getting off topic."

"What was the topic again?" Sora asked, scratching his head.

"Figuring if we could sense where Renji is so that we can avoid him," Naminé answered.

"Then let's get to it," Sora said enthusiastically. He fell silent and closed his eyes. The others all did so as well, and at once each of them could feel the others standing around them. Their energy flared, and even though Sora and Kairi were currently unable to utilize their magic, they could still feel the strength and energy of their friends' hearts. Auras flared up around each person's hearts in their mind's eye. Sora was surrounded by shining silver, Riku by a slightly red and black tinted gold, Kairi in pure white light, Naminé in a more jewel-coloured opal, and Roxas was in a more fiery red. They may have all been different colours, but they were all warm, and light, and just, and strong; a comforting feeling that lifted each of their hearts while they felt each other's presence and became more intimately familiar with the differences between them.

"Whoa," Kairi murmured. "I can _feel_ all of you."

"Yeah," Naminé replied, all of their eyes still closed, "so can I. And you and Sora and Riku feel so much stronger than Roxas and I do."

"Maybe because you've ascended," Roxas said. "But, what is this within me that I can feel? This dormant—"

"Dusk," Sora and Naminé said at once. "The Shield Star Wielder of Dusk, it's you Roxas."

"Really?" he asked, his head turning towards each of them in turn without his eyes opening. In fact, his lips barely even moved, as if the communication between them at this moment was at a deeper level than mere sound. "How can you tell?"

"We can feel it. But have you ever had a voice speak to you?" Kairi asked, "right when things seemed bleakest and it looked like everything was at an end?"

Roxas nodded his head. "Yes, and strength like I've never felt before threatened to rip my whole body apart if I didn't unleash it. But since then, I haven't felt it or heard another word from the voice."

"Maybe he's hiding himself from you," Sora wondered.

Riku glanced at Sora. "He?"

"Roxas' Keyblade, it's a he," Sora answered. "Just as both of yours are shes, and my two are a she and a he; Kairi's is a he too, and Naminé's is also a she."

"How can you tell?" Naminé asked.

Sora shrugged. "I don't know, I just know that they are what they are." He suddenly stiffened, something pressing in at the edge of his mind. He expanded the range with which he was feeling the presence of his friends, and Sora's eyes snapped open. His mouth opened as well, as their conversation had been little more than mutely murmured to one another yet understood, the thoughts of their words flickering between each other rather than the sounds. "He's behind and above me, move!"

The other four sets of cerulean, indigo, and aqua eyes opened up to the sight of the falling snow and the five ran in the opposite direction that Sora had declared. Seconds later the steel segments of Zabimaru's released state cut through the snow-covered ground and crashed into the rock where they had been standing.

"Very good," the Soul Reaper declared with an amused smile that had a small degree of approval to it. "You're learning even while you're trying to ditch training. Bit different from the way we sense reiatsu, but for you lot I suppose it works."

"He supposes that it works," Kairi huffed quietly, blinking the quickly falling snow from her eyes. "How about 'it _does_ work'?"

"Worry about it later Kai," Riku told her, "let's just concentrate on running."

"Why are we running?" Roxas asked. "Why don't we fight him?" Riku glanced back.

"Uh, chocobo-head, in case you've forgotten, we've been fighting him for almost a week and still haven't beaten him yet. Sure, Naminé's with us now, but Sora and Kairi can't do anything. We're handicapped."

"You don't have to call me chocobo-head," Roxas muttered darkly. He looked up suddenly as a low rumbling noise started to fill their ears above the whistle of the wind, and the rumble gained the mechanical whine of engines. The clouds and falling snow prevented any visual signs, but a wide grin formed on his face after a few seconds. "They're back."

"You mean they're back?" Kairi asked. "Selphie and Tidus and the others?"

"Yeah," Roxas said over the noise. "Let's go swing by and welcome them back, and loudly sing Happy Birthday to embarrass Hayner!" A loud crash from behind them signalled another strike from Zabimaru, and each of them looked behind. Renji was still chasing them, back up to the city.

"You know what?" Riku asked from the head. "I'm going to withdraw my previous statement." He stopped, and Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand as he turned around. "You guys go on ahead, I'll hold him off!"

"You sure?" Roxas asked, slowing down and nearly stopping at Riku's side.

Riku glanced at him and smirked. "Just keep going blondie, I'll catch up. Tell the others that I said 'hi'." Roxas nodded, scowling at Riku's choice of a name to call him this time, and continued forward with the others.

"Good luck!" Sora called over his shoulder.

"You can take him Riku!" Kairi added, giving him her own encouragement. The silver-haired wielder gave them a smile and a thumbs-up before the other four had disappeared into the falling snow.

Renji was standing above Riku in the air as he liked to do to assert his dominance over Riku, or so the youth thought, and grinning at him. "So, you're looking for a repeat of the first time we matched swords Riku?" he asked.

Riku just looked up at him with a deadpan expression. "Dawn," he called quietly. Slipping out from his back, the spirit came, dressed in her cute white winter outfit.

"So much for playing hooky," she said with a serious expression on her face, slowly stepping out to the side and slightly in front of Riku. They turned to look at each other, and found that they were smiling. Raw determination to come out on top this time filled Riku as he looked at the confidence in Dawn's orange eyes, and he knew that the confidence he saw was her own confidence in him.

"Sora may be the Kingdom Key's Chosen Master and the Wielder of Twilight," Riku said to himself, his voice growing stronger as he gripped Way to the Dawn tighter while he blinked away the falling snow, "but I am the Wielder of Dawn! It's time to see how much strength of mine has been kept in reserve; time to see what an Ascended Legendary Wielder of Power is capable of!"

Renji smiled at Riku's words. "So you wanna play rough right from the start huh? Fine by me." He held Zabimaru out in front of him, and it started to glow with red light. "Bankai!" The wind that barely blew picked up suddenly and blew around Renji as Riku felt the Soul Reaper's strength grow. But by now he was used to feeling the pressure of the Soul Reaper's energy in his most powerful state, and it felt less, more bearable even, than it had yesterday. The snow flew around the ravine wildly by the sudden shift and change in the direction of the wind, and all that was on the ground was blown away to clear the path down into the Great Maw.

"Hihiō Zabimaru," Renji declared, the giant skeletal segmented snake coiled around him with a raised white head and rough, red, fur mane.

Golden light pooled around Riku's feet and he shot into the sky towards Renji with Dawn hovering just behind his body with her arms out wide. She glowered seriously, the air about both of them of supreme resolve to bring down Renji this time.

With a swing of the bone-blade still in his hands, Renji directed Hihiō Zabimaru towards them, the Bankai zanpakutō screeching as it dove for Riku. Dawn jumped up in front of her wielder and wrapped her arms as best as she could around the bone head that tried to crush them like it had so many times before. She couldn't stop its advance in its tracks, even now, but it slowed substantially as is ploughed towards the rock beneath. Riku wordlessly thanked Dawn; she had slowed it enough that he was able to twist around the white head and avoid the strike.

"Ray of Dawn!" Riku roared, zeroing in on Renji as he came in at the unprotected Soul Reaper. A single ray of golden light left Riku's left palm and streaked ahead of the boy for Renji, but with a quick flick of the Soul Reaper's wrist a few segments of Hihiō Zabimaru lifted up and blocked the ray's path. It detonated against the bone segments and they scattered away from the red-haired man in the golden light of the explosion. Renji grimaced, watching as they dropped away to the ground.

In the wake of the explosion, Riku stormed in with Way to the Dawn, slashing down towards Renji. The silver-haired youth's opponent quickly raised his own blade to counter the strike, but Renji was now clearly at a disadvantage. He could no longer use his sword with maximum flexibility because of the massive size that Hihiō Zabimaru had grown to. Riku darted around Renji, stabbing and slashing at the Soul Reaper, but Renji, while at a disadvantage, was still quick enough to fend off Riku's assault.

With a yell, the part of the sword that Renji did hold rose and fell quickly, and Riku noticed that red energy coiled through the segments of the man's Bankai and reformed it completely, the pieces blasted out of the loop put back into place. He heard Hihiō Zabimaru's screech from its head as the coiled skeletal serpent reared up from where it had taken Dawn to the ground and lunged out for the Keyblade Wielder. Riku darted away, pumping his legs as he skated through the falling snow on trails of golden light. Dawn appeared behind his back again as he just barely outran Renji's Bankai, the skull head crashing along the cliff's side instead of him.

"Good job," he told her. "I knew we were getting better."

"We can still do better," Dawn told him. "Unleash the power you now have."

Zabimaru streaked towards them again, and Riku turned and skated higher into the air, trying to ignore the cold that was beginning to seep into him. "Uh, yeah, that comes and goes Dawn. I can control my strength to a degree, but I don't particularly feel stronger right now than I did the last time we fought Renji."

"If you can't tap into the power that's now been awakened, you'll never have a hope of defeating Renji, let alone Maleficent's Nobodies," Dawn replied seriously. "You saw what Sora and his digimon partner did to Xayn Shu, and he still wasn't quite down for the count. You need to be able to draw on your strength and use it at will, and not just with the rays."

Riku nodded his head, thinking that he was starting to understand what Dawn was telling him. She came in front of him again, crossing her arms and taking the brunt of Zabimaru's massive bone head as it came out ahead and struck against them. But this time they were too close to the cliff-face, and Dawn hadn't prepped the strength she needed as before, and both of them were driven into the stone walls that surrounded them. Riku hissed in pain as he felt his jeans tear against a jagged rock in the cliff and he felt blood trickle down his leg while aching equally from the blunt blow Zabimaru had given his chest.

He started to fall, but before he was halfway to the ground his mind came back to him and his Sun skates formed at his feet again, leaving trails of golden light in their wake as he zipped towards Renji. His left fist was bursting with red, gold, and black light, and he thrust it out towards the Soul Reaper Lieutenant with a roar of "Breaking Aura!" A circular blast of the gold, red, and black fire burst from his fist, but Renji whipped Zabimaru and the Baboon King wrapped itself around his body. Riku's attack struck against the bone scales, and fizzled out.

Seeing Renji surrounded by seemingly impenetrable bone segments, Riku flipped backwards and Dawn hovered in the air next to him as blood continued to run down his leg. _Dammit_._ Why can't I find the strength Dawn was talking about?_

-A-D-

The snow was still falling thickly as Sora and the other three made their way back up through the streets of Radiant Garden towards the gummi base where they knew that their friends would be returning from. Numerous questions of what they'd experienced since parting with them earlier in the week rose into their minds, as well as thoughts of what they would tell their friends about their own doings or just what they would say when greeting them.

Sora brushed some more of it out of his face while he kicked at it with his jogging feet. "Sheesh! I've never seen so much of this stuff falling at one time before," he grumbled.

"I know," Kairi added, taking some of it out of the strands of her red hair. "It's like Radiant Garden really is a whole 'nother world from the Islands."

"I'm still not used to it," Naminé added. "I've watched it fall for hours sometimes and I still can't believe that _snow_ is actually falling instead of rain."

Roxas sniffed. "I still don't like that it's cold," he added, shuddering.

"Think I do?" Sora asked.

"No, I _know_ that you don't," Roxas answered him.

"Come on," Kairi said. "We're almost there."

A few minutes later they made it to the base, and the four stopped dead in their tracks. All across the snow-covered flight line there were many grey, blue, red, yellow, green, and purple gummi ships that looked to be about twice the size of the _Highwind_, but were still smaller than the _Roadster_ and would have been dwarfed in size by the _SCS Judicator_, and especially by the _Avenger_, and the startling thing was that they barely had any visible weapon emplacements on them, unlike the _Highwind_ or the _Hunter_. Nevertheless, maybe fifteen dozen of these transport ships had landed on the flight line, and the thousands of army personnel were milling about and shouting orders, trying to get reorganized so that they might march back down to their barracks in the Great Maw, while those already organized stood or huddled around, trying to keep warm. They were half-veiled by the swiftly falling snow, making the whole scene look more like it was suited to a movie rather than real life.

Out of the winds and snows came the call of chocobos, something that the four had not expected, and, squinting, they were able to make out the tall brightly feathered birds being led out of several of the slightly larger transports, and one man was already mounted and directing those bringing out the mounts. He turned slightly, shaking the snow out from his hair like it was nothing, and Kairi gasped.

"Master…" she whispered, her eyes widening.

Impossibly, he turned his head in their direction as if hearing Kairi. They couldn't see the man's facial expression, but his right hand left the reigns of his chocobo firmly in his left, and the newly freed appendage went up to his back, and drew his massive black claymore from its scabbard. At this distance and in these conditions it was impossible to hear the ringing note of the blade being drawn, but the sight of the massive dark weapon rising up above him and his chocobo, held aloft with the Chief Guardian's mighty pride, was unmistakable. The chocobo he rode reared its head and belted out a loud 'Kweh!" that brought the attention of everyone to it and its rider for a brief moment before following Garda's intense gaze.

For a few tortuous seconds, the four stood rooted to the ground, breathing into the moving cold, snow-filled, air. Their breath didn't even steam the air with warm moist clouds anymore. Each one drew within himself or herself, painfully conscious that the entire attention of an army that had grown out of their call to arms against Maleficent and the Heartless was on them, and they searched for the courage to keep themselves from fleeing.

Several faces broke through to the front of the crowd, and they saw Hayner, Olette, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and all the others morally supporting Pence as he pushed himself forward on a wheelchair. They were all dressed in their greens, and their berets and the green trench coats they wore were flecked with the white snow that had landed on them already. Pence met their eyes with a smile underneath his jet-black hair, even though it looked like he was still in pain from the injury he'd sustained from Xayn Shu, despite the attention given to him. His right hand left the wheel's rim and went beside his lap. Pence then raised it, and tightly gripped in his hand there was his small staff with its yellow wizard's hat on top. He lifted it up as high into the air as he could, and cheered.

The dams broke, and loud roars, cheers, and hails shouted with passion blew through the snow and wind to the four. Anxiety and fear were banished from their hearts, and indescribable emotion welled up within to take their place.

"Imagine that," Kairi whispered though a choked sob, wiping away a tear from her eyes with a hand, "we come here to welcome them, and instead they welcome us."

"All of them," Naminé added, nodding and sniffing, and not due to the cold.

"Well of course," Hayner said, striding right up to them at the spearhead of a group that had rushed forward. "You guys all went and vanished on us right after that battle, and we never would have made it through without you, our heroes!" He yelled out that last word, and there was another cheer, especially from those within his and Olette's Companies.

"You don't give yourselves enough cred—"

"No Sora," Hayner cut him off. "I'm serious. We wouldn't have gotten through that night without you coming to help us."

"Like we would have said no?" Roxas asked, smiling and shoving Hayner on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get you some ice cream to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" Tidus asked.

"You mean you don't know?" Olette asked the blond, smiling beneath her beret and brown hair. "It's Hayner's birthday today." The young man blushed and bowed his head.

"Then we really do have to celebrate tonight don't we?" Tidus asked, smirking.

Hayner's head popped up, but he was smiling. "For more reasons than one. In case you've forgotten Tidus, _I've_ been promoted to Sergeant."

Roxas' mouth dropped open before he could stop himself. He quickly corrected it though. "That's great Hayner!" he told him. "Or should I say, congratulations Sergeant Garneky."

"Looks like we've got more stuff to celebrate then," Kairi said.

"Way to go man," Sora told him, clapping him on the back with his left hand.

"Yeah yeah yeah," he replied, waving off the brunet Keyblade Master. He was rolling his shoulder muscles. "And ouch, that kinda stung Sora. I'm just surprised that it was your brother who recommended me for sergeant Olette."

"Really?" she asked. "Odeon did?"

"Yeah," Selphie said, nodding. "Hayner told me." She also caught Kairi's eyes, and the red-haired girl blushed and looked away at the suggestive look that the gossip brunette was giving her. "And I also heard something _interesting_ happening between you and—"

"Girl!"

Kairi silently gave thanks to Zeus as Garda rode up to them in the snows. The whole world did not need to know about _that_. "Yes Master?" she asked submissively, as had been drilled into her over the months she'd trained under him.

"We of the Islands are joining in your fight," he told them. "Twice now we've been attacked without cause, and we will sit quietly and grumble no longer. We are taking up arms in righteous vengeance. How have you been since you left us so suddenly?" Garda asked, shifting gears suddenly. "Your training been progressing well?"

"Well, uh, we've hit a small snag in our training Master," Kairi replied, looking down. She looked up again. "But we'll work even harder once we've overcome it."

Garda nodded. "Very good," he said. "I'd have hated to have my favourite pupil become weak right when she needs to become stronger."

"But, I thought Kairi was your only apprentice," Naminé said, looking between Garda and her sister in confusion.

There was a frustrated growl in the man's voice as he returned her comment. "You're right, _was_. I've somehow managed—"

"Sora! Roxas!"

"—to pick up two more," the Chief Guardian grumbled, turning his head as two young people rode through the ranks enthusiastically to greet them.

The twin Keyblade Masters felt their eyes widen of their own accord as they saw their cousins Sade and Sikora riding atop the chocobos before the reigned them in just behind Garda. "No," Sora said, shaking his head. "No, you are _not_ here!"

"They killed Beaky Sora," Sade answered, painfully aware that the chocobo he was riding was not the one he had been raising himself. "Your fight is now my fight."

"And my brother's is mine," Sikora added. "I loved Beaky as much as he did, and even though I am younger, I'm not letting him go off to fight by himself."

Sora scowled and turned around, his back facing both of his cousins. When he spoke his voice was low and far more serious than his voice normally was. "Go home Sade, go home Sikora." The words sounded rough and uncouth even to Sora's ears, and he understood why as soon as he'd said them. He'd never actually _ordered_ someone before, and his lack of experience in commanding was in his voice.

"What!" Sade said angrily. "You can't be serious Sora!"

"This isn't your battle," Sora answered, still turned away. All were looking at him, some in confusion, but only Kairi, Naminé, and Roxas in understanding and sympathy.

"This is our fight now as much as it is yours!" Sade snapped back. "We want to fight and we will fight, and nothing that you or anyone else can say will—"

"Will stop you!" Sora fired back, turning back to look at his male cousin while Sikora just sat back in the saddle, watching the exchange between her brother and cousin.

"That's right!" retorted Sade, the snow swirling around his face. "Nothing you say will change my resolve."

"Tidus, give me your sword," Sora asked.

"What?" the blond asked, startled. "Why don't you just—?"

"Tidus," Sora ordered again, his voice calm and patient, "give me your sword, please." The words still sounded out of place on his tongue. Still not understanding why Sora was asking for it, Tidus handed over the crystal-blue blade Brotherhood. Sora held it in his right hand, feeling the weight of the sword. It was just a little bit lighter than the Keyblade felt in his hands, but he knew that it was a strong weapon. The brunet turned to look at Sade again. "Dismount and draw your sword," he said.

Sade's complexion swiftly changed from the angry challenging one with which he had been rebuking Sora, to one of uncertain, anxious, embarrassment. "But—but I don't…" he began, getting off of his mount.

"Here," Hayner said, handing him the sword he used. Sade's hands buckled slightly at the surprise of the weight that was now in his hands, and a look of awe came into his face. He was holding onto a sword: a weapon, and an instrument of strength and power.

"Come at me," Sora told him, holding the Brotherhood out lightly to his side.

"Excuse me?" Sade asked, incredulous.

"Have at me," Sora repeated. "Come on. Cut me down, or go home. This isn't your war."

"This _is_ my war!" Sade snarled, though his face didn't have the same conviction his voice did. He charged at Sora, and swung hard right for the Keyblade Master's left side with both hands.

His eyes widened in astonishment as Sora turned into the strike and raised his right hand up, holding the Brotherhood's point down with his back facing his cousin. The back of the crystal sword held fast against Sade's swing, stopping him cold. Sora turned away again and spun the Brotherhood up and down, striking against the flat of the sword that Sade held. The farm-boy almost yelped as he felt the sword yanked out of his grip and it fell to the ground. Just as it was entering the snow, a sharp pain struck his knee, courtesy of Sora striking it with the flat of Tidus' sword.

Sora handed the weapon back to its owner and he dropped down to where Sade was now kneeling in the cold, wet snow, wincing at the sudden pain in his kneecap. It was already diminishing, but it was sudden and unexpected. Sora looked Sade in the eyes, and cerulean blue met jade. Sade's eyes were fierce, with the pain of defeat, the desire to continue fighting, and the rejection of his cousin's words melding together in the green held within.

Sora dropped his eyes first and sighed. "Look, Sade," he said quietly so that only the younger teen in front of him could hear, calming his voice from the harshness he had used earlier. "If you want to fight I really can't stop you, but let me first tell you why I don't want you and your sister fighting. The Heartless and the Nobodies… they aren't going to show you any mercy. If you go to fight, but can't, you're just a burden to everyone else and you might not make it out of there alive. Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Asterix, the King and I, we can't be everywhere at once; we won't be able to keep you safe."

"I don't want to sit around to be protect—" Sade started.

Sora calmly raised a hand, but it was a struggle. "Let me finish," he said, staying his cousin's brash tongue. Sade was quiet for a few seconds and Sora continued. "I have lost my father to Davy Jones and the _Flying Dutchman_, I have lost my mother to Maleficent's henchmen, and I never knew my grandparents. Apart from Roxas, who is technically me, you, Sikora, Auntie Victoria and Uncle Sal are the only blood family I have left. I don't want any of you hurt. The enemies fighting us now are stronger than any I've fought before, and I don't want you mixed up in fighting them; I don't want to lose anyone else in my family."

Sade was quiet for a second, and Sora looked up to see that there was a new light of understanding in his eyes. But buried was still that fiery desire. "You won't Sora," Sade said evenly. "We aren't going to die on you. We'll get better, you'll see. We'll be able to fight too."

Sora sighed slightly, and he suddenly felt like he was much older than he was. "Alright, but I'll hold you to that."

"You got it," Sade said, rising from where he was still kneeling in the snow. "In a month, I'll be giving you a run for your money, just watch me." Sora rose, and nodded at him.

A loud voice suddenly rose up through the crowd. "1st Division, we're moving out in five minutes! Come on ladies and gentlemen, let's go! Let's go!"

"Oops," Selphie said from where she had been talking with Kairi, Naminé, and Kia. "We've got to go. See you tonight then!"

"Tonight," Kairi said, nodding her head and smiling.

"Boy, we're moving out too," Garda said, gesturing towards the bird that the boy rode.

"Coming Master," Sade answered. He flashed Sora a smile as he rushed to mount his chocobo again. "See you!"

"Oh, by the way Tidus," Sora said quickly, catching his attention after giving his cousins a quick nod. "You may come across Riku and a man named Renji having a duel in the ravine. If they haven't finished yet by the time you guys get there, _don't_ try and get in their way. You'll only get killed."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Tidus smirked. "If Riku's got a chance of getting his butt kicked I've gotta see it 'cause I sure haven't seen it yet."

The four stood quietly on the side for many of minutes as the two divisions marched past and out, over six thousands leaving in the falling snow. The ground shook with their falling feet, and the rumble of their cadence and the sight of the warriors saluting the four delved deep into the bodies of the four Keyblade Wielders.

"Does anyone but me feel like we're growing up too fast?" Sora asked as the final group left, a half-hour later.

"Maybe in some ways," Naminé said, kneeling down while Kairi shivered in the cold, "but in others…" She fell silent and Sora turned to look at her.

A ball of something cold and wet struck him in the face.

Sora spat snow out of his face as Roxas and Kairi suddenly started to laugh. A wicked grin came to his lips and he swiped his hand through the snow beneath him, spraying both Naminé and Kairi with the white frozen water. Kairi stopped laughing and she bent down, her hands scooping snow together into a ball.

Naminé had it much easier. With a small wave of her hand the snow on the ground came together on its own, forming into four loosely packed perfect spheres able to easily fit into a person's palm. She grabbed two of them herself and grinned while stepping past her spare ammunition to guard it.

Roxas flung a horribly made missile at the blonde, and it broke apart and splattered Naminé across her chest; they were far too close for anyone to miss one another. Sora turned and ran for normal streets, faking left but going right on his path to leave the base. A snowball thrown by Kairi narrowly missed him, but would have struck him had his move not been a deke. All thoughts of growing up too quickly flew from his mind as he scooped up some snow and hastily packed it into a snowball of his own before flinging it at Roxas. The blond dodged the snowball, and it continued onward and downward and struck another person in the nose. Sora almost froze in place in surprise as he caught sight of the massive round ears of black underneath a hood.

-A-D-

The ravine was bottlenecked with the soldiers and chocobos of the United Forces army, the mass of men and beasts brought to a complete standstill in a column that stretched out to the repaired gates and was dispersed throughout districts near the Bailey as they waited to get moving again.

The cause? Riku and Renji Abarai were still battling each other above the ravine. Though not nearly an eighth of the soldiers-in-training and officers could see the Soul Reaper, enough of them could to realize the danger of getting between the two combatants, and it was frightening enough to those who couldn't see the Soul Reaper to watch rocks breaking off the cliffs of their own will to tumble down the side.

"Come on Riku!" Tidus was shouting in encouragement from the front, part of the audience that could see both combatants and so was up at the front despite the risk to themselves. "Knock him out!"

Truthfully, the sight of Renji's Bankai, though he had no idea what it was called or even what it was that Riku was fighting against, made him want to get in there and fight it himself. Maestor Seymour Guado had become far more intimidating than a gigantic skeletal snake sword by the end of his and Wakka's own journey in Spira. Although he didn't feel nearly as strong as he did when they had fought Yu Yevon, he still felt like he could take that thing on with Riku.

In response to Tidus, Riku grunted and rolled his shoulders as he stood in the air with small pools of golden light around his feet. Renji stood across from him, and looked a little haggard with a cut here and there, but nowhere near as poorly off as Riku did. Blood was dripping down both his legs and had stained his pants, tiny pieces of his jacket and jeans had been ripped off, exposing his flesh and the wounds he'd gotten on them to the cold, snowy air. He gripped Way to the Dawn tightly in his right hand, and it was burning with gold and black flames. Dawn was hovering in front of Riku in her white winter clothes (that seemed far more worse for wear than she herself did), and Hihiō Zabimaru was wrapped around Renji and reared up behind its master.

"I'll admit, you're doing pretty good," Renji said. "But you've still got a long way to go there Riku. I haven't felt a smidge of the strength I felt that you had earlier. If I was younger, I'd think that I'd just imagined it."

"If you were younger," Riku scoffed. "You're talking like an old man!"

Renji sneered. "Although I may not look like it, I've lived over a hundred years more than you have. I have fought countless battles more than you have, and it shows!" he yelled, swinging down the part of the sword that he held. Zabimaru reared up slightly higher before lunging towards Riku and Dawn again.

The Keyblade Spirit crossed her arms defensively again and Riku rushed in beside her, swinging the burning Way to the Dawn down at the white skull head of the zanpakutō as it was about to ram into them. It stopped for about two seconds, and both of them strained to hold back its might. Then they were overpowered as Hihiō Zabimaru gave a shrieking noise again, and it flicked its head up and struck their fronts. Riku and Dawn flew backwards, their backs striking against the now ragged blue rocks of the cliffs, and they just opened their eyes in time to see the Baboon King's fanged head zooming towards them as they sat in a slump.

"And I thought that Sora was the only person who you'd let beat you," Dawn muttered, shaking her head.

"I never _let_ him beat me," Riku answered.

"So are we letting Renji beat us?" Dawn asked. "Or is he actually beating us?"

Riku felt something, and looked away for a brief moment. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Renji's Bankai was about two seconds away from grasping them in its teeth, but his vision had zeroed in on something else through the haze of the snow. Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé had returned, and for all but Sora they were looking at him with horrified faces, but there was one other there whose look of confidence matching Sora's struck a chord in Riku's heart.

Mickey was watching him.

In the sight of his friends and the many hundreds of people who would be fighting Maleficent alongside him he could not appear weak, he could not appear as if he could be defeated, he could only be seen as strong. Riku's wounded pride in having been beaten by Renji continuously over the majority of the past week flared up, and the young man uttered a single word.

"No."

Zabimaru's white skull crashed into the cliffs, pummelling the blue rock into dust and scattering the falling snows. Kairi gasped and placed a hand to her mouth while Roxas winced. Naminé cringed and looked away, and more than a good number of those who were able to see Renji and his Bankai did the same. But Sora and King Mickey watched unflinchingly at where Renji's Bankai had struck.

Golden light burst through the cloud of dust and the falling snow, and the skull head of Hihiō Zabimaru was thrown aside. "What?" Renji asked aloud, looking at the golden glow. It was too bright for anyone to make anything out of it, but then it surged forward, about the size of Riku, and streaked for Renji fast enough to make the neck of anyone following it hurt.

Renji and Hihiō Zabimaru vanished to reappear higher up, and the Soul Reaper's face showed that he was slightly unnerved as he stared at the brightly glowing light. The golden light was even strong enough to cut through the falling snow out where Sora was standing and melt it before it could touch him. Renji grunted in pain suddenly as blood spurted out of his shoulder; his robes were cut. Rays shot out from the golden light, and Renji quickly brought the bone segments of his Bankai between him and them. Unlike before though, this time the rays pierced the vertebrae through both sides, but stopped there amidst the red glow inside of the segments. The 6th Division's Lieutenant eyed their pointed tips with anxiety for a moment before they blew apart in golden blasts. The segments they were caught in were destroyed, and Renji flew backwards from the force of the blast, reforming his zanpakutō as he went.

"What the heck was that?" Kia asked loudly, the archer watching with wide eyes that stared at the glow.

Sora smiled and looked at his friends and girlfriend. "You know, I'm going to have to fight Riku again. He's going to want to settle the score between us."

"Huh?" Roxas asked. Sora nodded his head towards the golden light that was just now starting to dim. Within the gold was Riku, and his clothes had changed. The silver-haired Wielder of Dawn was now dressed in a loose fitting light and dark grey cloak. Bronze coloured pants could be seen underneath the cloak and there were two golden chains dangling by the cloak's hood, resting on his clavicles. The chains ended with an image of a burning Sun, and the zipper down the cloak's front was as golden as the chains were. In his right hand rested Way to the Dawn, as always, and in his left Destiny's Embrace had appeared. Dawn was still beside him, but instead of the puffy white winter jacket and clothes she had had on before she was dressed instead in a black short-sleeved shirt, tight black pants, and black sneakers. Her gloves had turned black as well, and there was a yellow band on her left forearm. The Heartless emblem that had been on her gloves had become yellow, and on her black shirt was a red-gold design of a Sun on a horizon on both the front and the back. Riku stood upon a pool of golden-orange light, no longer just around his feet but surrounding the area underneath them in a five-foot radius.

Renji smirked. "So not only does your strength increase, but you get an outfit change too. What do you call this?"

"Horizon Form," Riku answered. He glanced at his partner. "Dawn."

"Finally starting to really wake up huh?" she asked, smiling. "I knew that we'd chosen the right guy. Let's do this."

Riku nodded and flew up at Renji, the light he stood upon lifting him up and swirling around his body to propel him upwards. Dawn flew right next to him, a look of confidence in her orange eyes that matched the aquamarine ones of her Wielder. Renji roared and swung the sword in his hand and Hihiō Zabimaru shot straight down for them. Riku and Dawn dodged to the sides and avoided it on opposite ends, flying past the segments that shot down in the opposite direction. Riku glanced behind him and saw that the head had reared up and was twisting around to come at them again.

Dawn flew over to his side and Riku held out his right arm, twisting around so that his front was facing the bone head that was bearing down on him again. Dawn landed on her own Keyblade, and the weapon filled suddenly with fierce orange and red energy. It covered Dawn completely and her head bent back as a sigh left her lips. The energy rippled like fire and swirled like wind around her back, and there it shifted into two colours: white and black. Two wings sprouted from her back, tearing small circular holes in the fabric of her shirt where they joined her body, and one of these wings was white and feathery while the other was black and leathery; exactly like the two wings that formed the guard of Way to the Dawn, except that both of them exuded a faint orange-gold aura from them.

Dawn's eyes opened, and she tensed her body while a corner of her mouth twitched up in a smile. "Angle of the Dawn, take flight on your fiery wings!" Riku yelled, swinging Way to the Dawn in an arc towards Hihiō Zabimaru's white head. Dawn shot forward like she had been fired from a cannon, her wings stretching out with trails of fire flowing behind them. Her left and right hands came together on her right side, and what looked like roses of fire quickly sprouted from them as her left hand rose up in front of her while her right hand stayed put. Golden light flowed from where the roses touched, and then it dimmed, revealing a long light grey staff with spiked scarlet orbs on either end. She took it up in both of her hands just before she and the skull head of Hihiō Zabimaru met, and her lithe arms swung the staff across with a yell of "Hiyah!" It smote the Bankai's nose with a deafening _crack_, and both were held in place as an invisible wave of energy rushed out from their meeting, sweeping away the snow and blowing berets off of watching soldiers.

While Dawn did this, Riku continued on to Renji, and the red-haired Soul Reaper quickly held out his free left palm. "Hadō #31, Shakkahō!" A ball of red energy formed in his hand and barrelled for Riku. They were too close and the kidō was too fast for the boy to dodge, and at this close range, Renji thought that this would end it for sure.

But Riku wasn't about to allow the Lieutenant to dominate him anymore. He'd had enough of losing to him, and losing in general. If he couldn't defeat Renji or at least bring him to a draw, there was no way that he'd be able to take on Nobodies like Xayn Shu and win. The red light of Renji's spell filled his eyes, and Riku called on the strength he'd managed to tap into and slammed the hilts of his two Keyblades together. "Shield of the Rising Sun!" he roared as twin lights of orange and red formed at the flower tip of Destiny's Embrace and the angel-wing tip of Way to the Dawn. They spun clockwise until the circle was complete, and a rosy-golden shell barrier formed in front of Riku.

Renji's spell struck it head on and the cold air combusted and erupted into flame and smoke. Riku couldn't be seen at all as the smoke enveloped the whole area where he had been, but suddenly it all blew away, and he was still standing on the pool of golden-orange light; his breathing was heavy, and he still looked ragged from the earlier punishment he'd taken, but from Renji's spell there appeared to have been no new damage to his body.

"Go for it Riku," Sora whispered, smiling.

The silver-haired youth shot up for Renji again and slashed down at the Soul Reaper with both Keyblades. Renji was just able to catch them with his bone blade, but despite his block he was thrown down and crashed into the cliff. His massive Bankai flailed in disarray as its master's position shifted and Dawn struck it hard with her double-ended staff; artfully spinning and stabbing the weapon around she dismembered it, the segments of Hihiō Zabimaru dropping to the ground.

Both of Riku's Keyblades started to glow with the same fire-rose light that Dawn's hands had right before the staff appeared in her grasp, and Riku easily spun Way to the Dawn and Destiny's Embrace around his body in five quick circles. Solid red roses formed in the air, and the area behind them where the light had passed glowed with the bright light of the Sun. Riku let go of both of his Keyblades and they hovered in the air in front of him. The heads of the roses turned towards the Keyblades, and their green stems and thorns started to glow with the same light that was behind them as they absorbed it. Beams of the absorbed light left each red rose and engulfed the two Keyblades. The background light was slowly draining away, being given to the two blades, and Dawn above Riku struck the final few vertebrae near the head of Hihiō Zabimaru with so much force that they actually shattered. The skull of the Bankai dropped to the ground and a cloud of dust rose into the air as it smashed rocks apart on its landing. Riku's hands went out and snatched up Way to the Dawn and Destiny's Embrace. He held them aloft as the last of the light was absorbed into his Keyblades. Destiny's Embrace had now been superimposed with the look of a thorny bramble with the colour of the light surrounding it switching back and forth between darkness and light, but one could never quite tell at any moment just which one it was, while Way to the Dawn was awash with red and gold flame. "Fly," Riku roared, "Javelin of the Sun God and Thorn of Night's End, Dawn's Vengeance!" With another yell he hurled them both down at where Renji was.

Those watching, especially Sora, the King, and their friends, were able to feel the tremendous amount of power that was flying towards the ground. They had maybe a second to act if they didn't want to get injured by the discharge they knew was coming. King Mickey's Keyblade and hands flashed out and a meniscus of golden light formed in front of them at the front ranks; Naminé's hands came together and a layer of pearl joined the gold, and then Pence, Olette, Jeffery from Destiny Islands, and Charlie from Twilight Town quickly added the turquoise and honeycomb of shell and reflect spells.

Even with the barrier, it was a struggle for all of them to stay on their feet and for Pence to keep his wheelchair from flipping over, let alone rolling backwards, when the two Keyblades struck. The lights flared over a hundred feet in the air, and beyond the barrier the watchers could see nothing. Heat bludgeoned their faces, the snow that had fallen even as far away as the walls and gate to enter the ravine and those fallen into the Great Maw began to melt.

Above the light, Riku and Dawn watched it all occur, and both of them were sweating. Riku looked like he was ready to settle down for a long nap, but Dawn at least looked a bit better. Blood continued to drip down from Riku's limbs.

"Did you get him?" Dawn asked as she flew down to his level, though clearly not convinced with her own question. Her wings flapped twice to bring her to a stop just in front of him, and she looked back to see her Wielder shake his head as Way to the Dawn and Destiny's Embrace appeared in his hands again.

"I don't know," he answered as the light beneath started to fade, revealing the group that was watching. "That guy's head is thicker than Sora's."

Dawn's right hand clutched the staff and her left went to her hip as she scoffed. "Typical."

"You look good like that by the way," Riku told her. Dawn smiled.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself," she answered. "But I gotta say Rik, even though I'd tap that, you look like some kind of priest."

"That's what _I_ was thinking!" Kairi hollered. Riku and Dawn looked down at the group assembled and Kairi continued. "But you still look great Riku!"

"Just don't lose too much blood and die on us!" Tidus yelled.

"Yuffie'd never let us hear the end…of…it," added Naminé, finishing slowly as their eyes widened and the barrier that had been created to protect them dropped. Where there had once been stone and cliff there was now a deep chasm, the sides of which were not smooth but cracked and pulverized. From this angle they couldn't see how deep it went, but the gap in the cliffs where the rock was now gone without a trace stretched for at least sixty feet, with chucks of stone and hidden crystal loudly breaking off and falling into the chasm to smash against the ground two seconds after vanishing from sight. At the base of this, and amazingly not slipping and falling into the abyss himself, sat Renji in a crater that was sloped towards the devastation wrought by Riku's attack.

The Soul Reaper coughed up blood, and pushed himself up to a standing position using the still bone-blade of his zanpakutō. Despite the heavy beating he had taken, he was smiling. Coils of red energy suddenly flared around him, and the remaining vertebrae of Hihiō Zabimaru rose up from the ground and flew about. They came together, starting at the hilt in Renji's hands, and the white skull of the Baboon King rose again with its red mane and howled as it coiled and wrapped around Renji.

"No fair!" Sora muttered. "What's it going to take for Riku to beat this guy?" Sora stopped as Renji suddenly started to talk.

"Hey, Riku!" he shouted. "I guess you're in luck, because I think that each of us only has enough energy left for one last move. (He reared the hilt of Hihiō Zabimaru up behind him) I hope that you can defend as well as you attack, because if you and your Keyblade survive _this_, then I'll see no need for you to continue training with me and Chad."

Seeing the serious smile on Renji's face at having been driven to his extreme limits, Riku smiled despite himself and prepared himself. Dawn's countenance was a little different, and her tone was all business. "Riku, stab me with myself."

Riku stopped and stared at the physical manifestation of his Keyblade's soul. "What?"

"Stab me in the back beneath the wings with me," Dawn repeated, "and then turn me one-quarter clockwise. After that, don't resist anything; let anything that comes to you happen, including the name! The difference between knowing the name and not knowing can be five times!"

"But…"

Renji reared his sword back further before whipping it out towards them. Hihiō Zabimaru began to twist in the air as red spiritual energy flared from beneath each vertebra.

"Alright fine!" Riku yelled, stabbing forward with Way to the Dawn. The Keyblade sank into her Avatar's back with no resistance, and Dawn gave a small 'oh!' before falling silent.

"Hikōtsu Taihō!" Renji roared as the energy underneath his Bankai's bones surged to new heights and formed at its wide open maw.

Riku twisted Way to the Dawn exactly as Dawn had told him, and the girl's arms stretched out to her sides. Folds of golden light flowed out from her body and swirled around her, joining with one another and stretching out like a massive web. Riku felt all of his remaining strength begin to drain away and the desire to shout something overcame him. "Eternal Buckler of the Dawn!"

The golden light surged back into Dawn, and her dark and white wings enveloped her body. The staff she carried bent until it became a full circle, and it became covered in the scarlet spikes that had adorned either end. Riku slid his Keyblade out as the thought came to him, and the spiked circle planted itself atop her white and black wings. Suddenly those wings shifted to orange or gold or red or yellow or black or white, Riku couldn't tell just which, and her entire body rapidly expanded until it was a circular buckler with a sixty-foot radius. The shield was thick, and no matter what colour it appeared at the time to the onlooker there were clear designs upon it with a ring of crystal scarlet spikes that fanned out like the rays of the Sun set around the furthest protrusion, which was that of a woman's face.

All of this took place within three quick seconds, and then the blast of red energy that had been building up in Hihiō Zabimaru's mouth was fired. Its path could barely be followed before it struck against the massive shield, and everyone felt pressured to stay standing as the sky above them lit up with more flame and smoke than a half-hour of constant fireworks. Hihiō Zabimaru came apart and dropped to the ground, and Renji himself fell down onto his knees and then all the way forward, completely drained of all his energy left to fight with.

Seconds passed, and the smoke slowly began to clear, and when it did they were all greeted with the mammoth shield, completely intact even after taking the punishing hit. It shattered suddenly, and Riku was revealed behind it, dropping to the ground. His Keyblades vanished as he fell, and the robes he had been in vanished to be replaced by the dark grey hooded jacket and blue jeans he had first worn.

Sora, King Mickey, and Kairi all caught him at the same moment before he would have struck the ground, and Roxas and Naminé rushed up with their other friends and as many of the soldiers who could crowd around them. Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka quickly barked at them to stand back, and they complied, grudgingly.

Riku sighed suddenly and he greeted them by opening of his aquamarine eyes. He raised his right hand and gave them a 'thumbs-up'. "I told you I'd hold him off," he whispered tiredly, and in pain.

Sora chuckled, and Naminé laughed, and Kairi hugged him, at which Riku winced. "Yeah," the red-head said, "but you still have the girliest Keyblade there is Riku."

"Stop calling her a girly Keyblade or I'll dare you to one-up me," Riku answered cringing as he laughed.

"Gosh, you did great Riku," King Mickey congratulated him, "but I think we'd better get ya up to the castle or the hospital. You could use a rest."

"No more hospitals today," Riku muttered, his eyelids fluttering. "Just get me a bed." He was quiet for a second. "Hey, Sora, Roxas…"

"Hm? Yeah Riku?" the brunet asked.

"That's how it's done," he said, smirking. Riku never even got to hear either of their retorts, having fallen asleep the instant after he said his piece.

-A-D-

_I know that a certain someone is about to ask, and yes, all you people out there who want to can use the moves Riku just used if you so wish, just let me know first which of you out there actually want to and please give credit._

_In addition, there is some very good KH related news that I would like to share with you all. In a recent interview with Nomura, it has been revealed that there are __**three**__ new KH titles in the works, one of which he plans to release by the end of this year! __**Three**__ new titles, names not even announced yet, and he plans to release one of them by January! In addition, KH III will not be the end of Kingdom Hearts, or even the end of Sora's story, but will be more of a completion of the 'Xehanort Chronicles' of Kingdom Hearts. Sora is to be the hero to the end, and it's been revealed why Kairi can wield a Keyblade. So it isn't for just that moment in __**The Castle That Never Was**__ that she will wield a Keyblade for! which means that we could very well be seeing Kairi out there killing Heartless along with Sora and Riku in future games. Wouldn't that be AWESOME!_

_That's enough now. If you want more, KHInsider and Heartstation have got the buzz._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	36. Sneak Attack

_Wah! There's a blizzard outside my window!! :(_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Bleach, or Scott Faulconbridge, or a certain anime that is being 'watched' here. __**DarthKingdom**__ was also the creator of a certain Nobody who appears here who has already appeared within the story a couple of times._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXVI: Sneak Attack

_2145hrs, Saturday, November 1__st__, 2003  
Radiant Garden_

Laughter pealed out from the lips of a group of teenagers all aged between the ending of their fifteenth year to being in their seventeenth. Sitting together on couches, and one in a wheelchair, in a well-lit and rich room they were watching a program on the SV set. The sky outside was dark and snow fell thickly onto the balcony that could be accessed via the room they were sitting in.

There was a person in the SV, standing on a stage with a microphone in his hand, and his voice was still heard above the laughs of the young people in the room. "They tell you that you're going to be the labour coach," he said, "that you're going to be the coach during labour. You're not going to be the coach, they're just telling you that to get you in the room, so that you can see what you did." There were a few sniggers from the teens in the room. "There is no way anyone would speak to a coach the way _I_ was spoken to…" he broke as laughs in the audience came at him, "in that room."

"Case in point you have the epidural," he continued. "You have choices: you can get the epidural early in which case less pain but a prolonged labour; you can have the epidural later in which case you have a lot more pain but quicker labour. We decided that we were going to go for the epidural when my wife was five centimetres dilated. My job as coach was to get her to five centimetres. At _three_ centimetres the doctor says, 'Would you like the epidural?' My wife says 'Yes.' I say, 'But honey…' she says, 'you go f-beep-k yourself!' (Laughter cascaded from the lips of the teens in the room, louder from the girls than the boys, and from those in the audience)."

"Now I ask you," he added in his routine, "is that any way to speak to the coach? I was on a lot of high school teams I don't remember talking to the coach that way. 'Faulconbridge you go in for Henderson.' '(Beep)k you coach!'"

"This guy is funny," Tidus said after he finished laughing. He glanced at Wakka. "Could you imagine talking to Sauster like that?"

"You'd be kicked off the team, yah?" Wakka replied.

"And it's a good thing that none of you were," Kairi said, leaning against Sora on the couch. She sniffed and wrapped the blanket that was mostly covering her and Sora more closely around her. "After all, you guys placed third in the league."

As soon as she finished speaking however, a cloud formed over the faces of every Islander except for Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Naminé. "Damn Stracans," Kia murmured.

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"They won first," Tidus said darkly. "Titan High's Krakens knocked the Pegasi from Pericles High School on Dunash into second. At least we took down the Spartans from Menelaus to take third."

The attentions of those in the room were now divided between the conversation and the comedy show that was on, with those from the Islands, being Sora, Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Naminé, Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Kia, Anar, Isil, and Jeffery, now talking about what happened in the inter-island school blitzball league over the past school year; while those from Twilight Town, being Hayner, Pence in his wheelchair, Olette, and Charlie, watching the comic; and the one from Radiant Garden, Axel, split between watching and listening.

Riku held a mask of pain away from his face as he sat in the couch with his friends. There was a small, lingering, sadness and loneliness in him, and he wished that Yuffie could be here too; but at the same time he also was glad that she wasn't with them. His shirt was off, and his chest was half-covered with white bandages. As Riku had asked of them before falling asleep, he had been taken up to the castle rather than to the hospital. When they'd arrived it looked as if Naminé was about to get a lecture from Kensworth, but after the man had noticed that Kairi and Sora were there as well, whatever words he might have said appeared to slip his mind and he smiled and brought the auburn-haired Princess into a hug. They got off without a hitch, and called for Aerith.

Together Aerith, Naminé, and Kairi toiled over Riku and Renji for an hour before either woke up, and even though Kairi couldn't use any of her magic she still helped as much as she could, she bandaged their wounds and applied magical salves where Aerith told her to. Aerith Gainsborough actually did very little, leaving much of the healing up to the two Princesses of Radiant Garden and only instructing them when necessary. Reporters had come by later in the day but they'd all been shooed away, at least for now. How long that would last was anyone's guess.

But despite escaping punishment, for now at least, there was one side-effect: Sora and Kairi both had colds and running noses, and Riku and Roxas were little better even after the amount of time they'd spent outside in the past week in such weather; Naminé alone seemed mostly unaffected.

"But Pericles is the best," Sora said, a stunned expression on his face at the news he had just heard. His voice was thick and eyes were red, and he sniffed before continuing. "They've got the top Blitzball team, the top Football team, the best Fine Arts department, the best Science and Math department, the top Culinary Arts department, Pericles is number one in like, _everything_!"

"Except for welding and autoshop," Jeffery hastily corrected him, "that's Smithstate on Nova."

"Yeah, but that's all they're good at," Kia said, smiling amusedly. "And who really takes autoshop anyway? Even though everyone and their mother gets a driver's license almost nobody has a car and almost nobody drives anyway. Only rich fags who can afford the gas drive around anywhere. There probably isn't even room on Straca for a car."

"Pericles is even close to the University," Kairi added, her voice sounding just a _tiny_ bit better than her boyfriend's. "But Straca's high schools just have a bunch of thugs and druggies. The only really bad thing about Odyssey was that half the seniors smoked and there were a few guys on pot most of the time."

"Yeah, which is why we were all _pissed_ when the Krakens slaughtered the Pegasi!" Anar said.

"I heard that after the win the Krakens and their cheerleaders had a massive party in the locker rooms," Selphie said. "And it was _that_ kind of party if you know what I mean."

"What kind of party's that?" Roxas asked, bewildered.

"The kind where 'no' really means 'OH YES! FUCK ME!!' Roxas," Axel said, smirking. He almost chuckled at the expressions on everyone's faces "Got it memorized?"

"_WHAT?_" Sora asked, both horrified and impressed. "I'm surprised they didn't get chucked out of school."

"The news still hasn't leaked to the teachers," Selphie told him. "And I don't think any of the girls got pregnant so technically there was no foul."

"No foul my ass," Riku said. "If what you're saying is actually true then not only was there an orgy, which is clearly _not_ what they should be doing in school, there was also booze. They could even be arrested for that."

"Yeah, but they didn't get caught," Isil remarked bitterly, "though we wish they did."

"Could you really expect anything different though?" Kairi asked. "At least a third of those girls at Titan are tramps and hussies and dress like it."

"I even heard last year that their cheer team hosted parties like that all the time, after every game," Selphie continued. "If the team lost, the only difference was that the guys weren't invited."

The girls blushed bright red and Sora raised his head back and closed his eyes. _Oh to be a fly on those walls…_

_You sure said it,_ Roxas answered him, a telepathic grin evident in the tone of his voice. _Now if only it were Nam and Kairi making out, that would be hot._

"How can you even say that stuff?" Olette asked. "Surely they can't all be that bad."

"Isn't there at least _one_ high school in Twilight Town that's got a bad rep Olette?" Kairi countered.

"Well… now that you mention it…"

"There you go," Kia said confidently, sitting back. "All the ones on Straca are like that. Sure they have some good students, likely, but that gets completely overshadowed by all the crap the rest of 'em pull."

"…the people who have the most advice about babies, are the people who've never had one," the comic was saying, having not stopped despite that half the far-away room was barely paying him any attention. "But they've got all these crazy justifications for how they know so much: Oh my sister had a baby! My cousin had a baby! I saw one on Oprah!"

Riku sighed and started to take a drink of his water, since he had been told that he needed to replenish his fluids after losing quite a bit of blood, when a sound different from laughter or from the voice of the comic or even those talking around him suddenly and loudly entered his ears.

"_Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky.  
Ai yai yai  
I'm your little butterfly.  
Green black and blue make the colours in the sky."_

"Oh," Sora said as the music started. He instantly fished around in his pockets for the communication device, "that's me."

"Why are you getting called?" Hayner asked, glancing over at him.

"Because Kairi and I in trouble," Sora answered.

"Aw," Kairi said, wrapping her arms around Sora's chest, "you changed the ringtone for me to that."

"I decided that after you and Yuna sang it that it suited you," Sora replied before giving Kairi a fleeting kiss. He pressed the 'TALK' button and the video picture flashed to life.

Kisuke Urahara's voice spoke before he could even get a word in. It didn't sound exactly angry, more whimsical and airy than anything else. "It's ten to ten and you aren't back yet..."

"Um, no," Sora replied sheepishly. "See, we're waiting on results from a blood test because we still don't quite (he stopped and turned away, sneezing) know what's wrong yet."

"Sora!" "Kairi!"

Kairi leaned over more so that she could have a better look at the screen, and both of them smiled as Aiwemon's and Menelmon's faces completely obscured Urahara from sight. "Hi Menelmon," Kairi said.

Aiwemon looked slightly irritated. "That wasn't very nice Sora," he said. "Why didn't you at least wake me before telling me that you were both leaving?"

Sora looked at his partner guiltily. "Well, if I'd woken you, you'd have wanted to come too. And I'm not upset with you or think that you're a horrible partner digimon or anything, it's just that… Kairi and I needed some time, you know, to be with our other friends and to sort out what's wrong (he sneezed again) wid me."

Aiwemon looked at him blankly, so Menelmon spoke. "I don't think we get it, but you don't sound very good Keys. You don't either Kairi."

"I'b gub a culd."

"That's what they get for running around in the snow and cold all day," Riku said. His voice was fine, but he still sniffled. Roxas' stomach then growled. The four of them had all had tomato soup for supper that night, and nothing else. It hadn't been a very filling meal.

"Alright, that's enough visiting," Urahara said, pushing Aiwemon and Menelmon aside. "So here's the deal," he began. "If you two aren't back here by ten in the morning tomorrow, we're coming after you."

"Can you even do that?" Kairi asked.

Urahara only smiled. "Oh, I have my ways." The image of him died, being replaced by a white screen with the call duration flashing in black numbers.

"I think we're in trouble," Sora muttered.

"Why are you and Kairi even here to begin with?" Tidus asked.

Sora was quite for a second before he hung his head. "I can't summon the Keyblade."

"Not again," was the collective groan.

"But don't worry so much," Riku said, smiling and waving them off as he brought his arm out. "We'll soon figure out what's wrong with this guy. And until then, the rest of us can pick up the sla—" Riku stopped and looked quizzically at his hand. "Can pick up the slack," he said more assuredly, but something on his face said that something was wrong. His right hand clenched and unclenched several times, and it looked like he was trying to lay an egg.

"_W…T…F!!?_" he half-yelled as he released his face of the tension.

"What is it?" Sora asked, though the dreadful answer was clawing its way into the hearts of the other wielders in the room.

"Dawn!" Riku roared. "What's going on here!?" He looked off to a clear space in the room, expecting her to appear there, but the spirit of his Keyblade did not appear. "Dawn!"

"What's wrong Silver?" Axel asked. "Your little girlie ain't coming?"

"Dawn?" Riku asked quietly. The angry frustration that had been in Riku's face faded away and he slumped in his seat. It slowly grew cold, clammy, and pale, like he had gone into shock. He felt weak. "What is happening to us?" he wondered, glancing between himself, Sora, and Kairi. "Kairi, would you be able to summon your Keyblade yet? It only goes away for the first day right?"

Kairi blinked and sat up straighter rather than leaning on Sora underneath the blanket. "I think so." Her hand rose from underneath the blanket and everyone's eyes were drawn towards it as she bit her bottom lip. But even though her face and arm began to twitch from the effort she was putting into it, her Keyblade did not appear.

"Roxas, Naminé," Sora said quickly. Three flashes of light greeted his eyes, but despite the comforting presence of three Keyblades in the hands of the two former Nobodies, the fact that he, Riku, and Kairi were all down for the count worried him far more.

"This isn't good," Pence said, glancing between the five.

"It sure isn't fellas."

Heads turned at King Mickey's voice and found the monarch standing in the doorway to the lounge room.

"Mickey," Riku spoke, surprised enough to stand. Hope came to his voice as he stood. "Do you know what could be wrong with us? Why we can't summon the Keyblade?"

"Did anything like this happen to the Chasers way back when?" Axel asked.

King Mickey hummed in thought and looked down, his hands placed on his small hips. "Gosh, I'm not sure," he answered. "I think I remember readin' somewhere that a Keyblade Wielder could lose the ability to summon the Keyblade and use magic from time to time after a difficult battle, but I can't remember if it said why that was. Hm…" The King's voice faded into silence.

"But, this doesn't make any sense," Kairi said quietly. "Wha—wh—choo!"

"Bless you."

"Thank ou," Kairi said, sniffing and rubbing her nose. "Why is this happening? How can it be happening? Sora and I haven't fought much recently."

"I really don't know Kairi," King Mickey said. "I was about to give you, Riku, and Naminé the armour of an Acolyte like Sora and Roxas, even though it looks like all of you are already past that level, especially Sora and Riku. The Global Defence Initiative, or GDI, which is Nod's enemy from their own world, is now on our side, and I realized that even though Master Yen Sid had worked so hard in finding competent people to train you, and you're all benefiting from it, you were all being left to fend for yourselves as far as Keyblade training goes."

"So you were going to start training us Your Majesty?" Naminé asked, eyes widening slightly with the tiniest of smiles coming forward to her face. It was all she could manage, considering the atmosphere.

"I was, but it looks like things aren't as good as I thought," he answered, shaking his head dismally.

A smaller, more timid voice came from the door behind the King, and while some of them stayed looking at Disney Castle's ruler, others glanced at the door for the second time. Agatha Quin was standing there, and she bowed apologetically.

"Forgive the intrusion," she said, "but it is getting late, and the Princesses and Keyblade Masters have a long day tomorrow, and Lord Riku needs his rest, so…"

"We'd better be getting back," Anar said quickly, glancing at the clock. "Take care guys."

"We'll be seeing you," Pence said, smiling and wheeling forward to give Naminé a hug goodbye right after Olette did. "Thanks for all your help healing me after the Islands. I think I'll probably be good to get out of this thing by the morning."

Hugs and handshakes were shared, and minutes later those who donned the green uniform were outside of the castle, in a carriage that was making its way to the Great Maw through the heavily falling snow. There was no wind and the temperature wasn't too far below zero, so it wasn't terribly bad.

Axel flicked off the SV. He yawned. "Well, I'm beat. Time for me to hit the hay."

"Why didn't you go back with the others?" Riku asked. Axel chuckled.

"What? Don't like me hanging around here Silver?" he laughed at the annoyed look on Riku's face before he left the room, winking at Agatha. She steadfastly ignored him. Axel shrugged. "'Night all."

"We should go to bed too," Kairi said, looking at Sora. "Being sick and staying up late don't mix well."

"No they don't," Sora sighed. "And we'll probably feel worse in the morning anyway." They both rose, and Roxas and Naminé got up, and Riku was already standing. For whatever reason, the servant girl's eyes couldn't seem to leave his bandaged chest. As soon as Riku looked at her though, she giggled slightly and ducked her head, a blush clearly coming to her cheeks.

She looked up at the sound of a door opened, and a gasp left her lips. "Your Highness, Master Sora, what are you doing?"

Sora and Kairi paused, the blanket from before still wrapped around both of them. "Oh, uh nothing," Sora said quickly, extracting himself from the blanket. Kairi looked disappointed and Sora whispered something to her, which caused her to smile. "Night guys," he said before heading down to the room that had been his, at the end of the corridor.

Riku glanced at the others as Kairi vanished into her room. "What was that about?" he asked. They shrugged, and Agatha avoided his gaze when he looked at her, her face flushing red. Riku made a small noise of mild interest before walking to his room on his own.

When he arrived he flicked the lights on and closed the door. His stride was measured as he went up to his bed and picked up the communicator he'd gotten from Star Command. He held it in his hand for a moment, contemplating how long he should call her for, before he went into the contacts page and found Yuffie's number. It rang twice before her face greeted his. "Hi Riku!"

He smiled and settled himself down on the bed. He felt tired, but tried to keep it out of his face or voice. "Hey Yuffie. How was your day?"

"Oh it was awesome! I learned this cool new move from my dad's old scrolls! Now I can…"

-A-D

Fifteen minutes later, after he was sure that everyone else had gone into their rooms, Sora slowly opened the door to his room and glanced left and right down the hall. The coast was clear, not a servant in sight. Moving quickly and quietly, he leapt out of his room and closed his door as silently as possible. Sora was out of the clothes he had worn previous, now in a navy blue t-shirt, and flannel blue-black pants. He was a cat as he moved down the corridor, silent, his naked feet padding down on the carpet until he reached his destination. One, two, three knocks.

Kairi answered the door, quietly giggling. She had on a light pink tank-top and pair of fleece pants of the same colour, a tiny cartoon rabbit face resembling one of the drawings Hat & Clogs said had been done by someone named Rukia, except better, printed on the side of one leg. Sora came in quickly, a smile coming to his own face, and Kairi shut the door as quietly as able.

"Didn't think we'd have to sneak around to do something as simple as sleep together like always," Sora said in amusement, slowly moving towards the fluffy bed, the colours of the blankets and comforter masked by the darkness. He assumed that they were pink though, it was always pink when it came to Kairi; she was still a girly-girl in some ways.

"We're not just going to sleep tonight though," Kairi said, a hint of trepidation in her voice.

The uncertainty piqued Sora's interest and sent unbidden thoughts into his mind. "Really?"

"Sora, I'm worried," Kairi admitted, coming over to him and wrapping her arms around him. "I should be able to summon the Keyblade again by now. I should be able to at least do _something_ again by now, but I can't. What's happening to me, to Riku, to you? What's happening to us?"

Sora didn't like the fear in Kairi's voice, but he also didn't know what to say, so he did the only thing he could think of doing. He kissed her, hoping that it would comfort her. Kairi whimpered in his arms, so he kissed her again, and again, letting his lips land softly on hers time and time again. Slowly, the trembles in her body that only he could feel receded, and Kairi sighed contentedly and placed her head into his shoulder.

"Sora, could—could I take your shirt off please?"

_HUH!?_

"I don't want to do anything that might get us onto Santa's Naughty List," Kairi added quickly. "It's just, I want to cuddle tonight and I like the feel of your skin. And, I _do_ like you when you're shirtless," she said, quietly, almost like it was a private thought that she hadn't meant to or realized that she let slip. A giggle followed immediately afterwards.

Sora smiled, blushing and knowing that there was a blush on his girlfriend's face, though in the darkness he couldn't see it. "Alright, but only if you take yours off too."

Kairi made a sound like a hushed squeal. "Sora! I'm not wearing a bra."

"Even better."

She did squeal this time as Sora stole a kiss from her and turned her head away. "You're such a perv." Kairi pulled back and gently smacked the side of his head. "Tough luck, but you're not getting them tonight." He chuckled slightly through a mock pout, and brought Kairi into the bed, but he did not fight her when she tugged at the cotton garment on his chest, seeking to and being permitted to (with a knowing grin and a nod of the brunet's head) remove it.

"Should we really be doing this Iri?" Sora asked. "I mean, I'm sick…"

"Sora sweetums, we're both sick," Kairi replied. "I think we'll be fine."

Sora laughed and laid his hand over Kairi's back. "Sweetums?"

"Well I've been thinking. 'Sor' doesn't actually sound all that nice, kinda like I'm sore or I have a sore, so which would you like? Sweetie, sweetums, baby, honey, honey-bunny, chibi-bear, darling, dearest, love, love-bunny, bunkin, cuteums, cutie, Sora-bear, auto-bunny, honey-bear, robo-Sora?" She grinned at that last one, though she had been grinning throughout and Sora was laughing. He started to hum something and Kairi cocked her head to one side. "What are you humming honey?"

Sora stilled his hums and whispered into her ear. "Oh you just had to say honey didn't you?"

"Hm?"

"_If I had more money honey, would you love me love me love me? If I wasn't just somebody like me like me?"_ Sora stopped as Kairi giggled and set her hands upon his naked chest, tickling him and keeping her boyfriend from continuing. Sora playfully fought her off through his hushed laughs, and gently held her shoulders and back when she ended it with a deep kiss. Her tongue licked at his lips, and he consented to her entry with the emergence of his own. The two organs greeted one another before they slowly began to dance with and around one, following a map of the other's domain that had been made before.

Kairi withdrew first, and she smiled sincerely at Sora from the bottom of her heart before lying down on his shoulder and sighing, saying, "I do love you you know, and if you weren't somebody like you, then you wouldn't be you."

"I know," Sora replied. "But now then, what shall I call you?"

"What are you talking about Sora-bear?" Kairi asked, giggling at using the name. "I'm Iri."

"But are you, love?" Sora asked. Kairi looked at him sharply. "What? Don't like that one? How about honey-dove? Darling? Love-honey? Chibi-bunny? Love-dove? Princess? Honey? Sweetie? Sweet-cheeks? Sweetheart? Bun-bun? Kai-Kai? My Light, my Love, my Life, my beautiful, sweet, radiant loving Princess…" Sora's voice started to trail off in his last one as Kairi slowly placed her finger down on his lips. She was blushing.

"You're too sweet," she whispered. "My Light, my Love, my Life, my dashing, prideful, loving, lion Prince (she kissed him), my lazy bum."

There was a second of silence, then Sora snorted and Kairi swiftly followed suit. The brunet kissed her once more before Kairi sighed in complete contentment and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders. "Mmm, I'm tired."

"Me too Iri."

For many minutes they lay underneath the covers, Kairi lying half-overtop him while Sora had his arms draped over her, the girl completely used to and comfortable with the automail that composed his left. It felt right now, it felt like Sora. Eventually, a peaceful sleep found them, and gave them dreams they would not remember of moments like the one they were sharing now.

-A-D-

_0820hrs, Sunday, November 2__nd__, 2003  
Radiant Garden_

"You are in big trouble young lady, young man."

Not 'Your Highness', not 'milady', not 'Princess', not 'milord', not 'Master', but 'young lady' and 'young man'. Kensworth was putting whatever 'dad' face he had on.

"Why?" Kairi asked tiredly, sitting at the dining room table. Her face was puffy and bloodshot red, and it had taken considerable effort to get out of her bed that morning. Sora was sitting next to her, her head in his hands, and both of them were dressed exactly as they'd been found that morning: shirtless Sora in flannel pants, and Kairi in a light-pink tank-top and fleece PJ bottoms. Sora didn't look any better than she did and had a box of tissues next to him. The colds had come down on them hard, and despite sleep they felt weary.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Kensworth asked, the only one in the room apart from the two sixteen-year-olds. The others had all been sent out. "What kind of a gravely serious situation this is?"

"We didn't—"

"Be quiet!" Kensworth barked with a sharp fury that Sora had never seen him with. Granted, Sora hadn't seen much of the Castle Steward to begin with, but it was more than enough to cause him to go mute. "An act like this is not to be taken lightly Kairi."

Kairi's head lolled wearily. "Kensworth, why are you so upset about this? It's not like—"

"Not like what?" he asked.

"We didn't have sex," Kairi told him. "All we did was share a bed."

"And his shirt?" Kensworth asked. "It just happened to get on the floor by itself did it?"

It was impossible to tell if Kairi's face was red from the sickness or red from a blush. Nevertheless, she stuttered and looked down. "N-no, I—I took it off him." She sniffed greatly and Sora handed her a tissue. "Thank you sweetums," Kairi said, smiling slightly at the sigh Sora made. But he was smiling too.

Kairi began to blow her nose. "So how can I know that you didn't do it?" Kensworth asked, glancing at Sora. The brunet noticed that the Steward's eyes hesitated fractionally longer over his left shoulder and arm, and Sora was sure that Kensworth hadn't even noticed, but _he_ had. The look made him draw a tiny bit further away, turning his left side inward and a little bit more out of sight.

"Well, Agatha didn't find us in less clothes than we're wearing now for a start," Kairi mumbled.

"That means nothing."

"Don't you trust me?" Kairi asked.

Kensworth lowered his head and sighed a heavy sigh. "I want to trust you—"

"Then trust me," Kairi blurted out.

"—but you are an attractive young woman and Sora is not an unattractive young man and you are in a relationship and both of you are hormone-laced sixteen-year-olds and were just found sharing a bed," the Steward continued, even through Kairi's comment. "What am I supposed to think?"

"Well, when you put it that way," Sora said, removing a tissue from his nose, "we didn't really tell anyone that we've gotten used to sleeping at each other's side, so for me to sneak in was just looking for trouble."

"Yes it was," Kensworth told him, nodding his head gravely. He looked at Kairi again. "You're telling me the absolute truth that no funny business happened between yourself and Sora last night."

"Yes Kenny I'm certain," Kairi said, digging the old nickname she'd had for him when she was just a tyke up from the bowels of her memory. The old name appeared to make him smile, and he hugged Kairi.

"Don't scare me like this again," he told her. "This old heart can't take it. If you had, and word got out…"

"I'd be dead," Sora said, chuckling.

"That's more truthful than you know," Kensworth said to him. "There are quite a number of people here who would make you their enemy if they ever thought that you had deflowered their Princess before she was married." Sora's face went white, and the man smiled. "Have no fear, those are only the extremists. Most people would only roll their eyes and continue to wonder why the tabloids care so much. The problem would have been if you had become pregnant, Kairi."

"Don't worry!" she said, eyes wide and hands out in front of her. "Even though I want them; _not ready yet!!_" Though she had never said it to anyone before, in the presence of Sora and Kensworth she allowed her face to show her true emotions. The thought of being a mother was something that she looked forward to, she would survive this war; she _had_ to if only for Sora, but being a mother at sixteen absolutely terrified her.

"At least I know that you'll be responsible if it should ever happen," Kensworth relented, seeing the scared look on the young Princess' face. Sora received a stern look from him and the Keyblade Master seemed to wilt under the Head Steward's gaze. The man looked to the doors. "I think we can let the others in for breakfast now, don't you?" Sora and Kairi both nodded, and made a point of avoiding eye contact and keeping silent as Kensworth went to the door.

There was a loud _thud-bump!_ as he opened the door, and the two teenagers looked up from where they had been sitting, facing the door. Stewie, Riku, Naminé, Roxas, Axel, a few of the servants, including Agatha, and Renji had obviously been pressed up against the door, trying to eavesdrop. They quite clearly hadn't been able to get away from the door in time to keep themselves from falling over when it had suddenly opened on them.

"Good morning!" Renji said loudly from the top of the pile, a guilty smile on his face.

"And what a good morning it is to implement my plans to kill all broccoli," Stewie said fiendishly, rubbing his hands together. "Yes, it is nice and cold outside. It is time to meet your doom vile vegetable, and thy doom's name is genius!"

Sora glanced at Kairi. He started to whisper in her ear. "Okay, seriously Kai-Kai, what is up with that baby?" Kairi blushed and swatted Sora away at him actually remembering one of those silly pet names he'd rattled off the night before.

-A-D-

_0900hrs  
Middle-earth  
Xokor_

He expressionlessly surveyed the men gathered outside of the cavernous entrance to the underground complex still being built, his intelligent sapphire eyes sweeping over them and the half-dozen red and grey Tick-Tanks that they surrounded. A hundred and twenty men, not including the ones who manned the tanks, had been chosen by Slavik, the Serbian Wolf, to take part in this mission, one which both Xokor and Slavik knew was to be one in which likely none of the men who would be going on would be coming back from. For that reason Slavik had placed command of the Brotherhood forces into the hands of Xokor; Kane could not afford to lose his most brilliant commander.

Cruel wind bit at him through his brown trench coat, and the sky dark from the ash clouds of Orodruin had no star with which to warm the ground. The Nobody cared little if any of the men would be returning alive. If nothing else he could always have whatever survivors turned into Heartless and declare that they had died glorious deaths in the name of Kane.

The sound of a portal of darkness opening behind him alerted him of another's presence, and a moment later he sensed the magnificent storm of electrical energies within the Nobody who had appeared behind him. Xokor turned around. "Nixion, to what honour does this steadfast rook owe the pleasure?"

"Our Queen has just left on an errand and she advised me of a change of policy," Nixion said, smiling at the thought. "Should you encounter the Keyblade Wielders they are now, and until stated otherwise, to be taken alive and brought back before Maleficent for sentencing and punishment of their crimes."

Xokor placed a finger to his chin. "Hm, why this is a change. May I ask what crimes they have committed, beyond that of defeating the Mistress of all Evil once before of course?"

"Why the simplest crime of all," Nixion answered, the wind tussling his spiked silver hair, "the crime of living. They shall all be judged by the Dark Queen. Remember, they are to be captured from now on, Maleficent desires the pleasure of dealing the death-blow to each one of them herself. (He paused) Remember though, capture them only if you see the opportunity; it is not your objective today."

Nixion vanished as another portal of darkness appeared over him before vanishing. Xokor turned around again, his expressionless face turning into a smile.

"Well this changes the game now doesn't it?" he asked himself, surveying the men and tanks. "I can no longer take the pieces, but must isolate and put each one in check. These pawns are nice, but quite ineffective at the moment for such a task. I think an additional bishop and rook might be needed here." He turned around and strode back into the fortress. _I am sure that Lexai and Tismetrx are a little bored._

If they came or not, it didn't really matter; blood would spill in Radiant Garden today.

-A-D-

_0942hrs  
Radiant Garden_

"Being sick sucks," Sora mumbled, sniffling from his place on the couch in the royal lounge with Kairi. She handed him a tissue. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kairi replied as Sora began to honk, trying to rid his nose of as much mucus as possible.

"It's a good thing that this thing is fricking funny," Riku said, looking at the two as they lay underneath a blanket on the couch. He was wrapped up in a blanket himself, and was watching one of the spheres of an anime series that Naminé had acquired, the first sphere in the set actually and the first episode. He normally would have preferred to be out training or not watching something that Kairi had chosen to watch, as it would likely have been a chic-flick or a girl-anime, but he had to admit that with nothing else to do since the Keyblade was not coming to him for unknown reasons, watching this with his two best friends was quite entertaining.

"I told you I picked a good one," Kairi said. "You're just a pessimist Riku."

"That Tamaki Suoh knows all the moves," Riku said, smiling and watching the blue-jacketed blond rich-boy high school student sweet-talk a girl in a yellow dress.

"_I'm afraid that if I drink this my father will yell at me," a girl said, referring to the 'commoner's coffee' in her hands._

_The blond boy suddenly grabbed her softly and dipped her, and the background became vibrant red roses. "What if I let you drink it from my mouth?"_

"_Well then I would drink it," she replied, in an almost dreamy voice. All the other girls started to scream and squeal._

"Hilarious as hell," Riku continued, "he's got these girls eating out of his hand."

"This is just too funny," Sora chortled.

"Honey-senpai is just so, so… kawai!" Kairi squealed after another few minutes, pulling the blanket closer to her chest. "Ooh, I just want to pinch his cheeks and tell him how cute he is and bake him sweets."

Sora looked down, noting that Kairi couldn't stop giggling when the blond boy asked Haruhi (Haru-chan), to hold his bunny Usa-chan. "Hey, what am I? Don't you want to bake me sweets too?"

Kairi made a sound like she was thinking. "Hmmmm, maybe at Christmas Sora," she told him.

Riku laughed at the look on Sora's face before he looked at the screen. It had just gone black except that there were six light bulbs on the screen. One of them had lit up nearly from the beginning and another had just now lit up. "Looks like they're finally figuring out that Haruhi's a girl," Riku said.

Sora's eyes went wide and he almost upset Kairi in front of him. "Okay so that _is_ a girl."

Riku's jaw dropped open and it looked like he was going to say something before he turned away and chuckled. "You're hopeless Sora."

Kairi glanced up at her boyfriend, an amused expression on her face. "You mean you didn't notice?"

"Well, I know that she wasn't _drawn_ like an anime guy," said Sora, trying to defend himself. "The face and eyes aren't quite right for a guy, and the inner dialogue made me wonder, but she doesn't have any breasts and she's not really wearing girl's clothes so I was stuck."

"Is that how you tell the difference between a guy and a girl?" Kairi asked, sounding offended. "The size of their rack? Some girls have small breasts you know." She glanced down at her own chest and bit her bottom lip. But then again, against Haruhi Fujioka she had nothing to complain about.

"But Sora's right," Riku said, jumping to his best friend's defence. "The ways we guess gender are tits, legs, ass, face, lips, and eyes all before voice, unless we happen to hear the voice first or we _know_ that the person's a guy but they're just so fat that they have HUGE man boobs."

Kairi rolled her eyes and laughed a little. "Honestly, why are both of you such pervs? Or really, why are you saying these things while _I'm_ here?"

"Because you're such a good sport," Riku was quick to answer, almost as if he had it prepped in case Kairi asked that exact question. Kairi groaned exasperatedly and Riku shared a smile with Sora while she muttered something that sounded quite like 'boys'.

Kairi huffed and frowned at Riku. "I'm too nice for my own good," she muttered. "Still, that's no reason for making fun of a girl who's only an A-cup." As if to solidify her point, Kairi stuck her tongue out at Riku.

"Oh well," Sora said, looking at the SV again. "Who really cares if she doesn't have defined breasts? She's kinda cute and this thing is just too entertaining."

"How you doing fellas?"

The three looked up and saw King Mickey entering the room. Sora blushed, worried that the King had just heard what he'd said.

"Hi Your Maj—" Kairi stopped, her facial muscles contorting rapidly around her nose. Her hand snapped out and grasped blindly for a tissue. It got to her face just in time to meet a sneeze. "Still sick," she answered before honking loudly into the tissue. "Bud, I dink the culd meds we took earlier are starting to work."

"And still useless," Riku added while Sora turned the sphere onto pause. The silver-haired Wielder of Dawn stretched out his hand, but no Keyblade appeared in it. King Mickey sighed and shook his head.

"Gosh, I really wish I knew what was goin' on with you three," he said regretfully. "But I—"

"Oh, don't worry about it Your Majesty."

King Mickey, Riku, and Kairi all looked at Sora as his own eyes were on the monarch. "Things'll work out soon. They always do, right?" The others were silent for a second before King Mickey laughed a little.

"Welp, I can't argue with that Sora," he said, smiling. "When it comes to you, everything _does_ work out in the end. You're right, we shouldn't worry too much. Until you three can get back in, all it means is that the rest of us will have to pull a little extra weight."

He took a few more steps into the room, and the King plopped himself down on a free armchair. He was smiling, and it looked like Sora's optimism had infected him. At the King's reassuring look, Riku and Kairi smiled as well. "So, whatchya all watching?" the King asked as Sora picked the remote up again.

"Ouran High School Host Club," Kairi answered, snuggling a bit further into the couch and, therefore, closer to Sora.

"Hm, never heard of it," King Mickey said, looking at the screen in interest.

"Well you have now Your Majesty, you have now," Sora told him. He hit play.

_Tamaki's fingers snapped. "Hikaru, Kaoru."_

"_Got it!" They said, saluting Tamaki before grabbing Haruhi's arms and running away with her._

"_Kyoya, my hairstylist (Kyoya started to dial on his cell phone). Mori-senpai, go to the eye doctor and get him some contact lenses (Mori-senpai ran off)."_

"_What about me Tama-chan?" Honey-senpai asked, his entire face and eyes brimming with cuteness._

"_Honey-senpai," Tamaki started._

"_Yes, sir?"_

"_You… go have some cake."_

_Honey-senpai was suddenly alone at a table with Usa-chan, feeling downcast and neglected. "It's just us Usa-chan," Honey-senpai muttered, his voice verging on tears. "Everyone else said they were too busy."_ Even like that he was too cute, and Sora, Kairi, Riku, and even King Mickey couldn't keep a few laughs from their lips at the whole scene.

A soft know came on the door, and they looked up from where they sat, forcibly tearing their eyes away from the SV. "Excuse me Princess Kairi," Kensworth said, "but there is a man here to see you."

She glanced at Sora and Riku. "Hm? Really? Who is it Kensworth?"

"Tell him to come back later," Sora said. "We're watching Ouran."

"He didn't give his name," Kairi's Head Servant began, ignoring Sora, "but he was very insis—"

"GIRL!"

Sora was on his back on the couch with his mind spinning and arms out wide. Kairi had left the comfort and warmth of the blanket and was on her hands and knees on the ground, facing the door. "Yes Master?" she asked loudly, her eyes shut tight.

Kensworth took a step backwards in surprise before he was shoved aside by the great Garda's knotted and muscled arms. The Chief Guardian with his thick tail of raven hair and granite-grey eyes was a very imposing early-morning sight, and his sudden entrance was enough to stop Sora, Riku, and the King for a moment. As for Kairi, she stayed kneeling on the ground before him, awaiting his words.

"Get up girl," Garda said with a dismissive nudge of his head. "There is something I wish to discuss with you."

Kairi lifted her head first before getting onto her feet. She looked up questioningly and submissively. "Yes Master?"

"I didn't want to say anything yesterday, with so many ears about," Garda told her, "but I know you are curious, and that you are the departed Mayor Seymour's daughter; this news concerns Duke Naivus and Prince Alexander's presence on our islands."

-A-D-

Roxas leapt away from the skeletal head of Hihiō Zabimaru as it crashed into the ground where he had been standing only moments before. Snow and rock flew up into the air and peppered his jacket while he ran for Lieutenant Abarai. The Oblivion and Twilight Thorn were in his hands and ready to strike against the Soul Reaper. At the same time Sado Yasutora, whose arms were encased in strange coloured armour, punched the air in front of him, and blue arcs of energy shot out from his punch towards the Bankai-wielding Soul Reaper. The man's zanpakutō rose up and blocked the shots, and Roxas slipped in underneath and began swinging his two Keyblades at Renji. Each strike, no matter how quickly Roxas made it or how cunningly he thought he executed it, was blocked by the Soul Reaper's sword.

Roxas jumped back as Renji made a swing out for him, and Chad deflected the head of Hihiō Zabimaru away with a punch. Twilight Thorn and the Oblivion suddenly started to glow with a deep red light, almost like they were on fire, and he rushed in again. With a single swing of both of his burning blades he forced Renji back by a bit less than a foot.

_Good job man,_ a voice spoke in his mind.

_I knew I wasn't making you up back then,_ Roxas answered, sounding triumphant as he fought against Renji. Up, down, left, up, right, diagonal, jump back, charge and stab, duck to the right.

_Course not, I'd have told people to chuck you in a loony bin if I'd thought you made me up; that pal Riku of yours probably would too._

_If Riku can beat Renji than so can I!_ Roxas told the voice, blocking Renji's strike from connecting with his skull using both Keyblades in his hands. Renji frowned suddenly, and pushed harder than Roxas was ready for and swept his zanpakutō out. Roxas looked to his left and was caught up in the vertebrae segments of the sword as it traveled in an arc. He tumbled down into the snowy ground, his breath knocked out of him and Keyblades lost from his grip, and Roxas landed in one of the many craters that had been formed from previous battles in this canyon. He felt pain in and blood on his right arm and saw that it had been pierced by a piece of sharp rock that had been lying on the ground. Roxas gritted his teeth and pulled the offending object out of his arm. He took a few deep breaths and pointedly looked away from the blood, trying to get it out of his mind.

_I can beat him too,_ he thought, climbing out of the crater. He felt just a bit weak, but he shrugged it off. Chad dodged away from the Bankai before the skull crashed into the ground, and Roxas called his Keyblades back to his hands. "Come on, let's keep—!"

He froze, feeling a cold chill that had nothing to do with the snow and cold weather, and looked south-west towards the Great Maw.

-A-D-

"Hm, so _this_ is Radiant Garden," Lexai said, striding out of the dark portal along with Xokor. She brought her hands to her arms, shivering only slightly. "I've got to say, it sure doesn't look or feel very _radiant_."

"Do I detect a hint of dislike in your voice, Lexai?" Xokor asked, glancing at her from underneath his fedora.

"Listen, my flames may keep me warm, but that doesn't mean I like the cold, got it memorized?" she told him.

"Then you're a foo for wearin' such silly clothes in the snow," a deep masculine voice declared as its owner left the portal. He towered above both of the other Nobodies at six and a half feet. A giant of a man with his peach-coloured skin and short brown hair, the black muscle shirt and shorts that clothed him threatened to burst with the sheer amount of muscle beneath them. It was likely that if he made any effort at all at flexing his abdominal and pectoral muscles that the shirt would gladly tear itself apart.

"So what about you then?" Lexai asked, in her ruby-red short-sleeved top with the diamond cuts, slim black jeans and black heels.

"Cold doesn't bother Tismetrx," he answered confidently. "Tismetrx welcomes cold, it keeps me on edge."

Xokor chuckled as the rumbling of tank treads left the corridor while men in black and red body armour started running out of rapidly appearing portals, their assault rifles or missile launchers grasped firmly in their hands. Swirls of darkness appeared around Xokor, Lexai, and Tismetrx, and Large Bodies plopped onto the ground.

"It's good that you're on edge," Xokor said as more swirls of darkness appeared, Wyvern Heartless somersaulting into the air out of them. Tendrils of nothingness rose from the ground, and Dusks came into being on their spindly limbs. He glanced down into the snow-filled Great Maw and looked at the figures going back and forth between the buildings. "Because it looks like it's our move."

-A-D-

"I see," Kairi said, her fingers curling together into tiny fists against her knees as she looked down. "So that's why they're there."

"Well this blows," Riku said, turning to look out the window. "I never expected something like this to happen."

"It caught me off-guard too," Garda said, apologetically. "We'll have to be careful in what we do from now on, we're not autonomous anymore."

Kairi bit her bottom lip. She remembered the Prince looking at her in interest, and now the thought entered her mind that he might have been considering her when he'd come. Discounting that she was the Princess of Radiant Garden, Kairi was the girl with, technically, the highest social standing on the Islands apart from the rich girls. She didn't really like those girls though, with the way they flaunted their money and teased the boys. She had never really liked it when she'd been forced to go to those dinners and parties her father was obligated to attend and left without a choice but to keep their company.

A comforting hand landed on her shoulder and Kairi looked up. Sora was smiling at her. He didn't say anything; he didn't have to. An unbidden smile came to Kairi's lips and she felt her mood lifting.

Sora's communicator started to ring and he reached underneath a pillow for it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Sora? This is Doctor Fraiser calling." Everyone in the room fell silent to listen. "The results from the blood tests are in and I—I think you should come down and see this."

"Alright," Sora said, though his voice sounded a bit strange, even to him. Doctor Fraiser's tone made him anxious.

"And if Kairi, Riku, and Roxas came with you too it'd be helpful," the doctor told him. "It concerns them too."

"Well I don't know about Roxas, but the three of us can make it for sure," Sora answered. "We'll be there soon."

"I'll be waiting for you." With those words, the call ended.

_Roxas, the res—_

_Sora, we've got Heartless!_

"What?" Sora snapped aloud, sitting up suddenly in shock. "No, not now!"

"What is—" King Mickey asked before he, Riku, Kairi, and Sora all looked off in the same direction. They all felt it.

"No, not now!" Kairi whispered, repeating Sora's words. "Not Heartless, not _now_!"

"Just go to the hospital," King Mickey said, the Reverse Kingdom Key appearing in his hand in a flash. "We'll take care of the Heartless." Garda nodded at the King, and with a commanding look at his apprentice he left the room just after King Mickey did.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku rose and began to make their way as quickly as possible out of the castle. _Roxas,_ Sora began while Kairi told Kensworth to get them a carriage and quickly, _Kairi, Riku and I are heading to the hospital. The results are in._ _Doctor Fraiser wants to see you too though._

_Sora, no offence, but we're going to be very busy very, very soon._

_Just make sure you get to the hospital as soon as you can,_ Sora told him. _She wouldn't ask—_

_She doesn't even know that the Heartless are here,_ Roxas countered. _Unless you can cover for me, which right now you unfortunately can't, I'm needed elsewhere._

_Alright fine,_ Sora replied irritatedly. He took a calming breath. _Just be careful okay?_

_Don't worry about me, you just figure out what's wrong with yourself._

-A-D-

_Good luck Roxas,_ Sora said.

_Yeah,_ Roxas replied as he ran as quickly as he could down from where he had been practicing with Renji and Chad. The tan-skinned teen was with him, and Renji was quickly leaping through the air above them, his zanpakutō in its sealed katana state once more. The snow was thick around Roxas' legs, and it was quickly becoming a chore to keep running. His shoulder was also hurting him as warm blood still trickled from the wound.

_You know,_ the different voice spoke in his head, _you should really learn some kind of technique to move around quickly._

_Shut up,_ Roxas retorted. He dismissed his Keyblades and brought one hand to his head. He shook his head slightly and blinked. _Man, I'm feeling a little out of it. Must've been hit one too many times._ _Damn Renji._

-A-D-

The clang of sword on sword rang out in Easy Company's training grounds and Tidus rolled away from a falling broadsword. His opponent twisted aside as the crystal-blue blade of the Brotherhood lunged out for him. Tidus rose up, looking Anar square in the eyes as onlookers watched the two battle in their armour. The cold bothered both of them, but neither would admit it to the other as both swords went up and down, and both teens pressed against each other. Kia barely watched, her bow in her hand as she fired arrows at the very distant targets. Even with half her attention on the act of loosing arrows from her bow she was still striking at least the second circle of the round target. She had gotten really good.

"Heh," Tidus said, smiling as their swords continued to press together. "You're getting better."

"Thanks, but you're getting annoying," Anar replied with a smile of his own. Tidus leapt back as the older and taller teen pushed harder, and the blitz player twisted through the air before landing lightly on his feet.

"Glad I could be," replied Tidus, flicking his sword out to his right. "You ready for anything?"

"Yeah," Anar replied, gripping his broadsword with only one hand instead of two and holding it out in front of him, the blade pointed down. Tidus gave him a small nod, and Anar returned it. Kia eased her fingers onto the bowstring as she nocked another arrow and brought it back. Olette and Jeffery both drew their small staffs and took a few short breaths, their breath steaming the cool air.

Tidus hopped forward before springing up high in the air. His body began to twist around as he arced towards the zenith of his jump. Anar raised his sword up in both hands, ready to block Tidus' aerial attack; nearly the whole Company was focused on their duel, including the officers.

"And down it goes!" Tidus yelled as he stopped spinning in the air and threw the Brotherhood at the ground. At the same moment Anar twisted completely away from the spinning sword and brought his own one around and swept it across his body. Kia shifted her aim completely away from the practice targets and loosed her silver arrow. The wizard's hat tip of Olette's staff burst with frigid energy as short lance of ice shot out from it, and from Jeffery's a bolt of lightning arced out.

A broadsword swept at an Armoured Knight, knocking it over; a sword of blue crystal sliced through the helmeted head of a Soldier; an arrow with silver vines on it pierced a flying purple Wyvern's head; a lightning bolt struck against the wing of an Air Soldier, sending it tumbling to the ground; and an ice lance speared a Large Body through the chest.

Shouts and cries rang out from the soldiers and officers of Easy Company, first at the sudden and inexplicable shift in what was occurring in the duel, then again when they realized what had just happened. Aerial Heartless dove from the sky, and ground ones charged in. Out of all of Easy, only those who had fought longest against the Heartless had sensed or seen that they had been coming, and even then only about two minutes ago. There hadn't been time, and Sobel hadn't listened to them.

Like _that_ was a surprise.

Cries and shouts lifted into the cold air as the whole camp came to realize that they were under attack. Neoshadows stormed into the Maw from the breaks in the cliffs to the west of the camp and other Heartless spawned and poured out of the Crystal Fissure. They sky was littered with Wyverns and Air Soldiers.

Tidus counter-charged the Heartless, giving a quick yell to get his blood flowing faster. He dodged left and avoided the claws of a Neoshadow and sliced it from its waist to its neck with a single stroke; only a small trickle of darkness spilled from the wound as he continued on, barely realizing that his sword was meeting more resistance than it used to. It was like the skin of the Heartless was getting tougher. Tidus then brought the Brotherhood down, knocking back a Soldier with a diagonal cut, and then struck at an Armoured Knight, his sword being blocked. Anar's broadsword came lunged in underneath and stabbed at the Armoured Knight, pushing it backwards.

"Where did they all come from?" the helmeted golden-haired seventeen-year-old asked aloud as a blue glow surrounded both him and Tidus.

"Hell if I know," Tidus answered as the Protect spell settled itself around him and Anar, and he quickly put a hand on his head to make sure that his helmet was still in place. "And how the hell did they get tougher to kill all of a sudden?" The blond lashed out at the Armoured Knight that had foiled him a moment before and sliced at its body twice before a thrust through its head finished it off. He brought the Brotherhood in front of him defensively and winced as a Large Body rammed into him. Tidus leapt back, his arms stinging a little from the strain of stopping the massive Heartless cold, while the Large Body just stupidly scratched its head. A silver arrow flew perfectly into the centre of the Large Body's tiny head and Anar turned around and hopped backward, avoiding the head-butting head of a Dusk.

"We've got Nobodies!" he yelled, glancing around. "Maleficent's cronies are here!" He ducked as a Wyvern attempted to strike him from above with its clawed feet. A yell sounded to his right and a fellow soldier in his company stabbed his sword up and into the Wyvern's chest. It shrieked ferociously at the offending soldier and gave a great flap of its wings, rising into the sky and backing off. Only moments later it was struck by two different fireballs and careened back down, taking out a Dusk as it crashed.

"Second Platoon, fight back! Form a line and hold them off!" Winters yelled as Tidus was joined by Asta Marble and Jane Melbourne. The trio were all helmeted, and they females spaced themselves out loosely with Tidus in the centre and the other two on his flanks. A Shadow came barrelling in at the red-headed and grey-eyed Private Jane Melbourne and she thrust her small kite shield out, bashing the Shadow in the head. The Heartless fell to the ground, and the seventeen-year-old Twilight Town native had to thrust her sword at its bulbous head three times before it vanished in a cloud of darkness. Tidus hacked at a Dusk that came in for Marble's undefended right side while she held off a Wyvern with her shield and sword, always _just_ missing the Heartless. A lightning bolt from behind struck it in the chest and it paused just long enough for her seeking blade to find its target. Darkness leaked out of the stab wound in its side and it limped for another second, hesitating in its desire to take the strong hearts in front of it. That second was all that one of the marksmen in the Company needed to place a bullet firmly between its eyes.

"Come on!" a black-haired man of about twenty-three known as Brey Charlebois shouted as he rushed into the battle, "we can take these fuckers 'till the Keyblade Wielders show up!" He came in next to Anar and savagely slashed at an Armoured Knight, his sword making a glancing cut in its side. Several Heartless suddenly vanished into black clouds and Charlebois gave a pained yell. He dropped to his knees, his sword falling from his right hand, and his left hand quickly grasping at his arm. There were many thuds on the snow-covered grass ground beneath them.

"Charlebois, what's wrong?" someone asked, seeing that the man was holding his right arm quite tightly.

"Nothing, I'm fine," he said, obviously biting back pain. His right hand went down to grab his weapon again. He gave a yell and blocked the Armoured Knight's sword-arm with his shield before stabbing it in the chest as hard as he could. His sword broke through the metal made of darkness and ended it.

"Fall back!"

Olette paused for a second before firing another fireball, looking in shock at the only member of their Company, heck even Rai was fighting now, who had not yet joined the battle. She was close enough to see that Captain Herbert Sobel's eyes were wide and fearful, roving about as the battle quickly developed with nothing in them but terror.

"Fall back!" he repeated. "Easy Company, pull back! Form a defensive line amongst the buildings!"

_Not following that order,_ Olette thought, looking back into the sky and selecting which Air Soldier she was going to target next.

Kia thought likewise, searching with her eyes for the source of whatever had been thudding into the ground, which by now had caused more than just Charlebois some pain. Something had even bounced off of her helmet, loud enough to break her concentration and startle her. There were a lot of Heartless in the sky, so it was a little difficult to…

Kia froze for only an instant before she raised her bow. "It's Nod! The Brotherhood is here too!" She loosed her arrow, and her eyes watched the silver dart's flight as it soared through the air towards the Nod soldiers lining the tops and terraces of the cliffs before her. The arrow became too small to see, but one of the soldiers gave an almost imperceptible flinch. His head sagged, and he crumpled over and fell off the cliff.

Kia watched it in slow motion almost, and her mind went back to a similar moment over a month ago. Rain, darkness, lightning, gunshots, bullets ricocheting off stone, fireballs hissing through the air; then her arrow, finding its resting place in the chest of a Nod soldier.

The moment passed, and the sound of an argument broke into her ears. Lieutenant Kol and the platoon leaders were as calmly as possible telling the CO that they had to stay put and hold the Heartless off here, while Sobel was yelling at them to follow his orders and pull back.

"Captain Sobel!"

The man and his officers turned around at the shout and saw that Dog and Fox Companies were rushing in, but the man who had yelled Sobel's name was not a member of either of those Companies, nor Easy Company. Short brown hair, a thick moustache, a face lined with forty-two years of life and hardened by the wind, precise sea-green eyes, a fine steel sword with perfectly black leather grip, a kite shield with a single point, and on the kite shield, his helmet, and the grey slip-ons on his shoulder epaulettes a brass oak leaf:

Major Bradley, 2nd Battalion Commanding Officer, and Sobel's direct superior. There was another man with oak leaves next to him, but Kia had no clue about his identity.

"Sobel," Major Bradley said again, studying him, especially the fear in his beady black eyes. "You're a great man with a very good set of skills, and probably the best possible choice for training men for combat duty, but you are not yourself suited for combat."

"Sir?"

"Major Akkan is hereby relieving you of your command," Major Bradley said. "You're being reassigned to Battalion HQ."

"Sir?" Sobel asked again in shock, still not quite understanding. "I'm losing Easy Company?"

"Get yourself over to headquarters and barricade the door Sobel," Bradley said, nudging his head behind him, "you're no good here, you'll just get killed."

Major Akkan stepped forward then, and his voice was commanding and strong, and for once in Kia's time since signing up in Twilight Town she knew that she had a CO who knew what he was doing, and _sounded_ like he knew what he was doing. "Alright fellas introductions will have to come later, just know for now that I'm the boss. Who here's 1st Platoon?"

"I am sir," 2Lt. Chang said.

"Send your best runner off to the Guardians," Maj. Akkan said. "I know that we're still trying to incorporate them and the others from Destiny Islands into this big gumbo of a military, but for now they have the best riders we've got. I want some of their cavalry backing us up here."

"Right."

"3rd Platoon?" he asked.

"Right here sir," said 2Lt. Comte.

"I've heard good things about your magic-users. Let the others clear the skies, I want your people focusing on those soldiers off on the cliffs over there. 2nd Platoon?"

"Sir," Winters said.

"Your men are the spearhead. All three of you have your swords drive forward and push them back wherever you can. Just holding a line is not an option. Lieutenant Kol, you're with me." He drew his sword and began to yell. "Consto and the Great Maw! United we stand, divided we fall!!"

Major Akkan ran into the melee, and his officers hurried to carry out his orders. Bullets thudded into the ground around him, some of them even sinking into the legs of those standing next to him, but he showed no fear as one sunk into his raised shield and another projectile bounced off. He shouted his rallying cry again, and even though the majority of Easy Company had no clue who this man was, the oak leaves he had and the strength in his arm and his fearless voice lifted their hearts. "Consto!" he yelled, slicing his shield across the forehead of a Neoshadow.

"The Great Maw!" his troops answered.

"UNITED WE STAND!" they all cheered as Kia took aim for another of the Nod soldiers lining the cliffs. "DIVIDED WE FALL!!"

-A-D-

Sora cried out almost as soon as he had left the front gates of the castle. The carriage was waiting for him, Kairi, and Riku, but he had barely caught sight of it before something landed heavily on his shoulders and dropped him to the ground.

"I told you we would be coming if you were late, Sora-kun," Kisuke Urahara said, grinding his wooden sandals into the Keyblade Master's right shoulder blade a little after he'd finished speaking.

Sora shook his head, trying to get a little bit of the snow that had not yet been somehow removed from the front steps and walk off of his face. "Guess I forgot," he muttered.

"Sora!" a different voice yelped. There was the flapping of wings, and Aiwemon landed in front of Sora's face. His green eyes held a mixture of worry and excitement within them. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry buddy," Sora groaned as Kisuke stepped off of him, "I'm alright. I just have a cold."

"I think I like Radiant Garden a bit more now Kairi," Menelmon said, the ice-bird digimon landing on her shoulder.

The auburn-haired princess smiled and petted her partner's head with a finger. "I thought you might say something like that," she replied, looking out at the snow-covered grounds. It had snowed late into the night and into the morning, but had stopped a little before they had woken up. Now the clouds had parted and the Sun was shining, giving the white-covered landscape a picturesque beauty, the only problem being that the reflected light was beginning to give Kairi a case of snow-blindness. "But, I can't exactly say the same thing," she told Menelmon, shivering slightly through her auburn leather jacket. There wasn't much wind, and even though the Sun was out, it was still much colder than she'd have liked.

"Come on," Riku said, grabbing Sora and hoisting him to his feet. "We've got to get going."

Kisuke Urahara tapped his cane against his shoulder. Apparently he and the digimon were the only ones who had come to get the two runaway pupils. "And where do you think you're off to?"

"The hospital," Sora answered. "Our doctor has the results of our blood tests, and she wants to see us."

"Hopefully she's figured out why we can't summon our Keyblades," Kairi added. She glanced at Riku and Sora. "We need to know, and if we can fix it quickly."

Kisuke raised an eyebrow.

"There are Heartless attacking," Sora said. "And without our Keyblades and magic, we're pretty much up a river without a paddle."

Urahara tapped his cane against his shoulder once more. "Alright then, I think I'll help you out."

"Uh… pardon?" Kairi asked.

Urahara turned his back to them and sighed. "You go and figure out what's keeping your powers in check," he said. "Meanwhile, I'll help deal with your little 'Heartless' problem." He glanced over his shoulder at them, and smiled slightly from underneath his hat. "Just remember though, once we're through here, your training will intensify."

Without another word, the Soul Reaper leapt into the air and vanished.

"Kairi…" Riku said slowly.

"Right," she said, turning around. "Let's go."

-A-D-

Xokor stood atop the cliffs himself, the Brotherhood of Nod's tick tanks behind him and waiting for his orders to advance and open fire on the defenders below. Lexai and Tismetrx were standing next to him, taking in the sight of the battle raging beneath them; Tismetrx had his arms folded across his chest. He could faintly hear the war cry of a group of soldiers as fireballs and lightning bolts came towards the men he had shooting with their rifles and missile launchers at the Keyblade Wielders' united army below.

Their enemy was doing fairly well, he realized. Considering the circumstances of essentially being ambushed, they were doing _remarkably_ well. In most areas his Heartless and the least of the Nobodies were forcing them to make a fighting retreat into their camp, but where the fighting was thickest they were actually advancing towards the cliffs. There were also only about ninety of Nod's troopers left. One of the missile soldiers fired his rocket launcher, and Xokor watched as the projectile descended in a swirl before accidentally striking the back of a Wyvern Heartless and blowing it up. They hadn't been nearly as effective as they could have been, with the skies above the battle filled with so many Heartless.

He waved his hand, and the half-dozen tanks that were behind him rolled up near to the cliff's edge. They didn't wait for the order to open fire. His ears rang with concussive sound of detonating black powder. Shells darted down into the battle, sending men and bodies flying a few feet into the air as they struck the ground. Sometimes their aim was off and the shells tore open Heartless instead, but the Heartless were expendable. They weren't being slain by Keyblades; they would return in time, and the hearts gathered from the soldiers that didn't die outright would only swell their ranks.

The United lines began to waver, and Xokor barely caught the sound of a portal opening behind him. "Ah, so _this_ is where you all went." Xokor imperceptibly nudged his fedora as he turned his head to regard the new arrival. "I say, finding that you left without me made me quite distraught."

"What you doing here foo?" Tismetrx asked.

The new arrival yawned and stretched himself out on all fours, his claws opened wide on his front paws. "Languishing about underground when there's blood to be spilt has never been my style," Xarcs said. "And if my little step-nephew is here, all the better."

"Step-nephew? What are you on?" Lexai asked, smirking.

"Poor Lexai," Xarcs tisked, shaking his head, "you don't know yet that our beloved Sora and I are related?" Lexai and Tismetrx raised their eyebrows and Xarcs looked at his claws. "And I think it's time for another tragic death to come to the family."

"New orders Xarcs," said Xokor, putting a hand through what was visible of his curly black hair. "To place them in check is the most we can do, taking them is out of the question."

"You know I've never understood a word you've said to me," Xarcs told him.

Tismetrx's arms were still folded over his chest. "I don't hate the one that comes across me, Tismetrx has a lot of respect for the guy, but I pity the fool. They're going to be spending the night in the dungeon when Tismetrx is through with them."

"Ah, capture them," chuckled Xarcs, "just like playing with a caught mouse."

"Yeah," Lexai started, "you all can go and do that, I'll jus—"

An explosion from below drowned out the female copper-haired Nobody's words and they all went towards the edge of the cliff and glanced down. Dimming red light entered their eyes, Nod soldiers plummeted off of the terraces they had stood on as they suddenly cracked and gave way, and a tumultuous cheer rose up from the ranks of their enemies.

Xokor looked at his fellow Nobodies as another shell was fired from one of the tanks. It struck one of the buildings within the training camp, tearing down a wall and leaving a gaping hole in its place. "It looks like their own tanks have arrived."

-A-D-

Naminé threw her shield from her arm, watching as it spun towards the Heartless. Her freed left hand came in front of her face, and her fingers flickered a little before her arm moved out in a snapping gesture to her side. The air around her shield grew frosty as it carved its way through a Large Body, and then it suddenly stopped dead. Instantly spikes of ice burst out from the metal, and it looked like a crystal star as it quickly froze over any of the Heartless that found themselves too close to its frozen thorns. Then the ice shattered, and anything caught within it, except for Naminé's shield, broke apart too.

Her shield flew back to her and Naminé dove into the fray alongside Roxas, Renji, Chad, and King Mickey. A chocobo cried out from behind and Garda blazed past her, unsheathing his massive black claymore in his titan hands. The black-haired man roared for the coming battle, and his mount carried him into the ranks of the Heartless. The Chief Guardian's weapon swept up and down, and nothing was able to stand against it while the brightly feathered bird ran down anything beneath it. Ur and Agatha were behind Naminé, Naminé's teacher telling the Princess that since her other pupil was only a beginner still she needed someone to watch over her.

Renji leapt into the air and brought his sword out to his side. "Roar, Zabimaru!" he yelled, swinging his sword out in front of him as it glowed red. His zanpakutō transformed into its segmented form, and the steel segments flew out. He whipped them down, and the blades tore through his foes. Zabimaru struck again and again, this time cutting up a Dusk before slicing open a Neoshadow, then gouging deeply into a Morning Star.

The Oblivion and Twilight Thorn struck quickly against a Dusk, first slicing down then cutting left. The Nobody vanished in sparkles of white and Roxas dove through it, his twin Keyblades flashing out in front of him in perfect arcs; they glowed with fiery red light, and he would have smiled with the ease if he hadn't been feeling out of it. A circle of fireballs surrounded Roxas' body, swirling around with a speed that almost made him invisible behind them. His purple cape with gold trim nobly reflected the red light as the three Armoured Knights caught in the firestorm burned to a crisp. The fires died and the crystalline pink hearts of the Armoured Knights began to rise from the ground, and Roxas sighed and placed his head in one hand as he shook it. "Uh!"

King Mickey darted in, holding the Reverse Kingdom Key proudly in his little hands. Heartless, fearing the blade, swarmed towards the mouse king, but the King of Disney Castle made them look as if they were standing still with how quickly he darted past their attacks. The claws of a Neoshadow lunged down for him, only for the hand to be swinging through empty air. Then a moment later the arm was a stump, the golden Keyblade passing through it as easily as if it were air. King Mickey jumped and bounced off of an Armoured Knight in order to sink his weapon right through the head of the pureblood, and then with a single swipe he cut through a Surveillance Robot. King Mickey flourished his weapon, and blue orbs of light spiralled out of it. With a jubilant-sounding cry the lights spun into a corkscrew that drove right through the front of a Large Body. The massive purple Heartless began to fall backwards slowly as it disintegrated into darkness, releasing its crystalline pink heart.

The sky-blue stone within the necklace on Naminé's neck began to glow with white light, and suddenly from it two beams left it and curved around Naminé's body to touch her back. She sighed as the familiar pain came to her, and the blonde princess' entire body became covered in a shell of white light that concealed her from view. The light ceased to shine a few moments later, revealing large and feathery white wings wrapped around her. Naminé unfurled her wings and shot into the air, Nobody's Pride gripped tightly in her right hand and her shield firmly in her left.

Three Wyverns noticed her and spiralled down from their higher altitude to challenge her. Nobody's Pride sparked with electricity as Naminé flapped her wings faster to meet them. The blonde's mind was still spinning with Ur's earlier lesson, and with the words King Mickey had said to them right before they had entered the fray.

The Wyverns were almost on her, and Naminé glanced for a half-second at the army below and ahead of her. _Armies are nothing without heroes to inspire them, and it's our duty to be those heroes. Fight them; fight them where the men can see you._

Naminé swerved to her right as the lead Wyvern attempted to ram its hard skull into her chest and the Heartless shot past her. The one to the lead's left stopped short and hovered vertically in the air before giving a shriek and raking its hind claws at Naminé. The girl stayed beneath and raised her shield, hearing the scraping sounds of the talons on the metal and feeling the—Naminé smiled, it sure felt like something was hitting her shield, but it didn't feel like much at all.

"Take this!" she yelled, still smiling, and thrust her shield out. It struck against the hind legs of the Wyvern, and she could feel something breaking from beyond the metal barrier in her left arm. Then she stabbed with the sparking Nobody's Pride, and loosed the thunder magic she'd stored in the Keyblade. Lighting rippled over the Heartless' body, and it shuddered for a just moment before a hole was blown right through the Heartless emblem in its white chest.

Naminé felt something strike at her shoulder and knock her down a few feet. She winced and turned and saw the third Wyvern coming rising from an aerial somersault from which it had struck her with its head. Naminé glanced beneath her, and saw that the Wyvern that had missed her before was now spinning and rapidly streaking through the air towards her on another attack run.

The former Nobody flapped her wings, backing away, but the Wyvern changed its trajectory, this time making sure that it would hit her, and Naminé brought her shield close to protect herself in case she should miss. Nobody's Pride glowed suddenly with both opal and black light, and Naminé drew a quick circle in the air from her feet to above her head, shouting, "Moon's Shadow!" The circle she drew filled with light and became an image of the full Moon on a clear night sky. Then cracks in craters and seas on the Moon's surface formed and spilled out black light, and the image of the Moon became that of the dark side of the Moon, veiled in shadow and darkness. The black light enveloped the Wyvern and two Air Soldiers that had been near it in a cylinder of darkness.

Naminé stabbed the cylinder's base that she had drawn, and cracks of light the colour of opals loudly formed all along it, the light brightly shining from some unknown location within the darkness. The entire thing shattered suddenly with a flash of light, leaving three pink hearts to float into the sky.

A grunt left Naminé's lips and she was driven backwards as the third Wyvern continued to be an annoyance by performing the exact same spinning attack that its predecessor had unsuccessfully tried twice and succeeding in striking the blonde's shield. Naminé did a backwards loop and drew breath, feeling a slight sting in her chest from where her shield had rammed up against her body, and prepared another spell. But before she could cast it there was a roar from beneath her, and a hail of bullets tore into the Wyvern. Naminé watched in surprise for a second as holes formed in its wings and darkness leaked from its rust and white-coloured body before she looked down.

Barret's mechanical arm had transformed into a gun, and it was rapidly firing a steady stream of the lead projectiles into the air. She could see the muzzles flashing with their fire. Naminé backed away and dove down, cutting through the wing an Air Soldier with a single swipe on her way to meet him, the Heartless spiralling out of control towards the ground below.

"Barret!" she exclaimed before landing on the ground. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw that the black man was not alone. Leon was behind him, his gunblade on his shoulder, and behind him was Vincent Valentine holding onto a tri-barrelled pistol, and Shalua Rui grasping a pistol of her own. Tifa stood with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine, and Cid Highwind and Aerith Gainsborough were behind, Cid with his spear and Aerith with a quarterstaff. "What are you all doing here?" Naminé asked.

"If you're asking us that, you're not as bright as I thought," Leon said, smiling slightly while he tapped his gunblade on his shoulder.

"This is our home too, and I'm not letting these bastards have it," Barret told her. He pointed his gun-arm into the air again and began firing once more. "YAHH! SUCK IT BITCHES!!"

Naminé smiled and dipped her head slightly. "Well then, let's get to it," she said. Her wings flapped twice, taking her into the air again, and Naminé streaked towards the mass of Heartless again.

She noted that her Keyblade met resistance against the first Neoshadow she encountered, the Heartless being knocked back by the blow with only a thin slice against its chest the result of her attack. Naminé opened the palm of her left hand and pointed it at the Neoshadow, and a small orb of whitish-grey burst from it and struck the Neoshadow. Instantly the Heartless became completely frozen in ice, small spikes of it jutting out from the black skin of the Pureblood. The ice shattered a second later, leaving nothing behind but bits of crystallized water to sit in the snow that had been trampled underneath.

Naminé didn't even see the Heartless' doom, already concentrating on the next fight against a Morning Star, three Armoured Knights, a Dusk, and two Surveillance Robots.

-A-D-

The carriage had barely come to a stop in front of Shinra General Hospital when the door closest to the building wildly _banged_ open. Sora leapt out first, Aiwemon fiercely flying after him, then Kairi with Menelmon, and finally Riku jumped out.

"Uh, Your Highness…" the footman began somewhat erratically, startled that he'd not even been able to do his job.

"Please don't wait for us Gerald," Kairi told him, only turning her head back. "Can you go back to the castle please."

"Ah—er, as you wish Your Highness," Gerald said, recognizing the urgency in her voice, and tipping his hat at her before hopping back up next to the coachman. He spoke a few words, and the chocobos were off once more.

Mr. Admissions looked up from the desk, he was actually doing _work_ this time, as the trio came rushing in with their two birds flying next to the Princess' and Keyblade Master's heads. The man glanced around, noting the looks the trio, he supposed that he could also have said 'the five of them' but he wasn't sure if the birds actually counted or not, though they did seem pretty tame, were receiving; something must be up if even the Princess was throwing tact to the winds. He'd seen something on the news about Lord Riku having some kind of big scuffle the previous day, maybe this had something to do with that? But no, they wouldn't be so riled up about something that had already happened, and the silver-haired Keyblade Master seemed to be doing fine.

"Doctor Fraiser—" Kairi began.

"That way," Mr. Admissions said, pointing down a hall.

"Thanks," Lord Riku said. The three humans and two birds pelted down the hallway he had indicated. Mr. Admissions smiled and shook his head. The Keyblade Wielders sure were making his life more interesting, he'd give them that.

Doctor Fraiser turned at the sound of their frantic footsteps. Her eyes swept over the odd group for one second before she frowned. "Where's Roxas?"

"Right now? He's fighting Heartless," Sora answered.

"That's not good," she replied. "He's in danger too." The three teenagers looked at her in apprehension. A tiny smile came onto her face as she looked away from them. "Hello again Menelmon, Aiwemon."

"Hello," Menelmon answered, landing on Kairi's shoulder. Doctor Fraiser held her arm out to her side and they went through an open door into an examination room.

"Aiwemon, Menelmon, I have some treats here for you if you'd like to nibble on them while I explain what's going on to your partners," Dr. Fraiser said, reaching for a jar in a wall-mounted shelving unit. The two birds happily complied, and a few moments later the two had hard candies and an apple each to peck at.

"So have you figured out what's wrong yet?" Riku asked. "And how did you know that I couldn't summon my Keyblade either?"

"The answer's in your blood," Dr. Fraiser answered. "And I think I've also discovered why it is that girls lose their magical powers during their periods."

"Really?" Kairi asked, her relief at being one step away from finally figuring out _why_ her sex appeared to be cursed edging into her voice.

"Yes," the doctor answered. "The answer is actually quite simple really, a little _too_ simple if you ask me, but it's the only conclusion I've been able to come up with looking at your test results."

"Wait," Sora told her. "Before you say anything else, there's something I'd like to know."

"Really? Okay, what is it Sora?"

"What blood type am I?"

The other three humans in the room looked at him for a second before looks of amusement took hold. Doctor Fraiser looked down at the sheet on her clipboard, smiling, and then set her eyes on the brunet once more. "Type AB+."

"Okay," Sora said, nodding his head.

"Oh, and you are O-, Kairi, and you are B+, Riku, in case you were wondering," she added, glancing slyly at them both. Each of them had had curious looks on their faces after Sora had asked his question and gotten his answer. "Anyway, when I first looked at your blood Kairi I didn't find anything too unusual given what you told me about where you were in your menstrual cycle, but when I compared it to Sora's, and then to yours Riku, I noticed that there was one near similarity between them all."

"What was that?" Riku asked.

"How often would you say you've been losing blood recently?" Doctor Fraiser countered, looking at all of them.

"Do we not have enough blood?" Sora asked. "Is that it?"

"No, but blood loss does have something to do with it," answered Janet. "Now come on, be truthful with me. I saw the scabs and cuts yesterday, so how much?"

Kairi looked down guiltily. "Uh well, a bit."

"They have been pretty rough on us," Riku added, absentmindedly placing a hand on his side.

"I thought so," Doctor Fraiser said, glancing down at her clipboard again. "And I imagine you've lost more blood because of that bout you had yesterday Riku, and that's what's pushed you into the position you're in now. Actually, Naminé's blood was the best of all of yours. When I first noticed it Kairi I hadn't been too concerned, but then when the anomaly appeared in Sora's blood and was similar in Riku's I discovered the root of the problem."

The three waited with baited breath for Doctor Fraiser to continue, and even Aiwemon and Menelmon had stopped snacking and were looking at her.

_Come on,_ Kairi groaned inwardly, _we don't have time for this._

"Have any of you been feeling unusually tired, irritable, short of breath, or otherwise off?"

"A bit," Sora replied. The doctor nodded.

"The levels of certain nutrients and components in a woman's blood decrease when she begins menstruating," Doctor Fraiser explained. "This same thing happens when a regular person loses blood due to excess bleeding; there are fewer nutrients left to go around in the blood stream, so the levels decrease. There are stores of the nutrients stored in cells that are released into the blood stream when the levels get too low, but if a person bleeds too much and doesn't replenish them these stores can quickly become depleted and the person will have a deficiency in their blood."

She started to rummage around in a drawer as she was speaking her last sentence, and emerged from it with a bottle. "I'm going to prescribe these to you and I want each of you to take one right away since Heartless are attacking, as you say."

"What are they?" Kairi asked. She couldn't see the label of the bottle, but from the sounds that accompanied its movement she could tell that it was full of pills.

"Iron supplement," Doctor Fraiser said. "Your blood iron levels are all dangerously low. And iron helps in the maintenance and renewal of your red blood cells. With you all losing so much blood repeatedly and coupled with a deficiency of iron your red blood cell counts are also lower than normal, so not as much oxygen is making it to your cells. I suspect that minor chemical reactions between your energy and the microscopic amounts of iron in your blood is what powers your magic and grants you the ability to summon the Keyblade, but that's just a theory. Another could be that your cells need to be fully oxygenated in order to have the energy required for casting magic, but I'm still not sure."

Sora smiled slightly and shook his head. He held out his hand and Doctor Fraiser placed a pill in it. "Even just a theory and a possible solution is better than nothing doc." He looked at the pill in his hand, and when Kairi and Riku each had one he downed it. Pulling a face, he quickly grabbed a cup of water offered to him by the doctor while Kairi and Riku each made similar noises of disgust and drank their own water.

"So, why did you want Roxas to come too?" Sora asked Doctor Fraiser.

"Because his iron levels were just a tad less than Riku's were at yesterday," was her answer, "and if he ends up bleeding too much while fighting, he could be in grave danger."

-A-D-

Another explosion rocked the ground behind Naminé and she looked up, catching sight of the vehicles that were raining the shells down on them from above. The tanks had converted from their original form. Their tracks were no longer on the ground, granting manoeuvrability. Instead, their aft sections had dug into the cliff heights, transforming the powerful mobile war machines into fixed turret-like weapon emplacements. There were a half-dozen of them.

Something else caught her eyes and Naminé swerved away from an Air Soldier that had been about to kick her. The Princess eyed the tanks again and closed her eyes. She felt the ripple of a storm rise within her, the intense energies of clashing clouds, and jittering sparks of electricity skated over her body, never appearing for over a second. The dull rumble of thunder came from her wings as they beat to keep her aloft. "Descend," murmured Naminé, still with her eyes closed. Then they snapped open, revealing lighting in their indigo wells. "Hand of Zeus!" She pointed her sword into the air, and a thick bolt of lightning arced into the clear sky.

Black thunder clouds appeared fifty feet above the tanks on the cliff, and massive bolts of canary-yellow lightning stabbed out at the steel engines from within them. Plasma gouged right through their hulls and rent their armour plating to shreds. The lightning struck at the shells stored in the bases of the tanks, and burnt right through the fuel tanks to leave scorch marks on the ground.

Each and every one of the tanks exploded. Hunks of burning and twisted metal flew into the air, and fires burned and spread on the top of the cliff as the fuel and oil caught and began to burn, belching out dense clouds of black smoke.

Naminé sighed and folded her wings in, plummeting to the ground. Six feet up she steadied herself and landed, and her wings disappeared in a shimmer of light.

"Naminé!"

The girl turned at the sound of Roxas' voice and smiled as he ran up to her, delivering the finishing blow on a Morning Star before he came to her. "That was amazing Naminé."

"Thanks Roxas," she answered. "Well, magic is my thing, and something had to be done about those nasty tanks."

"Roxas! Naminé!"

Both of them turned, and smiled when they saw that Tidus, Selphie, Hayner, Olette, Pence, and Kia were making their way towards them. Roxas frowned for half a second. "Wait, aren't you guys in different battalions?"

"Yeah, but we've gotten a bit mixed up right now," Hayner said. The group of six paused for a second, realizing what Roxas and Naminé were wearing. Bracers were on their wrists, greaves on their shins, and shirts of mail were on their chests. Covering that though were tabards of white and gold, bearing an image of the Star Seeker atop an elongated kite shield; their front and back tucked underneath a black belt with a brass buckle in Roxas' case and a light blue one with a silver buckle in Naminé's.

Dressed as junior members of what had once been the proud organization of Keyblade Wielders, they certainly looked the part now.

They each lost their footing as a monumental roar shook the foundations of the earth beneath their feet, and Naminé and Roxas had to hold onto each other for support while their friends all grasped at one another to stay upright as well. They all looked for the source of the roar, and saw the Heartless parting to the sides like they were fearful of what was coming from behind.

"I pity the fool who thinks they can take out our tanks without Tismetrx comin' after them," said a large man with muscles that, for a second, made Naminé think of Major Armstrong from Amestris. He walked next to a woman in red and black with short copper hair, and beside them quiet calmly padded a lion, one that Roxas noticed held an astonishing resemblance to Scar.

"You think that you can just walk right in here and attack Radiant Garden without repercussion?" Naminé asked snippily, taking two steps forward before stopping and pointing her Keyblade at the approaching three. They stopped. "I, Princess Naminé Talerith of Destiny Islands, Keyblade Wielder, 2nd in line of succession to the throne of Radiant Garden, Knight of the Garden, and the Legendary Shield Star Wielder of the Moon, shall not allow you to do so."

The woman across from her laughed faintly. "That's some pretty tough talk for a little girl like you." Naminé bristled but held her tongue, and the copper-haired Nobody continued. "Just run back home Princess and leave the fighting to those who are better suited for it, got it memorized?"

A towering column of fire suddenly burst into existence from somewhere off to Naminé's right, and when she looked that way she saw something covered in flames racing towards them through the sky. It took the flaming object only a few seconds to reach them, and when the fireball crashed into the ground at Naminé's feet, she was forced to back away.

A voice spoke through the smoke and dust. "I may not be a Nobody anymore, so I don't suppose I can still call myself _the_ Nobody of fire, but I do know this (Axel stood tall, his teal eyes burning and his chakrams covered in so much flame that it was nearly impossible to see them): nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, steals my catchphrase! (He smiled insanely) Got it memorized?"

-A-D-

_So, the mystery behind the vanishing Keyblades is explained and it looks like we have ourselves a few battles coming up. But, where is Xokor, and will Sora, Riku, and Kairi will make it in time to keep Roxas from getting captured?_

_With the way this story goes (Anti winning or Xehanort denying me my battle for example), who knows?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	37. Invincible

_First, I'm sorry it took so long. Real life and other things got in the way and I hit a block mid-way through. But, I'm back now._

_Disclaimer: I don't own diddly squat._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXVII: Invincible

The warrior crouched low, hands both gripping the red-wrapped hilt of a long and sharp two-handed sword that was nearly as long as the warrior's whole body. The guard stretched out like a bat's wing, the leathery portion crimson while the bones were dark grey. A sapphire eye with a purely black pupil was just beyond the hilt, and red markings darted down its jagged edges. The sword looked as if triangles of metal had cleanly come together, the bases merging with the points as they started to narrow until the largest one formed the glistening tip, and from the blade a cool chill slowly seeped into the surrounding air. The clothes worn were a dark grey colour, but quite near enough to black to be called it. They were not even simple clothes; they were armour, crafted out of pure tempered steel forged from materials from the bowels of the earth and hammered into plate, its quality near enough to perfection to suit the maker for its purpose. Spiked shoulder pads rested heavily near to the neck, and a breastplate that curved to cover the chest and back completely and comfortably protected the warrior's abdomen; a white skull was patterned into the armour just beneath the collarbone. On the knight's slender arms there was little, save for bands just above the elbow, and long bracers that reached half-way up the forearms. The hands that clutched at the chilling sword were guarded by gauntlets, fingerless from the second knuckle onwards. A belt bearing the same skull as on the breastplate wrapped around the waist, and the legs were covered by what looked to be the lower half of a robe, yet it too was made of the same metal as that above, but it moved like the fabric it looked like. Sandaled feet could barely be seen beneath the hem of the armoured robe, and a grey cape hugged the warrior's back. Above this was a plate cowl that covered the head and protruded out on the sides to protect the neck, but of the warrior's face, nothing could be seen but for a tanned white-skinned chin and a pair of eyes…

Eyes that shone with unearthly ice-blue light, like living flame.

The warrior crouched low, but still stood, watching the opponents across from underneath the cowl. Heartless, all of them. There were two score of the creatures facing the armoured figure, nearly all of them Armoured Knights or Morning Stars. The place where they stood was a ring made of stone, the sky above them was stone, and the stands of the arena around them were the same macabre dark grey stone, lit by braziers of blue flame resembling that which rested in the warrior's eyes.

A bell sounded, and the warrior stood up fully and raised the left hand, gesturing at one of the Morning Stars for it to come to challenge it. At once tendrils of purple energy that looked almost like fire laced out from extended fingertips and raced out for the Morning Star. Before even a second had passed, the Heartless that stood larger than the warrior was firmly grasped in the magical clutch, and was lifted into the air. It flew towards the fighter, the purple tendrils dragging it swiftly along with them despite its size and weight.

The warrior dropped its hand down onto its blade just as the Morning Star started to fall towards the spot directly in front of it. The slender arms that belonged to the warrior belied the great strength within them as it effortlessly drew the large and heavy sword back behind its veiled head, effectively doubling the warrior's height, and swung down.

The blade cut clean through the Morning Star with that single slice, and the large creature disintegrated into a dark cloud before any of the other Heartless had had more than a scant two seconds with which to advance towards the warrior. The warrior brought its sword out to the left side, and rushed forward to the challenge. With a sweep of the long blade to the right, six of the Armoured Knights fell before they could even get close enough to strike. The warrior dodged to its right, and a Morning Star dropped onto the ground right where the armoured knight had been a moment before. The long sword rose and fell before jerking out to the right, and the second Morning Star and two more Armoured Knights joined those first ones in their defeat.

"Why Hades," Maleficent purred, watching as the warrior quickly went about dispatching the remaining Heartless in the Underdrome's ring in methodical fashion. Three of them surrounded the armoured figure from the front and slashed their sword-arms down, but all of them were blocked by wielded sword as it was placed horizontally across the warrior's body. One more swipe and the three fell into darkness. "This is a most interesting project of yours."

The Lord of the Dead chuckled from his seat, watching the spectacle with something close to pride. "You got that right," he said. "I figured that I had been going about this all the wrong way. I nearly had it right last time, but it wasn't quite there. Monsters won't work and the Heartless alone aren't going to cut it when it comes to taking down Wonderbreath and dear old Zeusy. That two-timing Guardian came close, and the Princess almost succeeded in ending our Keyblader problems. Then I realized where I went wrong with those plans: I wasn't going far enough."

"Do tell," Maleficent said.

"Why just take the free will of someone away?" Hades asked. "Anybody could just waltz right up and give it back to 'em. No no, I decided that I should stop playing nice and start playing hardball. Why take away their free will, when I could just do away with all of it? Start fresh, a clean slate, know what I mean?"

He turned and grinned as a Morning Star bounced off of the raised sword the warrior in the ring before the flat of the blade flung it back into its comrades. The Morning Star landed hard on four, and then crushed more as it rolled before finally coming to a crashing stop against another of its kind. The purple tendrils came from the warrior's left hand again, and this time a solitary Armoured Knight was yanked through the air to land directly in front of the warrior. It too fell without a fight as the warrior's sword cleaved through straight down the middle.

"This warrior is completely mine," Hades said. "There is nothing left of the old self. And the best part is, that fighter is going to follow you and me of its _own_ free will! How d'yah like that huh? No mind controlling, nothing to bring it back to the past and turn on us."

Maleficent was smiling as well. "I have no doubt in your abilities Hades," she said, closing her eyes and dipping her head, "but, perhaps, it may be best if we still ensure a measure of control over it. Hearts are unpredictable after all, and even with your best efforts, its heart may still return it to that which it was, in part."

Hades placed a finger to his chin for a few seconds. "Hm, you've got a point babe. Alright, I'll whip something up for yah. Oh, and I've also got a nice line-up of beasties to deal with the rabble the Keybladers are forming if you want 'em."

"But of course," Maleficent answered, watching as the last Heartless, a Morning Star, fell with two strokes of the warrior's blade. The warrior stood up straight and turned around, the sword held lightly in the right hand. The face was still hidden as the warrior looked up, but the eyes that glowed blue like the fire that burned atop the head of Hades could still be seen clearly. They were devoid of everything, save for seeking approval from the master of their owner.

When that approval came, the warrior bowed its head and adopted the same stance as before as more Heartless filled the Underdrome, ready for another round.

-A-D-

"Whoever said it was _your_ catchphrase?" the woman in red asked.

"I said, that's who," Axel retorted.

"Well you smell funny," she replied.

"I don't stink, and how could you smell me?" Axel asked, holding his arms out, "I'm way away over here."

"You reek so bad that I can smell you from here," answered she, pinching and waving a hand in front of her nose.

"Then how come the kitty cat's not bothered?" Axel asked, jerking his head at Xarcs. The lion Nobody bared his teeth and growled throatily.

She smiled. "Because he can't smell bullshit, got it memorized?"

Axel sneezed. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry, but I'm allergic to _your_ bullshit, got _that_ memorized?"

Fire curled around the female Nobody's hands, the red and yellow flames licking her fingers with just a hint of black smoke. "Normally I don't like fighting," she said. "You work up a sweat, and your clothes get all sticky and you start to stink and become in desperate need of a long shower. But in your case (very dark purple gloves appeared on her hands, flames continuing to wrap around them), I think I can find an excuse for a shower."

Axel grinned. "Are you sure?" he asked. "You don't look very tough; you're smaller than these kiddos behind me."

"Don't call me 'kiddo'!" Roxas fired at Axel. The red-haired former Nobody chuckled.

The woman across from them grinned. "Whoever said that size matters? Good things come in small packages."

"Good things also come in big packages," Axel countered, twirling his chakrams. "And you've got a couple of nice ones."

"Hey, Roxas," Hayner whispered. "Are they just going to stand there and banter all day?"

"I dunno," Roxas whispered back.

"You've sure got some nerve, I'll give you that," the female Nobody said. "But now that you've gone and said that, I'll have to say what's on my mind too."

"Oh really?" Axel asked.

"Yes, I was just wondering what you look like under that cloak."

Axel raised an eyebrow, caught off-guard for a moment, but then his grin returned to his face. "I don't think we've been introduced yet, now have we?"

"No, we haven't," the female Nobody replied. The fires that circled her dark purple gloves died and she folder her arms together. "I'm Lexai, Number 5 of Maleficent's Eximius Septem, The Flaming Temptress."

Axel frowned slightly. "Eximius Septem?"

"Yes, that is our name now," Lexai said, smiling and placing her hands on her hips. "Like you had the Organization, Maleficent and Nixion have created the Eximius Septem for us. (She readied herself, and the flames returned to her gloves) I am ranked fifth of seven, and I heard that of the Organization you were eighth of thirteen, Axel, The Flurry of Dancing Flames."

"So you _do_ know about me," Axel said, smiling. "This is a good start then. So I suppose you know that we in the Organization weren't ranked by how strong we were, but by the order in which we joined?" Her topaz eyes widened slightly and she tensed, drawing her arms back a bit. "Oh? You didn't know that? Well I guess now you do. So for all you know, I could've been equal in strength to big daddy Xemnas, but still would've been little ol' number eight. (Axel grinned) I like to think that I'm better than the old man now, and seeing another group of Nobodies running around with numbers makes me want to get away from that past. So from now on, I'm not Axel; you can call me Lea Embers."

Roxas tapped Axel on the back. "Are you serious Axel?"

"Who are you talking to Roxas?" he asked, looking down at the blond. "I just said that it's Lea now."

"And I suppose that if I chose to play your game too then I'd be Sora?" Roxas asked.

"No way Rox," the red-head answered. "You'll always be Roxas."

"And you'll always be Axel," Naminé countered.

Axel chuckled and shook his head. "Sorry Naminé, but unlike you two, I have to option of taking back my true name. And I feel that the time is finally right to do so. There's another fire Nobody now, so I can leave the Flurry of Dancing Flames behind me, and become instead the Dancer of Frenzied Flame. So then," Lea twirled his chakrams around again as they began to burn, "let's tango."

Lexai smiled. "Enough dancing flurry, what do you say we get to it?"

"You don't want to tango?" Lea asked. "How about we waltz then?"

"No," Lexai said, taking a pace backwards and almost seeming a bit embarrassed. "I've got two left feet."

"There's no time to learn like the present!" Lea shouted, propelling himself forward with a powerful spring of his legs. He reached Lexai a moment later, swinging down with the chakram in his right hand. Her flaming gloves blocked it, and it became apparent just how much taller he was than her. "Got it memorized?" He glanced down. "Wow, you really _are_ tiny. How tall are you anyway? Four-ten?"

"Five-three!" she snapped. Lexai's right glove became encased in fire and she punched Lea in the gut, sending him flying through the air. "Got it memorized!"

Lea flipped repeatedly as he soared up and back, then his flips slowed as he lost momentum, and Lea landed firmly on his feet when he returned to the ground. "And I'm six-two," he replied, grinning, "got it memorized?"

"I think they're over-using that line," Olette murmured as Lea and Lexai rushed towards each other again. Lexai ducked underneath a horizontal swipe from the chakram in Lea's right hand and punched his kneecap. Lea took the hit, but was able to stay standing as he leaned over forward. Using his longer arms and upper body, and the current position his opponent was in with her strike, he grasped at the lower hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head.

Lexai shrieked and flailed backwards, falling onto her back. She kicked wildly, trying to connect with Lea at some point, while her arms flailed, also trying to get her shirt back to its original position.

"I can't tell," Naminé said, briefly moving her Keyblade into her left hand with her shield and scratching a spot on her head with her right. Lea had just managed to get a hold of Lexai's legs, and was now swinging her around in the air in a circle. "But are they fighting, or are they flirting?"

Lea let Lexai go, and she hurtled through the air towards the cliffs. She finally managed to get her shirt off of her head and back down on her back, her cheeks flushing (a surprise, given what she was), just before her shoulder-blades struck the blue rocks. Her eyes flared and she pushed off from the cliff, her fists blazing with fire. She struck out at Lea, and missed as he jumped back and away. Two flaming chakrams flew from his hands towards her, and Lexai punched at them. She struck one of them right in its centre, sending the spiked wheel careening off in another direction, but she just missed the other one and the searing metal cut a thin gash in her left arm. She grunted as a tendril of darkness left the wound, and smirked at Lea as he caught his weapons, smiling as well. Lexai gave a shout and rushed for him again.

"They sure look like they're having fun," Pence said.

"Can Nobodies even have fun?" Selphie asked.

"Sure they can," Roxas said. "Axel, er, Lea and I did when we were Nobodies."

A loud roar cut through the air, and the ground underneath shook violently enough to make Roxas, Naminé, Tidus, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Kia, and Selphie fall to the ground. A massive lion with dark fur landed on four powerful legs in front of them, bearing its teeth and leering at them.

"I was never very fond of being forgotten and overlooked," he said.

Hayner groaned and pushed himself to his feet. "And who are you again?" he asked.

The lion shook his head. "I suppose that my step-nephew did not tell you then," he told them.

"Step-nephew?" Naminé asked.

"I didn't know there was such a thing," Selphie said, frowning and placing a hand on her hip as she got to her feet again.

The large man who had been speaking in the third person came up next to the lion. "He's talking about your friend Sora fool!"

"Don't call me a fool, Ugly!" Selphie retorted. The Nobody grinned and placed a hand behind his back. He then swiftly brought it back out, pulled something from an object in his hand, it looked like a feather, and threw the object at them. They were barely able to see what it was, but it looked gold and was shaped like some kind of rock.

The thingamajig exploded suddenly, encasing the group of eight in a cloud of smoke, purple green and gold lights zig-zagging around within the cloud like bolts of lightning. They started to cough, and Naminé gave a cry from within the smoke and her hands flew up to her head. She dropped to her knees, still coughing from within the smoke as her friends made their own sounds of distress and started to clutch at their own heads. There was a constant pounding against their skulls, like the pulsing of arteries when one has a headache, only a hundred times worse and constant rather than at regular intervals. Pressure built up, nearly driving them insane as it felt like their heads would burst.

Olette shrieked first this time as she felt her hair begin to recede back into the skin of her skull, and she forced her helmet off her head as it began to feel pinched. Tidus and the others followed with removing their headgear, their hands flying over their heads as they felt their hair changing, and their skulls _growing_. The sudden change of weight threw Naminé off-balance, and she fell forward to the ground, her head going through the snow to lightly thud against the grass beneath. She continued to cough, her hands roving her head in horrified shock, trying to find something, _anything_, she remembered as the feel of her white-blonde hair; but there was nothing, just skin and a head whose shape she could not remember feeling before, and of a size that she couldn't fathom at that moment.

_What is this stuff doing to us?_ She thought, terrified out of her mind. Kairi's voice suddenly entered her mind.

_Naminé, what's wrong!_ She asked, sounding as worried as Naminé felt.

_I—I don't…!_ Naminé stopped, feeling something that she supposed felt like hair sprouting from the middle of the top of her forehead to the top of her neck in a stripe. One hand went there, while the other went to the front of her face, where she felt thick and coarse facial hair starting to grow all over.

"Wha(hack, cough) is going on?" Kia asked.

_NAMINÉ!_

Naminé wheezed and tried to open her eyes. The smoke was still stinging them, and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Her eyes squeezed closed again. The silver studs she had in her ears felt different; they felt heavier, and it now felt as if they were actual earrings now instead of just studs.

"This is freaky!" Selphie shrieked.

_Get, get out Kairi,_ Naminé said. _This Nobody's something else._ Naminé put her hands on the ground and tried to stand up. Her lungs were burning, and she continued to hack and splutter as she inhaled the strange smoke, but somehow she made it to her feet. Her head weighed much more than she had thought though, and her neck was straining slightly to keep it straight. Naminé overcompensated, and fell down backwards.

Another few coughs and the smoke began to disperse. Naminé opened her eyes and what she saw nearly made her scream.

-A-D-

_NAMI! NAMINÉ! Dammit, why won't you answer me! What's wrong? _Kairi thought frantically, reaching out and trying to establish some kind of link with her sister. Whatever it was that was happening around Naminé was obviously very harrowing, and Kairi felt a chill of dread run its way up her spine at the thought. She glanced at Sora and Riku beside her as they ran down through the gates, and then looked at Menelmon and Aiwemon flying just ahead of them.

Kairi smothered that chill with a different emotion. "If they hurt a hair on Naminé's head they're gonna pay," she muttered darkly.

"Something's up with Roxas too," Sora said, feeling troubled. "But he's not talking."

"Maybe," Riku said, slowing down just a tad, "but until the supplements kick in we still—"

"Can't do anything," interrupted Kairi, gritting her teeth as a sudden blast of wind chilled her. "I know, I know. But we have to do something."

"And we will Kairi," Menelmon said, turning around and landing. The little ice-blue digimon looked at her partner seriously. "It doesn't matter to me if you can fight or if you can't fight. I'll always protect and fight with you. If you can't use your own, then let me be your weapon."

"What?" Kairi asked, now stopping and looking down at the ice-blue bird digimon's brown eyes. "No, I could never force you to—"

"Are we in this together or not?" Menelmon asked. She raised her wing and pointed the leading feathers at something on Kairi's belt. The auburn-haired princess looked down, and her fingers lightly traced the outline of the digivice.

_Menelmon's right. We're partners for life, digidestined and digimon. I don't know why I was chosen to be one, but Menel's been a true friend since I met her back in Primary Village. Who am I to say no to her if it's something like this?_

Kairi smiled and opened her eyes, nodding at her digimon partner. "Let's fly Menelmon," she said.

The little bird smiled brightly. "Uh-huh." White light started to stream from Kairi's digivice, and Menelmon began to glow. "Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!" The light blocked Menelmon from sight, but it grew and expanded, and when the light had dimmed enough for them to see there was a far larger bird digimon standing where Menelmon had been. Snow white wings and a sharp and pointed white beak, a small plume of ice-blue feathers and a furrier mane of ice-white feathers on her neck, brown legs and talons and deep brown eyes, Menelmon's Champion form filled nearly the entire plaza just before the ravine that led down to the Great Maw.

She bent her head down, and Kairi got on her neck and slid down to sit right in front of the wing-joints. "Let's go Kairi." Soronmon said, turning her head 'round to look at her human partner.

"Right," Kairi agreed. Soronmon lifted off, and the princess turned to look down at the two Keyblade Masters and Rookie digimon on the ground. "See you later boys. I promise we won't get rid of all the Heartless."

"Where are you going?" Sora asked, annoyed at his girlfriend and her giant ice-bird digimon.

"Ahead of you," Kairi said simply. She brought two fingers to her lips and kissed them before blowing it to Sora. He scowled and Kairi winked before Soronmon turned and flew down towards the Great Maw.

"That is not cool Kairi," Riku said, frowning and shaking his head.

"Well…" Sora added, scratching his head, "we'd better get going if we're going to catch up. Ready Aiwemon?"

"Yep."

"Then let's go."

-A-D-

Naminé backed away in surprise and a little bit of fright and horror. She only knew that she was looking at Roxas because of what he was wearing, because otherwise she would never have been able to tell that it was him. His head was about a quarter bigger, and seemed tougher, and his spikes of blond hair were gone completely. His skin had become a shade of brown, and there was now a coarse black beard across his jaw. A black Mohawk was his new hairstyle, and there were big gold earrings hanging from his now brown ears. All Naminé needed was a cursory glance to see that the others had all become the same, and she didn't need anyone to tell her that her own head now looked exactly alike. The thought was not a comforting one.

"Who the hell are you!" one of them, whose voice sounded like Selphie's, screeched as (he) picked up a fallen sword and pointed it at one of them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's me!" the person said with raised hands, sounding like Pence.

"Selphie is that you?" the one with Tidus' voice asked. He, er, she, er… looked at him.

"Tidus?"

"You fools just got Mohawked!" Tismetrx said, giving a very tiny smirk. He looked skyward. "Yo! Bigshot author dude! Where's my Mohawk fool, and how come I'm not black?"

In answer, a pile of snow about seven feet high dropped from the sky and landed directly in front of the Nobody. Tismetrx glanced at the snow and looked back up. "Very funny," he said sarcastically.

Wind then suddenly blew fiercely about them, swirling around the snow that had just dropped. The mound started to disintegrate and scatter, and from the top an object began to appear, buried in that snow. First it looked like a silver metal spike, but then it was joined by a brass ring, which then turned out to be the pommel of a long, leather-wrapped shaft, dyed blue. The shaft ended with a thin segment of gold and blue metal, which then melded into a thick and wicked-looking curved blade. The blade's edges were gold, and the middle was blue with what looked like gold lightning painted into it; the whole blade portion glowed faintly with enchanting red light.

"Oh, Tismetrx like's this," he said, grabbing the polearm. He swung it around a couple of times, getting a feel for the weapon and laughing.

"This is not good," Naminé murmured, standing up. She lost her balance again with the enlarged head and once more fell back onto her rump. "Ow. I hate this head."

Tismetrx's eyes flashed. "You just insulted the wrong head, fool!" He leapt forward, swinging the polearm down towards Naminé. She winced and raised her shield, preparing to block it.

Tismetrx never got there. There was a flash as someone wearing black ran past the fallen Princess and punched Tismetrx in the chest. He flew back twelve feet, landing on his feet in a crouch and sliding back through the snow. Green light surrounded those who had been hit by the Mohawk Grenade, and their heads quickly shrunk back to their normal proportion and skin tone. The beards shrivelled and receded, and the Mohawks lightened and grew as more hair sprouted from the barren spots. Soon, everyone was back to normal.

Naminé stood up and looked at her saviour's back, noticing that it was very familiar and that the woman had long black hair. "Thanks Tifa."

"No problem," Tifa said, turning around. "Looks like you fixed them Aerith."

"It wasn't too horrible," Aerith said, coming up from behind and holding her iron quarterstaff lightly in one hand, "just a dispellable buff."

Hayner sighed in relief. "Okay, let's get down to business then!" He then paused as Lea and Lexai crossed his field of vision, Lexai darting out of the way of Lea's chakrams while he, in turn, dodged her flaming punches.

"You dance very well for having two left feet," Lea said.

"Thank you, whereas you're much harder to hit than I expected for someone so big," answered Lexai.

"I'm just tall babe, but I am big," Lea returned.

Naminé blushed for a moment and Kia placed a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. "By the Light, they're still going at it," Naminé muttered.

Xarcs rolled his head around and gave a low grumble of irritation. The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly and he spoke. "I'm growing tired of this," he said as a score of swirls of darkness surrounded him and Tismetrx. Braying Heartless appeared from within them, the constantly bared ivory teeth of the Wild Dog Heartless striking out beneath their leering yellow eyes and their black coats with scattered patches of scarlet. Swirls of silver appeared next, and five Nobody Lionesses calmly padded their way out, forming a knot behind Xarcs.

The Heartless charged first, snarling and yipping as they came onward across the snow-covered ground. Kia's hand flew to her quiver, grabbing an arrow from its depths. She nocked it on the bowstring and drew it back in one fluid motion. In the same moments as she was doing this, the staves of Olette and Pence both started to glow at their tips with differently coloured light, and wind had started to whip around in Aerith's hair.

Kia loosed her arrow, and the silver projectile streaked out in front of a blazing ball of fire from Olette's staff, but didn't beat out the three bolts of lightning that Pence dropped from the sky. One of the bolts clipped a Wild Dog in the shoulder, while another struck one directly down its middle and the third missed by centimetres and struck the ground instead. Olette's fireball blasted the front of the head of the one that had been clipped in the shoulder, and Kia's arrow sunk into the forehead of one of the Wild Dogs in the lead. The wolf-sized Heartless dropped to the ground and skidded through the snow, and ones behind it leapt over its fallen body before it vanished into darkness. Aerith thrust her hand out and a leaping Wild Dog suddenly stopped in midair as its black and red body suddenly became enveloped in flames.

Roxas gave a sudden yell as the Heartless came within twenty feet of their group and counter-charged. Tidus, Hayner, Selphie, and Tifa all followed him in under a second, but the blond-haired Keyblade Master was already ahead of them. A Wild Dog leapt at him and Roxas dodged to the side, striking out at a different one with Twilight Thorn and Oblivion. His Keyblades started to glow faintly with the same red light as before, and he cut two deep slits into the Wild Dog's flanks before driving the point of Twilight Thorn into its head. The Heartless instantly vanished into a cloud of dark smoke, its freed pink heart rising into the sky. The Knight of Disney Castle turned as another two came scrambling at him, their white teeth shining in contrast to their fur. Roxas held his two Keyblades out in front of them, and the two Heartless slowed, becoming wary.

Others leapt past those two for the group behind Roxas that was already dealing with the one he'd let get past him. Just as Tidus, Hayner, and Selphie had simultaneously skewered that Wild Dog, one of the newcomers jumped onto Tifa and carried her to the ground. The raven-haired woman grasped at its snarling and snapping jaws with her hands as she grit her teeth, doing her best to keep those sharp-looking instruments away from her face. "Man your breath stinks," Tifa grumbled, succeeding in closing its mouth with her hands. She wrestled with the Heartless for another second before managing to roll it over and pin it beneath her. Keeping her left arm pressed against its mouth, Tifa got onto one knee and raised her right fist. "Yah!" She cried as she punched the Heartless right in one of its glowing yellow eyes. She felt something resisting and then shattering beneath her knuckles, and moments after a second punch, for good measure, the Heartless became insubstantial wisps of darkness.

Tidus hopped back from a Wild Dog that raked its claws at him, and dove in during the creature's weak moment. The crystal-blue blade of the Brotherhood sunk into its open mouth, and he jerked the sword and ripped it out the top half of the Heartless. Floods of darkness like blood poured out an instant before the rest of the Heartless burst apart.

"Ah! Help!" Selphie cried out in pain as a Wild Dog snuck around the two that were prowling in front of her and bit her in the leg. The other two barked loudly and lunged for the girl, distracted by the pain of her third attacker. Olette dropped a bolt of lightning down from the sky and it struck the Heartless that had first bit Selphie's leg. The Wild Dog yelped and backed up a couple of steps, shaking its head and coat with jittery motions. An arrow dove into the side of one of the two Wild Dogs leaping for Selphie, and Hayner's sword struck the one that Olette had already hit with her spell. Selphie turned just in time for the third Wild Dog to leap onto her, and its momentum carried them to the ground. A pained bark left its snarling maw though; it had impaled itself on her sword right through its spine and shoulders. It yowled for another few seconds as its paws scrambled at the ground, trying to get it free. Its head sagged and the movements stopped, and the Wild Dog succumbed.

A roar swept through their ears and the earth cracked. The ground opened up beneath Selphie's legs to reveal a chasm of unknown depth. She shrieked and immediately tried to back away, watching as the chasm grew and stretched from just in front of her. Its line traced off to her left, and cracked the ground behind Roxas, where he had four Wild Dogs and one of the Lioness Nobodies now prowling around him.

"I gotcha," Tifa said, pulling the girl back with a firm hand on her shoulder.

Roxas glanced back and saw the chasm behind him, and then did the only thing that made sense with his back against the proverbial wall. Giving a small yell of frustration, he charged the Heartless, his Keyblade out to the side. The Lioness Nobody jumped at him, eight feet long, five feet high, and three hundred pounds of silver flesh, claws, and teeth flying through the air towards him. Roxas swept Oblivion in front of him, catching the jaws of the Nobody in the steel of his Keyblade. Somehow, he was able to stay standing when he should have been knocked over, and after a moment of holding the Nobody at bay he was able to fling it at a wolf-sized Wild Dog. The two of them yelped before rolling into the chasm together.

Roxas turned around, backing away from a Wild Dog's claws and batting them back with his Keyblades. They started to glow with the same red hue as before, and while twisting to the side Roxas slashed directly at a Wild Dog to his right. A crescent of red light left Twilight Thorn, and it cut the Heartless clean in two down its spinal column as it leapt through the air towards him.

There was a yell from behind the vanishing remains of the Heartless, and Roxas glanced back to see Tismetrx swinging his new polearm at the red crescent. The cerulean in Roxas' eyes widened slightly as he saw that with a single horizontal swipe the polearm broke the crescent in half, the energy attack fizzling out in a mere second.

"Leave this fool to me," he said, waving his hand. The Wild Dogs barked and roared, turning around and rushing to leap over the chasm. The remainder of the Heartless and Nobodies followed suit, roaring and braying like the animals they resembled.

Naminé saw their advance, and also noticed that Xarcs was running up behind them. She passed the hand that clutched onto the straps of her shield over Nobody's Pride, quickly muttering the words, "Frosted gardens of the glaciers, frigid winds of the north that fly on snowy wings, descend now with sparkling crystal. Ice Style 13, Tundra Howl!" Her Keyblade turned a chilling blue, as did the air around it. An instant afterwards, Naminé slashed her sword out towards the Heartless hounds and Nobody felines. A frigid blue cloud howled out and raced towards her enemies. Heedless of the danger, they rushed for the Keyblade Wielder to end their greatest fear, and the blue cloud enveloped them. Xarcs skidded to a stop, but even his Nobodies entered the cloud. Two seconds later the cloud condensed, and wrapped itself around the bodies of the Heartless and Nobodies. The blue hue lightened as the air became solid, and then it was suddenly see-through.

Each Heartless and Nobody was frozen completely solid, horizontal icicles trailing behind them as if they'd been struck by a bucket of water that froze while travelling through the air.

Xarcs padded his way up to the statues of ice that had been his underlings of darkness and nothingness, and looked at them in interest for a moment. A low rumble grew in his throat and the ice started to vibrate, and then crack as the rumble grew louder. The lion Nobody roared, and the iced Heartless and Nobodies shattered completely. The ground shuddered under the sound, and yells of pain escaped the mouths of the warriors standing before Xarcs; Naminé, Aerith, Kia, Selphie, and Olette nearly dropped to their knees, pain racking their heads as well as the others'.

"Are you definitely sure that you still wish to oppose us?" Xarcs asked, staring directly at Naminé.

The blonde Princess struggled to look up, and regained her composure as she tightened her grip on her Keyblade and her shield. Words rang through her mind as she looked at the dark lion. "You bet we are," she answered. "There's no way that we're giving up our lives or our hearts!"

_Be without fear in the face of your enemies._

Xarcs smiled. "You won't be singing that tune when you're in front of Maleficent, brave Princess." He lifted his right front paw, and quickly pressed it to the ground. Naminé looked down as she felt the earth shudder beneath her feet, and leapt up and back as spires of rock and densely packed dirt rose out of the blanket of snow that covered them.

She expected that that was it, but the rock and dirt seemed to be guided by a force that was not simplistic by design, and they curved and twisted after Naminé as she jumped away from them.

"Freeze!"

Frozen snowflakes spiralled towards the twisting earth that sought Naminé and struck them moments before the leading tip of one would have touched her ankle. The earthy spires slowed as a thin layer of ice started to develop on them, freezing them in place. Naminé fell back to the ground again and looked for the person who had cast the spell.

A slightly taller blonde girl only two years her senior had her hands together, extended out towards the earthen ornaments sprouting from the ground beneath the snow. Her face was twitching slightly, but her brown eyes were set.

Xarcs turned to look at the newcomer. "Oh? Another shrew has come to play has she?"

"You stay away from Princess Naminé," Agatha said, her voice shaking slightly as wind blew her canary-gold hair around her head.

"Agatha!" Naminé yelled. "Get out of here! It's too dangerous!"

"Who is she?" Olette asked, glancing at the blonde princess.

"What's the point of me training under Ur with you if I'm not permitted to fight for my lady?" Agatha asked. "What kind of a handmaiden or guard would I be then?"

"Handmaiden?" Selphie asked incredulously, glancing back and forth between Naminé and Agatha.

"We'll talk about this later," Naminé said. "For now just please get somewhere sa—"

Xarcs stomped his paw on the ground again, the dark fur and skin crunching the snow underneath. "Exactly what I was waiting for," he muttered as more snakelike spires of earth shot out of the ground beneath Naminé and coiled around her. Before the princess could react, she had become completely encased in a rocky prison, wrapped up like a fly in a spider's webbing with only her head peeking out the top.

"What the—" she started, staring down at the compact emulsion of dirt and rock that was binding her in its cocoon. She wriggled beneath it, but there was barely any room for her to move her limbs, and whatever force she _was_ able to bring to bear against her prison was far too meagre to do any good. The best she could manage was to barely be able to put her hands together, but that would only happen if she dismissed her Keyblade and her shield.

She growled, and cranked her neck towards Xarcs. "Hey! Let me out of this thing you cheater!"

Xarcs tisked and waved a toe of his front paw at her. "Tut-tut-tut Your Highness," he said, mockingly. "Maleficent wants you and the other Keyblade Wielders alive, so that she can see fit to devise your ultimate demise." Despite her resolve, fear immediately settled in on Naminé and she struggled harder, trying to do anything to break apart the rocks from the inside.

"We'll see about that!" Tifa yelled, running straight for Xarcs. She punched for his face, but the lion Nobody was too quick for her and slinked off to the side. Tifa turned around, bringing her leg up in a kick that blocked Xarcs' retaliatory swipe of his paw. Fireballs crashed into Xarcs' flank from Olette and Pence's staves, and Hayner, Tidus, and Selphie charged forward.

"You're not taking her anywhere!" Selphie told him, swinging her sword down with both hands at his side. The blade struck against him, and Xarcs didn't even flinch. Instead, he roared directly in Selphie's face.

The girl dropped her weapon and fell to the ground, pulling her helmet off and clutching her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sound. Hayner, Tidus, and Tifa all squeezed their eyes shut and fought against the pain, receiving only a bit less than Selphie had been hit with.

"You're not going to win," Xarcs said, leaping back and away from all of them. "It is useless!" He stamped a paw on the ground again, and it rippled like a wave towards the fighters who had only a second ago been huddled around him. Tifa jumped out of the way, as did Tidus, but Hayner and Selphie weren't so able. The snow-covered earth struck and the two flew several feet back in the air before tumbling to the ground.

"We will never give up," Aerith said, spinning her quarterstaff around in a circle until it became a blur. Shards of ice flew out rapidly in a steady stream, their sharp tips glinting in the sunlight. Xarcs spun around, his paws on the ground, and a wall of earth rose from the ground, just high enough to catch all of Aerith's constantly flowing ice.

The Lion Nobody suddenly leapt over the wall he had created and ran parallel to the ice barrage. Spikes of rock shot out of the ground all around him, keeping Tifa and Tidus at bay for the moment and blocking two arrows fired by Kia as well as anything Olette or Pence was able to send his way.

He turned sharply and lunged straight for Aerith, who by now had cut off the stream of ice she had been creating. Her green eyes widened slightly, but she held her ground. She spun her staff in her hands for less than a second, fire suddenly coiling around it, before lunging right for the charging lion.

He proved more agile than she expected, leaping over her straight staff and knocking it aside with a paw. His sharp claws raked for her chest and his teeth went to close for her neck, but Aerith was gone just before he could connect. A shockwave coursed through the ground as he landed, sending tremors through Agatha's and Aerith's bodies as they tumbled in the crisp white powder, the blonde servant having dived to get Aerith out of the way.

"Thanks," Aerith told her rescuer. Agatha seemed mute, staring at the ground in shock.

Xarcs' tail flicked up and batted away one of Kia's arrows, the Nobody now turning to look at the archer. She gritted her teeth and sent another arrow off towards him, but another small column of rock jumped into the air to snag the missile before it could hit him.

A crystal-blue sword raked at him from above and Xarcs looked up and behind him in annoyance. "You forgetting about us?" Tidus asked, landing on his shoulders. Hayner and Selphie rush back in, charging directly for Xarcs' head while Tifa punched him in the side.

Agatha scrambled to her feet and ran for the rock cocoon that had Naminé imprisoned, keeping her from helping her friends. "Princess Naminé! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine for now, but I can't get out of this thing," Naminé replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Ur and I lost sight of you, so I came looking for you, hoping I could help," Agatha replied. She looked down at the cocoon. "It looks like I did more harm than good though."

"Well, even handmaidens have their moments," Naminé replied. Agatha looked at her in surprise. "You want to be my handmaiden? Fine, but on one condition: help out Roxas. It looks like he's in more trouble than we are here." Agatha glanced at the Knight of Disney Castle and his duel with Tismetrx before looking back at Naminé with an apprehensive look on her face.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine and I'll figure some way out of this shell," Naminé said. "Oh, what was that that Ur said about Ice Make again?"

"Uh… she said to…Immerse yourself in the magic and find your own style," Agatha replied after a moment of thought. "But I'm still not quite up to it yet."

"The basics should do you fine," Naminé told her. "Now go and help Roxas, please."

-A-D-

"Polar Chill!"

A torrent of watermelon sized icicles streamed from Soronmon's flapping wings down into the flights of Wyverns and Air Soldiers beneath her. Many of the smaller Heartless found themselves impaled by the shower of icy death from above, and they were still falling from the bullets, arrows, and magical ordinance being fired from the ground, but there were some that dodged out of the way of the Champion level digimon's attack, and soared up towards Soronmon while spinning rapidly.

"Hold on Kairi," Soronmon said as the Heartless a twelfth her size came barrelling in. "This could get a little rough." Kairi nodded her head and clutched tighter at Soronmon's feathers. Soronmon folded her wings in a little and started to dive towards the ground far below. "Blizzard's Bite!"

An icy image of Soronmon's head streaked out, creating a frigid white arc down through the sky in front of her. Any of the Heartless caught in its path froze instantly into a chunk of ice and plummeted to the ground.

A Wyvern struck Soronmon's side with its hard head and the Champion digimon twitched slightly at the strike. She hadn't gotten rid of all of them apparently. Kairi ducked her head as a fireball from the ground passed a few feet over it, wondering when the iron supplement would kick in and if it would be in time.

_Naminé, Roxas… hold on._

-A-D-

If Aerith, Tifa, and the others were just barely able to keep Xarcs at bay while together, Roxas was faring much worse against Tismetrx. The Nobody had incredible strength, far greater than anything Roxas had ever encountered or expected. The Boar Heartless he and Naminé had faced back in the Big Top couldn't even compare to Tismetrx.

Oblivion and Twilight Thorn sang as they repeatedly slammed against Tismetrx, Roxas unleashing a flurry of strikes in all directions as quickly as he could. His Keyblades flew in front of him, most of his attacks landing against Tismetrx's chest or arms with only the occasional one getting blocked by the large Nobody's polearm. But despite everything, it didn't seem to be affecting Tismetrx at all.

With a growl, the Nobody swept his polearm out in front of him and Roxas rolled under it. The blond came back up, and raised both of his Keyblades above his head as the polearm came smashing down. His arms buckled, and barely held against the stroke. Then Tismetrx spun around, and the swinging polearm struck the Keyblade Master squarely in the chest and tossed him backwards.

Roxas coughed, shaking his head and pushing snow out of the way as he got back to his feet. "Is that all you got, foo?" Tismetrx asked, planting his polearm in the ground and rolling his shoulders. Roxas spat blood out of his mouth, glaring at the huge man while gripping both of his Keyblades. The blond Keyblade Master ran forward, and Tismetrx's arm snapped out and snatched his polearm again. Grasping it firmly in both hands, the Nobody swung it horizontally for the former Nobody he was facing.

Roxas jumped over it, raising the Oblivion high in his right hand while holding Twilight Thorn defensively in his left. Tismetrx looked up, watching as Roxas' black Keyblade came down and struck him in the shoulder. With a sweep of his arm he sent Roxas flying back through the air to crash and slide through the snow. He glanced at the spot where the Oblivion had hit his shoulder. There wasn't even a scratch, and he'd barely felt it.

"I'm not done yet," Roxas said, shakily rising to his feet as Tismetrx came towards him. The Nobody swept his polearm down and it met both the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn, crossed against him. But strength was no longer in Roxas' arms; they'd been jarred and shaken far too many times already. The polearm's blade crashed through his defences and struck his shoulder. Roxas cried out in pain as he dropped to the ground, the mail rings holding but otherwise cutting through the clothes he had on underneath and an inch into his right shoulder.

"How'd you like that?" asked Tismetrx, roughly grabbing Roxas and pulling him up. Roxas spat in his face. The Nobody growled and twisted the blond around, wringing his right arm tightly behind his back. Roxas howled in pain and then cried out as something went _crack_.

"Ooh, that hurts doesn't it?" Tismetrx asked, smirking as he threw Roxas to the ground. The Keyblade Master cringed while prostrated on the ground in front of his opponent.

"You bastard," the blond knight of Disney Castle growled. He swept Twilight Thorn out in his left hand at Tismetrx's legs, and the Keyblade solidly struck the Nobody just beneath the knee.

Tismetrx didn't even flinch. "You want Tismetrx to rough you up some more fool?"

Roxas smirked, his Keyblade still touching Tismetrx's leg. "You're not the only one who can use fire Lea," Roxas whispered.

"What was that?" asked Tismetrx, raising an eyebrow.

"Firaga!"

Twilight Thorn's temperature seared up, making the weapon hot enough to glow red. Right against the Nobody's naked calf, it didn't matter who it was or what their pain tolerance was. Tismetrx howled in agony and kicked Roxas in the face. The blond rolled in the snow for some metres, keeping a hold on Twilight Thorn but losing Oblivion through the limp fingers of his right hand. The snow he rolled over started to stain crimson as more blood left his arm and face.

Roxas stood while Tismetrx was padding snow onto the vicious burn he now had against his leg, and readied Twilight Thorn. _I don't care who he is,_ Roxas thought. _I'm not giving up. I'm never going to give up. First I'm gonna take this creep out, and then that'll wipe that cocky smirk off Riku's face._

His Keyblade flared with blue light, the blade being elongated to twice its length with the sudden energy surrounding it. "Nice try," Roxas said, "but now it's over." He darted for Tismetrx, his sword held behind him as it glowed with the light. Strength was back in his arm, and speed as well as he slashed at Tismetrx repeatedly and rapidly.

The Nobody backed away, crossing his arms and holding them up to defend him from at least half of the onslaught. He felt these ones. Every swipe of Roxas' Keyblade left a stinging sensation where it landed. He had changed somewhat, as if he no longer had any limits to what he was able to do.

Roxas stopped a full fifteen seconds after beginning, leaping back from his opponent. Twilight Thorn started to glow with reddish light and he hurled it at Tismetrx's chest. The Keyblade cut at his sternum, and Tismetrx let out a grunt as the Keyblade vanished in a flash of light and reappeared in Roxas' left hand. The blond's cerulean eyes were filled with resolve as he came in for the Nobody again, winding up a slash.

Tismetrx snatched up his polearm again and swept it out for Roxas' legs. This time the Keyblade Master didn't jump in time and was knocked over. His head struck painfully against the ground, and then he was crying out as an intensely sharp pain ripped into his left shoulder. Tears started to leak out of his eyes as he saw that Tismetrx had stabbed his polearm right through his armour and into his shoulder. A tiny twitch, and the pain seared to a new height; it was only then that he realized just how deep the cut was.

He'd been completely impaled through the shoulder, and the polearm's blade was buried halfway into the ground.

Roxas' eyes widened before squeezing shut. Another sob of pain left his lips unbidden as Tismetrx's hands left the polearm, causing it to move _just so_. The weight of Twilight Thorn left his left palm as it vanished.

"It is over fool," said Tismetrx. "Over for you!" He stomped on Roxas' chest, and the boy heaved as he felt more than one rib break beneath the Nobody's foot. "Now then, Maleficent wants to see you, so I'm gonna make sure you come along nice and quiet."

Roxas struggled to open his eyes again and look into the face of Tismetrx. "Go to hell."

Tismetrx cracked his neck and raised his fist back. "Wrong answer."

"Blizzard!"

He paused, turning at the sound, and then brought his hands to his face as small pieces of ice struck and painfully broke against his face. "Ahhhhhrrrawwwwrrr!" He yelled. "Who's the little fool who went and did that cheap-ass sucker move!"

Tismetrx stopped, catching sight of Agatha, and then the battle behind the crack in the earth behind her between Xarcs and the others. He did see Naminé though, a wrapped up rock present for Maleficent. He started to chuckle and looked back at Agatha. "So, another girl wants in?" He took a step towards her, and Agatha timidly took a step back. Roxas gave another cry of pain as Tismetrx wrenched his polearm out of his shoulder, and the Nobody bore the bloodied blade in front of the servant of the castle. "You're all alone girl."

"Deciding Swing!"

Tismetrx turned his head, and was only just able to catch sight of a very large glowing mace being wielded by a very large helmeted and beaked warrior moving very quickly for his skull before it connected with it.

Howling, the Nobody flew through the air from an explosion of white light, and skidded on his back through the snow.

Xarcs swiped his paw at Tidus and Hayner, sending them hurtling backwards, and turned at the sound of Tismetrx's howl. He saw the warrior, and behind the helmeted creature he saw Sora and another youth. The lion Nobody kicked at Tifa, the woman leaping away from it, before he sprung with his powerful legs towards his prey.

"Polar Chill!"

A barrage of icicles suddenly dropped down from the sky in front of him, and Xarcs had to slow to a stop. He glanced up, and noticed that a large ice-bird was dropping down towards him. A young woman with auburn hair jumped from the back of the bird and landed close to his imprisoned Keyblade Princess.

Changing his direction, he ran instead for Tismetrx, regrouping with the big man.

-A-D-

Not too far off, on the top of a large rock, Lea and Lexai sat together, watching it all unfold.

"Looks like the tide is turning," Lea said, glancing at her as coils of flame wove back and forth between them like writhing snakes. Each one was controlling half of the coils, and trying to strike the other with them.

"Looks like it," Lexai said. She sighed. "You know, this is really boring. I thought that wresting the fire crown from you would be fun. But neither of us can hurt one another."

Fire swirled around Lea's right hand and his chakram appeared. "I could still cut you," he said. "Got it memorized?"

"And I could still punch you," Lexai answered as her purple gloves became encased in fire. "Got it memorized?"

"Congratulations," Lea told her as his chakram disappeared. "I find you worthy enough to use my catchphrase."

The Flaming Temptress smiled. "Thank you." Her fist suddenly sunk deep into Lea's gut and he hacked. "I think I'll claim that as my victory prize. (She stood up) Ta-ta Lea." Lexai blew a kiss to him, and was gone in a corridor of darkness.

Lea looked up, his arms clenched around his abdomen. "I'm either gonna kill that bitch, or marry her," he groaned. "But not today."

-A-D-

"Naminé!" Kairi said, rushing up to her sister. The blonde's eyes were closed, and she looked to be barely conscious. Kairi looked at the rock that was keeping her imprisoned. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of there."

Naminé's eyes snapped open and the indigo irises, perfectly identical to Kairi's, held her. "Wait!" Naminé told her. "Wait a second Kairi. I've almost got it. Step back."

Kairi did as Naminé closed her eyes again, and every muscle in her face became both tense and relaxed in concentration. "Ice Make… Gryphon!" Naminé's head seemed to move a little, as if her arms beneath the rock were being thrust forward.

Crowning Flame burst into Kairi's hands and a shield formed around the auburn-haired girl as the rock cocoon holding Naminé prisoner exploded. A construct of ice, as tall as Naminé herself was and even longer including the tail, erupted through the rock while a shriek left its sharp ice beak. The head of an eagle and the body of a lion, the ice gryphon soared through the air.

Naminé hopped out of what remained of the cocoon and ran right past Kairi. "ROXAS!" Kairi blinked for a second as the honeycomb shield in front of her dropped and she looked down at Crowning Flame, solidly in her right hand. Then she took off after Naminé, noticing that Soronmon and the ice gryphon Naminé had made were swiftly following from above.

Sora and Riku were already there with Ohtarmon, propping the severely wounded Keyblade Master up and forcing a potion down his throat. "CURAGA!" Naminé yelled, green light circling her fingertips. The light streamed out and covered Roxas in magical green vines, golden bells chiming above him. He'd already fallen unconscious and was unresponsive, though his bleeding slowed down significantly.

"He was lucky," Riku said as Naminé crashed to her knees beside the knight's head. Riku's face was nearly paler than the snow he was kneeling on; an expression that was mirrored by the others who now came closer. Aerith, Agatha, Olette, Pence, and Hayner came right up to Roxas and the other Keyblade Wielders; Tifa, Tidus, Selphie, and the digimon formed a semi-circle guard around them. "If he'd been hit any lower, his heart would have been…"

The words seemed to catch in Riku's throat and he stopped. Naminé was sobbing, the back of her hand lightly stroking the unconscious Roxas' cheek. Kairi cast another healing spell on him and his skin and more of his muscle tissue healed, but whether or not his bones had been was anyone's guess.

Sora stood up and turned around, looking directly at where Tismetrx and Xarcs were.

"We need to get him out of here," Olette said. "Behind the lines would be safest."

"You go," Sora said. "All of you. Get him out."

Kairi stood up. "Oh no! You're not taking them on alone."

"I'm with you too," Riku said, standing next to his best friend. He smirked. "Besides, someone has to make sure you both don't get your butts kicked in."

Sora smiled himself. "What makes you think that _you'll_ be the one preventing a butt-kicking?"

"Together we can take them," Kairi added, looking towards Tismetrx and Xarcs. "I just feel it. We can do anything when we're together."

Remembrance appeared in Sora's right hand in a flash of light, and at exactly the same moment Way to the Dawn materialized in Riku's. "I get the feeling that you're right Kairi," said the silver-haired swordsman, smiling even wider at his Keyblade's re-emergence.

"I know she is," Soronmon answered, turning her head around and looking at them. "When we're all together, we're invincible."

"Heh, you got that right Soronmon," Ohtarmon said, glancing back at them. "And you can forget about telling us to leave too."

"Never dreamed of it," Sora replied.

Naminé then spoke, her voice quieter than any of the others. "I—I'm going to stay with Roxas," she told them. "I don't want to abandon you, but…"

Kairi turned around and bent down; she placed a finger softly on Naminé's lips. "Don't worry about it Naminé. You're worried about him, and so are we, but there are still plenty of Heartless out there and you want to make sure he gets behind the lines safely, right?"

Naminé looked up at the smile on her sister's face, and a small smile of understanding came to her lips. "We'll handle these guys," Kairi went on to say, "so you just concentrate on keeping your boyfriend alive. Oh, by the way, I like the look; it suits you." Kairi winked.

"Alright, let's get out of here," Hayner said, coming and grabbing Roxas' arms. Tidus went to the other side and took hold of Roxas' legs, and they lifted him up. Thinking quickly, Naminé placed her shield underneath, and the two boys set Roxas down on it. They then picked up the shield together with Olette, and gave quick nods to Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

"This way," Tifa said, starting them off on a path that would lead them around the chasms and spires of rock Xarcs had created. She shivered slightly as the cold wind nipped at her bare arms.

The three who were left behind watched them leave, Kairi noticing that Agatha was keeping close to Naminé and had a hand on her shoulder, before they turned around again, their faces set and their Keyblades gripped firmly in their hands. The snow crunched beneath their feet as they slowly made their way towards the two Nobodies, and Ohtarmon walked with them while Soronmon slowly hovered above.

"Ah," Xarcs said when they got close enough, "it _is_ you Sora. How have you been, my little lost step-nephew?"

"You two hurt my brother," Sora said evenly. "I don't care how strong you are, we won't lose."

A portal of darkness appeared in front of Xarcs and Tismetrx, and a woman with copper hair came out. "Five-on-two's a little unfair," she said. "So I thought I'd swing by and even the odds a little more."

A blonde-haired girl in a white winter outfit walked right out of Riku and stood in front of him. "Odds are still against you," said Dawn.

"Oh no," Tismetrx said, shaking his head and flourishing his polearm. "They're stacked against you fools."

"We'll see about that," Riku said, whipping Way to the Dawn up by his ear in his fighting stance. He glanced to his right. "Where you been Dawn?" he whispered.

"When you become too unhealthy to summon me, I can't even talk to you," Dawn replied. "Don't do it again! Do you know how boring it gets in there? There are only so many times I can change outfits and debate about which one is cutest before I fall back onto the chocolate, popcorn, and romance movies that I've seen ten thousand times!"

"Whoa," Sora whispered to Kairi. "She sounds edgy."

"Well a fight should take that edge off, right?" Kairi asked.

"You should all just give up," Xarcs told them. "The Darkness is far too strong for the feeble Light in your hearts."

"The Light is not feeble!" Sora, Riku, and Kairi all shouted at once.

"The Light is warm, soothing, comforting," Kairi said as her Crest of Virtue started to glow. "The Light in my heart has provided me with a shield when I've needed it most, and the strength to overcome challenges that others wouldn't have been able to."

"There will always be a door to the Light," Sora said, echoing King Mickey's words when they'd sealed Kingdom Hearts so long ago. "It was the Light in my heart that gave me the strength to save the worlds. It was my Light that brought me back to my friends, and the people I care about."

"Darkness can only destroy," Riku said. "It can't heal the hurts between friends; it can't love. I fell to Darkness before my friends brought me back, and I know how truly weak it is. You will never be able to defeat us so long as we keep the Light strongly in our hearts."

"Well then," Lexai said, her purple gloves becoming encased in red flames, "let's see what this Light of yours can do."

"Gladly," Kairi said. She looked at her digimon partner, the bird silently standing on the ground to Kairi's left with her wings folded up. "So long as we're together we can't lose! Pump it up Soronmon! We'll show them the power of the Light!"

"The strength I feel right now is proof of its power," Soronmon said as she began to glow with golden light. "I feel like we could take on any challenge together! Soronmon digivolve to…"

Soronmon's body shrunk from the massive eagle she had been to eight feet tall, and her legs, which had been hunched beneath her, straightened as her centre of gravity rose and her spine became more upright. Her claws vanished, to be replaced by the five toes of human feet. Winged white heels slid onto her feet, and fabric the softest possible pink created a pant leg for her right while leaving her left bare up to her mid-thigh. The feathers on her abdomen vanished, revealing humanoid skin and a woman's body, covered to her bellybutton by a baby-blue breastplate with the emblem of Kairi's Crest of Virtue, a brilliantly radiating star over a full moon, engraved on its front. Her wings remained, but instead of the snow-white feathers they used to be they instead became closer to yellow gold, and arms and hands now became the wing-joints, making the feathers flow down from the arm like a hanging curtain. A golden ring was on one finger of her right hand. A pink choker lightly wrapped around her neck, and her face no longer resembled that of a bird's, becoming a beautiful woman's. There was a mark on each cheek, a golden tattoo at the cheekbone of a heart. Three ice-blue feathers curled out of a grey and gold headband crossing her forehead, and long tresses of perfect strawberry blonde hair fanned out behind her head. Her brown eyes opened as white and gold light streamed behind her, and she spun around on her heels, gold and white sparkles flying about her as her wings moved. "…_Thorondomon_!"

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Dawn, and Ohtarmon all looked at the new Ultimate level digimon in awe. "Whoa," muttered Riku, eyes going up and down. "Who is _that_?"

"I am Thorondomon, the Ultimate level of Menelmon. I digivolved using the Crest of Virtue. When evil digimon try to smother others with darkness, my Holy Smite shows them the Light."

Dawn glanced at her Wielder, a glare on her face and her arms folded. "Riku, are you checking out your best friend's digimon partner?"

Riku looked back at her. "No! And why are you looking at me like that? You're not my girlfriend."

"Hn," Tismetrx said. "Is that all?"

"It sure ain't," Sora said. "Ohtarmon, show them your stuff."

"You got it. Ohtarmon digivolve to…"

His body started to grow, so that instead of eight feet he stood at a towering ten feet tall. Ohtarmon's beak shrunk so that it was now inside of his helmet, which melded slightly to fit the point of his mouth. His armour turned from grey to gold, and his helmet sprouted two small swan-wings pointing up towards the sky. The seven-pointed star of Valour became imprinted in the golden helm's centre. A cape formed around his shoulders and swept down the length of his body, its width encompassing him from the exterior of one leg to the exterior of the other; it was edged three inches deep with golden thread, and the cape's interior was an invigorating red. Light flared in by his left arm and clawed hand, and the digimon grabbed hold of the red tower shield that was forming there. Embossed in the blazing red shield's centre was a silver three-pronged crown, and behind it was the picture of a diving hawk with outstretched talons in white paint. A sword sheathed in red leather with a golden and jewelled hilt appeared strapped to his left hip. Light shone in front of him, and the digimon's right hand came out and grasped at the light, and withdrew from it a long silver lance. He swept it back with a flourish, and his green eyes opened from behind the helm as wind stirred the cape at his back and light shone from behind. "…_MaltaOhtarmon_!"

_(A/N: Every time they go Ultimate 'onscreen' the transformation sequence will be written down. It may get annoying, but I find it as a nice homage.)_

"Here we come!" Sora yelled, holding Remembrance in both his hands and taking a step forward. He vanished, and the three Nobodies looked shocked for a second. Then Lexai cried out as he reappeared behind her, slashing at her back with Remembrance's curved silver blade. The copper-haired Nobody staggered forward, right into MaltaOhtarmon's path.

The Ultimate level digimon's silver lance suddenly became encased in ice and turned blue and he thrust it at Lexai. "Shivering Spear!" A blast of frigid blue energy followed in the wake of his thrust, and Lexai doubled over for a moment as she was driven back, both from the lance's point striking her chest and from the cold.

Her fists blazed with fire. "You're going to wish you hadn't—" Lexai stopped and began rolling on the ground, startled for a second as something punched her in the side.

"Sorry," Dawn said, smirking. "I thought you were finished."

Xarcs stamped his foot on the ground, and a spike of earth shot up beneath Dawn's feet and sent her into the sky. Sora came charging in at the lion Nobody, Remembrance firmly in his grasp and glowing with silver energy. He brought his sword up and down at Xarcs, the dark lion sliding away from the strike, and attempted to jerk Remembrance across Xarcs' face. The Nobody raised one paw up and caught it instead. He tightened his paw's grip, forcibly holding Remembrance steady while he brought his other paw up to swipe Sora with.

Sora brought his own left hand out just as quickly and shouted, "Twilight Flame!" A flare of silver fire erupted from his gloved metal palm and struck Xarcs in the face. The Nobody roared in pain and released Sora's Keyblade while blindingly swiping at the boy. Sora dodged, leaping backwards, and a cry of pain left his lips as something struck him hard in the back.

"My turn fool!" Tismetrx said, having struck Sora's back with his polearm. "Tismetrx is ready to dole out the pain."

"Oh no you're not!" Riku said, rushing in and parrying the falling polearm with Way to the Dawn. Tismetrx swept it off the smaller Keyblade and brought it around, keeping both Riku and Sora at bay with its long reach and sharp blade.

"Sing now the hymn of the phoenix," Kairi chanted, eyes closed, "the eternal fires of heaven and of hell; let Tartarus be forever lit by your falling effigy…"

"Get back Riku," Sora said, firing a lightning bolt at Xarcs and missing as the dark-furred lion jumped away. "Kairi's been getting good at this."

"…I stand at the maw of the dragon of the skies to open its blazing gullet. Let the flame of the heavens rain down upon my enemy. Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!"

Kairi's hands went to the sky before falling back to her sides, her back arching forward. Dark clouds formed in the sky; red light flashing through them like lightning. Fireballs the size of cows descended from the clouds, trails of flame and black smoke following them.

Sora and Riku jumped back, out of the way of the rapidly descending missiles of flame. Xarcs bounded away, but ran straight into MaltaOhtarmon. "And where are we off to?" The Ultimate warrior-bird digimon asked moments before bashing the feline Nobody in the skull with his shield. MaltaOhtarmon swiped his lance at Xarcs, and the big cat jumped back.

The first of the falling fireballs found Tismetrx, and he gave a grunting sound as it struck him in the shoulders and enveloped the air in flame and black smoke. The snows beneath very quickly melted away. Xarcs gave a howl as one hit him square in the back, and Lexai cried out when one flattened her in her chest. More sounds of pain came out of their lips as for ten seconds the cow-sized fireballs rained down on them, their bodies only being visible for brief instances when the fireballs plunged through their own cloud of smoke to strike the ground.

The spell ended and silence reigned from inside the smoke cloud. "Was that it?" MaltaOhtarmon asked, glancing at the others.

"Not likely," Thorondomon said, not even looking down at the taller Ultimate as she hovered in the air above them. "Be ready, Kairi."

"Don't worry," the female digidestined said. "I am."

A giggle started to be heard from within the black smoke. "So… one princess plays with ice, and the other thinks that she can play with fire does she?" Lexai suddenly burst out from the smoke, her purple-gloved fists aflame. She was heading straight for Kairi, and succeeded in landing a punch squarely on the Princess' ribs. Kairi flew several feet back through the air before crashing into one of the spires of earth Xarcs had raised earlier.

"You know what happens when you play with fire?" Lexai asked, bringing her hands together as the flames grew to new heights. She thrust her arms out in Kairi's direction as she landed on the ground beneath the spire. "You get burnt!" A torrent of flame raced towards the auburn-haired Princess of Radiant Garden, the girl getting a shield up only just in time.

Sora snarled and was about to make straight for Lexai when his legs were knocked out from beneath him. Tismetrx had emerged, and swept his polearm at the Keyblade Master's legs. "You fools are about to get pwned!" He yelled, only a moment before a spike of rock shot out from the earth and struck Sora in the chest. The brunet lost part of his breath and flew into the air, his sternum stinging painfully right at the spot where the rock had connected.

There was a flash of light and Sora looked down at where Lexai was currently attempting to roast Kairi. His eyes widened in intrigue. The fire Lexai was issuing was being overcome by fire streaming from Kairi's direction, but he couldn't make out Kairi herself behind the flames. The two columns of red, yellow, and orange fought back and forth for several moments, a scream of disbelief coming from Lexai's lips, before Kairi's won out and completely overpowered the flame that rushed from Lexai's gloved hands. The short copper-haired Nobody fell backwards just as Sora landed on the ground, only a few feet away from where Kairi stood.

A hand went to his chest and he surveyed Kairi with a surprised smile. She'd driven for the first time; and it suited her magnificently. Her entire body was covered in black, from the boots on her feet to the cape that wound around her back, to the gloves that covered her fingers, but amongst the black clothing were lines and accents the colour of bright orange flame. Her kneecaps, the top of the boot, her forearms, and lines all around the shoulders, legs, and chest that made the black clothing look like scraps of armour freshly welded together. In her left hand rested an orb of fire, and one surprising thing that Sora noticed about her Drive Form was that her hair had changed from the darker auburn he'd come to know and love. Kairi's hair was blazing, the shifting colour and beauty of fire itself while maintaining its shape. Large swan wings had erupted from her back, and they were wings of fire incarnate. Embers blew around her, and Crowning Flame burned brightly with white flame.

Sora smiled slightly as he thought up a new nickname for his girlfriend: the Flaming-Haired Princess.

"So what do you call that Drive Form Kairi?" he asked, standing up straight.

"Fire Mage Form," she answered. She bobbed the orb of flame that hovered in her left hand up and down as she turned to look at him. "Appropriate, no?"

Sora nodded, and his body pulsed with light. Hawk-like silver wings grew from his back as his clothes became black with silver lines racing down them, and his jacket silver with golden vine-like accents gracing the edges and a golden outline of the seven-pointed star of valour adorned its back. The Kingdom Key burst into existence in his right hand, and Remembrance floated over to his left. "Let's finish this," he said, emerging in his Valiant Form.

Kairi nodded, and the two of them yelled as their flaming and silver wings flapped and carried them towards where Lexai was getting to her feet, and Riku, Dawn, and MaltaOhtarmon were fighting off Tismetrx and Xarcs. The lion Nobody spotted their approach, and stamped his paws on the ground.

Columns of earth rapidly rose in front of them, but Kairi artfully twisted and spun out of their way while Sora swept both his Keyblades out in broad arcs in front of him. "Shield of the Twilight Mists!" A shell of thick silver mist formed around him, and Sora's mist shield smashed right through the rock walls Xarcs was forming in an attempt to stop him and Kairi.

Riku turned back, watching for a second as the two approached. "Our turn Dawn!" She nodded, and golden light suddenly streamed from them, bright enough to make all three Nobodies flinch and back away. Horizon Form's light and dark grey cloak robed him, and its chains dangled against his front. The cloak was a little more unzipped now, to show that Riku was in a black shirt as well as his bronze coloured pants. Way to the Dawn and Destiny's Embrace rested comfortably in his hands, and Dawn was now in her own change of clothing: the black shirt with a rising sun and tight black pants.

"Thorondomon, are you with me?" Kairi asked right before swerving past the last pillar in her path.

"Now and forever Kairi," her Ultimate-level digimon answered. Thorondomon rose higher in the air than her partner, and dove towards the three Nobodies. She started to spin. "Wings of Light!" A typhoon of gold and silver sparkles flecked from the feathers of her winged arms and rushed towards the Nobodies. They might as well have been tiny gold and silver knives of light, making small slits in the Nobodies. Darkness started to drip from the wounds.

Tismetrx roared. "That's enough of that shit!" he yelled, hoisting his polearm up in one hand and hurling it at Thorondomon. Sora vanished from where he was and reappeared instantly in front of Thorondomon, the Kingdom Key and Remembrance swinging together in a mental hook to catch the blade of the polearm and turn it aside.

Kairi's flaming orb pulsed, and a coil of flame flowed out of it. The fire circled around Kairi as she raised her arms and Keyblade, almost like she was playing with the flames and making them flicker like a ribbon. Then they became hard, and concentrated at the flaming-haired princess' hands in two parts. One almost looked like the head of a hammer. "Vulcan's Forge!" Kairi roared, a jet of flame surging out from the group near her left hand, and just in front of the flaming orb, and another roaring from beyond her Keyblade with the heavy head of a hammer leading the way.

Xarcs once more tried to leap away, and was met by a barrage of black and gold rays from Destiny's Embrace as Riku swiped it in the lion's direction. He held out Way to the Dawn, and it rippled fiercely with red and orange light. Dawn hopped onto the blade, and the light immediately covered her body completely. She sighed and wings of black and white grew on her back. "Angel of the Dawn, take flight on your fiery wings!"

Riku hurled Dawn towards Xarcs as Kairi's fire was coming down, and she formed her staff between her hands. "You're not going anywhere!" she shouted, driving the staff down on Tismetrx's head as she passed him, then spinning around and knocking down Lexai. Dawn folded her wings around her as the fire closed in, and she floated backwards and swung her staff at Xarcs' head like a golf club. The scarlet crystal end connected with his jaw, and he stumbled backwards.

For the second time the trio of Nobodies were covered in flame for ten seconds, Kairi unrelenting in her assault. Even Lexai was growling in pain as the flames licked and ravaged the cuts they'd already received from their earlier fighting and from Thorondomon's attack.

Sora started to fly around the group at insane speeds, silver lines flowing behind him. "Keep 'em down!" he yelled.

"Count on me!" Thorondomon said. The hands on her wings started to glow with golden light, and the light quickly became bright enough that to look at it was equal to looking directly at the Sun. "Holy Smite!" she cried, thrusting her arms out. Twelve beams of golden light spiralled out of her hands and smashed into the trio of Nobodies.

Sora flew up high, quickly making a circle. "Twilight Entrapment!" The silver lines he'd drawn behind him of the star of valour within a circle glowed brightly with white light, as did the circle he'd just finished that connected them all. The smaller circle dropped down into the dust, and Xarcs, Tismetrx, and Lexai were lifted up into the clearer, and no longer cold, air. They struggled to escape the bond, but it was futile.

Red-orange energy pent up in Way to the Dawn as Riku soared up on a pool of orange light. White flame rose into the skies in Crowning Flame as Kairi soared in on her flaming wings, and Sora spun above as he clapped his two Keyblades together and his silver wings created a shower of sparkles. The Keyblade Wielders came in on three sides: Sora dove down, a silver tornado with a piercing green point; Riku came in from below, the fury of the rising Sun; and Kairi met them at the middle, a flaming Princess with a dragon of fiery Light. The moment before they struck, Lexai, Xarcs, and Tismetrx understood.

They had been right. When all three of them were together, they were invincible.

"ZEPHYR DFA!"

"DAWN'S NEW LIGHT!"

"LIGHT-BRINGER'S ROAR!"

The mixing of their powers at their current level, and concentrated on one small spot, created a force the strength of which had not yet been technologically achieved on numerous worlds. A shockwave strong enough to knock the average man clear off his feet for several feet blew out in all directions, the sound of a roaring explosion that would leave them without adequate hearing for a good forty seconds accompanying it, and a ring would persist in the ears for the better part of three days. Even if it snowed later, no snow would pile up on the rocks and now barren ground below for a week at least.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi all reappeared down on the ground together, despite the different ways they took to meet at where Maleficent's three Nobodies had been trapped. All three were still in their Drive Forms, and they turned around as Lexai, Xarcs, and Tismetrx crashed to the ground. Burns covered their clothes, fur, and skin, and darkness came out of them in several locations.

Tismetrx snarled. "You're gonna pay for that! Just you wait!"

"Have you had enough, or do you want some more?" asked Riku.

Before an answer could come out of any of their mouths, a portal of darkness appeared in front of them. A seemingly injured Xokor limped out and turned to the three other Nobodies. "We're pulling out."

"This ain't over!" Tismetrx shouted.

"Our task is done," countered Xokor. "This battle is over, and they know now that we can attack anywhere, at anytime. No we go, before the Eximius Septem finds itself without three of its members." Another corridor of darkness opened up, covering all four of them, and then vanished, whisking them away from the place of battle.

The Keyblade trio dropped to their knees, panting in exhaustion as Sora's and Kairi's wings vanished and their clothes and hair, in Kairi's case, returned to normal. A weak smile came to Sora's face. "Well guys, we did it."

"I'm just glad it's over," Riku said.

"Me too," Kairi said, giving a small giggle as Luinmon bounced up to her, smiling.

Naminé's voice entered Kairi's mind and she froze up instantly. It was weak, and filled with pain.

-A-D-

Radiant Garden's blonde Princess lay on the ground against a rock, a hand pressed tight against her chest to stem the flow of blood from a bad wound she'd taken. Tifa and the others were all lying on the blood-stained snow ground close by, all in various states of consciousness, and all of them wounded and staining the white snow scarlet. Their chests all rose and fell, but each breath was shallow, and it even hurt Naminé to breathe. Agatha had fallen close by her side, a slice in her side that she had both her hands to.

_Kairi…_ she thought weakly, watching in fear as the one who had done it all walked away. _I was… tell him that he's looking for him._

Darkness and stars were clouding Naminé's vision, and she knew that her tenuous grasp on consciousness was fading.

_What? Naminé are you alright! Tell who that who's looking for him! Naminé!_

Naminé shook her head, trying to blink away the stars and seeking for some kind of handhold. The pain was overwhelming, and her body was fighting with her mind to shut her troublesome thinking down. She glanced up again, her flickering iris eyes taking one last look at the one who was truly invincible. Even together, they hadn't stood a chance.

_He didn't say his name. But…_ her head started to fall again, and the darkness closed in around her,_ silver hair… long sword… black wing…_

Sephiroth.

-A-D-

_I just dropped a bomb didn't I? Don't worry out there! Nobody dies in this story, they just get really big boo-boos! Okay, that's a lie! But no one died here, so don't worry! That means you, people praying for the continued survival of Aerith!_

_I know who you are._

_In other news, __**BBS will be released in North America on September 7**__**th**__**! WOO-HOO!**__ In addition, a list of prominent voice actors has been released. However, I am wondering if I can get it subbed. Nothing against Mr. Spock's or Luke Skywalker's or Quinton Flynn's voice acting abilities, but for the past three years I've gotten used to hearing that Japanese voice for Master Xehanort, so it's kinda stuck in my head, no matter how good Leonard Nimoy is. If I could just have _that_ voice in Japanese and subbed, with the rest in English dub, I'd be perfectly happy…_

_So long as Hayden Panettiere voices older Kairi! I don't care if she only has two stupid lines that make me scream, I want her rightful voice actress! And Christopher Lee as Ansem the Wise!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	38. Mad!

_(Scene: A beautiful blue lake in a mountain forest, approximate time of year is mid-spring. There's a fire burning, with several speared fish roasting. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé are all by the fire.)_

_Kairi: "We've hit the six hundred review mark, so here we are, back again, doing the disclaimer for Shire Folk."_

_Riku: (Turning to Kairi) "I wonder who the heck that warrior was at the start of the last chapter."_

_Sora: (Shrugs) "Beats me. Maybe it's going to be Hades' entry for the tournament that'll be coming up?"_

_Naminé: "You're wondering who the warrior was? What about me and Roxas?"_

_(Camera pans onto the two mentioned Keyblade Wielders, and both are seen wrapped in bandages. Naminé, however, has no shirt on.)_

_Kairi: "Um, Naminé, where's your top?"_

_(Naminé looks down in confusion before her face turns bright red.)_

_Naminé: "Eep! When did that happen!"_

_Roxas: "You took it off about five seconds ago."_

_Naminé: "I don't remember doing that."_

_Roxas: "You were complaining about being hot."_

_Naminé: "Well it is hot!"_

_Sora: "We're fine Naminé. Actually it's even a little cool."_

_Naminé: "You mean you don't find it hot?"_

_Riku: "No. So what did you mean, 'what about me and Roxas'?"_

_Naminé: "We're wounded, Sephiroth showed up, and you're worried about a mysterious warrior?"_

_Sora: "It's not like we can take on Sephiroth and win… so…"_

_(Shire Folk walks down from the trees, wearing a white ball cap that has a red leaf edged in white and gold on the front, and beneath the leaf in red block letters the word CANADA)_

_Shire: "Hey, aren't you supposed to be doing the disclaimer?"_

_Kairi: "We are, but I have a question for you first." (She folds her arms up and glares at him)_

_Shire: (Noticing the glare but choosing to ignore it) "Alright, shoot."_

_Kairi: "Just what _is_ your plan for me? I've been looking through your head, and right now I'm not comforted. Am I going to die, or am I going to live?"_

_Shire: "You know Kairi, I know exactly when I will know the real answer to that question."_

_Kairi: "Really? When?"_

_Shire: "When all is said and done and you are either alive or dead. That's when I'll know, when it's over and you either are, or not, pushing up daisies."_

_(Kairi turns to look right out at you, breaking the fourth wall)_

_Kairi: "We've got someone who doesn't even know what's going on anymore. Please help me."_

_Shire: (Snaps the fingers of his right hand) "Wait! I do know! The ending of this part is now set in stone in my head; it won't change anymore."_

_Kairi: (Turns to look at him in disbelief) "Really? I can trust you this time?"_

_Shire: "Yes, but none of you are going to like it."_

_Roxas: "Does that mean unimaginable pain and suffering, or does that mean death?"_

_Shire: "We'll go with that."_

_Riku: (Eyes narrowing) "Which one?"_

_(Shire shrugs and grins)_

_Kairi: "You son of a—!"_

_Shire: "DISCLAIMER!"_

_Sora: "Alright, fine, I'll do it. Riku, watch the fish."_

_Riku: "What makes you think I can cook!"_

_Sora: "Shire Folk does not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Disney, Square-Enix, or anything else he uses in his work of fanfiction except for his OCs. Please enjoy. (He looks at the fire and eyes widen!) Ah! Riku you dropped one in!"_

_Riku: "I told you I didn't know how!"_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XXXVIII: MAD!

_1315hrs, Sunday, November 2__nd__, 2003  
Radiant Garden_

Kairi's eyes were puffy as she sat on a seat in a tent, looking down at the still form of her sister, lying on a bed. Roxas was on a separate bed next to her. Sora's arm was wrapped around her in an attempt to be comforting, and Riku sat on her other side. King Mickey stood beside Riku, and Kisuke Urahara and Ur were both standing behind them. The bodies of Aerith, Tifa, Tidus, and their other wounded and unconscious friends were in the same tent, as well as several other people who they didn't know. Axel, or Lea as he had recently told them he wished to be known as now, sat across from them, next to Roxas' bed, and with him were a silent Renji and Chad. By Tifa and Aerith sat and stood Barret, Leon, Vincent, Cid, Shalua, Rikku, and Paine; Yuna was by Tidus. Medics, nurses, and a few doctors bustled back and forth, but there were many other tents like this one and none of them could spare time nor glances for the groups of people huddled around the beds in this tent, and they came in and out without a word. They'd won, but no one in the tent felt like they'd just come off a field of victory.

Kairi sniffed and rubbed a tear from her eye. "I should have gone with her."

"We couldn't have beaten them without you," Riku told her quietly.

"Yes you could have," Kairi whispered. "You and Sora together could have done it. If I had been with Naminé I could have… maybe they wouldn't be…"

"Kairi…" Luinmon said quietly from the auburn-haired Princess' lap.

"Dwelling on might-have's won't get you anywhere Kairi-chan," said Urahara.

Sora sighed, and Kairi felt him stiffen. "If you had gone, you'd be on a bed too."

Kairi looked at him. "Sora?"

"From what you said that Naminé told you right before she passed out, that was Sephiroth," Sora answered. "There's only one person who can beat him, and we have no idea where he is."

"I thought you told me before that you'd beaten Sephiroth," Kairi said, her voice becoming almost an accusation.

"He… let me live," Sora admitted. "I was stupid after I fought him, thinking that I'd won. Then I saw him and Cloud fighting, and I knew that he'd gone easy and let me go. He wanted to fight Cloud again, and the fastest way to do that was to send an errand boy that Cloud trusted; me. And now… now he's gone and done something that'll make Cloud hunt for him even harder, with darkness in his heart: Sephiroth has injured Cloud's light." Sora lifted his head and his cerulean eyes settled on Tifa, an expressionless look on her face as she lay covered by a white sheet, like all the others.

Sora glanced between Roxas and Naminé again and then looked past Kairi at his best friend. "Riku, you'd better pray that your luck holds out."

Riku turned to look at him. "What?"

"Because right now," Sora answered, "you're the only one of the five of us who hasn't been too badly hurt yet."

Barret suddenly slammed his fist down on his thigh. "That bastard!" he yelled. "When spikey gets his ass back here, I'm gonna kick his blond—!"

"Calm down Barret," Leon said calmly. "Sitting here fuming won't do anything. And you know Marlene doesn't like it when you start cussing."

"Well Marlene's not here," Barret replied irritatedly. "So I can rant and cuss all I want." Leon just shook his head, and then they all looked up as the tent flap moved. An armoured man in his early twenties rushed in, a terrified look in his grey eyes. He stopped short, not because he noticed so many people crowding beds, but because he spotted a person on one of them.

"Olette…" he whispered, his face draining of all colour. "Olette!" He rushed right past Sora and the others and stopped at the foot of the bed across from and one down from Roxas'. He stood still for a few seconds, and then dropped onto his knees, quiet sobs coming from him. His hands went to his helmet, and they practically threw it off.

"I should never have let you join," he muttered as he made his way to her head. "I knew the army was no place for you. Somehow I knew that something like this would happen. Sis… what are Mom and Dad going to say?"

"Sis?" Ninquemon asked, looking up at Sora.

"Then that must be Olette's older brother, Odeon," Kairi whispered, glancing at Sora.

"He's a lieutenant," Riku observed.

There came a groan from another bed, and everyone shifted their eyes to look at the person who was stirring. "Uhg, what happened?" Hayner asked weakly. He winced suddenly, and he hunched over even as he forced himself to sit up. The pain seemed to bring something back to him, and he looked around fearfully, confused and at a loss.

"Sergeant Garneky!" Odeon Forrest snapped whilst standing up from Olette's bedside. Hayner looked around at the voice, and an instant later Odeon was right up in his face. "Why didn't you protect her better! I know that you and my sister have feelings for one another! Why isn't she safe with Easy Company? Isn't that where you went when we got split up when the Heartless attacked?"

"What?" Hayner asked. "Olette is… (He looked past his lieutenant and saw the girl lying unconscious on the bed nearby) Ole—AH!" Hayner doubled over and nearly fell off the bed he was on.

"I should never have recommended you for sergeant," Odeon growled.

"Hey!"

Kairi was up on her feet, glaring daggers at Olette's older brother. "Before you go blaming Hayner for letting Olette get hurt, you should take a look around here!"

"Kairi," Leon said, almost with a slight warning note in his voice. She glanced at him, and then down at her shoes, feeling ashamed.

"Princess Kairi?" Odeon asked aloud. He'd heard of her before, of course, and he knew what she looked like, but this was the first time that he'd actually seen her up close. He looked around, his eyes bulging. "Tifa Lockheart, Aerith Gainsborough, Bethal, Sir Roxas, _and_ Princess Naminé!" He staggered back for a second, the shock hitting him squarely.

Kairi was on edge, and to see anyone insulting someone who didn't deserve insulting after what had just happened had been more than enough to set her off. Now, though, her voice was measured and controlled rather than brash. "Roxas was injured fighting a powerful opponent. They were bringing him back behind the lines; that was when they were ambushed. We can only assume that they fought as bravely as they could before they were all overpowered. Even Naminé was beaten, so don't go blaming Hayner for Olette's condition. (Kairi's voice softened and she glanced back at Naminé) They're alive. They're all alive. Be glad for that, if nothing else, at least." She sat back down.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Kairi turned at the unfamiliar voice, seeing another addition to the party of depressed people. A woman in her mid twenties walked in, her khaki hair tied up in a bun and her cinnamon eyes a washing over with relief. She was dressed in a dark pinstriped suit with a heavy coat on overtop.

Sora looked at her and furrowed his eyebrows. "I recognize you from somewhere," he said, shaking his finger at her.

She smiled slightly. "It's good to see that you have both your arms again, Keyblade Master Sora. And that you're not moping around in a hospital bed like the last time we met."

Sora's eyes lit up. "Now I remember you. You're that FIST agent who came in with another guy and interviewed me on what happened when I lost the arm."

"Remember my name?" she asked.

The brunet shrugged. "Nope, sorry," Sora answered both truthfully and sheepishly.

"Rachel Quin," she replied, holding her hand out to shake his. "Agatha there's my little sister." Rachel turned and looked at her blonde sister, lying under a sheet on the bed. She turned to a nurse who was just about to walk out. "How badly hurt is she?" she asked him, nodding her head at the bed.

"Compared to some of the people in here, she got off real easy," he answered. "Hopefully she'll be able to go after she wakes up and we check her out." He then walked back out into the cold with a clipboard.

"Thank the Light," Rachel said quietly. She glanced awkwardly at Kairi and shrugged with a half-hearted laugh. "Somehow our family always ends up serving the royals, Your Highness. Whether we're part of their secret hand or we're waiting on them or guarding them, the Quins have been there for a hundred and ten years."

"And she did well."

Kairi's head whipped back to the bed. "Naminé!"

The blonde winced and closed her eyes again. "Not so loud Kai."

"Are you alright, Naminé?" Ur asked, coming closer and placing a hand on the bed. Naminé's eyes flickered up, and she saw tenderness and caring in that face that she hadn't seen before.

"I'm fine Master Ur," she replied, her voice shallow and weak to minimize her pain. "Okay, that's not true. But… don't worry about me. I'll be alright. (Naminé turned her head and looked at Agatha's bed) Be proud of your sister Rachel. Even though you're not of noble blood, I think I'll make her more than just a handmaiden, I think I might make her my lady-in-waiting, when the time is right."

Rachel Quin took the news better than Kairi expected. She didn't faint, for a start, but she stared at the blonde Princess with a mouth open wide enough for a fully grown salmon to swim out of it. She didn't regain speech for eight seconds. "A—a lady-in-waiting, Your Highness? (Naminé marginally nodded, and Rachel's gaping mouth smiled) This is such an honour! Thank you, thank you Your Highness! I can't wait to tell her!"

"Don't," Naminé whispered. "I want it to be a surprise. I want to see the look on her face."

"But—but why? How is she deserving of such an honour?"

Naminé glanced away from the concerned sister's face. "She saved Roxas, and Agatha's becoming more than just a servant-girl in the castle," she said. "She's becoming a training partner and a good and true friend. I don't feel odd saying this, but I'm glad that she's older than me. For future questions I may have, I'd feel safe turning to her for guidance. She's also fiercely loyal and caring, and she tries her hardest every day in everything she does. This journey is going to be a difficult one, but I already know that she'll force herself to follow me if she has to. Even though she's still only a beginner, she risked her life on the battlefield today to find and try to protect me. Even after we were ambushed, I think she was the last one to pass out. Be proud of her."

Rachel nodded her head at her princess, wiping away tears that had come as she listened to the girl describe her younger sister. "I am, Your Highness."

Naminé smiled. "Good." She turned her head, and noticed that Kairi's hands were clasped around hers. "Can I ask a favour of you Kairi, and you Sora?"

Kairi's lips twitched up in a small smile. Even though her sister was hurt, it looked like Naminé would pull through fine, and her spirit hadn't been broken in the slightest. If anything, it looked like it had even grown stronger. "Of course."

"Anything you ask Naminé," added Sora. "Just say the word."

"Can you two go out and see to the other wounded?" Naminé asked. Sora and Kairi glanced at each other. "You don't have to hang around here looking sad because of me and Roxas and the others; we'll be fine. But there are others who'll need your help to pull through. Help the wounded, be strong for them and everyone else, and for yourselves; we can't allow ourselves to break now."

"You're right," Kairi said. "You're right. Of course we'll do it, Naminé. (She gave the blonde princess a hug) Just get better, okay?"

"I will," Naminé replied, returning the hug. Kairi pulled back, and she and Sora both stood. Naminé laughed faintly. "What? I don't get a hug Sora?" Everyone laughed quietly at Naminé's ribbing and Sora bent down and hugged the girl gently before he and Kairi left with Ninquemon and Luinmon following them.

Kisuke Urahara sighed. "Alright. I'll give them until tomorrow morning, then we head back." He looked up at Renji and Chad. "Abarai-san."

"Yeah, whaddya want?" Renji asked, looking up.

"I want you and Sado-kun to go back to my shop in the World of the Living," Kisuke said. "Your work is done here."

Chad grunted, but Renji snarled. "What are you talking about? I'll admit that I've done all I can for Riku, but Roxas—"

"Will not grow stronger fighting you," Riku answered before Urahara could say anything else.

"Huh?" Chad asked. "What are you saying Riku?"

The silver-haired Keyblade Master turned and surveyed the unconscious blond. "Roxas… is going to have to do this on his own," he said. "Even though you want to help him get stronger, he's not going to unless he makes himself stronger."

"Even I don't get what you're saying Silver," Lea said, folding his arms. "So you might want to clarify that."

"Look, Roxas is different from the rest of us," Riku said. "You can't teach him stuff unless you beat the lesson into him; and even then he won't get it sometimes. He's dumber than Sora that way. But right now he was just given a lesson that dealt a huge blow to his pride; I know that he didn't conk out until after he saw my face."

King Mickey nodded. "I think I know what you're getting at Riku. You're the only one who ever really beat Roxas before Maleficent came back, and I know that I've noticed how he and you are always picking fights. He was just fighting against one of Maleficent's Nobodies, and he could have equated Tismetrx to Renji's Bankai. But, unlike Sora, who overcame Xayn Shu; or you, who bested Hihiō Zabimaru; or even you Naminé, for holding your own against Xarcs even with the help of your friends; Roxas didn't rise towards that bar you'd already set."

"Exactly," Riku said. "If he wants to reach and go beyond the bar, he'll only be able to do it on his own."

"I knew that you liked him," Naminé said softly.

Riku blushed, glancing away from the injured princess. "It's not that," he said, shaking his head. "Roxas pushed me into using the darkness again; I'll never forgive him for that. So as soon as he wakes up, no matter how horrible he feels or how much he doesn't want to see me, I'm gonna let him know that I never want to see someone who isn't me kicking his butt again."

There were a few chuckles, and an unseen but nevertheless unfamiliar man slipped away from the open tent flap.

-A-D-

The day wore on slowly for both Sora and Kairi. They stayed together as they went through the camp, their eyes taking stock of the light damage that had been done to the buildings, or blasted into the ground. The two took Naminé's words to heart, especially Kairi, and they went to every bed that they could, healing magic flowing from their hands. The first hospital tent they went to became empty when they emerged fifteen minutes later, thirty-five people up and walking out behind them.

They weren't quite as lucky on their third tent, however. A woman was very badly wounded: five ribs were broken, there was a deep cut in one leg, and her left arm was broken in three places. The doctor who was there said that she was suffering from extensive internal bleeding, and that nothing short of a miracle would save her.

"Hopefully that's where we come in," Kairi said. She glanced at Sora and he nodded with a tiny smile. What they'd already seen was making his thoughts run around in his head about all the injuries he'd sustained fighting Heartless and the Organization, and how he'd somehow managed to survive all this time.

The doctor nodded his head and started to lead the way. "We have her on morphine to make her comfortable," he told them. "But it doesn't look good; she doesn't have much time left."

"What's morphine?" Ninquemon asked, bounding along behind Sora.

"It's a painkiller," his partner answered. "It dulls and blocks out pain. But it's really strong and can also make people get a little loopy." They reached the bed and stopped, looking over the patient. She was probably as little as five years older than them, Kairi guessed, in her early twenties at the least. The raven hair that grew out of her scalp had been undone from the bun it had been in, and was revealed to be as long as Kairi's, which was now getting to be beneath her shoulders since she hadn't gotten it cut in a while. The two sixteen-year-olds sat on the woman's right side, and the doctor moved back.

As if sensing that there were people sitting at her bedside, the woman opened her tawny eyes and looked at them. "Who is… (her eyes widened) Highness?"

"Shh…" Kairi said. "What's your name?"

The woman's voice was croaky and pretty weak. "Amber Kelsey," she answered. "I never thought that I would ever meet you, Your Highness."

"Please stop that," Kairi said, smiling softly and placing a hand on the woman's cheek. "Just call me Kairi; that's all anyone's called me for years."

"I can still remember seeing you on the SV with the King, Queen, and Prince years ago," Amber continued. Her eyes closed for a few seconds. "I'm going to die, aren't I, Your Highness?" She opened her eyes again, and her tawny eyes looked right into Kairi's indigo ones.

Kairi faltered for one brief second. Despite her weak voice, which betrayed nothing of fear, there was the tiniest of tremors in her eyes. "Not if we have anything to say about it," answered the Princess. She turned to Sora, and he nodded confidently and went to the other side. Both of their hands glowed with green light, and a wave of it washed over the woman in the form of peaceful, leafy vines.

Amber smiled, watching Kairi, and a small sigh escaped her. She closed her eyes, and her face became far more serene than it had a moment ago. "Thank you… Kairi."

"Huh?" Kairi asked, turning her head as beads of sweat formed on her forehead and melted into her hair. The green light of cure stopped flowing from her hands as she stared at Amber Kelsey's face.

Shock and horror slapped Kairi in the face when she noticed that the woman was no longer breathing.

Kairi slumped down, falling hard onto the seat of the chair. The entire universe seemed to come crashing down as she looked at that peaceful resting face, realizing that the tawny eyes hidden beneath those eyelids and eyelashes were never going to open again, that that chest was never going to rise and fall in rhythmic fashion, that her heart had beat its last.

They'd failed; she'd failed. The woman was dead, and sorrow and guilt of equal measure built up in Kairi's heart, and the sudden realization that she was now staring at a dead body turned Kairi's stomach for the worse. She looked around frantically for a second or two before finding and successfully grabbing a bedpan, with which her stomach was promptly emptied into while highly similar sounds were coming from Sora across the bed.

Wiping sick away from her mouth with a sleeve and gently placing the pan down between her feet, with nothing else to do, Kairi's head dropped and she started to cry. She didn't even realize that Sora's hands were clenched into fists across from her and that he was mirroring her actions.

"What have we done Sora?" Kairi asked, regaining a tiny amount of composure after two minutes, forcing bile back down once and being unable to twice during that period. "How many people are going to die or lose their hearts because of us?"

Sora raised his head after a few seconds, sniffing and wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Kairi?"

"We did this," Kairi told him, her voice almost begging him to tell her otherwise. "We did this, we started this. She wouldn't be dead if we hadn't asked for help. If we hadn't gotten everyone else involved, if we'd just kept quiet, if we'd…"

"We don't blame you."

Both Sora and Kairi looked up and towards the foot of the bed. There was a strange man standing there, with grey hair and a beige trench coat. He looked like he might've been forty or more, and was looking at the body of the deceased warrior.

"You're still very young," he said, "and naïve, Your Highness. You think that if you take the whole world on by yourselves, that nobody else will get hurt or involved. Well you're wrong about that. When you, Master Sora, defended us along with the Restoration Committee when Maleficent, her Heartless, and the Organization struck, it is true that many of us were afraid, but that fear only stemmed from our helplessness and inability to do anything to fight back! She died a proud death! Rather than sitting at home, huddled up in fear as her heart is being stolen from her or with Heartless running in the streets as before, she got the chance to take up arms and defend her home and her heart in service to her kingdom, her princess, and her own heart. If you lot hadn't called for help, she and others may still be alive, yes… but many other things would not be as they are now!"

Sora and Kairi stared at him, and Ninquemon and Luinmon bounced up into their partners' laps. "Who are you?" Ninquemon asked.

He waved his hand. "Bah, that's not important. I just have a question for you both, Your Highness, Master Sora: how are you doing?"

Kairi blinked, and she and Sora shared a look. Kairi glanced at the lifeless face of Amber Kelsey again before wiping away a sudden tear and looking at the man again. "Holding up, I guess."

He nodded curtly. "Thank you." He gave Kairi a small bow, and left the tent. Not long after, the two Keyblade Wielders left, unable to stay, and busied themselves with more of the wounded, thankfully finding people with only superficial injuries that were easily remedied.

-A-D-

The night came cold and snowy. The good weather that had held for the day faded away in the afternoon's last hours as winds from the east blew dark clouds overhead. The sky became a blanket of thick and heavy cloud, and the snow fell sharp and fast.

Kairi was glad for the castle's thick walls and the fireplace behind her as she and Sora cuddled under a heavy blanket, cold and exhausted from the day's work and activities. Riku was under the same blanket on Kairi's other side, and he had grimly listened quietly to them, mostly to Kairi, when they had told him what had happened while they had been out amongst the wounded. Tears had fallen from Kairi's eyes again while remembering the painful lesson and experience that had happened only hours ago.

Naminé and Roxas were still down at the camp, and Agatha had come back up to the castle at Naminé's behest to see to Kairi, Sora, and Riku in case they might need anything. As it was, they currently did not, and so she was waiting nearby by sitting on an armchair under a blanket of her own, her eyes on the screen of the SV.

"_Fancy tuna," said Mori-senpai, his face darkening and a bolt of blue lightning flaring out. Haruhi gasped, an image of delicious fancy tuna appearing and then disappearing in the bolt of lightning._

"_Oh, that's right," Tamaki said in a strange and creepy voice. "You didn't get the chance to eat any during last episode's party (he turned his head, and his face was the creepiest it could possibly be), did you?"_

Kairi really wanted to try to push that memory out of her head for the time being.

Agatha placed a finger to her chin. "You know," she said, wincing slightly at the movement, "Your Highness, I don't think I've told you yet."

"Huh?" Kairi asked, looking past Sora to see the servant. "Tell me what Agatha?"

"Well, right before I passed out earlier," Agatha answered, glancing down at the place on her left side where she'd been sliced. "It looked, almost as if there were Nobodies surrounding us."

"What?" Riku asked quickly, able to look over Kairi's head at the servant. "Nobodies? Are you sure?"

The blonde servant suddenly clammed up, glancing down and away.

"How come your face is red?" Luinmon asked, sitting with Ninquemon underneath another blanket that was spread over Sora, Kairi, and Riku's legs.

"No reason, and it's not red," Agatha answered hastily. "What would ever make you think that?"

"Because you're blushing quite obviously," Sora pointed out.

"Do you want to hear what I was saying or not?" asked the embarrassed servant.

"Fine, go ahead," Sora said, his voice now a bit less ribbing.

Agatha looked up and closed her eyes, as if remembering. "I think they were Nobodies. They were all silver anyway. There looked human, with masks on their heads and robes on their bodies. I think… I think I saw one of them with a katana."

"A katana?" Kairi asked, her eyes widening.

"Then those were the Samurai," Sora said. "But what would they be doing there?"

Riku dipped his head. "Hm… well, the Samurai Nobodies were the ones that Roxas controlled, right?" Sora pressed himself back into the couch to get a better look at Riku and nodded.

"But then again," Sora added, dipping into the memories he'd gotten from his other, "Roxas never did spend too much time ordering the Samurai around to do his fighting for him, only when he really needed the help."

"So why would they show up without him calling them?" Kairi asked, puzzled like the two boys flanking her under the blankets. Sora shrugged.

Ouran suddenly cut out, drawing their attention to the SV again as a black screen came up. A voice started to emanate from the speakers, sparking their curiosity. "We interrupt this sphere recording of an anime already in progress (the screen saying, _If you're wondering if we're powerful enough to do that, we just did._) to bring you this special live broadcast."

A man sitting at a round news desk appeared on the screen, and Sora, Kairi, Luinmon and Ninquemon stared at the man in shock for a few seconds even as he began to speak. It was the same man who had appeared in the tent.

"I don't have to tell you things are bad," he said. "Everybody knows things are bad. We're in a war. Everybody's worried about someone or scared of losing their heart. There's talk of rationing, life insurance is going up, worlds are coming under attack, Heartless are running wild outside of town and the politicians don't seem to know what to do and there's no end to it. We know the Heartless are out there and we know that the Nobodies are out there. We know that Maleficent's come back and we sit at home watching our SV's while some local newscaster tells us that today a training camp was attacked by surprise and that our own Princess Naminé and her suitor Sir Roxas were severely wounded as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad, worse than bad: they're crazy! It's like everything everywhere is going crazy so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house and slowly the world we live in is getting smaller as the Heartless become more and more real, and half the people are telling us to fight it and the other half are telling us to just ignore it and all we say is, "Please, leave it to those with Keyblades, they always handled everything before. Just keep me and my house and my family and my dog safe and I'll be happy, because they can do anything!" Well they can't do everything! We keep thinking of there being a hundred or more of them like there used to be, but that isn't true anymore, now there's only eight! There's only eight and six of them are just kids, even if one of them saved the universe a couple of times and two of them are our princesses. There's only eight and we're treating them like there's a hundred and they need help because they're only kids who don't have parents anymore and have the weight of the responsibility of the whole damn universe on their shoulders and they shouldn't have to suffer like sixteen-year-olds Princess Kairi and Master Sora did earlier today with having to fight and then having badly injured siblings and then having a twenty one-year-old woman in the prime of her young life die right in front of them while they were trying to heal her with no one around to tell them what to do or able to comfort them because they're all alone! So I'm not going to leave _you_ alone, I want you to get mad! Mad that these things are happening to these kids who should never have to deal with it. Now I don't want you to protest, I don't want you to riot, I'm not telling you to join the army or write to a Keyblade Wielder or Princess because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the war and the Heartless and Maleficent and the different worlds and the Chasers. All I know is that first, you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Light dammit! My life has VALUE! My heart is MY heart, and I'M the one who decides what to do with it!'"

He slowed, his voice becoming a big more measured, but still retaining his ranting vigour.

"So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now, and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the Heartless and the Keyblades and the Rights of Succession. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M _NOT_ GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!'"

The four youth and two digimon stared at the man on the screen as he continued to call out to the viewers to get out of their chairs, go to the window, open it, and stick their head out and yell, and keep yelling, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' for at least another minute before Sora gently moved Ninquemon off his lap and threw the blanket off of himself.

"Where are you going?" Kairi asked, pushing the blanket off her face. "Sora, I'm worried. Are you going to…?"

"No, I'm not going to Kairi," he answered. "I want to see if anyone's actually yelling." He strode right past the SV to the door of the balcony, and pulled it open.

Cold air flew into the room, forcing the others to pull the blankets closer and for Sora to immediately cringe backwards, shivering while whirling white snow blew inside and got caught in his hair. He was about to close it, overcome by the cold, when he stopped and cocked his head, taking a step outside even though he knew that he was only in sock feet and that his socks would get soaked and then his feet would get cold and wet.

"_I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."_

"Did you hear that?" he asked, turning around while his body shook from the cold.

"Hear what?" Kairi asked, her knees hunched up and huddled under the blankets with Riku.

"Come over here," Sora said, beckoning with a move of his head. Kairi stood up, and there was an awkward moment as she and Riku worked out wrapping the blankets around themselves and the two digimon before they shuffled over, Agatha just to Kairi's left. Sora's feet were starting to get pretty cold and wet, but he ignored it for a moment against the wind as he heard it again, louder this time.

"_I'm mad as hell; I'm not gonna take it anymore!"_

"Are they seriously…?" Kairi asked through a shiver, astounded as she heard it. Then it was repeated, again and again, louder each time as the whole city before the castle degraded into screaming yells of renditions of, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

"This is definitely something unexpected, Your Highness," Agatha said. Kairi soundlessly nodded her head.

Dawn appeared suddenly, walking right out of Riku without so much as even warning him. Strangely enough, in the middle of this blizzard she was not dressed in the white fur-lined coat and other winter gear she had recently been dressing herself in, but was instead in what Riku and Sora had first seen her: an almost dangerous looking yellow top, tight light-pink jean shorts, and white sandals. It certainly wasn't winter wear, but Dawn didn't seem to mind as her sandaled feet shuffled through the snow to take her right up to the railing.

"Dawn?" Riku asked of his Keyblade. "What are you—?"

"I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Dawn turned around after screaming out into the blizzarding night, smiling in relief. "Whew, that actually feels good. You should try it Rikums."

Sora nearly lost his footing as a laugh escaped his lips. "Rikums!"

Riku snarled and extracted himself from the blanket, so quickly that Kairi found herself without any blanket at all and in the shivering, snowy cold. Riku went right up to the rail, yelling while looking at Dawn for half of it, "I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Sora dove away after catching sight of Riku's funny grin when he turned around. Kairi glanced this way and that, hilarity at the absurdity and confusion at where Sora had gone at odds with one another. Then she ducked as music suddenly blared from the room, a very distinctive drum beat. Six seconds in, a voice was added to the drums.

"_We're not gonna take it.  
No! We ain't gonna take it.  
We're not gonna take it  
Anymore!"_

Sora came back to the balcony, Kairi forcing back laughs as he air-jammed to the guitar in the song. Riku and Dawn came back out and Agatha quickly closed the balcony doors. Sora started to groove to the music right in front of Kairi, and then he grabbed hold of her arms, making her move along with him and dance. It was very strange, but Sora suddenly had them all smiling widely and laughing as Kairi danced along with him.

Agatha glanced shyly at Riku, and he noticed her glance and returned it with an intrigued one. Dawn spotted it though, and she grabbed Riku by the arm and forced him to dance with her instead. Ninquemon and Luinmon were at a bit of a loss, but they bounced and rolled up and down with one another with huge innocent smiles on their faces.

"_Whoa…  
Whoa…_

_We're right (Yeah!)!  
We're free (Yeah!)!  
We'll fight (Yeah!)!  
You'll see!"_

"Dawn stop," Riku said, forcibly halting them from their dancing before they could knock into Sora and Kairi; there wasn't really _that_ much space in the den.

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

Riku took a breath. "You're a Keyblade spirit, she's a human girl," Riku said, nodding his head towards Agatha. "It's not polite to keep a girl who wants to dance from dancing."

Agatha blushed deeply and a fake smile came to her face as she started to wave her hand. "No, no, it's really alright Lord Riku. It's not my place and I really don't need—"

The younger, but taller, boy cut her off as he grabbed her hand and dragged her over. Sora and Kairi split up, and the seven formed as large a ring as they could, Sora and Kairi starting off by singing along with the chorus.

"_We're not gonna take it.  
No! We ain't gonna take it.  
We're not gonna take it  
Anymore!_

_We're not gonna take it.  
No! We ain't gonna take it.  
We're not gonna take it  
Anymore!"_

The yelling, not the Twisted Sister impromptu dance parties, wasn't happening only on Radiant Garden, as they later discovered. It was also happening in Disney Castle, and in Twilight Town, and in Destiny Islands. People all over were mad as hell…

And they weren't going to take it anymore.

-A-D-

_So that's it. A rather short chapter by my standards, and not completely useless, but it bridges the gap I ended up creating and so serves its purpose. Coming up next, some real KH themed stuff!_

_Right now I expect you to be listening to _We're Not Gonna Take It_ by Twisted Sister. If you aren't, I'll find you, and I'll make you listen to it, because it's a great song. Like _On The Loose_ by Saga, which is playing right now on a gigantic playlist I've got playing on shuffle._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	39. A Thorn in a Rose Garden

_Well, it's updating time again. And this time we, finally, get back to what made Kingdom Hearts Kingdom Hearts… DISNEY!_

_Disclaimer: It ain't mine._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter IXL: A Thorn in a Rose Garden

_1245hrs, Tuesday, November 11, 2003  
Mount Hirashi, Radiant Garden  
Lady Yuffie Kisaragi_

Soft gusts of wind rustled the thick branches of the spruce and pine trees blanketing the mountain's rocky slopes. The calls of winter birds that did not migrate to warmer climates echoed through the forest, carried further by the wind and reaching the ear of an eighteen-year-old girl. Short raven hair sprouted from her head, a black headband with white edges wrapped underneath on her forehead. Dark brown eyes were veiled by her eyelids as she sat cross-legged in a vest, black sleeveless and shoulderless shirt with a monochrome floral design, beige shorts with external pouches attached by a belt, and nearly knee-high boots with thick black stockings that went beyond her kneecaps. On her left arm was a pink band around her upper arm, and her forearm was covered by a black and white sleeve, while on her right wrist there was a nondescript white cloth bracer, and both her hands had black fingerless gloves on. Draped across her neck hung a blue crystal on a finely woven golden string.

Yuffie Kisaragi sat in silence on a green blanket laid over the frozen forest ground, the snow that had been beneath already cleared away by her or melted. Some distance behind her was a simple green tent in the shape of a triangular prism, and the look of a small camp with a fire pit and a few lines strung up between trees, various objects hanging from the lines.

Suddenly Yuffie's eyes snapped open and she sprang into the air. She twisted around, a flash of light appearing in her right hand as a Keyblade that resembled her previously customary oversized shuriken appeared. Its hilt was circular, and every ninety degrees a short black dagger came out of the side. One of the two that was in line with the grip that Yuffie's hand clutched onto was far longer than any of the others, but on its black sides it was decorated with four small splashes of colour in the form of blooming purple flowers. Near the end of the blade the shape of a smaller shuriken jutted out, one of its points a part of the sword's blade, the other three out in the air. On the opposite side, the black dagger that formed the pommel had a small silver chain attached to its point, and from that chain dangled a desert flower in full bloom.

She didn't even glance down to know that there were now three kunai embedded in the blanket right where she had been sitting.

Flower of Wutai darted out in three lightning-quick strokes in front of her, a _clang_ coming after each one as a metal projectile was deflected out of its intended path. At the same time, Yuffie's left hand delved into one of her pouches. She spun around in the air, withdrawing her hand and letting the three shuriken she had grasped between her knuckles fly. Three sparks appeared in the air as the tiny black throwing stars struck against three identical ones coming at her from out of the trees.

Her hand flew through a quick sign and Yuffie vanished in a puff of black smoke to reappear almost instantly in another puff on the blanket beneath her. There was another loud _clang_ as someone flew out of the trees at her, a falling blade stopping against a slightly curved dagger that had no guard. A shining white blade and a golden grip was grasped backhandedly and firmly in Yuffie's left hand, the dagger that kept her enemy's blade at bay. The raven-haired kunoichi glanced to her left, her legs bent slightly and braced to hold off the assault of her attacker from behind, and her lips had formed a thin smile at the sight of her stopped opponent.

It was herself, a duplicate Flower of Wutai blocked by Yuffie's dagger.

Yuffie twisted around, striking out at the attacking Yuffie with her own Flower of Wutai, and succeeding in slashing the other Yuffie right across the ribs. That one gave a small 'oh' of surprise before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke. Yuffie turned around again, raising Flower of Wutai up in a slash that sent another Flower of Wutai that had been spinning towards her off on a different course while letting her dagger fly from underneath her right arm. Another Yuffie was streaking out from the trees, but Yuffie's dagger took her right in the gut and she stopped in midair, turning into a puff of black smoke as the white dagger with the golden grip dropped to the ground.

Both of Yuffie's hands went to Flower of Wutai and she leapt high into the air as ten more Yuffies emerged from their hiding places in the woods, converging on the spot where she had been a moment ago. She twisted around in the air, parrying the falling fake Keyblade of another Yuffie that had laid in wait for her to jump. Another quick strike drove the other Flower of Wutai up high, and Yuffie cut the other Yuffie across the chest, disintegrating her into a puff of black smoke, before landing on a tree branch. The spruce needles scratched at her bare arms and her hot breath steamed in the cold air.

_Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_

Yuffie stopped, staring down at her campsite at where her communicator was ringing. The other Yuffies stopped beneath her and stared at the communicator as well. "Hey!" one of them yelled. "Aren't you gonna get that?"

"Who the heck would be calling me in the middle of the day?" Yuffie asked the other Yuffie. "Riku calls me every night, but that's not his ringtone either."

_Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_ _Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_

"Soo…" another of Yuffie's shadow clones began, placing her free left hand on her hip and flicking her hazel eyes up at the original, "we're ignoring it?"

"Heck yeah we're ignoring it," Yuffie answered.

"But it's _so_ annoying!" pouted another shadow clone.

_Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_ _Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_

Yuffie growled, frustrated, and black energy welled up in Flower of Wutai as Yuffie wound it up behind her. "Night Flyer!" she screeched, swinging the blade out in front of her for the shadow clones on the ground. What looked like a bat's wing flew out from her Keyblade and struck the shadow clones, instantly breaking apart into a cloud of hundreds of shadows like tiny bats. They flew around the shadow clones, some of them latching onto them, others hovering above, around, or otherwise nearby. Within moments each one of the shadows self detonated, expanding and contracting the cloud as their intense energy was released one after the other in a chain reaction of tiny detonations. When the cloud cleared, every shadow clone was gone.

_Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_ _Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!_

Yuffie turned and jumped, somersaulting through the air to land right in front of the stump she had placed the communicator on. Her face was wild and angry as she snatched up the device, turned it on, and yelled "WHAT!"

Yuffie blinked, seeing several different images on the screen of the communicator. One of which had a man with brown skin and an enormous grey moustache and bushy eyebrows, the top and back of his head and neck covered in a purple skin-tight rubber coif while his chest and the rest of his body was dressed in the white, green, gold and purple of Space Ranger armour. Behind him she could see Sora, Kairi with their digimon, and… Aladdin and Jasmine?

The kunoichi turned her head the other way, and she spotted Riku and Naminé on the other image. She smiled. "Hey Riku, I miss you."

"Miss you too Yuffie," Riku replied, smiling and sighing slightly.

The brown man cleared his throat and Yuffie turned to look at him again. She frowned for a second before her hazel eyes brightened. "Hey I remember you! You're that Commander Dracula guy from Star Command. I still don't think you look like the count though."

She almost swore she saw a vein throbbing in his forehead while laughs left the others. "That's Commander _Nebula_, Miss Kisaragi."

"Hey! That's _Lady_ Kisaragi to you, mister vampire impersonator!"

"I'm not from Radiant Garden; I don't regard you as nobility," Commander Nebula answered sharply. He huffed. "Now that you're all accounted for, expect for Roxas since he went AWOL and none of you say that you know where he went, I can ask you the question that's been bugging me for several days now. Just which one of you was the _idiot_ who let people videotape you on Destiny Islands!"

Yuffie blinked again. "Huh? What?"

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, glancing at Kairi, and then at the screens that he could see of Yuffie, Riku, and Naminé, and then back to Commander Nebula. The Commander pressed a button, and another screen flickered to life in front of Yuffie.

"_Annie are you okay?  
Will you tell us, are you okay?  
There's a sign in the window,  
That he struck you,  
A crescendo Annie!  
He came into your apartment,  
He left the bloodstains, on the carpet.  
Then you ran into the bedroom,  
You were struck down, it was your doom."_

Yuffie was stunned, watching a piece of the karaoke work that the boys had done in their finale to win the boys vs. girls karaoke contest. Her eyes took considerable note of Riku in the clip, and then Commander Nebula clicked a button again, and the scene switched to when the girls were on the stage in the final moments of _Butterfly_ by .

"How did you get those?" Riku asked.

"They're all over YouTube!" Commander Nebula retorted. "Half of my staff are talking about it and the Entertainment sections of newspapers have at least two or three articles a day about them. There are reporters two floors beneath us who want comments from me and from _you _about them! So I ask again, which one of you was the idiot who allowed people to tape you doing something so outrageous and then post it online?"

"Axel! Er, Lea!" Sora said, not going so far as to blame Roxas but to instead blame one of the other people who wasn't present. It might have worked, if at the same moment Kairi hadn't blurted out "Yuna!", Naminé hadn't said "Selphie!", Yuffie hadn't shouted "Tidus!", and Riku hadn't added "Roxas!"

"Then you're all to blame then," sighed Commander Nebula as he groaned and passed a hand over his head. "Well, I didn't only summon you here to chastise you on that foolish karaoke concert you had, otherwise Aladdin and Jasmine wouldn't be here with you."

"Yes," Jasmine said slowly, "I am wondering about that."

Commander Nebula nodded his head. "Something's come up," he told them. "Since that raid on Radiant Garden nine days ago it looks as if Maleficent is becoming a bit more active. Prince Alain sent a message yesterday over the communicator we gave him and Belle, and it seems that Heartless have started to reappear around his castle. I would like for you four: Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, Master Sora and Princess Kairi, and your digimon of course," he added, almost as an afterthought, "to check it out."

"Why us?" Menelmon asked.

"Well… I'll be frank," Commander Nebula started.

"Okay Frank, and I'll be Aiwemon," Aiwemon quipped. "But what does your name have to do with why we're the ones going?"

Sora grinned and chuckled, rubbing the head of his partner with a finger as the bird sat on his shoulder. "It's just an expression Aiwë. It means that he's going to be forward with us, or blunt."

Aiwemon's green eyes widened in sudden understanding and he looked at Commander Nebula. "Oh…" He glanced back at Sora. "So his name isn't Frank?"

Sora blinked. "Uh, I don't know. Is it?"

Commander Nebula groaned. "That information is not for you to know," he said to them. "Now then, as I was saying, I feel that it is best for you four, six, to go and help Prince Alain and Belle, because you, Sora, have had the closest relationship to the Prince, and I simply believe that of all the Princesses of Heart the ones who are most able to readily accept battle are yourself Princess Jasmine, Belle, perhaps Alice and Cinderella, and, of course, you and your sister Kairi."

"Why do you say that?" Naminé asked. "I'd say you might be sounding a bit sexist there."

Commander Nebula groaned. "Forgive the lewdness of how I'm about to put this, but there are essentially two types of Princesses that all are derived from. On one hand you have the kind that wear the pretty dresses and gowns with the big pointy hats, waiting patiently in their towers for the hero to come rescue them or to bring them the slain dragon's head, who lie on their backs on their wedding nights with their eyes closed like good and proper ladies and bear children until they die of exhaustion or boredom or some combination of them. Then on the other hand you have the kind that proudly wear mail and leather and ride out in the mud and rain to slay the dragon themselves, who march right up to the hero and kiss him fiercely on the lips without waiting for him, who scream out in the throes of passion as they hook their legs around his waist in camp beds far from safe warm castles and who die on the field of battle covered in gore and blood that is as much their own as their enemies'."

Commander Nebula looked at Kairi, and then at Jasmine, and then at the image of Naminé, and said, smiling and nodding a finger at them, "You three, and Belle, are much closer to that second type than the first. Cinderella to me seems a drifter, favouring the first side a little more than the second, and Alice is too young and adventurous to get a grasp on where she is, but Aurora and Snow White are definitely of the first stock."

Sora leaned towards Kairi. "He's giving me ideas," he whispered.

Kairi playfully shoved his shoulder. "Noo…" she whispered back. "However, that doesn't mean that we can't… _explore_ a little of that territory when we get back."

"I can't argue with that," Aladdin said proudly, not noticing the whispers of Sora and Kairi and placing an arm around Jasmine's shoulders and beaming at her. "Jasmine's a fighter; she did great against those Heartless back in The Great Barrier Reef."

The Arabian Princess' cheeks darkened slightly, and probably more than a little bit because of what the Commander had said. "Oh Aladdin, you don't have to say that."

"Why not?" Aladdin asked. "It's true, and you've been getting better and better since."

"That's great," Kairi said, smirking. "Now it's more than just me and Naminé showing-up the boys."

"Hey what about me!" Yuffie asked. "I can kick their butts too!"

"When was the last time you and Leon were able to beat me, Donald, and Goofy in the tournaments on Olympus Coliseum Yuffie?" Sora asked her, smiling and reclining in his chair, his arms going behind his head in a confident Sora gesture.

The kunoichi's cheeks flushed, and she started to splutter until some articulate words finally came out. "You're going down next time porcupine-head!"

"I'll be looking forward to it," Sora replied, grinning cheekily and giving Yuffie a thumbs-up.

"That reminds me," Commander Nebula said slowly. "There's another tournament on Olympus Coliseum coming up on the weekend from the 28th to the 30th. Philocetes is promising it to be the biggest and best one yet, with a grand prize for the winner. You might want to think about entering."

Sora's eyes brightened. Another tournament huh? "Well call me a lioness' uncle, sign me up!"

"And me!" Yuffie said. "You're going to go down hard this time Sora! Just you wait."

"While you're at it, sign me, Riku, and Roxas up as well," Naminé said. "I think we'd all like to be in too."

"And me," Kairi said, smiling at Sora. "After all you've told me about those tournaments I want a chance for a trophy."

Sora smiled. "How about we just swing by and talk to Phil when we're done with the Heartless at Alain's castle?" he asked. Kairi nodded. "Then it's settled then," Sora said definitely, "to all of the New Chasers, Olympus Coliseum tournaments here we come."

Commander Nebula smiled and chuckled, dipping his head slightly. "Very well, but I suggest that you get to your ships and go to help the Prince and Princess Belle."

"Right," Sora, Kairi, the digimon, Aladdin, and Jasmine said. All of them stood and turned to leave.

"Good luck guys," Riku said.

"Oh wait!" Naminé called. The six stopped, and all of them looked at Naminé's face on the screen. "Kairi, I heard from Riku that you three had been watching Ouran High School Host Club, and that started to make we want to watch some of it again. But when I went into my room to get the spheres, they were gone. You wouldn't happen to know where—?"

"Not a clue Naminé!" Kairi said, smiling and grabbing hold of Sora's arm. "Come on Sora, let's get to the ship."

Menelmon glanced at her partner's face in confusion. "But Kairi, we were just watching—"

"Hush up Menelmon…"

Yuffie looked at Naminé's grimacing face on her communicator as Sora and Kairi vanished with their digimon. "They so swiped them."

"Tell me something I don't know," Naminé replied.

"I should've brought Kairi here with me," Yuffie thought aloud. "She'd make a great ninja."

"Don't give her any ideas," Riku said. "She's already ninja enough by being herself. We don't need Kairi to become a _real_ ninja too." He grinned. "That's what you're for."

"Aw…" Yuffie cooed. "Still, what are they watching them on though?"

"I have a feeling that Sora swiped Roxas' portable sphere player," Riku answered. "And that their skilful acquiring of these objects was a planned move."

"Because it wasn't just Ouran that went missing," Naminé muttered.

Riku glanced at Naminé. "You know, if he's getting angry just because of a Youtube video of us all doing karaoke, doesn't that remind you of the time DiZ almost blew a gasket because of iTunes?"

"You're right, it does Riku."

"I'm not angry because of YouTube," Commander Nebula said. "It's because I don't want to deal with all the paperwork and reporters that come with you all acting like a bunch of teenage hooligans."

"But we are teenage hooligans!" Riku answered, feigning offence.

"What was that about DiZ and iTunes?" Yuffie asked, noticing that Naminé had placed a hand to her lips and started to giggle with closed eyes.

"Okay," Riku began, turning to look at his girlfriend's image on the communicator that he and Naminé were currently sharing. "So one day while Naminé was working on fixing Sora's memories she suddenly got really fed up and said that she'd had enough, and then left the mansion."

"It's because his memories were being a real pain that day," Naminé answered, scowling slightly at the memory. "Nothing wanted to work for me, so I got fed up and frustrated."

Riku poked her shoulder. "Hey! I'm telling the story. So DiZ sends me off after Naminé, and as it turned out she had gone into town for a bit of stress relief."

Yuffie smirked. "Let me guess, shopping right?"

"Darn tooting!" Naminé replied, giggling afterwards at her own choice of words.

"So of course, since I didn't really want to make too much of a scene, draping Naminé over my shoulder and dragging her kicking and screaming back to the mansion, I ended up spending the day shopping with her and carrying her bags, like a good dog. Anyway, one of the things that Naminé bought on her self-proclaimed day off was an iPod, not just an mp3 player. And, of course, when it's an iPod, you've got to install iTunes because Apple's run by a bunch of people who don't like Windows and you can't synch to an iPod with Windows Media Player because it's a freaking iPod. Anyway, DiZ wasn't too happy when we got back to begin with, but after we got iTunes on, it apparently kept popping up on him three or even four times a day asking him to update. Once it even popped up right when he was about to beat the computer in chess, he really was that time! But, in his irritation at the updater, he closed both it _and_ his chess game!"

"Ouch," Yuffie said.

"He swore that he was going to get rid of it," Naminé started. "He swore that iTunes would be defeated, deleted, and uninstalled. But I threatened him that if he was going to uninstall it that I would simply stop working on Sora, or reinstall iTunes all over again. It actually went like that for a bit over a week before he finally stopped. That's right, I, Naminé, the good-for-nothing Memory Witch, defeated Ansem the Wise through iTunes!"

"DiZ really almost blew a gasket because of that silly little program," Riku chuckled. He looked at Naminé again. "Hey, where did that iPod of yours go anyway?"

"You know, it's probably still in my room in the mansion," Naminé said, realizing that. Her face brightened. "We should go get it!"

"And ditch training again?" Riku asked. "It's not like it's just Ur now Naminé. It's also the King _and_ Master Yen Sid. Do you know how much trouble we'd get in if we ditched for a silly little iPod?"

"It's NOT just a silly little iPod Riku, it's MY iPod!" Naminé retorted. She started to whine. "I want my music back!"

Riku groaned and placed his head in his hand. Yuffie shook her head, a slight smile at the situation her boyfriend had found himself in. "Bummer. Well, talk to you later, it's back to training for me. I'll be waiting Riku. Good luck on that iPod." She winked. He chuckled weakly and nodded his head, and Yuffie turned off the communicator.

She placed the device back down, and her hands went through a quick series of motions. She pulsed with sudden energy. "Shadow Clone Jitsu!" Fifteen Yuffie clones appeared around her, and Flower of Wutai flashed into Yuffie's hands. "Now then, where were we?"

-A-D-

"You're not serious," Kairi said, having stopped for a second before quickly catching up to Sora. "You want me to—?"

"Fly? Yes," Sora answered, turning back to look at her with a smile on his face. They'd avoided the reporters that Nebula had been talking about and were now in the hangar where they'd found that the _Highwind_ was docked, and he'd just caught sight of his old ship. He was more than a little nervous at letting Kairi behind the wheel of his baby, he actually thought of the _Highwind_ as such, which only made him swell further with pride at what he and the ship had been through together, but…

He turned around fully, walking backwards. "_You_ need to learn how to fly these," he told her. "And since _I_ made the portal to get us here, thanks to your teaching, _you're_ going to be the one to fly us out and I'll be teaching you."

"Wak!" a different voice said in a throaty quack. "_You'll _be teaching her? Nu-uh! _I'll _be the one doing that!"

Sora tripped over his own feet as he took another backwards step and fell down in a heap. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and looked up with an even wider smile on his face. "Donald! Goofy!"

"Ahyuk, howdy Sora," Goofy said, raising his white-gloved hand and smiling. Sora nodded his head before he suddenly scowled slightly and jumped back onto his feet.

"What do mean Donald?" he asked. "Why do you have to be the one to teach Kairi how to fly a gummi ship?"

"Because I say so," Donald told him, "that's why!"

"That's lame Donald," Sora retorted. "Besides, you taught me, and I'm now a better pilot than you anyway."

"That doesn't mean you can teach her," answered Donald, folding his arms. "Do you remember what happened the first time you were behind the wheel of this thing?"

"Don't call her a 'thing'," Sora told the duck. "She's the _Highwind,_ and I was magnificent the first time I flew her."

Donald brought his hands up in front of his head in frustration. "You crashed us into a jungle ya big palooka!"

"Nobody got hurt, and she didn't even take a scratch."

"That doesn't matter!"

Kairi tentatively raised her hand. "Um, guys…?"

"What?" Donald and Sora both asked, turning away from each other as the memory of that incident steamed in their minds.

"Could I just, maybe, _not_, fly the ship," Kairi asked, "please?"

"NO!" they both answered. "You're getting your wings today!" Kairi sighed as the Keyblade Master and court magician both walked up the ramp and into the _Highwind_, still bickering about who would be the one to tutor Kairi in piloting, and leaving the poor princess alone with Goofy, Menelmon, and Aiwemon.

"Aw don't worry Kairi," Goofy told her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "those two always get like that when it comes to flying the _Highwind_. If you're anything like Sora you'll be fine and be flyin' in no time."

"But… Sora crashed the ship his first time," Kairi said worriedly, her eyes wider in fright. "I don't want to crash the ship."

"Gawrsh, Sora and Donald were fighting over the wheel then," Goofy admitted, shrugging. "It couldn't 'ave been helped. And like Sora said, nobody got hurt and the ship was fine, ahyuk!"

"Strangely," Kairi began, "I'm still not comforted." Goofy just chuckled and led her in, Kairi dreading that every step she took would be her last on solid ground, even though she was in a gigantic space station and not on terra firma.

-A-D-

Kairi didn't care that dirt covered her lips. She kissed and kissed and kissed the beautifully solid ground moments after landing the _Highwind_. The ground tasted like dirt, it smelled like dirt, it felt like dirt, and…

Kairi was only doing it because Sora and Donald were watching her. Actually, both of them were looking a little pale and woozy.

Kairi had flown the ship better than Sora had the first time that he had flown the _Highwind_, something that Donald was quick to pick up on and point out, and that had made the auburn-haired princess quite proud of herself. Then she reminded herself that the first time Sora had the wheel he and Donald had been fighting over it and the _Highwind_ had crashed into Deep Jungle, so no matter how horrible she actually was at flying, so long as she didn't crash she had done better than Sora. But then the Heartless had shown up, and there was no time for her to switch out with Sora and allow the far more experience pilot, who also had a bit of a knack for dog fighting, to handle it.

Fortunately Aladdin and Jasmine had been there in the _Sultan_ to help out.

Unfortunately Aladdin and Jasmine had zero gummi ship combat experience.

Fortunately Genie zapped all the Heartless ships to oblivion before things got too dicey.

Fortunately they had been close to their destination when it had happened.

Fortunately Kairi had been able to keep her cool long enough to land the _Highwind_.

Unfortunately her cool wasn't as cool as it should have been, and in an adrenaline-crazed semi-panic-mode rush Kairi landed the _Highwind _in the woods some distance away from the castle.

It meant that they had some walking to do.

It also meant that Kairi had scratched some of the paint on the _Highwind_'s hull when her decent, but clearly not perfect, job at landing the ship had ripped and gouged boughs right off of leafless trees.

Kairi wasn't about to tell Sora that'd she'd messed up the ship's new coat of paint.

"Kairi did great for her first time," Jiminy remarked, popping out and standing on Sora's shoulder, "don't you think Sora?"

"Better than you," Donald sniggered before Sora could say anything.

"Your landings could be better though," Sora critiqued, placing a hand on his stomach. "But apart from that, you did do pretty good; you were mostly stable the whole way." Kairi blushed slightly as she got up, as much from the possibly miss-interpreted praise as from the giggle that came from the look on her boyfriend's face, and suggested that they might want to get going.

"Okay," Menelmon said, nodding her head. "I think I saw the castle in that direction."

They all agreed, and Menelmon led the way, because if Sora had led the way like he'd wanted to then they would have gotten lost and turned around. Kairi also made sure that they left in the direction Menelmon had pointed as soon as possible so that her boyfriend wouldn't notice the scratches on the ship.

-A-D-

It took about an hour for them to reach the stone bridge that crossed the chasm the castle was built upon, thirty minutes to get to the road that led to it, but before they made it there their legs had already started to go into running mode and weapons had gotten into the hands of the four people. Sounds of battle had drifted to them out from beyond the trees, and they realized that Commander Nebula had been right when he'd said that the prince had called because of Heartless.

They sped out from the trees, and noticed that the gates were closed and Heartless were beyond them in the courtyard. Before they could take more than a dozen paces across the bridge though, numerous swirls of darkness surrounded them.

"What were the odds that Heartless would be here as soon as we showed up?" Donald asked, glaring at a Lance Soldier that dropped onto the ground.

"About 1:1," Sora answered, "going by our track record that is." He dropped into his fighting stance with Remembrance in two hands, Donald and Goofy flanking him.

"Sounds about right," Donald replied.

"Well with Kairi and me, the record dropped to around one in four," Sora continued, "maybe one in five. The Heartless don't seem to jump us as much when it's just us."

"They probably knew that they'd get owned and played sick," Kairi answered, covering the rear of the trio of adventuring comrades that had saved the worlds twice with Aiwemon and Menelmon on either side of her.

"Well I pity you," Donald mumbled, a slight grin coming to his billed face, "you didn't get to have much fun then."

"Gawrsh," Goofy started, "I think they had enough fun of their own anyway Donald."

"Yeah," Kairi answered sarcastically, "finding yourself suddenly jammed into a corset four miles from the nearest town is _oodles_ of fun."

"At least there's never a dull moment," Sora added, his smile reappearing before it degraded into a scowl as he glanced around at the Lance Soldiers, Hook Bats, and three Large Bodies that were surrounding them. He eyed one Large Body in particular, and then Sora suddenly vanished from where he was standing.

"I've always wanted to do this," Sora whispered, now _behind_ the Large Body after his Flash Step. Remembrance tore down into the Heartless' purple back, silver light spilling out along Remembrance's sides as it carved through the darkness that made up the Large Body. It dropped to its knees and fell forward onto its rotund belly and burst apart in a cloud of darkness, its released crystalline heart rising into the sky. "That's for your type ramming me so many times, you good-for-nothing lummox!" he shouted at the heart. It vanished in a flash of light.

Sora jumped backwards, away from the cursed lance of one of the Heartless covered in their clacking bronze armour, and a fireball careened out of Donald's staff and struck the Lance Soldier in the chest. It stumbled a step backwards as it lunged out at Sora with its lance again, but this time Sora didn't dodge outright and swept Remembrance up in an arc, parrying the lance up and away. He shifted his swing a little, so that right after the lance was spearing the air to the left of his head his Keyblade was cutting a path through the Heartless' shoulders.

"Flames that rise from the ashes and fly into the sky," Kairi began, "become my weapon and my blade. Flame Style 8: Burning Match!" She flicked Crowning Flame out to her side, and small burning embers flickered in and out of existence around her blade, appearing only fleetingly, but burning brightly for their short duration. She ducked underneath a lance that leapt towards her, and Kairi scratched the Keyblade on the stone beneath the Lance Soldier. The embers that danced around Crowning Flame flared before vanishing, and the Heartless' body suddenly erupted in bright red flames, and was nothing more than ash in seven seconds. Kairi smirked as she watched it burn, her hands coming together in her crouch and beginning to glow with white light. "Flash Arrow!" she cried, flinging her left palm out towards the Large Body on her side. An arrow of bright white light flew from her hand and dug into the Heartless, stopping its jump in midair. The Large Body hovered for a second before beams of light started to streak out of it as the arrow detonated deep within, making it look like it was filled with holes of light. It then exploded into darkness in a flash of white light, only the stolen heart remaining.

Kairi twisted around, ducking underneath the stroke of another Lance Soldier, and she batted the lance away twice with her Keyblade before sinking the tip of Crowning Flame into the Heartless' chest. A thunderbolt from Donald's staff struck it in the head less than a second afterwards.

Goofy held his shield up, blocking the lance of one of the Lance Soldiers as it caught hold of the bobbing weapon it was constantly at odds with and started to spin around in a wild circle. The lance struck Goofy's shield three more times before the whirling Heartless became too dizzy and let go. The Captain of Disney Castle's guard let his shield fly, the weapon spinning around and bashing the Heartless several times in its helmeted head. The shield flew back to Goofy, and the Goof rushed forward, bashing the Heartless one more time in the head for good measure, and the creature succumbed to darkness. The Goof then started to spin around the battlefield himself, and his shield tore through the other Lance Soldiers.

"Keen Sight!" Aiwemon yelled, his green eyes glowing a violent electric blue moments before two beams of the same colour shot out of them. They struck a Hook Bat dead on, and the Heartless burst apart into a dark cloud.

"Ice Feathers!" Menelmon shrieked, rapidly flapping her wings. Blue feathers with their tips laced in sharp ice flew out from her wings, impaling more of the Hook Bats as more beams of blue light left Aiwemon's eyes. Thunderbolts fell from the sky, fires erupted out of thin air and the stone bridge was filled with the sounds of shouts, clashing metal, and the occasional laugh.

A minute later the six of them were on their way to the gate again, all of the Heartless that jumped them gone without causing so much as a scratch against them. The sounds of fighting that they had originally heard were gone, and there were figures by the gate at the end of the causeway.

"Wow Kairi," Donald said, looking up at her, "you really _have_ gotten good."

The princess smiled. "Thanks Donald," she said, running a hand through her hair. "That means a lot."

"You might even be better than Sora," Donald added, glancing at his old travelling companion.

Sora chuckled and Kairi giggled slightly herself. "No," she replied, poking Sora in the back, "_this_ guy's still got some new tricks that he hasn't showed you yet."

"Keys has sure made training interesting these past few days," Menelmon said.

They got close enough to the gate to recognize the figures standing behind it, and the gates started to open up. "Heeeeyy!" Sora called, raising a hand and waving as several people walked out.

A puff of blue smoke appeared in the air directly in front of them, and Sora suddenly found himself wrapped up in a big blue hug. "SORA!" Genie exclaimed excitedly. "It's been eons! You really took your time!"

"Genie…" Sora forced out, struggling against the crushing hug, "it's only been a couple hours."

"I know! But a couple hours wondering where you, Goofy, and feather-brain were felt like an eternity! Wait, am I being a pest, just a big blue pest?"

"Maybe just a little," Sora gasped. Genie lessened the hug and put Sora down. The Keyblade master gingerly went over his right arm with his automail left one, and then glanced at the veiled metal limb, hoping that Genie hadn't put too much strain on it.

"I'm so glad you could all come," another voice said, and this time Sora looked up, smiling at the owner. She looked different, wearing a blue shirt and long purple skirt underneath a shining steel breastplate adorned with three fleur-de-lis, a couple of simple, round, shoulder plates, and a long halberd in her right hand, but Belle's face was still Belle's, and there was a welcoming smile on it. "Alain and I were wondering who Nebula would send, especially with winter so close, but I didn't think…"

"You thought we'd say no?" Kairi asked, looking up at the castle's roof, "Just because of a little snow and cold wind?"

"Come on Belle," Goofy said, "you know us better, ahyuk."

She giggled a little and the halberd in her hand disappeared. "Yes, I do. Come, let's go inside and stay warm. We have some catching up to do." They all nodded, and Belle led them back through the high gates. The heavy wooden doors swung closed behind, and Sora and Kairi glanced around the sunny courtyard. There was some snow on the ground, but not much. The snow that had fallen was like icing sugar that dusted the tips of the grass and the leaves that were yet to fall off the plants and bushes and the branches of the slender, naked trees. Several rose bushes were left alone, sheltered by overhangs, but that wouldn't last too much longer. Their prickly thorns were already frosty.

All the same, it looked nice and peaceful, despite that a battle had just recently been fought close by.

The doors opened up as they were heading towards them, and an obviously preoccupied Prince Alain came striding out. His beautiful reddish-brown hair was stained with sweat, the white shirt he wore clung to his skin, with the undone buttons showing a little of his toned and hairy chest, and his nice shoes made nice noises on the stone beneath his black pants. The blue eyes that Sora recognized as formally belonging to the Beast found Belle instantly, and he took no notice of the others as his right hand left the handle of a rapier strapped to his waist.

"The inside's clear," he said, "for now. Cogsworth got worried in a real hurry, so I checked every room. Not a Heartless in sight inside anymore. How about out here?"

"We're fine out here now," Belle answered, smiling. "The cavalry's arrived."

"Caval—" Prince Alain started, confused, before his eyes swept over those who were with his wife. His face broke into a huge smile and he started to laugh, a growly, booming chuckle that reminded Sora quite a lot of the Beast that he had been. "I knew that you'd come," he said, clapping Sora on the shoulder. "Now we can deal with the Heartless."

"I certainly hope so," Sora replied, smiling. "How you been, Prince?"

"Pretty well, considering," Alain answered, entering the castle and steering Sora along with him. "The Heartless only started showing up again a few days ago, and it surprised me because you and Kairi already sealed the Keyhole here back after the fight with that Nixion that broke up the ball we were hosting."

"Well," Donald muttered, "they've been acting up recently."

"So it seems," Jasmine said, shaking her head slowly. "They've even been appearing in Agrabah again recently, but nothing too serious for us and the guards to handle."

"And Maleficent's flunkies launched a raid on Radiant Garden just over a week ago," Kairi added. "We fought them off but—" her voice caught in her throat for a second, and she shook her head. "It wasn't pretty."

"I'm just worried about the town," Alain said. "The Heartless that come to the castle aren't much of a problem, but Belle and I can't handle both the castle and the town at the same time and look for the root of our problem."

"The root?" Genie asked.

"We sealed the Keyhole," Sora said. "So that mean…"

"There must be somebody here bringing the Heartless to this world and controlling them," Goofy said.

"Or someone's fallen far enough into darkness to control the Heartless himself," Kairi speculated.

"Either way," Prince Alain said, the group now coming into a room in the west wing of the castle that he and Belle used as a den, "we've been too busy keeping the castle clear to investigate. That's why we called for help." A small dog with a shaggy mane of sandy fur yelped and rushed up, yipping excitedly and plopping down in front of the prince and Sora, his stubby tail wagging rapidly and his tongue lolling out as he panted rapidly. The display was too much and Sora bent down, scratching the dog behind the ears.

"Want to help?" Belle asked, bending down near Sora as he switched the positions of his hands so that he could scratch beneath the neck.

"Like we're gonna say no?" Donald asked, scrambling into a soft armchair. "Ah…" he moaned, "reminds me of home."

"Hey," Prince Alain said, taking a poke at the duck. "You're in my chair."

"Ah phooey," grumbled the court magician, getting out of the chair. Abu chattered something from Aladdin's shoulder, at which the street rat merely chuckled.

"If we're going to check out the town," Kairi began, "shouldn't we leave now?"

"It'll be best if we leave in the morning," Belle answered, shaking her head slowly and standing up to look at Kairi. "It's an hour's ride and it'll be dark soon. The wolves become braver at this time of year, so I wouldn't like to be caught in the woods at night."

"So then," Sora asked, making a great effort to look up from the puppy, "who'll be going into town?"

"I know that I will be," Belle answered. She smiled. "My father likes me to come and visit whenever I can, and I've been dealing with the villagers nearly all my life."

"I wouldn't mind going with you," Jasmine said, moving to take a seat in another chair before the fire, one that she did not guess was Belle's. "I'd like to see what a town outside of Agrabah or Radiant Garden looks like."

"Then I guess I'm going," Kairi said, wrapping her arms around her waist, "just to round things off at three. Besides, us Princesses of Heart need to stick together." Kairi winked at nobody in particular but she was looking generally towards Jasmine and Belle.

"Excellent decision, mademoiselle," another voice with a thick French accent said. They turned as Lumiere, still looking, as a human, quite like he did when he was a candlestick except for his plume of brown hair atop his head, entered the room. "From how I see it, and the current state of the visiting party, why do the ladies not all go into town while the men stay here to guard the castle?"

He then bowed, moving his hand in a welcoming and sweeping gesture. "Welcome, gracious guests, to our fine castle this evening." He looked up, spotted Sora, Donald, and Goofy, then saw Kairi, and winked. "And welcome again, dear friends and the always lovely Princess Kairi."

"Please, just Kairi, Lumiere," Kairi replied, smiling humourously and shaking her head only slightly.

Lumiere gave only a small chuckle in reply before his eyes settled on Jasmine, sitting in the chair. He made a very French grunting noise and swiftly settled himself before her. He bowed. "_Enchanté mademoiselle._ (He kissed her hand)_ Comment vous appelez-vous?_"

"Uh, er…"

"Hey!" Iago snapped, fluttering in front of him and causing Lumiere to take a step back in surprise. "What do you think you're doing bub!"

"My my," the maître d' said, his eyes looking quizzically at Iago, "what a curious little bird."

"Don't call me a little bird, ya big French muffincake!" Iago snapped. "Now what was that about?"

"I was only asking the charming Arabian mademoiselle her name," Lumiere replied snippily, frowning at the red parrot.

"Then what's wrong with simply saying, 'Hey, what's your name girl?'"

"You ignorant, tactless—!"

Jasmine interrupted Lumiere's affronted scolding with a giggle that was joined by the rest of the company. "Iago, calm down, he didn't mean anything by it." She stood and beckoned to Aladdin with her hand, and he obediently came to stand next to her. "Princess Jasmine of Agrabah," she said, taking _his_ hand and lightly placing her lips against the knuckles. "And this is my fiancé, Aladdin."

Lumiere, who was more than a bit surprised that Jasmine had just kissed his hand in what he attributed to cultural differences but what everyone else knew as simply teasing him, suppressed his confusion and beamed and his hands went out wide. "Ah! Bienvenue! Welcome Your Highness, to our humble castle."

"Lumiere…" Alain began humourously.

"Ah! Yes! Of course master. It was my original intention upon entering to inform you all that dinner is ready, and awaiting your, and your guests', arrival."

-A-D-

Crouched in the shade provided by the heavy branches of a spruce tree, Xayn Shu had watched the group leave the forest, too preoccupied with the presence of his Heartless to notice his own. He took particular note of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, recognizing the trio, and also remembering the girl as the one who had come with the strong blond warrior and had cast a healing spell on Sora after he'd given in to unconsciousness. He had thought at first sight of her that she was merely a piece of arm-candy for the little brat, arm-candy that was able to heal his cuts and bruises, but nothing more. What was more was that he had believed that the cat, the fire-girl, and Tismetrx had been lying when they said that she had been a significant part in their earlier defeat. Now, even though they had only fought against weaklings, he knew that their tales were at least partially true, that this girl was indeed a strong warrior in her own right.

Xayn Shu hated strong female warriors; hated the mere concept ever since that day…

If it had just been Sora, Donald, and Goofy, he would have had no misgivings about revealing himself to challenge them. But with this girl, and the Keyblade she held (which made him take an educated guess that she was in fact the Kairi that Maleficent wanted brought before her), in the equation, coming forward himself would be a risky venture that he did not wish to pursue. If she could be removed from the picture, then victory over Sora could be a definite possibility. The boy had caught him by surprise last time, and likely he now had several more tricks tucked under his sleeve…

Xayn Shu melted back into the woods. No. He would not face Sora in this encounter. Xayn Shu had rushed into battle last time, eager to test his new powers without giving himself the time to hone or refine them, and assuming that the boy was still relatively the same as he had been before. Rushing into a confrontation with the boy again could prove disastrous. He needed to study his enemy; to know all of his moves, abilities, talents, powers and style until he'd be able to fight the boy blindfolded, knowing exactly what his opponent was about to do before Sora himself knew what he would do.

Xayn Shu looked at his hand before glancing into the snowy woods. He was confident that he would find some suitable way in which he could unleash the special Heartless he'd been granted, a method he now saw as being the preferred way of studying his opponent without having to enter the battle himself. All he needed was a lackey he could ensnare, and an excuse.

The Falcon of the Steppes would have his revenge on Sora and Mulan, but he was a patient man, able to bide his time for the proper moment in which to strike. Heaven help them when he was finally prepared, and found their own preparations for their climactic final confrontation lacking.

-A-D-

_There we go. First one for "Beast's" Castle, and I expect two more in this arc. Yes, the chapter is shorter than normal, but I think that this length is going to become a bit more the norm. Besides, I don't want to do what I did for Ant Island or Atlantis and put it all into one or two chapters._

_Before I leave you all with my customary signature, I have a few other words to give you, in commemoration of D-Day's 66__th__ anniversary._

**Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!**

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

-General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Forces, Europe

_I just had to do that, you understand of course._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	40. Provincial Life

_Just a quick warning here, we have hint of smut and previous off-screen smut. Nothing too serious and I'm not ashamed in hinting at things that may have happened that I choose not to write, but just be aware that it's in there._

_I also re-realized something the other day. Almost every kids' show that's come on in this past decade has been total crap. My evidence for proving that the old stuff was better will come if you can remember where these words came from. "I'm the baby, gotta love me!"_

_You agree with me, right!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own nothing, 'cause I'm not making any money off of this. If I was, it'd be awesome._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XL: Provincial Life

_0800 hrs, Wednesday, November 12, 2003  
East Wing, Prince Alain's Castle  
Sora_

The Sun dawned bright and clear over the castle's walls. The air outside was cold and crisp, and inside the stone corridors there was a small measure of that feeling, but in a certain guest room in the east wing the air was warm as the ambient light from the rising Sun flitted in between the curtains that were only half-drawn across the tall north-facing windows. A fire that had existed in the fireplace had burned itself down to embers during the night, and the shapes of inhabitants of a bed rose and fell in rhythmic breathing.

Sora opened his eyes, waking after what could only be called a good night's sleep, and smiled at the sight in front of him. Kairi was snoozing cutely in front of him, her gossamer eyelids veiling her beautiful wells of indigo. Locks of her hair lay over her face, partially blocking the skin of her cheeks and nose from view, and Sora allowed the sudden desire to gently tuck some of that hair behind her ear so that he could see more of her to direct his actions. Carefully, he brought his left hand up and cupped some of that soft, gorgeous, intoxicatingly smelling, hair on it and laid it behind the girl's rounded ear.

There, that was better. Now he had a clear view of her face as her breath continued to tickle his face and the small hairs on his chin. Those hairs were actually growing darker and thicker since he'd started shaving after his birthday party, but he hadn't shaved in a week, not trusting himself to not cut himself without a mirror, since it was hard enough even with one. Most of the hair was still pretty blond, but enough of it had darkened towards the chocolate on the top of his head that it began to define whiskers.

Sora snorted slightly as a thought came to him. He always seemed to be the one to wake up first, or, he _thought_ he was, but he didn't mind. Waking up first meant that he got to watch the lovely young woman next to him sleep in peace, a sight that he could watch like this for eternity and never get bored of. His eyes strayed down from Kairi's face and towards other parts of her body. She was asleep, what did he care? It wasn't like Kairi would know, and even if she did, he'd get off easy. His eyes looked over her slender arms and took in the rounded forms of her breasts, pressed up against the mattress of the bed beneath them, making them seem plumper as her weight pressed down against the soft globes. His eyes strayed for a second on the small, circular, brown birthmark that marred the lower-left quarter of her left one. It was about the size of a freckle, but just a bit too big to be one and it wasn't a lump either. He'd asked Kairi and she'd confirmed that it was, in fact, a birthmark.

A finger of his right hand trailed down Kairi's bare back, pausing at the feel of the cotton jammie bottoms she wore that he encountered when he reached her waist. The white sheets clung to both her upper body and his own naked chest, both the result of the exciting exploration of new territory and sensations the previous night. The best part, Sora thought, was that they had even had an excuse to do so; thank you Commander Nebula.

Strangely, it had been almost to the relief of both of them that neither had the courage to go all out and bump uglies. Not the least of their worries had been that there was the matter of the naïvely innocent Aiwemon and Menelmon who had been sleeping on the bedposts at their feet, and they didn't quite know just how heavy sleepers those two were, and Jiminy by their packs, and they _knew_ firsthand that he was a light sleeper. Sora blushed at the memory of how they'd found _that_ out. The second worry was that Aladdin and Jasmine had their room right next door to theirs, and they heard nothing coming from that room; which meant that either Jasmine was a quiet girl, that Aladdin was in the doghouse, or that they were doing the polite thing and waiting until they got back to Agrabah.

That was the other thing that had held them back. They weren't in that blanket-bed in their tent back in the woods beyond the Ford of Bruinen in Middle-earth, working off a stressful day of training (mostly running, physical exercises, magical exercises, and sparring against each other, as Hat 'n Clogs had been having them do recently); they weren't on Destiny Islands or Radiant Garden or a place that could be considered home, at least temporarily; they were guests in the house of one of their friends. It just wasn't polite and who wanted their first time together to be somewhere like that when there was nothing pressuring them into it, like the imminent prospect of death for at least one of them hovering over, anyway? Not them at least!

Actually, Sora mused as he continued to stroke a finger up and down her spine, they'd probably only started to get aroused last night because of the warm fire, the luxurious bed, the soft sheets, romantic firelight, and the exotic smells of the soaps and oils that Kairi had used in the obviously expensive bath that she had had the night before. If Kairi did decide in the end to become Queen, or at least live in the castle in Radiant Garden, Sora'd have to convince her to have baths like that more often; he could tell after seeing her face that she'd thoroughly enjoyed having a luxurious bath like that to cleanse herself of the dirt and grime from eight more days in the bush. In fact…

Sora sniffed. Yes, he could still smell traces of them on her. That had to be a large contributing factor. Even now she still smelled so clean and the rich scents of the oils mixed with the traditional strawberry smell that was always in her hair and on her legs, as well as another faint smell that was assuredly belonging to Kairi and Kairi alone. It was impossible for him to place a name to it beyond Kairi, and probably because the only reason the scent existed was because she existed. It wasn't sweet, it wasn't musty, it wasn't putrid or overbearing, it was just there as plainly as she was lying there, half-naked and asleep under the white sheets of the Queen-sized bed of oak.

He sighed, continuing to stroke a fleshy pink finger up and down her back for several more minutes even as Kairi began to shift in her sleep, signs he'd taken to realize that she was close to waking. His finger traced along a spot that he knew was visibly imperfect, the thin scar from the gash in her back that Kairi had received from the bronze sword wielded by the colossus Talos. Sora smiled as the memory of the battle came to him. Although that day had been a mesh of good and bad things, including the end of Kairi's possession by Maleficent, the gaining of their crests in a Blitzball game, Kairi's injury and the loss of his arm; that battle with Hades and his monsters had been a good fight. He moved his finger from the scar and was completely contented to continue stroking the skin of his girlfriend's back when he stopped suddenly. A huge blush rose to his cheeks at where he felt a small, slender hand that was not his own.

Kairi smiled even though her eyes were still closed, and he knew that she was no longer asleep, but for just how long she'd been awake he wasn't sure. "That is me that he's thinking about, right?"

Sora could hear the warning growl in her voice and nodded his head, gulping. The hand tightened and Sora winced and squeaked. Any other question, or in any other tone of voice, and he might've laughed. But he couldn't laugh, not now; she'd paralyzed him. "He says yes," he croaked, probably the most awkward answer he's ever had to give her.

Kairi made a noise of satisfaction. "Good," she replied, the feeling of her tight hand over fabric leaving him. "Tell him that if it stays that way, I might give him a kiss someday soon, provided that the proper excuse for a stress-relieving night is given."

Sora's face brightened as if he'd just been told that he'd won the freaking lottery. "Yes Ma'am!" he replied enthusiastically, burying his face in Kairi's cheek. Her eyes opened finally as she started to giggle.

"Sora…" she said as if in a whine, giggling all the while as his nose nuzzled against her cheek, knocking loose the hair he'd tucked behind her ear earlier. He kissed the sensitive spot beneath her ear and she squealed.

Kairi finally stopped him by pulling his face back to hers, smiling right in his eyes, and kissing him. "Morning," she said, pulling back.

"And good morning to you too Kai-Kai," Sora replied. He went to kiss her good morning but Kairi placed a finger to his lips.

"Call me Kai-Kai again and he doesn't get that kiss," she told him.

Sora paused for a second before saying, "Who's Kai-Kai?" There was a moment's silence before both of them smiled and Sora succeeded in getting his kiss. _Interesting,_ Kairi mused as Sora's hands went around her bare back and the base of her skull. _Even the slightest promise of anything related to sex with me and Sora turns into putty. I could train him into a dog like this._ She ended the kiss and encompassed Sora's entire face with her eyes, unable to stop smiling. _Nah._

Sora's ears were delighted with a peal of high-pitched shrieking laughter as he crushed his face into Kairi's chest, doing anything and everything with his lips, teeth, and tongue that she had told him to do there last night. Kairi gasped, and then a purring moan of pleasure escaped Kairi's throat and her hands touched his shoulders and back, imploring him to continue. Who really cared about sex, Sora thought suddenly, foreplay rocked! That is, if the way Kairi was whispering his name was any indication.

Currently, that night had been the best of their lives so far, and not because of the inappropriate shenanigans that had taken place. With all of the fun that they had had, neither of them had ever felt so alive before. And yet, neither Sora nor Kairi had yet been able to attribute to just why they had recently, and innocently, gone down the road to this behaviour in the pursuit of fun, pleasure, and happiness. Neither of them had yet realized that it had really begun at that fateful moment ten days previously when the young woman, Amber Kelsey, had died right in front of them that their interest in life and all that it had to offer had risen exponentially. As it always does with humans, a brush with death or even witnessing it close and firsthand presented their subconscious with the reality of their own mortality, a reminder that they only have such a short time with which to live. The reminder wasn't physical, it wasn't a conscious one, but it had been enough to prod them to live as they wanted to live, to love as they wanted to love, and to seek every little joy and live every day as fully as they could.

Sora glanced up at Kairi's blushing face with a smile through the kiss he was giving her, his tongue tracing circles around the bud, his eyes hovering above the soft but firm and fleshy baby-feeders on her chest, and he knew that he wanted to wake up every day of his life to the sight of her face.

A voice called and someone knocked on the door.

Menelmon and Aiwemon jerked awake from their sleep on the bedposts by the feet of the humans, both of whom had frozen in sudden terror. "Where's your shirt?_ Where's my tank-top!_" Kairi asked quickly in a frantic whisper as Sora promptly detached his lips from whatever they were doing and dove to the girl's side where he had slept at. Her hands were quickly grasping the blankets to cover up her naked breasts while both of their eyes flew around in a panic, trying to locate the garments they'd cast aside many hours before. Each of them thanked a random god that they were both only half-naked, though that wasn't much of a grace.

Aiwemon was rubbing his eyes with a wing and Sora looked past Kairi and stiffened when he caught sight of his and her shirts in a rumpled pile some feet away from Kairi's side of the bed, and Kairi stiffened as she looked past Sora and spotted her nondescript pink bra lying abandoned on the floor on his side. How did that get all the way over _there_?

The door started to open and Sora glanced down, noticing that he could see her girls. "Kairi you let the sheet slip!"

"Rise and shi—"

Both Sora and Kairi plopped back down on the pillows, the white sheets raised high enough to prevent any eyes from seeing anything important, but Aladdin, who was the one standing in the doorway, and Iago, who had burst in with his obnoxious voice and was now flapping his wings just to keep him hovering in the same spot, were still able to see that last-ditch movement and that Kairi's shoulders were completely bare. Abu was looking at them with a weird kind of look on his face. The former street rat from Agrabah forced his eyes away from those of Sora and Kairi, but instead they landed on something lying on the floor that he more than likely had not wanted to see. The blush and awkward chuckle that came from Aladdin's face as it returned to the two bedded teenagers from Destiny Islands was nothing compared to the ones on said teenagers. Iago and Abu had already fled from the room, the tension and awkwardness of the situation too much for them to handle.

"Uh, morning Al!" Sora said, smiling in embarrassment at the situation he and his girlfriend had been caught in and trying to act his way out of it. "What's up?"

"Um, yeah," Aladdin began, trying to work a smile of his own up and avoid looking at Kairi. "Prince Alain, uh, sent me to let you know that breakfast is ready. It's gonna be a long day so, and Kairi is going to the town with Jasmine and Belle so it'd be a good thing if she…"

"Yeah," answered Sora. "We'll be down in a couple of minutes."

"Make sure they save some food for us!" Aiwemon said excitedly, giving his wings a flap. He and Menelmon were completely oblivious to the current situation.

Aladdin nodded and chuckled awkwardly. "Alright. Just, uh, I'll let you two get dressed." He nodded his head with one more awkward smile, and closed the door.

Huge, heavy sighs of relief and embarrassment were released from the lungs of the two Keyblade Wielders. Sora leant out of his side of the bed while Kairi placed her head in one hand, the other keeping a firm grasp on the sheets. "I think I just had a heart attack or something," she moaned. "What would that have been like if it had been Kensworth, or Lord Ramius?"

"I'd be dead, that's what," Sora replied, reaching out across the floor with a hand.

"I think I'd actually be grounded," Kairi answered. "And then I'd probably be forced to swear to celibacy."

"I think that's a little extreme," Sora replied, straightening up again. "I mean, celibacy, really?"

"Well don't you think death is a little extreme?" returned his girlfriend, smirking at him.

"No," Sora answered, nudging her with a hand. Kairi looked down, took what he offered, and dove under the sheets.

"Why would you be dead Keys?" Menelmon asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion.

"No reason," Sora answered, jumping over the hidden form of Kairi to get to their discarded shirts.

"Why are your shirts lying on the floor?" Aiwemon asked. "They weren't when we fell asleep."

"Again, no reason," Sora answered. He poked the mass underneath the white sheets and a hand came out. He handed the hand the pink tank-top and it darted back underneath. Seconds later Kairi emerged from the whiteness like a pink flower standing above the snow-covered ground at a time of year that snow had no business to be falling at.

"Let's just get ready for today," Kairi said, the blush still rampant on her cheeks.

-A-D-

An invisible cloud descended upon the long table in the dining room as soon as Sora and Kairi entered the room, dressed in sweaters and long pants: clothing that could be as warm and covering as possible. Aiwemon and Menelmon flew in ahead of them, with Jiminy standing on Sora's shoulder. The male Keyblade Master was barely able to get in a 'morning' and Kairi a smile before the tension fell.

Aladdin's eyes met theirs for only a half-second before the three of them looked away, and anything that the former street rat might have been saying died on his lips as he shut up, his cheeks darkening slightly. The pair also blushed and said nothing to Aladdin as they sat down to eat.

Unless a person was as naïve and clueless as Aiwemon and Menelmon were, it was impossible to notice that the air had suddenly become very thick. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. Something had to have happened between Aladdin, Sora, and Kairi, and given the way that none of the three were looking at each other and that they all had faint blushes on their cheeks there was only one thing that could have possibly happened.

Aladdin had seen something that he hadn't been meant to see.

Belle was the first to notice the way that Sora's ears were reddening as the meal continued and was also the first to piece everything together. She smiled and giggled slightly before looking up at the Keyblade Master. "So, Sora, did you sleep well?"

There was a huge smile of mirth inside her at the trapped look on Sora's face as he looked up at her. She could almost see the cogs grinding to a halt in his mind and the thought, "She knows" overcoming him.

He coughed, regaining himself as he realized that everyone else was looking at either him or Belle. "Yeah. I slept like a log. It sure beat sleeping on the ground in a tent in the middle of the woods."

"Probably wasn't as comfortable though," Belle said, lowering her eyes and blowing a little bit on her porridge. "Since you and Kairi weren't sharing a room like you'd been sharing a tent."

Belle nearly laughed again at the way the two teens froze for a second. They _had_ been given separate rooms, but Kairi hadn't set foot in the one Belle had said was hers.

"We were given different rooms?" Menelmon asked quizzically, looking up at Kairi. Kairi looked helplessly at her digimon partner.

"Uh…"

"You were sharing a room?" Donald asked.

Jasmine looked at Aladdin again, and at how flushed his cheeks had become, and she smiled widely and started to laugh under her breath. She got it now. "You know," she added, "we slept so soundly that we could've slept through _anything_ last night."

"That didn't happen!" Sora blurted out suddenly.

"Sora!" Kairi hissed, sending him a sharp look.

"Well!" he huffed indignantly, glaring at her. "It didn't! And I'm just stating a truth here!"

"So you'd have preferred if it did?" Kairi asked. Sora's tongue began to twist around in his mouth, spluttering inarticulate words. He really had no idea _what_ he was supposed to say to that.

A low chuckle started to come from Prince Alain's throat. Then his mouth opened, and his laugh grew louder until it was boisterous and merry enough to spread to the others at the table, and even crack the faces of the trio that had brought the tension to them.

"Keys, what are they talking about?" Menelmon asked.

"We're _never_ telling you," Sora and Kairi said in perfect unison, their faces still quite pink as the embarrassment and small humiliation at the situation stayed with them. Their friends now knew that something dirty had happened the night before, but from Belle to Jasmine, they all thought that the young couple was just so cute when they were embarrassed from having their dirty little secret about having nasty adult fun slip.

-A-D-

Somehow they were able to survive breakfast without dying from embarrassment, and Belle and Alain led them all out to the stables. While the men and young men went outside without coats on, since they didn't expect to be out long, Belle had donned a blue coat with a white fur trim and had given similar ones to Jasmine and Kairi, except that Jasmine's was baby-blue and Kairi's was closer to salmon pink.

A great, muscled, horse was the first thing they saw when they reached the stables. It was at least five-eight feet tall, and its coat and mane marked it as a sorrel for those who knew horses better than Sora and Kairi did, a somewhat tan-coloured coat with red tones in it and blond for the mane. A blaze of white divided its face from between its eyes down to its nose, and it whinnied excitedly as Belle smiled and patted the side of its neck. There were similar beasts in other stalls nearby, but none of them seemed to be as big as the one Belle was rubbing her hand against.

"This is Phillipe," Belle said, getting the reigns in place in the horse's mouth and leading him towards the group. While Aladdin and Jasmine had obviously seen creatures like it, Sora and Kairi had never seen a workhorse before, only ponies or horses bred for riding, and the intimidating and fear-spreading steeds of the Nazgûl. Neither of them knew that horses could be so big and full of muscle.

While Sora stayed back a pace, keeping his awe and interest in check, Kairi's eyes beamed and she slowly approached the animal. Phillipe looked at her, as if studying who this girl was. Kairi glanced at Belle, slightly unnerved despite her experience of handling and riding chocobos. With a nod and a smile from the brown-haired woman Kairi looked again at Phillipe, and her trembling hand slowly went out to touch the side of his face. Phillipe snorted, and Kairi almost withdrew, but she held the eyes of the workhorse and slowly brought her hand back and forth along the horse's muzzle. Pretty soon, Phillipe neighed and nodded his head at Kairi, and if horses could smile he was doing so.

Kairi found it nearly impossible to contain her delight that Belle's horse liked her, and the woman gave her a carrot to feed him. As Phillipe chomped away quite happily at the carrot he was being offered, Sora leaned back and looked up at the roof of the stable. _Just what is it with chicks and horses anyway?_

It took another couple of minutes to get the riding saddle on Phillipe and two other horses, one a grey and the other one a brilliant blood bay. Belle mounted Phillipe from the horse's left, and Kairi and Jasmine followed suit on the bay and grey respectively. The three slowly walked the horses out of the stable and into the sunlight. The hooves of the beasts shuffled through the light snow, kicking it up above the dead brown grass.

Sora looked at Kairi again as she sat firmly on the horse, a little nervous but comfortable enough that the animal was behaving in a similar manner to how she'd handle a chocobo. The sunlight streamed down onto the blood bay and his girlfriend, their hot breath steaming the chill air, and the horse's coat gained a rich and healthy look. After turning him around once more, Kairi gained a look of confidence on her face, and she and the horse looked amazing together.

Sora smiled and came forward, rubbing the side of Kairi's horse's neck and looked up at her. She smiled down at him, like she was being overcome by bubbly emotions from being on a horse, in control.

"So what's his name?" Sora asked her, nodding in the direction of the horse's brown eyes.

Kairi appeared to be thinking for a second, and then she opened her mouth. "You know, I don't even know if he _is_ a he, let alone a name." She turned to Belle, and the woman smiled.

Belle's husband, though, was the one to answer her question. "He is a he Kairi, and his name is Augusté," said Prince Alain. He patted the horse's flank. "And the grey that Jasmine will be riding is a he as well; he's Guy _(A/N Pronounced 'Gie')_."

Sora and Kairi looked worriedly at each other while Menelmon fluttered down onto Kairi's shoulder. There was a little something that happened with male chocobos when they were penned together or forced to be in the company of another, a little something that involved a lot of screeching, biting, pecking, raking of talons and slapping of wings. "They're all male?" Kairi asked, looking quickly between Augusté, Guy, and Phillipe and the hooves of their feet. "Shouldn't we be—?"

Belle chuckled a little and Kairi looked at her. "Don't worry, Augusté and Guy and geldings."

A wave of relief washed over the two teenage humans and Kairi sighed. "Oh. Okay, good. I had been worried, but, if they're geldings then we're all good."

"Geldings?" Aladdin asked in confusion, standing next to Jasmine as she regally sat on Guy. "What are you talking about?"

"Castrated males," Sora answered. "We do the same thing with chocobos back home. It makes them calmer, more docile, and far less likely to try to kill any other male that they set their eyes on." Aiwemon nudged Sora's cheek with his beak and whispered something into his ear. All of the colour drained from Sora's face and he slowly hung his head. "You don't need to know what it means Aiwë."

"You'll be okay?" Prince Alain asked Belle.

"Don't worry Alain," Belle replied. "If we decide to spend the night at my father's we should be back sometime tomorrow. Otherwise we'll be back before nightfall."

"But," Alain began, "Gaston…"

"Oh don't worry about that brute," Belle told him. "I doubt that even he would stoop so low as to work with the Heartless."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Alain muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry about us," Belle said tenderly, placing her hand on her husband's cheek. "You just keep the castle and our friends safe until we get back. Maybe someone in town will have noticed someone strange walking about, or you might find someone, who knows?"

"Good luck all!" Goofy said, waving a hand.

"Remember to be good!" Donald added. The three young women nodded their heads and turned their steeds around. Sora and Aladdin rushed to the gates to open them, and they were just in time for the three as their horses walked up the cobblestone path towards the gate and bridge.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other one last time just as the three females made the gate and they nodded at one another, almost mentally telling the other to be careful, before Belle took off in the lead, urging Phillipe to canter. Jasmine followed, and Kairi quickly brought up the rear with Menelmon easily keeping up to Augusté's gait. Their coats were flapping in the wind.

Aladdin and Sora pulled the gate closed again, and the two of them turned to look at Donald, Goofy, Prince Alain, and Genie. "So…" Aladdin said, turning suddenly to Sora even as a cold gust of wind blew across his bare shoulders, "you and Kairi huh?"

"Oh shut up," Sora told his friend as the others began to laugh. "It's not like we actually did it."

"No, but you did something," Aladdin said. "I would never have expected it of you Sora."

"What!"

"You're too much of a nice guy," Prince Alain chuckled. "I didn't think that you had a dirty bone in your body."

"Can I plan the wedding?" Genie asked. He suddenly turned into an archway with his head as a giant blue bell. He started to swing back and forth, singing, "_Oh wedding bells are ringing…_"

"Stuff it," Sora replied, poking Genie's bell face but smiling good-naturedly.

"Sora," Goofy started, "your face is all red."

"I know Goofy, thanks," answered Sora.

"You're welcome, ahyuk." Goofy started suddenly as a swirl of darkness appeared behind him. "Wuh-oh! Looks like teasin' time is over."

"Good," Sora said, Remembrance appearing in his hands in an instant, "I'm ready for a fight." Statues burst to life in flashes of darkness and the loud crashing breaking of stone as they broke free from their stone pedestals, the stone figures wielding fierce double-bladed axes and straight swords, possessed by Heartless. Lance Soldiers dropped onto the ground, fully encased in their bronze armour and black pants with their bouncing cursed lances bobbing in the air just beyond their reach. Large Bodies appeared, standing tall above the warriors and thumping their massive rotund chests with massive hands. Small Shadows rose up from the ground. Iago flew off to escape the coming chaos and Abu darted into Aladdin's purple vest.

Sora looked around. "Aladdin!"

The former street rat from Agrabah nodded as he pulled out his scimitar. He smiled and crouched down, cat-like. "Here comes the finale!" Aladdin almost disappeared from view as he darted about around the Heartless, moving and slashing his weapon so quickly that it was only possible to hear the sound of the blade striking the Heartless. Sora looked up as he felt weight on his shoulder and saw Aladdin leaning on it cheekily. He said, "I'm back."

The Heartless all suddenly felt the sting of Aladdin's flurry of attacks and dropped back onto the ground, somewhat dazed for a moment. That moment was all that Sora and Aladdin needed, darting at different Heartless and slicing them twice before leaping back, only to do it all again, except neither of them needed any more than two hits.

Sora jumped back from a disintegrating Shadow and he and Aladdin met in midair, their feet pressed up against one another's. "Time for a little teamwork," Aladdin said, smirking. He and Sora jumped back into the fray, slicing at Heartless so quickly that they didn't even register it. They stopped right in the middle of the pack, and suddenly all the remaining Heartless burst apart into clouds of defeated darkness.

"Nothing to it," Sora said, rising and looking around. It had been a long time, by his reckoning, since he and Aladdin had used their special Limit, and it looked like it was even more effective than it was then. Or maybe it was just that he and Al were much stronger now than they had been the last time, before they'd fought Jafar when he'd broken free from his lamp.

Sora frowned when he thought of that. Hadn't the Heartless been getting stronger too? Hadn't Maleficent been making them stronger? These ones, even though they were what they were, just seemed so weak…

"Donald," Sora said, looking at a spot he knew that an axe-wielding Gargoyle Warrior had been before his and Aladdin's Limit had destroyed the whole wave, "do you know if the Heartless level to scale?"

"Huh?" Donald asked.

"I'm just wondering," Sora began, folding his arms and looking at his shoes. "Do you… you remember when Pain and Panic were organizing those tournaments in the Underdrome, right?"

"Uh-huh," Donald answered.

"'Course we do Sora," Goofy said.

"Well," Sora began, biting his bottom lip in a Kairi-like gesture, "what do you think would happen if we went back right now, and fought in them as we are now?"

Donald and Goofy looked at each other, and then back at Sora. "Gawrsh, I don't think it'd be much of a challenge anymore Sora," answered Goofy. "I don't think you'd even need to go past Valour in the Cerberus Cup even to take him on."

"He's right on the money," Genie said. He glanced around. "There were about twenty of the Heartless here just now, and Sora and Al took 'em all out before the rest of us could even do anything!"

"That's right," Prince Alain said, sheathing his rapier and scowling. "Even when I was the Beast, they were never beaten this easily."

"So what if Maleficent isn't actually making them stronger?" Sora asked. "What if… what if the stronger ones are the ones she's been getting since she opened a new Keyhole to the Door to Darkness? What if she's been able to open up a new one with power that she got from it, and is getting the stronger Heartless from there and making stronger Heartless herself? What if she's only throwing the ones that are too weak to serve her at us, the ones from before Kairi and I were both captured by Nixion and Cossex?"

"You mean all those fights were against the shrimps from before Xemnas?" Donald asked. He scowled and started tapping his webbed foot. "Well she's sure got a lot of them…"

Above them, a dark figure lurked on the exterior wall. Xayn Shu scowled and snapped his fingers. Sora was smarter than he'd thought.

The Keyblade Master spun around as more swirls of darkness appeared around them, even more Heartless appearing to challenge the warriors of Light. "It looks like someone doesn't want us to figure that out," Aiwemon said, tensing his muscles and getting ready to fly off of Sora's right shoulder. "Here comes round two."

Above them, Xayn Shu slunk away from the wall as his enemies were distracted by the Heartless he had summoned. His grew in size and the dark falcon wings of Hayabusa sprouted from his back. Xayn Shu took off into the sky. He wanted to know what those Princesses were up to.

-A-D-

_1003hrs,  
Maurice's Cottage, French Town  
Kairi_

It hadn't been long into the ride for Belle and Jasmine to start poking and prodding at Kairi in the same way that Aladdin and Alain had been to Sora. Unlike her boyfriend, however, who had the luxury of Heartless to distract them from the previous night's adulterous events, Kairi was forced to bear the full weight of their questions. And it didn't help her much that Belle and Jasmine had no qualms explaining things to Menelmon when she asked, things that made Kairi blush until her face was red as the coat of the horse she rode.

They'd tricked her into getting the information of all the nasty deeds out of her. Soon after she'd clammed up Belle began to talk about her wedding night, and about every feeling and sensation she'd felt. Then Jasmine opened up a little, telling them both of the things that she and Aladdin had done. They weren't married yet, their planned wedding having been foiled by Cossex way back when, but they had been engaged for over a year and spent a good deal of time together in secret. Their stories, combined with the answers that they'd given Menelmon that made Kairi blush, had lulled her in, and the information was needled out of the poor red-haired Princess of Heart. She'd even gotten hoodwinked enough to show them a spot on her neck that was turning red, her first hickey. Then Menelmon took a close look at it.

Well, now Menelmon knew all, for better or worse, and she took it much better than Kairi had expected her to, naïve and childish as the digimon was. All she did was nod and say, "Oh, so that's what it is," as if it were just a piece of information to file away somewhere in her brain, and not something to feel uncomfortable, ashamed, embarrassed, proud, or even to feel anything at all about. Then again, Menelmon was also a female digimon, and probably a bit more mature since having digivolved into her Ultimate level a couple of times. It was odd, but Kairi noticed that every time that Aiwemon or Menelmon went Champion, or even Ultimate, their temperament changed. They didn't act anywhere near like children or tweens like when they were In-Training or Rookies, and acted more as older teenagers or even adults.

Besides the prodding at every dirty little thing Sora and Kairi had done to each other the previous night, Kairi had at last been able to direct the conversation towards the town, and Belle had explained that it was a rather provincial life that the inhabitants lived. Going day-by-day, season-by-season, almost never changing in their established routine of waking in the morning, working in the day, and drinking and sleeping at night. It was a pleasant enough place, but it hadn't been the life for her. She'd wanted adventure in the great wide somewhere; and now, her life had become an adventure, and she was loving almost every minute of it.

The sun was still shining when they reached a homely stone house with a straw-thatched roof on the outskirts of a medieval town. Belle stopped Phillipe first, and Jasmine and Kairi came up next to her on Guy and Augusté. The Arabian Princess and Princess of Radiant Garden both looked at Belle, the only Princess by marriage between them, and saw that she was smiling warmly at the house.

"Here's where my father, Maurice, lives," she said. "He's an inventor, and one day he's going to be famous across the world for his inventions."

"Wow," Kairi said, looking at the house's homely look. "It sure doesn't look like the house of an inventor." Augusté and Guy started, as well as Kairi, Jasmine, and Belle, as the sound and muffled force of an explosion suddenly struck them. Both horses from the castle whinnied in discomfort while Phillipe just stared at the house before looking up at Belle and rolling his eyes. Black smoke was now pouring out of the wooden flaps that barred entry to the cellar. "Never mind," Kairi spoke, "I spoke too soon. It _does_ look like the house of an inventor."

Belle nearly jumped off of Phillipe, her concern quite clear in her voice. "Oh no. Come on, we'd better make sure he's alright." Kairi and Jasmine glanced at each other quickly before they too dismounted. The auburn gave her blood bay a pat on the neck for a job well done prior to following Belle towards the cellar.

Another cloud of smoke poured out as Belle opened the doors and flinched back, and coughing and grumbling was heard from the inside. "Papa?" she asked. "Papa are you okay?"

"Gn, now how did that happen?" a gruff voice asked out from the smoke, as if ignoring the woman. Kairi and Jasmine followed Belle down, and there was a small, porky man with white hair circling the back of his head with the top being bald. Kairi and Jasmine both blushed in surprise as he accidentally mooned them with his white underwear speckled with red hearts as he pushed the remains of what had been a wooden barrel down past his waist. Realizing what he'd done, but not that he had an audience, he quickly drew his green pants back up with his thick arms, turning around so that the girls could see his brushy white moustache and bushy eyebrows.

"Papa?" Belle asked again.

"I've just about had it with this hunk of junk!" Maurice said, kicking the back of his foot against some kind of machine. Menelmon landed on Kairi's shoulder again and both of them looked at it curiously.

"Oh Papa," Belle began with a humourous tone, "you always say that."

"I mean it this time," Maurice began irritably, throwing the machine a glare. "I'm _never_ going to get this bone-headed contraption to work!"

"What's it supposed to be anyway?" Kairi asked, placing her hands behind her back and poking her head around, getting a closer look at the machine.

Maurice finally seemed to realize that it wasn't just him and Belle in the room. "Ohoho," he chuckled quickly. "Friends of yours Belle?"

"Yes Papa," Belle told him. "Jasmine, Kairi, and Menelmon," she said, indicating each of them with a gentle motion of her hand. "Jasmine and Kairi are also Princesses of Heart, like me, and Menelmon is Kairi's partner."

Maurice chuckled again. "Oh so that's how you know them," he said, smiling and shaking Jasmine's offered hand, wiping it first on the brown apron he'd had on over his green shirt. "I thought you looked a little strange, but if you're from places far away, then I can… what was that you'd asked Kairi?"

"What is it?" Menelmon repeated for her partner, glancing back at him and pointing her wing at the machine. Maurice seemed a bit surprised that she could talk, but he recovered with another chuckle. He loved surprises like this even at his age.

Maurice looked at his, currently malfunctioning, invention with a sort of animalistic frustration and pride. Twice his height, being lifted off the ground on blocks of hardwood of course, with a great steam boiler and several appendages off on the side, it certainly looked strange. Troughs were on the floor, and the wood beneath the machine and even so far as a few metres away looked damp.

"It's _supposed_ to be a machine to water plants," he said. "My last one, a wood-cutter, won me first prize at the fair, so they asked me to go and invent something new for the fair that they're having next spring. I know that I've got plenty of time and all winter to work on it, but the problem is that it's so close to being done but it still isn't working right!" He started to shake his fist at the contraption and kicked it again.

Water suddenly came out of a hole in something that looked like an arm and splashed Kairi right in the face. "Pff!" went the soaked and stunned princess, blinking water out of her eyes and staring at the hole that the water had come out of in amazement.

It was impossible not to laugh as Maurice apologized to Kairi as he quickly darted to the other end of the cellar, which had obviously been mostly overtaken from its original purpose in order to serve as Maurice's workshop, in order to get her a towel. Likely it had been used many times before when aquatic mishaps had befallen the inventor.

"So," he began, looking at his daughter while Kairi dried her face and hair, "what brings you all the way out here?"

"Nothing good, I'm afraid," Jasmine answered.

"Heartless started to show up near the castle," Belle said. "Alain and I started to get worried, so we four came down here to make sure everything's alright."

"Have you seen any Heartless or strange people around lately?" Menelmon asked.

Maurice placed a hand to his chin in thought. "Hm. No, can't say that I have. Try asking in town though, someone may have heard something."

"Thanks," Kairi said, nodding her head and handing back the towel. They got ready to leave. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too, and sorry again about this temperamental hunk of junk," Maurice said, jerking his thumb at the contraption he was working on.

"We'll be back for dinner Papa," Belle said, bending down and giving the short man a kiss on the cheek.

Maurice's face softened after his daughter kissed him and he watched them leave the confines of his cellar/workshop. Jerking out of the stupor he was in, he plodded up the steps and began waving his hand. "Bye girls! Have fun in town!" Then Maurice noticed the three horses and ambled towards them, intending to put them into the stable for now.

-A-D-

"So," began a big, burly man with sleek black hair and wearing a red shirt. "You want me to do what again, exactly?"

The man he was looking at, a hunched, shorter man wearing a grey cloak and hood glanced back at Gaston. "Tie up her companions, keep them occupied long enough for me to get the job done."

A much smaller man, smaller than even the one who was talking to Gaston, laughed a little and leaned in on his elbow and said, "Yeah, and why are we doing this again?"

"Hush Lefou!" Gaston said, turning on his diminutive friend. Lefou scowled and raised his mug to his lips. Gaston glanced around. It wasn't that often that he came to this place in town. The pub that they were in wasn't noted much for honourable clients or honourable deals and friendly chatter and banter, like in the tavern that was essentially Gaston's hall of trophies and adoration. The location that he sat in now, drinking a mug of stale beer, was as seedy as they come in 14th Century France. The wood was dark, the fires that were lit belched black smoke, the two barmaids that there were could never be described as the fairest of creatures, or ones that fortune had truly shone upon; and the secluded corner that he and the other two were in wasn't the brightest lit of places. However, it was still lit well enough for Gaston to see the amber eyes beneath the man's hood, pupils dilated like a falcon's.

"Equal opportunity," the man replied, a hand going into the folds of his cloak. "I want the girl because my master wishes it, and you want the path towards Belle cleared. If aiding one another for mutual benefit is not enough…" he removed his hand and dropped a small pouch on the grimy round table, and the _chink_ that came from inside indicated at least a handful or more of gold coins.

Gaston grinned grimly, untying the string and looking inside. Still slightly pessimistic, he took one of the coins out and bit it. It was gold alright. Smirking to himself and making a satisfactory noise, Gaston placed the coin back in the bag and returned it to the man.

"If we're going to be working together on this," he began, "then there's no need to pay me. I should be paying _you_ instead. However, this should be enough to get what you need from a friend of mine, and also to buy his secrecy."

"So we have a deal?" Xayn Shu asked, removing the hood of his cloak and offering his hand.

Gaston eyed it for a second. "There's only one problem: Belle already married the prince."

"That won't be an issue, come tonight," answered Xayn Shu, still holding out his hand. Gaston clasped it firmly and shook.

"Lefou," the big Frenchman said as he put his spare hand into a pocket to withdraw a small pouch. It jingled with the sound of coin. "I want you to help our new friend. See to it that he gets anything he desires, and help him in any way you can. When you're done, come find me."

-A-D-

_1018hrs,  
Market Row, French Town  
Kairi_

"Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!"

"You call this bacon!"

"That's too expensive."

"This bread is stale!"

Despite the colder weather from the changing of the seasons, Belle was right in saying that the day-to-day activities of the town's inhabitants were unbreakable in their routine. The snow that had fallen had been trampled down under the padding of their feet as they'd wandered so often through the market-street that was closest to Maurice's house; the snow had been trampled so much that you couldn't even tell that it had even touched the dirt road. People wrapped in coats hustled and bustled up and down the street, going about their daily errands to the stalls that lined the sides of the road.

It was into this sea that Belle led Kairi, Jasmine, and Menelmon. Townsfolk who spotted Belle called "Bonjour," to her, which Belle always returned with a smile. Kairi expected Belle to ask people here if they'd heard of anything odd happening, but she pushed right on past the morning rush in the cold weather, seemingly with a destination in mind.

A few minutes later she opened the door to a shop and the three Princesses of Heart entered from the cold. "Ah, Belle," said a voice, "good morning."

"Good morning," Belle returned brightly. Kairi looked at the voice's, and apparently the shop's, owner. It was an older, short, man. Large round glasses were set on his nose, wispy white hair flourished behind his ears, good-natured wrinkles were in his forehead, and kind and bright eyes that showed nothing of age looked over them. He looked quite jolly.

"It's been a long time since your last visit Belle," the man said. "I've even gotten some new books in, in case you're interested."

"That's alright," Belle answered, looking up at the massive bookshelf that covered one wall of the small shop, "I'm living in a place now where there's a whole library of books, far more than I ever dreamed of. I don't think I'll even be able to read them all."

The bookshop's owner smiled and chuckled. "Well I'm happy for you, even if it does mean that I lose one of my best customers." He looked past Belle at Jasmine and Kairi. "Friends of yours Belle?"

"Oh yes," she answered. "Jasmine, and Kairi. And the bird on Kairi's shoulder, her name's Menelmon."

"A pleasure," the bookstore owner said, shaking their hands. "Any friend of Belle is a friend of mine."

"Pleased to meet you sir," Jasmine said, dipping in a slight curtsey. He laughed.

"We're actually on an investigation," Kairi said.

"Oh?" he asked, looking at Belle quizzically.

She nodded her head. "Have you heard about anything strange lately, or seen anybody odd walking around?"

"Er, no, I can't say that I have, really," the bookstore owner answered. "François mentioned that his prized black horse went missing the other night, and the wolves have been heard howling closer to town at night, but that's all that I know."

"That's alright," Kairi said. "No strange creatures appearing around town?"

"None that I know of," he replied, slightly grim. "But, if it's a creature you'd best ask Gaston, or his friends in his favourite tavern. They'd know about any creature seen within fifteen miles of here, strange or otherwise. However, you might have to buy a round to loosen their tongues."

"A round really isn't so horrible," Belle said humourously. She replaced the hood on her blue coat, preparing to head back into the cold. "Thank you for your help."

"Oh, no trouble at all Belle," he said, frowning slightly. He thought that he caught a glimpse of something that seemed out of place. "Belle?"

She stopped at the door and turned. "Hm? Yes?"

"What is that under your coat?" he asked. Belle smiled.

"You remember how my favourite book had daring swordfights, magic spells and everything?" Belle asked. He nodded. "Now I'm on an adventure of my own."

"Thanks again for the info," Kairi said, waving and following Belle outside.

The cold air greeted them and Kairi and Jasmine pulled their coats closer. Even if it had only been for a short time, they both had quite liked the feel of the interior of the cozy bookstore. "Now what?" Kairi asked.

"We check the tavern," Belle answered, "and hope that Gaston's there."

She led the way through the streets until they came towards a large building that had big deer antlers and the pelt of some creature mounted above the door. Before they could enter, though, a voice called out to them. "Ah! Belle!"

"Bonjour Gaston," Belle said, turning around. "We were just looking for you, actually."

"Really?" Gaston asked, smirking. "I hope that means that you've decided to leave that husband of yours."

"Actually no," Belle replied, smiling kindly. "My friends and I were wondering if you could tell us if you or your friends had recently seen any strange creatures out while hunting."

"Strange creatures hm?" Gaston asked. "I suppose I can assume that you mean Heartless, am I right?"

"Yes," Kairi answered.

Gaston tapped the side of his head. "My memory is a little fuzzy," he told them. "Perhaps if I had a drink with two beautiful women I might be able to remember something, if there is something there to remember."

"Somehow I knew that you would say something like that," Belle answered, folding her arms.

Kairi shared a glance with both Jasmine and Belle, and sighed. "Well, let's get you a drink then."

"Sorry little missy," Gaston chuckled, rumpling a hand on the hood of the coat she was in as if the hood were her own hair. "But you're still too much of a baby to come inside here."

Kairi gaped at him. "Excuse me!"

"A tavern is no place for little girls," Gaston told her humourously.

"I'm sixteen! And I've even had drinks in an inn."

"An inn," he argued, "not a tavern. There are too many manly men inside of this place, doing manly things, and with women more… womanly, than you in this place. You wouldn't be able to handle it."

Kairi flushed in embarrassment and anger. "Why I oughta…"

Belle placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder. "It would be best if we just do what Gaston says Kairi. We won't be long; one drink and then Jasmine and I will be right back out, okay?"

Kairi grumbled, but nodded her head after a few seconds. "Alright, but I don't have to like it. It's cold out here."

"We'll be back soon," Jasmine said. Gaston opened the door and warmth and sounds of good cheer left the building, shut out again a few seconds later when he, Jasmine, and Belle entered, the two Princesses of Heart looking back at the third of their group with apologetic looks.

Kairi snarled, frustrated, and plopped down on the stone stoop. The stone was cold beneath her bum, and if she was going to be forced to sit outside she was going to force herself to be as uncomfortable as possible. Stupid boorish Gaston.

"This really isn't fair Menel," Kairi pouted to the only one she had left to pout to, turning her head towards her digimon partner.

"I'm sorry we couldn't go in Kairi," she said sympathetically.

Kairi sighed and started to rub a gloved finger over Menelmon's head. "Don't worry it's not your fault. I just don't think that I should really be treated so much like a little kid anymore." She sighed again and her head lolled, not taking in anything in particular.

Kairi blinked and looked to her left again. At the corner of the alley on the tavern's left side she had just seen something slide across the ground, something black. Standing up, Kairi slowly ambled towards the spot. She stopped and stared for a second. Several feet away in the alley a Shadow Heartless was standing and staring at her with its beady yellow eyes.

Crowning Flame appeared in Kairi's hand in a flash, but the Heartless sunk into the ground. The untouchable spot of darkness on the ground started to head further down the alley. "Hey! Get back here!" Kairi jeered, rushing after it and cursing that she couldn't do a thing against it when it was in that state.

The Heartless veered down another alley to the right and Kairi rounded the corner. She could still see it racing over the snow-covered ground of the alleys. She took a left as the Heartless went that way, and then another right and then…

Kairi skidded to a stop, her eyes going this way and that. _Where did it go?_ She thought. _Wait a second… where am I?_

A hand suddenly went around her mouth and another wrapped around her chest, trapping her arms to her sides. Her startled and suddenly frightened scream was smothered by a piece of cloth that was being pressed to her mouth and face. Panicking, Kairi couldn't think, couldn't act, and her limbs were getting increasingly heavy and her mind increasingly fuzzy very fast. Her eyes rolled back into their sockets, and Kairi was out before she'd even been able to fight back.

-A-D-

_Uh-oh! Kairi's kidnapped, again! She's not going to be happy about that when she wakes up._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	41. Kill the Beast!

_Before I begin, yes, I know that the prince's name really is Adam. But Disney didn't even make that up until Belle's Enchanted Christmas and Adam is not French enough. I had originally made him Allan, but Allan is English and so changed it to the French equivalent of Alain._

_Now then, in case you were living under a rock, E3 just went down this past week in L.A., so allow me to share with you all the good KH related news, trailers, and releases with you. To start things off, right off the get-go we got ourselves a full English trailer for BBS. You remember the first trailer in Japanese that we got at TGS 2009 that started with Aqua telling Terra and Ven about the charms? We got that in English, also with a peek at the NA/EU exclusive boss fight. I'm not a fan of Aqua's English voice at the moment, after listening to her Japanese voice actress for so long (the same woman who did the Japanese Paine in case you didn't know) but it'll likely grow on me. In fact, it kinda already is._

_Also on the docket, confirmation of Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded, the repackaged version of the direct sequel to KH2, Kingdom Hearts Coded. Coded, as you all are likely aware, was a Kingdom Hearts game exclusive to Japan that was played on cell phones. Our cell phones suck, and we didn't get the game. However, Nomura and the KH crew are recognizing that a huge portion of the Kingdom Hearts fanbase lies across the Pacific and WANTS every game they come out with for the series. As such, Coded is becoming Re: Coded for the Nintendo DS, like CoM for the Gameboy became Re: CoM for the PS2._

_In addition to Re: Coded, the bit of news that was supposed to make an 'impact' among KH fans at E3 this year was confirmed to be a title called Kingdom Hearts 3D, to be released for the Nintendo 3DS. Current details about the game's content and story are sketchy at best, but essentially we will be getting our Kingdom Hearts like never before seen, in 3D. And 3D does not stand for 3 Dimension, but actually for the game's subtitle. It's a whole new title though, and Nomura said that it's not a Nintendo 3DS remake of the original game, though it appears to be set in that time era from the screenshots. Sora and Riku are the main characters and both appear to be playable, but Sora's facing the Twilight Thorn Nobody in Traverse Town… Maybe it's got something to do with memories? I don't know. Nomura said that Re: Coded will have hints about the story in 3DS._

_Speaking of the Nintendo 3DS, we are getting ourselves a handheld DS console with the first ever 3D with NO 3D glasses, a motion sensor, a gyro sensor, 3D high def camera, an analog stick, and with graphics potential that looks only slightly less than that of the PSP (judging by the look of Kid Icarus: Uprising, so around PS2 graphics), but innately with far more processing power than the PSP. So… KH3D has the possibility to look a lot better than 358/2 Days did, as far as game graphics goes (and if Re: Coded comes out for 3DS instead of DS it'll look a helluva lot better too!), and it also gives us the next chapter of Kingdom Hearts, sadly with new voice actors for our beloved Mickey Mouse and Jiminy Cricket, both of whom having passed away in the past year._

_Another great bit of KH news: Nomura has said that he wants to do KH III, and that KH III WILL be on a console. He's getting intense pressure from Square, Disney, and all of us fans to do KH III, and that, essentially, he would gladly do it if not for one small problem: the main KH developer is busy with Final Fantasy stuff and the BBS team is working on KH 3D. So we can judge that once Square's done punching everything into FF and he's able to get the BBS team in, they'll start work on KH III, and hopefully for the PS3! That's it for KH!_

_I'd let you know about all the other stuff too, like Kirby Epic Yarn, the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (which we should see sometime next year), Mario Sports Mix, Metroid: Other M, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Goldeneye, Kid Icarus: Uprising, more Epic Mickey news and gameplay and all the other fun stuff that's coming out from Nintendo at least, but if you haven't already, watch the press conference. It is SO worth watching._

_(As of this moment in writing the note, I'm waiting for the Sony Press Conference which starts at 12:00 Pacific, so 13:00 Mountain. Right now it is twenty minutes away and (laughs) I am literally shaking. My body IS shaking because of my anticipation for what I just saw at the Nintendo Press Conference, and what I am about to see now from Sony.)_

_WHOA! The 3D for the PS3 looks great, but the PlayStation Move, along with the game Sorcery, looks AWESOME!_

_Wow, the Sony Press Conference was mostly just a showcase of PlayStation tech, not much on the games and new titles like the Nintendo one was. Wait, never mind, once you get to EA, you see a few more games… PORTAL 2! Also a short vid for FF XIV Online looked good. In conclusion, watch the Nintendo Press Conference for games, and the Sony one for PS tech, not for new games and game content. They didn't even have The Last Guardian mentioned in their Press Conference, so I'm assuming that they want us all to go on the PS Home and check out the booth on there._

_Oh, and Sony had Kevin Butler show up and make an epic speech about gaming. Watch that._

_And if you're a big Star Wars fan like me, check out Star Wars The Old Republic, the brand-spankin'-new Star Wars MMORPG that is going to be light-years ahead of the Galaxies flop._

_Disclaimer: (Too busy drooling over E3 to remember to do it)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLI: Kill the Beast!

_1230 hrs, Wednesday, November 12, 2003  
Town Square, French Town  
Jasmine_

The sun was still shining like it had all morning, but it had lost the small amount of warmth that Jasmine had been able to feel coming from it ever since she and Belle had left the tavern after a couple of drinks, fruitlessly ineffective at gathering any information about Heartless or strange people from him, to find Kairi and Menelmon gone.

"Excuse me," Jasmine asked politely, coming up to two women chatting amicably at by the frozen fountain in the centre of the square, "but have you seen a young girl about so high with red hair wearing a pink coat, and with a small blue bird on her shoulder?" They both shook their heads and Jasmine sighed. "Well, thanks anyway, sorry for bothering you."

Jasmine turned away from them after receiving the same answer that she had from the last twelve people she'd asked. It wasn't like Kairi was a little nine-year-old or something, a person whose attention would wander and would go against what she was told. She was a much more mature and smarter girl than that. If Kairi were going to leave from the nearby vicinity of the tavern, there had to be a good reason for it, but for her not to leave a note or do anything to let them know where she'd gone… it was a bit odd.

The Arabian Princess heard her name being called and she turned to see Belle coming towards her in her blue coat. "Did you find her?" Belle asked.

Jasmine shook her head. "No, and nobody I asked saw her."

"We'd better keep looking then," Belle said, glancing around the square as if she'd find Kairi standing there waiting for them. Jasmine nodded, and the two set off together.

_Kairi,_ she thought, looking around the square again, even though Belle had just swept it with her eyes, _where could you be?_

-A-D-

_Training Shack, Radiant Garden  
Riku_

He sat at the table in the combined kitchen/dining room in the three-room shack that had been built for Ur's training usage, his lips closing around a spoon filled with steaming soup. Thick tomato and beef broth covered fat, juicy pieces of beef, large chunks of potato and carrot and mushroom, and healthy green beans. Black peppercorn, oregano, thyme, sea-salt, and small amounts of lemon-rind were mixed in with the soup, and accompanying them was a fresh loaf of bread with a slab of garlic butter and a block of cheddar cheese. Riku was eating a man's winter lunch, filled with beloved man-food for the hungry man.

And at the table across from him sat two women, eating similar lunches but not quite as manly, each of them blonde and both of them in naught but their underclothing.

Riku was about ready to freak out that he was slowly finding the sight of them dressed like that to be normal!

"This is so wrong," he said aloud, placing his spoon back into his manly soup.

"Huh?" Agatha asked, both her and Naminé, sitting side-by-side at the table's opposite side, looking up at him. Ur, King Mickey, and Master Yen Sid (who had been joining them off and on over the past several days) were all outside discussing something.

Naminé cocked her head to one side. "Something wrong Riku?"

"Yes," Riku said slowly. "Why am I finding it normal to be looking at you and your servant every day when you're only in your underwear?"

Both girls blushed and glanced at each other for far less time than a second before Naminé looked back at Riku. "Because that's how Ur trains us!" Naminé replied. "Besides, I'm kinda getting used to being this exposed in the cold. And it's not like anything—" she stopped for a second and snapped her fingers a few times. "Hey, Riku, my face is up here!"

"Why the heck are you wearing stuff with _lace_ then!" Riku asked, his face furiously turning red before attacking his soup twice more. Normal underwear he'd seen them in, and he'd been mostly fine with that. But normal stuff wasn't meant to do the same thing to the curves and skin of Naminé's upper chest and rump as the sky-blue lacy garments she currently was wearing was. Normal stuff didn't make her look quite so alluring.

"It's just wrong!" Riku repeated. "You're a Princess, not a porn star! Stop trying to seduce me."

"Naminé would never—" Agatha started before Naminé broke through.

"I'm not trying to seduce you!" Naminé argued. "I don't want to be wearing this, but all my others are dirty and in the wash today so this is all I've got left. I actually didn't even want to come today, because I didn't want you to see me in it," she added somewhat bashfully, looking down and away. "But I also couldn't skip training today either, with the amount I've missed. I just didn't know what you'd say if you saw me in something like this."

Riku wasn't quite sure what to reply with, so he waited a few seconds, taking another spoonful of his manly soup into his mouth. He swallowed. "Well, if you show it to Roxas, he won't be able to stop looking at you," he finally settled on, this time making sure that his aqua eyes met Naminé's indigo ones and didn't stray south of her chin.

She smiled gratefully at him, her blush intensifying only slightly, and nodded her head.

Riku's body flashed with light suddenly and another voice said, "Yeah, you ain't _that_ bad Miss Moon."

His hands left the spoon and table and flew to his face as Dawn suddenly appeared, spread languidly over the table. She was smiling at Riku with that smile of hers, the kind that made him want to run to the hills and find some form of comfort in a fight to the death with a grizzly bear or a tiger or fifteen hundred Yuffies and Kairis and Yunas all armed to the teeth. Dawn didn't come out naked, curse Zeus; she'd come out worse than naked. Thin bronze stockings stretched tightly up the creamy smooth skin of her legs until they reached the mid-point of her thighs, ending in bronze edging with black vine motifs on the edge. The clips from a lacy black garter leisurely grasped at the stockings, and the rest of her underwear matched, giving enticing hints of what lay beneath. Her orange eyes were giggling at Riku from above her breasts, and she moved one leg up and over the other, her toes nudging Riku's nose.

Riku hastily looked down and seriously began to contemplate the merits of drowning himself in his soup. This was already too much and getting far out of hand. He was surrounded by three gorgeous women: one trying to seduce him, one his trusting friend, and one the servant of his trusting friend who he suspected had a crush on him; and he couldn't, no, he would not allow himself to touch _any_ of them. Reason number one: Yuffie. Reason number two: he could not imagine that having a sexual relationship with the physical avatar of his primary Keyblade, his comrade, weapon, and partner-for-life, could possibly end well. Reason number three: Naminé was his friend and he trusted her not to try and seduce him to her, and she trusted him not to try and pull her away from Roxas, not to mention the fallout that would land on them from Sora and Kairi if he and Naminé went and did something stupid like that scared the pants off of him (figuratively speaking). Reason number four: did he mention Yuffie and that he already had a girlfriend?

Dawn giggled and flicked his nose again with her toes covered by the silk. Riku made the mistake of looking and found his eyes roving of their own accord, trailing down Dawn's leg to her hips, and then up a short ways towards the _amazing_ view of her breasts that he was witness to. "Come on Riku," she said huskily. "Come and play."

Riku's brain was dumb to respond, and he looked back down. The manly soup called to him, telling him to choke on its thick chunks of potato to get out of the terrible place he was currently in.

The moment passed as Naminé spoke. "Would you stop flirt-perving him already?" she asked Dawn sharply. "Can't you see how terrified Riku is?"

Dawn giggled again and turned her whole body around so that she was propped up on her elbows, looking right at Naminé eye-to-eye. Her feet were both up and waving slowly in the air, and the movement had now forced the alluring curves of her ass beneath Riku's eyes. It took his brain three full seconds to realize that he was staring there and to force them to move to some other place that another part of his anatomy would much rather have preferred to not be looking at. A coo-coo clock was not as interesting to it as the form of the feminine posterior.

"Oh yes I can Naminé," she said. She lifted herself up. "And why wouldn't I when I've got equipment like this?" She jiggled her chest in front of the blonde Princess of Radiant Garden and Naminé turned away, embarrassed.

"Dawn get your 34-Ds out of Naminé's 28-B face," Riku promptly said, coming to the defence of the smaller girl.

Dawn just giggled and turned her head. "Ooh, you know our sizes without even seeing the tags? You're such a perverted stud-muffin."

Riku flushed red in the face and looked off at the ceiling. "I—I just have an eye for detail is all…" he muttered.

"Then what're Kairi and Yuffie?" Dawn asked, turning onto her side and laying an arm across the side of her body enticingly. Riku noticed the movement and promptly looked away again. Dammit! Why did she have to be so damn cute and deadly at the same time! Would he be able to resist if Yuffie started to act like this one night? He already knew that, hell no, he wouldn't. He probably wouldn't even wait long enough to find the nearest flat surface so that he could…

"30-C and 26-C," Riku answered, trying to get his train of thought off of anything but breasts but finding it impossible when it was already on the subject. He also realized that if it strayed, it might be straying to something else in the same general area. Right now, breasts might actually be a safe topic. "I don't know why Kairi's so upset about it," he added to himself. "She's fine and Sora likes them. So what's the big deal? Yuffie's only look bigger because they're set on a smaller frame."

"So would you do Agatha then?" Dawn asked. Riku's mouth opened in shock. "Go on, use your perverted eyesight to get the size of her rack."

"D—Dawn!" both he and Agatha spluttered at the same time, Agatha's arms going to her chest, and Riku's eyes running off somewhere else as he grabbed a large piece of bread and spread liberal amounts of garlic butter onto it. He shoved it into his mouth, possibly trying to choke himself on the bread.

Dawn giggled again and turned her orange eyes back onto the indigo of Naminé's. "And it's so fun to watch him squirm like that," she continued. "You have to agree with me there, right?" She shuffled closer to Naminé, being careful to avoid all the food on the table before she floated into the air next to her. Dawn's orange eyes sat next to Naminé's indigo ones as she flirtatiously looked in Riku's direction. An arm wrapped around the girl's shoulders and she pointed and began to whisper into the blonde princess' ear. "You see? You see how he is? It really shows the strength of his character and his feelings for his girlfriend that he's able to resist throwing everything down and tearing these nasty things off us and ravaging us until he's had his way and is completely satisfied, with hot, sticky liquid glistening on our sweat-laced and shimmering hot naked bodies."

The image suddenly assaulted Riku's senses and he quickly stood and left the table before it could compel him to do something he would forever regret. "Where are you going Riku?" Agatha asked.

"To see how many times I need to smash my head against the cliff in order to lose consciousness."

Naminé started to laugh as Dawn vanished. Now she understood completely why Dawn kept flirting with Riku so much and why she kept going to such audacious lengths. He was a constant source of amusement and entertainment when backed up to the wall, showcasing his dedication to the girl who was his girlfriend by refusing at every turn to give in to the beast in his loins. For one that Sora had jokingly called a man-whore, Riku appeared fiercely loyal to the girl of his choosing. Thinking of which, Naminé blushed, Yuffie was going to be a lucky girl when she finally got _that_ piece of him if his jeans were able to bulge that much.

"Wait Riku, come back!" she called through her laughter. "It's okay, she just wanted to be inside you again."

Riku stopped and smirked. He turned around. "That didn't exactly work Naminé," he said. "You're horrible with sex jokes."

Naminé raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said that guys didn't have any holes?"

_BURN!_ Dawn yelled from inside of Riku's mind. He winced, both at the loudness of his Keyblade's exclamation and from the mental image.

"Can we get away from this topic" Riku asked tiredly, sitting back down and staring at his manly lunch again, feeling quite emasculated at the moment, "please?"

"I wonder how the others are doing," Agatha said. She looked at Naminé. "Master Sora and Prince— (Naminé glanced at her with a meaningful look) I'm sorry, Sora and Kairi both went to Prince Alain's castle to fight Heartless, right?"

"Yep," Riku answered, feeling slightly better now that the conversation had shifted. "But knowing them, Kairi's probably been captured again."

"Are you sure?" Naminé asked, startled for a moment.

Riku shrugged. "Probably."

"Then we should go save her!" Agatha said, putting down the piece of bread she had been about to start munching on.

Riku raised his hand. "Relax," he said. "What would be the point of Kairi training so much if she's going to need us to come and rescue her all the time? Have some faith. If she actually was captured, she should be able to get herself out of it. She's not some dumb helpless bimbo that can't do anything."

Naminé nodded her head after a second. "Right. Kairi's stronger now than when the Organization had her. She has her own Keyblade, she has her own strength and fire to rely on as well as the rest of us. If she is captured, she'll get out of it without Sora's help."

"Do you think that Sora's going to go leaping to her rescue," Riku asked, "or do you think that he's going to sit back and let her take care of herself?"

Naminé looked at Riku suspiciously. "This _is_ all hypothetical, right? I mean, you don't know anything that Agatha and I don't know?"

"'Course not," returned Riku, taking a spoonful of soup into his mouth. He sucked on the juicy piece of beef that had been on his spoon, and he moaned, quite enjoying the manly flavour of the beef in the thick broth. He took a piece of cheese and looked at. "Then again (he bit into the cheese and chewed a few times before swallowing), that all depends on whether or not Sora even knows that Kairi's been kidnapped again."

"You do know something," Naminé said, smiling at him with an accusing look. Riku laughed and shrugged. "You _so_ do!"

"But I still don't know what it was that Master Yen Sid wanted with you two days ago," Riku answered evasively.

Agatha turned her head. "Yes, I was wondering about that too. You haven't even told me."

Naminé smiled both guiltily and with pride. "Do you want to see what he was having me do?" Both heads nodded and Riku lifted up his bowl and drank what was left of his manly soup. "Okay, I'll show you. Oh, wait! I need to get dressed and into my armour! Then it'll be even more impressive."

She got up from the table and went towards the coat racks near the door, where a simple yellow t-shirt was along with a pair of black pants. She quickly put both of them on and closed her eyes. A moment later she flashed with golden light, and suddenly there was now a shirt of interlocking grey metal rings of mail over her upper chest, with bronze greaves on her shins and vambraces above her wrists, the bracers not mere cuffs but in the shape of a rolled leaf, with the design of a star engraved into their fronts; the same star pattern in the greaves on her shins. The white and gold tabard with the Star Seeker on it hung from her shoulders, her head through the neck-hole, and the ends tucked underneath a sky-blue belt with a silver buckle.

Riku nodded approvingly. If whatever Naminé was about to show them required her to get into her Acolyte armour, then it had to be something good. It was interesting, but she'd since found, and he had as well after trying on the same armour that Mickey gave him the other day, that after one fitting they were able to instantly summon the armour onto their bodies from any location. Except, they couldn't de-summon the armour, they actually had to take it off physically, which kinda sucked.

The silver-haired Keyblade Master followed Naminé outside, Agatha just three steps behind him and still as scantily clad as when they'd been eating. The sun was shining brightly, making them blind for a moment with all of the snow on the ground. Mickey, Ur, and Master Yen Sid all looked at them as Naminé exited, and Ur was looking at Naminé with crossed arms. "Naminé, why are you dressed, and in armour?"

"Just showing Riku and Agatha something Master Ur," Naminé replied quickly. "I'll get right back out as soon as I'm done." She looked at Master Yen Sid, and he smiled and nodded. Naminé smiled back and rushed off, further away from the shack.

"Hey! Wait up!" Agatha called, racing past Riku for a brief second before he was able to overtake her and get behind Naminé. The blonde Princess of Radiant Garden slowed and stopped, turning around.

"Okay, here should be good," she declared, about fifteen metres away from the road to the north that led out through the ravine to the rest of the world. "So… two days ago Master Yen Sid took me aside and said that every princess, and especially every knight, needed a steed to carry them into battle and in parades and ceremonies and so on and so forth."

"But you can already fly when you Drive into your Angelic Form," Riku stated. "Why do you need a steed?"

"Since I am Princess, Knight, and Keyblade Wielder, I need to look the part," Naminé answered, becoming almost giddy. Riku cocked his head to the side. It was odd for her to get so giggly. Her hands almost came together in front of her and blue, gold, and purple light formed between them. Naminé lifted her hands, and the orb of multi-coloured light rose with them until it shot up, like she was throwing something. Then something emerged and started to fall back down through the fading lights. Naminé caught it, flicked it into the air in front of her. It spun around, Riku making the object to be in an egg-shape and with the outline of a star-studded wing inside of it.

Naminé smiled and cast the charm many feet into the air above her head. "Come to me, Nebulus!"

The charm hovered in the air for a moment before it glowed with light. Then Riku heard a whinnying neigh, and a creature burst out of the charm. He had never seen a horse with his own eyes before, but even so it was unlike any horse he might've seen. Its body was a translucent mist-blue, and it seemed to be formed around points of light that had lines running between them, like the lines that made up constellations of stars. Two long wings stretched out from its sides, wings without feathers that also had the stars and their lines inside of them, defining what could essentially be the horse's bones and joints. As it moved, tiny stars were left behind in its wake, like the trail of a comet, before they winked out of existence a few seconds later.

It flew around and came down to the ground, landing at a canter before slowing and stopping in front of Naminé with a toss of its head. She tenderly placed a hand on the creature's nose and Riku took a closer look. The Pegasi, as he chose to regard it, looked exactly as a horse might've, except for the wings, and that it was entirely composed of some kind of physical but ethereal body of stars that faintly emitted a soft and soothing light from the heavens. The tiny stars that it left behind were forming here, even as it was standing still, giving the mystical horse another layer to its glow. From the shoulder it stood just barely taller than Naminé's neck. Over the rump before the tail, neck, and head between two translucent ears around the eyes and extending to just before the nose, and the front of the horse's chest were pieces of gold-trimmed plate armour that looked unlike any piece Riku had even imagined. The metal that was there, if it even _was_ metal shimmered between the colours of purple and blue in all of their shades, and a purple and blue crystal coveted the front of the steed's chest-plate. A dirt brown and gold saddle rested on the creature's back, strapped in from the front by an intricate leather collar of black with golden studs in the shape of lion's heads.

Naminé continued to pat it affectionately on the side of its rubbery ethereal neck. Like her sister the day before, she couldn't stop smiling. "This is Nebulus," she said, turning to look at Riku and Agatha, "my Celestial Steed. Master Yen Sid had me spend all day Monday learning to ride him. Our first flight was amazing. He cuts through the sky faster than I can on my wings, and his hooves sound like thunder on the ground."

Riku stood back and took in the scene, watching Naminé with her white-blonde hair and indigo eyes patting the strange winged steed. She'd obviously already bonded to the animal, and it looked like Nebulus seemed to like her too. She mounted him and took hold of a pair of dark grey and gold reigns of tightly woven cloth. Kicking her legs into his flanks, she grasped the reigns tighter as Nebulus reared and screeched with a neigh that no living horse could possibly make, both of his wings extending to their full length that made him twice times his own length in width. Then Naminé ducked her head in close to his neck and Nebulus took off at a trot that very quickly turned into a gallop. The snow whirled around on the ground as the celestial steed flapped his wings and brought him and his rider into the air.

Riku nodded his head as the light caught both the mail Naminé was wearing and the shimmering mystical armour of the winged steed. She had been right, it was much more impressive than if she were dressed in just her underwear. And, Riku thought that there could be no better steed for the mage Keyblade Wielder that Naminé was. A magical winged horse suited her perfectly.

But despite what he had said earlier to them, he was still worried about Kairi. What could've happened, and would she really be alright?

-A-D-

His Keyblades glowing with white light, Sora floated a foot above the ground right in the middle of a pack of Heartless. Remembrance cut down an instant before the Kingdom Key sliced horizontally through a Lance Soldier's body. Both spun around Sora's abdomen, dicing apart Hook Bats that flew too close to the Keyblade Master. Sora twisted his body around so that he head was parallel with the ground while he was spinning, directing the Kingdom Key to fly over his head and cut clean through another Lance Soldier with one hand, while rotating his left wrist and directing Remembrance to embed itself into the back of a Large Body he'd floated behind. Righting himself and raising his hands to the sky, both of his Keyblades darted back to him and hovered above, pointing into the air. With a shout thick bolts of lightning fell down from the sky, the bolts that missed the Heartless bouncing off the ground and striking into different targets. Twelve feet around Sora erupted into dark smoke and pink crystal hearts floated into the sky as surely as Sora was calmly hovering above the ground, silver light pulsing through his clothes in the chill air.

The Heartless had been coming almost non-stop ever since the girls had ridden away to town, each wave just a little bit bigger than the last with only a minute's break between waves. If the first had been about twenty, then by now they were showing up at roughly fifty a time, but Sora wasn't keeping track of the size, he just knew that he was by himself out here. As soon as it had become apparent that the Heartless were only going to continue coming, and that they were weak enough that it did not make sense for all of them to be outside fighting them, Donald volunteered Sora to hold the line.

Before Sora even knew what had happened, he'd been drafted and the others were all inside the castle's warm walls, drinking tea or other such hot drinks while he was stuck fighting them back in the cold.

It wasn't just that he didn't like being cold, and he found it cold, it was also that he wasn't feeling a large drain from Final Form and in this Drive he'd been able to handle each wave in less than a minute. He simply reaped them like stalks of wheat, it was that easy for him; he had it covered. The problem was that without them really posing a challenge or a threat to him, he was bored. Call him cocky, but he was bored out of his mind, slicing the frail Heartless to pieces with minimum effort while waiting on news from town.

Plus, there was also this nagging sensation in the back of his mind that something had gone wrong somewhere along the line, and he had a feeling in his heart that told him that it was with Kairi. But he didn't know what it was and he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it, which frustrated him.

Sora opened his eyes again and looked up as the Heartless swarm returned. This time it was composed entirely of Gargoyle Knights and Warriors, the statues clutching their stone swords and axes. Without another thought Sora stormed right into them, his two Keyblades darting about in quick strokes around his body, cutting straight paths through the possessed statues. Three Knights leapt into the air and dove down at him, their swords lunging for his body. Sora spared the others the briefest of glances as he jumped up to meet them, Remembrance and the Kingdom Key spinning around his body. They came into his hands and Sora ducked underneath the stroke of the Gargoyle Knight on the left. Twisting around, Sora raised both Remembrance and the Kingdom Key in front of him at different angles, blocking the descending swords of the other two. The two Heartless froze in midair, and Sora pointed each Keyblade at them. A beam of light left each one and entered the Heartless directly in their centres, and each burst apart in a flash of light.

Spinning around, Sora tore both Keyblades through the other Gargoyle Knight in an X pattern before dropping back down to the ground. He stopped himself before his feet would otherwise have landed, and let go of both his weapons. With a scant thought and a smile he sent both spiralling towards a pair of the axe-wielding Gargoyle Warriors. Silver and gold steel struck against stone and proved the better, knocking the axes aside before plunging directly into the chests of the statues.

Sora laughed as his Keyblades flew back to him, and he twisted around to catch the sword of another Knight with Remembrance before firing a beam of light from the Kingdom Key to defeat it. He started to sing. _"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me."_ Both the Kingdom Key and Remembrance moved in time with his voice and his arms as he hovered in one spot, essentially orchestrating them in going about their business slaying the Heartless that were otherwise keeping him occupied. _"We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot. Drink up me 'earties yo ho! We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot!"_ He spun around, leaping back and away from a Gargoyle Warrior that was spinning uncontrollably in a circle. Sora brought his Keyblades in front of him on their mental tether and a reflega shield formed around his body completely. The Heartless' axe struck against the shield and it dropped back, the unstoppable spin thwarted. _"Drink up me 'earties yo ho!"_ Sora sang as his shield collapsed into a dozen balls of blue light that streamed out from him in a circle, obliterating the remainder of the Heartless swarm in one swoop.

"_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me,"_ he continued to mumble, looking around as his toes skimmed above the stone. _"We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack, drink up me 'earties yo ho! Maraud and embezzle and even high—"_

"Sora!"

The Keyblade Master's eyes snapped up into the air, and he spotted someone that he had not thought he would see again so soon. Flying in the air near the edge of the walls on dark falcon wings, carrying an unmistakable wave-bladed sword, his eyes were as yellow as they'd ever been. "Xayn Shu!" Remembrance and the Kingdom Key spiralled around Sora as he leapt high into the air, but only high enough to get him to the top of the exterior walls guarding the bridge. Sora was still left beneath the Nobody. "What do you want?"

"It seems my lot to be a message bearer," Xayn Shu chuckled. "I have one for the master of this castle this time, take it to him for me."

"How 'bout I just bring you to him and beat it out of you?" Sora countered, ready to let his Keyblades explode into twin blades of lightning.

Xayn Shu shook his head with a smile. "You're in no position to make demands, Sora. I have taken something dear and precious from this castle. Tell princely Alain that if he wishes to see it again, he must come into the woods an hour after nightfall, and he must come alone."

Sora blinked for a second. "What are you talking about? What have you stolen!"

"That is for me to know and him to find out," answered Xayn Shu, turning around on his wings.

"You're bluffing!" Sora shot at him.

Xayn Shu began to fly off towards the forest, but his words carried back to Sora. "Bluff or not, you will never find out unless Alain makes our meeting. And should he not, you will never see her again."

_Her again?_ Sora thought, his eyes widening. "Hey! Get back here!"

But Xayn Shu was already gone.

Sora scowled and jumped from the walls. He dropped out of Final Form on the way down and landed in a crouch with Remembrance in his hand. Standing up and flicking his wrist, Sora dismissed his Keyblade and headed for the front doors. _"And even hijack,"_ he muttered with a subdued air, _"drink up me 'earties yo ho."_

-A-D-

_1602hrs_

Kairi woke suddenly, her eyelids snapping open in panic as the last thoughts she had had burst into her head. Her chest heaved in and out in rapid movements, flooding her body and brain with oxygen. Stars danced in front of her eyes, and Kairi started to move an arm to—

Her eyes opened wider in shock. She couldn't feel her arms! Scratch that, she couldn't feel anything!

"Ah, it seems the Princess has awakened."

Kairi realized that she could only barely move her head, and doing so required a great amount of effort that nearly drained her. Her temper flared when she saw the yellow hawk-like eyes of the Nobody Xayn Shu regarding her, but what really made it rise in her throat was that he was standing next to the sneering face of one black-haired Gaston and his diminutive and squat companion Lefou.

"Mu mumerumin bshtr!" Kairi shouted, suddenly feeling the cloth gag in her mouth, drying her tongue, and the duct tape that was over her lips. She stopped and her eyes went down frightfully to her mouth. "Mt?"

Gaston boomed a laugh, at which Kairi sent him a glare that meant death. "So," he began, "this is the fiery maiden from Radiant Garden? I had no idea that nabbing you would be so easy."

Kairi flushed and withdrew her head back slightly. So that Heartless had been a trap then? Now that she looked at it, of course it had been a trap! A single Shadow racing down an alleyway into unknown and deserted parts of town far away from prying eyes? How could she have been stupid enough to fall for it! She was better than that! Now she understood why Gaston had come along when he had and told her to wait outside. His part had been to get her by herself. Denying her from going into the tavern had gotten her frustrated, and the Shadow came along to lead her into the trap. In her irritation at not being allowed in with Jasmine and Belle, Kairi had wanted to take it out on the first Heartless she saw, and was just blind enough to single-mindedly follow it right into Xayn Shu's trap.

"Mk!" Kairi cursed. "Mk! Mk! Mk!" How could she have let herself fall for something so blindly obvious! She was better than this! Menelmon was…

Menelmon!

Using a gargantuan effort, she raised her head back towards Gaston and Xayn Shu. "Mer'm Memelmom?"

"Huh?" Gaston asked mockingly, cupping a hand to his ear. "What was that?"

"Mer'm Memelmom mu mescism mg!"

Lefou laughed. "Oh, don't worry about her. We took good care of your bird friend." He chuckled slightly to himself and raised a glass, and Kairi noticed that she was in some sort of camp in the woods. There was a low-burning fire in front of her, the light of the sun was fading, and the two Frenchman were drinking a dark-brown and foaming brew from out of a large wooden cask that they'd somehow managed to bring. There were also two black horses tied up against a tree, both of them quaking slightly in what Kairi attributed to fear, and numerous figures that Kairi could not make out were prowling between the trees some distance away.

"Mer mm she!" Kairi asked.

"Dunno," Lefou replied, shrugging airily. "I can't remember where or when I chucked her away."

"MT!" Kairi shrieked. Her throat started to burn and she hacked, forcing a bit of the cloth gag closer to the front of her mouth to keep her from puking in her own mouth. It hurt, and she forced herself to breathe deeply through her nose.

"Forget about your little friend, Kairi," Xayn Shu said. "Night will fall in less than an hour, and after your friends have been taken care of and are otherwise occupied when the darkness falls upon the heart of your friend Alain, you will be standing before Maleficent."

"Melemmt!" Kairi started, horrified. This could not be happening.

"Oh yes," Gaston said, gesturing at Lefou. The short and squat man knocked the cork out of the cask and loosely held three big mugs beneath it as the dark-brown liquid inside poured into them. "But first, I believe you should have a drink, you look thirsty." Lefou capped the cask again and he and Gaston came over towards Kairi. Gaston ripped the tape off her face and pulled the gag from her mouth and Kairi gave a small gasp of pain as tiny hairs were ripped from her upper lip and the nerves in her lips sparked in agony for a moment.

Kairi forced her head back towards Gaston, eyeing him with contempt. "What did you drug me with?" she asked slowly, finding that her chin and mouth were a bit numb and slower to respond than usual. "Why can't I move?"

He smirked and grasped her chin in his thick, muscled hand left hand. Forcibly pursing her lips and making intelligible speech impossible for her again, he snapped the fingers in his right hand. Lefou placed a foaming mug into it. The man's voice became babying as he brought it to her face, shaking the mug like a baby's bottle and slopping a little of the beer in the process. "Drink up doll."

It required too much effort and her head wasn't moving as quickly as Kairi needed it to in order to resist. That didn't mean that Kairi didn't try though, but her strength was gone, and Gaston's grip was firm and the liquid came down steadily. For the first moments Kairi fought it, trying to spit it out or otherwise keep from swallowing. It spilled out, the cool liquid running down and over her chin and neck and parting over Gaston's fingers.

A cough and a splutter along with a flickering tongue, and then finally the drink found its way down her esophagus as she involuntarily swallowed. The beer tasted bad; it was bitter and hard, but it swirled around in her mouth and throat and brought back moisture that the cloth had robbed her mouth of. She swallowed again, unable to stop as Gaston kept his grip firm and the flow steady, and her body begged her that it needed the moisture. Another swallow.

Finally the first mug was gone, and Kairi coughed and hacked, spitting out as much as was left when Gaston released her from his hold. "Now how was that doll?" he asked, leaning in on his knee and looking at her as if he had just asked a child how a sweet candy tasted.

"The _Pony_'s is _much_ better than this slop," Kairi muttered darkly, "and don't ever call me 'doll." She desperately wanted to run her hand over her chin to wipe some of the slop from it, but was unable to even feel her arm. "What did you drug me with?" she asked again.

Gaston's hand suddenly came to her mouth again as Lefou shuffled away with the first mug. "Here, have another, doll. It'll grow on you." Before Kairi could try to utter another word, he tipped the lip of the glass to her lips and it started to flow again. This time though, he began to talk while he forced her to drink. "An interesting mixture of several different and intriguing ingredients," he answered. "When combined and inhaled, not only does it make you black out, but it also completely numbs and paralyzes your body, temporarily, from roughly the base of the neck down. You can't move, and you can't feel, and even your face gets a little numb. Come on now doll, drink your medicine. We can't have your mind sharp and the rest dull now can we?"

Kairi resisted swallowing for another few seconds before she was forced to again to keep herself from drowning. _So that's what they're doing,_ she realized frightfully as her head began to feel slightly fuzzy. _They're getting me drunk so that I won't even be able mentally capable of fighting back, and there's nothing I can do about it! I can't believe that I got out of bed this morning for this!_

She spluttered as the second mug emptied and Gaston released her, handing the empty to Lefou. Her head hung down, and she flicked her eyes up towards Xayn Shu, who was watching it all with an approving look on his face, as if he had even suggested the idea to the Frenchman. "We should have killed you on Destiny Islands when we had the chance," she spat.

He grunted a laugh and turned to look at her fully. "And why is that, dear Princess?"

Kairi forcibly raised her head, knowing that she must have looked pathetic despite the look in her eyes. "Because any sick bastard like you who preys on defenceless little girls doesn't deserve the right to live."

He laughed in her face. "Can you really call a Nobody 'alive'?" he fired back.

Lefou laughed too. "Hey Gaston, I think she just called herself a defenceless little girl."

Kairi burned inside but couldn't must a retort as Gaston grasped her cheeks again and pursed her lips open, the third mug in his right hand. Lefou had the other two already filled again behind him. "Come on now little girl."

"No…" Kairi said.

"Drink up doll," Gaston sneered.

As Kairi started to feel more and more haze in her head, she knew that she was in some seriously deep trouble. And what frightened her most was that nobody knew where she was, and she didn't know if she'd be able to get out of this one.

_Sora, Menelmon… help me!_

-A-D-

_1745hrs,  
West Wing, Alain's Castle  
Prince Alain_

Dinner had been subdued after night had fallen. Prince Alain sat alone in his and Belle's room in the West Wing of the castle. There had still been no word from Belle, Jasmine, or Kairi from town, and there was not much time left until he had to go and meet Xayn Shu. All of the others were against it, but he had to see what the Nobody wanted. He had to make sure that his castle and his friends would be safe. But first…

Alain looked at a circular pedestal near the balcony that had once supported a rose that floated in a glass case, and a small circular mirror. Now there was a blue vase filled with roses, but the white mirror was still there. He grasped it by the handle and lifted it up to his face, looking into the reflection of his regal appearance, deep blue eyes, and chestnut hair. He looked over himself for only a moment before he spoke to the mirror. "Show me Belle."

The mirror's face flashed with liquid green light as Alain's visage was wiped clean off it. A scene formed in the mirror instead, showing the cozy, warm, and lit inside of a house. There were three people sitting at a table, and Alain's eyes roved over them instantly. Maurice was there, as was Jasmine, and Belle herself was sitting down. The three of them appeared to be eating, and all of them looked disheartened about something.

Alain's brow furrowed as he looked at the scene. Why did they look so down? And where were Kairi and Menelmon?

"I just don't know where they could have gone," Belle said sombrely, her voice carrying through the mirror as clearly as if she were standing there beside him. Maurice patted her on the arm.

"There there Belle," he said comfortingly. "We'll go out first thing after dinner and keep looking. They couldn't have gotten far."

"But it's been all day," Jasmine said. "Sora's going to be so upset when he finds out that Kairi and Menelmon have gone missing."

Prince Alain stopped and stared at the mirror, green drops of the mirror's magical scrying magic still flowing around the edge of the face and on the mirror's backing. "Show me Kairi," he commanded.

The mirror flashed again, and when the picture formed a snarl of outrage came to his mouth. It didn't look as if she'd been too mistreated, but her coat was loose about her shoulders and barely clasped at the neck and both the front of it and her sweater looked like they had been wet by something. She was slouched against a tree in front of a fire, her head slightly to one side as she stared intently at the fire like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Her arms were wrapped behind the tree, and Alain didn't need to see them to know that her hands were bound. Her feet were also bound together and her legs stretched out in front of her. She was gagged as well, and there was no sign of her partner digimon.

Tucking the mirror into his belt, Prince Alain grasped his cloak and stormed out of his room. Not surprisingly, Aladdin, Genie, Iago, Abu, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon were all waiting for him in the entrance hall with Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts. Sora was pacing with crossed arms, on edge about something.

"You are about ready to leave?" Lumiere asked.

"You're still going through with this huh?" Genie added.

Alain ignored both of them and yanked out the mirror, going right up to Sora and handing it to him. The boy took it and looked at Prince Alain quizzically. "What's this?" he asked.

"Ask it to show you Kairi," Alain told him sternly, a growl in his voice. He saw that Sora was startled, and wished that he could get his temper under control.

"Uh, can you show me Kairi?" Sora asked uncertainly. The mirror pulsed once more with green light and everyone who was unfamiliar with the mirror's magic winced. When Sora looked back he gasped, and then started to snarl.

"Oh, the poor dear!" Mrs. Potts whispered, shocked. "I never would have guessed that I should ever see her in such straits."

"That can't be good," Iago said.

"Xayn Shu!" Sora murmured. "So he stole _her_! I'm gonna kill him."

"Not yet," Prince Alain answered, tugging the mirror out of Sora's hands. It went blank and he placed it back in his belt. "He still has her in his hands. We need to play by his rules, for now. If we don't what he said may just come true and you won't see Kairi again."

"I'm going with you!" Sora insisted.

"And we're comin' too!" Goofy added sternly.

"Ah, but if you do that, and he finds out," Cogsworth started to stutter, "he may send Kairi off to Maleficent before you can do anything to stop him."

"I can wrap light around us to make us invisible," Sora said quickly. "I'm still not too good at it, but I can do it! I know I can!"

"Can you also become silent?" Prince Alain asked. Sora stopped, his anger abating in confusion. "Unless you can move as quietly and seamlessly as a ghost, there is no way that you, or Donald, or Goofy would make it with me undetected. Even so, I'm going to break one rule: I'm not going alone."

-A-D-

Twenty minutes later Alain was in the middle of the woods near to the castle, wandering aimlessly in the opposite direction from his home. He was sure that if he were to just walk, then Xayn Shu would find him. The wind blew coldly through the trees, carrying with it the howl of the wolves. The snow was thicker here beneath the trees, and it sprayed out as he shuffled his feet, adding the sound of the kicking snow to the crunching of the leaves beneath his boots.

He heard another sound and turned his head towards it. A short man with slanted eyes and dark hair swung out of a tree and landed heavily on the ground in front of him. He was dressed all in furs, and his face, masked slightly in the darkness, had a cruel smile on it.

Prince Alain snatched the magic mirror out from his belt and held it loosely in his left hand. "You are Xayn Shu?" he asked.

"I am," the man replied.

"I have come as you asked," Alain said, noticing that Xayn Shu's eyes were looking inquisitively at the mirror in his hand. "Now where is she?"

"Who?" Xayn Shu asked.

Alain quickly placed the mirror in front of his face. "Show me Kairi," he commanded. The mirror started to flash with green light and he turned it towards Xayn Shu, and the Nobody recoiled at the sudden surge of coloured light from the object. Then he looked back at the mirror, and Xayn Shu's expression reverted to its cruel smile.

"Where is she?" Alain demanded.

"What is she to you?" Xayn Shu asked. "She's not Belle. What do you care?"

"She's my friend's Belle," Alain returned. "Now I'm only going to ask this once more," his right hand swiftly went to the rapier on his hip and drew it, "where is she?"

"Temper, temper," Xayn Shu said mockingly, wagging a finger. "But, since it seems that you have already seen her, thanks to your mirror, then I no longer have any obligation to show her to you, or reveal her whereabouts."

"Well you're going to whether you like it or not!" Prince Alain snarled, charging at Xayn Shu. His sword clashed against a wave-bladed one that Xayn Shu suddenly drew to block his attack, and the Nobody's smile was still there.

"You really are a beast aren't you?" asked the Nobody as their swords pressed against one another, the two combatants locked a mere two feet away from one another. Xayn Shu drew his left hand out of his fur clothing. "Would you like a rose?"

Alain shuffled back, staring at the flower in full bloom. "Where did…? What is the meaning of this?"

"If you think that a simple enchantress is the only one that can turn you into the dark thing inside of your heart then you are mistaken. For a sorceress like Maleficent, it is child's play. Become that which you are within!" Xayn Shu said, holding the rose aloft. Red light started to glow from the petals and Alain's sword and the mirror dropped to the ground.

The prince howled in pain, clutching at his head with his hands. His skin started to sprout thick brown fur and small black horns grew out from nubs that sprouted on the sides of his rapidly changing head. His hands became claws, and his feet and legs began to elongate into those of a feral animal.

Alain turned and ran, dropping down onto all fours as an animalistic roar of despair and pain escaped from his throat. The Beast, once again he had been turned into a ferocious beast. And this time, he didn't think there would be an escape.

Genie and Aiwemon flew down from where they had hid in the trees, and each started to speak. But Beast howled the words "Leave me!" and dashed back for the castle.

Xayn Shu chuckled as he watched the retreat and he bent down, picking up the mirror. He turned around, and Gaston slunk out from behind a tree. Xayn Shu tossed him the mirror. "You know what to do."

-A-D-

A sharp pain in her head was the first sensation Menelmon felt as she came back to consciousness. The next was that the she was confined on her back and that she was in darkness. She blinked hard, not that it did anything to improve her eyesight or help the pain in her head, other than that it was now lessening to that of an ache from an injury she must have received some hours ago.

The thought of the impact of the club on the back of her head, and the sight of Xayn Shu's face holding it, brought her mind right back. "Kairi!" she shouted, suddenly wide awake and ready to defend her partner. Despite that though, she couldn't see, and her wings kept pushing up against some kind of barrier in all directions that kept her confined. It didn't take too much longer for her to realize that she had been placed in a sack.

"Kairi!" she called out again, hoping that she was somewhere near her partner, and then might be able to digivolve to break out of the sack. But the reply was an eerie silence. She could hear the wind rustling in the world around her, and a few other woodland noises, through the sack, but nothing that resembled the sounds of a human or Kairi.

She was alone.

Menelmon weighed her options. She could start pushing the sack around, but it was thick enough that sunlight didn't even get through, if there even was sunlight outside, so she had no way to judge what she might be rolling the sack over. If she ended up going over a cliff in the sack it would not end well; she didn't have enough room to fully extend her wings and even attempt to fly. She could try pecking at the sack's interior, but her beak was better for crushing nuts and berries, not like Aiwemon's beak which was more pointed and useful for ripping and tearing things apart. Finally she could use her attacks, but she wasn't sure if she had the room or if she wouldn't end up suffocating herself by filling the interior with snow.

None of them looked good, but Kairi was in trouble somewhere. Menelmon needed to get to Kairi to make sure that she was alright, and to do that she _had_ to get out of this sack, no matter what. She drew one wing back as far as she could and then swept it out in front of her, shouting "Ice Feathers!" Only two feathers formed and thudded against the sack's inside edge, but two frozen feathers were enough to give Menelmon something to work with. She took one in her beak and started to scratch away.

_This is going to take a while,_ she thought in a grumble, _but at least I've started. Hang on Kairi, I'm on my way!_

-A-D-

_1812hrs_

"Al! Sora! Big problem heading our way!"

Sora looked up from his pacing, Jiminy had told him that if he kept doing that he was going to wear a rut in the floor, at the sound of Genie's voice. He'd become antsy in the time that had passed since Alain had left the castle with Aiwemon and Genie silently tailing him. Kairi was out there, and as much as he was confident that Kairi would be able to get herself out of it somehow without his help, the sight of her tied up and lethargic like that made him want to pound Xayn Shu's face in with his own two hands. She was a Keyblade Wielder and a Princess of Heart, and she had grown into a highly capable warrior now, no longer a damsel in distress that absolutely _needed_ to be rescued.

But she was also his girlfriend, and seeing the young woman he loved in such desperate straits pissed him off.

At Genie's call, Sora stopped his pacing and looked up to where Genie was flying into the entrance hall from above. "What is it?" Aladdin asked.

"Three guesses," Genie replied. "It's big, it's hairy, and it roars like this:" Genie's head turned into a blue version of the Beast's and he let out the roar of the cursed behemoth. Donald jumped back into Goofy's arms in surprise and Iago and Abu both darted behind Aladdin.

"What?" Sora asked, stunned. He jumped three feet as the massive front doors burst open and slammed against the stone walls, and Sora barely caught sight of a big brown-furred creature running towards him on all fours before he was effortlessly tossed out of the way and into a pillar.

Groaning and clutching his head, Sora blearily looked up at the stairs towards the west side of the castle, hearing the animalistic and ferocious grunts and grumbles and roars of what could only have been the Beast.

Sora shook his head and smacked it a few times with his hand. He had to have been seeing things. That _couldn't _have been the Beast. The spell was broken, and Beast was Prince Alain again. Right?

"Uhg," Sora muttered. "Did I just get hit by a freight train?"

"Sora!"

Turning his head, Sora looked to see Aiwemon flying in through the open doors as quickly as he was able to. So quickly in fact, that Sora was just able to spot him before the little bird digimon collided with his head.

"Ow…" Sora moaned, rolling on the ground and clutching at his skull. "Slow down next time Aiwë…"

"Sorry Sora," Aiwemon mumbled, pushing himself up off the ground on his wings. "But you won't believe what just happened. The Prince turned into a Beast!"

"So that _was_ the Beast," Goofy said, letting go of Donald as the duck jumped back down to the ground. "I though he looked familiar."

"I wonder how that happened," Donald thought, looking up at Goofy.

Genie explained. "The Hun did some kinda weird (he turned into a likeness of Xayn Shu) 'Become that which you are within' with a rose, and then Alain started going rawr narr narr, ruff, awooo!" By now he looked a little like Beast, but also more like a big blue dog with floppy ears.

"Uh… I think that we should go and talk to him," Aladdin said, glancing at Sora. The brunet Keyblade Master nodded his head, and the group slowly headed up the stairs.

An odd assortment of objects sat near the steps to the west wing. There was a candelabra, a white teapot, a small teacup with a chip in it, a small clock, and even a feather duster. Aladdin started suddenly when the candelabra suddenly turned around and looked at them with a face on its largest and centre candle. "What could 'ave happened?" it asked as they got nearer. "The Master, he is a ferocious Beast once again."

"And we have become cursed as well," said the clock as he turned. "I must say, I don't like the looks of this, Xayn Shu or whatever his name was."

Sora sighed and shook his head. "I really don't know Lumiere. Sorry about this Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts."

She sighed and turned around. "It's alright dear. Why don't you go and talk with the Master? I'll make up some tea. Come along Chip."

"Okay Momma," Chip said, watching her. He turned his eyes towards Sora. "Take care of Beast Sora. If anyone will be able to get him and us back to normal, again, I know that you and Belle will."

Sora smiled down at the little teacup. "We'll do our best!" Chip nodded and bounded off after Mrs. Potts.

"Oh Lumiere," wailed the feather duster as the group walked past and up the steps. "Whatever shall we do now?"

"Do not worry Fifi," said Lumiere, leading her away while Cogsworth, now as a clock again, went with Sora and the others. "We shall figure somezing out."

The west wing was just as dark and dreary as when Sora had first laid eyes on it, and it looked like being turned into a Beast again had brought Alain enough despair and rage that once again nothing had been spared his wrath. Paintings were thrown from where they had hung on the walls, vases had been obliterated into dust, and entire stone pedestals and busts had been broken into pieces.

"So who's going to knock on the door?" Iago asked. Sora steeled himself and raised his fist. He brought it back and was about to rap his gloved metal knuckles on the door before he stopped himself.

"What's wrong Sora?" Aladdin asked as Sora dropped his hand.

"Maybe," Sora started, turning around. "Maybe we should just give him some space for a while. He's just taken a big blow."

"What about Kairi?" Donald asked.

A sharp pain shot through his heart at her name, and anger at Xayn Shu bubbled in his gut, but Sora forced it all away. "Kairi's strong. She can take care of herself."

"You don't sound all that sure kid," Iago pointed out.

"She has to be," Sora muttered, glancing back at the closed door to Beast's room before up at the ceiling. "She _has_ to be…"

-A-D-

Belle, Jasmine, and Maurice were all once again at Maurice's table, this time with their heads sagging and lanterns with nearly burnt-out candles placed on the table. They had scoured the whole town and as far into the woods as they dared before returning. There had been no sign of Kairi, or of Menelmon, no matter where they looked. It was as if the two had simply vanished from the world.

"We need to tell Sora," Jasmine said at last. "He needs to know that Kairi's missing."

"You know," Maurice began, "I've heard you say this name, Sora, a few times, but you still haven't told me who he is."

"Sora's the one who saved me and Jasmine and Kairi and all the other Princesses of Heart when Maleficent had captured us last year," Belle answered her father. "And he's also Kairi's beau."

"Oh," Maurice said, looking crestfallen. "He sure won't take the news well then."

Just then there was a knock on the door, and the three looked up and towards the sound. Maurice pushed himself up first, and Belle and Jasmine followed close behind, their hopes rising. Maybe, just maybe, that was Kairi at the door. But when Maurice opened it, the person standing there was Gaston.

"Evening Maurice," he said. "Ah, Belle. Just the girl I wanted to see."

"What's going on?" Belle asked, looking past Gaston to see a good number of townsfolk gathered outside of the house with torches, pitchforks, bows, knives, axes, swords, and other easily accessible weapons. Something not to do with the mob then clicked in her mind when she looked at Gaston again. "You did it! You're the reason Kairi and Menelmon are missing!"

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," Gaston returned. He suddenly grasped Belle's arm and pulled her past her father and out of the house. He threw her onto the ground at the base of the stone steps.

"Belle!" Maurice and Jasmine both shouted.

The sound of Gaston's boots against the stone was muffled by the crackle of the torches and the murmurs from the crowd. "I always knew that there was something suspicious about the way you've been keeping to the castle, never really telling anyone about what's been going on in there."

"What are you talking about?" Belle asked, looking up at him.

"You've been hiding it from us, this whole time!" Gaston shouted. "All this talk of a Prince and getting married to him, what Prince? If there really was a Prince, he'd have shown his face here in town by now. There is no Prince!"

"What's taken over you Gaston?" Belle asked confused.

"I'll show you," he snarled. "I'll show you all, right now, what it is she's been hiding in that castle." His hand went to his belt, and he pulled out a mirror.

Belle stared at it in shock. "How did you get that?" she asked, getting angry herself and getting to her feet.

Gaston ignored her and placed the mirror up to his face. "Show me the Beast!" he ordered. The mirror flashed with green light and he held it out towards the mob as the Beast's howling head appeared in the mirror. The villagers recoiled in shock and fright, awestruck.

"Is he dangerous?" someone asked.

Belle held her arms out between the crowd and Gaston as Jasmine and Maurice came down the steps. "Oh, no, he would never hurt anyone," she told the crowd. "Please, I know he looks vicious, but he's really kind, and gentle."

Gaston snarled and grabbed Belle's blue cloak, ripping it off. "Kind and gentle huh?" he sneered. "Is that why you wear armour under this thing, to protect yourself from that monster?"

Belle recoiled from his touch. "He's no monster Gaston, you are!" Gaston laughed in her face and pushed past her towards a woman.

"She's as crazy as her old man," he said. "The Beast will make off with your children," he said frighteningly, as if he were telling a ghost story. "He'll come after them in the night!"

"No!" Belle said.

"We're not safe until his head is mounted on my wall!" he continued. "I say we kill the Beast!"

"Kill him!" shouted the mob.

"We're not safe until he's dead," one villager said to another.

"He'll come stalking us at night."

"Set to sacrifice our children to his monstrous appetite!" wailed a concerned mother.

"He'll wreak havoc on our village if we let him wander free!"

"_So it's time to take some action, boys,"_ Gaston told them. _"It's time to follow me!"_ Gaston threw a torch he'd grabbed at a pile of hay and it burst into flame, basking the area in the red and orange firelight. He wandered through the mob, picking on Lefou as he sang, and raising the mob's emotions to where he wanted them.

"_Through the mist,  
Through the woods,  
Through the darkness and the shadows,  
It's a nightmare,  
But it's one exciting ride.  
Say a prayer,  
Then we're there,  
At the drawbridge of a castle,  
And there's something truly terrible inside.  
It's a Beast!  
He's got fangs,  
Razor sharp ones;  
Massive paws,  
Killer claws for the feast.  
Hear him roar,  
See him foam,  
But we're not coming home,  
'Till he's dead.  
Good and dead!_

_Kill the Beast!"_

"No!" Belle cried, tossing her cloak back and letting her steel breastplate shine in the firelight of the torches. Bright white light flashed in her hands and her halberd appeared, the long weapon with its shining axe-head and spear point directed straight at Gaston. "I won't let you do this," she said, appearing the complete opposite of Gaston in that moment. Jasmine was at her side in a flash, her falchion emerging in her right hand in a blitz of white light.

"You've chosen the wrong side," Jasmine warned him. "Stop this now, or we'll end it."

"I don't know how the curse got to him again," Belle said. "But for Kairi's sake, we won't let you go through with this." With a determined yell Belle raised her halberd and brought it down towards Gaston. His right hand dove to his belt, and withdrew a rapier that he raised above his head to halt her attack.

Belle stopped, horrified as she looked at the sword that she had not yet noticed. "That's Alain's…"

"If you're not with us, you're against us," Gaston declared. "Lock them away!" The mob converged on Belle, Jasmine, and Maurice, and after a brief struggle Belle's and Jasmine's weapons were swiftly removed from them and discarded on the ground.

"Get your hands off me!" Maurice shouted as the doors to his cellar were flung open and he, Belle, and Jasmine thrown inside.

"We can't have them running off to warn the creature," Gaston said, closing the doors and placing his hand against them. A purple aura surrounded his gloved palm and enveloped them, sealing the cellar shut. But none of the mob cared; they were firmly in Gaston's camp.

Belle rammed her shoulder up against the unyielding portal. "Let us out!"

Gaston dropped Alain's taken rapier on the ground and raised the mirror, still glowing with green light. "We'll rid the village of this Beast! Who's with me?"

"I am!"

"I am!"

"I am!"

Belle, Jasmine, and Maurice watched from the small window in the cellar as Gaston rallied the mob, and they took off through the village and into the woods, singing.

"_Light your torch,  
Mount your horse."_

"_Screw your courage to the sticking place,"_ Gaston told them, mounting a black stallion and leading them off.

"_We're counting on Gaston to lead the way.  
Through a mist,  
Through a wood,  
Where within a haunted castle  
Something's lurking that you don't see every day.  
It's a Beast,  
Quite as tall as a mountain.  
We won't rest  
'Till he's good and deceased._

_Sally forth!  
Tally ho!  
Grab your sword!  
Grab your bow!  
Praise the Lord and here we go!"_

"We'll lay siege to the castle and bring back his head!" Gaston roared. He reared his black stallion and let it neigh loudly with its malevolent red eyes.

The mob was now far out of sight from the tiny window in Maurice's cellar, and Jasmine, Belle, and her father were trying everything they could to get out. But no matter what they did everything was shut tight. "I don't know how it happened," Belle said, getting close to an emotional breakdown. "How Alain could have changed back to the Beast, but we've got to warn him. Oh Papa, what are we going to do?"

"Now, now," he said, patting his daughter on the back. "We'll think of something."

"We're not going to let Gaston get away with this," Jasmine added, ramming her back against the cellar doors. But once more, they refused to budge.

-A-D-

Menelmon paused for a moment in her scratching at the bag; she was almost through making a hole. Red light started to filter in, and sounds of a large group of angry people singing.

"_We don't like  
What we don't understand  
In fact it scares us.  
And this monster is mysterious at least.  
Bring your guns,  
Bring your knives,  
Save your children and your wives.  
We'll save our village and our lives.  
We'll kill the Beast!"_

_That doesn't sound good at all,_ Menelmon thought. She suddenly heard Gaston's voice spurring them on, and started to hack ever harder, straining her neck in the process as she fiercely tucked and curled it back and forth, the ice-covered feather in her beak slicing at the threads.

A hole!

Dropping the feather from her beak, Menelmon placed both wings into the tiny opening in the sack and pushed with all her might. The frayed threads on the edge started to rip and snap, and the hole grew wider. She stuck her head and neck through, straining the feathers of her wings as she pushed out harder than before. Fresh air blew in through the nostrils on her beak, and the cool feel of the chill autumn night and the scent of nearby snow invigorated her, and gave the small Rookie the strength she needed to pop right out of the sack.

For three seconds Menelmon lay on a bed of snow and green plants in the undergrowth of the forest, catching her breath. About fifty trees away she could see a mob of people with torches and different objects that glinted at her in the reflected firelight, and recognized that that must have been the road from the village.

_But, wouldn't Belle and Jasmine have stopped something like this?_ Menelmon wondered. She thought about Kairi, and wondered if she alone would be enough help against Xayn Shu. "Hang on Kairi," Menelmon said to herself, flapping her wings and flying off in the opposite direction as the mob, "I'm bringing help!"

-A-D-

Sora looked out into the night from a balcony above the castle's east wing, Aiwemon and Jiminy on his shoulders. All three of them had their eyes either on the stars or the woods, hoping desperately that Kairi would be alright and wishing that they knew what they were supposed to do.

"Say fellas," Jiminy said suddenly, "what's that?"

Sora looked down quickly, hoping that it was a sign of his girlfriend. But what he saw made him gasp. At first it had just looked like light in the woods, but then he saw many people emerging from the trees towards the extended drawbridge. Heartless were following along behind, including one that looked like a siege engine. "It's Gaston!" he shouted.

The others all rushed up behind him. "Yikes! It is that Gaston feller," Goofy said.

"And he's got friends with him," Donald added.

"They sure don't look too happy," Aladdin muttered.

"Sacré bleu!" Lumiere cried, "Invaders!"

"Encroachers!" said Cogsworth.

Mrs. Potts looked down at Gaston and spotted something on his belt "And they've got the mirror!" she said.

"Warn the Master," Cogsworth told her. Mrs. Potts rushed off to get to the Beast's room and Cogsworth turned around to regard the encroaching mob once more. "If it's a fight they want we'll be ready for them. Who's with me!"

"Aye aye!" Sora said, snapping to attention and saluting Cogsworth, the gesture being followed by Donald and Goofy.

Gaston's voice could be heard from above. "Take whatever booty you can find," he ordered, gesturing at his men and Heartless to advance for the front gate, "but remember, the Beast is mine!"

Sora and the others rushed through the castle, informing all of the castle's servants and staff, who had once more become objects like wardrobes and dressers and dishes and feather dusters, of the situation. Despite their despair at having once more become cursed, they understood the need to defend their home. As one they marched down the stairs to block off the front doors.

Outside, the mob was unafraid of the Heartless that had come to help kill the Beast, as Gaston had told them, and they urged forward one large Heartless that had a battering ram in its face.

"_Raise the flag,  
Sing the song.  
Here we come, we're fifty strong  
And fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong!  
Let's kill the Beast!"_

"Are you sure that this is going to work Cogsworth?" Aladdin asked the clock, watching as the furniture all piled up in front of the doors. They could hear the mob chanting the words "Kill the Beast!" outside, and it wasn't having a very good effect on the morale of the enchanted servants.

"It will have to," Cogsworth said grimly. "We don't have any other options open to us. And with the Heartless coming too, I'm afraid that this is all we can do."

The doors shuddered with each blow of the ram, and the mob outside continued to chant.

"Kill the Beast! Kill the Beast!"

-A-D-

_And the next chapter brings us the conclusion of this little arc. I hope you're enjoying it._

_Yes, Gaston and Xayn Shu are evil pricks and should die horrible deaths. You don't need to tell me twice._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	42. Alcezeran

_To the anonymous reviewer commenting about the announcement of KH: 3D for the 3DS, there was no trailer at E3. It was first presented in the Nintendo Press Conference when they were giving a slideshow showing the various developers who had showed an interest in developing games for the 3DS. Basically it went like: This one (logo and proposed title appears, scattered applause), this one, (logo and proposed title appears, scattered applause), Square-Enix (Square logo appears alongside the KH logo with the proposed title, HUGE CHEER), this one…_

_We only got, like, a two second glimpse that there was going to be a new KH game for the 3DS before they moved onto the next developer. At the Square booth, however, there was a short playable demo for the demo 3DSs featuring Sora and Riku in both Destiny Islands (if I remember rightly), and Traverse Town._

_Okay, away from E3 now. Time to talk about something serious. If you in my age group (currently between around 18-23) then the awesomest and also the most tear-inducing movie you will see this summer is Toy Story 3. If you are between ages 13-16, you may not get why Toy Story 3 is being seen by so many people around 20 and not 5-10. Toy Story, the first one, came out in 1995, and while I didn't see it in theatres (since the first movie I saw on the big screen was Hercules), back then if you were five when a new Disney movie came out you were guaranteed to see it and love it within the next two years (friends would have it, or your parents would buy it on VHS within a year, and you'd just watch it to bits and love it like all the others). In the case of Toy Story, it was also the big Pixar 3-D animation movie, something that hadn't been done before in our hand-drawn world, which already made it a huge cultural impact, but it was also focused around toys, which we were immediately able to relate to. And there's not a person I knew of back then who didn't start looking behind them occasionally after they put their own toys down to see if they had come alive as soon as they'd left the room._

_Toy Story was a big deal to my generation. Disney in itself was a big deal to my generation. Four years later when Toy Story 2 came out in 1999 I didn't see it until it was playing on TV, and I still don't own it, but it was one of the greatest movies that I watched for the first time on TV, because it was still relative and it was a sequel to a timeless classic. Now it's 2010, eleven long years after the last Toy Story movie and fifteen after the first. I'm almost 20, all grown up and in University, just as Andy is now about to go to college. In one sense, Andy has grown up alongside all of us, or we've grown up alongside Andy, and just like him and Toy Story, those old toys that we used to play with for forever have been forgotten. This movie dug up the fondest of our childhood memories and was themed at letting go and new beginnings to new stages in life. I'm not going to give away much of the plot here, but little kids won't understand it, and while younger teens will partially understand the themes at work here, you're not old enough to understand the impact this movie has on us. The theatre around you is filled with twenty-some-odd aged people, who in your opinion are supposedly too old for a kids' movie, and we're laughing at the old jokes and Barbie/Ken and three-quarters of us are bawling our eyes out for the last ten minutes._

_That's the reaction our theatre had. Most of us, including me, were leaving that theatre with tear-stains streaked upon our cheeks. The sniffles were highly audible and you just _knew_ that you weren't the only one crying, or felt like you were about to break down and start up the waterworks. THIS WAS OUR CHILDHOOD DAMMIT! They couldn't have released Toy Story 3 at a more perfect time to hit us like it did, and I have a feeling they waited this long on purpose. Up was a hugely empathetic movie that tugged on our heartstrings last summer, and Toy Story 3 this summer went all out and can turn hardened people in their early twenties to break down and blubber like infants. I move that Pixar Animation Studios changes its name to Emotional Sucker-Punch In The Gut Animation Studios for being so damn awesome! Thank you Pixar, thank you for Toy Story._

_And one other completely unrelated note. The Oilers picked Taylor Hall at this year's NHL Draft._

_Disclaimer: A true man is not afraid to cry._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLII: Alcezeran

Mrs. Potts slowly opened the door to what only hours ago had been the pristine, cared-for room of Prince Alain and his lovely wife Belle. But then, that was back when both he and Mrs. Potts were still human, and not a monstrous beast or teapot, again.

She could see his back turned to her, brooding near the pedestal that had former held his enchanted rose and now only held a vase of the flowers. There was now a familiar purple cape clasped around his neck, and only his pants hadn't been torn to shreds when he'd transformed back into the Beast. He looked very much like the old master that had haunted the castle for ten years. Even a little of the room had started to look much like it used to, but nowhere near as badly as before. Evidently he'd been able to stop himself from raging and destroying everything inside the room soon after he'd entered. Likely he'd caught hold of himself the moment before he would have shattered something precious to Belle, and forced his violent tendencies down.

"Pardon me Master," Mrs. Potts said, speaking up after a moment, seeing that he appeared not to have noticed that she had nudged the door open.

Alain's reply was swift and carried the weight of his grief with it. "Leave me in peace."

"But sir," Mrs. Potts replied, not about to be rebuked now, "the castle is under attack."

Alain barely shifted at the news. "I see."

"Gaston has raised the villagers into an angry mob," Mrs. Potts explained. "And now they've come to kill you."

"I see," he said again, emotionlessly.

"What should we do Master?" Mrs. Potts asked.

Alain shook his big horned and furred head. "It doesn't matter now," he told her, completely deadpan and seemingly resigned to whatever fate lay in store for him. "Just let them come." Mrs. Potts shook for a moment before hopping towards him.

"Now that's enough of that dear," she said, bounding around his large bulk in order to be seen by him, since he seemed inclined not to move. "This is not the end of the world you know."

"It was all a dream Mrs. Potts," Alain answered, raising a paw to his head. "It was all one big happy dream, but now it's over."

"It is not yet over dear," Mrs. Potts returned. "Look around you. This is no longer just your room anymore, to brood in and wreck for as long as you remain alive. Everything within this room belongs to both you and Belle, your wife."

"Wife?" Alain chuckled humourlessly.

"Yes, your wife," Mrs. Potts reiterated. "Look. The rose is no longer there. The curse was broken, but do you honestly believe that becoming a beast again will keep Belle from loving you and seeing the goodness in your heart, when she fell in love with the Beast in the first place?"

"Look at me Mrs. Potts!" Alain roared, startling the woman/teapot. "A beast! All I am is a beast! Hear those shouts below," he added, gesturing towards the open balcony window, from which the chants of 'Kill the Beast!' could faintly be heard along with the ram against the doors. "They have no love for me, all because of what I truly am, a terrible beast. Where is Belle now, if she loves me so?"

Mrs. Potts had no answer, and Alain continued. "They were right," he said slowly. "Xaldin had been right. Who could ever love a beast?"

"Belle does," Mrs. Potts said sternly. "And I do too, and Lumiere, and Cogsworth, and Chip, and all the others who call you their Master or their friend. Sora, Donald, and Goofy and their friends are all downstairs, still here for you when you need them, as you have been with them. And they are all about to fight to defend this castle in your name, as you should be doing!"

Mrs. Potts looked up defiantly at him, and Alain glared down at her. But Mrs. Potts did not quail under the gaze of his deep blue eyes, and Alain was the first to look away. "Do as you wish," he said, his lip curling in a small snarl. Mrs. Potts huffed and bounded back out of the room as a saddened and resigned look fell on Alain's face once more.

-A-D-

Xayn Shu sat at the campfire he had only about a mile into the woods away from the castle, watching his prisoner and anticipating the battle that he knew was about to ensue at the bastion. He chuckled slightly while he thought about it, his eyes on Kairi. Her head was still slumped to one side, she was still bound to the tree and gagged, and Gaston and Lefou had filled her with enough alcohol that Xayn Shu was confident that she was barely aware of her surroundings. Her eyes showed very little sentience as they blinked often, gazing directly into the dancing flames of the fire.

_She's not going anywhere,_ he decided after another minute of watching her. He rose to his feet, noting that the princess didn't even seem to notice that he had moved at all, and began to move towards the black horse that he had stolen, still tethered to a different tree. Xayn Shu snapped his fingers and the creatures that had been prowling just out of the firelight's range came into it, surrounding his prize for Maleficent. The wolves of the forest he had found numerous and strong, and turned them into Heartless that were far fiercer. They stood four-feet tall at their shoulders, their fur turned into a lighter shade of purple, black markings around their yellow eyes and feet, and the Heartless emblem running right along the top of the snout, which had become black. Crimson marks that looked like fresh blood dripped down the base of the lower jaw, and their fur stuck up all around their bodies like needles rather than being matted down like a traditional wolf pelt. Though the Worg Heartless now lacked the strength and coordination of a pack of true wolves, their ferocity had increased ten-fold, and they were unafraid of the fire unlike their true selves.

"Stay here for now," he told Kairi as he mounted his stolen horse. "You'll be meeting Maleficent again soon enough." Turning to the Worg Heartless after getting no reaction from the Princess of Heart he added, "Watch her only. If she tries anything, incapacitate her. Do _not_ attempt to steal her heart or kill her." When only a bark came from one of them he turned his horse around and rode off towards the castle.

Kairi looked up from the fire blearily. _Did that a-hole_ _just leave?_ she wondered absent-mindedly. A_nd where did all of these… yeah, they are Heartless… where did these Heartless come from? They must have been those… those eyes in the darkness from earlier. Are they guarding me?_ Kairi suddenly laughed through the gag for about a full minute. _As if I can do anything anyway. I'm done, plain and simple, end of story, bye-bye world. Hey, where did that creepo go anyway?_

Gaston hadn't just succeeded in getting the Princess of Heart and Wielder of Light drunk, he'd succeeded in getting her completely smashed; Kairi wasn't the kind of drunk that got hyper, or philosophical, or smart, or became mean, or could suddenly play the piano perfectly, she was the kind that just drifted off from the world and became far less observant of her surroundings that she should be, in the meantime being able to find whatever situation she was in (be it kidnapped or even just completely unable to walk in a straight line) comic enough to laugh her butt off. She could zero in on one thing like a magnet, but her attention span would also drop to less than a second and her short term memory was shot, more or less.

She knew that she was in trouble, she knew that she was essentially screwed, and Kairi forced her head back up, recognizing at last that Xayn Shu was gone and probably wouldn't be coming back for a while.

_Okay,_ she thought, looking into the fire while breathing through her nose. _Let's take stock of the situation. The fire's awesome, I'm surrounded by Heartless, the fire's awesome, I'm surrounded by Heartless, the fire's awe—wait a second, I've already said that. Okay, start again. The fire's—DAMMIT! Shut up about the fire Kairi! Bad Kairi! Bad Kairi! I'd spank myself if only I could… hm, I should probably get a spanking for falling for such a stupid trap. It might hurt, especially if Sora used his automail arm, but it'd probably be fun. No! Back up Kairi! No thinking dirty thoughts now! If you don't get out of this, there won't be _any_ fun spankings in your future. Okay, rewind, back to square one. Fire? Check. Heartless? Check. Xayn Shu? He's gone, so a check there because I don't want the stupid Hun around because he can take me to Maleficent. It'd be hell if she spanked me. Fire? Double-check!_

She looked at the Worg Heartless, some of them lying down now, others prowling around her. _Fire!_ She shouted inside her mind, also trying to mouth the word around the gag.

Nothing happened.

_Okay, can't cast spells. Right, need to have one of three things at least to cast a basic spell: vocal or somatic components or something to channel it with, like my fricking Keyblade. Gagged, so I can't speak, and I still can't feel anything else so I can't gesture, or grasp… I wonder if I can summon my… Wait a second, how the heck am I going to even be able to concentrate on casting a spell anyway? The last time I tried was when Sora and I were just a _little_ tipsy back at the _Pony_ and it got hard to keep my concentration then. I'm effing hammered right now! I'm totally smashed and drunk as a duck. Like I can even _think_ about casting magic or fighting well! That's it, I'm screwed. I… I hope that when he takes me to Maleficent I'm not going to get screwed too. It would really suck and completely ruin my day, for my first time to be like that, but it would also be sooo lame if I was going to get raped. Like that's _really_ original. Oh, female captive? Let's rape her boys! Oh, she's a Princess to boot? Then we'd better screw her tight little ass real good! I wonder if that's Maleficent's big plan for me anyway before she decides to knock me off. Turn me into a sex slave? Yeah, real fucking original! Bitch…_

Kairi laughed, even though she was still gagged. She didn't lose track of the world around her because she got slow, she lost track of the world because she got caught up in her own inner monologue and couldn't be bothered to pay attention to what was going on around her. A purple rhinoceros with butterfly wings could charge right through, impale all of the Worg Heartless on its horn, stomp out the fire, and knock over a tree and fly off to the moon and it would probably take Kairi a minute to realize what had happened, but she'd see that the fire was gone instantly.

Then again, if she saw a purple rhinoceros with butterfly wings, she probably would be in a worse condition than completely blitzed.

_What was I thinking about again?_ Kairi wondered as she blearily looked around and away from the small fire in front of her. _Hey, Xayn Shu's gone. Wait a second, he left a while ago. How did I just notice that now? Okay, let's see about getting out of here._

_In the name of the Maker Tylythia, you're dumber than a blonde bimbo when you're drunk!_

Kairi winced at the sudden sound. _Great, voices in my head. Now I've gone loopy._ She giggled through the gag. _Hahaha, the voice is right, I am dumb as a blonde. Except I'm pretty sure I'm a bit smarter. I can play chess._

_I doubt you can summon the intellect to play even checkers right now._

_Hey, wait a second,_ Kairi started, looking up at the canopy of the trees in irritation. _I feel like I should be offended. I'm not—_

_You sure are acting like it, doll._

Kairi's eyes hardened as she felt something ignite inside of her. _I don't care if I'm going crazy. Nobody calls me 'doll' and gets away with it!_

The next thing that Kairi knew, which could have been real or not, she was standing in the darkness on a platform she knew that she recognized. A man in a white suit stood in front of her, his tan eyes gazing at her with a disapproving look from underneath his long dark hair, tied into a tail. His gaunt face and stubble were set against her, and a Keyblade rested in his right hand. "Prove it," he said.

Kairi tried to take a step forward, but found herself swaying and she tried to balance herself. But her balance was horribly off and she ended up falling back down onto her rear. Rubbing a hand against the pained part of her body, she looked up at the man again. She knew that she had seen him before, and then took a good long look at the Keyblade in his hand. Golden-red wings folding in a crescent around a long and pale white blade, white grip, a hollow white heart as the key with white flames dancing around the edges, the outline of a three-pointed crown stamped across the heart in crimson, and a keychain of a white crown pendant.

_That's Crowning Flame!_ Kairi realized at last. She looked up at him again. "I know you… Flame!"

She stood up and he spoke. "Good, it seems that even that much alcohol can't make you _completely_ lose your mind."

"It's not like I really _wanted _to have eleven beers shoved down my throat," Kairi answered. "Why am I here?"

Crowning Flame tossed his Keyblade self at Kairi, and she realized what he was doing at the last instant, wisely recognized that she had zero chance of catching it in her state, and summoned it to her hand instead. It got to her hands in a flash a moment before it would have clattered onto the stained glass platform. "Because my Wielder is in a bind, and doesn't fully understand the powers of the Light," he answered. "So listen up and try to pay attention. If you can't learn how to do this, even rudimentarily, then you might as well write off this entire war of yours. Now look at me and stay focused girl. Though time greatly slows down in here, we still haven't much of it."

-A-D-

"Kill the Beast! (BOOM!) Kill the Beast (BOOM!)"

The doors of the castle shuddered harder against the latest strike of the massive Heartless ram outside, the voices of the mob still as loud as ever, but growing in intensity. But while the doors still held, the furniture on the other side were a different story.

"What are we going to do!" wailed the wardrobe that Sora recognized had been guarding the undercroft the first time he had been to the castle. "We're going to be cut down and turned into firewood for sure, I just know it!"

"I don't want to burn!" cried a dresser. "I want to live, I want to li-hi-ive!"

"Kill the Beast! (BOOM!) Kill the Beast! (BOOM!)"

"They're breaking through!" shouted one of the teacups.

Sora groaned and hung his head, watching as mass pandemonium started to break out amongst the furniture and silverware and other odds and ends that the castle's servants had been turned into. They had started off well enough with their backs against the door to keep it closed, but soon their nerves had become frayed by the constant pounding of the ram against it, and the chants of the mob outside didn't waver. Now they were the ones who were wavering.

"Please!" Cogsworth shouted. "Compose yourselves! Nobody is going to get chopped up and turned into firewood!"

"Oh dear, things don't look like they're going too well now do they?"

Sora looked down and saw that Mrs. Potts had returned with a worried and disgruntled look, if such a look was possible, on her china face. "What's up?" Donald asked.

"The Master's being stubborn is all," Mrs. Potts replied. "He's not coming down."

"Then it looks like we're on our own here," Iago said. Abu chattered in agreement.

Sora looked around. "Genie, Aiwemon; you think you can help out at the front while we figure out what to do?"

Aiwemon nodded his head and flew off of Sora's shoulder. "Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!" The armoured bird-warrior leaned his feathered mace against a pillar and clapped his gauntleted hands together twice. "No problem Sora."

"Sure thing Sora," Genie said, saluting eagerly before flying to the front gates while Ohtarmon ran from below. Genie pushed up his 'sleeves', leaving his hands behind, before inhaling greatly and stretching out. His hands clapped to his nose as he blew his nose in reverse and Genie imploded, only to reappear as fifty sixteen ton weights all with Genie faces on them. Each of the weights dropped down towards the front of the doors. "Look out below!" they called in stereo, causing the furniture to scatter as the Genie weights dropped down in front of the doors. Ohtarmon skidded to a stop, and started to look between the Genies to see if he could find a place to put his hands. "Don't worry Sora, Al!" Genie called, all fifty of him, "I've got it!"

"Kill the Beast! (BOOM!) Kill the Beast! (BOOM!)"

The doors weren't bulging anywhere near as much as they had been a few seconds ago, so that gave them some time.

"Well now what are we going to do?" Iago asked. "Big Blue can't hold forever."

"Oh Lumiere," Fifi began, "we must do somezing!"

He paused at the encouragement of the feather duster, who was originally a maid he had always had his eyes on. "Aha! I know just the thing! Gather 'round everyone so that I can explain."

-A-D-

"There's Maurice's house!" Menelmon exclaimed, racing above the road on her wings. The pile of hay was no longer burning anywhere near as intensely as when Gaston had first torched it, mainly because the majority of the fuel had quickly been exhausted, but there were still smouldering flames lighting the outside of the home.

The small ice-bird digimon landed on the dry ground, looking around in anxiety. The snow that was still there had been trampled recently, along with the brown grass, by many feet, and a few scattered pieces of debris from the mob were scattered about on the ground. Three items caught Menelmon's attention however: a rapier with a carved silver basket hilt, a falchion, and a long halberd. Both the falchion and the halberd shone from the inside with the power of the Light.

_Hm?_ Menelmon thought quizzically, striding up to them as they lay seemingly abandoned on the ground. _These are Jasmine's and Belle's. But where are…?_ A _thud_ and a muffled sound distracted Menelmon and she looked up. Her eyes widened. "Belle!"

"Menelmon?" Belle's voice was muffled through the glass panes of the window into the cellar, but the digimon could still hear her as Menelmon approached the window.

"Belle!" Menelmon said, peering into the window. "Jasmine, Maurice. What are you doing in there?"

"Gaston locked us in here and we can't get out!" Jasmine answered. "And now a mob's heading for the castle to kill Alain. He's turned into a Beast."

"Where's Kairi?" Belle asked.

Menelmon shook her head. "I don't know, but I do know that Xayn Shu got her. I think Gaston did it. We have to help her; I don't think I can beat Xayn Shu on my own."

"Can you get us out?" Maurice asked. Menelmon looked around worriedly, and then her eyes settled on Belle's halberd.

-A-D-

"Kill the Beast! (BOOM!) Kill the Beast! (BOOM!) KILL THE BEAST!"

The doors finally gave way to the Heartless ram and burst open, slamming against their hinges that they almost broke right off. Instantly about half of the mob poured into the entrance hall, being led by numerous Shadow and Soldier Heartless. The flood into the castle slowed to a trickle almost as soon as it began as the Frenchmen and Heartless began peering around in apprehension and caution. They knew that a vicious Beast lived in these halls, and he could be anywhere.

But right now, it was a curious sight that awaited them. Piled on either side of the doors were large numbers of furniture and household instruments, bookshelves and trunks. Two suits of armour, stuffed critters, and even a wax manikin were also scattered amongst them. The Heartless smelled strong hearts within this room, but they couldn't see who the hearts belonged to.

Small mutterings began to pass through the mob as they slowly edged their way into the castle, raising their torches to try and see better. One held his torch up against a massive suit of armour, six and a half feet tall, the figure holding a giant mace above and in front of the armour's body in a clawed hand. Though the mace looked heavy enough that it should have fallen to the ground long ago, whoever had crafted the armour sculpture had done so well in his task that the weapon was steady.

In the firelight of the torches something glinted in the eyes of another member of the mob while the small Heartless sniffed around, a sword as silver as the moon glittered upright in the hand of another suit of armour. The man came towards the armour, admiring the sword. The blade was silver as the moon, and had a slight curve to it. The grip was the colour of oak, and the basket hilt was the shiniest bronze the man had ever seen. Near the tip of the blade there was a small silver seven-pointed star. The pommel was a blue tourmaline gemstone, and dangling from it was a chain was a silver crown pendant, with three points, attached to it. Three thin golden lines also weaved their way from the pommel to the hilt, whereupon they split into six and ran parallel down the centre of the blade, three on each side, before meeting up in the centre of the star once more, turning it gold.

Greed overcame the man. He wanted this magnificent sword for his own, and he could see its fine edge clearly. The man looked at the armour that held the sword upright loosely. It was unlike any other armour he knew. There were no holes in the helmet for one to be allowed to see, instead one part that one could logically assume was above the upper lip was dark and inset, and circled the head to around the ear, where the helmet's back and lower jaw grasped at it with silver fingers with gold along the jaw. At the helm's top were two flat pieces of metal that looked like horns or ears, and the golden steel that made them was formed so that they were curved back in a slender fashion, their tips resting some small distance above and just behind the rear of the helmet's main base. A silver collar was around the back of the neck, slanted upwards and out and away from the body. The diamond-shaped spaulders and couters, coverings for the elbows, were gold; and the slanted triangular rearbraces of the upper arm were silver, as were the vambraces and mail-fingered gauntlets. The chest armour was both gold and purple, divided into numerous segments that gave the impression of a mystical bird of prey, or at least of wings wrapping protectively around the entire torso in a strange cuirass, and armoured metal boots of silver and black colour adorned the feet. The greaves were full, protecting the whole shin and thigh all around and were ornately designed of gold and silver. Underneath all of that, the manikin that held the armour together wore a hauberk, chausses, and a pixane on the neck of thick and riveted silver-coloured mail, tightly woven and with rings so small that they were almost indistinguishable from one another. On the manikin's back was a cape that looked like it had been made of threads spun from silver metal.

The man was beyond mere greed now as he looked over both the full plate armour and the sword. With these, he could easily become the most influential man in the village. No, better yet, he could pass for a knight for the entire region, and no one would be any wiser.

Having brought no weapon of his own except for a wooden rolling pin, he dropped it to the stone ground with a clatter and placed his hands to the basket hilt of the beautiful sword. It wiggled a little at his touch in the armour's hand, and he praised his luck that he'd be able to get it somewhat easily. He started to pry the fingers of the armour away from the sword, feeling the silver and golden-shod fingers slowly give way under his prying hands.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that stealing was wrong?"

The man stopped, hearing the voice coming from a place that he'd definitely not expected it to be coming from. The gauntleted hand suddenly clenched around the grip of the sword, and the man pulled his fingers back before they could get crushed. Too surprised by the turn, he dumbly watched as the bronze basket hilt smashed into his forehead.

"Now!" Sora yelled, watching through the visor of his helmet (that he could see through perfectly) as the man fell back, clutching his head in pain.

The entrance hall exploded into a flurry of motion as all of the furniture and odds and ends erupted to life and struck at the mob and Heartless, catching them from both sides and completely by surprise. A mop flew into the head of one of the men, twisting this way and that as it mopped his nose. A hat-stand repeatedly boxed with the face of another. Shelves from a pair of dressers smacked into the head of another man from opposite ends, dazing him. A chair and footstool kicked at a Soldier Heartless and tripped it up, sending it down onto a carpet. The carpet then rolled up and plopped into a trunk, which shut its lid and burped. Pots and pans and ladles and serving spoons and rolling pins flew about, landing on heads and striking shins and smacking against pots that had settled on head, producing sounds of such magnitude that those upon whom they were induced dropped stone-cold to the ground, barely grasping on to consciousness.

Remembrance sliced right through a Shadow and Sora spun around, a Soldier accidentally embedding itself right into the Keyblade Master's weapon. Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin charged into the fray after pretending to be stuffed or wax. Goofy blocked the axe of a member of the mob with his shield, before striking the Frenchman in the right kneecap with his defensive weapon. The man howled and dropped his axe, clutching at his kneecap and starting to hop up and down.

The sound of turning propellers buzzed the air above them as what looked like a blue C-53 Skytrooper circled far above. Sora looked up and saw the door on the side slide open, and Genie's face on the front of the plane. A number of Genies then started jumping. "Geronimo!" "Geronimo!" "Geronimo!" "Geronimo!"

The sky above became filled with parachutes as Genies continued to drop down onto the battlefield, and Ohtarmon finally decided that the time was right to drop his facade. He drew his mace back behind his body and it started to glow with white light. "Deciding Swing!" he roared, bringing the weapon forward and obliterating a small pack of Soldiers that stood directly in front of him in a blast of white light.

"Where'd you get the spiffy new duds Sora?" Goofy asked, the goof coming up to Sora to examine the full-bodied armour he was in.

Sora smirked underneath his helmet, only a little peeved that Goofy couldn't see his facial expression. "Trade secret Goofy," he answered, "Keyblade Wielders only."

_I'm amazed that you didn't need anyone, even me, to tell you how to access your Knight armour,_ the voice of the Kingdom Key said within Sora's mind. It then softened. _But then, you are you after all, Sora._

_Our Chosen Wielder,_ the rich and throaty voice of Remembrance added. _Prove that you're worthy of it, Wielder of Twilight._

"I think they can handle the mob," Donald said, looking back at Aladdin, Abu, Iago, Genie, and all the enchanted objects. "What do you say we handle the Heartless?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Ohtarmon said, punching a Soldier into darkness with his free left hand.

Sora looked towards the doors. "Then maybe we should start with this big one," he said, eyeing the giant Heartless that had broken down the door. It was easily three times Ohtarmon's height, in the shape of the prow of a ship and supported by a dozen gear-shaped wheels on each side. On either side large scythe-like arms extended outwards with clawed fingers. The body of the Heartless was brown and grey, with the arms purple and the face on the 'prow' being grey and black. The face's yellow eyes leered at them, and its mouth opened on hinges. Darkness was all that they could see inside of the mouth, but then a round steel ram on a wooden pole swung out towards them.

"Whoa!" Sora shouted as he leapt to the side. He tucked into a roll after landing on his shoulders and rose to his feet, the metal armour that encased him clinking as the interlocking pieces touched one another. The scythe arms swung around, pruning the stone statues in the courtyard in front of the castle.

"It's going to destroy everything!" Donald cried out, getting up from the ground and rushing towards the open doors.

"Donald, wait up!" Goofy said, rushing after the duck. Sora picked himself up and followed them, Ohtarmon coming in beside him. A magical pink barrier filled the doorway behind them as the four left the interior of the castle, and the barrier surrounded the entirety of the walled courtyard, leaving the four to stand against the Destructor Heartless.

"Here we go," Sora said. He Flashed right to the Heartless' metal face, swinging Remembrance down in a broad arc. The Destructor didn't even flinch as tiny silver stars appeared and the Keyblade chimed with the strike. But then, with an enemy that was over twenty-feet tall and that Sora currently would have to take a couple of steps back to see the darkness inside of its closed mouth, he didn't expect his first attack to be anything special. Two fireballs about the size of Sora's head shot in above and behind him, hitting the Destructor right in the face. Goofy and Ohtarmon came in next to Sora as the Keyblade Master jumped slightly into the air and delivered four quick strikes against the closed and jagged 'lips'. The metal face bounced up and down very slightly on its hinges as Remembrance slid along it and Ohtarmon's glowing mace crashed into it and Goofy's shield came bashing in. However, all three of their weapons were barely leaving a scratch against the metal plating.

The mouth opened suddenly, the lower jaw dropping down on its hinges, and Sora found himself staring right into the dark purple void of the Heartless' interior. Before he could attack the core of the Heartless, however, the steel head of the ram came bursting out. "Reflega!" Sora shouted, bringing his Keyblade out defensively in front of him. The honeycomb shield formed around him just in time to keep the ram's head from striking him in his armoured chest, and instead the magical sphere flew back and crashed into the stone walls. It fell as Sora dropped onto the ground and he quickly got back up on his feet. The mouth slammed shut again just as Ohtarmon and Goofy dove out of the way of the ram, and the scythe arms quickly swept out in front of the Destructor. Goofy blocked with his shield but was still knocked over, and Donald hissed in pain as the clawed hands scratched at him. Ohtarmon rolled a few feet as the arm struck his armour.

Sora watched, out of range of the swing, as the hands balled into clawed fists and rose up above the Destructor. They slammed down on the ground three times, once in front of the Destructor, once near the hinges on the side of the face, and once more at a different point on the side.

_Why is it defending that spot?_ Sora wondered, getting a better look at the side from his position. The head of the Heartless was still facing the open and now barrier-protected doorway, and the arms were waving up in the air, and the gear-shaped wheels weren't turning, but Sora noticed something about the spot near the Heartless' middle that the fists had slammed down in front of:

There was something there that looked like an eye set around a metal porthole, roving around the battlefield. Above it and a few feet behind was the 'shoulder-joint' of the arm of the Destructor's right side.

_So that's how it sees things to the side,_ Sora realized. _It has eyes on the sides and ones up front. I wonder what happens when the side eyes are taken care of._

His curiosity at spotting a potential weakness in the Heartless getting the better of him, Sora brought Remembrance out behind him, air starting to circle around the Keyblade's edges. "Aero!" he shouted from underneath his helmet, swinging the blade in the direction of the eye. A strong gust of wind spiralled out from around the Keyblade, the air currents becoming dense and swift, razor-like. The eye closed just before Sora flash-stepped towards it, and his wind attack struck against the eyelid right before Remembrance itself did. However, as soon as his Keyblade struck at the eyelid it bounced back, finding the eyelid impossible to penetrate.

Startled for a moment, Sora dropped back, his boots shuffling on the brown grass that had been underneath the snow that had blown away when his aero spell blew over. The eye opened, and the black cat-like slit that had been the pupil was now round and red. _That can't be good._

Three red laser beams about three feet long shot out from the eye and Sora leapt back and ducked down, one of the beams going right between the ears on his helmet. They quickly curved around and streaked for him again. "Uh-oh!" Sora vanished from the spot as he Flash-Stepped away, appearing some twelve feet back and to the left of where he had been standing, appearing right behind a stone bench. The three lasers turned again as they missed him after he flashed and Sora quickly placed Remembrance on the ground and picked up the stone bench, turning the outside to face away from him. The three beams struck and Sora felt the bench getting pushed back a few inches before the lasers vanished. When he put the bench back down and looked at it, there were black burn marks in the stone and shell-shaped divots about seven centimetres deep. Sora made a face under his helmet.

"Sora," Donald called, scrambling away from the ram inside of the Destructor as it emerged again, "what are you doing?"

Sora looked at his comrade. "There are these eyes on the side!" he answered. "You guys making any headway against the face?"

"No," Ohtarmon grumbled. "We're giving it all we've got and we're not even making a dent in this thing! It's like it's made of Chrome Digizoid or something."

"And it's never keepin' its mouth open long enough to hit the darkness inside it," Goofy added.

Sora nodded his head and glanced back at the eye and arm combo as the scythe-arms swept out again, but once more he was out of their range. The eye's pupil had returned to being a black slit, roving about the battlefield. "I think that the eyes are some kind of weak point," he said. "But whenever you get close the eye shuts and you can't hurt it, and then it opens again and shoots lasers at you."

"Why don't you zap it then?" Donald asked, sending a fireball to the steel face of the Destructor, for all the good that did.

"It closes before anything resembling an attack can get close," Sora replied. He looked back suddenly at a noise and saw the arm near the eye now embedded in the ground. Sora only had a second to look at it quizzically before he felt the ground shudder underneath his feet. The clawed hand surged up from below, ensnaring him completely in its fingers and keeping Sora locked in a spread-eagle position. The eye's black pupil shifted into a red circle again, and Sora smiled funnily underneath his helmet. "I'm in trouble."

Time seemed to freeze for an instant and Sora felt as if his heart had been shot by an arrow. He could almost hear a scream in his ear. Wherever Kairi was, she was suffering. Wherever Kairi was, she was in terrible agony.

-A-D-

Menelmon jabbed the halberd between the cellar's doors as best as she was able to with her wings, and the portal faintly emitted a purple and black aura that kept the weapon from wedging the gap completely. The small bird digimon hopped onto the half of the pole weapon and started bouncing up and down on it.

"Come on, come on!" Menelmon chanted as she bounced, each one moving a little bit more than the last, but the darkness that pervaded the doors still held them shut tightly. She nearly slipped as she landed again after a particular spring that jiggled a little bit, but jumped again on the recoil. "Come on!"

At her final hiss and descent, pressing down with all her small mass, the halberd's axe-head and spear-point glowed with bright white light against the dark barrier that locked the cellar, and the darkness shattered. One door flipped open and the halberd clattered to the ground, Menelmon being taken by surprise and rolling around as she landed.

Belle was out in an instant and by Menelmon's side with a smile on her face. "You're one in a million Menelmon," she said tenderly as the female digimon panted from the exertion, "thanks a lot."

"No sweat," Menelmon replied brightly. Belle nodded.

"Jasmine," she said, turning towards the Arabian Princess, "get the horses, Augusté too. We're going to help Kairi, and then the four of us will see to Gaston."

-A-D-

The trees shuddered at the intensity of the noise, and even the Worg Heartless moved back in fear of the spectacle in front of them. The girl, the one with such a pure and tasty heart, was burning alive in white flames. A scream that would freeze anyone's blood flowed from her mouth like the flood after a dammed up river has just been let loose. Black and green and purple and blue smoke billowed out from the white flames like from the chimneys of factories, and the auburn-haired princess thrashed about, completely under the torment of agony. Everything about her, from her skin to her hair to her feet and hands, was searing under the white flame.

Then the flames vanished as quickly as they had once enveloped her, and Kairi lay still and stopped screaming. Her chest rose and fell as she kept breathing through the lingering sensations of pain her nerves were sending her from beneath her skin, the majority of which now being tinged pink. Smoke rose from her body, and the cloth that had once gagged her was now lying to the side; the bonds that had been around her hands and feet had been completely incinerated.

Taking a deep breath, Kairi released it as an aggrieved sigh as a hand went to her forehead. "That _fucking_ hurt Flame! Why did you make me do that!"

_That was the Fires of Purgatory,_ Crowning Flame told her. _It is a special spell used by only the most proficient users of Light magic, and what you experienced was a rough and unrefined usage of it, definitely not perfect. However, I could never have expected perfection on your first try._

"Wait a second," Kairi murmured, her eyes going a little wider as her nerves still tingled with the pain, "that _hurt_!" She looked at the hand that she'd placed on her forehead. "I can move again! I can feel again!"

_Yes. The Fires of Purgatory is a far more powerful and potent spell than the similar Esuna that your friend Aerith knows. The holy flames delves deep inside your body in all places where there is a malady affecting it, or subjects itself to a particular area defined by the caster if the one casting is good enough. The fires then purge the malady from the subject, but it is a dangerous spell to use if the patient is weak of mind or body, because the intensity of the holy spell might break them or leave them too weak to continue on after the poison has been removed. You are not weak of mind, body, or heart, but your ability to use the spell is still somewhat… limited. That is why you have now suffered minor burns all across your body that will fade away in a few hours, and why something else has occurred that should not normally happen._

"Something else?" Kairi asked, confused.

_You accidentally purged yourself of more than just the paralyzing toxins and the alcohol. Though, because of your current situation, I recommend that you don't use this spell whenever you're drunk and trying to avoid a hangover, and especially not at a house party._

"Why would I—?" Kairi started before stopping suddenly, her face becoming as pink as the rest of her body that was suffering from burns. Hanging around her neck was her pink crown pendant, her blue Crest of Virtue, and a small yellow stone on a string, and beside her on the ground lay her digivice. She would have wondered why it was no longer clipped onto her pants had she not also noticed that besides the three objects around her neck, she was completely nude!

_(A/N: Gratuitous fanservice ftw!)_

"WHAT THE HELL!" Kairi roared, scrambling to her feet and starting to hyperventilate. Noticing the Heartless around her, she grabbed the cloth that had gagged her and quickly tied it around her chest, wincing in discomfort. It was tight. "Well this is just peachy," she muttered.

_Forget about that now,_ Crowning Flame said as she summoned the Keyblade to her hands, _there is a battle to be fought._

"Right," Kairi said, watching the Worgs as they paced around her in a ring. She held her Keyblade in front of her, watching them in turn. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the different Heartless, wondering which of them would move first. Indigo irises strayed beyond the firelight and saw something that made greed well up within Kairi. For whatever reason, Xayn Shu had left some spare fur clothing lying around, and one of them was a pair of pants.

Mentally saying 'screw it' to waiting for the Heartless to be the first to attack, Kairi flashed to her left, appearing right in front of one of the Worg Heartless. She buried her Keyblade up to the hilt in the Heartless' mouth and then ripped it upwards, cutting right through the top of the dark creature. The Heartless didn't even have any time to react before it was nothing more than a dark cloud with a small pink heart floating in it. The others all raced for her, but Kairi was much quicker than they were. A single flash step later and she was beside the pile of spare clothing. Planting Crowning Flame into the ground with a quick stab, Kairi's hands leapt for the dusty brown coloured pants first and she jumped into them, both legs at the same time.

She fell over, not at all used to trying to put pants on both legs at a time, and the Heartless were suddenly all over her. One raked at her lower abdomen with its claws and Kairi gasped as the claw scratched her right over the minor burn already on the skin. Her right hand scrambled around, looking for the hilt of her Keyblade, while her left darted this way and that as she fired her flash arrows at random. Two of the Heartless got hit right in their faces and another was penetrated underneath in the abdomen and another got an arrow in the right foreleg. The four arrows that found targets exploded, and three of the Heartless were now gone as another limped back, now missing a leg, and the others retreated momentarily from the brightness and warmth of the light.

Kairi's right hand found Crowning Flame and she stood up, and her left hand instantly went to the waist of her new pants to keep them up. They were too big for her. She spotted a rope on the ground and quickly picked it up and folded it around her waist, tying it into a tight knot to keep the pants up. A heavy jacket went across her almost completely bare torso and Kairi fastened the top tightly. Her left hand ghosted over Crowning Flame's blade and she whispered the words, "Light, give me power; strengthen my sword!" Crowning Flame glowed with pale white light, and now that she was at least semi-clothed, though she still wished that she had some shoes, she was ready.

It seemed that the Worg Heartless that had survived her desperate attack to keep them off of her were ready as well, for they barked and charged at her once more. Kairi yelled and counter-charged, stepping aside from the headlong slash of claws that the one she'd removed a leg from was giving her. Crowning Flame rose up in both her hands and chopped down, cutting right through the Heartless' furry hide and leaving it in two halves. Kairi turned around as it fell to darkness as another was coming at her from the air, spinning in a ball with its needle-like fur suddenly looking incredibly sharp in the firelight. Kairi got Crowning Flame into a defensive position in front of her, but the impact of the four-foot tall Worg Heartless crashed through and bowled Kairi back down onto the ground. The needle-like fur stabbed at her arms and chest and the Princess of Heart hissed in pain as the Worg unfurled itself and stood over her, its blood-tinted lower jaw and teeth directly in front of her face and all four claws pinning down her shoulders and thighs.

Its head dove down, snapping a bite for her head, and Kairi shot her head off to her left, avoiding the snarling teeth. She slipped her left arm free with the same movement and placed the palm flat before the Heartless' underbelly. Sparks skittered over her fingertips and she cried out "Thundaga!" Six hot bolts of lightning arced into the body of the Worg and it howled in pain. Kairi shuffled out from under its claws, ignoring the scrapes she received, and delivered a swift kick to the Worg in the side. She immediately wished she hadn't as her bare toes and feet ended up in more pain that she thought they'd inflicted, but Kairi was able to stagger the Heartless enough that she could easily stab the glowing Crowning Flame into its head.

Radiant Garden's Princess brought her blade back in front of her and closed her eyes. The girl's body pulsed with a flash of light and red and orange flames erupted around her. The jacket and pants morphed and changed colour as the flames enveloped them and roved around Kairi's body, seeming to explore every inch of her. Swan wings of flame rose from her back and her hair became like fire itself. Crowning Flame became sheathed in flames of white as red embers flew around Kairi as the fire that enveloped her dropped, and she stood in the black and flame-coloured clothing of her Fire Mage Form.

Kairi lifted the orb of fire that hovered above the palm of her left hand towards one of the remaining six Worg Heartless and twin serpentine columns of flame twisted out towards the creature. The fires bit at the Heartless both around the neck and in the abdomen, and Kairi flew towards the Heartless on her fiery wings. Yelling, she slashed upwards, cleaving through the Worg as a crescent of white flame spewed out of her blade.

Kairi spun around, holding her flaming orb aloft, and flames covered the ground around her, trapping the leftover Worg Heartless in a ring. Kairi rose up on her wings, avoiding the claws of one of the five Worgs that were left, and began to chant. "Sing now the hymn of the phoenix, the eternal fires of heaven and of hell; let Tartarus be forever lit by your falling effigy. I stand at the maw of the dragon of the skies to open its blazing gullet. Let the flame of the heavens rain down upon my enemy. Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!" Dark clouds formed in the sky as Kairi's back arched and her hands went to her sides. Red light flashed through them like cloud-lightning, and then Holstein-sized fireballs rained down from the clouds. Fiery black trails flew past Kairi as the Skyfyre crashed onto the Heartless, their wails barely reaching her ears, and by the time it was over there were none left.

Kairi floated down to the ground, her hair still the picture of flames, her fiery wings still on her back. _Very good,_ Crowning Flame said in her mind as he lay still in her hand. The flames she'd unleashed on the ground were quickly burning out. _You've become a capable swordswoman and adept elemental mage, with a good-natured knack for fire. Although you use the Light less than I'd expect from a Princess of Heart and the Wielder of Light, you do alright._

"Thank you, Flame," Kairi said.

_But remember,_ Crowning Flame started anew, _you are the Legendary Crown Star Wielder of Light and a Princess of Heart. The Light will always be your strongest weapon. When things are at their darkest, just remember that the Light in your heart will show you the way. Let it guide me with purpose, and I will not fail you._

Kairi smiled, feeling the ground beneath her feet beginning to shake. _I'll keep that in mind,_ she replied, turning slightly to her side and bringing Crowning Flame out in front of her in both hands, readied near her head. Crashing sounds of trees being snapped and falling to the ground entered Kairi's ears, and the loud howl of a wolf sounded through the woods. She started to back away slowly towards the fire, wanting to be far enough away so that a tree might not fall on her if whatever large thing rushing through the woods knocked one near her over.

A tree still crashed to the ground not ten feet to Kairi's right as a Heartless that resembled the Worgs she had just recently dispatched broke through the woods to scramble to a stop in front of her. The main difference between this one and the other though, was that while the Worgs had been four feet tall at the shoulder, this one was fourteen.

_Big wolf…_ Kairi thought worriedly as the Alpha Worg howled to the night sky. She shook her head. No, she wouldn't let its size get to her. She'd fought Cerberus and the Chimera before. This thing was just another big monster like them, and it was even a bit smaller, and it was going to fall just like Hades' monsters did.

The Alpha Worg bound at Kairi in a strong leap, its powerful jaws lunging to snap her in two. With a flap of her fiery wings Kairi propelled herself backwards into the air, away from the massive Heartless. Snarling, it leapt up after her. Kairi twisted herself around in the air, ducking underneath a flying claw and slicing at the backside of the leg with Crowning Flame. A small wisp of darkness fled the wound as the white flames encircling her Keyblade passed through, and Kairi soared on down towards the ground. She made a banking turn as the Heartless started to fall back to earth and beat her wings harder, zipping right for the Alpha Worg. Her Keyblade sliced out again, this time against the creature's upper back, and once more her blade cut through the fur and brought the darkness out.

The Alpha Worg turned around as it felt the sting of her Keyblade and the presence of the weapon, but it was too big, and Kairi was too small and quick. On her wings of flame the flaming-haired princess soared in, this time at the face, and the Alpha Worg snarled and snapped its jaw while pawing at the air in front of it, trying to swat Kairi with its claws like she was a troublesome gnat. And while she really wasn't all _that_ much smaller than the Heartless, she was still small enough and dextrous enough on the wings of her Drive Form to narrowly avoid the teeth and claws that would rip her to shreds and land a cut across the Alpha Worg's cheek.

Kairi spun around on her wings, flying out of the trees she had just dived into, and the orb of fire in her left hand pulsed and a jet of flame raced out of it to strike the Alpha Worg in the flank. She passed above as it yowled from the hit, and dove back into the trees again. The woods around her were lit by the firelight from her wings and hair and the embers that continually emerged around her, and Kairi flew right back at the Alpha Worg. She'd settled into a pattern she was comfortable with. As big as the Heartless was, it was an enemy that she might've had a hard time dealing with on the ground, but right now she could fly and was much more manoeuvrable than the Heartless, giving her the advantage over its undeniably superior strength. It couldn't catch her.

Two more jets of flame barrelled out of her fiery orb and struck the Alpha Worg's other side. Her nostrils became filled with the scent of burning fur as Crowning Flame bit at the top of the Heartless' neck. Kairi rose into the air, her swan wings of flame flapping deliberately slow behind her. The fire orb pulsed again, and a coil of flame flowed out of it like a ribbon as Kairi wound it around her arms and Keyblade until they were hardened in her hands, one looking like a hammer's block head. "Vulcan's Forge!" roared Kairi as she unleashed the two: torrential jets of flame from the left by the orb, and the hammer from the right near the tip of Crowning Flame. The hammer struck loudly against the top of the Alpha Worg's head while the rest of the fire engulfed the Heartless completely.

Kairi descended to the ground and her wings and the black and flame-coloured clothing of her Drive Form disappeared in a flash of light, leaving her in the absconded spare clothing she'd grabbed from the pile. The Alpha Worg looked like it was now on its last legs after her attack, and Kairi had to wonder if it still had the strength to fight. It no longer seemed interested in continuing their battle as it limped past her towards the small campfire, its body trailing darkness and smoke in more than several locations. A low howl left its lips as it collapsed right in front of the blaze, its head landing within the flames.

Kairi watched it for a second, watching the wisps of darkness float away from its body. Then the wisps ceased, and its shoulders moved slightly and a growl came from the depths of the Heartless' belly. Its jaws started to snap, and Kairi's eyes grew wider as she saw the fur growing back. But instead of the purple the fur was now red, and the Alpha Worg started to grow, and it looked like it was even changing shape.

_What's happening?_ Kairi wondered, keeping Crowning Flame out in front of her. The Heartless' front paw was reaching out into the fire, and making sweeping motions at the logs. Plumes of sparks were shooting up into the sky, and the Alpha Worg's jaws continued to snap up and down like it was biting at something. Meanwhile its body continued to grow and its wounds started to leak fire instead of darkness. The hind legs were also shifting, the joints rotating and forcing the Alpha Worg's centre of gravity higher as it started to stand on those two appendages instead of all four. The paws started to lose their paw shape and became clawed hands instead, and in one of the front claws Kairi saw the last burning log of the fire before it was tossed into the Alpha Worg's open mouth.

"It _ate_ the fire!" Kairi said, looking at the Heartless as it now stood nearly another six feet taller, its face more human-like, but also still very wolf. Fires burned out of patches in its fur, giving the tall Heartless a very menacing look in the night as it provided the only light beyond the pale white light shining from Crowning Flame.

_Be careful,_ Crowning Flame told her. _More things than its appearance might've changed._

The Wereworg bent its knees and massive claws swept out for Kairi before she could answer. Kairi rolled to the right, trying to keep herself from getting hit by them, but the claws just grazed her back. Even with such a slight touch, Kairi was still launched four feet into the air and her shoulder struck a tree. Hissing in pain, the auburn-haired princess got back to her feet.

"Tartarus, heed my call and arise at my bidding. Be fanned by winds of justice and purification. Ravage the dark souls before me and consume all in your path. Flame Style 35, Inferno!" Kairi slashed Crowning Flame through the air in front of her, and purple flames raced out from her body in an all-encompassing cone in front of her body. Hellhounds were in the fires, their yips being barely heard above the roar of the plasma as they raced for the Wereworg, leading the inferno onward.

The fires of what Kairi knew to be hell enveloped the Wereworg, washing over it in a bath of purple fire. But when Kairi expected there to be a growl or howl of pain, there was instead merely a throaty growl of a different sort, as if the Wereworg was chuckling at her. Its right claw glowed with yellow light and it swept through the flames that coveted it, and the purple fire and hellhounds made of it died as it waved the attack off.

"What?" Kairi asked, shocked.

_It's immune to fire!_ Crowning Flame shouted at her. _You should have taken a closer look at it and realized. See the flames burning off its body? See how its fur has become red and how it turned into this by _eating_ fire?_

"Oh crud," Kairi muttered through gritted teeth. "And get off my back will you?"

_If you don't even make a quick guess at an enemy's strengths and weaknesses you could end up getting yourself killed,_ answered Flame. Kairi rushed forward with her Keyblade held out to her side, feeling dwarfed by the twenty-foot tall Heartless. She fired two bolts of lightning at it from the palm of her left hand, aiming for the Wereworg's eyes, but the Wereworg's hands came up and took the stinging bolts of lightning instead. Kairi jumped up, reaching the middle of the Heartless' chest, and brought Crowning Flame down against the chest before making two more quick cuts at the same spot. She flipped backwards in the air, noticing that it didn't look as if she'd really done much of anything except give it a paper cut, and swirled Crowning Flame around in a circle above her head. Wind started to gather in the middle of the circle, swirling around and becoming a tiny tornado. She poured white light into the spinning vortex of wind, and directed it out towards the Wereworg, shouting "Blinding Twister!" The small tornado drilled into the chest of the Wereworg and burned away a little of the red fur that was covering its body. Red fire was revealed underneath, and Kairi's eyes opened wide as a jet of flame raced out of the new wound and struck her entire front.

The auburn-haired Keyblade Wielder plunged to the ground, wincing in pain from the new burns and the rough landing. The claws of one of the hands closed around her, and then she was flying through the air to collide with the base of a tree. Stars swam around Kairi's eyes and she tried to blink them away as she got back to her feet, regaining her breath.

The Wereworg was gone.

"Where did it—?"

_Above you!_

Kairi looked up just as the Wereworg crashed down in front of her and Kairi lost her footing from the shockwave that thundered through the ground at its landing. A claw glowed yellow and swiped down at her, gouging through the earth and ripping up roots and rocks as if they were only air. Kairi flash-stepped away, appearing up on the snout of the Wereworg. Howling, she drove Crowning Flame right between the massive yellow eyes of the Heartless. The ensuing sound that issued from the Wereworg's jaw nearly caused Kairi to lose her grip on her Keyblade with the want to cover her ears, and the thrashing motions of the Wereworg's head in an attempt to throw her off were not helping her. The clawed hands came up towards her, and dozens of fireballs, each the size of her head, crackled into existence around each of the hands and shot out for her. Kairi never knew before that she could break-dance as she moved her feet, hands, hips, and waist, trying to maintain her balance on the Wereworg's snout and a grip on the handle of Crowning Flame while at the same time avoiding the fireballs.

She found out that she wasn't the best at break-dancing. Six of the flaming projectiles missed her and thudded harmlessly into the snout mere feet away from where she was, but then one did hit her side and threw Kairi off, wrenching Crowning Flame out of the Wereworg's head in the process.

Kairi coughed when she landed and the wind was knocked out of her again. She heaved, forcing her lungs to expand once more, and got back to her feet just in time to be knocked back again by a swinging claw.

_I can't do this…_ she thought, looking up at the Wereworg in pain. She had felt a rib crack, or at least get bruised. _I can't do this alone._

_I thought I told you, you are never alone. Feel the Light inside you. Let it guide your hand. Use me!_

Kairi closed her eyes, and warmth and strength overcame her senses as she delved down to her heart. She could feel Sora, still at the castle and fighting. She could feel the other Princesses of Heart and Menelmon, racing towards her to help her, and she could feel the Heartless in front of her, a massive being composed of darkness, and the only thing that stood between it and wantonly destroying the town and stealing the hearts of the villagers was her.

She wanted the thing gone, and she wanted to do it personally. She wanted to escape from the situation she had landed herself in on her own, but…

Kairi opened her eyes and looked down at the Keyblade in her hand. But she wouldn't mind a little help if it came from someone close who was more than willing and able to help her.

_Will you?_ She asked quietly.

_I chose you to wield me, Wielder of Light. I will always be here to help you, so long as you call on me and call yourself my Wielder._

"Then we fight together, you and I," Kairi said. "We fight as one! And we will not be defeated by the likes of any Heartless!" She swept Crowning Flame up by her ear, and looked at the Wereworg with confidence. "Envelop our enemies with the holy flame, Alcezeran!"

Crowning Flame shattered.

-A-D-

Remembrance glowed with golden light as Sora slashed it into the darkness of the Destructor's open mouth. Both eyes were out of commission, and as soon as the eyes had died the arms had stopped as well, and both hinges to the mouth had been destroyed. Now all that was left was to attack the vulnerable inside itself. The Keyblade Master jumped back and rose into the air as Ohtarmon's mace glowed with white light and was bashed into the darkness of the mouth. Twelve golden stars appeared around Sora in a circle and he fired them off towards the mouth. Another twelve followed the first spiralling dozen, and then another. A golden bullet of light formed on Remembrance's star key-tip, and Sora swept the Keyblade out towards the darkness of the open mouth.

The bullet of light penetrated the darkness and buried itself deep inside the Destructor. The mouth suddenly slammed shut again, and the whole Heartless began to rattle and shake. Light broke through the sides and top and the shaking increased. A cog wheel fell off.

"Look out fellas!" Goofy shouted, running back for the steps to the open, but sealed off, doorway. Sora, Donald, and Ohtarmon followed, and the Destructor exploded. A cloud of darkness remained where the Heartless boss had been, and a large pink heart floated up into the sky as the darkness began to disperse in the air and vanish.

Sora dismissed Remembrance and removed his helmet. He sighed as the crisp night air blasted his face and shook his head, unveiling his cerulean eyes to the world. "Ah," he said, shaking his sweat-laced spikey-haired head.

"So where did you get that stuff anyway?" Donald asked.

"Keyblade armour," Sora answered, placing the helmet under his armpit. "It's awesome."

Cries of pain and panic suddenly reached their ears and the mob of fifty Frenchmen rushed out of the castle, being chased by Aladdin, Iago, Abu, Genie, and the castle's servants. "And stay out!" Cogsworth shouted, brandishing a pair of scissors and wearing a Napoleonic hat, right before Lumiere took his face in his candle hands and kissed both cheeks. Sora smiled.

"You think you've won?"

The smile was wiped clean off of Sora's face and his body flashed with light. The Kingdom Key appeared in his right hand and Remembrance in his left. Silver hawk-like wings emerged from out of his armour, and Sora took off. "I'm gonna gut you like a fish!"

"Sora wait!" Donald said.

Sora didn't pay attention as he streaked right for the Nobody that he knew had captured his girlfriend, roaring in his determination to cut him down, but before he got closer than twenty feet to Xayn Shu two things happened at once that made him stop in his tracks.

The first was that only a short distance into the woods he saw white flames race up above the canopy of the trees, and he knew at once that that was Kairi, escaping. The second was what really made him stop cold. Somewhere in the gorge down below, he had just felt the emergence of a being whose heart was filled with such cold malice and evil that it made his blood run cold.

Xayn Shu, who had drawn his wave-bladed sword in anticipation for the clash with the winged Keyblade Master, must have also sensed this presence, and looked at Sora. "Until next time then," he said, opening a portal of darkness.

Sora looked up. "Hey, wait!"

There was a crash from above and Sora and the others looked up from where they stood in the courtyard. Beastly Alain had been thrown through the window to the balcony of his and Belle's room in the West Wing and was now tumbling along the roof of the castle. He stopped at the very edge of a buttress, and Gaston leapt from above onto the same work of stone.

The hunter's laugh was cruel and heard even from where they were. "Get up!" Gaston kicked him. "Get up! What's the matter Beast?" he laughed, mockingly. "Too kind and gentle to fight back?"

Alain moaned and looked away.

"No!" Sora whispered, landing on the ground and falling out of his Valiant form, watching in horror as Alain appeared resigned to his fate. Gaston went to the side and pulled free a stone fixture, and held it above him like a club.

"NO!"

Sora looked behind him, but before he could even see that it was Belle who had spoken he was enveloped in a hug and the back of an auburn-haired head was rubbing into his neck and the side of his jaw.

"Oh Sora," Kairi mumbled.

"Kairi?" Sora asked, almost helplessly as Belle rode on Phillipe right past him and his girlfriend.

"It, it was much scarier than any other time I've been abducted," Kairi mumbled. "I don't want to go through that again, I don't want to go through that again."

"Easy now Kairi, easy," Sora said calmly, shushing her as he spared a quick glance back up for his friend, preparing himself for the worst. But the worst wasn't there. Alain had seemed to regain an interest in staying alive, and was fighting back against Gaston. No matter how strong the human hunter was, he just didn't have the physical strength of a Beast. His heartstrings eased, Sora turned back to the girl in his arms. "It's over now. You're safe."

"I thought, when I felt that… that darkness, I thought that maybe you might be fighting it," Kairi mumbled as she pulled back, starting to get hysterical. "I thought that maybe, maybe you'd been hurt…I—"

"Ssh…" Sora told her, keeping a hold on her and drawing her back in. "It's alright. I'm not going anywhere near that thing. It's not near us, and it's not coming closer. Just sitting there at the bottom of the gorge."

"Even with all of us here," Kairi started. "Even with me, and you, and Aladdin and Genie and Jasmine and Belle and Donald and Goofy and MaltaOhtarmon and Thorondomon and Alcezeran, I don't think we could beat it."

Sora frowned at her and pulled back a little. "Who's Alcezeran?" he asked. For the first time since she'd jumped him with a hug Kairi smiled. She even laughed a little.

"I'll tell you later," she said, a kind of happiness coming into her voice that Sora hadn't expected. She then threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Sora was surprised, not knowing just _what_ had come over Kairi since she left that morning, but wrapped his arms around her anyway and fell into the kiss.

A howl of pain and agony shattered the moment and both of them looked up. Alain was roaring in pain just shy of the balcony, Belle standing there and reaching out to him. Gaston was right beneath Alain, and removing a dagger that was wet with Alain's blood from the side of the beast. Alain thrashed about in pain, his limbs going wild in uncontrollable spasms, and Gaston lost his balance as he avoided the unintentional blows. Crying out in fear and panic, Gaston tumbled down the side of the roof and fell down, far into the gorge below.

No one spared his fall a second glance as everyone rushed back into the castle to get to Alain as quickly as possible. Sora looked at Kairi as she grasped his hand while they rushed up the stairs. "Sora, I want you to promise me something."

"What?" he asked.

"Even though we both know I can get out of tight spots now, especially with what happened today," Kairi began, "I want you to promise that if I ever get captured again, you'll come for me; but I don't want you to put me ahead of any other friends if you're in a situation like you probably were today," she added quickly. "Seeing as how Alain's now a beast again and everything, there was probably a lot going on that I missed."

Sora smiled a little. "Yeah, there was a lot that you missed. Don't worry Kairi, I promise you that I'll always come for you." She smiled and squeezed his hand. Even though Alain had been stabbed, they knew that he and Belle were together, and they were going to get him fixed up again. Everything was going to be okay.

-A-D-

Down below the Keyblade Wielders and the Princesses of Heart and their friends, a tall man encased in thick armour slowly walked towards the broken and bleeding body of the French hunter who had fallen. His left shoulder was encased in a high-rimmed plate pauldron, and his right in a lower one that was filled with the face of a skull. Skulls were on his vambraces, and on the poleyns over his kneecaps. The front of his belt was also a metal skull, and the cuisses on his thighs were like ribs. The heels of his boots were also adorned with skulls, and a long black cape billowed out behind him. But the most noticeable things about him were the great helm he wore over the wisps of ghostly white hair that flowed out from beneath it, and the sword in his right hand. The helm was topped with a ring of spires, like a crown, and the eye-holes revealed two eyes that glowed blue like living fire. A gem set at the great helm's forehead glowed with the same blue, and the central spire at the front had a skeletal face at its top. The sword in his hand was long, one edge near the hilt was jagged, and a skeletal face was set into the guard down the top of the blade. Fiery blue runes ran down the centre, and the whole blade emanated with a cold chill.

The armoured man stopped before the body of Gaston, and raised the sword towards the fallen Frenchman. Tendrils of blue and black surrounded his body, coiling and undulating as they wrapped him in a cocoon.

Gaston slowly pushed himself back up to his feet without a word. His skin had lost its lustre and shine, and was now sickly and slightly whitish purple. The deep blue eyes he used to have were now icy, and glowed with the same ethereal glow as the armoured man in front of him. "Who are you?" Gaston asked, his voice now with an echo.

The man stared him down, and waved his hand. A voice sifted into his head as a portal of darkness appeared with the flick of his wrist, and the voice seemed to be coming from the sword. _My son…_

Gaston glanced at the portal before looking back at the man. Not another word left his mouth before the Frenchman entered the portal. The armoured man took another step forward before looking up at the castle far above. White light was shining up there, coming from one of the Champions of the Light who had been victorious above.

He watched, knowing that the girl was healing the Beast, as the voice continued. _The day you were born, the very forests of Lordaeron whispered the name..._

The man looked away from the castle far above and turned towards the portal. "Champions of Light, you are not yet ready to serve..."

_Arthas._

"The Lich King."

-A-D-

_Remember when Riku mentioned something about the undead in Inside the Hobbit's Head? One of the things he was talking about was indeed the Restless Scourge. All those WoW references that have been popping up, they were lead-up to this._

_Now I'm off to Cold Lake again. Surprise!_

_Ciao!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	43. Barrels

_Sora: "Seven hundred reviews, and we're back after the summer! How's it hanging?"_

_Kairi: (Stretching) "I don't know about you, but I had a great time off. Got to hang out, laze around, got a nice tan on the beach…"_

_Roxas: "Speak for yourself, Uncle Sal and Aunt Victoria made Sora and me get summer jobs."_

_Kairi: (Smiling but making a pouting face) "Aw, poor baby."_

_Sora: "What you talking about Rox? You can make killer subs now."_

_Roxas: (Rolling eyes) "Whatever."_

_Naminé: (giggling) "At least it was better than Shire Folk's summer."_

_(Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé, the only people there, all turn to look at Shire Folk.)_

_Shire: "Actually, my summer was pretty good. I enjoyed working at a CSTC rather than just being a staff cadet or a course cadet. Better pay for Uni, more responsibility, working from eight in the morning to eleven at night for six days a week, meeting a skunk from about two feet away, oh, and getting a course cadet's head out from underneath a deck because she tried to crawl underneath it to retrieve somebody's lost iPod when there's less than a foot of clearance. That was funny."_

_Sora: (Grimacing) "Doesn't sound fun."_

_Shire: "I had fun. Alrighty, disclaimer anyone?"_

_Naminé: "Sure. Shire Folk doesn't own us or the franchises we come from. Now, I'm sure you want to start gobbling up this chapter after two months of nothing so go right ahead!"_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLIII: Barrels

_2345hrs, Wednesday, November 12, 2003  
The _Highwind

Sora wrapped his arms around Kairi's shoulders as she lay beneath the covers of the king-sized bed that had used to belong to only him, until they decided that they would rather leave Belle and Alain with some time to be alone, so that they could sort out the whole being the Beast again thing, and travel so as to be at Olympus Coliseum in the morning.

Also, Kairi wasn't too fond of the idea of spending another night on that world right after what had happened to her (she was just being paranoid but she'd never admit it), and neither she nor Sora wanted to stick around in case whatever dark presence they'd all felt decided to come back. They didn't say that though, but the thought of just how evil it felt, even more than Maleficent if such a thing were even possible, made them think more than twice about fighting it right now. Frankly, it scared them, and they wanted to be as far away from it as they could.

Aiwemon and Menelmon were already asleep beside them, they swore that those two digimon could fall asleep in the middle of a violent thunderstorm if they felt like falling asleep, leaving the couple to cuddle. They'd already made it clear that there was to be no fun and games tonight, but cuddling was never excluded from the list of options.

"So just why were you wearing that get-up?" Sora asked as Kairi traced tiny circles around the hairs on his chest. The pink tank-top she was wearing bunched slightly as she shrugged underneath the black sheets with yellow stars on them.

"Don't ask," she told him. Kairi glanced off into the corner of the room. "How heavy is that stuff anyway?" Sora looked in the direction his girlfriend was gazing and saw the suit of plate armour he wore, essentially thrown together nicely in a pile. It had taken them twenty minutes to get every last piece off of him, and both were glad that he could just summon the stuff onto his body in a flash and it would be ready to go. If they had to go through the trouble of getting each other dressed in the stuff when Kairi finally learned how to summon hers, or even just the Acolyte mail armour she already had, and also to take it off they'd have to set aside whole days for battles or just never take the armour off with all the trouble it'd take to put the stuff on and take off.

"It's actually not that heavy," Sora said, a little surprised as the words left his mouth. "I can't really even feel too much that I'm even wearing armour. It kinda just feels like clothing made out of metal that weighs as much as linen or something. If it weren't for the sounds it made and that I felt it on me, I wouldn't even know that it's there."

"Hm," Kairi mumbled. "So what's Olympus Coliseum like?"

Sora smiled. "Oh, you're going to love it," he told her. "It's the best arena you could ever set foot in. Epic golden statues, rows upon rows of stands of yellow stone, and the greatest hero we've ever known, Hercules!"

Kairi's eyes brightened. "Are you serious? Hercules is _really_ there?"

"He sure is!" Sora answered. He kissed Kairi when he saw her smile. She moaned slightly and her moist lips parted slowly, softly kissing him back. Sora knew that this was what she needed to remove the remnants of her capture that day: to be softly held and kissed in a comfortable bed by the young man she loved. She didn't need anything more than to lie in his arms and be close to him. He also knew why Kairi had had him make that promise to her. It wasn't that Kairi was helpless, far from it, but that she wanted that extra security in case she _was_ captured again; that extra assurance that someone _was_ coming for her.

After a few minutes Kairi slowed to a stop and said, "Sora?"

He smiled, looking into her eyes and seeing the warm and loving smile on her face while her palm was pressed against his cheek, rubbing against the short hairs on his lower jaw. It was a pleasing sensation. "Yes Princess?"

Kairi's smile only widened slightly as she started to slowly shake her head. "I don't care."

Sora furrowed his brow as the computations in his brain ground to a halt. _What?_ "Uh…?"

His auburn-haired girlfriend had yet to stop smiling as she minutely shrugged. "I… I don't care! (she gave a small giggle) I don't care that I'm Princess Kairi; I don't care that I'm Her Royal Highness Princess Kairi Talerith, Heiress of Radiant Garden. When I was fighting my way free from being captured, I finally realized that throughout all of this adventure, the good parts and the bad parts, that I've been having the time of my life. I like sleeping on the cold ground or in flimsy tents or aboard gummi ships flying to unknown worlds, I like riding horses and chocobos into battle, I like fighting bad guys and the Heartless; but, Sora, do you know what I've found to be even more rewarding than defending oblivious innocent people who we'll likely never see or meet?"

This was a bit more of a serious discussion than Sora had thought it was going to be, but it wouldn't be right if he shifted it; Kairi seemed so enthusiastic right now. He shrugged. "What?"

"When we were healing all those people on Radiant Garden," Kairi answered, taking his right hand in hers. "And just now, when I healed Beast with my light and made him healthy again, even if he is still the Beast instead of Alain." Her eyes were practically sparkling as she held his hand. She kissed Sora on his cheek and pulled back, leaving the Keyblade Master still a little confused. "Sora, I know now. I know what I want to do with my life. Even though the royal life is rich and luxurious, I don't know how and I don't want the responsibility of ruling a whole world. To become a Queen is not the life for me. I can be Radiant Garden's warrior-princess, but the Queen I can't be. I may have been born in Radiant Garden, and I'm proud of that, and of who my birth parents were; and when I'm ready, I'll want to find out all I can about my real family, but the life I might've had is not the life I have now, and it's not what I want either."

She sighed, still smiling warmly at Sora with one hand on his cheek and the other clasping his. "As far as I can see, I don't care that I'm _really_ Princess Kairi Talerith of Radiant Garden; I'm Kairi of Destiny Islands, daughter to Seymour and Janet, apprentice of Chief Guardian Garda, and the Legendary Crown Star Wielder of Light, a protector of the worlds of the Realm of Light. Sora, I know that when we've defeated Maleficent and we've all moved on with our lives you want to open an inn. I'd love to be right there with you, but I can't."

Sora felt his heart freeze as the words 'what's happening' spiralled through his mind a million times a second. "Kairi?"

She laughed, obviously seeing the stricken look on his face. After kissing him on the lips, which did nothing to ease Sora's nerves, she pulled back. "I don't want to be a Queen, and I want to be more than just an innkeeper's wife," she sniggered. "I want to be a doctor, _and_ an innkeeper's wife."

The brunet Keyblade Master blinked once or twice before he registered that Kairi was kissing him again, both of her hands now against his cheeks. Slowly, his hands went to the back of her head and neck of their own accord. Then suddenly it hit him, and his fingers clutched her tighter and his lips and tongue started to ravage her with affection. Kairi wasn't breaking up with him, she wasn't leaving him! She really wanted to become his wife eventually, she wanted a simple life (or as simple a life as one could have when you were a protector of the worlds from darkness), and she wanted to be a doctor: a person who made people better when they were sick. He could see that happening, and he could see her looking great in a lab coat and heels. She'd probably look better in the white nurse's outfit and miniskirt, but who was he to judge? Sora praised whatever madness had taken hold of Aphrodite and her son Eros to have him fall in love a girl like her, and for her to be in love with him.

"I've having my way with you tonight," Sora told her huskily, his lips leaving hers for a moment to utter those words before his teeth grazed her lower jaw.

"Sora!" Kairi squealed quietly, trying to stop him. "Aiwemon and Menelmon and Jiminy."

"I don't care," he told her. "I'm going to have you panting my name and begging me to keep going, I love you so much." He dove under the covers and Kairi gasped, a blush mounting on her face. She bit her bottom lip, closed her eyes and clutched at the sheets, and a low moan escaped her closed mouth.

So much for no fun and games that night, not that she was complaining.

-A-D-

"This is getting out of hand," whispered Thessaura to herself as she paced back and forth in front of her throne. The windows outside of her polished marble palace showed the sable mantle of the night, flecked with its multitude of stars. "This should not be happening, this _cannot_ be happening."

"Thess, calm down," Heith told her, the God of Love and Death standing just a few steps away from where his wife was pacing back and forth. "This is good."

The Goddess of Light turned to look at her partner. "No Heith, no. This is not a positive development. The sixth Princess of Heart is not supposed to have achieved her Shikai this quickly. She was never supposed to have even _ascended_ yet! Shankela assured me—"

"The Queen cannot see all or predict all," Heith calmly reminded her. "Not all of her prophecies over the thousands of years have come true."

Thessaura wrung her hands together anxiously as her golden hair swayed slightly with her movements. "But this one is different," she said. "Shankela assured me that the current Wielder of Light's destiny has been written. She is to be brought to our lands at the final defeat of the dark sorceress Maleficent, and then she will serve me forevermore in eternal bliss and happiness as she deserves." The Goddess of Light sighed and looked up at the stars beyond the Corinthian columns. "She deserves peace and happiness here with me and all the past Princesses of Heart in this immortal land blessed by the Light. After all the trials she will go through, she will have earned this eternal rest."

"But if she does fall—"

"It has been foretold," Thessaura interrupted him. "She will fall."

Heith raised his hands and looked intently at his wife with his ethereal silver eyes. "That has not yet come to pass," he said calmly. "But, if she _does_ fall, then while she will dwell here in eternal peace, her heart will not be. Her friends that still live, and especially Sora, will be heartbroken at their loss of one whom they all love. Their ability to continue on will have weakened with their loss, and their capacity to fight evil will have diminished with the fall of one of their number. The two kings of undeath are already meeting and plotting, and while they bide their time in the shadows, waiting for Maleficent's reign to end and the proper time to strike, they must be considered. The Black Cauldron has yet to be found, but it is only a matter of time until the Horned King has it in his possession. And then, without Kairi and her light, the Keyblade Wielders will be hard pressed to combat both the Restless Scourge and the Cauldron Born. They could fail and fall, and the whole Realm brought to ruin."

He came closer to his wife and began to whisper. "Kairi will know no peace and happiness here. Her friends will fall, one by one, to the power of the Black Cauldron and Frostmourne. Her home will fall to darkness, and all that she once knew and loved will be destroyed. The living will become the living dead, and the souls of her friends will not find their way to Kingdom Hearts or the Underworld. They'll become tyrants of the undead, raised by the Lich King's fell magic and held under his yoke as Death Knights in service to him for all time. Not even the Ashbringer and Shadowmourne will be able to combat them."

"How do you know this?" Thessaura asked, furrowing her blonde eyebrows at her husband. "Has Shankela sought counsel from you?"

"Kairi will mourn here for all time," Heith told her. "She will find no happiness in your service after death."

"You don't know that," Thessaura said. "You have never asked Shankela to reveal her prophecies and knowledge of the future to you." Heith shook his head.

"No, I have not," said he. "But I don't need to have the Queen tell me what is in store for the worlds below to know. I have been watching Arthas Menethil since he merged with Ner'zhul and became the Lich King, and the Horned King has always been a walking monstrosity of darkness and has smelled of his necromancy for years. Now the Lich King has emerged from his slumber on the Frozen Throne; and since both kings have avoided the self-proclaimed Mistress of all Evil, it is only inevitable that they will move onto the scene when Maleficent has been removed from the picture. I don't need foresight to know that without the Crown Star Wielder of Light it will take an extraordinary amount of luck in order to defeat the Two Kings of Undeath."

"So you believe that it is still possible even without Kairi?" Thessaura asked.

Heith took a breath and paused. His reply came slowly. "Yes… it might still be possible for Sora and his companions to defeat both the Horned King and the Lich King without Kairi. But the future is not in my hands, it is in theirs."

"Then the sixth will have the rest and peace she deserves," Thessaura said, turning to look outside again. She gazed at the heart-shaped moon that shone down upon their land, day and night. "And she will know happiness, seeing that her friends are well, and up to the challenge of defending the worlds. I have guided them as much as I can; the rest is up to them. But…" she turned to look at her husband with her azure eyes, "perhaps it would be best, if her memories were rewritten when she comes to serve me."

"You seem so certain," Heith said. His wife flashed him a warning look.

"I have been assured that Kairi will become mine when Maleficent has been defeated," she returned coolly. "Shankela has not told me how, only that Kairi will come to our land, not Kingdom Hearts, and will become a handmaiden of the Light as all the other Princesses of Heart have."

Thessaura flicked her head, sending her blonde hair flying into the slight breeze that was sifting in from beyond the columns. "I grow tired Heith; I think I shall now retire to my chambers. Goodnight."

The God of Death and Love watched as his wife went away. As soon as she exited the large throne room through a back hallway two handmaidens in white togas, one an olive-skinned woman with short brown hair and the other a blonde Arian with her hair in a bun, two black rods sticking into the base of the bun, silently joined her, their own inner radiance blunted by that of the Goddess of Light and Healing.

Heith stayed watching as the Goddess and the two former Princesses of Heart strode down the hall. He knew what was to come next. Thessaura would be disrobed by the two, bathe and be washed by the two, and dried and clothed for sleep by the two before retiring and having them light scented candles in her chambers as their last duty unless called upon during the night, which they would stay awake through in case Thessaura needed them for anything. So it was with every Princess of Heart. They would live in an adjacent estate to her temple, served and waited on for their every want and need by the handsomest male servants and exceptionally beautiful female servants. Heith did not know what revelries and activities the Princesses of Heart partook in, it had never interested him, but at the beginning of each day their goddess would choose two to be her attendants for the day; it was regarded by all of them a high honour to wait on Thessaura and perform any manner of task she required of them. Whenever a message came to Thessaura, it was sent to the estate first, and then a Princess of Heart would deliver it to her. She was a bit finicky that way, but everyone was well used to it.

"It is a luxurious afterlife," Heith admitted, turning away, "but not one that Kairi would sit well with. She will become restless if left to live a life like this for eternity. She wields a Keyblade, why must she be shackled here? Perhaps I can appeal to Wagneir, maybe the King will be able to change…" he paused while thinking out loud, and turned around to look once more at Thessaura and her two handmaidens.

_Shankela only told her that Kairi would come to the land of the Gods, not that she would truly die! I don't know what that might mean, but it gives me something to work with._

That changed things in Heith's mind, and he quickly strode away at a fast pace, picking up his staff of dark wood that clutched at a ball that shone with soft and soothing light. The stone corridors around him echoed with the sound of his footsteps and armed guards, the few of the Princesses who had been like Kairi and been warriors in their lives, saluted him as he passed. Their life was only slightly different from the others: they were always on active duty, guarding the temple, but they were still waited on hand and foot by the most handsome men in these holy undying lands.

Heith exited the temple and looked up at Kingdom Hearts as it shone above him in the sky. He closed his eyes, and the staff glowed brighter for a moment before his whole body was enveloped in golden light.

Ethereal silver eyes opened a moment later, and he looked across a multi-levelled lawn sparsely populated with leafy trees. A white marble path wound through the lawn, steps being cut into the faces of the circular drops that defined the numerous levels. A young woman with blue hair was swinging her legs over the edge of one, and next to her sat a young man with spiked golden-blond hair. Behind both of them stood another young man who seemed a few years older than them, and especially older than the blond boy. This one was a brunet, and his hair was spiked up in a mullet.

Heith took a step forward, and the three stopped in their night-time conversation and stood up quickly. The God of the Dead, who looked after the souls of the departed Keyblade Wielders in Kingdom Hearts, called to them, "Terra, Aqua, Ventus, I may need your assistance."

If he proceeded carefully, and things happened as he thought they might, perhaps a little bit of the future was in his hands after all. He knew that he could trust his wife's siblings Tylythia and Rathgar, and possibly Oberian and Aienith, and maybe even Marenk and Cruse, if Marenk could be removed from his wine goblet and drunken revelries and Cruse could be pulled off of his stage away from the thespians and theatre lovers that had been coming every half-year for the past few centuries to see him perform Hamlet all by himself.

Heith shook his head slightly. No. Marenk's intentions might be good, but his tongue was too loose, and Cruse may be able to act but he can get eccentric and might let something slip if he got too worked up. Shankela and Wagneir were out of the picture, and Olina hedged the fence. While Heith believed that she would approve of his actions, she was close to his wife, the Queen, and the King, and was held far closer in their counsels than he was. Having her keep a secret like this could compromise it. Better that he keep it to as few people as possible. Tylythia and Rathgar for sure, and Aienith he knew he could trust. That left Oberian, God of the Sea. Should he let him in on his plan as well?

Just because they were not supposed to directly intervene to change fate, did not mean that they were not allowed to give a nudge here and there.

_The course the future runs is beginning to take shape,_ Heith thought to himself as he spoke with the three deceased Chasers. _I hope I'm doing the right thing._

-A-D-

_0900hrs, Thursday, November 13, 2003  
Olympus Coliseum  
Kairi_

_Oh my…_ thought Kairi as they beamed down to the front of the Coliseum. She was in her pink dress and the white tank top she wore underneath it, and she stretched her bare arms out beside her. The sky above her was blue, the sand beneath her feet was golden, and the weather was actually _warm!_ But the sight of the gigantic golden statues flanking the great wooden entrance to the Coliseum, and the many Corinthian columns lining the 'courtyard' that she supposed they were in, made Kairi truly believe in what Sora had told her. She was standing in the training and playground of heroes. And there were clouds. There were clouds at _eye-level_ beyond the columns and the golden-yellow stone walls!

"This sure brings back memories," Goofy said, looking up at the statues.

"Looks like Herc got the place fixed up," Sora said.

Donald nodded. "You sure got that right Sora."

Kairi turned around to look at Sora. "You mean this place had been wrecked earlier?"

He nodded at her. "Yeah. The Hydra trashed it; that's why we had to fight in tournaments in the Underdrome." Sora smiled at the slightly unsure look on Kairi's face as she looked back at the huge doors marking the entrance to the coliseum. He, Donald, and Goofy started to head towards those doors, but Kairi stayed put. "Come on," Sora said, moving up behind her and giving her rear a slight slap, "let's get going."

Kairi squeaked as her boyfriend's hand made contact with her bum. "Please don't do that Sora," she whimpered, quickly and tenderly placing her hands on that part of her body. It hurt and both cheeks were sore. Kairi realized that while it had indeed been fun and somewhat kinky at the time, deciding that the idea she'd had while drunk, that Sora really _should_ punish her with a spanking for being a bad girl and making him worry, had not really been a smart idea if it was going to make her butt hurt the morning afterwards. She'd barely been able to get through sitting down for breakfast.

Sora chuckled and leaned in close to her ear. "Remember what I said Kairi," he whispered. "The day I hit you is the day I've either lost it, or you've done something terribly bad. (His voice changed to a lower register, one that made Kairi's knees go slightly weak) And you were a _bad_ girl yesterday." He gave her another slight slap. Kairi whimpered and Sora chuckled and went out ahead of her.

_That's the price you pay,_ said Crowning Flame, or, rather Alcezeran, as Kairi now knew him.

_Oh please be quiet,_ Kairi replied, watching Sora for a few seconds before following him. _You weren't the one who fell for the stupid trap._

_You reap what you sow Kairi, which includes insisting that he spank you._

Kairi rolled her eyes and fired a retort back at him while walking with the others, and she got the impression that he was smiling smugly at her. He'd begun talking to her a bit more since she'd learned his name, which Kairi didn't exactly mind. It was almost like it had been back when Naminé was still just a voice in her head and a presence in her heart. Except Alcezeran wasn't Naminé.

_You want him. I can see it in your heart._

_Is that so wrong?_ Kairi shot back. _But in case you haven't noticed Al, I haven't let him take me yet._

_Right or wrong is for you to decide,_ Alcezeran replied. _But regardless, you are not to be using me as a tool for any of your needs, ever!_

_Or what?_ Kairi asked teasingly.

_I'll burn you._

The doors opened up just as they were reaching the steps towards them, and out walked a man with curls of orange hair wearing a bronze breastplate and skirt. Sandals were on his feet, and a blue cape was draped across his back. His eyes were a nice blue, and there was a smile in his face and a bounce in his step. He stopped as soon as he exited, and his smile widened. "Sora! Donald! Goofy! What are you guys doing here?"

"Hey Herc," Sora said, lifting his hand in greeting.

"Hi there!" Aiwemon chirped. He'd eaten a good breakfast; he was happy.

"Hiya," said Donald.

"Ahyuk, how ya doing Hercules?" Goofy asked.

"I'm doing alright," replied the legendary hero as he came down towards them. He looked at Aiwemon. "I don't think we really had time to be introduced properly back when those beings were doing all that storytelling. (He extended a hand towards the small bird digimon) Hi, I'm Hercules."

"Aiwemon," replied the digimon, extending a wing and shaking Hercules' hand. "I'm Sora's digimon partner. Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too," Hercules said, smiling. He then turned to Kairi, stopped, and he placed his hands on his hips. "So, here we have the famous Kairi, huh? It's nice to finally meet you face to face; I can see why Sora couldn't stop talking about you. (He sniffed) And you smell exactly like he said you did."

Indigo made rolling waves in amusement and Kairi glanced at her boyfriend. "Sora, did you tell _everyone_ you met about me?"

The brunet Keyblade Master chuckled and rubbed the back of his head while Donald and Goofy sniggered. "Pretty much, ahyuk," answered Goofy.

"And I'm Menelmon," said the ice-bird digimon, extending her wing towards Hercules. "I'm Kairi's digimon partner."

"Nice meeting you too," replied Hercules, shaking her wing in greeting. He stepped back. "So fellas, what are the Junior Heroes up to?"

Donald's face fell. "Aw… you mean we're still Junior Heroes even though we've got our own constellation?"

Herc's shoulders shrugged. "'Fraid so guys. You might want to talk to Phil about it later, but… I think the decision is a _bit_ above him."

"That's alright," Sora said, though he sounded a little deflated too. Then he picked up. "But hey, I still remember what you said back there. 'A true Hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart'. So, we can't be too far off now, can we?"

Hercules smiled and chuckled a little before rubbing a hand affectionately through Sora's spiky hair. The Keyblade Master quickly raised a hand, trying to bat him away, but Herc had already taken his hand out before Sora could even raise it.

_My mother used to do that,_ Kairi thought, not expecting the thought to rise. The thought didn't bring her much pain, like she thought it would, but instead it made her feel just a little bit warmer.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Hercules asked. "You're still fighting against Maleficent right?"

Sora started to scratch the side of his cheek. "Well, about that. You see… we're in training at the moment, and we heard that Phil's putting together another tournament."

"It could be the perfect chance to see just how far we've come and how much we've learned," Kairi said.

"Plus it'd give us a chance to square off against each other, fair and square," Goofy added.

Hercules smiled just a bit more. "So, you wanna register huh? Well come on in! Phil and I will tell you all about it."

-A-D-

"You see them?" Hades asked.

The armoured warrior standing next to him nodded. "Yes."

"Good," Hades said, peering into a cauldron in his throne room. Inside the swirling water was the image of Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Aiwemon and Menelmon walking into the Coliseum with Hercules. "I want you to watch what they do while they're here. The Keyblader and his pals, and his Princess chicky-poo, have been almost as big a thorn in my side as Wonderbreath there."

"Do you want me to eliminate them?" asked the warrior, the voice issuing from the mouth having a slightly hollow ring to it. Hades shook his head.

"No," he answered. "No. _You_ will only be fighting them if they get in our way when we move to take Olympus."

"So," the warrior began, sounding confused, "I won't be participating in the tournament?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Hades began importantly, slowly placing his hands on the warrior's shoulders. "I can't go around showing off my latest and greatest warrior only for her to get beaten. Trust me Lady Morgana, if you end up fighting those punks in a tournament, they'll be the ones walking away with the win. Somehow, they always infuriatingly do, so I'm not even going to bother trying this time. Let them have their ten seconds of feeling all goody-goody about winning a tournament. Then they'll be off and gone, and we can work on taking over Olympus and beginning my reign, okay?"

She nodded her head, Lady Morgana's face hidden behind the shadow of the iron cowl except for her glowing blue eyes. "Yes milord." She peered back into the cauldron, watching them.

-A-D-

"Not a chance kiddo!"

"Aw! Come on Phil! Why not?"

"I got three words for you kid," Phil returned. He pointed his stubby little satyr finger at Kairi. "She ain't no Hero."

"What?" Kairi asked, her head shaking rapidly for a second in confusion.

"This tournament is going to be the biggest and grandest spectacle yet," Philocetes said, looking over Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "It's being sponsored by the big kahuna, old Zeus himself. Only the very best and strongest heroes from all over are going to be moving on as they fight each other to see who amongst them is number one. The Zeus Cup is for Heroes only; you ain't a Hero or a Junior Hero, then you ain't got no chance of registering."

"Wait Phil," Menelmon said. "That's not fair. Just because she's not a hero doesn't mean she shouldn't be allowed to enter."

"And the same for the rest of us," Kairi said. "Naminé and Roxas and Riku too."

"Oh yeah?" Phil asked. "And why should I let you all in? I know that these three are vouching for you, but it's gonna take more than the word of a few Junior Heroes to bend the rules."

"Remember what happened during the first Games?" Donald asked. "Remember Cerberus?"

Phil stroked his beard. "Yeah, I remember that little incident. Okay, here's the deal Sora. If your girlfriend here can go through a few of my training trials, then I'll let her and your friends register for the Zeus Cup. But I warn ya, don't blame me if they can't make it through the first round."

"Alright," Sora said, nodding. "But, can I ask a few questions about the tournament?"

Phil smiled. "No worries. I'll tell you when she's shown me what she's got."

Sora nodded his head. "It still sounds unfair," Aiwemon said, glancing at Sora and then at Kairi. "After all we've done…"

"Don't worry about it," Sora said, waving it off. There were certain things that always had to be done in order to get anything, and Phil's training was never an exception to the rules. "Ready Kairi?"

"Sure," she said, nodding her head back at Sora with a confident look on her face. "I'm ready for it."

"That's what I like to see!" Phil said, clapping his hands together. "Let's go beautiful, this way please." They all shared a chuckle when Kairi bristled and blushed slightly at Phil's comment, but at least he hadn't called her 'doll'.

Sora almost imagined that he could hear horns playing as they strode out into the sunlight of the coliseum's ring. The ring looked exactly as he remembered it after all the tournaments and training that he'd done inside of it. The raised square platform, the corners marked off by the pillars of Doric Columns, the stands flanking both sides, and the large iron gate at the other side from which vicious monsters could come through. He glanced at Kairi, and she seemed impressed.

"Okay Kairi," Phil started to say, "step into the ring please." Kairi shared a smile with Sora and the others as Menelmon took off from her shoulder.

"You can do it Kairi!" Donald cheered.

"Yeah," Goofy added. "Show Phil that you can be a Junior Hero too, ahyuk!" Jiminy Cricket popped out and landed on Sora's other shoulder.

"We're rooting for you," he said.

"Good luck!" Menelmon and Aiwemon both said.

Kairi shook her head, laughing under her breath, and looked at Sora. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Sora smiled his cheesy grin and placed his hands behind his head, looking off into the bright blue sky. "Nah, I know that you'll do fine. You're not a lazy bum like me."

Kairi poked him in the chest, making Sora wince and look back at her. "Well maybe I want a lazy bum cheering me on, and I can be just as lazy as you."

"Fine," Sora said, "how about you prove it after you pass Phil's training?"

"You're on," Kairi returned, smiling before leaping backwards towards the ring. She made a half twist in the air so that her back was turned towards Sora as she landed in a crouch on the stone ring.

Sora and the others sauntered off towards the stands while Philocetes started to talk. "Alright then, let's get started." Roughly twenty barrels appeared on the ring in flashes of golden light, a couple of them marked red with a picture of an explosion on them. "You're to destroy as many barrels as you can within the next minute."

"Really?" Kairi asked, bending her knees and dropping her hands to her side as Crowning Flame appeared in them with a flash of white light. "I'll be done in ten seconds."

"Don't get too cocky kid," Phil told her. "The target number is sixty."

Kairi's eyebrows flew up into her hair. "Sixty! But there aren't that many here!"

"GO!" Phil yelled. It took Kairi a second to realize what Phil had just said, and then she leaped into action, a little bit of hysteria seeping in. She slashed her Keyblade at one of the barrels, expecting it to break, only for her Keyblade to thud against it and send it flying off towards the stone stands and break on impact a couple of seconds later.

1/60

_What?_ She thought, panicking.

_Calm down and focus._

Kairi nodded her head and turned towards another barrel that was just to her left. Crowning Flame darted out towards that one and it flew off towards another barrel. Both of them shattered. 3/60

"Fifty seconds left," Phil said.

Thinking fast, Kairi glanced around and saw a cluster of the barrels near one of the smaller red ones. She kicked one that was right in front of her towards the group, and then raised her left hand, an arrow of light blasting out of it. The Flash Arrow just clipped the red barrel, but it was more than enough, and the explosives piled inside of it ignited and enveloped the whole nearby group in the blast of flame and kinetic energy, even the one Kairi had just kicked towards it. She could feel the heat and the pulse of energy from the blast reaching her, but it was only enough to make Kairi shudder very slightly.

11/60

More barrels suddenly appeared in flashes of golden light, and Kairi no longer thought as she flashed towards them. Crowning Flame lashed out at each one, sending it flying off to some distant place or towards another barrel. With each chance Kairi got she tossed one off to an explosive red barrel, bringing her count up with that extra push from the explosion. Very quickly, now that she understood the process, Kairi was able to rack up another thirty barrels. But very quickly was never as quickly as you wanted when you only had one minute to begin with. Another two barrels went down as they crashed into each other.

43/60

"Twelve seconds," said Phil.

Kairi placed Crowning Flame in front of her. The barrels were too far apart for her to get enough of them, and there weren't any explosive ones left. She really hoped that this would work, having never used the style without the chant before. "Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!"

Dark clouds formed above, and red light flashed in them like lightning. Kairi looked up with hope as her back arched, and she felt the powers used to invoke the style activating, but just not as strongly as the last few times when she'd actually chanted the incantation. The fireballs of her spell rained down as before, but they were instead the size of sheep, and not cows. They smashed into the stone of the ring and the barrels, incinerating the wood and scorching the pieces not completely obliterated. Explosive and regular barrels formed and burst asunder as the fires rained down until the Skyfyre stopped falling.

58/60

"Four seconds!" called Phil.

Kairi's eyes latched onto a group of four right near an explosive barrel that just appeared in a flash of gold light. Without even thinking, she flashed right up to the red barrel and struck it with her Keyblade. The barrel exploded right there, barely a foot in front of her, and a startled cry of sudden pain left her mouth as she was blasted backwards.

63/60

"Time!" Phil yelled just as Kairi landed back on the ring.

"Kairi!" the others all yelled. "Are you o—?"

She leapt right up off the stone, Crowning Flame lying abandoned on the ground, and both of her hands went right to her bum through the pink fabric of the lower part of her dress. She started to dance around with her eyes screwed up in pain. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Owwwww! That huurrrrt," she moaned, finally opening her eyes and looking down at her rump as best as she could while she rubbed one hand up and down a cheek that only she and Sora knew was ruby red. She looked towards the stands, to where Sora was now rolling around laughing with the others at her childish display of pain. This time her face scrunched up in annoyance. "It's not funny!" she declared, stamping her booted foot down. "And it's all your fault Sora!"

Sora tried to get his chuckles under control. "M-my fault? Why is it _my_ fault Kairi? Di-did I do anything wrong or anyth-ing I wasn't asked to d-do?"

Kairi grimaced, failing to find a way out of it. "Well, no… but it's your fault, just because it's your fault! Hmph!" She turned away from them, so that they couldn't see the smile that was starting to grow on her face. Phil was standing right in front of her. "So, how'd I do?" she asked the satyr.

"Not bad at all," Philocetes said with a smile on his face while he stroked his beard. "I'm impressed."

"So does that mean I can enter the Zeus Cup?" Kairi asked, a little bit of her eagerness and giddiness at the prospect of being in a tournament named after the king of the gods getting through her voice.

Phil boomed a hearty laugh. "Not just yet kid. You've still got more work to do." He snapped his fingers and the ring suddenly started to change. Blocks of stone rose up and down, creating small towers and drops; floating platforms appeared in the sky, and columns rose up. "I want another sixty from you," he declared as barrels appeared again. Kairi's shoulders sagged in disbelief and she summoned Crowning Flame back to her hands. "You have one minute and twenty seconds, GO!"

-A-D-

Lady Morgana watched as she had been instructed by Hades. This girl, she was quite good, and her companions must be capable warriors as well if they were able to sit and watch as the satyr trained her. "They will probably do well in the Zeus Cup," she said to herself, watching the girl destroy more barrels. "They might even win, but only because _I_ will not be participating."

She turned away from the cauldron, intending to go to Hades to inform him that she would be going down to the Underdrome. There was something about them that sparked her interest, and she hoped that someday she would be able to face them in combat. But when they met, she would be the victor, for Hades had demanded of her that in no uncertain terms was she permitted to lose.

And she would do as her master commanded. She would not lose, not to them, not to anyone.

-A-D-

"I think that's enough," Phil said an hour later as Kairi nearly collapsed onto the stands, before reminding herself that to do so would only inflict more pain upon her in the form of her sore bum.

"So, can Kairi and the others join?" Hercules asked. He had come in about thirty minutes ago with Megara and Pegasus and they had joined Sora and the others in observing the trials Phil put Kairi through.

"Well, having not actually seen the others," Phil began slowly, watching the eyes that were watching him, "if they can do as well as she and Sora can, then you can sign them up too."

"Hooray!" Donald cheered. "Zeus Cup, here we come!"

"Good goin' Kairi," Goofy said, congratulating her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"No sweat," she replied, wiping some of it off her forehead with the back of her hand. "Whew! What a workout. He worked me as hard as Urahara-san and Yoruichi-san do, and that's saying something."

"So then," Phil started, "how do you want to enter?"

Sora looked at him with a questioning look. "Huh?"

"Looks like Phil hasn't told you yet," Meg said, smiling and holding her arms. "The Zeus Cup is going to be a bit different from the run-of-the-mill tournaments that you were in before."

"The preliminaries are going to be a general scrum," Hercules said. "Teams will go up against each other in a massive free-for-all match, and the last two teams standing will go on to the next round."

"Those who advance through the prelims will then be randomly selected into your traditional tournament tiers and work their way up the chain," Phil said. "And the winner of the final match gets to take on the champ."

"Really?" Aiwemon asked. "Who's that?" Most everyone around her started to laugh a little bit. "What? What's wrong?"

"Hercules," Sora said, clapping the taller Greek Hero on the shoulder. "Who else?"

"I'll look forward to facing you again in the final Sora," Herc said, smiling. "I just know that you're going to make it there again."

"Well don't go counting your cockatrices before they hatch," Kairi said, folding her arms together and smiling. "I'm gonna make sure that he doesn't get that far. I want to win."

"Only in your dreams Kairi," Sora told her, smiling back at her. "Only in your dreams."

"So, what are the teams gonna be?" Phil asked. "Solo, or groups?"

Donald and Goofy looked at Sora, who looked back at them with an apologetic look. "Sorry guys," he said, "but, I think I want to try this with Roxas if you don't mind."

They took it quite well. "That's alright Sora," said Goofy. "We'll be fine; I figured that you wanted to try goin' through this with someone else anyhow."

"Yeah, King Mickey will be on our team," Donald said. "And we'll see you in the final, Kairi."

She smiled and giggled, and Sora scowled. "Hey, what's _that_ supposed to mean!"

"You heard it," Donald said cheekily. "You won't make it to the final without us."

"We'll just see about that Donald! You're on!"

"And the other teams?" Phil asked.

Kairi placed a finger to her chin. "I'm going to pair up with Naminé, so we'll have two twin teams, and I think we should put Riku and Yuffie together, don't you?"

"Definitely," Sora said, nodding his head.

"What about us?" Aiwemon asked, glancing between him and Menelmon. Sora scratched his head, thinking.

"No offence guys, but you'd kinda be a little cheap," Sora said.

"What if they entered separately?" Hercules asked suddenly. "Make a Digimon only team?"

"I like the sound of that," Menelmon said. "I'll look forward to wiping you out Keys, so long as you and Kairi are close by so we can digivolve."

"Why is everyone ganging up on me?" Sora mumbled, looking down at his boots.

Phil's eyes widened. "Oh, I forgot to tell you about the prizes." Everyone's eyes lit up. "There is a total of 20,000,000 munny in cash prizes, and the grand winner not only gets to go up against Herc here, but Zeus has also agreed to make the top winner an Olympian God for a day."

A god for a day, twenty million munny in total cash prizes, and the supreme bragging rights of winning the Zeus Cup, not to mention the trophy that was always thrown in without even saying so! Sora started to lick his lips and hesitated in immediately calling Roxas in The World That Never Was. He had never wanted to win a tournament so badly, and by the way that Kairi had already whipped her communicator out and was dialling Naminé, and the greedy look in Donald's eyes, he knew that he had some serious competition.

Bring it on.

-A-D-

_Done!_

**_May the Grace of the Valar Protect You_**

_Shire Folk_


	44. Aces

_No, I'm not dead. It's just been that a lot of things have been coming at me recently, one after the other. Specifically, school and BIRTH BY SLEEP! HELLZ YEAH! No more Proud Mode for me, I play Critical Mode on the first run through. I play to be the Schiznit of Kingdom Hearts BBS! Except right now I am seriously disliking my decision to do so. It's a pain and a chore that I am able to swiftly go through the mobs of Heartless (oops! I men Unversed), but against singular bosses I end up having to go back after about fifteen fails to level more. Terra's second-last boss is a beast of Light, and I was a lvl 29 Terra! Couldn't beat him until lvl 33, and then I couldn't beat the final boss until lvl 40. I spent 15 hours from my first encounter with the final boss to his defeat._

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of this._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLIV: Aces

_2030hrs, Wednesday, November 19, 2003  
Star Command  
Naminé_

"I hope this still isn't because of the whole karaoke YouTube thing," Naminé said, folding her arms as she sat down in a chair at the briefing table and swinging it towards Commander Nebula. "That was over a week ago; it has to have died out by now, right?"

"I don't think it'll ever die out sis," Kairi said, winking at her as she dropped into a chair next to her twin. "We just looked too damn fine for it to die out already."

"No," said the Commander as Sora and Roxas both sat down at the table. "The matter on hand right now is far more pressing than that."

"Which would be why you're having us here at eight thirty at night," Sora muttered, frowning. "I don't know why you told us that we couldn't bring our digimon with us though. We've been training really hard this past week for the tournament next weekend. Kairi even left to go and train with Naminé so that they could practice, even though Hat 'n Clogs didn't like it."

"Hey, all I did was switch places with Riku," Kairi said, giggling slightly. "You've still got someone there with you. And I'm sure you had a very enjoyable week with no girls around."

Sora grinned as if he knew something that Kairi didn't, and his grin made Naminé feel uneasy. She noticed that Roxas finally looked up and glanced at his twin, and then Sora looked at Roxas, and then Roxas looked surprised, and then he laughed and grinned an identical one to Sora's and they bumped their knuckles together.

_What do you think happened?_ Naminé asked Kairi. She shrugged.

_Beats me,_ she answered. _But, what had Roxas been doing all by himself?_

Naminé shook her head, her white-gold hair swaying out to her shoulders with the movement. _I'm not sure; he wouldn't tell me. I only know that it's something that he has to do._

"Alright," Commander Nebula began, "let's get this briefing started. Glad you could join us this time Master Roxas." The blond nodded his head at the Commander as he tapped a button on the long table. The small pyramidal device in the centre of the table came to life, and the thin lasers that were emitted from it began to strike the screen at the far end and create the hologram of the galaxy above the table.

"Our Heartless warning system has alerted us of heavy Heartless presence in another world," he said, moving his fingers around and zooming in on a certain area of the galaxy, relatively close to where Star Command was. "We've detected that almost overnight, Osea has become classified as a B rated zone with the number of Heartless infesting it."

_Osea…_ Naminé thought, dipping her head. _Why does that name ring a bell?_

"A B zone?" Sora asked. "That's why you're asking for the four of us, right?"

Commander Nebula nodded his head. "Yes, that is why the four of you are here." The holographic map of the galaxy enlarged on the world of Osea, and started to zoom in on a specific area on a large landmass while pictures went up on the screen. "However, despite the heavy Heartless presence, we've determined that it is mostly air based, and spotted dozens of ships like the ones that frequent the space between worlds. Therefore, instead of heading down onto the ground, the four of you will be flying our F-105 Arrows into battle."

Sora's jaw dropped. "You mean we're actually going to get to fly those fighters?"

"Exactly," said Nebula.

Kairi started to stammer. "Bu—but, I've barely flown before at all, and now you're asking me to fly in a combat situation with a ship I've had no training in! You're insane!" Sora took her hand as Kairi finished and looked at her seriously.

"Stick to me like glue," he told her.

Naminé was barely listening to this as she stared at the holographic map that kept enlarging certain areas until it was giving a three-dimensional topographical map of a city, with an overhead map on the screen as well as pictures of the Heartless ships that had been observed. "Commander," she asked, "where is that?"

"That would be a place called Sudentor," Commander Nebula said, looking at the map. "It's a city on the border between Osea and another country called Belka. Actually, the part of Osea that it's in is a state called North Osea, formerly known as South Belka, which was entrusted to Osean rule after a war that occurred on the world fifteen years ago. This area is seeing the highest concentration of Heartless, and it's where you'll be going. Engage any and all targets and destroy them. Any questions?"

"I've got it!" Naminé exclaimed brightly. "Those pilots that helped us out a while back against that big Heartless after I went before Parliament, they were Osean! This is their world!" Commander Nebula nodded his head.

"Then you have your orders, Keyblade Squadron," he said. "Organize yourselves and head out for the target zone in twenty-five minutes, dismissed."

The four of them rose and Naminé watched as Roxas and Sora shared a quick high-five. "Alright," Roxas said, pumping his fist. "We're actually gonna get to fly those Arrows!"

"Why are you so excited?" Kairi asked, slumping back down in the chair as Commander Nebula left. "I'm gonna crash and burn, I just know I am."

Naminé placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kairi, calm down and get your head straight. You'll do fine. You're not going to crash."

"Oh, how do you know that Naminé?" Kairi asked. "I've only had three hours of flying time, _three!_ And those are in the _Highwind_, not a fighter like an Arrow."

"Stick to Sora like glue," Roxas told her, reiterating what Sora had already said. "And Naminé, you'd better stick pretty close to me too."

"Aha," mumbled Sora, a hand on his chin, "so that makes me the flight lead with you and Naminé as my numbers two and four on my right and Kairi as my number three on my left. Interesting."

Kairi shook her head. "I am just so lost right now. How can you stay so calm Naminé?"

The blonde took a small step back in surprise at the question as she looked at her auburn-haired sister. The blonde's indigo eyes dropped down as she searched for an answer herself. "I don't know," she replied, looking back up at Kairi. "I think… I think I just know that so long as we have Sora and Roxas with us that everything will be alright in the end."

There was a pause for a few seconds as Naminé and Kairi both looked at Sora and Roxas, the two brothers glancing at each other and smiling. Then Sora looked back and spoke. "Well, I suppose that we'd better get into a few of those Arrows and get even a small amount of practice time in with them so that we can see what they can do. I think I'm going to have my callsign as 'Maverick'."

"Dibs on Iceman!" Roxas said quickly.

Kairi snorted. "You can't steal callsigns from Top Gun."

"Reddie's right, that's cheating!" Naminé added.

Sora raised his eyebrows and looked at Kairi. "Reddie?"

Naminé giggled as Kairi glanced at her sibling. "I told you not to call me that, Blondie!" Naminé frowned and glared at Kairi.

"Reddie!"

"Blondie!"

"Reddie!"

"Blondie!"

"Reddie Reddie Reddie!"

"Blondie Blondie Blondie!"

Roxas and Sora were smirking at each other. "I think they've got their callsigns, Keys," Roxas said.

"You said it, Rocket," Sora answered. They looked at each other and bumped knuckles.

-A-D-

_Middle-earth_

An armoured warrior stood, his armour of golds and silvers and purple, with a cape that looked like silver metal, a helmet that had flat golden pointy-tipped ears, and a Keyblade of moon-silver, gold, and brass. He was ensnared in a purple hand that had shot up from the ground, and a thick red laser shot out towards him from an eye on the side of a very large Heartless, which the armoured warrior was fighting against along with a duck, a dog man, and an armoured bird warrior who carried a large mace spiked by feathers. The ensnared warrior had frozen for an instant before the eye fired the beam directly towards him, and it looked like it was going to hit him dead on his gold and purple breastplate.

Then a complete sphere composed of crystal-clear octagonal honeycomb pieces formed around the warrior and the laser bounced right off it and rebounded into the sky. Blue orbs of magical energy appeared around the sphere as it vanished and the magic detonated, sending the hand that had trapped the warrior into a frenzied dance of pain and freeing the warrior in its writhing agony.

The warrior dropped to his feet and vanished, appearing an instant later in front of the eye on the side of the ship-like Heartless, his sword out to his right side. A splash of darkness surged from the eye like blood gushing out of a cut. The warrior didn't stop there, though; he leapt up, onto the top of the Heartless' deck, waving his Keyblade at the arm from the other side that tried to swat him away.

All of this was happening in a cloud above a long black table, with many figures seated at the table and watching the event unfold with varied expressions. Some were of mild interest, some were of anxiety, and some were completely unreadable. Xayn Shu was kneeling down in a corner with his eyes closed, and Maleficent herself was not sitting down but standing at the table's head, Diablo on her right shoulder and her staff held out to her left, towards Xayn Shu. The green orb topping the staff was glowing quite brightly.

"Who's this guy?" Pete asked, his voice betraying that he was somewhat worried as he watched the warrior duck underneath the cutlass of a Pirate Heartless that had come into being to defend the deck, and then cut the Heartless in two through the chest.

"He looks like a Chaser," Jadis of Narnia said.

"Impossible!" Dr. Hämsterviel shouted. "Ze Chasers are all but extinct!"

"Apparently not," Hades, ever-present, said.

A dark voice rang throughout the room. "A Chaser?" it asked. "This could present a small problem."

"This is no Chaser Knight of old," Maleficent said. She waved her staff, and the image changed from Xayn Shu's memory of the battle at Beast's Castle to something different, the face of a boy. "It is Sora."

"What!" Pete started as murmurs began to rise from the others at the table. "You mean that that runt's got spiffy new armour?"

"Armour won't do him any good," Kane told them. "It'll shatter the moment a tank round hits it."

"Don't be so certain, Kane," Maleficent said. "The armour worn by the Chasers was nothing to be scoffed at. A direct hit from one of your Tick Tanks would hardly dent it, let alone break it." The leader of the Brotherhood of Nod scoffed at her words but said nothing.

"So what does this mean?" Jadis asked.

"It means that we shall have to accelerate our plans," Maleficent said. "This fortress is nearly complete. Use whatever Heartless I have given you to bolster your own forces while I send others out to… farm for more hearts I can use for my purposes. You are dismissed." The cloud showing Sora fighting the Destructor dissipated, and all those seated rose and left, except for one.

"And how is that big bad World Heartless coming along?" Hades asked.

"Very well," Maleficent answered, sounding pleased. "Hyrule's heart proved to have a great darkness within it; when I am through, it will take far more than courage and wisdom to defeat it."

"Oh good," Hades said.

"And yours?" Maleficent asked. "Lady Morgana, I believe?"

"She's doing great," Hades answered. "Yessir, little brother and Wonderbreath are going down for good when I make my move." Maleficent nodded at him, and Hades left the room, leaving only Maleficent in the room with Xayn Shu and Diablo, her crow.

"You have failed me Xayn Shu," she said in a low tone. "You had Princess Kairi in the palm of your hand, yet you let her slip away."

"She was incapacitated," Xayn Shu told her, "I do not know how she escaped from her predicament, but I had believed it would be beneficial to have two Keyblade—"

"It would have, yes," Maleficent interrupted him. Her voice then became a cold fury as green flames arose around her. "But for you to fail to deliver the Princess of Heart when you had the chance is unforgivable!"

-A-D-

_2158hrs_  
_Sora_

The blues and purples and greens of warp space vanished from around the F-105 Arrow that he was piloting and Sora looked down at the world in front of him. There were numerous satellites floating around the spherical planet-shaped world, and through the clouds floating above the surface he could see a good deal of water and two large continental landmasses.

The radio crackled and Roxas' voice came through on it. "Well, looks like we're here guys."

Sora nodded his head and looked out to his port side, down along the white wing. He could see one Arrow flying just beside and behind him, and even saw the person in the cockpit. "Reddie, you're a little wobbly there, might want to fix that."

Kairi's anxious and apologetic voice replied. "Sorry about that Keys."

"Just relax Kairi," Sora told her. "Even though it's not much, we've had some practice time and you're an okay flyer. Just trust your instincts and stick with me."

"You'll be fine Reddie," Roxas added, "you too Blondie."

Kairi's Arrow adjusted, and was now flying perfectly level alongside Sora's. "Thanks Keys, Rocket," Kairi said.

"Yeah, thanks for the support guys," Naminé agreed. Sora nodded his head and adjusted his course to take him closer towards the area that his screen indicated was the area they were supposed to be going to.

"Whoa!" Kairi suddenly said, "do you guys see that!"

"See what?" Roxas asked.

"There!" Kairi said. Sora looked around, what the heck was Kairi talking about?

"Where?" he asked.

"Oh, I think I see it," Naminé told them.

"Where Reddie!" Roxas asked.

"Right there," Kairi said, "ten o'clock low."

Sora looked, and he felt his eyebrows rise. "That is one _big_ satellite."

"Is something docking with it?" Naminé asked.

A beeping suddenly came from another small screen in the cockpit and Sora looked down at it, flipping a switch as he did. A man's face appeared on the screen. He looked stately and his brown hair was short and clean, and he wore a smart suit. Behind him was a blue curtain, and the image of a building called "Bright Hill" was on an ovular white and blue sign behind his head. Flags were flanking him, and there was a caption underneath that read "PRESIDENT VINCENT HARLING, A Call for Peace". It looked like it was a news broadcast of a press conference, with the news agency as the OBC.

"Hey guys, you'd better be watching this," Sora said.

"This is President Harling, of the Osean Federation," the man said. "Attention, all Osean and Yuktobanian officers and soldiers currently on the battlefield. Let us put down our guns and come out of the trenches. The Osean capital of Oured has been freed of the people who took advantage of my absence to usurp control of the country."

"What?" Naminé asked, surprised.

"Once robbed of my freedom and of ability to do the right thing, I now stand again under the light of the golden sun, and I do so with the honourable Prime Minister Nikanor by my side. We have resolved our terrible and unfortunate misunderstandings, and the war is now over." President Harling looked to his right and extended his hand as another man came forward. This man was shorter, with black hair of a similar style to Harling's, and his suit was grey instead of black and he had on a blue shirt and red tie. The caption underneath changed. Now it read, "SERYOZHA VIKTROVICH NIKANOR, Yuktobanian Prime Minister".

"Viktrovich?" Sora and Roxas asked at the same time, both of them staring at the name.

When the Yuktobanian Prime Minister spoke, his accent was strange to them, but if they had known Russians they would have said that it was Russian. "This is Prime Minister Nikanor, head of government for the Union of Yuktobanian Republics. Attention, all officers and soldiers of Osea and Yuktobania currently on the battlefield. Please watch as President Harling and I stand shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand. President Harling's words are true. The war is over, but there is one more battle that still needs to be fought."

President Harling began again. "We believe that those who have tried to stir hatred between us are now preparing a weapon that could wipe out half of all metropolitan areas in either one of our countries."

Sora looked frantically at the continent below him as he and the others entered the world's atmosphere, and Kairi shouted "WHAT!"

"Our comrades are in flight as I speak," Harling continued, "determined to stop this plan dead in its tracks. Which country is under the threat of mass destruction? That, we do not know."

"However, that is no longer important," Nikanor said. "No matter which country is hit, it would be a severe blow to all of us."

The camera zoomed in on Harling's face again as he started to speak once more. "So now I ask you, members of the military. If you see it in your hearts, please utilize the resources available to you and help out our brave pilots. Right now they are flying east to meet the enemy."

Nikanor raised his hands up. "To those who still dare to hide behind the power of their hateful weapons. Bring yourself before the light of peace and harmony!"

"It looks like we came to the right world," Naminé said, and Sora could tell just from her tone of voice that she was smiling.

Sora smiled himself and spoke into his microphone, broadcasting to just the other three. "Keys to all members of Keyblade Squadron, let's get moving. They could use our help." He dove down and punched the throttle, rocketing over the landscape with the other three following. The minutes passed by as the four Arrows flew over the land, racing to join up with the pilots that President Harling had been talking about.

"Hold up!" Roxas said. "I've got something on my scopes."

"I see them too," Sora said, looking down. "Four marks at twelve o' clock. Looks like some Heartless don't want us to meet up with whoever's moving to take them out."

"Like they stand a chance," Kairi said.

"That's pretty cocky Kairi," Roxas said. "Why the sudden change?"

"I'm not going down," she replied. "I'm _not_ going down."

"That's the spirit Kairi," Sora said. "Convince yourself that you're invincible, that nothing and nobody can kick you out of the sky, and you'll do fine."

"Here they come," Naminé spoke up.

Sora watched as they came closer. "Let them fly past, then bank left and get on their tails. We each get one, so I'm not going to be a hotshot right now. Got it?"

"Roger Keys," Kairi said.

The Heartless ships zipped by, and Sora was just able to catch sight of what they looked like: large ovular blue vessels with two oval-shaped wings on the sides. "Break left!"

The four Arrows banked left on Sora's lead and he sucked in his gut as he felt the strength of the centripetal force on his chest. He picked out his target, the second from the right, and headed right for it. All four Heartless ships started to scatter, his specifically choosing to climb. _Oh no you don't,_ Sora thought, accelerating his F-105 and climbing after the enemy.

It spun around, weaving on a corkscrew as it continued to gain altitude, and then banked hard to the right. Sora stuck with it the whole way. _Now to see just what these things are packing._ Sora glanced down at his monitors. Two straight-shot fire cannons, alright, and two targeting laser cannons. Not a bad armament, he supposed, but not as powerful as the stuff he had on the _Highwind_. But then again, the _Highwind_ was much bigger than an Arrow, and not quite as fast or manoeuvrable, and she could probably take more of a beating than this Arrow could. Most of the Heartless ships he'd seen were also about the size of the _Highwind_, but he was sure that with the Arrow's speed and enhanced manoeuvrability, he'd be able to handle them easily.

Sora's trigger-finger was getting twitchy. He already had a laser locked onto the Heartless, but he wanted to use his guns to take it out, just to prove to himself that he was better than it. Just a little bit more…

The blue Heartless ship started to dive, and Sora dug his own nose down further, jamming his finger onto the trigger and releasing a salvo of twin blasts of blue plasma that arced down on a path from above the enemy ship to beneath it. The centre module and the starboard side wing were both hit by several of his shots, and flames erupted from within in more than one place. The blue vessel started to spiral down, and about a hundred feet later it exploded like a firework.

"Haha, got 'im!" Sora said, levelling out at around 3,400 feet. "How about you guys? Reddie? Rocket?"

"Yeah! Splash one bandit!" Roxas reported, and Sora looked down at his four o' clock and saw the burst of flame from what had once been a Heartless ship. Sora looked around from the cockpit, and quite quickly he saw a couple of blue lasers arc through the sky and two more explosions as they struck the enemy ships.

"I got him!" Kairi cheered. "I got him!"

"Me too!" Naminé said. "That felt… good!"

"Great job people," Sora said as the other three formed up on him again. "Now let's keep going."

"Roger!" Reddie and Blondie both replied at once. Sora accelerated, and what looked like a tiny cloud covered his Arrow before vanishing as rapidly as it formed, and a noise like an explosion entered his ears; and then he heard nothing.

"What just happened?" he asked, looking back behind him. His eyes widened when he looked at his speedometer. "Did I—did I just break the sound barrier?"

"We're going past Mach 1?" Roxas asked. "Cool!"

Sora's face broke into a huge grin. "Let's see if we can get to Mach 2!"

"Mach 1.2," Naminé muttered as their four Arrows soared over the night landscape, her voice increasing in its excitement. "Mach 1.3… Mach 1.5! 1.6… 1.8… Mach 1.9!"

"Mach 2!" Sora exclaimed, his ship smoothly getting to twice the speed of sound. There wasn't even an uncomfortable rattle of any components; Mach 2 was nothing to this thing! He looked way down. Buildings and trees were flying underneath him so quickly it felt like his Arrow was fixed in place and the world around him was what was moving.

"Mach 2.1…" Naminé kept going excitedly, "Mach 2.2… Mach 2.3… Mach 2.4… Mach 2.5!"

"I think we should start slowing down guys," Kairi announced.

"Why Reddie?" Roxas asked. "This is great!"

"Because we're almost there and we don't want to overshoot!" she shouted.

Sora looked down at his monitors. "Oh crap, she's right. Time to break." His heart sunk as he watched the needle on his speedometer wheel back.

"Mach 2.1," Naminé started again, dejectedly, "Mach 1.8… Mach 1.3, Mach 1." Sora looked outside and saw his Arrow becoming enveloped in the tiny cloud again, and now he knew it was because he was falling out of supersonic speeds. They were also getting close to a large city, and Sora hadn't even noticed until right now.

"Look," Roxas said. "There's four planes dead ahead."

"Can you see what they are?" Kairi asked. "Or who they are?"

Sora frowned. "The computer says that they're F-18 Hornets," he answered. "But… just who's flying them is beyond me. Switch radios to open broadcasting." He flipped a switch, and he could suddenly hear one of the pilots in the formation of four planes whistling a tine. "This is Keys of Keyblade Squadron," he said, speaking to them. "My friends and I heard that you have a Heartless problem."

"Keyblade Squadron?" a female voice asked in reply. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know Princess Naminé would you?"

Naminé laughed slightly. "This is Blondie. I'm right here Edge. How've you been Lieutenant Nagase?"

"Some stuff's happened," she replied, "but I'm doing alright. And it's Captain Nagase now."

"Congratulations," Kairi said.

"It's good to hear your voice again Princess Naminé," a younger, slightly less assertive male voice answered.

"Good to see you too Grimm," Naminé said. "You guys want some help with the Heartless?"

"If you're offering," replied a voice that Naminé couldn't place. It was seasoned, experienced, and the tone was filled with confidence.

"Uh," Naminé began. "I'm sorry but I don't recognize your voice." He chuckled.

"This is Captain Snow, callsign "Swordsman"," he answered. "But I've heard one or two stories about you, Princess."

"Whoa," Sora said as he and Kairi came in behind Swordsman on the flight lead's left side. "Black fighter jets. That's cool, but kinda creepy too."

"So who all is flying with you?" asked one more male voice, this one kind, but strong; a voice that made a person just want to believe in its owner.

"Well Blaze," Naminé answered. "There's me, my sister Kairi, callsign "Reddie"; and our men Roxas and Sora, callsigns "Rocket" and "Keys". Once we heard about the Heartless, nothing was going to stop us from coming by."

"Hey," Roxas said, "when did Sora and I become just 'the men'?"

"Who's your flight lead?" Blaze asked.

"I am," Sora answered.

"Great," replied the other pilot. "Transferring our IFF data now."

"Where's Chopper?" Naminé asked. "I don't see him around. I was kinda looking forward to his smartass mouth."

The voices of Captain David Lovecraft, Blaze; Captain Kei Nagase, Edge; and Lieutenant Hans Grimm, Archer; all hitched slightly before Blaze answered her. "He's… he's not here."

"Oh," Naminé said. "I'm sorry."

Sora glanced over at her from across the way. Naminé was looking down, and her voice had indicated that a tiny arrow had pierced her heart. His own heart went out to her in sympathy and he shared a little of her pain. He hadn't known Chopper, or any of the people that they were now flying with, but they were friends of Naminé's and one of them was gone.

"Say uh…" Sora began, trying to get off the painful subject, "did you guys hear that speech that whatshisname, the President, was giving?"

"Yeah," Snow answered. "It's finally coming to an end."

"Just what was going on anyway?" Kairi asked.

"We'll tell you later," replied Edge as Blaze started to whistle again. "Incoming, twelve o' clock." Sora glanced down, and saw that there were indeed four marks heading towards them.

"Those aren't Heartless," he said.

"Those are Yuke fighters," Grimm noticed.

A different voice came onto the radio. "This is the Yuktobanian 703 Squadron. We heard the President's speech. We will fight with you." The four Yuktobanian fighter planes flew past their formation, and then they came up behind, extending the V shape that they had going. Some of the pilots were even singing along to the whistling tune that Captain Lovecraft was making, except they were only singing the word 'La', as if they knew the song but had forgotten the words. Even so, the song sounded nice to Sora's ears.

"Let us sing that song, too." Another voice began, this one from an Osean squadron, "we're going with you."

"So are we," said another group, flying in.

"_La la, la la la, to fly,"_ sang the group of singing pilots as four more fighter planes came in from above and behind. They started to form another V, this one in the middle behind Blaze's group. It seemed that they'd finally remembered the words, and Sora looked around with an awed smile on his face.

_Look at them all,_ he thought.

_I know,_ Roxas replied.

"_Thoughts endless in flight,  
Day turns to night.  
Questions you ask your soul."_

"This is the Osean First Fighter Wing," announced another voice. "I just knocked out the Brigade Commander. We'd also like to help."

Sora laughed as he looked down at four o' clock and saw a group of Chinook helicopters flying underneath them. He'd done _what?_ He liked these people already. And still all the pilots kept on singing; he was even able to pick out Kei Nagase's voice, the only female singing, while Kairi and Naminé hummed along.

"_Which way do I go?  
How fast is too slow?  
The journey has its time, and ends."_

"This is the Yuktobanian 172 Fighter-Bomber Squadron. We love that song too. We brought an AWACS with us."

"_The journey begins,  
Starts from within;  
Things that I need to know."_

"_La la la la,_ listen to our beautiful voice," said the radio operator of the Airborne Warning And Control System. "This is AWACS _Oka Nieba_, that would mean "Sky Eye" in your language. We got a message from your boss. I'll patch it in."

"Who's your boss?" Kairi asked.

"Pops," Kei answered, and Sora could tell that there was a smile on her face when she said that.

The radio crackled and yet another different voice spoke on it. This one was also male, and he sounded middle-aged and a little tired. Even as he spoke, the pilots continued to sing.

"_The song of the bird,  
Echoed in words.  
Flying for the need to fly."_

"The SOLG just docked with the last cargo shipment from the mass driver," said Pops. "It may be fully operational soon. The _Andromeda_ has tracked down its transmission link. It's still coming from Schenze. I'll be briefing you, so pay attention."

"We will attack the SOLG control system, located in a giant tunnel under the Waldreich Mountains. The tunnel entrance is located at the foot of the mountains and the entire area is covered by mountains and waterways. First an armoured force will try to move in from the town to infiltrate the wharf where the entrance to the control system is located. There are several enemy defence positions built along the path that the armoured force will take, so air support will be vital for their invasion. Meanwhile, a helicopter formation will attack the control system entrance and capture the nearby area. We're also expecting the helicopters to face anti-air resistance, so we'll need support to put down enemy fire around the entrance. Razgriz squadron will protect the armoured force and clear out a landing area for the heliborne fleet. We're also expecting heavy enemy airborne resistance, so support will be needed to protect Razgriz squadron while they conduct their mission. Once both units capture the facility entrance, a Special Forces team will open up the shutter blocking the way inside. Razgriz squadron will go into the open entrance, and destroy the SOLG control system from the inside."

"Alright, got it," Sora said. "Keyblade Squadron, you guys ready?"

"Reddie's ready," said Kairi.

"Blondie's ready," Naminé reported.

"Rocket's ready," said Roxas. "But uh, what exactly is our job again?"

Sora chuckled slightly. "We're keeping Razgriz's backs clear of fighters, got it?"

"Okay, got it," Roxas said, reassured.

"Then let's do this," Sora said. "Kairi, stick with me. Roxas, you and Naminé split off."

"Roger."

Sora increased the throttle and fired forward, increasing his angle of attack at the same time and gaining altitude. He saw Blaze and the others underneath him, heading for the ground targets while some of the other Osean and Yuktobanian planes gained height to assist in keeping the skies clear. Pops' voice came on the radio again just as Sora and Kairi were passing over a tall building.

"Gründer Industries has detected your approach and they're asking for help from the warmongers still left in both Osea and Yuktobania. Said they'd hand over the third V1 tactical nuke in exchange. They're hiding the more powerful V2 from them. Now listen, they're going to be sending out fighter jets, and you can bet that those Heartless ships from before aren't going to sit tight either."

"What's this about nukes?" Kairi asked, a trace of fear running through her voice. "You mean we're fighting people who have nukes?"

"Reddie watch it!" Sora shouted to get her attention, spinning his Arrow around as anti-aircraft fire shot up towards them from gun towers below. The entire city beneath them lit up as tracer rounds flew up from the ground. AA emplacements were firing rapidly into the sky at anything that was flying above them, and hundred-foot tall gun towers were hornets' nests of white-hot magnesium-tipped fire.

"Whoa," Kairi said, banking right and getting out of the line of fire. "Sorry Keys." He looked down and saw one of the towers burst into flame as a missile of Blaze's detonated in the tower's interior. Another one lit up as Edge's guns ignited the ammunition inside. Tiny streaks of flame and smoke then flew out from behind a low building. Sora was about to say something as he saw them streak after a black F-18, but someone else beat him too it.

"David, you've got two missiles locked onto you!" Kei Nagase said.

"I see them," Blaze answered. "Don't worry, I've got it covered. Can someone do something about those SAM sites while I shake these buggers off?"

"I got 'em," replied Sora. "Kairi, stick with me. If they get missiles off, target them with your lasers and knock them out."

"Roger."

Sora turned left and banked, coming around until he had the building the SAMs were behind in his sights. He twitched a little bit as some more gunfire from below came up around him, but nothing even hit his shields.

"This is the sky that will determine our fate," Captain Snow spoke aloud, like he was speaking to himself.

"We've got to win this battle to bring back peace," Nagase added.

A warning beeping noise started to enter Sora's ears and he understood that the SAMs had targeted him. His lasers locked on, however, and with a quick press of a red button two blue beams shot out from underneath his Arrow and arced downwards. They struck the SAM sites dead on, and Sora had a satisfactory smile on his face as he shot over the burning remains of the anti-air missiles and hunks of twisted metal.

"I hate to break it to you Edge," Naminé began as Sora proceeded to make an Immleman turn, "but we're not going to have peace until we can get rid of Maleficent."

"But there will at least be peace on our world," returned Captain Nagase. "That'll be enough."

Sora looked back down behind him and saw a number of the Chinook helicopters heading for the control facility. "The Razgriz suppressed the AA guns for us, we're landing."

"Razgriz?" Naminé asked. "But wasn't that the giant Heartless we fought back in Radiant Garden?"

"We're the Razgriz now Princess Naminé," Grimm told her.

"Razgriz returns as a great hero," Captain Snow chuckled. "I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."

"This is AWACS _Oka Nieba_, we're picking up a large number of hostiles coming your way. Things are going to get a little hot soon."

Sora looked down at his scopes and his eyes widened. "Buckle up everyone, we're in for a bumpy ride."

Approaching them were more than a hundred different Heartless ships that Sora recognized from his flights through the pathways between worlds. The blue ones they had defeated earlier were there in abundance, and along with them were numerous ships that looked like hollow lollypops with wings and the mechanical shark-looking ones that had grabbed hold of the _Highwind_ and tried to explode. Sora still had no idea _what_ they were even supposed to be called, but they were there, clear as day. Alongside them were numerous Aeroplane Heartless, with their comically cartoonish pilots, and a number of actual fighter jets.

Sora glanced behind him. Good, Kairi was still right where he wanted her, on his wing. He looked right, and Roxas and Naminé were coming up from behind. "Let's do this," said Roxas.

"You got it," Sora answered. "Engage at will." His finger twitched on the trigger for his fire cannons, and as soon as he got a lock on two of the Heartless with his lasers he let both fly. Roxas and Naminé peeled off as the four of them opened up on the Heartless, eight blue lasers flying on arcing paths into the mass and sixteen streams of blue plasma bolts heading on straight paths. Explosions lit up the sky as the Heartless vessels burned, and red bolts from the surviving ships came down towards them like a wave.

"Uh-oh," Kairi said. "What do we do?"

"Stick with me!" Sora answered, throwing his Arrow into a spin and diving down. He continued to spin, and looked up behind him, glad to see that Kairi was following and that nearly all of the Heartless' fire had been concentrated on the places where they had been. He returned his eyes front and nearly yelped. The ground was coming up much too quickly! "Now pull up!" he shouted, pulling back hard on the stick and feeling the craft move with him, just clearing the corner of a building. Sora looked back and behind him. The entire wave of Heartless had now scattered and were flying around everywhere, engaging any of their allied planes. He saw a blue laser streak in on one and take it down, and one of the grabbers fell to a missile, but there were far too many of them.

"Let's go to work," he said, turning his levelling into an Immleman turn and chasing after a couple, letting off a burst of his guns to catch one as it flew in front of him. "Reddie, you can split if you want."

"Okay," she said, a little unsteadily, "but I think I'm going to stick with you Keys."

"_Don't worry about the Yuke fighters! Get the Wardog ghosts!_" a much different voice suddenly blared on the radio. "_Follow me! We're going to put an end to all wars once and for all!_"

Sora frowned as he blasted away an Aeroplane. That voice really sounded pissed. Grimm then spoke. "Whoa, Hamilton's here too."

"Be careful," Kei reminded them, "he was trained by the Grabacr aggressors."

"So what does that mean?" Sora asked.

"It means that he's really good," Grimm said.

"But he hasn't flown against Blaze," Snow said, and Sora felt that there was a grim smile on Captain Snow's face.

"I don't know about you," Sora told them, "but I don't care how good he is. I am _not_ going down!" Sora banked right, noticing with a small amount of satisfaction that Kairi was still on his wing, and spotted a grouping of four Heartless chasing after one of their allied Osean planes at two o'clock high. Red bolts were streaming out of their guns towards the allied plane at a rapid pace; the pilot was good enough to avoid being hit by any of it, but not good enough to shake them off his tail.

Sora glanced towards Kairi and caught the girl's physical attention. He gestured, and she nodded, a little confidently. The two of them started to climb.

_BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM_

White-hot bullets soared up towards them from a gun tower that the Ghosts of Razgriz hadn't gotten yet and Sora cursed as he threw his Arrow into a corkscrew, still climbing to reach those four Heartless ships chasing their allied plane. Kairi's voice came onto the radio in a panic. "I'm hit!"

Sora whipped his eyes over even as he saw a tiny explosion rock the gun tower, Grimm's missile detonating inside of it and silencing the guns. Kairi's Arrow was enveloped by a field of transparent blue energy, but there didn't appear to be any structural damage. "You're okay Kairi," Sora said, hearing her heavily breathing voice and trying to calm her. "You're okay, you've got shields."

"Okay," she replied shakily. "Okay, they're at 98%." She gulped. "I'm fine, I'm okay. Let's get those Heartless." Sora nodded his head and increased his angle of attack as he found the four again, still targeting the one allied plane. They climbed faster, and within seconds he had a laser lock on two of them. He fired, and two blue streaks arced out from the undercarriage of his Arrow and struck the blue pods. Almost immediately after he fired, Kairi let loose her own lasers, and the four ships burst apart in fiery explosions.

Sora nodded his head to himself and looked around. The skies above the city were filled with planes and the Heartless ships. Streaks of smoke from missiles darted here and there, bursts of fire from explosions lit up the night sky, and red, purple, and blue lights from the weapons of the Heartless craft and Keyblade Squadron's own Arrows were everywhere. Down below he could see the ground forces facing resistance from defensive pillboxes and tanks in the streets, and more helicopters were flying in towards the control facility. It was chaos, and he and his friends were right in the middle of it.

"Dammit!" Roxas said, looking behind him before throwing his fighter into a spin. There was no Heartless ship behind him, but instead he had an enemy F-22 Raptor right on his tail, and the bastard wasn't letting Roxas out of his sights. "I can't shake him!"

Sora looked around in the chaos before glancing at his screens. "Don't worry Roxas, I'm on it."

"_That nuke is ours you dirty Osean vultures_."

"_This is Osean territory now. We're not letting the Yukes have their way._"

Sora found Roxas and the fighter that was on his twin's tail right as AWACS _Oka Nieba_ came on. "The guys that allied with the villains are biting at each other. Look at 'em, like a bunch of dogs from hell."

A blue laser streaked out from underneath Sora's Arrow and connected with the F-22's underbelly right in front of the engines. A bright explosion ripped the sky directly around the fighter as it burst into flames and started to go down.

"Thanks Keys," Roxas said, relieved, before diving back down and firing his cannons at a group of Heartless ships. Sora nodded his head and glanced behind him. Kairi was still with him.

_She's gotten better already,_ he thought proudly. Another message came on his radio and he looked down. The 1st Airborne Battalion had captured the roof of the control facility. "I've been wondering," Naminé asked aloud. "Just what is the SOLG anyway?"

"It's a satellite in space," Captain Nagase answered after a second. "It was developed by the Osean military during the last war to serve as a platform for weapons of mass destruction, but it hadn't been fully completed when the war ended."

"Now it has been," Blaze added, "and the Belkan Grey Men, enraged at the defeat of Belka during the last war, have gained secret control of it and placed nuclear missiles in the SOLG. They plan to use the V2, a nuke ten times more powerful than the ones they used in the last war, to destroy half of either Osea or Yuktobania, the two powers majorly responsible for their defeat."

"Wait a minute," Kairi said quickly as twelve Heartless ships went up in smoke under her blue cannon fire, "they _used_ nuclear weapons before!"

"When their defeat became a certainty," Kei answered, "the Belkans set off six nuclear bombs to stave off the Allied advance, entombing them in the frozen valleys to the north. The four towns near the blast zone were eradicated, and the whole area is still highly radioactive."

"And they're going to use nukes _again_!" Sora asked, incredulous. Scowling, he abandoned the Heartless right in front of him and sent his Arrow on a dive. There was one more pillbox holding up the ground forces, Blaze and the others had taken care of all the other ground targets. He lined up his guns and fired. Twin streams of blue death rapidly pulsed out of the two cannons his fighter carried. Chunks of stone blew away from the structure as they hit; fires blazed into life as the cannon-fire pierced oil drums, and the whole building crumbled under Sora's vicious assault. The men below cheered as Sora pulled up just in time to avoid becoming a pancake on the street, and they charged forward towards the control facility entrance.

Sora looked up. Amongst all the other allied aircraft they had in the dark skies, he could still make out the Hornets, painted black as night. No enemy seemed able to stand against them as their planes flew in the night sky in a deadly dance that had been well practiced. The plane of David, "Blaze", Lovecraft in particular drew his attention. Within four seconds, Blaze alone was able to destroy three different F-22 Raptors, planes that exceeded his own in their capabilities, and shook off two different latching attempts by the kamikaze Heartless.

"_Dammit. Looks like we really did open the gates of hell._ _How could we have come to this?_" Hamilton asked. His voice paused for a second. "_It's them,_" he realized. "_They've dragged us all into this. The Wardog Ghosts, the Ghosts of Razgriz!_"

"_The Ghosts of Razgriz…_"

"_Yeah, let's get 'em!_"

"_Get those bastards._"

"This is _Oka Nieba_. Listen up," _Oka Nieba_ began, catching it all, "everyone in the choir. The enemies are all going after Razgriz at once."

Sora noticed it too. Even the few left Heartless started to ignore everyone else as a wave of airborne foes went after the four black Hornets.

The wave didn't last long, all their allied forces together made sure of that. Blaze himself flew in the sky against Hamilton, and proved that he was the better of the two aces. Sora felt privileged just to be able to watch the two men fly against each other.

-A-D-

Hamilton swore as he felt an explosion rock the backside of his MiG. "Damn Wardog ghosts, I'm not through yet!" He swerved down and away from the battle, rage filling his entire being. He wasn't going to let them win; they were traitors, dirty, filthy traitors that deserved to die horribly for what they'd done, and their friends with the Keyblades could go down with them.

The Heartless were all gone, but that didn't matter anymore; he could still fly. Their petty allied force would go down once he had that Belkan nuke. No one would stand against him.

The shutters to the tunnel entrance opened and Hamilton smiled. There was no place for them to run in there.

-A-D-

"Man," Sora heard on his radio, "that's a _big_ tunnel." The Keyblade Master glanced around with a small smile on his face. All around him were his friends and allies, this battle was pretty much won.

"I'm feeling good about this," Kairi said, relief coming through in her voice. She'd made it through, she was still alive; they all were.

The radio crackled. "It's not over yet. We've come across a blueprint of the facility on the "Major's" disk. The SOLG control system is in the deepest part of the tunnel. We can't touch it from the entrance. Fly into the tunnel, attack the control system in the deepest part of the complex, and escape out the tunnel exit on the opposite side. This is extremely dangerous, but there's no other way to do this. There are two central components to the control system. You must destroy them both, but you can only destroy one of them per attack run. Furthermore, the ground forces will not be able to keep the entrance shutters open for very long. There's not enough time for you to go back into the tunnel again after the first run. So, a separate plane will have to in from the other side at the same time. We have only one chance. Synchronize your run with the second plane to attack both components simultaneously, and destroy the SOLG control system."

Sora nodded his head and Roxas quipped up on the radio. "Great, it's like the second Death Star run. Unbelievable…"

"Don't worry Rocket," Blaze said. "We've done something like this before."

"You have?" Naminé asked.

"Well," David replied sheepishly, "once, in Hawks, while running for our lives."

"We're all gonna die," Kairi muttered humourously. Sora and Kei both chuckled.

"Don't worry," Snow said, "we won't."

"We've confirmed the opening of the tunnel as well," said _Oka Nieba_. "Are you ready?"

"Ready and able," Blaze answered.

"All aircraft, begin operation! Fly into the tunnel!"

"Here we go!" Keys said, turning around and flying with Reddie, Rocket, and Blondie right behind Blaze, Edge, Archer, and Swordsman. The grey tunnel in front of the wharf loomed ahead of them, and before he knew it, the eight planes were now inside with Blaze in the lead. Sora quickly glanced behind him, four more of their allied planes had followed them inside.

"We'll just have to stay glued to the captain," Nagase said, her Hornet shifting a little to starboard to keep away from the wall on her port side. The concrete was close to them, but there was still barely enough room to manoeuvre. Rails for trains were on the base, and Sora had to force himself not to watch the slowly opening shutters with dread. They were barely opening fast enough for Blaze to slip through at the front of the pack.

"Holy Hera," Kairi muttered. "It's barely big enough to move in here! My warning indicator won't stop beeping!"

"Calm down Reddie," Blaze said. "Just stick with Keys and you'll get through this."

"A separate plane going in from the other side?" Swordsman asked. "How many pilots have we got that can even do something like that?"

"I know one," Edge answered.

"Enemy plane flying in from the rear!" reported Archer. "It's Hamilton. Damn, he is good."

"_You aren't getting away Wardog!_" Hamilton shouted. "_You're going to fly straight to your deaths!_"

Sora jerked the stick up, avoiding a piece of scaffolding that otherwise would have sheared his Arrow in two. His fingers were starting to sweat. Kairi was right, his threat indicator wouldn't stop buzzing either, and it was tight in here. He felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest, knowing that there was a foe behind them, and that they were all powerless to combat him.

"This is Heartbreak One, I'm right in front of you guys, Kid."

"_You're alive, Bartlett!_"

"You know, you've always been too damn serious Hamilton."

An explosion rocked Sora's ears behind him, and he spared the briefest of glanced backwards at the agonized shriek that entered his ears from the radio to see a bright bubble of flame further down the tunnel. The rear-guard plane had been destroyed.

"By the gods," Blondie whispered.

"_I'm gonna take the Belkan nuke and terrify both sides into ending this foolish war. Don't get in my way!_"

Another explosion, and another dying scream. There were only two planes now between Hamilton and Keyblade Squadron.

"You coward!" Roxas shouted. "Fight us on even terms!"

"The problem with you is that you can't tell the difference between friend and foe," Captain Bartlett said. "Terror is not your friend!"

"Four miles to go," Edge told them.

"You better hurry up," a pilot from behind told them. "He's right behind me."

Sora made a quick shoulder check before looking frantically to the front again. He quickly threw his Arrow into a spin and rose above another piece of scaffolding, and then twisted into the next tunnel.

"I can't hold him!"

Kei Nagase's voice came on the radio in forced calm as another explosion echoed through the tunnel towards them. "Three miles to go." Sora swore. He had thought that they'd just have to get through this tunnel and that would be it; he'd never expected that they would be hunted from behind by this crazed ace, seemingly hell-bent on their…

The blood drained from Sora's face. "Oh no," he whispered.

"What is it Keys?" Naminé asked, trying to keep her grief at the pilots dying behind them out of her voice.

"I'll bet my last munny that Hamilton's become a Heartless," Sora said.

"Oh great," Roxas said. "That's all we needed."

"Two miles to go," announced Edge. "Remember, you'll only have one shot at this, David."

"I know, Kei," Blaze answered softly. "Don't worry, I won't miss."

"It's no good, I can't manoeuvre! _Argh!_"

"_I'm coming for you Wardog,_" Hamilton's enraged voice emanated from the radio.

"Oh shit!" Naminé shouted. "He's _right_ behind me!"

"Nam, you're too close to the wall," Roxas told her, doing his best to force his voice to remain calm.

"Roxas what are you doing!" Kairi asked suddenly.

"I'm not going to let him get you Naminé."

_Roxas, what are you doing?_ Sora asked.

_I'm taking the tail position._

"One mile to go."

"You can do it Captain," Grimm said.

"Like hell you are Roxas!" Sora suddenly shouted. "All four of us came in here, and all four of us are getting out of here."

"Roxas speed up," Naminé yelled. "Don't fall behind!"

_I'm sorry._

A streak of smoke and flame was let loose in front of Sora as Blaze fired his missile and opened with his guns at a large metal box that was probably the control system component on their end. But just as Blaze's missile detonated and destroyed the control system, a second explosion sounded from behind him.

Sora felt his heart freeze at Naminé's agonized cry of his brother's name, even as they continued to fly into a larger tunnel.

"I'm still here," Roxas said quickly. "But my shields are now at half and I'm more terrified than I've ever been before."

"_You're terrified!_" Sora, Naminé, and Kairi all shouted at him. "Try us!"

"Don't scare your friends like that Rocket," Blaze said. "They don't like it. And frankly, I almost thought that we'd lost you too."

"This is Heartbreak One!" Bartlett said, completely ignorant of the drama unfolding on their side of the tunnel. "I destroyed the system core on my end."

"This is Archer. Captain Bartlett is approaching at high speed from our 12 o'clock! Is he going to…?"

"…We gotta do it," Kei said.

"I'll be passing you by head on at full speed all right? Break right on the count of three."

"He's insane!" Kairi shouted. "How's he going to fly right through nine planes?"

"Calm down Reddie," Sora said, noticing that the bullets from Hamilton's guns now flying all around them were a dark purple, and he and shifted around to make himself a slightly harder target, "we've got bigger problems."

"Easy for you to say Keys!" Kairi shouted back. "Now _I've_ got the missile lock on me."

"Just calm down and accelerate," Captain Snow said. "We need to get out of here before we're trapped inside."

"But what about Hamilton?"

"There's nothing we can do about Hamilton," Sora told her. "Just do what you can to stay alive."

"I can see Captain Bartlett," Blaze said.

"Okay," said the insane pilot ahead of them as they all approached him, Hamilton's dark bullets still all around them. "1…2…3!"

The eight planes broke right to the side of the tunnel while Bartlett broke right to the other side of the tunnel, screaming, "Yaaaahooo!" They were so close to each other that Sora felt that if he were outside of his F-105 Arrow his fingers would be able to touch Bartlett's plane.

They broke out of the long, wide, tunnel that they'd been in, and quickly turned towards the left where the cylindrical tunnels started again, and Nagase said with dread what everyone was seeing. "The shutters are closing!"

"We've gotta hurry; we'll be trapped inside!"

Blaze suddenly swore and opened fire ahead of them with his guns. "The bastards that flew after Bartlett are still in here!"

"And Hamilton's still behind us!" Kairi said. "Shit! I'm hit again!"

"We're being attacked from both sides!" Grimm panicked.

"Stay calm," Sora told them, even though he himself was far from calm when he saw another three planes in front of them. "We'll get through this." Another explosion came from behind and Kairi screamed. For the second time, Sora felt as if his heart had leapt out of his chest. "KAIRI!"

"_You're mine Wardog,_" Hamilton's voice shrieked. "_I've got you now!_"

"Fuck!" Kairi shouted. "Shields are down! My warning light won't stop screaming! I think I've got an engine fire! I—I'm not gonna make it guys."

"Yes you are!" Blaze shouted instead of Sora. "We're all getting out of here!" He jerked his plane above the three flying in at their 12 o'clock, and their whole group scattered.

A large explosion from behind just reached them, and they heard an inhuman scream. None of them could pay any attention to it though, as the few shutters left had half-closed, making an already tight situation even tighter.

"There's the exit!" Naminé shouted as the clear night sky greeted them.

"Hurry!" added Roxas. "Punch it!"

Sora let out a cheer of relief as the four black Hornets in front of him made it out, him and his Arrow following a tenth of a second later. He laughed. "Haha! We did it!"

"Where's Hamilton?" Edge asked.

"He's dead," Grimm answered. "Hit by the other planes."

"Technically he had become a Heartless," Naminé said. "So, he was already worse than dead." She sighed audibly over the radio. "I'm just glad that that's over. My whole body's shaking."

"I am never, and I mean _never_, flying into a tunnel again," Kairi emphatically told them.

Sora glanced over. "How's that engine fire?"

"It's out, but you're going to have to take a look at it when we land," said Kairi. "You're much better with gummi ships than me. (She sighed) My prayers are going out to the spirits and families of those pilots who died behind us tonight."

"Mine too," Roxas said. "I think that after this, I could take up praying."

"You scared the hell out of your friends," David said with a small hint of amusement in his serious voice. "I'm praying for you tonight; praying that you don't do something like that again and give Princess a reason to kill you."

"It's Blondie now Blaze," Naminé said. "And if he does do something like that again, it'll be more than me on his butt."

"Keys seconds that," Sora agreed.

"Come on," Kei said softly. "Let's head back. We could all use a rest, and Kairi's plane needs a patch job." Sora nodded his head unseen, and the eight flying machines banked left and headed towards the peaceful southwest, their pilots feeling ready for a break from the cockpit.

-A-D-

_My God, this chapter was difficult to write. Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War is a great game, but trying to incorporate the fast-paced world of fighter-jet combat into writing is more difficult than I anticipated._

_In any case, I hope you all enjoyed it. On unrelated notes though, I just celebrated my 20__th__ birthday, and have excitedly learned that come April, I am going to become an uncle for the first time!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	45. Dawn and Destiny

_I'm back, and for once I'm going to take a break from Sora and Kairi and go to someone slightly different. But besides that, I REALLY hate Xehanort now. HE'S the real one to beat in BBS as Terra. As of this point though, Terra and Ventus are both down, on Critical, and it's Aqua's turn, on Critical. Like I said earlier, I am the Schiznit!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own it._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLV: Dawn and Destiny

_0840hrs, Thursday, November 20__th__, 2003  
Middle-earth  
Riku_

A yawn escaped the lips of the silver-haired Keyblade Master and he stretched his arms out back behind his head. Riku's aqua eyes gazed into the orange flames of the fire in front of him without a thought, even as he rubbed his gloved hands up and down the sleeves of his arms, hoping that the friction from them would generate enough heat to keep his limbs warm. He had no fathomable idea why he had woken up as early as he had, though a little before eight-thirty in the morning wasn't _too_ early in a rational person's mind, but he was secretly glad. Very recently, eight had become late and five had become early. It was really messing him up.

Riku sniffed, taking in the sounds of frying meat and eggs in a frying pan held over the fire by Tessai Tsukabishi. The only reason why he had been _allowed_ to sleep in until eight was because Sora wasn't there. And since Sora and Kairi were the primary reason to Urahara and his cohorts' presence, with Kairi gone to Radiant Garden and Sora called away to perform some mission again, they were allowing Riku to have a little time off; he'd already gone head-to-head against Renji's Bankai and fought him to a draw, in Riku's mind he told himself that he won, so Kisuke had little incentive to train the silver-haired Keyblade Master.

"Morning Sleepyhead," Jinta Hanakari said cheekily, the boy carrying a stack of wood as he came out of the trees.

"Morning," Riku said, fighting through another yawn. "What's for breakfast?" He glanced over at the frying pan. He hadn't actually seen yet what Tessai was cooking, and at the same time there was a teapot heating up nearby.

"Ah, get your own breakfast, giant," Jinta said. He sat down and grabbed a piece of ham out of the pan. Tessai smacked the backside of his hand with a flipper.

"Don't," he said with a warning note, "it's impolite."

"Alright fine," Jinta huffed, folding his arms. He looked away with a scowl. "Can I have breakfast please?"

"No."

"What!" Jinta shouted. "Why not! That's just evil!"

"It's not ready yet," Tessai told him. "Unless you would rather get food poisoning and have me make you throw up."

Jinta's eye twitched as his face paled slightly. "Never mind, I can wait." Riku chuckled slightly and turned his head to the left as he felt a weight on that shoulder.

"Riku, do you miss Sora?" Aiwemon asked, the small bird digimon the one that had landed on his left shoulder. The poor guy already seemed deflated, and Sora had only left the night before.

"Well, not particularly," Riku answered truthfully. "I suppose I do, but he's only been gone a few hours and he'll be back in no time. It's like a little break from Sora."

Aiwemon looked at him in confusion. "A break? From Sora?"

Riku laughed. "Unless you're Kairi, Donald, or Goofy you can't stay around Sora twenty-four seven and stay sane," he said. "But then again, she's head-over-heels in love with him, and I've never been sure just how _sane_ Donald and Goofy exactly are, so…"

"But what do you mean a break?" Aiwemon asked.

The Keyblade Master sighed at the digimon. "You mean you've never just wanted to get away from everything and everybody and have a chance to be by yourself?"

"No."

Riku was a little taken aback. He honestly hadn't expected Sora's digimon partner to be so blunt. "Why would I want to be by myself?" Aiwemon continued. "I like being around Sora and Kairi and Menelmon. I like being around you too, Riku." Riku blinked, and Aiwemon looked up. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Riku said quickly. "It's just that I'm a little surprised that you like being with me too. I'm not your partner."

"No, you're not," Aiwemon admitted. "But, you're a very special friend of Sora's and a kind person with a good heart, even though it has gotten you into trouble in the past. I like being around good digimon and good people, and making friends with them makes me happy. But…" his green eyes trailed upwards to where the sunlight was just beginning to make the sky beyond the trees in the distance golden, "I suppose that if I were to want to be by myself, I'd probably want to be up there, in the sky, with the wind beneath my wings."

"Why's that?" Riku asked.

"I feel almost as happy and comfortable when I'm flying as I do when I'm with Sora," Aiwemon replied happily, beaming at Riku. "It's just a wonderful feeling, flying. I'm as at home in the sky as I am with my partner."

Aiwemon sighed, and Riku quirked an eyebrow. "You're really dedicated to him aren't you?" The little bird digimon nodded his white-feathered head.

"Uh-huh," he replied quickly. "I waited for Sora for a long time, all of us did. We knew that they would come to help save our world, but I had no idea back then that Sora would save many more worlds than just my own." Aiwemon raised his head to the sky, looking towards the growing light in the east amongst the tall, rocky, and snow-capped peaks of the Misty Mountains. "Seeing how much Sora cares for each world he goes to, and to _all_ the worlds, it makes my heart stronger, and I want to be right beside him until everything is at peace once again. Then I can soar the skies of the Digital World, a free digimon in a free world."

Riku smiled and nodded his head before turning and looking towards the dawn. Tessai had finished cooking now, and Jinta was eating rather loudly. "That's a good dream," Riku told the little digimon. "Never give up on it."

"And what about you Riku?"

Both of them turned to observe the voice's owner, the black cat Yoruichi Shihōin, watching them and listening to their conversation. "What is your dream Riku? What do you fight for, long to see at the end of this war of yours?"

Riku stared at the cat for some time. _What_ did he fight for? More often than not he and his friends had always been asked _why_ they fought, but Yoruichi wasn't asking now about some intangible idea, like hope or chivalry, but for something material, something that he could touch, taste, or feel.

Yuffie's face immediately popped into his mind, followed swiftly by Sora, Kairi, Naminé, Mickey, and even Roxas, but Riku pushed their faces away. Of course his friends would be the first thing he'd think of, but Yoruichi wasn't asking about them either.

"Can I get back to you on that?" Riku asked, surprisingly drawing a blank.

Yoruichi nodded his head in understanding. "Of course Riku," he said. "Now have some breakfast."

-A-D-

It was only a little later inside of the tent that he and Sora were now sharing-having split the blanket bed and moving it to opposite sides, they were _not_ sleeping together no matter how cold it got!- when Riku was comfortably rolling his arms around to get some of the kinks out of them as he watched a sphere, that Kairi had nicked from Naminé, on the portable sphere player, that Sora had nicked from Roxas, when a large swirling oval of white and golden light formed next to him. Riku, hiding his surprise, paused the sphere and looked at it expectantly. Sure enough, a few seconds later Sora walked right out of it, muttering "Hey."

"Hey," Riku returned the greeting. He hit 'play' again and turned his glance away from the spiky-haired brunet. Sora seemed dead on his feet, and his voice lacked its normal energy and enthusiasm. "How was the mission?"

"Just a sec," Sora said as the portal of light faded away. Riku looked at him again; Sora was fumbling around for something. In another two seconds, he had pulled out his Star Command communicator. Looking back at the sphere, Riku couldn't help but smile to himself as he overheard the conversation Sora began to strike up. He could only imagine the response on the other end, because Sora hadn't put it on video or speaker.

"Hey, Kairi? Yeah, it's me. Look, I know you're tired and everything, but next time we're about to fly into a tunnel, DON'T SAY "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" You nearly jinxed us!" There was silence, but Riku was almost certain he could faintly hear Kairi shouting a retort at her boyfriend. "Upset? Yeah I'm upset, four times last night I thought that one of you had gone down, _four_ times Kairi! And Naminé _twice!_ You know the only one who didn't almost die? ME! It freaked me out, okay! Do you know how scared I was that I was going to be the only one of us getting out of there, with _absolutely nothing_ I could do about it! (Sora paused for some time and sighed) I'm sorry…I…I just… I'm tired and going to bed. I shouldn't have shouted. Sleep tight love. (He laughed slightly, dryly) Yeah… Love you too. Bye."

"Smooth Sora," Riku said, not even looking behind him to know that Sora had just placed his head in his hands.

"Riku," his best friend began slowly, "did you know that a giant satellite armed with a nuclear weapon capable of obliterating all life on pretty much half a continent could turn into a Heartless?"

"No."

"Neither did I. Pass me your pillow."

Riku just looked up. "What do you want _my_ pillow for?"

"Just do it." Riku shrugged and tossed him the pillow, aiming for Sora's big head. Unfortunately, he caught it. "Thanks Riku," Sora said, placing the pillow to his upper chest.

And then he fell forward, his body dropping onto the blankets and open sleeping bag and his head hitting his own pillow. Thirty seconds later he was snoring. Very carefully Riku leaned over and snatched his pillow out from underneath Sora's body.

_Nice,_ Dawn commented inside of his head. _He didn't even wake up._

"Sora'd sleep through worse than that," Riku said aloud, smiling slightly at his snoring friend.

_You up for a little training then?_ Dawn asked. _Sis has agreed to that threesome you wanted._

Riku blinked, hard. _What?_ He thought, confused. _What are you talking about Dawn?_

He felt something tugging at his mind, and he knew that he was being drawn into his heart's platform as Dawn said _Just get in here._

-A-D-

The silver-haired Keyblade Master opened his eyes and looked around. As usual, darkness surrounded the platform of his heart, but when he looked down he could see that the image on his platform had changed. Where before it had shown him looking back at himself on a dark road to the rising sun, King Mickey, Sora, and Kairi waiting there for him, now it showed him standing on the right half of the platform and looking up into the sun's light, Sora, Kairi, King Mickey, Yuffie, Naminé, and Roxas all in a line alongside him. Naminé's and Roxas' faces had been added into blue circles near his head, and the one that had previously held that of Xehanort's Heartless was fractured and greyed. Yuffie's heart had turned a deeper shade of red than it had been when last he'd looked at it, so that now it was tinged a bit closer to red rather than the lightish red of pink. Riku looked again, and saw that he and Yuffie were discreetly holding hands in the line.

His vision was suddenly cut off as hands went over his eyes. "Guess who?" a voice asked flirtatiously. Riku rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Aw, Spirit Yuffie, I didn't know that you cared so much."

A snort came from behind him and his vision was restored. He turned around and looked right into the orange eyes of Dawn, the Keyblade spirit floating up to meet him eye-to-eye. "Party pooper," she muttered.

"Dawn, play nice," said a different voice. The bubbly white-blonde haired spirit turned around, and Riku followed her gaze. His head jolted back in surprise. Dawn had mentioned that she had a twin sister before, and Riku had since taken that to mean the soul of the other Keyblade he found himself with: the girly (according to Kairi) Destiny's Embrace. But he did not expect the sight in front of him. Where Dawn looked like a teenager, and was bright and exuberant and flirty, Destiny certainly had a different look to her.

Dawn's sister looked to be around twenty-seven, a much older Keyblade Spirit than the one he was used to. Her hair was long and silver and her sagely brown eyes looked him over with amusement at the amount of fussing that Dawn was prone to make over her wielder. Her skin had more colour to it than Dawn's creamy complexion, but her face was no less attractive. In fact, if she didn't appear to be so much older than Riku, he'd be tempted. A black vest was over a silver sheer halter top, and there were silver cut-away sleeves on her arms extending to just below her elbows with frills against the wrists. From her waist loosely hung a pleated violet skirt; at her knees most of the skirt ended, but a portion wrapped around the outside of her left leg and trailed down to her ankles. She also wore small black heeled shoes with two straps crossing diagonally over the topside of her feet. Around her neck was a deep purple chocker and in its centre was a tiny yellow paopu fruit.

Dawn stayed floating in the air as the woman's heels _clacked_ against the stained glass of the platform. The 'younger' of the twin sisters pouted and air-stamped her foot. "Aw, why do I have to?"

"Because it annoys him," the woman answered.

"What!" Dawn asked. She turned around. "Riku, am I annoying?"

"Actually, you are," Riku told her. "But I'm fine with it, and wouldn't have it any other way."

"Yay!" Dawn giggled. "I'm so happy I could kiss you!"

"Watch it…" Riku said as her arms went around his neck.

"Dawn," the woman said simply. Dawn extracted herself from Riku and floated over to where the woman was standing. She landed on the ground in her white sandals, and Riku looked between them. Dawn was at least a half a foot shorter than the woman. She nodded at the smaller spirit and then looked at Riku. "I don't suppose I need to tell you who we are, Riku."

"No," Riku answered, shaking his head. He held out his hands, and in them both Way to the Dawn and the flowery Destiny's Embrace appeared in flashes of golden light. "You are the spirits of my Keyblades."

"Correct," Destiny said, nodding her head as both Keyblades vanished. "As such, we chose you to wield us and to control our power, the power of the Dawn. So far, you have only interacted with Dawn, and I have stayed silent in the background. Your fighting with Renji Abarai awakened me to your need for my guidance, for you and Dawn have both been fighting brashly." She glanced at Dawn, and the other Keyblade spirit bowed her head just as Riku looked away as if he'd been reprimanded.

"But your conversation with Sora's digimon partner Aiwemon, and with Yoruichi Shihōin convinced me that the time for me to appear to you is now," she continued. "The powers in us and your heart are strong, and will see you through most trials, but only if you know how to properly use them."

"Am I not using them correctly?" Riku asked.

She shook her head. "No, you are," Destiny said. "There are just some things that could be… for lack of a better word… better."

"Better?" Riku asked her. "Better how?"

"You were asked earlier what it was that you fought for," Destiny answered. "Knowing that answer could help."

Riku blinked his eyes and looked at both Dawn and Destiny. Dawn still had her head bowed and was looking away from him, as if she were ashamed, while Destiny's eyes were on him, studying him, trying to discern the answer he might give. Dawn's expression made him more nervous than the gaze of the other spirit. "Why should that matter?" he asked aloud. "Dawn?"

She jerked her head up at her name with wild eyes, startled. She looked down again. "Because it does Riku," she told him. "We Keyblades, we have our own thoughts, our own dreams and desires, even though we are weapons; tools with which to vanquish those who upset the balance between light and darkness, usually those with darkness on their side. What you may fight for… may not be the same thing that we would like you to fight for."

"Huh?" Riku asked, confused.

"Imagine, just for a moment, that over the millennia I have existed, that I became lonely," Dawn said, turning her eyes up towards Riku again. "And that I decided to choose someone at random who had a strong heart, just so that I would feel a hand wrapped around my grip again, so that I could feel like I was still useful in the good fight, rather than waiting for a thousand years to find that perfect person, that perfect wielder to bear me."

Riku's voice almost trembled at the look in Dawn's face. "Dawn?"

"If it were you," Dawn asked, "if you had a person who made you feel like you had a purpose again, wouldn't you do everything in your power to protect them, no matter what they did?"

A hitched breath, and Riku looked at Dawn with a new light. "Balhafa, your last wielder, what was it that he did that made him plunge into darkness?"

Dawn shook her head. "I'd rather not say, not even to you, who walked a little of the same path. Just know that it made your betrayal of your friends look tame, and it took all of my strength to force myself to see what it was he was doing and to turn him to the path of redemption. In the beginning he was good, he really was, but he lost his reason for fighting, exchanging it all for what he fought for and that was power. I had been so alone, I gave him every ounce of power I had, and convinced myself that we were fighting for the same things. But that wasn't true, that was never true."

Destiny looked at Dawn with mild surprise and sympathy. "Sis…"

"I'm warped because of it," Dawn muttered, extending her hand. Way to the Dawn appeared there, and she glared at it. Her orange eyes were seething as she gazed at the black bat-wing on one side of the hilt and the blood-red blade. "I didn't used to look like this, I didn't used to be the Keyblade that bore the power of the Dawn, I hadn't been the Keyblade of a Legendary Wielder of Power before, I hadn't even known that Dawn was one such power; I used to be beautiful. But that's it, isn't it? Because he became so obsessed with power, and I helped him so much, Dawn was created when my heart finally forced me to get him and me onto the path of redemption. I wish I could go by my true name again, and see what I had looked like before I turned into… into this demonic blade!"

Dawn screamed and threw the Keyblade down towards the image of the sun on the platform. Riku's eyes flashed and his right hand flexed. Right before the tip of Way to the Dawn could strike into his heart's platform it appeared in his own hand. "Don't say that," Riku said quickly, coming up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, suddenly finding a kindred spirit in his Keyblade. "You are not a demon."

Dawn looked up into his aqua eyes, and suddenly she had thrown her arms around him again and buried her face into his chest. Riku couldn't say that he wasn't surprised by the act, and looked to Destiny for any sort of advice. She looked just as confused as he did by Dawn's behaviour though, so Riku awkwardly placed his arms around Dawn's shoulders and back while dismissing her Keyblade form.

"You're so kind," Dawn said, her voice muffled a bit as she clutched at the back of his vest and hid her face under one side of it. "And you wonder why I obsess over you. Even after all you did, you still had the strength to see the evil you were doing yourself before too much damage had been caused. And even now you still put your friends above yourself in every case, still trying to redeem yourself in their eyes even though they've already forgiven you a hundred times over. Even now with me, you've forgiven me for what I've done without even saying anything or spending any time debating on the issue."

"Would there be any reason for me not to forgive my partner for something she's done in the past?" Riku asked, pulling Dawn back and looking tenderly at her. "If I can't forgive you, then there's no way I'd be able to forgive myself for my actions."

"It took sis twenty years to forgive me," Dawn whispered, timid orange eyes glancing surreptitiously at Destiny, "and we were forged at the same time."

Destiny looked away. "Our circumstances were different," she said bitterly. "My wielder and I could see what was happening."

"So?" Riku asked quickly, a little more bite in his voice than what he'd intended. "Sora could and I couldn't, yet he still forgave me for falling into darkness and doing what I'd done."

Destiny turned her brown eyes on Riku, and he nearly recoiled as a jolt of pain went through his mind. "The difference between your fight with Sora is that Sora was the victor," Destiny said, an underlying note of pain in her voice, "and that when he won, he didn't _kill_ you."

Dawn dipped her head back underneath Riku's vest and whimpered slightly. But Riku didn't pull back, if anything, he placed himself more between Destiny and Dawn. Who was she to say such things about Dawn, even if they were true? Dawn had turned away from that past, just as he had turned away from his own dark deeds and come back into the light. Destiny smiled slightly. "I see that we were right after we reconciled," she said. "You would fight against the spirit of one of your own Keyblades, just to protect the other one. You have found the strength you sought."

Riku resisted voicing his confusion, and only continued to stare defiantly at her, just in case she would try something. "You wanted strength to protect the things that matter, like your friends," Destiny told him. "You fight because you want to protect them, and you fight for them, to keep them safe, because their lives and their love for you and yours for them mean something. Even in your darkest hour, your friends still stood beside you, or wanted to. What you fight for is life and love, and you fight to protect that, even at the cost of your own."

"But we don't want that," Dawn said, pulling away from Riku. "Or, at least, _I_ don't want that." Riku looked down at her quizzically and she separated herself from him. "I've waited eleven thousand years for the one who _is_ my chosen one," she whispered, "my chosen champion of light, and I've found him in a tall, handsome, stoic teenager who selflessly throws himself into danger and darkness to keep his friends safe from it. But where will that get you if you die?" Dawn asked. "You fight for them, but what I fight for is you."

"What?" Riku asked, taken aback.

"Before you I felt like I was nothing," Dawn said. "For eons I went masterless, hopelessly searching for the one, until loneliness drove me to make my mistake. You have no idea how painful it was for me to watch you fall into darkness right when I was making up my mind about whether or not you would suit as a new wielder, especially after crawling my way back out. Destiny had to coax me into it, and it was only after she agreed that she would let you wield her too that I came to you, and as soon as I came into your hand I knew that I had finally made the right choice, and knew that I was doing good in your hands. I come out to protect you. I never want you to die. I never want to feel so…"

Dawn stopped as Riku gently placed a hand to her chin. He tilted it up, and her eyes were roving all over his, searching for something. Riku saw the watery look in them and closed his own before placing his lips against hers. In the back of his mind was the thought that he was cheating on Yuffie through doing this, but he brushed it away as he felt Dawn's moist, plump lips moving against his own. He knew _exactly_ what he was doing, and in no way was it cheating on his girlfriend. And actually, he was kinda enjoying kissing her. Dawn's fingers wound their way into his hair and the tips grazed against his scalp. One of her legs hooked around his and she pressed herself closer, seemingly desperate to become as close to Riku as possible. Slowly, Riku wound back the kiss and broke away from Dawn, a kind smile on his face after he reopened his eyes.

That was almost too much for Dawn, her mind already in a complete tizzy. She could really understand why Yuffie loved Riku so much; he was such a _good_ kisser. And to have been kissed like that by the person who had proven him strong enough to resist her… well, it wasn't actually all that hard to resist her anyway. She had never calculated her advances to try and make him fall in love with her, but to seduce him for a quickie. Still, she'd never imagined that she would actually get a kiss from Riku.

He'd kissed her.

_Riku_ had actually kissed her.

RIKU'D KISSED HER!

Dawn's face exploded with a smile and she leapt up into the air. Fireworks were going off in her mind and in the darkness as she let out a squeal of joy. "HE KISSED MEEE!" she shouted to the silent heavens, floating further up on her back with her arms and legs splayed out in triumphant bliss before hysteric laughter and giggles started to escape from her heart and lungs.

Riku watched Dawn's reaction in fascination and heard another sound. Destiny had sighed, but was smiling at him. "You actually kissed her," she said. "So what's this going to do between you and Yuffie?"

"Absolutely nothing," Riku answered, still smiling too. "But Dawn needed that, after what she's gone through."

"How do you know that she was telling the truth?" Destiny asked him.

"Nobody would lie about something like that," he replied seriously. "But what about you?"

"Hm?" Destiny asked.

"If I fight for my friends, to protect the things that matter to me, and Dawn fights with me to protect _me_, what is it that you fight for?"

"Hn," the 'older' Keyblade spirit said. "Perceptive kid." She turned and looked up into the dark sky, still being lit by fireworks that were somehow being set off, probably through Dawn's emotional high. "I could tell you that I still fight for the light, like Tylythia forged us for, but that might be a bit of a stretch now. No, now I fight for the light still, but I also align myself to the hopes and dreams of my Wielder. If I don't, then I'm using them as much as they're using me. In fact, this is actually a breath of fresh air." She turned towards Riku as one particularly bright firework of yellow cast its light down on them. "To tell you the truth, since only the Legendary Wielders of Power, and the Kingdom Key's Chosen, can speak with the spirits of their Keyblades, this may actually be the reason for why they are so strong compared to other Keyblade Wielders, because Keyblade and Chosen Wielder are able to bond and find a common ground with which to fight on and take strength from one another. Others, like Asterix and King Mickey, are not as lucky as you are Riku."

Riku smiled, but just then he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a steaming Yuffie. Even though it wasn't the real Yuffie, Riku still became very afraid. "And just _what_ was that about kissing Dawn?" she asked, her booted foot tapping rapidly with crossed arms and a malevolent look on her face, just slightly positioned downwards even though he was a head taller than her. "Yuffie's going to knock your block off when she finds out that you were kissing her, especially after she felt that there was no competition between her and Dawn."

"There _is_ no competition between you—her—and Dawn," Riku said quickly. "I care about her… but in a familial way, like Kairi. Yuffie, she's… she's different. I don't think I've ever felt as… deeply about someone before…" His voice had quieted as he kept talking, emotions stirring in his heart as he thought about the raven-haired kunoichi, and he let his words trail away.

Spirit Yuffie still wasn't impressed. "Yet you've never kissed Kairi full on the lips before," she pointed out.

"Kairi's got Sora to do that," Riku countered. "And he'd kick my ass if I did and I'd let him. Dawn's only got me."

"Touché," Spirit Yuffie relented. "Then again, there is another way that this could be taken, if you can convince Yuffie to do it."

Riku narrowed his eyes at the mischievous look on the spirit's face. "How?" he asked, an idea coming to him but demanding confirmation. Spirit Yuffie giggled, but before she could answer someone else spoke up.

"Oh Riku!" Dawn called from above, doing aerial flips through the stars of fireworks still lighting up the darkness, "I'm so happy I'm going to tell you my true name! Then we'll be even closer, you wonderful kisser you!"

Spirit Yuffie smirked and looked back at Riku. "Dawn said earlier that she'd convinced her sister to that threesome you wanted," she said merrily.

"And Destiny probably wouldn't mind participating either!" Dawn hollered from above, laughing and proving that she'd heard the conversations below. Spirit Yuffie laughed a bit more herself before skipping back to the heart where she resided within his. Destiny couldn't hold it in anymore and burst, placing one arm across her chest as a brace for her mirth, leaving Riku blushing and flummoxed in the wake of it all.

_I have _got_ to figure out how I keep getting harem jokes directed at me._

-A-D-

_That's it for this one. Poor Riku, he keeps getting all the man-whore jokes._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	46. To Olympus

_(Kairi is sitting on a bench in a garden in Radiant Garden, enjoying the smell of the flowers and the songs of the singing songbirds in nearby trees. Fluffy clouds are rolling across a blue sky in which the golden sun is shining. It is a scene of peace. Shire Folk suddenly rushes onto the scene in a violent rage, being held back by the restraining arms of both Sora and Riku with Roxas and Naminé close by.)_

_Shire: "Let me at her! Let me at her! Let me get my hands around that pretty little neck of hers, I'm gonna strangle her!"_

_Kairi: (Looks up in surprise and alarm at the viciousness in Shire Folk's voice, being directed towards her) "What's going on? What's wrong with him?"_

_Shire: "Let go of me!"_

_Sora: "You're not laying a hand on Kairi!"_

_Naminé: (To Kairi) "He's having a mental breakdown."_

_Roxas: "And he can't even wait for the hundred reviews like he's supposed to."_

_(Green, blue, and white light suddenly flares out from Shire Folk's arms and Sora and Riku gasp and release him, their hands burnt. Shire Folk rushes for Kairi and grabs her roughly by the shoulders, not by her neck, and starts to shake her back and forth.)_

_Shire: ""See you soon"! That's all you can fucking say? "See you soon"! He's about to leave again for God knows how long and all you can fucking say is, "SEE YOU SOON!" Not even a "Be careful, okay?" or a "Stay safe" but "SEE YOU SOON"! Whatever happened to "Wherever one of us goes, the others follow" you stupid girl?"_

_Kairi: (Her head a little woozy from being bounced back and forth repeatedly) "I—I… what are you…?"_

_(Sora, Riku, and Roxas brave the author's god-like powers and tear him away from Kairi before he can cause her bodily harm.)_

_Riku: "Back off buddy. You can't control what he does in the canon."_

_Sora: "Besides, you never know! Riku and Kairi are probably still going to get dragged into it somehow!"_

_Shire: "IT'S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING THAT COUNTS!"_

_Roxas: "Naminé, quick! Do the disclaimer! Now!"_

_Naminé: (Over the sounds of Shire's enraged snarls) "Shire Folk doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, because if he did he wouldn't be as insanely pissed off as he is now. (Her eyes widen and she grabs Kairi's arm) RUN!"_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLVI: To Olympus

_1536hrs, Thursday, November 27, 2003  
Middle-earth  
Riku_

"Deciding Swing!"

Way to the Dawn flew up in front of Riku's face as a giant feathered mace came crashing down towards him. The mace was glowing with white light, and Riku's Keyblade suddenly burst out into golden fire tinted with blackness at its base moments before the two struck against each other. There was a bright flash as the two weapons met, and Riku felt the jarring force of the mace striking against his blade as white light exploded into his face.

But his feet dug into the ground, and while his arm strained somewhat, he did not give way. Riku's aqua eyes looked up into the green of the Champion level Digimon towering over him, Ohtarmon's mace still pressing down against his Keyblade, which seemed so tiny in comparison. They were at a standstill, as they had come to many times. Riku bent his shoulder in to the right, disengaging his Keyblade and slipping down underneath the mighty mace as it dropped towards him. He rolled away to the digimon's side and rose, slashing the burning Way to the Dawn towards Ohtarmon's armoured leg.

Ohtarmon and his mace were there to meet him, Ohtarmon seemingly having anticipated the move, and Riku jumped back, out of the reach of the great mace, before he could finish his strike. Ohtarmon raised his weapon towards Riku, shouting, "Feathered Mace!" Streams of razor-sharp feathers flew from the head of the mace towards Riku and he started to run to the side, just in front of the feather storm.

"Ray of Dawn!" he shouted, extending his left hand out towards the digimon. A single ray of golden light that left a trail of black behind it shot out from his hand and soared for Ohtarmon right as Riku had to jump up high to avoid getting riddled with feathers. The feather storm ceased as the Champion level digimon brought his mace back. It glowed with white light and he swung it right at the ray, batting it away from him. It soared up into the air, making an arch before crashing into the ground and making a small crater in the dirt.

Riku landed back on his feet and dashed right for Ohtarmon again, firing more rays out of his left hand. Ohtarmon met each one with a swift swing of his mace, wielding the massive weapon with far greater speed than one would assume for an eight-foot tall warrior wielding a six-foot long mace with a head that was at least four feet in diameter. The mace went up high and came down just as Riku was swinging Way to the Dawn up, and the two met each other and came to a stop. A pulse of energy flowed out from their meeting, and the hard ground beneath Riku's feet cracked. Both warriors pulled their weapons away from each other and Way to the Dawn darted in towards Ohtarmon's chest. The haft of the mace met his sword and turned it aside, and the Keyblade Master ducked underneath the swinging head of Ohtarmon's weapon. Riku leapt to his right, seeking to come in at Ohtarmon's side, and succeeded in landing a strike against the digimon's armour. Ohtarmon spun around, but Riku was a step ahead of him as golden light pooled onto the soles of each of his feet, and he skated circles around the warrior-bird, striking at his armour with a burning Way to the Dawn. Flashes of golden sparks came up from each collision between his Keyblade and the grey plate armour protecting Ohtarmon, and each blow left a small dent in the armour.

A rumbling growl grew in Ohtarmon's throat as he missed Riku again, and with a roar he yelled "Deciding Swing!" and spun around in a wild circle. This time he moved too quickly for Riku, and the mace caught the youth right in the chest. He grunted as the mace's head hit him, and he flew several feet through the air to bounce and roll on the ground before landing on his feet. Riku looked up and saw a storm of feathers coming for him again.

Golden flames pooled in his left fist, and he was about to unleash them towards the razor-sharp feathers that were flying towards him when someone else flew in front of him. Dawn, dressed in her yellow top and rose jean shorts, was flying right through the column of feathers, the projectiles bouncing right off of her as they connected with her body. Ohtarmon ceased firing his feathers and wound his mace up for another swing, and Dawn reared her fist back for a punch. The two connected, and held each other there for a moment, before the mace was turned down and Dawn kicked out with her sandaled foot, striking Ohtarmon in his helmeted head.

Knowing what was likely coming next, Riku turned around and unleashed what he had held in his left hand. "Breaking Aura!" he yelled, firing off the blast of gold, red, and black flames. A silver Keyblade cut through the flames, and he looked to see Sora's smirking face. Riku pulled his Keyblade back and swept it out for Sora's midriff, only for him to miss as Sora vanished. Used to this trick of his opponent using Flash Step right before he would have connected, Riku jumped forward to avoid the hit he knew was coming for his back, twisting around in the air to see that Sora had, in fact, done exactly that.

Riku came on as he landed, pushing off with his legs and lunging for Sora with Way to the Dawn reared up above his head. Sora dodged to the side to avoid him, and Riku spun to his right, swinging his sword out ahead of him. Way to the Dawn met Remembrance and the two Keyblades slid off of one another, Way to the Dawn missing Sora and Remembrance being pushed down and to Riku's left. Riku brought his left hand back and punched Sora in the face. The younger Keyblade Master took the hit with only a minor shuffling backwards of his feet, and Remembrance swept up in an arc to foil a follow-up strike of Riku's. The silver Keyblade then stabbed out towards Riku's side, and the silver-haired swordsman dodged to the opposite side.

Sora came on, Remembrance dropping down on Riku before coming in across from Sora's left, and then striking in a diagonal cut from the right for Riku's shoulder. Way to the Dawn moved in perfect unison with Riku's arms to keep Sora's traditional strikes clear of his body, despite the speed which Sora executed them with, while Riku also moved his feet back and away from the moon-silver Keyblade's reach, and after the third stroke Riku stabbed Way to the Dawn out for Sora's shoulder. Sora dropped to the ground, avoiding the stab, and let go of Remembrance as his hands lunged out for one of Riku's legs. The brunet's fingers enveloped one shin just above the ankle, and Sora yanked.

Yelling in surprise, Riku fell awkwardly to the ground, and Sora got up onto his feet and he summoned Remembrance back into his right hand as silver light pooled into his left. Five arches of silver light shot out from his left hand and dug into the ground, each of them around a certain part of Riku's body, and Sora raised Remembrance and pointed it right at Riku's skull.

Riku knew at that moment that he'd been beat as his eyes went cross-eyed to try and see Remembrance's tip. His wrists, ankles, and neck were all restrained to the ground by the bonds of Twilight that Sora had shackled him with, but even Riku could not expect that at that moment when Sora had placed the tip of his Keyblade inches away from his face between his eyes, that Ohtarmon would rush in and strike Sora in the side with his mace. Riku strained to see Sora tumble through the air after the attack from his own digimon partner, but then the feeling of the earth shuddering beneath Ohtarmon's mace, at a place that was far too close to being between his legs for comfort, made him look up.

"Well well well," Ohtarmon chuckled, observing Riku's helpless form. "What have I found here?"

"Hiya!"

Ohtarmon grunted in pain and his green eyes closed as a sandaled foot connected with his helmeted head again. "Get back!" Dawn yelled as she got in front of Ohtarmon, between him and Riku. Just as the Champion recovered, she followed through with another kick, this one coming up from beneath and making her do a backwards flip in the air with the momentum she needed to complete it. Ohtarmon stumbled back several feet, and Dawn knelt down and gripped the Twilight Bond on Riku's left wrist with her hand. She tugged, and it took a moment, but the bond crumbled and Riku felt that his arm was now free. She then went towards the one on his neck as golden light came into Riku's left hand.

"Ray of Dawn!" he shouted, firing them off at random towards where he could see Ohtarmon, and sending an occasional one off at Sora. But then Sora crossed into his field of vision again, and he saw that he had now engaged Ohtarmon, his Keyblade glowing with golden light and striking up and down at his digimon partner's mace. Riku's neck became free and he looked up. "Thanks Dawn."

"You're welcome. Now remind me again why we're all holding back in this general scrum," Dawn replied as she started to work on his right arm.

"Because," Riku answered, "if we go all out, and Sora goes all out, and Ohtarmon digivolves to MaltaOhtarmon and goes all out, we'll already know everything and there won't be any surprises in the tournament. And who wants that?"

"If it means that we actually get a clear shot of winning, I'd take it," Dawn told him in a grumble. "Because if you keep putsing around like this, we're not even going to make it to the final to take on Mr. Twilight, and LOSE!"

"Lose?" Riku asked. "We're not going to lose. Not against him, and not against Roxas. I promise you that."

"You keep fighting like this, and he'll beat you!" Dawn snapped, slapping the side of his head. "I don't want to lose, even though I know it's just for fun."

Riku shrugged. "We'll still have Yuffie, so that'll keep things interesting." Dawn glowered at him, but stopped as a whistle blew through the air. Sora and Ohtarmon stopped as well and came over to where Riku and Dawn were. A small black cat slowly padded towards them, and then the cat suddenly became encased in a cloud of smoke.

Sora and Riku looked away instantly. "Dammit Yoruichi!" Riku said, keeping a hand over his eyes. "Would you stop doing that!"

The playful purr of a female voice entered Riku's ears. "Why? Do you find looking at me uncomfortable?"

"You were only waiting until Kairi was gone so that you could show us what you really are," Sora fired back, "weren't you?"

Riku peeked between the fingers of his hand before casting his gaze back down and away. Standing in front of them was a woman with long violet hair and perfect brown skin. Yoruichi Shihōin was not a cat but a woman of surprising grace, speed, and elegance. According to Kisuke Urahara, she had been the former Captain of the 2nd Division as well as the leader of the Onmitsukidō, the Special Forces of Soul Society. She was also known as the Goddess of Flash, the one person in all of Soul Society who was most proficient at using the Flash Step technique. No one was faster than her. While she was disguised as a cat her voice was deeper, causing everyone to think that she was male.

And she was also standing before them completely naked. "And what if I was?" she asked.

"Yoruichi," the voice of Kisuke Urahara began. A sound like a huff came from Yoruichi and Riku waited as he heard the sounds of cloth shuffling against skin and zippers being done up until they had finished. Waiting another two seconds just to be sure, he looked up, and Yoruichi was now fully dressed in an orange top vest with a dark shirt underneath and a pair of black pants.

"Congratulations," Kisuke continued, beginning to clap. "Your training with us is now over. Please pack up your things and prepare to head out."

Riku saw Sora blink. "Wait, what? What do you mean we're done?"

"The tournament you have been talking about begins tomorrow," Urahara said, "and I only agreed with Master Yen Sid to oversee your training for the month of November. November's end is upon us, and there is nothing more that we can do to help you."

"So, that's it?" Riku asked. "We're done?"

"You're done," Yoruichi said. "You've each gained considerable control of your powers. Now that you can control them, the only thing that remains is for you to develop them on your own. We need to be getting back to our world. Aizen probably hasn't been idle while we've been here."

Sora dismissed Remembrance and came up to Urahara and Yoruichi. He extended his hand. "Thank you for training us," he said. "I know that Kairi and I probably haven't shown much that we really are grateful for all you've done, but thanks. And good luck with Aizen; he sounds tough."

"No problem," Kisuke said, removing his hat and shaking hands with Sora, and then with Riku and Ohtarmon. "Good luck with Maleficent and them. They're a tough crowd. And have a good time at that tournament of yours."

"Oh, we will," Riku said, exchanging a smile with Sora. "I can't wait to see Yuffie again."

"You do talk to her every night though," Sora reminded him.

"Yeah," Riku admitted. "But being together again is going to feel good."

Dawn folded her arms and looked at him. "I know that you like her."

"Need I remind you that we're _dating_ Dawn?" Riku said, turning towards his Keyblade's avatar.

"But then again," Dawn said, turning around and starting to float upwards while her hands clasped each other behind her back. "She's a girl, and you're a boy."

"And your point?" Sora asked, moving to stand next to Riku.

"And you're just the same Mr. Twilight," Dawn said, twisting around again while she continued to float upwards, away from them. Her hands were making gestures now as she floated. "You and Miss Light, and my Riku and Miss Night, neither of you can keep your hands off."

"And how are Sora and I alike in this?" Riku asked, pointing his thumb between him and his best friend.

"They have tits and you have dicks," Dawn smiled.

Riku gasped, stunned, and exchanged a look with Sora, who was equally surprised by the sudden spin Dawn had placed on the conversation. Riku's palm said hello to his face. "Now hold on a minute there," Riku said, sliding it off of his face.

"What?" Dawn asked, tilting her head to the side. "Am I wrong? They don't have boobs? Or did both of you somehow become eunuchs? And don't get me started about how I _know_ that you can be attracted to the opposite sex, regardless of personal feelings towards them." She smirked at Riku and he backed off, slightly.

"Uncalled for," Sora said, pointing a hidden metal finger at her. "They're not just walking breasts, so you can stop talking about Kairi and Yuffie like that."

"And of course," Dawn continued flippantly, turning around again, "they like you back."

Riku closed his mouth, about to say something. Dawn's comment, so casual, had stopped him in his tracks. Yuffie liked him? As in _liked_ him liked him? He shook his head. No, no that couldn't be right. Could it? Dawn had to be mistaken. He liked Yuffie. He knew that. He knew that he more than liked her; he was in love with her.

So why was the thought of Yuffie liking him as a bit more than as just her boyfriend making his blood freeze? Why were his knees trembling? Why was he suddenly finding it hard to breathe? He should be feeling all warm and fuzzy inside at the thought of her loving him back, shouldn't he? He should be ecstatic, right?

Then again, what had Yuffie been about to say back in Atlantis?

Dawn smiled back at him. "Oh? You're unsure, aren't you? You really _don't_ know for sure do you, and you're scared because you don't know if your heart's—"

The silver-haired Keyblade Master gasped and his mind blocked out the rest. Scared? Was that it? Was he scared?

"Riku?" Sora asked hesitantly. Riku turned his head, and saw Sora looking at him with a concerned look in his eyes. "Riku, do you have… feelings… for Yuffie?"

Aqua met cerulean, and Riku was surprised when he heard his own voice trembling slightly. He was surprised that he was even telling Sora. "I love her."

And just like that, the pit in his stomach had deepened. It was his first admission of the fact, his first vocal admission of how deep his feelings towards the raven-haired kunoichi ran. Riku looked away, suddenly finding Sora's slightly surprised face one that he did not want to see, and he could feel feelings of triumph radiating from Dawn as she dove back inside of him. As the seconds ticked by Riku felt an increasing amount of anxiety. Why wasn't Sora answering him? Why was the world around him suddenly so silent? His heart more than made up for it, fearfully drumming a strong beat that Riku was sure was about to blow his eardrums apart with how loudly it sounded. He was beginning to feel sick.

"Gya!"

The silver-haired Keyblade Master nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt Sora tap him on his shoulder. Riku's breath entered in quick, shallow, bursts, and his eyes wildly spun around until they located Sora's. "Here," said the brunet, smiling and holding out a pair of ear buds connected to his mp3 player. "I've got just the song for you right now."

Riku gave him an aggrieved sigh. "Sora, do you really think I want to listen to a _song_ right about now? I just told you that I'm in love with Yuffie!"

Sora shrugged. "Fine, then you can listen to _I Think I Love You_ later."

Riku chuckled weakly. "I can't believe I'm about to ask _you_ of all people this, but, you are a total sap after all."

Sora laughed in return. "Then who better to turn to when it comes to lady troubles?" he asked, smiling at Riku. He got a punch in the arm.

"Yeah right," Riku replied. "You have enough trouble sorting out your own relationship problems when they come along. But here it goes." Riku became quiet, and sat down. Sora sat down next to him and Riku sighed, his mouth hanging open. His tongue went around a little bit, trying to find the right words. Another sigh. "I love her, right?"

"Right," Sora said, nodding his head.

"So why am I _so_ scared when I think about whether or not she loves me back?" Riku asked, looking at Sora. He knew that he had really put the younger teen on the spot with the way Sora reacted, but he waited patiently as Sora composed himself. They had time.

"It's a simple question," Sora answered, "but it's always a hard one to answer. The heart's never that simple, you know, and especially when love is involved."

"Were you scared?" Riku asked. "With you and Kairi?"

Sora frowned. "You know, I don't know if I was or not. I'm pretty sure that before we got the raft together and we were both competing for her attention, when I was starting to think about her as maybe more than just a friend, I was scared as hell. I mean, the three of us were the best of friends; I knew that I was attracted to Kairi, and that every time she smiled at me or I made her laugh it sent a happy bolt of lightning into my heart. I loved her, but the thing was… I was scared of her at the same time."

"Sounds like me right now," Riku said, nodding his head.

Sora shook his own head quickly. "No. I wasn't scared of Kairi per say… I think what I was really scared of, and what you're really scared of now, is of what her reaction is going to be when you try to take your relationship to the next level."

"The moment of truth," realized Riku. "When you put her into a corner after confessing, what is she going to do?"

"And girls can be like animals," Sora said. "They're completely unpredictable, and I think it's the possible stab through the heart from being rejected that's what keeps us from acting. We don't know just _how_ a girl is going to react when we kiss her. We don't know how she'll react when we ask her out."

"We don't know how she'll react when we say 'I love you'," Riku added. "That's why I'm afraid. Because I don't know for sure if she loves me back."

"I stopped worrying with Kairi after she was the one to start the kissing," Sora told him.

"Did you? Really?" Riku asked. Sora chuckled.

"Okay, that's a lie. I stopped worrying after I officially asked her to be my girlfriend, which, of course, came _after_ we'd already shared our first proper kiss and confessed to each other, rather than being the other way around. But I'm not scared anymore as far as Kairi is concerned, apart from the thought of losing her."

Riku sighed again. "What should I do Sora? Should I tell her, or should I leave things as they are?"

Sora sighed in answer. "I don't know. Trust your heart to tell you what to do and when to do it, I suppose. Do what feels right."

"Yeah," Riku breathed. The two of them stayed sitting next to each other for a while in the clearing that had been caused by Anti-Sora and Dark-Kairi, seemingly so long ago, comfortable in each other's presence. The flapping of wings alerted them to an addition, and Aiwemon landed on Sora's shoulder.

"It seemed like you two were having an important conversation," Aiwemon said when Sora gave him a questioning look. "So I de-digivolved and waited for you to finish."

Riku smiled alongside Sora. "Thanks Aiwë," the brunet said, stroking a finger down the back of Aiwemon's white-feathered head.

Riku slapped his knees. "Well. We're not going to find out just who amongst us is the best by just sitting around here," he said. "Let's get going."

-A-D-

_Kairi_

Wiping a small amount of sweat from her forehead, she looked up at Naminé as her sister shuffled her feet through the snow towards her. Kairi shook her head as she watched the blonde. How Naminé wasn't freezing when she was barely wearing anything completely escaped her.

"Do you think we're ready Kairi?" Naminé asked. "I mean, ready to take on Roxas and Sora?"

"You'll be great," Agatha Quin said. "Both of you, I know it."

Kairi sighed and looked away slightly. "Well, we'll know that when we face them, because I'm sure we will. Either way, we're as ready as we're going to be, so…" she looked back into Naminé's indigo eyes, exact copies of hers, "let's stick it to them."

Another voice spoke, and Kairi looked that way. "Welp, I'd think that you'd do just fine in the tournament," King Mickey said. "Remember, it's not about winning; it's about doing your very best."

Kairi scratched the back of her neck as she looked in King Mickey's direction. "Yeah, but, Your Majesty, I still want to win." He laughed.

"Don't worry Kairi. I really wanna see just how far you've all come, but I kinda want to win too," he admitted. Kairi, Naminé, and Agatha all giggled a little at his response.

"Hey you guys!"

Kairi turned again at the sudden new voice, and she smiled when she saw a girl with a shock of raven hair, hauling a ginormous backpack on her shoulders, running towards them.

"Yuffie!" "Yuffie!" "Lady Yuffie!"

"Whew," the kunoichi said as she caught up to them. "That was a _fun_ month, but I'm glad to be back."

"Glad to have you back," Kairi said. Yuffie suddenly sent a strange smirk her way, one that made Kairi anxious.

"So, spill. How was it?" she asked.

Kairi blinked, confused. "How was what?"

"Girl, you've been alone with Sora for who knows how long!" Yuffie exclaimed. "So spill the beans. What was it like?"

"What was _what_ like!" Kairi fired back. "If you're thinking that we—"

"That's _exactly_ what I'm thinking," Yuffie said. Kairi took a step back and looked down, a blush coming unbidden to her cheeks. Yuffie gaped. "Oh holy smokes! You mean you and him, you actually uh… erm… _soo_ spill! Is he a good or a terrible lover?"

Kairi looked up quickly. "No, no, no," she said rapidly, realizing that she'd given the wrong impression. "We're not that far along."

"Oh… oh, okay," the raven-haired female ninja answered, almost sounding a little relieved, or was it disappointed? Kairi couldn't tell.

Kairi sighed. "Why does everybody keep doing this and asking us and embarrassing us over things we haven't done but they _think_ we've done? Would you like it if everybody kept on bugging you about you and Riku?"

Yuffie shrugged. "I suppose it would get a little annoying. But even though we haven't done zip I think everybody assumes that the first thing we're going to do when we get some alone time later is fuck each other's brains out."

"Yeah," Kairi said pointedly. "And everybody seems to think that about me and Sora, but unlike with everyone else, they seem to have no problems dropping hints and making innuendos about stuff that's never happened and isn't going to for some time. Why us I ask you! Why only us!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Naminé laughed. "Nobody would expect it from you and Sora, the model citizens that you are."

"And they expect it from you?" Kairi asked.

Naminé smiled again. "I prance around in my underwear all day and was evil for a while when I was a Nobody. They do expect it from me but expect not to hear about it."

"Yeah," Kairi said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "About that, how are you not _freezing_! I'm even in a light jacket, thick sweater, shirt, and jeans and I'm _cold_, but you should just be an icicle in only your underwear! You aren't even wearing shoes!" Naminé just smiled and shrugged.

"You were never evil," Agatha said. "You told me all the stories."

"And I have your memories," Kairi said. "Marluxia and Larxene forced you to do that stuff. You never wanted to do it."

"True," Naminé said, placing a finger to the side of her lips. "But, nobody told me to write a certain note and place it under Axel's door, after signing the note 'Larxene', either."

"I think I've heard you say that before," Yuffie said. "And Axel said something about scars on his butt because of it. What was in that note?"

"Oh, just a little of this, and a little of that," Naminé replied, smiling evilly.

"Essentially it made Axel think that Larxene was horny as hell and was lusting for him. Then when he went to take advantage of the booty call, she cut him up," Kairi said. She looked at her twin sister. "That is sadistically evil Naminé. Forget what I said earlier."

"It was his fault for falling for it," Naminé said. "I mean, this is Larxene here."

As the four females chatted, King Mickey went back to stand with Ur and Master Yen Sid. "Sometimes I look at them and wonder," he said, "are they really up to the challenges that have been placed before them?"

"They'll do fine," Ur said, standing beside the King with a smile on her face.

"They'll do well," Master Yen Sid added, placing a reassuring hand on the shoulder of his former apprentice. "They are the next generation, and the bonds they have with one another are strong, as are their hearts. There is no use in wondering what their lives would have been like had the Keyblade never come into Sora's hands, for the past has already occurred. All we can do is provide them with the tools they need to succeed in the future. I do not know all that lies ahead, but I cannot foresee them falling into darkness and despair. I see strong and healthy young people before us, with bright minds and good hearts, willing to help those in need. Already I feel better knowing that we have played a part, large or small, in shaping and developing them."

"They will do more than well in their lives," he said, turning away with a smile on his old face. "They will do good."

-A-D-

_Roxas_

The hood of the black coat he wore came off of his head and the blond looked up into the dark sky, feeling drops of rain falling onto his face and strike against the coat. The chains dangling from it swayed back and forth like pendulums since he had just stopped moving, and occasionally they jangled into one another.

Finally the chains stopped swinging, but Roxas didn't even notice. His eyes were closed as he let the rain fall onto his face and the droplets of water roll down his cheeks. It was refreshing, it was invigorating; it was wonderful.

_You ready kid?_ A voice asked within his mind. Roxas nodded his head in response.

**My lord.**

The blond Keyblade Master looked down from the rain and opened his eyes, and before him three Samurai Nobodies were kneeling.

"Yes Harima, Hannah, Henry?" Roxas asked, recognizing them.

**You are to leave my liege?** The Nobody in the centre, Harima, asked.

Roxas nodded his head. "Yes. The tournament starts tomorrow, and after that we're going to make our final preparations before heading out to bring the fight to Maleficent."

The Samurai bent their heads down. **Your orders my lord?**

Roxas paused. Something had always bugged him about the Nobodies ever since he had stopped being one. While Naminé had never been able to control any of the other Nobodies because she was never a member of the Organization, though she very probably would have been able to control Dusks and Creepers, Roxas had at least had exclusive command over the Samurai and Axel had kept control over the Assassins. But ever since he had merged with Sora he had still been able to command the Samurai, while Axel had lost the Assassins after becoming whole. It bothered him a great deal that the Nobodies that in the past had reported to his best friend would cast their lot in with Maleficent's new crowd, while the Samurai still answered his call. Roxas had not questioned it before, had assumed that because Axel had actually died once that that was the whole reason.

But after Axel had changed his name back to Lea, and after Roxas had been beaten by Tismetrx, and _Riku_ of all people had saved him, the blond decided that he could no longer ignore the lesser Nobodies. So, after he had mostly recovered from his wounds after fighting Tismetrx, he had taken the _Hunter_ and left for The World That Never Was, so that he might discover why the Samurai had not gone with the other Nobodies and so that he could train and become strong enough to beat Riku.

The Samurai had been waiting for him. Hundreds of them appeared moments after he had stepped off of his ship, and they knelt before him, much like the ones in front of Roxas was doing now. The three before him were actually the very three that were at the very forefront of the ranks of the Samurai when he'd arrived. In Roxas' stead, they three: Harima, Hannah, and Henry, were the leaders of all the other Samurai Nobodies.

They told him everything. The Samurai still followed the Key of Destiny while all the others had moved on out of their loyalty to him, a loyalty he had earned. While he had kept his dealings with all of the lesser Nobodies to a minimum while undertaking his missions with the Organization and in his downtime, whenever he did have dealings with the Samurai (for training purposes or missions) he had always treated them fairly and with respect; had treated them how he wanted himself to be treated by other members of the Organization, even though being treated like that was a rare occurrence from most save Axel. The others, almost to a t, had not been shown such respect, and that was why they had moved on to assist the Nobodies now working with Maleficent, or against her in case any were still following Cossex.

But the Samurai were different. They respected the Key of Destiny; they trusted in him, and it was in Roxas that they had placed their hope in regaining their hearts. No matter what Maleficent said, if Roxas was against her, then they were against her.

Slowly, Roxas opened his mouth to speak. "If you can, I want to see if you can manage to get a few spies into Maleficent's fortress, wherever that really is, on Middle-earth. We need to know what she's up to. I know the odds are completely against the possibility of getting even one man through, so it's not imperative that you send Nobodies out on a suicide miss—"

**It will be done,** said a more feminine voice as the one to Roxas' left raised its head, the Nobody's voice sifting into his mind.

Roxas blinked in surprise. "There's no need to die because I said—"

**Have faith in us, my lord,** Hannah answered.

Roxas sighed and eyed 'her' carefully. "Alright. Then right now I can only think of two other things. One: can you locate Cossex? We're probably going to need her help."

**We shall not fail you,** Henry said, on Roxas' right.

"And the other," Roxas continued. "Harima."

**Yes.**

"Can you come with me?"

The middle Samurai looked up questioningly. **My lord?**

"Can you come with me?" Roxas asked again. "Can you follow me in the shadows, and come when I call? Can I trust you to be with me, to give me advice when I ask for it, and make sure that any orders I might wish to give to the other Samurai reach them and are carried out effectively?"

The Samurai bowed his head. **If my lord commanded me, I would even give my own life.**

"Let's not go that far, okay?" Roxas said, smiling slightly and patting him on the shoulder. "I promise you, I'll do everything I can to get you your hearts back, so that you can become whole once more, just like Lea and I have become."

-A-D-

_1800hrs  
Olympus Coliseum  
Sora_

He smiled as he looked at the Coliseum again, two weeks since the last time he had seen the giant golden statues. Again, he swore that he could hear trumpets blaring, almost like they were announcing his triumphant return to the Coliseum. Except this time, instead of the grounds in front of the massive doors being empty, they were packed full of people. Vendors were hawking wares and tournament souvenirs: tiny statues of Zeus posing with a lightning bolt, Hercules with a smile and a thumbs up, play swords and shields, Velcro sandals with Hercules' face on them, and Herc Cola for thirsty people.

"Maps!" cried one. "Get your Coliseum maps right here!"

"Programmes," shouted another. "Match times for the Preliminaries, bios on all competitors. Step right up and get them now."

"Pegasus dolls!"

Riku looked at Sora, frowning slightly at him. "I thought that the tournament wasn't supposed to start until tomorrow."

"I thought so too," Aiwemon said, looking across Sora's shoulder at the brunet.

Sora scratched his head. "Well, it isn't. But things certainly look quite different right now. I don't remember it being quite like this for the other tournaments."

Jiminy nodded his head, standing on Sora's left shoulder while the boy's digimon partner was on his right. "Maybe we should find Hercules or Phil," he said. "I'm sure they could explain things."

"Good idea," Riku said, nodding his head.

They headed into the crowd, but they hadn't been looking long when many people started to scream. Sora had to clap his hands over his ears as soon as he realized that they were screams of euphoria from teenage girls, all screaming the name "Hercules".

"You know what?" Riku said. "For once, I'm glad they're not screaming _my_ name."

"Same here," Sora muttered.

"Attention all competitors!" another voice called out loudly, above the screams from the fangirls. "Please make your way to the Coliseum entrance."

"That's Phil's voice," Aiwemon said, quickly glancing at Sora.

"Yeah," Sora said. "Now all we have to do is find our way through this midway, and we're set."

It took them more than five minutes to navigate their way through the myriad of stalls, vendors, and games to reach the entrance to the Coliseum, where a large crowd had already gathered. Standing at the top of the stairs were Hercules, Phil, and Pegasus.

"Alright," Phil began, holding a large roll of parchment in front of him. "Is this everyone?"

"I think there might be a few more," some random person in the crowd said. Sora looked around. There sure were a lot of people here, probably enough that if the preliminaries were different that they could go twenty rounds in traditional tournament fashion before reaching the top. He caught a flash of auburn hair and smiled as he saw the face. The head that was attached to the hair had eyes of indigo and feminine features, and when their eyes met the girl smiled wide and waved her hand. She wore a very familiar pink dress and white tank top. Hi Kairi.

Sora nudged Riku and pointed. Kairi had friends with her. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that a good-sized smile had come onto his best friend's face. Suddenly a black puff of smoke appeared next to Kairi as she began to make her way towards him and Riku, and almost instantly afterwards another puff of smoke appeared directly in front of Sora and Riku.

A girl with raven hair appeared from the smoke and her arms were thrown about Riku's neck as she began to laugh. Riku appeared to have anticipated this, and as soon as the cloud of black smoke had appeared in front of him and Sora his arms had gone out and grabbed hold of the girl by her waist, and he proceeded to lift her up and swing her around him, a laugh coming out of his mouth. Their lips met, and Sora watched happily as Riku and Yuffie shared a kiss of reunion after nearly a month apart. He'd listened to some of their night-time conversations, and he knew from the looks he sometimes saw on Riku's face that the silver-haired seventeen-year-old had missed the eighteen-year-old kunoichi.

An elbow came onto his shoulder, and Sora glanced at the owner. "I'm happy for them," Kairi said, smirking. "She's gotten Riku to lighten up a lot."

"Yeah," Sora said as Riku and Yuffie ceased their kiss and started another one. "He's back to his old self again, before Maleficent." He looked at Kairi again. "I missed you."

"And I missed you too," Kairi answered, rubbing a hand up and down Sora's cheek. Her fingers and palm roughly ran over the hairs still on his face, hairs he had neglected to shave off over the past week being without a mirror. He cupped her left cheek in his hand, smiled, and they shared a quick, one-point-five second, kiss.

"Hi Keys!" Menelmon said, leaning down on Kairi's shoulder. "Hi Aiwemon."

"Hi Menelmon," he and Aiwemon returned. "You're looking good."

"And I'm feeling good too," she said. "Aiwemon, are you ready to kick butt?"

"You bet I am!" he eagerly replied.

"Hey don't count us out either," Riku reminded them, still holding onto Yuffie even though both her feet were now on the ground.

"That's right," the Wielder of Night added. "We're going straight to the top! Goddess for a day, that'd be _so_ cool!"

"Roxas, you still haven't let me read Issue # 59 yet!"

"That's because I still haven't finished it yet."

"You've had a whole _month_ to finish that arc! I've even managed to find and catch up to #56, the issue right before the four-issue Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl team-up to rescue Frozone arc!"

Sora, Kairi, Riku, Yuffie, Aiwemon, and Menelmon all turned and laughed. The first thing that Naminé and Roxas were doing after being reunited themselves after the week since flying in Osea: Naminé complaining about a comic book she still had yet to read. _Oh well_, thought Sora, _maybe they've already kissed and said how much they missed each other._

_We haven't,_ Roxas said, looking at Sora with a pleading look, asking for help. Sora just smiled and shook his head, and Roxas turned back to Naminé, the blonde dressed in her yellow and white ensemble with the black hood pulled down. "I missed you."

Naminé's face softened into a shy smile. "I'm glad you're back." Then she was in his arms, giving him a tight hug and softly placing her lips against his.

Sora looked around. "I think we're making a bit of a scene," he whispered to Kairi.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Look at us," he said. "The first thing we do, in a public gathering of all the competitors, is start kissing each other. Maybe we should have held back." He looked at Kairi again, and she had raised an eyebrow and had her arms crossed. A finger was tapping up and down on her bare arm, the girl in her pink dress again. Sora paused and considered her unspoken question. "Nah, we're fine." She smiled, and flicked his nose.

"Seems you're all in high spirits."

Still smiling, Sora turned around and looked down. He snapped to attention and saluted, even though that smile of his was still on his face. "Good evening Your Majesty."

King Mickey laughed, and Goofy said, "Evening Sora," as he stood next to the King.

"You guys all ready for a rumble?" Sora asked.

"You bet we are," Donald said. "And Asterix is ready too."

"Asterix?" Riku asked, looking down at Donald.

The small Gaulish warrior came from behind and stood next to King Mickey. "That's right," he said. "I think you deserve the chance to fight against a real Chaser."

"And don't forget me," Obelix added, striding up behind Asterix with a whole roast pig in one large hand. "I think a nice punch-up would do me good. I think I'm starting to put on a little weight without any Romans to fight."

"Well, we'll see who's left standing at the end," Kairi told him, smiling.

"Alright," Phil suddenly declared, "we've waited long enough! All competitors, please follow us into the Coliseum."

"Everybody this way," Hercules said, waving his arm and turning around.

The crowd moved through the massive wooden doors, Sora and his group comfortably at the back of the parade of competitors. There were many more people here than Sora had anticipated there being, over a hundred. And all of them were heroes? Maybe they were in a bit over their heads…

"HEEYYYY!"

_Or maybe not,_ Sora thought as he turned at the voice that could only belong to one who inhaled sugar like air.

"Hi Selphie," Kairi said as they entered the vestibule, surprised that the brunette was there. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Selphie answered. "We heard about the tournament, and a whole bunch of us petitioned our officers to let us come and compete. So, here we are."

"How'd Phil let you in?" Sora asked. "Only Heroes and Junior Heroes are allowed to compete in this."

"Well, the satyr objected at first," Selphie admitted, "but then as soon as we said that we were friends of yours Hercules talked some sense into him and now we're in."

Sora made a funny sort of smirk as he looked at Kairi. "I think I might need to make a few rules when it comes to what my friends are allowed and aren't allowed to do when they say that they're friends of mine."

Selphie narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Sora looked back at her.

"Oops," he whispered to himself. He hadn't meant for Selphie to hear that.

"Oops?" Selphie asked. "You're such a jerk Sora."

"Wait! No! I didn't mean it—Selphie!"

She laughed. "I know you didn't mean it that way."

"I just—" Sora began, scratching the back of his head as the competitors came out into the sun with the ring in front of them. "Why are you here? You're going to be competing against us. I don't think you're going to win."

Selphie flicked his nose, and Kairi frowned at the flirtatious move. "Oh silly Sora, it's not all about _winning_," Selphie said.

"It isn't?" Sora asked bemusedly.

"No," Selphie told him. "It's about kicking as much butt as possible and winning cash prizes!"

"Easy now Selphie," Riku said suddenly. "Just make sure that you get through the prelims into the actual tournament. Then you can start worrying about the munny, and who you're up against."

"Oh it's no big deal," she replied, looking up and down at Riku. "I've got Hayner and Pence on my team. We're so going to rock and kick Tidus', Olette's, and Kia's butts, not to mention your cousins, Sora."

"They're here?" Kairi asked as Sora and Roxas both looked at her, stunned for a moment.

"Sade and Sikora?" Riku added. Selphie nodded her head.

"Good luck to them," Sora muttered.

"They're going to need it," Roxas added.

The competitors all stopped as Hercules turned around at the centre of the ring, and Phil hopped up onto a small Doric column pedestal that had been placed there for him. A table was also there, and sitting at it was a small blue-skinned man with a golden staff wearing a golden helmet with wings, a white toga, and rose-coloured glasses. "Okay," Phil began. "Now listen up, all of you. As soon as I'm done talking, you're going to come up here in your teams or solo, and you will give Hermes your names and team name, if you have one."

Sora's eyes widened and he looked towards the god sitting at the table with his feet up. The Messenger of the Gods was sitting right in front of him, winged sandals on his feet, just like there should be. "Keep it real daddios," Hermes said, exuding an air of complete peace.

"Now then," Phil began again, "how the tournament will be conducted will be as follows. Tomorrow, at seven o' clock, the times and groups for the preliminaries will be posted on boards in front of the Coliseum, in the vestibule, and here, near the entrance to the ring. Starting at one in the afternoon we will begin the prelims; so that gives you all plenty of time to check which number you're in and get ready. The two teams that are left standing in each prelim will move on to the actual tournament, which will begin around noon on Saturday. More details and timings will be provided after the conclusion of the preliminaries."

Sora raised his hand and Phil looked over at him. "Yes, Junior Hero?"

The Keyblade Master smiled and chuckled slightly. "If the prelims are starting tomorrow, where are we spending the night?"

Hercules smiled as a few murmurs went through the crowd. "The gods have granted access to a special resort for all of you outside of the Coliseum until the end of the tournament on Sunday," he said. "As soon as we're done here, Hermes and I will be taking you all over there to get settled in." There was a general feeling of excited anticipation in the reaction of the competitors.

"Alright then everyone," Phil said once more, "let's get started. No matter who wins, I have four words of advice for you: you are all champions."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all stunned. Phil had actually said the correct number for the number of words he'd spoken!

Roxas then poked Sora in the shoulder and wrapped his arm over his shoulder. There was a strange smirk on his face. _"Weee are the champions—"_

"—_my friend,"_ Sora joined in. _"And weee'll keep on fighting, 'till the end. Dun-dun-dun-dun."_ Sora and Roxas were swaying back and forth, sheer confidence in their abilities keeping them singing and keeping the embarrassment at bay. Not only that, but the other Keyblade Wielders with them had also started to sing, all of them surely believing that they would come out on top of everyone else and one another.

"_We are the champions.  
We are the champions.  
No time for losers,  
'Cause we are the champions  
Of the world!"_

"And that's enough out of you," Phil said while Hercules and quite a number of people laughed; others just looked at them queerly. "Now get yourselves registered so we can set up for tomorrow."

The registration process started smoothly. Very soon after Philocetes' last statement, everyone broke apart into their different teams and one by one the teams or solos went up to Hermes and registered their names. Sora and Roxas went first out of their large group.

"Sora huh?" Hermes asked, looking at his parchment through his rose-coloured glasses. "You know, Zeus has been talking a lot about you babe."

"Really?" Sora asked.

"Really," Hermes told him. "He's been keeping an eye on you ever since you helped Herc out last time. The big man's supposed to stay impartial, but I'm sure he's rooting for you. He's got high hopes for you kid; he thinks that you'll make a great Hero someday."

"That sounds great," Roxas said, smiling and clapping Sora on the shoulder.

"Anyway," Hermes said, kicking his feet back up onto the table, "what's your team name, dudes?"

"The Key Masters," Sora and Roxas spoke simultaneously. They smirked and bumped knuckles as Hermes wrote it down.

A derisive snort came from behind them and they turned to see Kairi and Naminé standing there. Their girlfriends pushed their way past them towards Hermes and Kairi spoke. "Princesses Kairi and Naminé Talerith, and we're the Key _Mistresses_," she said, eyeing the boys as she placed emphasis on that last word.

"Hm," Hermes huffed to himself. "Sounds like a bit of competitive drama between you four."

"Let's just say that we want to kick their butts," Naminé said.

"In your dreams Naminé," Sora replied, placing his hands behind his head, "only in your dreams."

"That's right," Riku said, coming up from behind. "Because we're going to take them out—"

"—and then we're going to knock you both down," Yuffie finished.

"Oh really?" Kairi and Naminé asked, in synch.

"Really!" Yuffie said. "Princesses are no match for a ninja."

Kairi and Naminé looked at each other, smiling in a way that made Sora nervous. They were standing side-by-side, and the look in their identical indigo eyes was quite unnerving. Then they looked back at the others and bopped back and forth while singing the words, _"We know something you don't know."_

"And what might that be?" Riku asked.

"Sora," Kairi dawdled, "remember back at Beast's Castle when I'd been captured and stupid-drunk and all sorts of stuff?"

"Yeah," Sora answered warily.

"Well… I don't recall ever telling you how I escaped," she said, still smiling in that way that made him suspicious. Something nudged at his memory.

"And I don't recall you ever telling me who this Alcezeran was," he replied, placing his concealed automail left hand on his hips.

"Well…" Kairi started. "Let's just say that, while nearly all of us have Drive Forms (she looked at Yuffie, who smiled right back at her as if _she_ knew something Kairi didn't), I've already kicked it up another notch." She waved flirtatiously at the others and she and Naminé started to swagger towards where all the other competitors who had signed up were going. "Tootles!"

"She has a Shikai?" Roxas asked, looking at Sora with a startled expression.

"We're all fucked aren't we?" Yuffie asked aloud. Sora gulped but said nothing for a few seconds.

"Well then," Roxas said, speaking for Sora, "I guess we're all going to have to give it our all if we want to compete with her."

"You got that right bro," Sora said, taking a step forward after Kairi and Naminé.

_That surprises me,_ Keyla said within his heart.

_And me as well,_ Remembrance added. _To think, that Kairi would learn Crowning Flame's true name of Alcezeran so quickly. She is a prodigy._

_But so are you Sora,_ Keyla told him. _You all are. Your power is still developing as well, though there are limits to how strong you can become. You have not yet reached your full potential, and neither has Kairi, though you are nearing it._

_I know that,_ Sora replied to both of them. _But first, I think I want to get to know both of you better. You both chose me, to be the Chosen Master of the Keyblade and the Wielder of Twilight. I want to learn about both of you._

_Exactly what are you asking?_ asked the voice of the lion that Sora knew to be the embodiment of Remembrance.

_Who are you?_ Sora asked. _When were you forged? Who besides me have you chosen to wield you, and why did you choose them or me? What are your likes and dislikes? What powers or specialties do you have? Do Keyblades have relationships between each other, and if so, who do you like or dislike? Who are you?_

_Well then,_ Keyla said, sounding delightedly surprised. _If you want to know someone, wouldn't custom dictate that you ask for his or her name?_

Sora smiled to himself. _May I ask for your names, your real names?_

The answers came, and Sora smiled even wider as he felt a rush of warmth enter his body as their names went through his head. He felt warmer, and lighter too, and a sudden wind blew through the spikes in his hair and across the light-brown hairs on his chin. _I see. It's nice to meet you both._

_Likewise, Sora,_ Remembrance said. _I look forward to our long partnership, and answering your questions._

Sora stopped suddenly and looked behind him. The stands on the other side were empty, but he could've sworn that someone had been watching them. Shaking his head, Sora smacked it once or twice. He must be going crazy.

There was just one thing: he wasn't.

-A-D-

_So in case you didn't pick it up from the opening note, I'm pissed about the end of the secret ending of BBS, which I beat on Wednesday after roughly 47 hours of gameplay on Critical Mode. Now I just have to go back and take on the optional super bosses. Fun times._

_On another note, I will not be updating next week, as I will be in Niagara Falls for my cousin's wedding._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	47. The Zeus Cup: Prelims

_In case anybody's been wondering about just what style of helmet Selphie and the others are wearing because they're lazy and can't go to Google and search for 'celeta' or 'barbute' helmets, think of Zack's from BBS except without the nose guard._

_Anyway, the wedding I went to last weekend was great. My cousin's new wife could barely whisper the vows to my cousin and her grandfather (who was the minister performing the marriage), but then proved later at the reception that she could in fact speak. And oh my God, their thirty-six month old son is _so_ cute, both him and his female cousin were the two who attracted most of the attention at the wedding. The bride and groom looked great, but those two little kids were having a whale of a time while all the rest of us were standing and sitting. They were running around and laughing and making cute sounds and… it was just a really great wedding, at a winery, in autumnal Southern Ontario by the shores of Lake Ontario where there are maple trees and real fall colours. Edmonton's fall is nice, but it's so LAME compared to what my relatives in the east get. They have a _bee-u-tiful_ fall._

_And we got to blow bubbles at the end! My cousin's son was going crazy from all the bubbles._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLVII: The Zeus Cup: Prelims

_1930hrs, Thursday, November 27, 2003  
Olympus Coliseum  
Kairi_

Hercules and Hermes led them all out of the Coliseum and back through the thoroughfare of stalls that had been erected in anticipation of the Zeus Cup. The grounds were less busy now, with maybe half of the people there, but everyone looked at the throng of competitors and at Hercules and the Messenger of the Gods. At a place that Kairi was sure there had been nothing but a window to clouds before there was now a large wooden door that Hercules opened with a minimum of effort.

The Hero (and demigod), and Hermes led them on through the door, where they found themselves on a winding mountain road surrounded by clouds. The grey rocks of the mountain were hard, but it seemed almost mystical with the placement of the clouds. Far below them they could see rolling hills and green fields and towns stretching out across the horizon.

The neighing of a horse caught Kairi's attention, and she looked up into the sky and felt her jaw open in awe. Flying above them, magnificent in the night sky, was a winged white horse with a mane as blue as a mountain lake. Hercules stopped and whistled and the winged horse came down, and Kairi knew that it was Pegasus.

The Hero got onto his friend and steed, and smiled at them all. "Come on," he said, turning Pegasus around, "not much farther now. Hiya!" Pegasus took off into the sky on his mighty wings, and the silhouette of the winged horse and rider against the moon and stars was a grand sight. Hermes lifted off as well on his winged sandals and took off after Hercules, leaving them to catch up.

"Let's run," someone said loudly.

"Yeah," another one declared. "Last one there buys the drinks!"

"Or just plain loses," Sora said.

"Whatever," Naminé said, pushing her way through to the front. "Okay! Listen up!"

"Why?" someone asked.

"Rules for the race are simple!" Naminé declared, ignoring him. "Follow Hercules and Hermes up the road to the resort. You can use any means necessary known to you to achieve this. However, you _cannot_ throw another competitor off the path to a horrific death below. First one there wins the title of being the fastest, because tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday we find out who is strongest! Agreed?"

"You're just a kid!" a big man in a leather jerkin and skirt exclaimed.

"You can't just judge people by their age or size," King Mickey said.

"Agreed?" Naminé asked again.

"Agreed!"

She raised her hand, and in it there was now a small charm. "Okay, on my count!" Everybody tensed, getting ready to utilize whatever they had to reach the top first. "5…4…3…2…1…GO!"

Legs pumped, and Sora and Kairi both disappeared as they simultaneously used Flash Step to get ahead of the others, but it was only a temporary boost, as many of the heroes that they would be competing against proved themselves to be very fleet of foot, maybe not on the same level as Achilles had been, but they were still able to run nearly as fast as a horse's canter. Riku was right along with them at the front, and so was Roxas, and Yuffie was popping up near Sora and Kairi with her near-instant smoke teleportation jitsu. But Sora and Kairi were still in the lead as Aiwemon and Menelmon flew between them and the rest of the crowd, Aiwemon in front of Menelmon with Menelmon just ahead of Yuffie.

Naminé tossed the charm she had held into the air, and cried, "Come to me, Nebulus!"

Her yell was not heard by Kairi or the others, already far ahead and with their eyes on the path. She and Sora had since stopped using Flash Step, now running as quickly as their legs could carry them. They were still in the lead, vying with one another for the top spot, but their lead was quickly shrinking. Kairi looked behind, and saw that everyone else was coming up fast. Aiwemon soared over her, and Yuffie vanished from behind and reappeared in a puff of black smoke, now in front of her. Riku then skated up next to her, black and orange energy at his feet as he used his sun skates.

Kairi glanced at Sora and Riku, and then she quickly shot her energy out down to her feet and Flashed again, this time pulling ahead of Yuffie. She smiled, gaining the lead once again…

And then someone flew above her, taking the lead away.

"Catch me if you can!" Naminé shouted, riding a flying winged horse that looked to Kairi like it was made of stardust. Naminé's face suddenly lost the triumphant look it had. "Huh?"

A blur passed right by Kairi and zoomed underneath Naminé, and Kairi strained her eyes to see what it was. Then it slowed down slightly, and she was able to make it out. It was Asterix and Obelix, each of them running easily and outpacing all of them as they ran up to the gates of the resort, where Hercules and Hermes were waiting with Pegasus.

Kairi just slowed down to a stop, staring in disbelief at the two gauls. Nebulus landed next to her, and then Yuffie appeared in a puff of smoke and Sora Flashed up to her. Riku then braked on his sun skates and Roxas stopped running, and all of them stared at Asterix and Obelix. "Huh?"

"How are they _that_ fast?" Sora asked.

"Beats…me," Riku said, his pause for emphasis rather than breath.

The rest of the competitors showed up within seconds, and the whole lot of them stopped gawking at the speed of the two indomitable gauls and began to gawk instead at the resort in front of them. Behind massive iron-wrought gates in a marble wall was a facility so massive it strained the eyes to be seen. Essentially the building itself was in a giant block C shape, with Corinthian columns lining the exterior of the walls and supporting the auburn-shingled roof. How many rooms or just what all was inside was anyone's guess, but judging from the courts that could be seen outside the walls one could do anything.

"Welcome," Hermes said, waving his blue hand towards the interior, which was still lit like it was in the noonday sun while outside the sky was dark, "to the paradise of Heroes, Elysium!"

"Elysium!"

"Okay, well it's not _really_ Elysium," Hermes said. "We just named it that because we wanted it to sound like a great place. The Heroes of the Coliseum Games stay here during their training at the Coliseum and are lodged here during the Games."

"Wish someone had told us _that_ before," Donald grumbled. Sora chuckled.

"It's not Spartan, let me tell you that," Hercules told them, smiling and giving them a thumbs-up. He pushed open the gates. "Have fun, and remember, the times will be posted at seven 'o clock tomorrow morning back at the Coliseum."

-A-D-

"Would you look at this room?" Kairi asked Naminé, walking around the brightly lit space. Two beds with bright white sheets, a small patio, bathroom, and a great view of the massive pool, fountains, and gardens out between the two wings; she loved the room that she and Naminé would be staying in.

"Oh, thank Zeus we made it," she heard Naminé say. "I almost couldn't take it anymore."

Kairi laughed. "Couldn't take _what_ anymo—(she stopped, her eyes widening) you've already stripped!"

"I'm HOT!" Naminé replied.

"It's _comfortable_," Kairi told her.

"It's _boiling_!" countered Naminé.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She looked at her watch. "Okay, it's seven-forty-five now. You're already dressed for it, so what do you say we go for a swim?"

"Since when do I swim in a bra and panties?" Naminé asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"You mean you don't wear a bikini?" Kairi asked her, going into the bathroom with a thin black scrunchie.

"Not yet anyway," Naminé answered, somewhat embarrassed. "But it _is_ a cute one-piece. Wait, you were wearing a monokini last time anyway."

"I got a new swimsuit and I want to try it on," Kairi answered, still in the bathroom. She was tying her loose hair up behind her head with the scrunchie. "Besides, I kinda want to see Sora's reaction when he finally sees me in a bikini."

She turned her head as she heard the door to their room open. "Oh good," a voice said, "I found the right room."

"Agatha!" Naminé said happily. "When'd you get here?"

"About two minutes ago," the eighteen-year-old servant replied. "I'm not a competitor, so I didn't go into the Coliseum with you all, but I'm still your handmaiden so I'm not going to let you and Kairi be here all by yourselves."

"Oh come on Agatha," Kairi said, smiling in amusement as she came out of the bathroom, now in a pink bikini and a white towel draped over her shoulder. "We have the boys with us and it's only for a couple of nights. We'd have been fine."

"I know that you would have," Agatha answered, "it's just that my place is with Princess Naminé. There's no point in Master Ur having trained me as well if I can't fight to protect my Princesses; I'm going with you Naminé, wherever you go."

"And what are you doing stripped down too?" Kairi asked, incredulously staring at her twin and at her twin's handmaiden.

"Uh, because it's hot?" Agatha replied, shrugging her bare shoulders while her tone indicated that it was the most obvious answer in the world. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"You're both insane," she said, grabbing an oversized white t-shirt and putting it on. She placed her towel on her shoulder again. "Coming for a swim?"

"Sure," Naminé said. "Just let me change. Oh, Agatha? Could you find the boys and tell them that we're going swimming."

"Sure thing," Agatha said, turning around and preparing to stride out of the room.

"Oh, Agatha," Kairi said quickly. "Wait!"

"Yes Kairi?" the servant asked, turning around with one hand on the doorknob.

Kairi shook her head. "Put some clothes on first. There are _a lot_ more guys here than girls. And though they'd probably love to see girls running around in their underwear around them, we don't need to give them that pleasure. Oh! Wait a second!" The other two turned to look at her. Kairi's eyes had grown wide with excitement. "Today's the 27th right?" Naminé and Agatha both slowly nodded their heads. Kairi clapped her hands together. "That means that today is Selphie's Sweet Sixteenth! I have _got_ to find her! Maybe she'll forgive me for not getting her a present, or maybe I can scrounge something up… Catch ya later!"

Without another word, Kairi bolted from the room, still in her bare feet.

-A-D-

_CRACK!_

Sora straightened up as he watched a white ball with an orange stripe roll across a green field. It bounced on a solid felt rim, and then rolled into a hole. Sounds of it dropping and rolling on tracks on the inside of a large table entered his ears as he smiled, twirling the stick in his hands around.

"Good shot Sora," said a teen with short brown hair in a jean jacket, blue t-shit, and blue jeans.

"Thanks Percy," Sora replied, moving around the pool table, trying to figure out his next shot.

"So…" Percy started slowly, "you're a Hero too?"

"Sure thing Perce," Sora answered him. "Phil keeps saying that we're still Junior, but I think it's just a term of affection from him."

"But it's still annoying," Donald grumbled.

Sora leaned into the table, moving his pool cue back and forth between the forefinger and middle finger of his gloved left hand. "Actually," he began, "didn't Phil cry when he saw the gods turn us into a constellation?" He struck the cue ball with his stick and the ball rolled forward quickly before striking one of his stripes. It bounced off the rim just shy of the left corner back pocket. "Shoot! That was close. I wonder what the perks of being a Hero are, apart from competing in tournaments?"

"If you want perks you might want to skip Phil and go to Chiron," Percy said, looking left and right around the table as he tried to figure out his own shot. "I think he mentioned a Heroes Union once."

"You know Chiron?" Sora asked. "The centaur?"

"Yeah," Percy answered as he prepared to shoot. "For the longest time I thought he was just another one of my teachers, and a crippled one at that, since he looked like a human and was sitting in a wheelchair. Then the next thing I know, my pre-algebra teacher turns into a Fury and is attacking me, my best friend's actually a satyr, and Mr. Brunner turns out to be Chiron." Percy took his shot.

"Tell me about it," chuckled a brown-skinned satyr, about the size of Percy, with small horns jutting out of his frizzy black hair as Percy scratched. "You would not believe the look on this guy's face when he found out that he was the son of Poseidon."

"Whatever Grover," Percy said, scowling at his scratch.

Riku then began to move around the table, trying to figure out where he wanted to place the cue ball for whatever shot he was going to attempt. He and Sora were playing the game of pool against the teen, Perseus (Percy) Jackson, and his best friend and protector, the satyr Grover Underwood. Donald and Goofy were watching, and several other competitors were playing other games, chatting, drinking or eating in the large lounge room in the resort building's second level on the east wing. There was a nice view of the pool, fountains, and gardens below too.

"Son of Poseidon huh?" Goofy asked. "That makes you a debi-god like Hercules then."

"Demigod," corrected Donald.

"Right, ahyuk," Goofy said. "Demigod."

"Yeah," Percy answered.

"So what's this about a Heroes Union?" Sora asked.

"Oh it's a great thing to be in man," Grover told him. "The Heroes Union gets you first dibs against non-Heroes and discounts on… magical artefacts, enchanted weaponry, enchanted armour, maps to and of uncharted locations, and makes sure you get a nice pension," he finished positively.

"Or a good life insurance policy and burial plot," Percy added.

Sora waved it off. "Those are just minor details."

"Well," Riku began, preparing his shot, "demigod or not, I hate to break it to you Perce, but you're not gonna win this one."

"And why not?" Grover asked, strutting up to Riku.

"Because I'm gonna take it," Riku said. His cue stuck the cue ball, and he cleanly knocked a stripe down into one of the pockets.

"Oho," Grover said. "Mr. Big Shot Riku here, gonna take down Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus huh? Well I've got news for you: you ain't got _nothing_ against my man Percy."

"Really?" Riku laughed, lining up his next shot. "And uh… why would that be?"

_Crack!_

"Because Percy's the son of Poseidon," Grover said.

"And I'm a Keyblade Master," Riku returned, raising his pool cue up as the ball he'd shot for just missed a side pocket. "What's your point?" The silver-haired youth tapped the satyr on the shoulder. "Your shot, goat."

"Hey," Grover said, placing his cue against Riku's chest to stop him. "I'm a satyr, all right."

Riku raised his hands apologetically. "Alright, cool." Sora just sniggered.

"My point is," Grover started again, "that unless you've gone up against monsters like the Minotaur, Medusa, and the Hydra, Percy's got you beat."

Goofy chuckled. "Well I don't know about Riku," he started, "but Sora, Donald and I have taken on Cerberus and the Hydra before."

"And I _have_ gone up against the Minotaur," Sora added, smiling and beginning to count on his fingers. "And Talos, and the Chimera."

Grover missed his shot. "Say what!" he said. "You've taken them all on before? Just you?"

"Well, no," Sora relented. "Against Cerberus, the Chimera, Talos, and the Minotaur, it was me and my girlfriend Kairi, and our digimon partners Ohtarmon and Soronmon. I haven't taken on any monsters one-on-one."

"To be fair," Percy added. "It was me, Grover, and Annabeth against Medusa and the Hydra."

"Who's Annabeth?" Sora asked.

"Daughter of Athena," Grover sighed. "Percy's got a little thing for her ("Do not," said Percy), but without her we'd have been screwed. Ha!" Grover laughed. "Don't deny it man, it's written all over your face."

Sora shot, and one more stripe went down into a pocket. He quickly went to the cue ball, and struck it with his stick. Down went the last stripe. "You know," Sora said, looking for an angle with which to knock the 8 ball in, "you guys really suck at pool."

Percy sighed and tapped his hand against the side of his pool cue. "Well excuse us for not spending our entire lives playing pool."

"Forgive me for not doing so either," Sora returned. "8 Ball, back left pocket." He struck the cue ball with a soft _thump_, and it darted towards the 8 and made contact with a sharp _crack!_ Right on target, the 8 rolled in, and Sora raised his cue stick with a satisfied smile on his face. Riku slapped his left hand hard after Sora raised it towards him.

"Ow!" Riku muttered, shaking the limb. "I have _got_ to remember to stop hitting that one." Sora just smiled and reached for his glass of coke. "You know," Riku said, putting away his pool cue. He picked up the cue ball and looked around for a crud table. "We should play crud. That'd be fun."

"What's crud?" Percy asked.

"It's _fun_," Sora said, his eyes widening for the smallest period of time as he put emphasis on the word.

"And dangerous," Riku added.

"And awesome," Sora finished.

"There you guys are!" are female voice said. "I've been looking all over for you."

Sora frowned as he saw a pretty girl with long canary-gold hair and brown eyes striding towards them. She was wearing a brown skirt and white blouse, black shoes on her feet. "Agatha?" Riku asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting on my Princesses, Lord Riku," Agatha answered with a tiny smile. "They're not going to get rid of me _that_ easily."

"I get that," Riku said. "But why are you _here_? In this room?"

"I've been looking for you," she answered, a small blush coming to her cheeks. "Well, you and Master Sora. You wouldn't happen to know where Sir Roxas is, would you?"

"He's in our room," Sora said. "Why?"

Agatha nudged her head to the side. "Look out the window and down." Sora just looked at her suspiciously while Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Grover went to the window to check.

"Hey," Riku began, "is Kairi in a bikini?"

"What!" Sora asked, quickly turning around and going to the window. Down below him he could see the pool, a number of men and women swimming in it or lazing about on the poolside. Naminé was currently wading at the side of the pool while Kairi was standing next to the rim with Yuffie, Selphie, and another girl, this one with long brown hair. Kairi, Selphie, and Yuffie were smiling and waving up at them.

"Kairi _is_ in a bikini," Sora muttered, his eyes getting as much as he could of her form in the swimsuit from this distance. _And she has her hair up too. She looks great!_

"I guess we're goin' swimmin' then," Goofy said.

Selphie cupped her hands to her lips. "Hey you guys! Get down here!" she shouted excitedly. "Or did you all forget that it's my sixteenth birthday like the losers you are?"

_Holy crap!_

Riku laughed. "Well Sora, we'd better get down there or our hides are in trouble."

"You're right about that," Grover said, starting to breathe heavily. "Some of them chicks down there could give nymphs and the daughters of Aphrodite a run for their money. And Annabeth doesn't look too bad either. See you later Percy." Without another word he went away. Sora tapped Riku's shoulder with a smile on his face. Though Sora himself wouldn't be swimming, or even taking off his jacket, he was still going to have a fun time. Selphie would probably make sure of that.

And the next three days were theirs to enjoy. He couldn't wait to get started.

-A-D-

"So they're here?" Hades asked.

Lady Morgana nodded her hooded head as she knelt before him. "Yes, they have arrived."

"Good," Hades said. "I have your tickets for you and a present as well."

Lady Morgana looked up. "A… present?"

"Yes," Hades said. "It was just finished this morning. Wear it to intimidate them, and make them wonder why you are not competing in the tournament. If you want to, duel one or two of them outside of the tournament grounds, but keep a low profile. You're just a warrior, come to watch other warriors compete. We don't want to attract my brothers' attentions."

"Understood," Lady Morgana said, bowing her head again.

-A-D-

_0916 hrs, Friday, November 28__th__, 2003  
Olympus Coliseum  
Sora_

The midway that had sprung up only seemed to have gotten bigger since the previous evening when they'd arrived, and again the scents and sounds rising from the stalls and vendors assaulted his senses. Even after having sated his stomach with breakfast just over an hour ago, his mouth was salivating and submitting its requests for some snacks that it would like to taste.

Sora rubbed his cleanly shaven chin as the faint _clip-clop_ of Nebulus' hooves could be heard as Naminé rode on her Celestial Steed behind him, the blonde Princess with him along with Agatha, Roxas, Hayner, Selphie, Yuffie, King Mickey, and Asterix. Aiwemon was, as always, on his shoulder. The door to the mountain path to the resort closed behind Nebulus' swinging tail, and the astral horse snorted and waggled his head. He seemed even more magnificent now to Sora in the morning light that softly washed down upon them, the stars that emerged from his body creating a glittering blanket of floating white spots around and behind the Celestial Steed.

"Why are we here this early again?" Roxas asked, yawning.

"Because we need to check the times for the preliminaries," Yuffie answered.

"So why do the others get to sleep in?" Roxas whined. "Sora's here, he can get our time."

"Maybe I want to practice with you before we start," Sora said, turning around. "We haven't seen each other in a while Rox. We need to know what each of us can do before—"

A strange chill went up Sora's spine and he stopped talking, whipping around as the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end. Roxas came up to stand next to him.

_You felt it too?_ The blond asked. Sora nodded his head.

"What is it?" Asterix asked. "Something wrong boys?"

"Sora?" Aiwemon asked.

Sora didn't answer right away, just scanned what he was able to see in front of him with his cerulean eyes, but not even sure what he was looking for. _That's odd,_ he thought, shaking his head. _I coulda sworn…_

"It's nothing Aiwë," he said, placing a smile on his face. "I just thought that I felt something was watching me."

"Are you sure?" Hayner asked. "I know a few people are staring at Naminé's horse, but I don't feel anything."

"I felt it too," Roxas said. "Sora's not making it up. It was like a pair of eyes keeping an eye on us, almost like we were prey."

"I wouldn't say that," Sora said, turning to Roxas. "It felt more like I was in trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Naminé asked.

"I don't know," Sora answered, holding his hands up in a defeated gesture. "Just, trouble. Like I'd been caught sneaking around or something."

Yuffie sighed. "I think Hat N' Clogs bumped you one too many times on the head," she said, rapping her own lightly with her knuckles. "Come on, I need to find out when Riku and I are fighting you guys."

"I don't think we'll be in the same block," Sora told her, heading after Yuffie while they kept as a group around Nebulus.

King Mickey didn't follow them right away. The smile on his face had slipped off with Sora's words, and he too was scanning the crowd. Then he saw someone that he thought might have been the cause for Sora and Roxas' jitters. Someone was standing stock-still in the crowd, staring straight at Sora even as he was walking away. Heavy black and blue pauldrons with two spikes jutting away from the body near the end were on the warrior's shoulders. Thick darkest blue plate gloves and boots, both with dark brown fur interior-lining, up to the elbows and nearly to the knee were on the person's hands and feet, and it was only through looking at the slender waist and chest that King Mickey was able to tell that the person was female. Leggings of the same very dark blue metal covered her hips and thighs, and probably went down to her ankles as well, and a belt with a bright blue skull on it was wrapped around her waist. The few inches of skin from just above the waist to a little past her bellybutton all around her abdomen was bare, but her chest and forearms were fitted with a chest-piece and solid rearbraces that fitted her body like a glove. Her chest armour was the same colour of most of the rest of it, a very dark blue, but a brighter blue accent was just above the woman's navel and beneath her bust. Behind her draped what King Mickey could see as a patterned grey and blue cape with a mighty large sword strapped to her back, but the helmet was what creeped him out the most. Her face, whatever it may have looked like, was completely concealed by it. What looked like a bright blue gem glowed on the forehead, and two dark horns with a gentle curve reached forward menacingly from each cheek of the black greathelm.

King Mickey shuddered as he looked at her, and her attention turned to him, and the only part of her face that he was able to see was her eyes, eyes that glowed blue like they were possessed with living flame from Hades' own head.

"Your Majesty!" Sora called from ahead. He'd noticed that the King had fallen behind. "You coming?"

The King's head snapped towards him, then looked back at whatever he had been looking at. He shook his head, and the King hurried towards the rest of the group with a rushed. "Yeah! Just thought I saw somethin'; somethin' creepy."

"Like what?" Selphie asked.

King Mickey shook his head again. "Never mind," he said. "I probably just dreamed it up. It's too early in the day."

Sora glanced at Roxas. _Do you think?_

_I don't know,_ Roxas replied. _But if he did… I just hope that we aren't facing whoever in the tournament._

_If we are, we'll beat him,_ Sora answered confidently.

-A-D-

There were no more random moments of what Sora was beginning to think of as just paranoia that Hades was up to his usual tricks as they went on to the front doors of the Coliseum. Right in front was a board posting the times for the eight preliminary rounds, as well as the names of the teams that would be in each round and the names of the members of each team. He quickly began to scan them.

"Okay," he muttered to himself. "First prelim at one, hey, Roxas, we're in the first one!"

"Oh great," the blond said. "I'm gonna spoil my lunch."

"Looks like Percy and his team are in the first one too," Sora said, "as well as five other teams. Don't know who those guys are though."

"Hey Menelmon and I are in the second one!" Aiwemon exclaimed. "And… Tifa and Leon?"

"What?" Sora asked sharply, looking at the paper. "How did I miss them last night?"

"Because you weren't paying attention," a male voice said from behind Sora. He turned and found himself looking right at the scarred gunblade wielder. He smiled. "How you been Sora?"

"Never better," Sora replied, smiling at Leon. He looked to his right. "Hey Tifa."

"Hi Sora," Tifa said. "So, we're in the second prelim then are we Leon?"

"I guess so," he answered. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the tournament Sora."

"Hold it Squall!" Yuffie said, jumping in front of him and jabbing her finger into his stomach. "What's this about you being teamed up with Tifa? You abandoning me?"

"Well I can't exactly pair up with you," Leon grumbled in annoyance. "You're with Riku. And it's 'Leon', Yuffie."

Yuffie grimaced. "I'm taking you down Squall, just for breaking up our team." She turned her nose up at him and swaggered back to the board while Leon just shrugged and shook his head.

"Nobody else that we know in number two," Naminé said, looking through it. "Oh, Kairi and I are round three, and so are… the Gullwings!"

"Hey, thanks for finding that out for us!" Sora looked behind him, again, and now next to Leon and Tifa stood Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. "Don't worry," Yuna said, "we'll be sure to put you through your paces. (She looked away from Sora and frowned) Selphie."

"Yuna," Selphie answered, deadpan.

"So where's Tidus?" Yuna asked.

"Asleep or eating," Selphie answered.

"So he's available?" Yuna asked.

"I never said that," Selphie returned.

"Sure sounded like it," Yuna told her. She and Selphie were face-to-face now, Selphie just a _tiny_ bit shorter than the young woman with mocha hair and one blue eye and one green eye, the green eye having a spiral pupil that was only noticeable from such a close distance.

"I'm pretty sure it sounded more like 'get stuffed'," Selphie uttered quietly.

"Maybe you should do the same," Yuna retorted, poking Selphie in her chest.

Selphie's face turned red, but whether it was from anger or humiliation Sora was unable to tell. "Listen, he's mine you hussy, so drop it."

"You calling me a hussy, dink?" Yuna's hands dropped down to her jean-shorts, where her two pistols were holstered. "And Tidus isn't yours, he's _mine_."

"Wanna back that claim up?" Selphie asked her, her hands slowly moving towards the sword sheathed on her hip and the round wooden and steel shield across her back.

Yuna gave a dry laugh and her hands ghosted away from her pistols. "Never mind," she said, turning around. "You're not even worth it, _tedwo dfed._"

A ringing note filled the air and Yuna felt a sharp point press slightly into the back of her neck. "If you're going to insult me," Selphie said, "do it to my face and in a language I understand you tramp."

"_Desa du tea pedlr!_" Yuna screamed, her hands grabbing her pistols as she spun around again. Both of her pistols struck against Selphie's sword in an X and brought it out and away from her. One of her pistols was pointed up at the sky, while the other was aimed right for Selphie's chest. She fired a shot from that one, but Selphie's shield was already up and absorbed the bullet instead of the girl's breastplate.

That was the last straw. Before either young woman knew what had happened, Sora had Flashed between them, pushing each back just below the neck with a firm shove of his hands. Silver wind swirled around his fingers and whirled around the wrists of the two females. With a tiny tug downwards they were brought down, and Sora gave each of them a serious look while his hands were still outstretched between them at the level of their collarbones. Hayner had placed a restraining hand on Selphie's shoulder, and Paine had done the same on Yuna's.

"That's enough!" he said, his chains of Twilight Wind still whirling around Yuna's and Selphie's captive wrists. "We're all here to practice before fight Maleficent and her allies; we do not need to be fighting amongst each other all because the two of you like the same guy!"

"Well tell her that I got him first!" Yuna spat.

"Liar!" Selphie shot back, struggling against the bonds and Hayner's hand. "I've known him since we were four!"

"Here's an idea," Sora started. "Why don't the _both_ of you have him? I'm sure Tidus would love that."

"Because I'm not sharing him!" shouted Yuna. "Not with her, not with anyone."

"And the same goes for me," Selphie added.

"Good, you _can_ agree on something," Sora said, patronizingly. He opened his hands and the Twilight Wind blew away. "Sort it out amongst yourselves," he told them. "I'd prefer that you include Tidus in it and try to get along until he finally chooses one of you, or maybe he'll even choose both, or neither, I don't know. If you have to fight for him, then fight for him, but not to the death and I don't want to hear any whining or bitching, else _I'll_ settle it. Do you get my drift?"

Stunned wasn't quite the word that one would choose when describing the reactions of Sora's friends when Yuna and Selphie both answered with a tiny "Yes sir," each; astonished that Sora had just acted so decisively to end it, without anyone prodding him to, would be a much more appropriate term. In fact, he was stunned himself.

The brunet Keyblade Master sighed and dropped his hands. Yuna started to walk away quietly with Rikku, and Paine came up to Sora. "Sorry about Yuna," she said. "But, you know how she is." Sora nodded his head and Paine left with the other two Gullwings.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at Roxas. _And you too,_ he said.

_What do you mean?_ Roxas replied, the blond's brow furrowing.

"Hey Your Majesty," Yuffie said, continuing on to try and forget about the fight Sora had just stopped, "you, Donald, and Goofy are in round four, and so are Tidus, Olette, and Kia."

_You and Riku,_ Sora answered Roxas, pretending to be interested in the remainder of the match-ups. _You guys need to stop bickering too. It's driving me insane._

_So you want me to just take it?_ Roxas growled.

_No,_ Sora quickly answered, thinking that he'd given the wrong impression. _I want you two to talk it over real soon. You're always insulting each other and picking fights._

_He started—_

_I don't care who started it, I want it to stop!_ retorted Sora. _How are we all supposed to be a team if two of our strongest guys can't stop fighting each other?_

Roxas paused. "Alright," Hayner said. "Prelim number five has our name on it Selphie."

_You really think that I'm one of our strongest?_ Roxas asked quietly. _Come on Sora, I'm the weakest one of us all. Everyone else is better than me, especially Riku._

_Not true,_ Sora told him. _You beat Riku once too, remember?_

_And that's why he hates my guts,_ Roxas answered. _But then he went and kicked my ass, and I haven't been able to knock him down since. I haven't been able to knock anyone down since._

_You fought me to a draw,_ Sora reminded him.

_That was ages ago too,_ said Roxas.

_Dammit Roxas!_ Sora shouted, frustrated. _You're not WEAK! No one who cares about his friends and subordinates as much as you do could ever be weak._

_What are you talking abou—_

_I know about the Samurai Roxas,_ Sora said. _They can talk to me too, and I've met Harima._

Sora's twin's cerulean eyes widened. _When did you—?_

_Last night while you were asleep,_ Sora said, _he came to me, and we talked. He told me everything that I didn't already know about what happened with you during your time in the Organization, and everything about what you were doing in The World That Never Was. You aren't weak Roxas, you never were._

Sora saw the look in his twin's eyes, and he could feel that Roxas was feeling lost and out of place. _Harima decided that it would be better if I knew about him and the other Samurai as well,_ Sora told him. _He told me that they know me, and will speak to me and do what I ask if I am in dire need, but that they follow your orders above mine. They are loyal to _you_ Roxas, because you proved yourself worthy of their loyalty during your time in the Organization. And I know that you will do everything you can to fulfill their wish and dream of becoming whole again, just as you and Naminé and Lea have become._

_But how Sora?_ Roxas asked suddenly, looking down. _How can I do that when I can't even protect myself from one of Maleficent's Nobodies? How am I going to be able to when I almost died fighting Tismetrx, and the giant Boar Heartless in the Big Top? I can't protect myself; I can't protect anyone, not even Namin—_

_You know,_ Sora broke in, _Kairi once said something to me that got me out of a funk like that, back when I was fretting about Anti._ Roxas looked up, and Sora placed a hand on his shoulder, and stared at Roxas with cerulean eyes identical to the blond's. "If you're afraid of losing, just get stronger. If you're afraid of not being able to protect your friends, swear to get stronger until you can protect them. If you're afraid of Tismetrx or any other Nobody Maleficent has pulled in, just get stronger until you can crush him. And if you don't want to listen to me, then say those words yourself."

Sora smiled at the look that came onto his former Nobody's face and removed his hand, only to clap him on the shoulder again with it. "Besides, you're a knight," he laughed, tugging slightly at the purple and gold cape that he _still_ wore over his back, "man up buddy." Sora stopped and looked towards Naminé. "Wait, what was that about Kairi?"

"I said that she's going to have a fit when she finds out," Naminé replied, still sitting atop Nebulus while Agatha had the lead of the reigns in one hand.

"Find out what?" Roxas asked.

"Whoa," Yuffie commented. "You two were seriously spaced out."

Naminé looked directly at Sora and answered her boyfriend's question. "Garda's here."

-A-D-

_1230hrs_

A 'fit' was hardly the word that Sora would have used to describe his girlfriend's reaction when she and the others finally came out and Kairi learned of her master's presence and that he was competing in the tournament. He would have said that she was having a panic attack.

"That's it," Kairi was whispering to herself, but more than audible enough for everyone else to hear her, as she sat down with one hand to her rising and falling chest. "I'm finished. I can't beat Master. Nobody can."

"Kairi stop saying things like that," Menelmon said from atop her partner's shoulder. "You're making me worried."

"Why's this guy such a big shot anyway?" Yuffie asked.

"He's the Chief Guardian Yuffie," Kairi said seriously, looking up at the raven-haired kunoichi. "Master's never been beaten by anyone before. Don't you remember? I couldn't beat him back at the festival."

"Kairi, you have your _Shikai_!" Naminé said. "You can beat him if we end up facing him. Besides, we're not even in the same preliminary, we might never face him at all."

"He'll go up to the top," Kairi said, convinced that he would. "And then we'll meet him there if not sooner. We're done for Naminé."

"You held back in your fight back then," Sora told her. "I heard him too. You. Held. Back. This time, if you do fight him, he's going to want you not to."

"Even if I don't," Kairi began, "I still won't be able to beat him. Master is Master, he is my Master. I _can't_ beat him."

"What's with all the defeatist talk?" Riku asked rhetorically. "We sent Xarcs, Tismetrx, and Lexai packing, why are you so hung up on Garda? You'd knock him into the next century if you really fought him with your best." Kairi just gulped and shook her head.

Yuffie threw up her hands in defeat. "Alright!" she declared. "I give up. But don't come whining to me when we prove you right and you kick his ass."

Kairi didn't even flinch, as if she hadn't even heard her.

"But guys," Kia began hesitantly, "this is still Garda we're talking about. I saw him fight when Felra fell. He's just as good as the stories make him out to be. He probably did slay a Behemoth King single-handedly."

Hercules then came out of the Coliseum through the doors, and found the group standing or sitting on the steps up to the entrance. "Hey guys," Herc said. "The first prelim match is starting soon. You'd better all head over to the competitors' tent; it's just inside of the Coliseum, through the vestibule."

"Alright," King Mickey said, nodding his head. "Come on fellas. Let's go have some fun today."

There were quite a lot of people already within the tent when Sora's group arrived, most of the other contestants, in fact. Agatha quietly mentioned that she'd take her seat and left, but not before wishing both Kairi and Naminé good luck. Kairi only nodded her head listlessly while Naminé smiled at the servant and thanked her.

"GIRL!"

"Yes Master?"

Sora continued to wonder just what kind of training Garda had used to get Kairi to prostrate herself on the ground before him every time he called her gendre. Every other conversation died out instantly as the imposing Islander with the great black claymore came up to his apprentice.

"So you're here," he stated, completely oblivious to the many pairs of eyes watching them.

"Yes Master," Kairi answered automatically, submissively.

"Up," Garda said. Kairi complied, rising to her feet and looking up into the granite-grey eyes of the man who stood just over six-foot-three. To Sora's eyes, Kairi seemed to wilt while Garda surveyed her, his eyes combing over every inch of her, observing every change, every possible increase in strength, every possible crack in her armour. It seemed to Sora that Kairi believed he was finding her faults, because while she stood perfectly still, he could feel that inside she was having serious trouble staying calm.

"You still look a bit thin," Garda told her. "And you've lost a little size here and there, probably because you're not as fat as you once were. But there is muscle on you that I can see, and strength buried beneath your fiery skin that wasn't there a month ago. You have grown strong in my absence, my apprentice," Garda said firmly.

"Thank you Master," Kairi said, a small smile coming to her face.

Sora frowned. When had Kairi ever been considered fat, or even having fat? He came around and peered at her. Wait, her breasts were just a _bit_ smaller than they had been a couple weeks ago. There's where the fat must have gone. And he didn't think himself a pervert for looking at his girlfriend's chest that you very much.

Wait…

"I don't care if you are the Chief Guardian," Sora said quickly, turning to look at Garda. "If you're looking at Kairi like that then—!"

Garda suddenly laughed, stopping Sora cold and surprising Kairi. "You have nothing to fear about your girlfriend's honour, Sora, so you can stop threatening me. I may be her master, but the girl is my apprentice, not my slave. Although, with the way she's devoted to you, she could as well be your slave."

"Master…" Kairi mumbled while Sora blushed and backed away. "Please don't say things like that."

"You and your sister are in the third round," Garda said. "I'm in the seventh. I'll be watching you, and looking forward to facing you again."

Kairi nodded her head. "Thank you Master."

Garda clapped a hand on Kairi's shoulder, and she swayed but stayed standing. "Just don't hold back this time, because I certainly won't be."

Kairi nodded again. "Yes Master." Garda walked away, back into the crowd in the tent, and Sora caught Kairi just before she fell down. Her face was white as a sheet. "I'm dead," she whispered. "He's not going to be holding back. Now I'm going to know how that Behemoth King felt right before Master cut him up into tiny bite-sized pieces!"

"Kairi, remember what you said to me?" Sora asked. "You told me that as far as you were concerned that you were Kairi of Destiny Islands, daughter of Seymour and Janet, apprentice of Chief Guardian Garda, and the Legendary Crown Star Wielder of Light. _Legendary Wielder of Power_ Kairi. You can beat him!"

"I don't think you're getting through to her Sora," Riku said. "Remember how she was back at the Blitz Fest?"

"Hey! Sora!"

The Keyblade Master sighed and turned away from his unresponsive girlfriend and plastered a smile onto his face as he saw his cousins come up to him. "Sade! Sikora! How've you been?"

"Great!" the younger sibling Sikora answered. "While Garda actually turned out to be a stick in the mud and didn't train us at all, we learned a lot from the other Guardians."

"Uh… yeah," Sade said, his voice less energetic than his sister's. He wasn't looking his older cousin directly in the eyes, the jade that was his directed more at the ground a foot away from Sora's right boot. "I—I've been thinking about what you said, Sora," he said. "And, seeing the way that the Guardians can fight, and all of the people here, it's making me doubt… but I still want to fight! I just—"

Sora placed his automail hand on Sade's shoulder, and the fifteen-year-old stared at the gloved appendage before looking into the smiling face of his sixteen-year-old cousin. "Sade," Sora started, "I know what I said back there. But you've come this far, so don't stop now. Show me what you can do, like you promised."

Sade smiled, and waved a hand through his jet-black hair. "Yeah… yeah! Alright! Don't worry Sora, I won't let you down!" Sora felt a prod on his shoulder and he turned around, and Naminé, Riku, Yuffie, and Roxas were all staring at him.

"What?"

"What's gotten into you?" Yuffie asked. "You've been acting a lot more mature today than normal."

Sora shrugged. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "Growing up, maybe?"

"Or maybe deep down," Naminé speculated, "you're finding within yourself the leadership abilities that can make you our leader."

Sora sighed. Leader of the Keyblade Wielders? It wasn't the first time the topic had been brought up. And while he knew that in the past the one who held the Kingdom Key was head of the Chasers, he still wasn't sure. "I don't know guys; I don't think I'm ready."

"Ready or not Sora," Riku began, "you know that the five of us would follow you anywhere. You may think of Mickey as our leader right now, but we'd probably do anything you asked us to do in a heartbeat, because we have faith in you."

"But the same goes for me," Sora returned solemnly. "I'd do anything for any of you too. I'd go to the end of the worlds and back for you guys." He didn't have to say that he'd already done it once. Sora leaned back against a pole and laughed. "What an odd reversal."

"Huh?" Naminé asked.

Sora looked at Riku. "All the time we've been friends Riku, and I've been following everything you say because you said so. Now you say that you'll follow what _I_ say just because _I_ said it."

"Within reason," Riku said, smirking and coming up to Sora. "I'm not gonna punch myself in the head just because you say so."

"Need I remind you that you, Naminé, Roxas, and Kairi all threw me into a hospital desk?"

"Then pick a fight with me in the final," Riku said, smiling. Sora clapped his hand together in a kind of handshake.

"That's a promise," Sora said. "Just be prepared for another ass-kicking, since I wasn't kicking your ass enough this past week."

"You really think that you and bird-brain over there are gonna take out me 'n Yuffie?" Riku asked. Sora lowered his eyes and pulled Riku slightly closer before his cerulean met Riku's aqua once again.

"Riku," Sora whispered. "Could you maybe stop insulting my brother and picking fights with him all the time. I know that you don't like each other because of stuff in the past, but could you both just let it go and get along? It's driving me insane and we don't need infighting in the team."

Riku laughed quietly. "And you say that you're not our leader?" His voice lost its mirth and he became serious as the volume dropped. "Alright. I'll work it out with him after the tournament, or maybe we'll resolve it during the tournament. But I see your point. Can we still be rivals though?"

"How 'bout the three of us be rivals?" Sora asked. "You, me, an' Roxas. All three of us should try to outdo each other, but for friendly competition only of course."

"Of course," Riku answered. "But why not the girls?"

"Because girls cheat," Sora answered plainly.

"And _how_ do we cheat?" Yuffie asked casually, having overheard the entire conversation with her awesome ninja skills.

"Because you're _girls_," Sora answered, almost horrified. "You can be cute and beautiful; wonderful and deadly; sexy and shy—"

"And you have breasts," Riku broke in.

"You hold _all_ the power," finished Sora.

Yuffie smirked. "That's just because Kairi's got you whipped."

Sora snorted and turned away. Kairi's head jerked up at the sound of her name, and Sora just realized that Sade was still standing next to him, listening in on the conversation. He had the look about him as if he'd been hanging back for a certain reason, but was waiting for an invitation to join in. Realizing that Sora was looking at him, Sora's eldest cousin, who was still younger than Sora by a year, started and said, "Oh! Sora! I almost forgot, but I was supposed to give you this." Sade removed a hand from a pocket, and in it there was an envelope.

Sora took it and looked at it quizzically. It was sealed, but completely unmarked. "What is it?" Naminé asked, peering at the object in Sora's hands as he turned it around and around, hoping to see some indication of who it was from.

Sade semi-shrugged while rolling his eyes a little. There was also a humourous look on his face. "Call it fan mail," he said, shaking his head. He turned to go. "Later."

"Fan mail?" Yuffie asked, looking at it too.

"Since when have you gotten fan mail?" Riku asked. Sora shrugged.

"Beats me," he and Roxas said simultaneously. Each looked up and stared at each other.

"Woo," Kairi muttered with a small smile as she looked at them. "Talking in stereo…"

"Do you know who it's from?" Aiwemon asked from Sora's shoulder. The Keyblade Master shook his head.

"There's nothing on it."

"Well are you going to just stand there looking at it or are you gonna open it?" Donald asked, tapping his foot. Sora chuckled sheepishly and slid his right finger underneath the flap on the side. It took him a few seconds to rip the envelope open and extract the folded letter.

Sora unfolded it and his face and heart suddenly melted as he read the greeting. "Aww…" Naminé said, peering over his shoulder, "that is _so_ sweet of her."

"Sweet of who?" Yuffie asked, bobbing up and down to try and read over Sora's arms and shoulders, except that Riku was somewhat blocking her way. "What is it? I can't seeee!"

"Who's it from?" Kairi asked, apparently finally out of her panic attack that her master was in the same tournament as her.

Riku smirked as Sora ignored her, reading. "Sora got a letter from his imōto-san."

"Aww…" Kairi said, her face melting too. "Rei wrote you a letter?"

"Can you believe this Kairi?" he asked suddenly, looking up from the letter with a scowl on his face. "She showed her friends the feather I gave her and they all think that she's crazy and that I don't exist. Kids today!" He shook his head and smacked the letter. "I'll show them when I go and visit her."

"Sora, don't go beating up school kids," Goofy said, sniggering.

"I will not."

"What's it say?" Donald asked.

Sora's smile returned and he sighed. "She says that she misses me, and she hopes that I'm doing fine fighting the bad guys and that I'm not getting hurt, and she also hopes that I can come visit her soon." He sighed again. "I've only known her a couple hours, but that kid somehow got into my heart."

"Children can do that Sora," King Mickey laughed.

"Aww…" Naminé cooed again. "Look, she signed it, 'lotsa love, your ane Rei'. She's a sweet little thing."

"I'm gonna make it up to her when I visit her," Sora said. He paused. "_When_ I can go visit her. I'm going to have to try and make time for it before everything explodes around us, otherwise I won't get the chance to until after it's all over."

"That day probably isn't too far off too," Menelmon said worriedly. "There were fewer stars out last night compared to a week ago."

"So who knows what Maleficent's cooking up," Yuffie said. "Except that it looks like she's already starting to go on the warpath." Sora nodded his head and folded up the letter from Rei. He placed it in an inside pocket in his jacket and then looked up as trumpets started to sound.

"Come on Rox," he said. "We've got a prelim to win."

"Roger that Sora," Roxas said with a smile, bumping the knuckles of his twin as they strode out of the tent and into the sun.

"You can do it Sora!" Aiwemon called after him.

"Good luck Keys!" Menelmon added.

"Go get them Sora," Kairi said, adding her encouragement as well.

Yuffie was shaking her head along with Riku. "Alright," Naminé said, "let's see how they do."

-A-D-

**Preliminaries: Round 1**

The Key Masters was only one of seven teams within the first preliminary match. As Sora and Roxas walked out and into the open trumpets began to sound a familiar tune to Sora, one that to him was the hallmark of the Coliseum. The crowds cheered, recognizing him from his exploits in the first tournament he'd been in, as well as the Phil Cup, Pegasus Cup, Hercules Cup, and the Hades Cup. Sora could see Percy along with Grover and the girl with brown hair that Kairi and Yuffie had been talking to at the poolside: Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena. All three of them had leather breastplates on, along with greaves, vambraces, and spaulders. Percy and Annabeth each held a short sword, while Percy also carried a round shield, and Grover, funnily enough, had a pair of metal crutches in his hands and a dagger strapped to his chest. Four other teams were doubles, like Sora and Roxas, and the last team was a single. Most of them wore armour of the same fashion as Percy and his friends, but the single was in a loose-fitting black and white outfit, carrying a long spear. All in all, fourteen people.

Sora and Roxas looked at one another as they all took different positions within the ring, and both of them flashed with white light as the chain-mail and assorted pieces of the Acolyte Armour appeared on their bodies and their Keyblades came into their hands. Sora didn't need to go in with his full Knight Armour until he faced one of his friends. The rest of the contestants seemed a bit surprised when the armour and tabards appeared, along with their Keyblades, but then small smiles came onto everyone's faces as they got ready for battle.

"Hm," Naminé said, watching from her seat in front of the pavilion that the rest of the competitors were still in, "I think I might want to personalize my tabard if I get the chance."

"Huh?" Kairi asked, glancing at her.

"I want my own standard," Naminé replied simply, shrugging.

"Keep it clean everyone," Phil announced. "Blood may be drawn, but no use of lethal force and no killing. You kill a contestant and you're out of the games, forever. Kapiche?" They all nodded their heads and Phil left the ring. Trumpets began to sound again, another familiar tune to Sora, and he waited for the signal.

The trumpets ceased and a gong gave a clear _BONG!_

-A-D-

Lady Morgana sat in the crowd, a presence that few people wanted to be around but one that was tolerated as a mad cheer left from the voices of the plebes at the start of the match. _Now then,_ Lady Morgana thought, _let's see what you can do, Sora. Do not disappoint me._

-A-D-

Holding Remembrance tightly, Sora dashed in with Roxas at his side. Two teams converged on them, and one team of them held swords while the other carried an axe and a sword. All four men were taller than Sora and Roxas, and came at the pair of Keyblade Masters with their weapons high. Sora swept Remembrance up at one of the swords as it came down towards him, blocking the weapon with a ringing musical note. He ducked underneath the second one, and used the opportunity to ram his body into the first, knocking his opponent back. His eyes shifted back to the other warrior, who had now circled to Sora's right side, and Sora swung Remembrance down like a golf club, striking the man in the shins and tripping his legs up. The man started to fall down, and Sora made him fall faster by bashing the tourmaline pommel of his Keyblade into the leather jerkin his opponent wore. Sora spun around, holding the long blade of Remembrance out in front of him towards the neck of the other man, and beating him with his blade's longer reach. The man raised his hands in a defeated gesture and dropped his weapon. A roar of approval came from the crowd.

Just as Sora had been blocking the first strike against him, Roxas had rolled to his left side to avoid the team that had come at him. There had to have been a silent pact between the two teams that had come after him and Sora, he decided, because they'd seemed to put facing each other aside in hopes that they'd be the two left standing at the end, so that they could continue on.

Roxas smirked as both the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn darted up and to the right to catch the sword and axe that his opponents held after they'd recovered from his dodge. "Not gonna happen guys," he said, twitching his wrists in a circular motion that caused his weapons to slap against the wrists of his opponents. Twilight Thorn's bayonet key-tip sliced just into the hand of the one who held the axe, and he dropped it in pain, but the one who held the sword pushed the Oblivion away with his vambraces and came at Roxas, swinging his sword down for the Keyblade Master's chest. Roxas stepped back and away from it, recovering his Keyblades into their usual positions at his sides. His opponent kept on coming, swinging his sword in precise arcs for Roxas' shoulders and chest. The blond kept backing away, waiting for the right moment.

His opponent yelled and stabbed down, and Roxas moved. He slid Twilight Thorn right alongside the sword that was diving for the image of the Star Seeker on the white tabard, and twirled his wrist. The sword wavered as Roxas' Keyblade forced it to move with it, and after a quick complete rotation the blade was only held loosely in the other man's hand with the tip pointed up and away from Roxas' face. The Oblivion rose up and slammed it away to the side, the blade flying away from its owner and landing outside the ring. Both of Roxas' Keyblades disappeared and he shoulder-checked his opponent in the chest, then grabbed his staggered foe around the shoulders and threw him into his teammate, who had been silently coming back with his axe. The crowd cheered.

Twilight Thorn and Oblivion reappeared in his hands and he turned to Sora, who had watched Roxas dispatch them after his own quick win. "And that's two of seven down," Sora said, bumping knuckles with his twin. Roxas smiled and glanced back at the groaning pair he'd just taken down. They hadn't been _too_ difficult; maybe Sora was right. Maybe he wasn't weak after all.

"Whoa!"

Both of them turned to look at the rest of the ring. There were only four teams left now: theirs, Percy's, a double that was quickly falling to Grover, and the solo fighter with the spear. Grover made both Sora and Roxas raise their eyebrows. The brown-skinned satyr was using his crutches both as weapons and as props to keep him up as he kicked out with his goat legs and feet. Before they knew it, the double was out with hoof imprints on their chests, leaving the solo fighter against Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase while the crowd cheered for Grover's victory. The man was keeping both demigods on their toes, his spear flying about dangerously, yet smoothly.

"Percy!" Sora called, coming forward with Remembrance bared in front of him. "Want some help?"

The spear clanged against Percy's shield and he made a retaliatory swipe that was blocked by the bamboo haft of his opponent's weapon. "We've got this," he answered, "but if you're offering!" The bamboo haft then struck Percy in the face and the demigod backed away, and the man turned all his attention on Annabeth. Her footwork was impeccable, dancing back and forth and weaving her sword as quickly as the spear was that was coming for her, always turning it away from her body or slicing it backwards.

Percy came back into the fray, and the man looked back behind him and leapt over the shield-bash that the son of Poseidon would have made for his back. He flipped in the air, preparing to come down behind Percy, and so face all his enemies face-to-face rather than from two fronts.

Roxas was there waiting for him, and the man gave a yell and lunged out with his spear while still in the air. Roxas nudged his head to the side, avoiding the strike, and the man came down, swinging his spear for the blond's head. Roxas ducked under that too, and began to bat at the spear with his Keyblades, taking small, measured steps backwards to avoid the spear-tip. Percy and Annabeth came in, their weapons flashing in the light, and the man suddenly became hard-pressed to keep them all away from him. The four swords were matching the spear, movement for movement, and driving it up with each hit they made; they always drove it up.

Grover came in as soon as the spear was up too high to do anything, but the satyr was caught by his own trick. The man used the spear's end as a brace for him to jump up and kick Grover in the chest with his sandaled feet. Grover staggered back and the man landed again and began to twirl his spear around his body in arcs from his shoulders down, spinning it like the blade of a circular saw. The others backed away.

Sora saw his moment, and swung Remembrance in a hard horizontal slash right as the spear was coming up behind their foe. The man was unprepared for the move, having not seen Sora nor anticipated him, and the spear flew out of his hands. He quickly looked at Sora, surprised, before looking back at Percy, Roxas, Annabeth, and Grover, and then ran for his spear.

Sora Flashed in front of the man, stopping him cold. "I don't think so," the Keyblade Master said, Remembrance prepped in front of him. The man nodded his head and looked around.

"You are right," he said, bowing. "I concede defeat." Sora smiled and dismissed his Keyblade and bowed his head as well before shaking the man's hand in sportsmanlike conduct.

The crowd roared once more as the man left the ring, and Sora and Roxas raised their weapons triumphantly along with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. The trumpets played a victory fanfare, and Sora hummed along while Roxas muttered a few words along to the tune ("You just got pwned eff-tee-double-yoo!").

Sora smirked and looked for Aiwemon and Menelmon as they sat on Naminé's and Kairi's shoulders as the two girls sat cheering and clapping and said, "Your turn, partners."

-A-D-

Lady Morgana felt a small smile come unbidden to her face as the crowd around her erupted into cheers. "Hm, not bad boys," she said aloud to herself. "Not bad at all." She realized that she was smiling and shook her head; the smile left her. "But not good enough if _I_ had been your opponent."

-A-D-

**Preliminaries: Round 2**

Aiwemon and Menelmon flew into the ring and landed close to Leon and Tifa. There were the same number of teams in this prelim round as the last one, seven, but instead of fourteen contestants there were sixteen. Tifa put her gloves on, tightening them with a quick jerk on the wrists, and Leon slung his gunblade over his shoulder in a casual display of nonchalant confidence.

"Are you ready?" he asked, looking towards the two small birds. Both digimon glanced back at the seats where Sora and Kairi were sitting side-by side, and all four of them had intense looks of confidence in their eyes while the two humans tightly clutched their digivices. The trumpets sounded, and then came the gong with its loud _BONG_ to declare the start of the match.

Aiwemon and Menelmon both flew into the sky above the rest of the competitors, and Aiwemon's green eyes glowed with violent blue light. "Keen Sight!" Blue beams shot out from his eyes and down into the competitors, striking one down with a direct hit to the back, while a few other shots were deflected away by the swing of a sword or a club.

Menelmon was quick to capitalize on the bent back of the one who had been hit. "Snow Slurry!" she shouted as white snow began to spiral around her brown beak. The snow spiralled out, slapping against the man's back and sending him collapsing to the ground. More snow piled up on top of him.

Aiwemon swooped down, his clawed feet glowing with silver light. "Steel Talons!" He raked at the weapon that the downed competitor had held, and knocked it away before thrashing his talons at the sword of another who was now trying to cut him down. His feet worked frantically, keeping the sword at bay while he looked at the man's chest. "Keen Sight!"

An astonished gasp of pain left the man as the twin beams of blue light struck his abdomen and he fell backwards as Aiwemon flew into him, swiping at his chest with his talons. Menelmon then began to beat her wings harder, shouting "Ice Feathers!" Feathers from her wings flew down, laced in frozen ice and sharp as knives. They cut into the man's shirt and pants and dug into the stage, keeping him trapped in place. That made two down from them, and Leon and Tifa and the other teams had reduced the number of remaining competitors down to eight already.

Kairi suddenly gasped and rose from her seat as a man threw a club up into the sky, and it caught Menelmon in the back of the head. The ice-bird digimon let out a shriek of pain and began to descend in a slow and uncontrolled spin.

Aiwemon gasped and turned around. "Menelmon!" He started to fly towards her, but then somebody grabbed his leg. Since he weighed maybe five pounds, the man who had grabbed hold of his leg was able to swing the small bird around effortlessly. Aiwemon fought back though, turning his head towards his opponent as best as he was able to and firing off another blast of his Keen Sight attack. The man dropped him and his hands went to his face, the twin beams of blue having struck him in the jaw and nose, and Aiwemon frantically flapped towards his downed teammate as she lay on the ground.

"Ow…" she mumbled as Aiwemon stood protectively in front of her, his wings outstretched and his eyes glaring at the other competitors with violent blue light in them. Leon and Tifa took on another pair of competitors from the back, but that still left three, or four as soon as the one Aiwemon had just blasted recovered, advancing towards the two Rookie-level digimon.

"Menelmon!" Kairi yelled from where she stood, leaning against a wooden railing that had been erected in front of the seats that were in front of the competitors' pavilion. "Digivolve!"

The ice-blue bird's head snapped up, her brown eyes full of energy. She started to glow with pure golden light. "You got it Kairi. Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

The four competitors who had been directly in front of Aiwemon and Menelmon, warily keeping away from Aiwemon's glowing eyes, were now staring up at the giant ice-eagle that was Soronmon with nothing short of trepidation on their faces. For such a small bird to go from being so small to so large in a glowing cocoon of golden light, it was unthinkable in their minds.

"Go get 'em," Kairi whispered.

Soronmon took into the air with a powerful spring of her legs and a mighty flap of her wings. The four competitors braced themselves as a strong wind generated from her takeoff blew into them. The ice-eagle digimon reared her head back, and her white mane of feathers bristled with chill energy. "Blizzard's Bite!"

A blast of chilling white energy in the shape of Soronmon's own head streaked down as she snapped her neck down towards the four. None of them were able to get away in time, and when the frozen image of Soronmon's head struck the grouping they became encased in a large block of ice, each of them frozen in place in whatever position they had been standing in. Their eyes blinked and roamed around, but they were all completely immobilized and out.

Soronmon landed back on the stage to massive cheers and applause and Leon shouldered his gunblade with a smile as Tifa placed her hands on her hips with a smile of her own. "Well," Leon said, coming up to the two digimon as a victory fanfare played, "I guess this means that we all move on." He looked into the throng of competitors still watching from their seats, and his eyes found the proud look on Kairi's face. "Alright Your Highness," he said, "you're up next."

-A-D-

**Preliminaries: Round 3**

Kairi and Naminé both stepped on, their mail armour already on and the tabards with the Star Seeker over the teardrop shield with its crown top on display and their Keyblades and Naminé's steely-blue shield, with the image of Roxas' pendant embossed in silver, out. Kairi's bronze bracers and greaves were modelled like Naminé's, like a rolled leaf engraved with a star pattern. After the first round, that look had instantly become a crowd pleaser, and the whole crowd was eagerly waiting to see what these two new Keyblade Wielders could do after what Sora and Roxas had exhibited earlier. The two princesses looked behind them, observing the massive piece of ice that had been removed from the stage, the ice slowly melting away while some others took chisels and hammers to it to speed up the process of freeing the four competitors who had been caught in it.

"I could do that," Naminé said, nodding her head in what could have been approval at what Soronmon had accomplished.

Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were across from Kairi and Naminé, the three Gullwings with their own weapons in hand. Yuna with her pistols, Rikku with her daggers with the circular hilts, and Paine with her sword with the skull on the hilt. The heroes that also stood in the ring numbered at ten, but Kairi had the feeling that between the infighting that would occur between the ten of them as well as the ones that the Gullwings would fight, those ten wouldn't last long.

Plus, Kairi wanted to show off a little. Her Master was watching, maybe if he saw what she could do, she'd feel better about the prospects of taking him on.

The trumpets took up the tune, and Kairi began to speak with Naminé as she started to count down in her head. _Nami, do you think you can do something to keep those guys off me for a few seconds?_

_What's your plan?_

Kairi lowered her head and stared at the middle of the ring. _Skyfyre._

Naminé glanced at her. _You really like that one don't you?_ Kairi sent a feeling of assent towards her sister.

_BONG!_

"You got it Kairi," Naminé said, letting go of the second strap of her shield and slamming her fists together. She brought both her hands back behind her, snowflakes starting to form around her fingers. "Ice Make… Serpent!" She thrust her hands back out in front of her, and from them a giant snake burst out, hissing in an icy voice as a chill wind blew around it. The others all stopped and stared at it for a few moments, the serpent lunging forward and hissing, snapping its ice jaws.

Kairi began to chant. "Sing now the hymn of the phoenix, the eternal fires of heaven and of hell…"

Yuna opened fire on one of the competitors, the woman blocking with both shield and fast movements of her sword. Two teams of two made a silent pact and moved forward on the serpent, while another team of three tried to go around towards Naminé. One of them held forward a small staff, and cried out a word that was indistinguishable over the hissing of Naminé's ice serpent. A bolt of lightning shot out of the staff, and Naminé raised her shield up and the bolt struck the top left quarter.

"…let Tartarus be forever lit by your falling effigy…"

"You might want to hurry up Kairi," Naminé said. She pointed her Keyblade, and the serpent she had created lunged for the three that were in front of her. They all jumped back, but the four who had been warily pacing about the serpent now leapt forward, their swords reaching for the vulnerable body of the creature of ice. Chinks appeared in the ice-serpent's body as the swords struck it and small chips flew out.

"…I stand at the maw of the dragon of the skies to open its blazing gullet…"

The snake hissed and turned its head and lashed back at them with its tail. The construct caught three in their chests and pushed them back, while another rolled underneath and started to run for Kairi, yelling and raising his sword.

Naminé glanced back from where she had just blocked a hero's strike with Nobody's Pride. If he got to Kairi before she was done, the interruption could cause a catastrophic misfire, or the spell could just fail utterly. Naminé raised her shield in front of her, and the metal object blazed with bright golden light. The three opponents in front of her ducked their heads, blinded, and Naminé released her grip on it and directed her left hand out towards her sister. "Shielding Moonlight!"

A bubble of opal light surrounded Kairi just as the hero began to bring his sword down. It struck against the barrier, and the man found that he couldn't penetrate it.

"…Let the flame of the heavens rain down upon my enemy," Kairi finished, opening her eyes and glaring into the eyes of the hero that stood just beyond the shield Naminé had placed between her and him. "Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!" Her hands went up to the sky before dropping to her sides, her back arching forward. The blue sky became covered in dark clouds, flashing with red light like lightning in the clouds. All the combatants stopped and stared at the sky.

Naminé's ice serpent slithered into the centre of the ring and lashed out at the other competitors, spooking them and drawing their attention. Simultaneously, Naminé broke off from the three she had been fighting and rushed for Kairi, just as the girl had sliced Crowning Flame against the back of the leather jerkin the hero facing her wore. He collapsed to the ground and Naminé grabbed Kairi's arm. "Yuna, Rikku, Paine! Over here!"

"Why?" Rikku asked.

"Don't ask questions," Paine said, grabbing Rikku's arm. "Move." The three Gullwings came over to where Naminé and Kairi were, Naminé's serpent still keeping the others busy.

"Radiant Light," Kairi said, rapidly weaving a sigil in the air in front of them with the tip of Crowning Flame, the Keyblade leaving golden threads of light behind, "protect us, Divine Guard." She placed the Keyblade flat against the sigil, and it pulsed with white light for a moment.

Naminé looked up. Fireballs as large as fully grown cows were falling from the sky, black trails of smoke following them. "Down," she said, dismissing her Keyblade and shield and reaching out with both hands to grab Yuna's and Paine's shoulders. Kairi grabbed Rikku, and she gave a small yelp as the two Keyblade Wielding Princesses of Heart dropped a foot as they knelt down. A transparent dome composed of honeycomb pieces of golden light formed above them. Naminé waved one last time at her ice serpent, and the creature knocked another two of the competitors aside with a lash of its tail before slithering up to the golden honeycomb dome. It wrapped its body around, and hissed at the competitors in the ring, flicking its forked tongue of ice.

Then the Skyfyre hit, and the serpent began hissing and writhing in pain as the cow-sized meteors struck it, blasting chunks out of its body or otherwise melting the ice it was made of. Shrieks and cries came from the other competitors as the fireballs struck them, and the whole ring was obscured by the flames and smoke that remained on the stone that cracked beneath the fireballs.

They stopped falling, and the dome of golden light dissipated. Kairi got out quickly with a horrified look on her face as the smoke began to clear, her feet splashing in the puddles of water created from what had once been Naminé's ice serpent. The other ten competitors were all on the ground, moving very little and moaning. "I am _so_ sorry," Kairi said as she came up to one woman who was lying on her stomach. "Are you okay? I overdid it, didn't I?"

"That was some meteor shower," someone groaned woozily.

"Nah, you didn't overdo it," the woman who Kairi was kneeling next to moaned as she started to pick herself up. "Well…" she raised her hand, showing her forefinger and thumb almost touching, "maybe just a little."

"Anyone need help?" Yuna asked. Most of the flames had died out by now. All around, the ten other competitors were getting back to their feet, or being helped up by Paine or Rikku.

"We're good," a man said, rolling his shoulders. "But, (he laughed) you won. That's for sure." He nodded respectfully at Kairi with a smile on his handsome face underneath a short crop of black hair, and the others did as well. A couple of people started to shake Kairi's and Naminé's hands, and the crowd, seeing that everyone was a-okay, cheered wildly as the trumpets sounded a victory fanfare.

Only then, after seeing that nobody was hurt badly, did Kairi allow herself to smile and bask in the triumphant feeling of victory in the Games. She pumped a fist and high-fived Naminé, and saw Rikku raising her hands and turning around, blowing kisses to the crowd. The auburn-haired princess then looked to the seats in front of the pavilion, and blew a kiss herself to a beaming Sora. Her eyes shifted right and she gulped, staring into Master's watching eyes. His expression was neutral, but then she was _just_ able to see his mouth twitch into a small smile as he nodded his head.

Euphoria leapt up into Kairi's heart and she felt like dancing, but held back as she looked for the King. "You're up next, Your Majesty."

-A-D-

"See," Sora said as Kairi came and sat down next to him, Menelmon fluttering down onto her right shoulder, "told you you could do it."

"That was about taking on Master," Kairi answered him. "But, you were right, in a way." She leant forward, the mail shirts both of them were still wearing jangling as they touched one another, and shared a short one-point-five second smooch with her boyfriend. "Thanks for the confidence boost Sora."

"And you were great too Naminé," Yuffie added. "When did you learn how to make stuff like that out of ice?"

Naminé just smiled and sat down next to Roxas. "I spent a lot of time training this past month Yuffie," she answered.

Yuffie nodded her head, and then her eyes started to widen and she let out a small gasp. Kairi noticed the gasp and turned to look at Yuffie, then looked at where Yuffie was looking, and the auburn-haired princess gasped herself. "Naminé!"

"Hm?" Naminé asked. "What?"

"What are you doing?" Yuffie asked her incredulously.

"Oh she just does that," Riku said dismissively, "don't pay any attention to it, unless you want to of course."

"Doing what?" Naminé asked. She was still unaware that her hands had subconsciously gone to the hem of her mail shirt and had been pulling it up, revealing her alabaster skin beneath and just about to show the base of her bra-covered bust. Then she stopped, and noticed, and flushed as she dropped the shirt back down.

"What happened to the rest of your outfit?" Sora asked. Her bottoms, the yellow, white, and silver miniskirt, was still there along with the thick black edging above its back, but for the rest of her white dress and the yellow, white, and silver vest she had had with the attached black hood, there was no sign whatsoever.

"I don't know," Naminé said. "But thanks for stopping me. I didn't even notice."

"Apparently," Selphie muttered.

"Hush," Riku said. "They're starting soon."

-A-D-

**Preliminaries: Round 4**

King Mickey Mouse smiled as he stood next to Donald and Goofy, holding the Reverse Kingdom Key in his small hand. Donald and Goofy were waving to the crowd, some of whom likely recognized seeing them in the tournaments previously held in the Coliseum just as they had with Sora.

At another place in the ring stood Tidus with Olette and Kia, the three soldiers sizing up the competition. Tidus knew that there was no chance that they'd be able to bring down King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, but if they were able to keep from being eliminated until the end and continue on, then they stood a chance to go up a few more rounds. He kinda wished that Wakka could have come instead of Kia, but Wakka was in a completely different battalion and he and Kia were in the same platoon, they'd be working together throughout everything ahead.

Then again, while Wakka was in Baker Company, Hayner, Pence and Selphie were all in Abel Company in the same battalion, so why didn't Baker send a group if both Abel and Easy did?

"So what's the plan?" Kia asked, her hand reaching back towards her quiver but not taking an arrow.

"Survive," Tidus answered, shaking away his thoughts. He took off his open-faced celeta helmet and passed a hand over his forehead before donning the protective again. "We keep together. Draw into a corner. I'll keep the front clear of anyone who comes at us. You two back me up. Sound good?"

"No," Kia said suddenly. Tidus looked at her in surprise as she slung her bow across her back again. Her hand jerked out the dirk she'd been issued and Kia stood next to him. "We'll both cover the front, and Olette can back us up."

"Sounds good to me," the brunette said, nodding her head. The trumpets were sounding, and then the gong gave its loud _BONG!_ Olette brought her small staff out in front of her. "Protectga!" she said, blue light surrounding her, Tidus, and Kia before settling into their armour and skin. All three of them bent their knees and Tidus and Kia had both moved a little further up. Tidus was rotating his wrist slowly, the crystal blue Brotherhood moving along with it while he had a smaller shield than his previously issued one strapped onto his forearm, but leaving his left hand free.

On the other side, Mickey had already dashed right in with Donald and Goofy at his side. His golden Keyblade went up and down as the King jumped and hopped. The Reverse Kingdom Key slapped against the weapons of the other competitors, slapped against their shins and wrists, and stunned them with blows to their chests. Donald and Goofy were right there with him, Donald's staff bopping them on their heads as the duck jumped up or capping them on the knees, and Goofy's shield barrelling into their chests and knocking them down. Teams were falling left, right, and centre to the trio from Disney Castle.

Tidus, Olette, and Kia watched it all happening, knowing that so long as they hunkered down and gave the King no reason to come after them that they would be alright. One man turned and ran from the terrible mouse, spotted them, and charged, smelling a quicker win against three young teenagers than the mouse. He was tall, with a leather jerkin and skirt like many of the others. He bore a plumed Greek helmet, a long cavalry sword, and a round wooden shield with spotted cow's hide on it.

Olette pointed her staff over Tidus' right shoulder. A small fireball shot out from the weapon, the crackling sound of the hot flames loud in Tidus' ear for the instant that it was there. The charging man raised his shield, blocking the projectile. More small fireballs shot out from Olette's small staff, but each one thudded against the hero's shield as he charged their position. Olette pulled back a step and Tidus took one forward as the man stabbed his sword out towards him. Tidus raised his left arm, catching the sword's point with his shield at an angle sufficient to make the blade slide away from his body, and made to elbow the hero in the face. Once more the man's shield moved to block, but he didn't quite make it in time and Tidus' elbow was able to ram into his nose.

The hero staggered back a step or two and Tidus sliced the Brotherhood across his body, catching the edge of the shield in the hook of the Brotherhood. He wrenched it out wide and Kia dove in under him, placing her dagger's point square against the leather jerkin on the man's chest.

"I'm out!" he declared, raising his arms above his head. Going up against these three might have been easier than facing the dreaded mouse king and his dog and duck friends, but that didn't mean that they would be going down to him. He just hadn't thought that it would be settled within one strike.

The crowd cheered and a victory fanfare played as Tidus looked around, confused. But then he saw that the only teams left standing were theirs and King Mickey's. The King, Donald, and Goofy had beaten the others faster than he'd expected.

He, Kia, and Olette didn't exactly cheer, because they'd only defeated one other combatant, but they did smile at each other and nod their heads. They would be heading on to the next round, even if only because all the other teams had focused on trying to take out the King, and failed utterly. Tidus looked at the others in front of the pavilion. Hayner, Pence, and Selphie were up next.

-A-D-

Sora's eyes widened exponentially when he saw who was going into the ring with Hayner, Selphie, and Pence. A man with short black hair wearing a mostly red coat, his left hand held within the folds of the coat. A white jug of sake was strapped to the black belt that went around his coat and kept the fold that held his arm up, and in his right hand was a long and powerful sword with one edge, like an oversized knife.

"Auron's in this tournament?" he asked incredulously, looking at his friends.

"What! Auron?" Tidus said, nearly falling out of his chair as he leaned forward. He'd just sat down too.

"What's Sir Auron doing here?" Yuna asked. "I thought… I thought that he was sent to the Farplane the same time as your father Tidus?"

"Well," Tidus began. "Since my old man and I aren't from Spira he could never have been sent to the Farplane after we defeated him. I have no idea where he is now, probably died, but Auron definitely should not be here."

"Hades called him up from the Underworld to fight last time," Goofy said. "Maybe he's done so again?"

Rikku shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "From what I've heard about Hades, Auron'd never go along with anything he says."

"He did last time," Donald said. "But that was because Hades had taken his free will away."

"So why is Sir Auron here then?" Yuna asked again. "Is he actually here to compete?"

"Looks like it," Paine muttered.

-A-D-

**Preliminaries: Round 5**

"So what's our plan?" Pence asked, looking between Hayner and Selphie.

"Same as Tidus'," Hayner answered. "Hold our own and survive. Some of these guys look pretty tough."

"Yeah," Selphie said, looking around, "especially that guy over there." She nodded her head towards one side away from the ten others spaced around the ring. There was a man in red standing there. While he looked like he had a wounded arm, with the way it was hanging limply in the sleeve of his haori, his dark stubble, sunglasses, and the big sword he held in his right hand with its point down made him much more intimidating than the rest of the competition. "He's almost like Garda," she murmured to herself.

"Get ready," Hayner intoned quietly. Selphie nodded her helmeted head and took her shield from her back while Pence readied his staff. She really didn't like the celeta helmet she wore; it cramped her illogical bouncy hairstyle.

_BONG!_

Selphie and Hayner both came to the front of their corner, almost mimicking Tidus' group's strategy in keeping their caster safe from a frontal attack, except in this round it looked like some of the other competitors had watched how easily Tidus, Olette, and Kia had advanced by staying out of the action, and were not about to let a similar group get away with the same tactic.

Hayner reacted quickly when one hero came towards him, moving his sword up with both arms to block a downward slash of his opponent's sword. His muscles, nothing to be scoffed at after all the time he had spent training for Struggle and the month and a bit he'd spent under the military regime of physical exercise, still strained to hold back the man's strike. With great effort, Hayner pushed him off and sent his sword arcing out horizontally for the man's chest. He leapt back and away from the boy from Twilight Town, readying a shield in his left hand. Hayner took a couple of steps forward to both give Pence a little bit of room to work his magic and allow some room for himself to manoeuvre without being pressed against the edge of the ring, and mentally prepared himself for a counterattack.

Another 'hero' was coming right for Selphie, this one a female who looked about ten years older than her, and had the size to prove it against the newly-turned sixteen-year-old. A round buckler of a similar size to Selphie's was in her left hand, but unlike Selphie, who wielded a plain, unimaginative sword in her right, the weapon borne by this woman was a mace with blunted spikes on its oblong iron head. She struck first, swinging the mace down for Selphie's left side, possibly to bash the girl's shield out of the way.

Selphie did as the woman wanted, and defended against the blow with the shield's upper half, holding it fast against the powerful stroke that sent a small shudder through her arm. She didn't press for a counter though, and the female 'hero' seemed to take that to be a sign of inexperience. Her mace came in again, this time sweeping for Selphie's unprotected right side.

The brunette of sixteen smirked to herself and quickly took a pace back with her right foot, pivoting her left so that her body was facing the oncoming weapon. The girl's sword darted down, intercepting the mace and driving it downwards. Just as the shock was showing on the woman's face, Selphie yelled a bolstering shout and drove forward towards the woman's face with her shield. It connected squarely with her forehead, and a cut formed there.

A grunting shout of surprise and pain left the woman's lips as she swept her own shield across her body to knock Selphie's away and she tried to back up. But now Selphie had the initiative, and wasn't about to let it up for any munny. Just the thought of twenty million munny in total cash prizes had her hankering for all the shoes and outfits she could get with even _one_ of the prizes! She turned her body again slightly, her blade arcing high and coming down towards her foe's chest. The female ''hero' just got her shield up in time to deflect the blow, and wiped some of the blood off of her bleeding forehead with her right arm.

"Not bad kid," she said approvingly. "But I'm hardly out yet." A quick shriek left her lips as something blasted into her shield, and even Selphie's eyes had barely been able to pick it up as a small lightning bolt shot out from Pence's staff. The shield momentarily out of the way, Selphie wedged her sword in underneath it, slicing against the woman's leather jerking. She twisted away after the strike and brought her mace down for Selphie's head. The girl raised her sword up to block, and manoeuvred her body underneath her arm so that after the block she could ram her buckler into her opponent's chest. This time though, the shield met her other's shield, and the two were stopped.

"You gonna say anything?" the woman asked her, Selphie straining to push back with equal force to what her foe was giving.

"Yeah," Selphie told her. "It'd make a really great birthday present for me if I won."

"Well congratulations on the birthday," the woman replied, grinning through the blood that was still rolling down from the cut on her forehead. "But a birthday isn't going to convince me to lose." She shoved harder, and Selphie went sprawling to the ground as she lost her footing.

"Protect!" Pence shouted, pointing his staff at Selphie. A blue grow surrounded her, and the woman quickly looked up at the spellcaster. True to Hayner and Selphie's intentions, their actions had kept him safe, even as both of them had continued to fight against their respective opponents. All that had left for Pence to do was exploit any openings he found, and with Selphie knocked onto the ground, the way was clear for him to not have to worry about friendly fire.

Sparks jittered over the little hat that topped his staff, and he pointed it right for Selphie's opponent. A thunderbolt crackled out and struck her right in the chest, stunning the woman for a moment.

That moment was exactly what Selphie needed to recover. She kicked out with her legs and tripped up her opponent, sending the older woman down to the ground. Selphie sprang right onto the woman's chest, and placed her sword's tip against the skin of her neck.

She seemed surprised by her defeat, but smiled, even in disappointment. "Good match," she told the girl. "It's not often that I'm beaten, especially by two kids."

Selphie giggled slightly and pulled off her helmet. "That's what teams are for," she said proudly, glancing back at Pence, who gave her a thumbs-up. She looked back at her opponent and got off of her chest. The woman started to rise and Selphie asked, "So where's yours?"

"Probably getting walloped by your buddy," she said humourously, turning to look.

"Is that the best you can do!"

The man who had first engaged Hayner had shouted that line, though with how many times it looked like Hayner had struck him and the effort the man had taken to do the same to the Twilight Towner, he appeared to be quite tired.

"Just give it a rest already," Hayner told him.

"Not on your life kid!" the guy retorted, grinning. "I'm having fun." Selphie's opponent sighed and slowly walked up to him, her shapely hips swaying ever so slightly. She tapped him on his shoulder and he looked away from spying Hayner from over his shield. "Huh?"

"That's enough Raul," she said with a humoured smile, "we're done here."

"What?" he asked, shocked. "But… Tess!"

She gripped his shoulder and gently guided him away. "Come on," she said, like speaking to a dog that was whining at her, "let's go sit back and watch the rest."

"B—but…but…! Our match ain't over yet kid!" Raul called, resisting Tess' pull and still vying to 'finish' things with Hayner.

"And maybe if you're good," Tess continued in an airy fashion while still putting just enough emphasis on her words to make it sound cute, "I'll buy you some of those mini-donuts they're selling."

Raul stopped and stared at her. "Mini-donuts?"

She nodded.

"See ya kid!"

Selphie giggled a little bit as Tess started to lead him away from Hayner. The woman stopped and looked at Selphie. "By the way, happy B-Day, uh…"

"Selphie," replied the girl with a happy smile on her face.

"Selphie," Tess repeated. She extended her hand. "I'm Tess."

Selphie shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. That's Hayner, and that's Pence."

"Hey."

"Hi!" Pence said. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Tess said, nodding her head at the two boys. She kept a grip on Raul's shoulder and looked into the crowd of other contestants. "Mar-Mar, time to go!"

_WHUMP _was the sound as a big man with short pants and only a couple of belts on his chest banged the heads of two different competitors, almost the last two, together. "What was that Tess?" he asked.

"I lost and Raul was in denial so we're going," Tess answered.

'Mar-Mar' nodded his head. "Have fun."

"You're coming too."

"Aw… but why Tess?"

"She's buying mini-donuts!"

"Well that settles things," Mar-Mar said, dropping the two competitors he was still holding on to and taking a step towards them. He stopped and glanced back at the ring. He was still technically in the fight, and so were Selphie, Hayner, and Pence, and the old guy in the red haori. "Hey, can I just finish off that old guy so that he doesn't advance by default?"

Tess smiled and sighed. "Fine, whatever you want. Just so long as you hurry up Mar-Mar."

"I will I will, don't get your knickers in a knot," he chuckled, turning away towards the man with black hair who was dressed in red and carrying the giant katana. He hadn't budged an inch since the gong rang. In fact, Selphie wasn't even sure if he knew what was going on from beneath his sunglasses.

"No hard feelings," Mar-Mar said, winding his fist back.

"Know your place."

Mar-Mar paused at the words the old guy had spoken. "What was that?"

The man suddenly pushed off with his left arm, and the sleeve of his haori fell away to reveal a tanned and muscled arm. Hiding beneath the robe was a black metal breastplate over a built chest, but the man's initial move was mostly for show, as what followed happened so quickly that Selphie couldn't believe it. He turned away to his right, and then returned the other way, swinging his sword out in an arc by its flat edge. It struck Mar-Mar right in the chest, and the big man was launched several feet into the air before landing on his back, wheezing air into his crushed lungs.

"Crap, Mar-Mar!" Tess said, quickly going to his side with Raul.

The man in red came up to them and looked over his round sunglasses at Mar-Mar's downed form. "He'll be alright," he said. "Just give him a few minutes to rest." He looked up as a victory fanfare started to play, and glanced towards Hayner, Selphie, and Pence. "Hmph, let's go."

-A-D-

"Wow," Kairi muttered. "That Auron guy sent him flying with just one hit."

Tidus smirked. "That's Auron for ya."

Roxas' stomach growled and he looked down at it. "I think I'm going to get something to eat," he said, watching out of the corner of his eye as Selphie and the others left the ring amidst the sounds of the crowd.

"Alright," Sora said, glancing at him. "And bring me back something will ya?"

"You'd better hurry though," Kairi told him seriously. "Riku and Yuffie's match will be starting soon." Roxas waved it off.

"Don't worry," he assured her, "I'll be back in time." He got up and left the seats in front of the competitors' pavilion to head inside. Roxas glanced around furtively as he exited from another flap in the pavilion. Nobody was paying him any attention at all. His voice dropped into a low whisper. "Harima."

**Yes, my liege?**

Roxas turned, and kneeling behind him was the Samurai Nobody. Roxas' stomach grumbled again, and Harima's head moved up only slightly, as if curious. Roxas blushed a little. "Hey, I know that I really shouldn't be asking you this, because it just seems like I'm belittling you, but I also don't want to miss the match and…"

**Your point, my lord?**

"Right," Roxas said, rubbing the back of his head, "the point. Um… do you think you could go and get me some ice cream?"

If the lesser Nobodies had actual eyes, Harima would have blinked in surprise. As it was, he stayed quiet for a few seconds. **You wish me to procure some ice cream for you my liege?**

"Er… yes," Roxas answered.

**Like the kind you used to eat with The Assassin Lord, Axel?**

"Yeah." Even to Roxas' own ears his voice was lame. He shook his head. "Never mind, it was stupid. I'll go get it myse—"

**No,** Harima's voice echoed. **If my liege commands me to bring him some ice cream, then by my life or death, I **_**will**_** procure for him some ice cream!** The Samurai stood, and looked around. His gaze became transfixed on something. **You return to your seat milord, I shall bring you your frozen treat momentarily.**

Harima began to walk away, and Roxas watched him with a slight smile. This sure was efficient. His smile dropped though in another instant and Roxas then gasped as he saw what Harima was looking at and walking towards. A boy with curly black hair was slowly ambling back to his seat, a bar of sea-salt ice cream on a stick being casually lapped up by his diminutive pink tongue.

"Gya! Harima, stop!" Roxas called, rushing up to the Nobody and placing a hand on his shoulder. The Samurai looked at him.

**Is something the matter my liege?**

"Were you about to take that kid's ice cream for me?" Roxas asked. "And be honest."

**The boy has your favourite flavour of ice cream. Furthermore, you desire ice cream. What logical conclusion do these two statements make?**

"You can't just take ice cream from people!" Roxas told him. "That's wrong."

**Wrong?**

Roxas almost groaned. For a group of loyal servants who remained loyal because he had respected them and treated them fairly, they sure were finding it difficult to do so to others themselves. "Taking something from someone that does not belong to you means that you do not respect them."

**But I do not respect him my liege. He has done nothing to earn my respect.**

"He also hasn't done anything for you to disrespect him," Roxas pointed out quickly. "There's a certain thing called mutual respect, in which respect is given for no reason. There doesn't have to be a reason to respect someone, but there _must_ be one to disrespect them. You understand?"

The Samurai looked back at the boy, and his smiling face. **I cannot say that I do, Lord Roxas.**

This time Roxas did sigh and looked down slightly at the Samurai, since there was only a small height difference between him and his Nobodies. "Alright, let's try it this way then… Say, another one of the Samurai were to be walking down that street just like that kid over there, holding a bar of sea-salt ice cream. Would you take it?"

Harima shook his head instantly. **Without asking for it first? Never my liege.**

"And why is that?"

**Because to take something from one of my comrades, who will fight valiantly to the death by my side in our quest to regain our hearts, would break our trust and respect for one another, bring me dishonour, and be unforgivable.**

Roxas placed a hand to his chin in thought. "So… what if it were one of Nixion's Thunder Wielders then?"

**I would strike him down without hesitation and take his ice cream for you my liege.**

"Again, why?"

Harima paused. **The Thunder Wielders align themselves with your enemies. By extension, they are my enemies as well, and will attempt to harm us and hinder our plans. They must be eradicated if we are to succeed. They have chosen the wrong side to be on.**

"But they're still Nobodies, like you."

**They are not like us!** Harima voiced vehemently, sounding almost like a snarl in Roxas' mind. **They have made their choice, and will fall for it.** Suddenly the Samurai dropped onto his knees. **Forgive me my lord, I should not have shouted.**

"There's nothing to forgive," Roxas assured him with a gentle shake of his head. He tugged a little on the Samurai's arm and pulled him up. "Okay, now say that a Somebody, like me but not me, walked by with the ice cream. Would you take it?"

Harima looked again at the boy, who was now up in the stands with two adults who looked to be his parents and a girl who looked to be his older sister, laughing at a joke his sister had just told and eating his ice cream. This time the Samurai's pause was very pregnant, so much so that Roxas began to wonder if he would answer. Just as Roxas was about to open his mouth, a few words began to drift into his mind in a quiet voice. **I am… unsure my liege.**

Roxas nodded his head. "Good. I'll let you think on why, but I think I'm going to stick with you, and show you what I meant when I told you to get me some ice cream. I kinda wanted you to buy it from a vendor. Stay here for a sec." Harima nodded and Roxas turned and went back into the pavilion. He poked his head out at the seats, and noticed that Riku and Yuffie had already left along with Asterix and Obelix and a number of other competitors for the prelim that was about to start in a few minutes. Selphie and the others had come back too.

"Hey," he asked, drawing at least Sora's attention, "I'm getting ice cream, anybody want any?"

"A vanilla cone," Sora supplied.

"Ice cream?" Kairi asked. "Strawberry sundae please! With strawberry ice cream too, not vanilla!"

"No vanilla?" Sora asked her. "For a sundae?"

"Don't get me wrong," assured Kairi, "I like vanilla. I just want complete strawberries for this one."

"Triple Chocolate Chunk!" Naminé chirped, realizing what Roxas was offering. She held up her fingers while sending a steady stream of chilled air to her face with her other hand. She was feeling pretty hot, even if no one else was. "Three scoops please Roxas!"

"A fourteen scooper of Neapolitan, Rocky Road, Bubblegum, Vanilla, Chocolate, Cheesecake, Mango, Banana, Triple Chocolate Chunk, Fudge, Cookies and Cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Mint, and Chocolate Freckle Swirl; all topped with a drizzle of butterscotch, chocolate sprinkles, and gummi bears!" Selphie declared excitedly.

Roxas blinked and counted back through his head. How many different types of ice cream had the girl just named? And how was he supposed to remember it all? "Uh…"

"Here, I wrote it all down for you," Selphie told him, getting up and handing him a piece of paper. "I knew that having a wish list for ice cream would come in handy!"

Hayner laughed. "Just a bar of the usual for me man," he told him.

"And me!" Olette added.

"Yeah, me too," Pence chipped in. Roxas smiled.

"Got it," he said, nodding his head. "Any other requests?" Receiving responses in the negative, the blond strode back out through the pavilion and came across Harima in exactly the same spot he'd left him in. "Let's go, we're buying ice cream for the gang."

**You mean more than just yourself Lord Roxas?** Harima asked, following two paces behind Roxas and one to the Keyblade Master's right.

"Yes."

**Why?**

Roxas smiled slightly, thinking about the looks on his friends faces when they returned with the ice cream. It was warm out, hot to his girlfriend, so the cold treat would be greatly appreciated. "Because it's nice," he answered, "and it's the right thing to do."

**The right thing to do…** Harima murmured. Roxas nodded slightly as a gong went _BONG _to signify the beginning of the sixth round, but fell silent and let the Nobody leader of the Samurai think. The blond pulled out the list Selphie had given him and started to frown. He'd already added the others wishes to it and two sobering thoughts came to his head. How much was all of this going to cost him, and how would he even be able to carry it all back even with Harima? Selphie's demands alone were impossible! Maybe he should have asked for someone to come along and help. He clutched at the chain-mail shirt he had on and pulled it away from his body for a second before letting its weight and the tabard's resistance bring it back close to the light cotton long-sleeved shirt he had on underneath. It was a bit warm with it on.

He heard a bit of music playing and Roxas mumbled the words, "You just got pwned, eff-tee-double-yoo" to himself. He stopped and blinked. "Wait… that was the victory theme. Is it over already?"

"Roxasss!"

Roxas did a double-take and looked behind him. Running up behind him, her own mail coat glinting in the sunlight, was Kairi. He waited, his Samurai pausing behind him, and Kairi caught up. "I figured that you might want some help with all the ice cream," Kairi said conversationally, "especially with Selphie's."

Roxas smiled. "Thanks Kai, I appreciate it."

Kairi nodded her head. The girl then glanced curiously at the Samurai behind Roxas. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh," Roxas answered, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "Kairi, this is Harima, one of the three leaders of the Samurai Nobodies. Harima, this is my friend Kairi."

**The Princess of Heart,** Harima's voice softly drifted into Roxas' mind. **This is the same one that The Berserker Lord Saïx captured and was guarded a few months ago.**

"That's right," Roxas told him. "And she's my friend and Sora's girlfriend."

The Samurai dropped onto one knee and bent his head down. **I am honoured to be in your presence, Your Highness, and apologize for your incarceration. We had believed it to be a… necessary evil.**

"Uh…" Kairi said, eyeing the Samurai with confusion out of the corner of her eye while they wavered towards Roxas, "what's he doing Roxas?"

"You can't hear him?" Roxas asked. Kairi looked back at Harima and slowly shook her head. "Oh. Well, he said that he's honoured to be in your presence and says that he's sorry that the Organization imprisoned you."

"Oh," Kairi said simply, a small smile coming to her face. "That's nice. You can stand now… Harima, was it?" She looked at Roxas, and he nodded. "You can stand now Harima." The Samurai rose and nodded his head at the Princess.

Roxas scratch his head underneath his blond hair. "So… aren't you missing the match Kairi? Or is it actually already…?"

She nodded her head. "Yep. Over and done with already." She started to head out towards the midway.

"Get out of town," Roxas said, quickly catching up to her to walk next to the auburn-haired beauty. "They were done that fast? I mean, you and Nam were done really quick too, but that just seems unreal, compared to how long it took Sora and I."

Kairi smiled. "Well… you guys also didn't really do anything to cheat."

Roxas huffed. "You got that right. So what did Riku and Yuffie do?"

"For a start, Asterix and Obelix were also in their round," Kairi answered. "So, Obelix punched one guy, and it knocked him into four other guys and they went flying out of the ring and into a column and were stone-cold out of it. And then Yuffie used some ninja technique that made, like, twenty copies of her and they beat the crap out of everyone else, so the match was over in under twelve seconds." She caught the stunned expression on Roxas' face and added, "Riku and Asterix didn't even do anything, just sat back and watched. And Obelix complained that it was over too quickly."

Roxas chuckled weakly and shook his head. "We're just running through these guys aren't we?" he asked. "The only entertaining matches to watch so far were your digimon's and Hayner's." Kairi nodded and giggled slightly.

"Come on Roxas, let's get that ice cream. Race ya there!"

Roxas laughed as Kairi took off. "Hey, wait up! You call that running?"

Harima calmly followed them from behind, observing the actions of his lord with interest.

-A-D-

The next round had finished by the time Roxas and Kairi returned with ice creams in hand. Selphie practically leapt out of her seat to snatch the her cone with its teetering mountain of ice cream scoops from Kairi's hands, and within seconds she'd already incurred a brain-freeze from devouring the top scoop. She started to cough.

"Be careful with those gummi bears Selphie," Riku said humourously, "you never know when one of them will attack."

She pounded her chest with a fist, making a clanging noise as it banged against her breastplate, and cleared her throat. "Talk all you want Riku, but you're still going to be as popular as gummi bears because you're such a bishie."

He blinked as everyone else started to laugh. "What?" He turned as a hand grasped his shoulder. Yuffie was laughing so hard she was crying.

"She's right you know," Kairi said as she gave her boyfriend his ice cream. "Fangirls swarm to you like you're a piece of candy."

"Eye candy you mean Kai," Naminé corrected her, receiving her own ice cream from Roxas before her pink tongue came out and gently flicked at the chocolate concoction. "Mmm," she murmured, placing her lips against it and beginning to slowly meld with the top scoop.

Riku leaned back towards Sora, happily surprised after being handed a bar of sea-salt ice cream from Kairi, and eyed Naminé. "Is she making out with her ice cream?"

Sora was contemplatively quiet for a few seconds as he lapped up some of his vanilla cone. He placed his hand to his chin, like he was thinking, but there was a definite smirk on his face as he watched Naminé. "Yep, and in a very sexual way too."

"Can I have some ice cream Sora?" Aiwemon asked from his shoulder. Sora glanced at his partner, smiled, and raised the cone a little higher so that the bird digimon could enjoy it as well.

"We'd better watch her," Riku told him. "She could be trouble."

Yuffie giggled. "Kairi should watch her too," she said as the auburn-haired Princess of Heart sat back down with her strawberry sundae with strawberry ice cream. She paused just as she was dipping the red plastic spoon into the soft frozen confection and looked at Yuffie. The raven-haired kunoichi closed her eyes and grinned. "You could get some tips from your sister, and I'm sure Sora would like it."

Kairi's face became as red as her hair and she started to stutter. "Yu—Yuffie!" She looked to Sora, who was taking another 'bite' out of his cone. "Why aren't you backing me up here Sora?"

"Because she's right," Sora answered with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. "I would enjoy it." Riku laughed and Kairi scowled and shoved Sora's shoulder slightly.

"Perv," she muttered darkly before she placed her ice-cream laden spoon towards her mouth. "See if you're getting any anytime soon."

"Oh I can wait," Sora replied as Kairi's face melted under the influence of ice cream and strawberries. "I can wait as long as it takes until you're ready. The question is… can you?"

His girlfriend swallowed. "What's that supposed to mean?" she shot back.

"It means he thinks that you're dying to get some 'alone' time with him," Riku whispered into her ear. "So that he can do to you all the secret dirty things that make you blush."

Kairi recoiled slightly with a gasp, her blush deepening a little bit. "Sora… did you happen to tell Riku about our night-time escapades?"

"Maybe a hint or two without outright saying anything," Sora replied, "but you have now confirmed that we're normal hormonal teens. Congratulations."

"Nhg," Kairi grimaced, still blushing. Menelmon softly prodded her cheek with her own, and Kairi dipped the spoon into her sundae and offered some ice cream to her own partner while Riku and Yuffie laughed at the look on the girl's face. "Why the change in attitude Sora?"

"They get a kick out of it when we get riled up," Sora returned. "So I'm denying them their fun by being easy-going about it. Sure, we've done stuff and I've go—"

Sora's sentence was suddenly drowned out when his face became covered by a splash of pink. Kairi had shoved the remains of her sundae, about 92% of it in fact (including the strawberries!), directly into his face while her own expression had darkened.

"Baka!" she muttered with hostility. She smirked suddenly at a thought and Sora's vanilla cone was no longer in his hand but in hers. She took a lick, and a second later Kairi stood up so quickly that she nearly upset Menelmon on her shoulder, and marched off towards where King Mickey and Olette, people she _knew_ wouldn't start poking at the most private parts of her private life, were sitting.

"Hey Kairi!" Yuffie called just as Kairi was beginning to walk away, "does this mean that you were _lying_ to me earlier?" She ignored Yuffie.

Riku, Roxas, Naminé, Tidus, Hayner, and Selphie, meanwhile, were all laughing their faces off as Sora wiped the ice cream off of his face, revealing a sour look. "Dude," Tidus began seriously, forcing the words out of his mouth, "you looked better with the ice cream."

"Shut up," Sora retorted, aiming a swing of his automail arm at Tidus' head. He missed as the blond ducked. "Crap," the brunet continued, now looking at his hand, "now everything's going to be sticky. This blows."

The laughter died down in a minute. "Alright," Roxas asked, "who's going to start the pool for how long it's going to take Kairi to forgive Sora for almost giving out horny details for what they've done when they're alone?"

"I will," Selphie started, her eyes buzzing from the four scoops she'd already inhaled. "I give her two days."

"I'll take a week," Hayner chipped in.

"Six hours," Naminé answered confidently.

"Ooh, that's pretty low Naminé," stated Yuffie. "Are you sure you want to hedge your bet so low?"

The blond princess nodded her head. "Uh-huh!" She took another few licks of her ice cream. "Oh-ho-ho, by Demeter, this is _so_ good," she said before placing her lips to it and softly biting through it with just that part of her mouth. "I love triple chocolate chunk. Oh, Roxas… why have I not read Issue #59 of _The Adventures of Mr. Incredible_ yet?"

"And here we go again," Sora muttered with a tiny smile. "Jeez, she's addicted to those comic books."

Roxas was flustered. "Well, because I haven't finished reading it yet! I like looking at the holographic cover. It almost makes me not want to open it because the cover looks so cool."

"If you let me have it, and the other three, I'll have sex with you tonight."

Queue ten seconds of stunned silence.

"Naminé!" Riku hissed. "You can't trade sex for comic books or people are going to start thinking you're a hooker and not a princess."

"No!" Roxas said. "And… NO! That came completely out of the blue and… no! And I don't want our first time to be that way… that… meaningless. No!"

Naminé sighed and curled a finger through her hair, now realizing that in her need for the comic book she'd made the whole conversation awkward, probably even more awkward than when she'd gotten on her knees and begged to just be allowed to touch even one issue of the serialization and called her boyfriend 'Master'. A blush was rampant on her cheeks and she almost buried her face in her hands, except that there was something already in her hands.

"I'll give you my ice cream," she returned triumphantly, extending the delicious tri-scoop frozen chocolate confection towards her boyfriend's face.

"DONE!" Roxas exclaimed, mysteriously producing all four holographic covered books of the arc, from Issue #57 to Issue #60, out from somewhere underneath his chain mail shirt. Naminé handed over the ice cream the same time that Roxas handed over the four comic books. Both of their eyes were shining pearls of differing shades of blue as they gazed at their prizes.

Sora sweat-dropped. Somehow, even though Roxas would reject giving comic books for sex, the only thing that could get the situation under control was for them to play to each other's addictions: Naminé to her love of comic books and Roxas to his love of ice cream.

Riku shrugged, finding the defused situation almost comical. "Meh, I give Kairi twenty hours to forgive this meatbag," Riku said, jerking his thumb at Sora, "tops."

"Hey," Sora spoke up, glaring at Kairi after wiping enough of the sundae and strawberries from his face, she had his ice cream, "can we get off this topic? And stay away from the previous topic too?" He watched as Kairi took several licks of what had once been _his_ vanilla cone, half the thing already gone, and he continued. "Anybody know what we should do after this match is over?"

"You mean besides throwing you into the pool to get rid of your stagnant ice cream smell?"

Sora just snorted at Riku.

"I know what I'm doing!" Naminé beamed, stars in her eyes as she gazed at the four comic books now between her fingers.

"Well," Roxas began, now munching on two different ice creams, "that all depends on what happens when this is over."

"Okay, so assuming that Phil _doesn't_ make us do anything and lets us go, what should we do?"

"Well first we're going to toss you into the pool," Tidus began. "Then I say we take a walk through the midway. There's bound to be some cool stuff there that we could buy, just to show everybody—" he stopped, his voice breaking, and he finished in a quiet voice, "back home…"

Seeing that the need to get them off the topic of Destiny Islands, considering what had happened to the families of most of those Islanders present, Yuffie quickly came to the rescue. "How about we play cards?" she asked, a gleam in her eyes. "I got pretty good when I was away."

"What?" Aiwemon asked as Sora's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "But, weren't you by yourself? Whoever did you play cards with?"

"Well just me, myself, and I of course!" Yuffie beamed.

"That's great Miss Yuffie," Selphie began, "but only one person can play solitaire at a time."

"I told you, I'm not your teacher anymore Selphie, just call me The Great Ninja Yuffie! And who says that I got good at solitaire?" she asked lazily. "I still stink at that game. No, I was thinking of whooping your butts in something with a little more… panache?"

Yuffie was rubbing her fingers together and Sora and Riku looked at her with a competitive gleam in their eyes. "The game?" Sora asked.

"That can be decided later," Yuffie answered eagerly. "I'll enjoy cleaning you two out at anything. Regardless, buy-in is 500 munny. Get ready to become dirt-poor suckas."

"What about craps?" Selphie asked quickly, an insane look on her face. "I've got some dice with me."

"Or maybe a game of crud with munny on the line," Hayner proposed.

"Why can't we just play cards for fun?" Tidus interjected. "Why does there have to be munny involved?"

"Because," Yuffie answered, "all of us made it into the actual tournament, which means that all of us are guaranteed a cash prize. Now Phil said that there would be 20,000,000 munny in total right?" The group nodded their heads. "Alright, so traditionally the first place team would get double what the second place gets, and they get double what those in the semis and lost get, and they get double the quarterfinal losers and them double the first round dropouts… so… does anybody have a calculator?"

"No," Sora answered.

Yuffie shrugged. "Oh well, we'll all have munny to burn. The sky's the limit and Casino Olympus is open for business," she announced. She looked down at the ring just as the gone went _BONG. _"Right after this match."

-A-D-

The final preliminary match took a short time to decide. Sade and Sikora both performed brilliantly. Sade, armed with a long cavalry sword, fought his hardest against every opponent he came against, and while he struggled a little, both with the weight of the weapon and the skill of his opponents, his sister was always a step behind him with a spear and an array of mild magical spells to bring their foes down. They made it through okay. Also victorious was a pair of young men with swords and shields who Sora's crew didn't know.

Not long after, Philocetes called all the competitors who made it through the preliminaries to the ring. They all came up and stood in a line in the order in which they won. Sora and Roxas stood next to Percy Jackson's team; Aiwemon and Menelmon were next to Tifa and Leon; Kairi and Naminé stood with Yuna, Rikku, and Paine; King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were with Tidus, Kia, and Olette; Hayner, Pence, and Selphie stood alongside Auron; Riku and Yuffie were together with Asterix and Obelix; Garda stood with a man with an iron celeta helmet on and wearing metal armour similar to Hercules', and Sade and Sikora were with the two they had just fought with.

"You've all done well," Phil said, Hercules standing next to him. "Tomorrow we will begin the first round of the tournament with the teams you see standing alongside you. It will be divided into two brackets: you got your East and you got your West. Competitors are expressly forbidden from watching the matches occurring in the other bracket, and I did not just make that up; it's rule #42 in the rulebook."

"Well at least he's added it since then," the warrior next to Garda muttered.

"We will begin at nine thirty in the morning tomorrow with all matches in the first round in the West bracket, followed by the first round in the East. We will then proceed to the Quarterfinals of each bracket, and the Semi-finals and Final matches will take place in the morning and afternoon Sunday. Is this all coming through clear?"

"You got it Phil," Goofy answered.

"Good!" Phil remarked, nodding. "Now, let's take a look at the first-round matchups. Step forward when your name is called." He looked up at Hercules.

"Starting in the West," Hercules began. "The Key Masters vs. Camp Half-Blood." Sora and Roxas stepped forward, and Percy, Annabeth, and Grover did too.

Sora smiled and shook Percy's hand. "Good luck Percy," he said.

"Yeah, you too Sora," Percy replied.

"Next, Digital Champions vs. … well if I'll be, Zack Fair." Hercules smiled as Aiwemon and Menelmon flew forward, and the man next to Garda took a step forward as well. He took off his helmet to reveal spikes of black hair and eyes of sky blue.

"I told you I'd become a Hero someday Herc," Zack said.

"Nice to see you here Zack," Hercules said. "We'll have to catch up later. Okay, next match, The Key Mistresses vs. Indomitable Gauls." Kairi and Naminé stepped forward, as did Asterix and Obelix.

Asterix took one look at Kairi and Naminé and looked at Hercules. "Might we have a different team opposing us?"

"Why's that?" Phil asked. "You can't handle the girls?"

"It's a crime to hit women where we come from," Asterix answered simply.

"Really?" Naminé asked.

"To a man's pride and honour," he answered. "And that's enough."

"Sorry pal," Phil told him, "but the lots we drew paired you two up. Either you go through with it, or you forfeit the match."

"Then we forfeit," Obelix said quickly.

"Okay then," Herc said, "so the Key Mistresses have now been seeded directly into the Quarterfinals, well done girls." Kairi looked at Naminé with a half-hearted smile, but disappointment was evident from both girls. "And the last round in the West, Garda vs. Twin Blades." Garda took two mighty steps forward, his black claymore resting on his back, and glanced at the two unknowns who had been standing next to Sade and Sikora. They gazed back at him with determination and apprehension vying for control.

"Now, the East. Night and Day vs. The Gullwings." Riku and Yuffie came forward, as did Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. "Next, Disney's Trio vs. The Lionhearted." King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy each took a pace forward and smiled at Leon and Tifa. "Easy's Champions vs. Island Siblings." Tidus, Olette, and Kia looked at Sade and Sikora, the soldiers of Easy Company giving friendly smiles to the younger pair from Destiny Islands, smiles which were only half-heartedly returned. "And the final first round match in the West, Abel's Best vs. Auron." Selphie gulped as she looked at Auron, the grizzled warrior taking an easy step forward with his arm slung within his haori.

"That's all for today," Phil said. "The rest of the day is yours. Now, I said yesterday that you were all champions, but here's where the going gets intense. So remember, victory in the games comes down to two simple words: 'Eat, bathe, sleep'."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy burst out laughing.

-A-D-

Lady Morgana rose from her seat and looked at the screen that was displaying how the tournament would run the following day. _So, you're in the first match again tomorrow Sora,_ she thought. _I would be very put off if you did not advance. In fact, I might have to face you sooner than I intend should you fail me._

-A-D-

_There you go, the first chapter of the Zeus Cup. Coming up next, Round One, followed by the Quarterfinals, Semi-finals, and one hair-raising riot of a Final. You guys are not going to see it coming in the final, so no matter what you do to speculate, you will not be able to predict it. I'm deadly serious._

_And, just to put things in perspective, I decided that for the purposes of The Annals of Darkness, 10 munny = $1. So 500 munny is $50, and 20,000,000 is $2,000,000.00. You can use Excel if you want to figure out just how much each team is winning. 1 ultimate winner, 1 second place, 2 third place, 4 fourth place, and 8 fifth place._

_Happy Thanksgiving to all us Canadians out there!_

_Also, random question, but have we even figured out just what Chasers are yet? It was one of the words in the end of the regular KHII secret ending, but "Chasers" so far has not yet been explained or even had any information dropped about it. Much of the others we are able to infer from everything in BBS, but I find that Chasers still remains unexplained._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	48. The Zeus Cup: Round One

_I've got a new poll up. Check it out when you have time._

_Patience is a virtue, and I chose to ensure that I had the entire Zeus Cup written beforehand so that it was all up to the exacting standards which you have all naturally come to expect from me. Every line was checked over multiple times and numerous things have been rewritten more than once. I wanted these chapters to be as perfect as I could make them. If you'll notice, I even missed updating on the story's fourth Remembrance Day anniversary! I hope you all went to services…_

_So without further ado, enjoy the First Round, and Happy Holidays!_

_(Shire Folk looks at a charred and blackened patch of earth and sees tiny chips and remains of what had once been a sign. He pulls a new sign out from behind his back, one that says the word 'DISCLAIMER' in big black letters on a white background, and shoves it into the ground. He stabs the sign with a knife, and slashes it a couple of times.)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter XLVIII: The Zeus Cup: Round One

_1930hrs, Friday, November 28__th__, 2003  
Olympus Coliseum  
Sora_

He could feel the moistness in his one real armpit as he picked up the two cards he'd been dealt and looked at them for several moments, memorizing them, before placing them back down on the table in front of him, just behind a pile of chips of varying colours. At the table with him were Roxas, Riku, Yuffie, Hayner, Tidus, Donald, Goofy, and Paine. Pence also sat at the table as the impartial dealer. Kairi was abstaining from the game in order to watch from behind his and everyone else's shoulders along with Olette, Selphie, and Rikku. Nine poker players, each of them having shelled out Yuffie's table requirement of five hundred munny an hour earlier, and all nine of them were still in the game. Tidus, Roxas, and Sora had all bought themselves back in once, and Donald twice (the duck was liberal with his betting, and quite often found his hand less than what he'd thought).

"I still don't get it," Aiwemon muttered from Kairi's shoulder, since Sora had kindly asked him not to sit on his while he was competing. "How do you play this? Why can't they play something simple like Go Fish?"

"Because this is more fun," Yuffie answered, her tongue poking out the side of her mouth as she waited for Hayner to decide what to do; Pence had just flipped up the three community cards in the centre of the table.

"It's a variation of poker called Texas Hold 'Em," Kairi explained for the third time. "You play with your hand and the cards on the table to make a hand of five, and the better the hand, the better chance you have of winning. You place bets against the other players to prove that your hand is better than theirs, and if yours is at the end of the round, you win the hand and the cash in the pot from all of that round's betting."

"Hm…" Aiwemon hummed.

"See, look," Kairi continued as Hayner bet five munny. "Sora's got a five of diamonds and a five of clubs, so right now he has a pair. On the table there's a four of hearts, Ace of hearts, and eight of spaces. So out of all five cards, Sora's only got a pair, the worst actual hand in the game, but sometimes a single pair is all you need to win. But, if someone else has two different hearts, all they would need is one more heart to be drawn and they would have a flush, which is a pretty decent hand to have."

"Would you mind not telling the _whole_ _freaking table_ what I have every time you explain this to Aiwemon Kairi?" Sora asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Kairi began, "are your cards supposed to be a _secret_?"

"Hey, I didn't say anything."

"That's only because I stopped you from saying anything."

"You don't know that," Sora muttered back. Kairi snorted.

"Sora," Riku began, "you've got to know when to hold 'em, an' when to fold 'em. Right now, you should just fold 'em." He glanced at the table and turned up the edges of his cards. Emotionlessly, he grabbed one of his chips. Yuffie had called Hayner's bet, and Tidus had folded. "I'll see your five and raise you another five. Sora?"

"I'm thinking!" Sora retorted, folding his arms. He looked down at his face-down cards, glanced around the table at the others, and then at the three cards in the middle. "I'll call."

"Fold," Roxas said, directly next to Sora, tossing his cards face-up onto the table. He looked left.

Paine's expression was the embodiment of deadpan when she placed her hand back down and her left hand strayed to her chips. "Call."

Goofy started to scratch his head. "Gawrsh, I guess I'm gonna fold."

"I'll see ya ten and raise ya ten!" Donald declared. His eyes were gleaming as his chips clattered onto the table. "This hand for sure!"

"Bet is twenty," Pence declared, looking left to Hayner. Hayner eyed him with minor annoyance. He knew what the bet was, and that he either had to call fifteen to match, or that he could make the final raise. The blond struggler glanced at his hand again before looking hard at the deck and the community cards, his right index finger tapping his two rhythmically.

"_Opening face-off between the Radiant Garden Kings, and the Balamb Roots…"_

"What!" Yuffie squawked. "Yo! Barkeep! Turn that up and get me a Molson!" she demanded. The bartender of the lounge area they were in glanced at her, but complied in turning up the volume on the spherevision set. Sora glanced at it. There looked to be five people wearing purple and silver facing another five of black and gold, all ten of them holding onto long sticks, and standing through skates on a sheet of ice.

Hayner decided to call just as the bartender came up to Yuffie, carrying a brown glass bottle with him. "Can I see some I.D.?" he asked. Yuffie complied, rummaging around for a moment before succeeding in proudly fishing out her driver's license.

"Ha," she laughed at the others. "I can drink a Canadian and watch the game while the rest of you can't 'cause you're still too young. Ha!"

"And so are you," the bartender said, returning Yuffie's I.D. with a slightly amused expression on his face. He had brought the bottle of beer a little closer to himself, away from the ninja's reach.

An expression of disbelief came onto the girl's face as she comically opened her gaping mouth and looked at the bartender. "Wh—what are you talking about?" she asked when speech came back to her. Yuffie picked up her I.D. and stared at it. "But…but I'm eighteen! I'm legal."

"Listen miss," the bartender began, apparently not liking the way Yuffie had forcibly said her last two words, "you may be old enough for those Athenians or Thebans to drink, but here on Olympus the legal age is twenty-one," the man returned definitively. Yuffie practically froze as the information struck her. He rapped the top of Yuffie's head with the neck of the still-capped bottle with a chuckle, and strode back to the bar.

Sora's mind wandered while they waited for the still-too-young-to-drink-in-this-world kunoichi to come out of her funk. His eyes strayed back to the girl with auburn hair who was still standing behind him. While he hadn't liked what Kairi had done (that ice cream was COLD), he still shouldn't have been saying anything when so many of their friends were listening, and especially not with her there. Maybe if it was just him and Riku it would have been more acceptable to continue, but he could see the merit in keeping him from spilling intimately private details concerning their behind-closed-doors activities to _way_ too many ears. They couldn't control just where that information would go, and all too likely Selphie would leak it out to the entire universe. That would have been beyond bad.

But still…

"Kairi," Sora sighed softly, "I'm... ah." He let out a frustrated breath. In a sense, he wanted to apologize, but at the same time, he also didn't. That seemed to be enough to startle Yuffie out of her funk and get her started on using some of Cid's choicest curse words under her breath while she glared at the bartender, and Sora heard Kairi sigh behind him.

"No, it's alright," she said, sounding a little ashamed. "I'm just being a stuck-up bitch about it. I'm sorry about shoving my ice cream into your face."

"Yeah," Sora muttered, "that was a bit overboard. And, I'm sorry too, for… you know."

Sora felt her arms slip around his shoulders, and he could feel her warm breath blow across his neck. Sora felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle at the sound of her voice. "Well, now that we've got _that_ settled," she whispered, "what do you think we should do to celebrate making it through the prelims?"

"I'll call!" Yuffie declared angrily, tossing her chips into the pot.

Sora nudged his face a little bit closer to Kairi's, so that he could slightly see her eyes. "Do I have your love?" he asked. She smiled, despite the strangeness of the question.

"Now and always," replied she.

"Then that's a question for a later time," Sora answered, noting that Riku called as well, "I've got a hand to win. I call." He grinned slightly as his chips tinkled into the pot. He had an edge that the others didn't have.

Kairi had lied about his cards.

-A-D-

Watching them from the other side of the room, one eye actually on them and the other on the game on the screen, was the black-haired competitor who had advanced at the same time as Kairi's master. He chuckled, specifically looking at the blond boy's hair, and finding that it kinda reminded him of the hair of a guy a couple years younger than him he'd befriended once.

"Zack."

The man turned, smiling, at the voice. "How ya been Tifa?" he asked. "Long time no see."

"Cut the crap," Tifa returned, refusing to sit down next to him. "Don't you know how worried sick we've been? How heartbroken Aerith was when we thought that…? Leon's been going through hell thinking that… and you… you…" She scrunched her eyes up and her arms started shaking from suppressed emotion. "You and Cloud are the worst!"

Her palm struck Zack Fair's left cheek in a hard _slap_! Zack touched it in interest before giving Tifa a weak smile and chuckle. "I think I deserved that." Tifa's knees started to go weak from the shock and she grabbed the chair in front of her for support. The only sound for several seconds was that of her heavy breathing.

"Where—how?" she asked at last. "How are you still alive after all this time? We'd thought you were dead."

Zack chuckled slightly. "It's like I told you guys back then… I wanted to be a hero, so that I could keep all of my friends safe, especially after what happened with him, so I left to become one. I guess I got a little side-tracked and haven't made it home yet. By the time I wanted to, home was already gone."

"Zack."

"Hey, the whole crowd's here," Zack said merrily, catching sight of Leon just before the gunblade wielder sat down. "So I hear you're going by Leon now, huh Squall?"

"It's been twelve years now Zack," said Leon, "twelve years since you disappeared. Somehow, I still don't know why you had used to hang around a bunch of us pre-teens when you were four years older than me."

"Hey, you're buddies with them aren't you?" Zack returned, nodding his head towards the teens playing poker against one another, "and the age difference between you guys isn't much more than that between me and you, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. By the way, how is she?"

"She's getting along fine," Tifa replied, finally sitting down, "but I don't know how she'll react when she finds out that you're still alive after all this time. Maybe kiss you—"

"That'd make my day," Zack said wistfully. "Oh man, a kiss from Aerith Gainsborough…"

"And then scold your lights out," Tifa finished with a smile. Zack just gave a half-hearted shrug, as if saying 'meh, that's life'.

"So, where _have_ you been?" Leon asked seriously.

"And do you know where Cloud is?" added Tifa.

Zack shook his head. "Sorry Tifa, but I don't know where Cloud is. And I've been… oh, I've been around."

Tifa folded her arms over the table and leaned in towards the raven-haired warrior. "Zack…"

"Can I ask you both a question?" Zack asked. Tifa and Leon both nodded. "Have you ever heard of a man named Sephiroth?"

"Of course we have!" Tifa snapped. "He's embodiment of the darkness of Cloud's heart. No matter how many times Cloud defeats him he keeps coming back, forcing Cloud to fight, and keep fighting against him and the darkness. In a way, I wish that he would stop coming back. Then Cloud could just get on with his life."

"I was afraid that he would keep coming back," Zack muttered, his eyes cast downwards. "This is all my fault."

"Huh?" asked Tifa, while Leon just gave Zack a confused look.

"I've been fighting against Sephiroth too," Zack told them, "because he's more than just Cloud's darkness, he's mine too."

-A-D-

Naminé sat outside in the night air with a reading light, the third of the four issues leisurely placed against the skin of her legs and the fabric of a pair of beige shorts while the other three were on a small table next to her. The reading lamp from the table illuminated the coloured pages in front of her, her face changing emotions depending upon the pane and the dialogue her eyes passed over, but the general theme was a grim smile. Her mind was wholly centred on the book, completely ignorant of the world around her.

A light suddenly dropped past her eyes and crashed into the ground, causing Naminé to jump slightly and her fingers to fumble on the pages of the comic book. Her eyes had opened wide in surprise as she stared at the glowing object that was now within a small crater amongst the grass and dirt that it had landed on.

Slow were Naminé's fingers to close the comic book's pages and gently place it on the stack, but her eyes never strayed from the item on the ground. She reached down and wrapped her fingers around the ovular charm and brought it up to her face. Naminé was kneeling on the ground now, her eyes shimmering with disbelief and dismay as they took in the round bottle of red liquid held in a yellow-furred paw.

Naminé's eyes went skyward. Far above her, the twinkling stars shone down on the world, the light in their hearts illustrating their presence in the sable mantle. Somewhere out there, there was another blank spot where one of those worlds should have been. She held the charm close to her chest as her eyes scanned the stars. One of them started to glow brightly.

"No…" she whispered, shaking her head as the star's light intensified, "no, no… Please not yet. We aren't done yet." A tiny gasp escaped her lips as the light reached its climax and then fell in upon itself, leaving nothing but a blank dark space in its place.

She froze in place, her knees rooted to the ground and her eyes fixed on the tiny spot where light had once been. _Two worlds in as many minutes_. The thought drifted hazily in the forefront of her mind, and her paralysis ended when her head jerked to a different section of the sky, where another star was beginning to shine brighter than it had. It glowed, brighter and brighter, and then suddenly winked into oblivion.

"Time's run out."

Naminé didn't quite jump, but she jerkily turned her head towards King Mickey. "We don't have time for this tournament Your Majesty. Menelmon was right, she's started." Naminé clutched the charm closer to her chest, feeling the strength of the being that was sheltered within from the fall of its world, and hopelessness started to creep in all around her. "She's started; the worlds are falling into darkness, and we're all lollygagging around in a resort eating ice cream, playing cards, fighting for sport, and reading stupid comic books! What is the point of this?"

"We bet on chance, and lost," King Mickey answered solemnly. "Kairi said back when she confronted Maleficent last that her fortress would be completed two months from that date with her entire army working on it. That time has passed, and while she's finished we're still caught at the end out our preparations." He inclined his head gravely. "The troops and ships are ready, all except for two capital ships, but are we?"

"Your Majesty?" Naminé asked.

"We have no idea what Maleficent's been up to all this time," he answered. "You've all grown powerful, but will our combined strength be enough to beat her back? Will the six of us Wielders be enough to fight her and her Eximius Septem?"

"Six?" Naminé asked. All King Mickey did was nod his head.

Naminé rose and switched hands so that the charm was in her left. She extended her right hand and Nobody's Pride appeared in a flash, gripped in her palm. She studied its blue hilt, and its silver and pink blade. "With Sora and Kairi going in the back door, the six of us _have_ to be enough to hold her attention," King Mickey said.

"Then that's why we're here," Naminé muttered to herself. "To make a scene; to make her tremble and send all she's got at us; to draw her attention away from the other worlds and focus instead on us. You allowed this so that we could all paint giant targets on our heads didn't you Your Majesty?" King Mickey nodded and she clutched the charm tighter and raised a defiant head to the stars. "Come on then Maleficent, I won't run away."

Naminé dismissed Nobody's Pride and pocketed the charm before taking the light and the comic books up into two different arms. "I'm going to tell the others about the stars," she said, her voice slowly losing the fight it had just held in favour of more docile tones, "and then I think I'll turn in. Good night, Your Majesty."

King Mickey was left standing alone under the stars, contemplating the thousands of possible outcomes that were destined to happen. There were so many uncertainties when combating the forces of darkness, there always were, and once again he found himself wondering if he was doing the right thing. Was he guiding them rightly or wrongly? Was he being a good mentor and leader until Sora truly took up the mantle of leadership? Was he being a good friend to these young people?

Considering all things that had happened since their home on the Destiny Island of Felra had been destroyed and all the decisions that he'd made, Mickey just didn't know anymore.

-A-D-

Hades placed a finger to his chin as he looked down at his board, displaying a map of Greece and Olympus. There were a number of figures on the map, Hercules for one and several monsters as well. Hades smiled slightly as he placed down the figure of his new champion, Morgana. She would certainly spell the end of Hercules and the Keyblader, especially when he would predictably charge in and attempt a rescue. He'd kept it hidden from all except Maleficent, but at some point in the unforeseeable future they were going to make sure it slipped to the Keyblade brats that he had a captive of… special _familial_ interest to Sora.

The Lord of the Dead looked up as green flames appeared across from him, marking the entrance of Maleficent. He raised his eyebrows. _This_ was a surprise. Normally she came announced, or demanded that he come and see her.

"Hades," she said before he could get a word in himself. "There is something I must discuss with you."

-A-D-

_Knock-knock-knock!_

Philoctetes groaned as he raised his head, blearily rubbing his eyelids. He had been having such a pleasant dream too. Nymphs all around him, kissing him, fawning over him; lovingly tracing their hands over the beard on his face and the hairs on his chest. Just the thought was enough to almost send him back to sleep and on his way towards that wonderful dream again.

_Knock-knock-knock!_

"Alright!" Phil moaned, tossing the white sheet off of his bed, "Don't get your togas in a knot, I'm comin'."

He was only halfway through getting towards his door when it opened. In burst his favourite spiky-haired brunet who, even though Zeus had made a constellation of him and his friends and thereby making them heroes, he still liked to call a junior hero.

_Arg,_ Phil thought. _What are they doing here waking me up? They should still be up at that mountain resort of theirs, not back here at the Coliseum._

"Phil!" Sora called, Donald and Goofy right behind him.

"We've got a problem!" Donald added.

Phil winced. Their voices were _much_ too loud for a satyr who'd just woken up from a highly pleasant dream. "Hold your hippocampi!" He told them, raising his own voice despite the mental pain he would momentarily suffer from. "What's goin' on fellas?" He suddenly noted what was in Sora's arms. "What's with all the cash Sora?"

The boy looked down. "Oh, this?" There was a pile of munny stuffed between his arms. Sora looked back up sheepishly. "Well… I kinda won it at poker."

"Uh, Sora," Goofy whispered, "I don't think now is the right time to be talking about the card game."

"Huh? Oh, right. Anyway… Phil, we're out of time!"

"The stars are going out!" Donald added urgently. "Everything's in danger!"

Every word the two were saying just kept whizzing over the hero trainer's head. Philoctetes shook it and looked between Sora and Donald. "Would you two rookies mind explaining to me what's going on in words that the rest of the universe can understand?"

"Phil…"

That voice attracted the satyr's attention, even though he knew that its owner was taken by the brunet standing in front of him. Kairi slowly made her way between Donald and Goofy to stand next to Sora, and she knelt down to Phil's level. Her hands were cradling something close to her chest and, after a few seconds, she extended her arms and opened her palms. Resting above her fingers was a small ovular white charm with a single unrecognizable letter adorning it. "Do you know what this is?" Kairi asked.

"Not a clue sweetheart," Phil replied, finding the whole act the four of them were putting together, some kind of mix of sombre urgency, beginning to get stale. The memory of his nymphs was slipping away.

"This charm holds a person who had a strong heart," Kairi said sadly. "It… I saw it land on the ground just a short ways away from the pool. Another one fell near Naminé. They came from worlds that have just lost their hearts, and were lost to the darkness."

"Meaning what?" Phil asked, still not getting it.

"The bad guys are winning," Donald answered.

"And Sora and Donald figured that after Naminé told us that she saw three stars go out that we should be out there fightin' them instead of competing in the tournament here," said Goofy.

Phil looked at Sora in shock. "You mean you want to drop out!" he asked. "I thought I'd never see the day when you—"

"No," Sora denied adamantly. "No, Phil, I don't want to drop out. I still want to compete and win but I just… I just… I…" Sora kept stuttering, not really sure about the words he should use until they burst out. "Can I ask a favour? Like, a _really_ big favour?"

-A-D-

_0700hrs, Saturday, November 29__th__, 2003,  
Olympus Coliseum,  
Paine_

The woman with steel-grey hair and cold red eyes yawned openly as she walked in black pyjamas into a sort of dining room within the resort. There were several tables that had one or two people sitting at them, but for the moment it was mostly empty.

Paine sighed as she sat down, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, and not five seconds had passed by before a woman in white had come to her table. "Can I get you anything?" she asked.

"Yeah," Paine replied, "coffee please; I'll figure out the rest in a minute." The woman nodded her head and quickly went off to fetch the coffee pot and a cup. Paine yawned again and blearily looked around the table. A piece of paper near the sugar packets caught her eye and she looked at it. "What is this?" Her hands slowly grabbed it and brought it closer even though she could already clearly make out the writing on the paper. "What?" she said in a shallow gasp just as her coffee was being poured.

Fully awake now, Paine got out of her seat. "Hm? Is something wrong?" the waitress asked.

"Er, no, everything's fine," Paine answered. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes with some friends; do you think you could bring another coffee and three glasses of orange juice, as well as some muffins please?"

"Alright," the woman replied brightly. Paine nodded her head and turned away from the room before bolting down the hallway, the sun's light streaming in through the gaps in the Corinthian columns that held up the roof.

She threw open the door to where she, Yuna, and Rikku were staying and shouted, "Guys! Wake up!" Rikku practically jumped and rolled right out of bed, landing hard on the ground, while Yuna merely shifted before yawning and wearily rubbing an eye.

"Paine, why are you being so loud?" Yuna asked, watching tiredly as the young woman with grey hair was already tossing off the top of her pyjamas in order to get dressed.

"Because we have a little under an hour before the first matches start," Paine answered quickly, "and our match is first."

"Wha—?" Rikku stammered. "It's eight-thirty already?"

"No, it's seven," corrected Paine.

Yuna shook her head and started to drop back onto the bed. "What are you talking about anyway Paine? We're in the East bracket; we don't start until the West is done, so I can go back to sleep then."

"Not anymore," Paine muttered. That got both Yuna and Rikku to look back up at the dressing Gullwing as she tried to put her shorts on. "I saw a notice on the tables. The whole damn setup's changed. The beginning matches for _both_ brackets are starting at eight, and it's going all the way through to the finals today."

Rikku stood up. "Wait! We're doing the whole tourney _today_!"

Yuna moaned and rolled back in her bed, burying her face into her pillow. "I don't feel like getting up," she mumbled, sounding like she was sick.

"Yunie?" Rikku asked.

Yuna sighed. "I wish Lulu was here," she whispered to herself, her voice starting to break. "She'd know what to do."

Paine looked at her fellow treasure hunter in concern. "Yuna? Are you… okay?"

Yuna's shoulders started to shudder. "I thought we'd had something special," Yuna began. "I'd thought—I'd that thought he loved me." She rubbed her head back and forth through the pillow, as if it was a replacement for a mother-figure's comforting bosom. She started to sob. "Can't he see that I'm still in love with him?"

Paine was actually surprised that Yuna had held out this long before starting to break down and cry. She sympathetically placed her hand on Yuna's shoulder, whispering the poor sobbing girl's name. Yuna's heart was breaking a little more with every tear that rolled its way into the pillow.

Rikku snorted. "It's all that Selphie girl's fault," she grumbled, folding her arms. "She's getting between Tidus and Yuna."

Paine's reprimand was sharp. "Rikku, don't start when you don't understand."

"But Rikku's right Paine," Yuna mumbled sadly, traces of resentment within her voice, "this is _all_ happening because of Selphie."

"There's more at work than just another girl Yuna," Paine told her. "You can't go laying the blame all on the other woman."

"But it makes me feel better!" Yuna answered, looking fiercely at Paine before dropping her head back into her pillow.

"Rikku, can you go and have breakfast?" Paine asked. "There should be orange juice and muffins waiting for you. I need to talk with Yuna." The blonde grumbled under her breath, but did as Paine asked and went out. The steel-haired Gullwing stayed silent for nearly twenty full seconds, just rubbing Yuna's shoulder and back to comfort the mocha-haired girl in her emotionally weakened state, before she started to speak. "Listen… Yuna…. I know that this probably isn't what you want to hear, but you're going to have to be less forward with Tidus for a while."

Yuna sniffed and rubbed her eyes before looking back at Paine. "What?"

"Acting like you're his girl is just going to complicate matters," Paine told her. "It's creating conflict between you and Selphie, and Sora was right when he said that we couldn't afford to be infighting right now."

"So you're taking _his_ side!" Yuna nearly shouted. "You're saying I should just give up and let Selphie have Tidus?"

Paine did her best to quell Yuna's outburst. "I never said that, but try to look at this from Tidus' perspective." Yuna paused and Paine continued. "He and Wakka came from another world right after theirs was destroyed. They had no idea where they were, where their parents were, or any of their friends. Joining in your quest to defeat Sin was a method of escape from the troubles of their recent past while they struggled to come to terms with it. They bonded quickly with you and Lulu when they began to realize that they might never be going home again, or that their home might not even exist anymore. Tidus in all likelihood did fall in love with you during your long journey from Besaid to Zanarkand. But between you and Spira and Jecht, it might have been too much for him when you finally defeated Yu Yevon and he and Wakka returned to Destiny Islands and he found Selphie waiting for him. Maybe it was then that Tidus realized how much he had missed her, and he started to fall in love with Selphie the day he returned, I'm not sure. Maybe he believed that he would never see you or Spira again, and got over his 'summer love' during your separation. But I can see it in his eyes just how conflicted he is now that you're back in his life."

Yuna appeared to be struggling to process all of this, and asked, "Conflicted?"

"He still loves you Yuna," Paine declared gently, stroking the back of her hand down the young woman's lovely cheek, "but he loves Selphie too, and he doesn't know what to do, so he's forcing himself to keep both of you back as 'just friends' to try and keep you both from being hurt. He'd feel guilty because he'd feel like he was cheating on you if he started dating Selphie, and the opposite would happen if he started dating you."

The High Summoner from Besaid was slow to respond. "So… Tidus is keeping himself from being happy, because he doesn't want to hurt me?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Paine saw that her response brought another tear to Yuna's eyes and she busied herself with forcing her head into her pillow again. "Ugh! I'm horrible! I wouldn't be surprised if he never wanted to see me again for being such an overdramatic bitch."

"Yuna…"

"Do you think I should do what Sora said, Paine?" Yuna asked. "Do you think I should sort it out with Selphie, peacefully?"

"That would probably be for the best," Paine told her with a hint of humour in her voice. "You know, I'm sure that if you just got to know Selphie that you'd like her. She's a really nice and sweet girl. You might not become best friends, but at least it'd be a step in the right direction."

"You're probably right," Yuna muttered. She glanced to her left and suddenly tensed up. "Holy Valefor is that the time? We've got to get moving!"

-A-D-

Roxas yawned. "Okay, so I get _why_ you asked Phil to bump the timings up so that we could do all of this in one day, but I still don't like it being this early."

"I hear ya," Donald added.

"Hey, if we could afford to keep going at the pace we were at, I'd have loved it," Sora said in his defence. "Even with all the training, I was actually kinda relaxed."

"Gawrsh Sora," Goofy started, "you always were kinda relaxed, except for when we found out about Kairi being kidnapped by those Organization XIII fellas."

Riku bent his neck one way until he heard his vertebrae crick in a nice way. "And speaking of Kairi," he wondered, "just where is our favourite red-headed princess?" He looked at Sora, who slowly put his hands up in a defensive gesture.

"Don't look at me," he said. "No matter what we may have done last night, we slept in our own rooms and different beds. It's unusual, I know…" he looked off into the sky with a smile that was just slightly too guilty to be regarded as innocent.

"Her match might not be for a while," Yuffie muttered with crossed arms, "but I want her and Naminé to get down here so that they can watch me and Riku clean out the Gullwings. I still haven't forgiven them for stealing my ice cream all the time when they were still chibi fairies."

"They stole your ice cream!" gasped Roxas. His face suddenly became firm. "Unforgivable…"

"But you know that her and Naminé are going to be watching these two, right?" Leon asked her, inclining his head towards Sora and Roxas. They chuckled while giving each other slightly embarrassed smiles.

"And they can't watch us anyway," Riku reminded Yuffie. "They're in the West, and we're in the East; we aren't allowed to watch the matches in the other side, otherwise we'd have a competitive advantage."

"But still," Yuffie began again, tapping her foot while looking at the clock, "where are they?"

-A-D-

"Kairi, get out of that bathroom!"

"I'm not going Naminé!"

The blonde princess sighed in frustration. "Kairi, so help me, if you don't tell me _why_ you don't want to go and watch Sora kick ass we're going to break that door down!" When there came no answer, Naminé glanced at Agatha, who nodded her head. Naminé gestured at Menelmon.

"Please open the door Kairi," the digimon said, moving away from the door. "I think they're really going to break it down, and it's such a nice door too." Agatha brought her hands back towards her chest, the air around them becoming chilly with tiny snowflakes forming between her palms.

"Ice Make…"

The door opened just before Agatha could cast whatever she was preparing to cast, and Kairi came out with a red face. "Because I'm ugly!" she shouted, stamping her foot.

Naminé and Agatha looked curiously at each other as Kairi retreated into the bathroom. Kairi... ugly? Those two words just could not possibly go together, period. She was one of the prettiest girls that had been at Odyssey High, probably a staple fantasy of nearly every straight guy and quite a number of bi boys and girls, and maybe some of the lesbians too, Naminé wasn't sure; she only had Kairi's memories of Selphie and other girlfriends speculating such things to go by. It was almost effortless for Kairi to be pretty. She barely had to do anything to her hair, makeup was always optional, and even if she put any on it just had to be a small bit of blush or eye shadow to give a tiny bit of colour or accent her eyes and eyelashes. In Naminé's opinion, and she knew that Sora agreed with her, Kairi was simply gorgeous!

So _why_ would the vain girl who didn't have to really do _anything_ to look good suddenly call herself ugly? She certainly didn't start crying about her looks when she'd had bruises all over her body from when that stupid Frederick Mahoney bastard had beat her.

Naminé stopped next to Kairi and looked in the mirror with her. There was a tiny red mark on the upper right quarter of Kairi's forehead, only visible because she had pulled back the red hair of her bangs. "So you're getting a zit, so what?"

"So what!"

"Look." Naminé placed a pale finger to a place on her chin. "I'm getting one right here, and it's a _lot_ more noticeable than yours. Am I freaking out?"

Kairi mumbled something under her breath, Naminé almost knew it to be a moan at how the pimple was ruining everything, and then her words became audible. "And Sora told me I'd looked good with my hair up too."

"You want to put your hair up Kairi?" Menelmon asked. "You mean like before we went to the pool two nights ago?" Kairi nodded her head just as Naminé left the bathroom and Menelmon smiled. "I liked your hair then too. You looked even prettier then than you do now."

"But if I do it again then everyone would be able to see this hideous thing," Kairi whined, pushing two fingers against the sides of the would-be pimple, but just enough to emphasize it.

"Kairi." The red-haired princess turned her head slowly, but when she did she saw that Agatha was holding out two squeeze bottles. "Cover-up, and pimple cream," she said simply.

Naminé then came back into the bathroom. "And if you _really_ need it," she said playfully, holding out a large pink sunhat, "have a hat."

Kairi smiled and laughed weakly. "You two are lifesavers," she said, taking the cover-up and medication but declining the hat.

"And you're a wimp Your Highness," Agatha said humourously. They all shared a small laugh.

"Please," Kairi pleaded as she started to put the medicinal cream on the zit, "at least let me be a wimp about my looks and my hair and bugs. I promise I won't be a wimp about anything else."

"And Garda?" Naminé asked.

"If we face him, which we will, I'll _try_ not to be a wimp. Even if there is no way I can beat him."

Menelmon sighed. "Kairi…" she stopped as they heard the door open and another voice call out.

"Hello?"

Naminé poked her head out of the bathroom. "Hello?" She paused. Standing in the doorway was a woman with long and somewhat curly brown hair wearing a pink toga.

"Blonde hair," the brunette murmured to herself, "and probably wearing just her underwear because her body's gone insane, you'd be either Naminé or Agatha right?" Naminé's face flushed, both from the embarrassment of having some random woman walk in and see her half naked and from the slight indignation of somebody's friendly ribbing of her.

"I'm Naminé," she answered, quickly dashing towards where she'd stashed her clothes. "This is embarrassing."

"Well it's no wonder then that you aren't at the Coliseum yet," the woman said with a funny sort of smile on her face as she watched the embarrassed girl's pale skin turn pink in more places than just her face. "It seems Sora knew what he was talking about when he wondered where his little girlfriend was."

Kairi and Agatha emerged from the bathroom with Menelmon. Kairi once more had her hair up. She had folded it up from the back, pulling it into a tail shape but clipping it to the hairs on the side of her head so that it defied gravity and ended in a short but messy explosion of hair, reminiscent of a cowlick or a pineapple's leaves or even a tiny version of Sora's spikes extending from the back of her head. She hadn't pulled her bangs tight, but instead let them part as they would, mostly tucked behind her ears, just so long as they didn't poke her in the eyes and they obscured the offending ugliness of the soon-to-not-be zit-to-be.

The woman looked at the new arrivals. "Well, at least somebody here's dressed," she said, meaning both Kairi and the servant.

"Yeah, I'm ready now," Kairi said, blushing a little and ducking her head in embarrassment. That only lasted a moment, however, as she looked back up. "So did Sora really call me his 'little girlfriend'?"

The woman laughed. "Not in as many words. I'm teasing a little." She paused, looking over Kairi. "You look just as pretty as he described you. Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name's Megara, but my friends call me Meg."

"Nice to meet you Meg," Kairi said. "I'm Kairi. This is my partner Menelmon, she and Sora's partner Aiwemon are in the second match in the West bracket, and you've already met my temperature-challenged sister Naminé ("It's not my fault my body say's it's hot out!"), and this is our servant, and I suppose Naminé's handmaiden, Agatha Quin."

"Hello," Menelmon said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Agatha said in greeting, bowing her head to Megara.

Meg giggled just slightly. "The pleasure's all mine. But what do you say we get going? We don't have much time until the first matches begin."

"That would be Kairi's fault," Naminé, _finally_ dressed, said with a laugh. "She had a mini freak-out because of a pimple."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Sure, you're allowed to obsess about comic books and art and your silly crayon drawings and I can't be vain?"

Naminé's expression darkened for a moment. "They're not just crayon drawings, they're also spells."

The others looked at the blonde princess with interest. "Really?" Menelmon asked.

"Here, I'll show you," Naminé said quickly, rummaging through her things. "This'll only take a second. Alright Kairi, can you think of a memory of yours? Not a big important one, but just something small and pretty trivial."

Kairi blinked a few times and looked up, searching the bowels of her memory for something like that. "Uh… let me think. Hm… Oh, when I was ten that Selphie and I used to play jump rope on the island a lot."

"That doesn't work," Naminé said, shaking her head. "At least, not for a quick demo. I need a _specific_ memory of yours."

"Okay," Kairi muttered, scratching her head. "Oh, I do remember that one time when we were jumping rope the boys were playing blitzball and Riku jumped out of the water after the ball but when he landed he landed on a crab and it cut his foot with its claw. He had to go to the medi-centre for a few hours and got some pills, probably antibiotics, to take, but he was disappointed that he didn't need stitches."

_Excellent_, Naminé thought, finding the memory and seeing it play out right in front of her eyes. She looked down at her sketchbook and her fingers started to fly across the page, gripping wax crayons rather than the coloured pencils she had been using of late. This time she wanted to work her own special magic and, as childish as it was, it required crayons.

"Okay," she said, showing the picture she'd just drawn to Kairi, "does this remind you of it?"

Kairi looked it over for a second. "Yeah! Except for the limitations from being crayon, you got it perfectly." Naminé smiled and took the picture back. She erased the picture of Riku she'd drawn, him hopping on one foot while clutching the one that was bleeding from the cut the crab claw had given him, with white and drew instead him hovering in the air with an arm extended in a powerful pose, thin lines to represent movement drawn behind him. While she drew, she put her heart into it, pouring a little of her own special magic into the drawing.

Naminé smiled as Kairi suddenly gasped and clutched her head, her eyes shut tight in pain. She'd gritted her teeth, trying and failing not to make any sounds of having a splitting migraine.

"Princess Kairi," Agatha said quickly and worriedly, reverting for a moment from concerned friend to concerned servant, "are you alright?" Kairi didn't answer except for a tiny grunt of pain and Agatha placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Your Highness?"

"Kairi?" Menelmon asked anxiously, "are you okay?"

The fit passed, and Kairi looked up at Naminé. "Did you just do that?"

Naminé smiled innocently. "Do what? What happened?"

"I saw something," Kairi answered. "It was back when I was a younger kid," her eyes suddenly went wide in excitement, "it might have been a dream, but I remember it was real! Selphie and I had been playing jump rope and the guys were playing blitzball. Riku leapt out of the water to get the ball but when he landed his foot slid on a crab. The crab got angry and cut him with his claw, but then instead of being in pain Riku got this crazy look in his eye and he started _flying_! It was amazing! He flew in the sky all around us like some kind of superhero and he punched a huge rock in half and he had ice breath! He froze the blitzball in a block of ice! I wonder what happened to those superpowers, because I don't remember him using them after that day. I'm going to ask him right when we get to the Coliseum. Who knows, maybe he'll even use—"

"Kairi," Naminé cut her off sharply. Kairi looked at her again, and Naminé held out her drawing. "Does this remind you of it?" she asked.

"Yeah! Perfectly!"

Naminé smiled. "That's because it never happened."

Kairi appeared stunned. "What?"

"Riku getting superpowers never happened," Naminé told her. "The crab cut his foot and he went to the medi-centre and got pills but no stitches, which disappointed him. He never got superpowers."

"What are you talking about Naminé?" Kairi asked again. "He got superpowers! I was there, I remember!"

"That's because I just changed your memory of the event," Naminé answered with an innocent smile, "with a simple crayon drawing."

"…"

A few seconds later Agatha and Megara and even Menelmon started to giggle a little at the stunned look on Kairi's face. She had been so thoroughly convinced that Riku had gotten superpowers from a crab when really he'd just gotten a cut and went to the medi-centre. Now that she thought about it, it was absurd to think of Riku getting superpowers, current situation being Keyblade Wielders—and therefore, neo-superheroes—notwithstanding.

"Would you like me to change it back, or do you want to keep the memory of Riku being a superhero?" Naminé asked.

Kairi thought about it for a second before shaking her head to herself. "I want to keep the silly memory," she said. "Even though I might be a little confused still about how he didn't have his superpowers anymore after that day."

"You could just think of it as a one-day disease or something and he got 'better'," Meg answered.

Kairi nodded her head. "Yeah, I suppose I could think of it as a disease he got from a…"

Wait.

Kairi's face cracked and gave way to laughter. Peals and peals of laughter echoed out from her gullet. All the others looked at her like she'd gone insane until Kairi was well enough to wipe the tears from her eyes and look Naminé in the face. "Riku had crabs. No, not just crabs, _super crabs_."

-A-D-

"Lord Hades," Morgana began, her helmeted head bowed as she kneeled in front of him, "it appears that the tournament schedule has changed."

"Oh it has, has it?" Hades asked.

"Yes my lord," Morgana confirmed. "It is now to take place all within this day, beginning in twenty minutes."

Hades placed a hand to his chin. He thought for a few moments before he began to smile. "You know, that's not a bad thing. Change is good." He looked back down at Morgana. "Their plans aren't the only ones that can change. Go take your seat, and when the finals are over, come find me. We'll get to see if your skills really are up to snuff against those Keybladers after all."

Lady Morgana nodded her head and rose, the tusks on the helmet glinting a little as they were passing through grey light from the window. A sort of excitement began to course through her limbs at the prospect of using her talents against foes other than Heartless. She clenched her fist eagerly. She hoped that she would do battle with that one, Sora. She felt a strange connection between them whenever she looked at him, and for a moment yesterday, when he'd won, Morgana had felt…

…proud?

Morgana snorted and shook her head. Proud? Maybe, but only because she sensed the strength within him; proud that he had continued on, like she had taken him under her wing herself and was doing her name good. Truly why she felt that way she could not fathom, having only heard about how he and his friends had aided Hercules in thwarting her master's plans and hadn't even seen him until he'd arrived with his little girlfriend to sign up for the Zeus Cup. She could tell that he was the best of all those fighters who had battled yesterday, but she was better; knew herself to be better. She _was_ the best, and wanted only to face and defeat the one who would rise to the top of the tournament, Hades be damned, and she knew that that person would be Sora.

And, if her master's plans had indeed changed, then the battle she wished for would come to pass all the sooner. Excellent. And even if that did not take place today, they still had his mother's soul.

-A-D-

Nebulus suddenly touched down right next to Sora, the Keyblade Master turning casually towards the Celestial Steed. "There you are!" Yuffie exclaimed, rushing towards the astral winged horse as Kairi and Naminé both dismounted from him, Menelmon on Kairi's shoulder. "You're nearly late!"

"Well we made it on time," Kairi replied, smiling and looking around. Naminé was rubbing Nebulus' neck and whispering what a good boy he was before he flowed back into her charm. Only Sora, Aiwemon, Roxas, Riku, and Yuffie were there. If there had been any others, they had already gone inside. "So, no foul right?" She shyly turned towards the brown-haired Keyblade Master, her hands held behind her back. "So how do I look Sora?" she asked, noticing that he was staring right at her face with a somewhat love-struck look stuck on him.

Riku had to snap his fingers several times next to Sora's right ear to snap him out of it. "You look amazing Kai," he answered, bringing his patented smile onto his face and his hands behind his head.

"Thanks," she said, smiling wider. Her eyes encompassed Riku, and she started to giggle even while Menelmon and Aiwemon started to exchange pleasantries. Sora frowned and Riku raised a curious eyebrow. "Hey Riku," Kairi began to wonder innocently as her legs slowly started to carry her towards the Coliseum entrance, "how's that crab problem of yours doing? Still got 'em?"

"Wha—?" Riku asked, confused, as Kairi and Naminé just started to laugh. Sora and Roxas started to follow them, Sora asking Kairi what that was all about.

Yuffie poofed in front of Riku in a cloud of black smoke. "You have crabs!" she practically shouted. "And you didn't tell me! We slept in the same bed for weeks you asshole! And how the heck does Kairi know?"

"Yuffie, I don't have crabs," Riku said quickly. "I'm completely bewildered as to what Kairi's talking about. And even if I did have crabs, there's no way that _she_ would know before you or my doctor."

Yuffie crossed her arms. "So you're bewildered, huh? Well, I'll believe you, but only because you've got an Adonis-like body."

Riku chuckled amusedly. "You saying that you're only believing me because I'm hot Fie?" Yuffie rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm.

"Of course not stupid, it's because you've got _muscles_," she giggled, her fingers dancing up and down his bare biceps. "Oh, and since I plan on getting into the final, and winning in a very special way, this won't be the first time today that you or anyone else will be bewildered."

"Oh really?" Riku asked. "What do you have in mind?"

Yuffie gave him a cute smile and placed a finger next to her mouth. "That's classified," she answered, winking.

"Hey Riku!" Sora called from the steps. "Are you two coming or what! You guys start first too you know!"

"Alright porcupine-head," Yuffie began, slinking away from Riku and starting to skip Sora's way, "we're coming!"

"How are we even competing at the same time anyway?" Riku asked, catching up to the others. "Last I checked there was only one ring."

"I heard from Phil earlier," Sora answered. "Apollo and Poseidon worked through the night to expand the Coliseum to give it a second ring. Phil says that it's a blessing in disguise because they can now sell more tickets."

"Apollo and Poseidon?" Yuffie asked.

"God of the Sun and God of the Seas," Riku answered.

"Well why the heck were _they_ the ones to build an addition then?" Yuffie asked incredulously. "Why wouldn't some God of Carpentry do it?"

"Apollo and Poseidon built the walls of Troy," Kairi answered, as if that was the only answer that needed to be given. Yuffie just blinked at them with a blank look in her face.

"What's Troy?" she asked. The others just chuckled weakly. They came to a fork with signs that pointed in opposite directions, one saying East and the other saying West.

Sora looked at Riku and clapped his hand. "I'll hold you to that promise," Sora said, smiling. "See you in the finals."

"Yeah," Riku answered, nodding at his best friend. He and Yuffie started to walk down their path.

"Wait, Riku!"

They both stopped and turned around. Neither Riku nor Yuffie could see Sora, Kairi, Naminé, or the digimon anymore, but Roxas was standing at the entrance to the corridor they had just started walking down. He appeared to be struggling with something and Riku scowled. He was probably trying to come up with some kind of verbal barb to stick him with, since Riku gave him so much in kind.

"What is it Chocobo-head?" Riku asked.

"You…"

A tiny surge of both amusement and guilt rose up in Riku's chest as he saw the smallest of scowls pass over Roxas' features. He had already told Sora that he was going to try and make peace with the former Nobody, but he really didn't feel like it right now so he tried to smother the guilt. Seeing that quick scowl reminded him of his defeat at Roxas' hands, and the darkness that he opened himself up to again in order to defeat the blond standing in front of him.

"I just wanted to say…" Roxas began again, still struggling to bring out the words. Riku almost laughed as the blond's pause lengthened. It was as if every insult he could think of were trying to make its way past his teeth and he was forcibly swallowing them back. "Good luck."

_What?_

"What'd you say Roxas?" he asked, stunned. Roxas was wishing him _luck_?

"I said good luck, old man," Roxas returned, a slightly triumphant smile slapped to his face.

Riku took three quick paces forward so that he was almost right on top of the shorter teen. He put a hand on his hair. "Old man? That's the best you can come up with Chocobo-head? My hair is _silver_, not white." He chuckled, that one was actually amusing in how lame it was, amusing enough to remind him that this person really had been a part of Sora, and he hadn't stayed mad at Sora for beating him for very long.

Roxas looked ready for a fight, but Riku extended his hand. "Good luck to you too," he offered. "How about we settle things in the final? Win or lose, we put the past behind us and start fresh. What do you say?"

Roxas looked at the hand and shook it. "Sure," he said. "That's a promise."

-A-D-

_0800hrs_

**Round One West Bracket Fight 1: Key Masters vs. Camp Half-Blood**

Sora and Roxas walked into the Coliseum. Despite the time change and the fact that it was _eight o-fricking-clock in the morning_, the stands were over half full in order to witness the first match in the West. This time though, as Sora and Roxas marched in wearing their lighter chain-mail and tabards and greaves and bracers, Sora took a good look at the crowd that was watching them and began to wave in greeting while Roxas tried to do the same, but failed because he yawned.

Sora nearly froze but continued forward at a slower pace, his eyes stuck on one of the spectators: a warrior dressed almost entirely in heavy dark-coloured plate armour with a beastly great-helm covering her face, he could tell the warrior was female because he could see her chest, some of the armour with interior lining that he couldn't quite make out. He felt a sudden chill pierce his heart as he looked at this spectator, and almost equated it to what he might have felt had his heart been full of light the last time he'd encountered the Nazgûl, but he had no reference for that feeling. He could sense a powerful aura of darkness around this person, and something that was almost familiar but at the same time horrifyingly unnatural.

All he knew was that he did not want to appear weak in front of this person.

He was suddenly snapped out of his reverie when Roxas clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you okay Sora?"

"You see that person there Roxas?" Sora countered, pointing slightly. Roxas shivered.

"Yeah, gives me the creeps," he answered. "Must be one of Maleficent's baddies watching us, but I don't think she wants to make a scene when we've got the big guy watching." He smiled and Sora looked up. Sitting at the other end of the Coliseum, high on thrones that looked like Corinthian columns made of clouds, sat a god with curls of white hair and a straight white beard and golden skin dressed in a purple toga with a clasp of gold, and a goddess dressed in a raiment of glittering pink clothing with pink skin and perfect blonde hair.

Zeus and Hera. King and Queen of the Olympian Gods.

Any normal Greek would have felt like kneeling down before the King of the Gods, but Sora wasn't Greek, even though his people worshiped the same gods as them, so he smiled brightly and waved. "Hi Herc's dad!" He might have been more formal had this been his first meeting with the god, but he'd already met him once before.

Zeus chuckled mightily. "Great to see you again Sora!" Zeus called. "How are you, Donald, and Goofy enjoying your constellation?"

"It's awesome, thanks!" Sora replied, holding a hand over his eyes to block out the sun so he could look at the god, "and thanks again for letting us use the Olympus Stone last time. It was a big help!"

"Ah, anything for a friend of my boy's!" Zeus replied. "And good luck in the tournament Sora, I'm rooting for you!"

"Thanks again Zeus!" Sora hollered. He gave the god a thumbs-up. "I won't let you down." Sora turned his eyes away from the Olympian God and smirked at Roxas. He placed his hands behind his head and continued smirking in a way that said, 'Oh yeah, I'm friends with the King of the Gods. How awesomely awesome am I?'

If anything, the crowd started to cheer more for the duo from Zeus' words. Or maybe it wasn't because of what the Olympian said. Sora and Roxas turned around and saw Percy, Grover, and Annabeth running up to the ring, each of them looking out to the crowd and smiling and gesturing at the spectators in ways to ramp up the enthusiasm.

"Why are we starting at eight now?" Grover asked as they reached the ring, slightly out of breath.

"Because, uh, I talked to Phil and asked him to bump the schedule up so it'd all be over in one day," Sora told them sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why would you do that?" Percy asked. Sora dropped his smile and gave Percy, Annabeth, and Grover a serious look.

"Because my friends and I don't have time to waste here," he answered. "We need to be in, win, and out as soon as possible."

"Oh, so you're just selfish," Annabeth remarked.

Roxas shrugged. "Got a problem with that?"

"Yeah," Percy said, nodding his head in a friendly, competitive, way, "because we're going to beat you."

Roxas cracked his neck as both his Keyblades appeared in his hands. Sora summoned Remembrance to him, Annabeth unsheathed her sword, and Percy pulled out a pen and clicked it. The pen then turned into his bronze sword. "Nice," Sora said approvingly as the trumpets started to sound.

_BONG!_

-A-D-

**Round One East Bracket Fight 1: Night and Day vs. The Gullwings**

Paine and Rikku each ran straight for Riku and Yuffie just as Yuna pulled out her twin pistols. Puffs of flame rose out of each firearm as the hammers struck the casings of the rounds within, shocking the explosives inside into detonating and fusing into rapidly expanding gasses, pushing out their lead payloads.

Yuffie vanished in a puff of black smoke and Riku rolled out of the way of Yuna's shots, the bullets clattering on the stone behind him. He started to run to the side and raised Way to the Dawn as Paine came in towards him, slashing his Keyblade up to meet her downward stroke. The two blades sang out as they slid against one another, each sharp edge running along the other and slightly altering the other's movement to clear its wielder's body. Riku weaved around to Paine's right, and the young woman who matched him in height swiftly turned her body around, sending a slash of her blade with the skull crosspiece towards his chest.

Way to the Dawn turned down to intercept and block the blow, and Riku threw her sword back before leaping away as bullets streamed towards him again from Yuna's direction. His body flashed with light and armour appeared on him. A shirt of grey mail rings covered a chest that now had a light long-sleeved white cotton shirt underneath. Black metal cuff bracers protected his wrists, and orange-gold cuff greaves covered his shins. The white tabard with gold edging, displaying the image of the Star Seeker Keyblade hung over his coat of mail, and was tucked in underneath a black belt with a buckle as red as a rose and shaped as one's blossom, signs of gold just at the edges of the metal petals.

Golden-black light pooled around each of his feet and he called out. "Dawn, come forth!" He shot forward towards Paine on his sun skates just as the Keyblade Spirit with long white-gold hair and orange eyes flew out of his body towards Yuna, her yellow top bright in the early morning sun and contrasting with the light pink jean shorts clothing her bottom. Yuna quickly switched targets to the new foe, but the bullets she fired just thudded into and bounced right off of Dawn's skin, as if her body was made of something that the ballistics couldn't pierce. Dawn wound up her right foot as she flew towards the gunner and Yuna jumped up high, just avoiding the following kick that would have knocked her legs clear off the ground. Dawn twitched her sandaled feet for better grip and stared up at Yuna as the woman started to unload upon her again and the Keyblade Spirit brought her arms in front of her, stoically blocking the bullets but otherwise not moving.

Yuffie and Rikku were a flurry of movement as Rikku slashed up and down at the kunoichi Keyblade Wielder with her red daggers and Yuffie twisted and darted away from every attack, only occasionally meeting Rikku's weapons with her own dagger with its shining white blade and golden-wrapped grip. Black smoke surrounded her as she constantly vanished and reappeared all around the blonde, but Rikku was keeping up with her, the thief striking almost as quickly as the ninja could vanish.

Yuffie leapt back from a crossed slash of both of Rikku's daggers and sprang up into the air even as the blonde Gullwing pursued her. Her hands deftly sheathed her dagger before darting into her pouches. She swung her arms out towards Rikku, three kunai flying out from the knuckles of each hand.

"Whuh-oh!" Rikku said, her green eyes widening slightly before she back-flipped away from the six small knives. Yuffie's hands came together in a sign and she pulsed with energy before appearing like she had phased out of existence for a moment before another Yuffie split off from her, making two of her. Within a second another fourteen raven-haired ninjas appeared in the same manner, all of them still carrying the backwards and upwards momentum of the now indistinguishable original.

When Rikku next looked up it was to see sixteen Yuffies in the air above her, and their hands flashed with light as each of them summoned a copy of Flower of Wutai into their grasp. They flew down towards the blonde, and Rikku held her ground with an anxious face. Her daggers whirled around her in a hurried flurry as she defended against the first three Keyblades that came for her, but then the fourth broke through on the side and struck her left side. Rikku winced as the blunted part of the blade hit her and she spun around, twirling her daggers up and down to try to fend off the rest of the incoming Yuffies. She was able to stab one dagger into the chest on one, and was momentarily stunned when she turned into a puff of black smoke.

Another Yuffie lunged at her with a dagger and Rikku slid her body just over the arm, arching her back and rolling over the appendage. Her hands grasped hold of the surprised Yuffie clone and Rikku threw her over her shoulder as the blonde rolled, the Yuffie clone slamming into another one, both of them disappearing in puffs of black smoke.

Paine and Riku moved back and forth, their blades trading blow for blow, their bodies dodging the other's attacks with precise movements. Paine leapt back from a slice Riku had made towards her midriff and her red eyes hardened. She raised her sword up near her ear in a move similar to Riku's, except that she had both hands on her sword. "You're finished," she said smoothly. "Power Break. Hra!"

Riku felt his sword arm go a little numb and sluggish as he blocked her attack with Way to the Dawn, having raised his Keyblade to defend against it. He grunted and stuck his unaffected left out instead. A streaking ray tipped in darkness and melding through red into golden light burst out from his palm and struck Paine directly in the chest. She hissed as the force the ray struck her with knocked her back, but her legs stayed up.

"Gya!" Dawn suddenly shouted, dropping down onto one knee and clutching her arm after just ducking underneath a high kick Yuna had sent to her head. The mocha-haired gunner cocked her head quizzically and looked down at her. She hadn't even touched Dawn yet, except with her guns, but the bullets hadn't even done anything.

"Hey, you alright?" Yuna asked.

"I'm fine," Dawn answered. "Let's keep going. Hiya!" Yuna jumped up, leaping over the kick Dawn had sent for her ankles, and landed safely on Dawn's other side. But just as her feet touched the ground a fist connected with her back as Dawn rose again. Yuna staggered forward a couple of paces, but looked back at Dawn.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "You've hit me before, and always harder than that."

"I said I'm fine!" Dawn shot back, aiming another punch for Yuna's head, which the gunner promptly avoided. Dawn's fists flew out in a raging flurry, trying to connect with Yuna in at least one place, but the mocha-haired Gullwing was always just narrowly dodging out of the way or deflecting the blows with the sides of her pistols.

Riku dropped Way to the Dawn down for Paine's shoulder, hearing the exchange between Yuna and Dawn, and he could feel that his strike was weaker than it should have been. He didn't have the strength to back it up. "What was that that you did?" he asked Paine.

"A move that temporarily cuts my foe's strength in half," Paine answered, shoving Way to the Dawn off of her own sword and aiming a kick for Riku's sternum with her left foot. He took it and grunted as the rings of his mail shirt pressed into his chest, feeling the sting, and fell back as he pushed the breath that had been knocked out back into his lungs. Riku's aquamarine eyes looked up again to see Paine coming for him, the Gullwing's red eyes determined to end it in her favour.

_Not good. This won't do at all._

-A-D-

"They've been at it a while now haven't they?" Naminé asked Kairi, the two of them sitting up in the stands with the others in their bracket. There was no pavilion today; they had to sit in the regular stands with the rest of the crowd.

"They have," Kairi answered, nodding her head. "I keep thinking that they should have won by now, but… Percy and his friends sure are different from the rest of the guys we fought yesterday."

"But Roxas and Keys aren't using anything either," Menelmon added. "Keys isn't Driving."

"Keys?" Zack Fair asked, looking over at the two sixteen-year-olds and the birds that were sitting on their shoulders. "Who's Keys?"

"It's just a nickname we have for Sora," Kairi answered.

"True," Naminé consented, "Menelmon's right, Sora isn't Driving." She glanced down the stands and her eyes settled on a woman in dark armour. "Am I the only one who's getting a _very_ creepy vibe from her?"

"I've noticed it since yesterday," Kairi said quietly, inclining her head down but not looking in the warrior's direction. "She has a very dark and… unnatural feeling about her. If it weren't for the fact that we're here and that there's only one of her, I'd feel almost like I was on Weathertop again, Menelmon. She just doesn't feel right." Kairi looked again at the battle below. Sora and Roxas were both fighting with only their Keyblades and bodies, the two of them hemmed in by the two demigods and the satyr from Camp Half-Blood, their opponents constantly circling Sora and Roxas.

The funny thing was that neither Keyblade Wielder seemed tired, almost like they were comfortably pacing themselves.

Annabeth moved in on Sora, her sword slicing down towards his body. Sora swept Remembrance up in a quick arc and parried it, knocking her blade back up high and he began to chant. "Storm clouds brew and wind rolls; rain falls and thunder tolls. The sky is my name and I am its Lord; come now, the Torrential Downpour!" Clouds rolled in and covered the skies. Wind whipped all about the ring in the Coliseum, and rain started to fall. Zeus started to clap, impressed at Sora's skill.

Sora didn't know why Percy started to grin at the falling rain, but he also didn't care at that moment. Annabeth was still recovering, and Roxas had just knocked back both Percy and Grover. Sora raised his left hand and turned his wrist around in a circular motion. The wind whistled at his command and directed the rain in its course. More and more fell, and then the clouds opened up all of their moisture within and a thin twister of water formed between the ground and the sky, the cone almost a column in its shape with how little it changed. Sora directed his hand, and the twister's bottom snapped towards Annabeth like a whip. She flew backwards as it struck her chest and her back connected with the stands. The daughter of Athena dropped onto the ground, her sword clattering out of her fingers.

The twister came apart the instant after it had slapped Annabeth and all the water composing it dropped onto the ring, soaking the four still standing upon it. The clouds vanished as suddenly as they'd come, and Sora smiled at the returning sunlight as his knees and head buckled a little. He had only used that twice after coming up with it by himself. He'd always been envious of Kairi and Naminé having supposedly established schools of magic with their new 'Flame' and 'Ice' Styles that they'd been learning. While what he'd just done wasn't any kind of 'Style', he'd felt that he at least had some sort of natural affinity for magic dealing with the wind and air, even though he barely used it. Shaking his head, Sora turned.

His face contorted into one of comically horrible pain. Grover had come after him, but his cloven feet tripped on the now slippery stone and he'd fallen. While lashing his feet out to try and get some traction, he'd kicked, and both hooves had landed squarely between Sora's legs.

Sora loudly mouthed his chosen swear word as his feet danced on the spot, finding himself in _far_ too much pain to voice it aloud, and started to use Remembrance as a prop to get him out of the ring, no matter how much he limped. To his credit, he didn't drop to the ground and adopt the fetal position with hands that had flown to his jewels, but it had been a struggle not to do just that. That was it! He was done for this round, and maybe he'd get Roxas to fight the next one by himself too. The entire crowd had winced in horror, _none_ of them wishing that they could be Sora at that moment. Grover's face was mortified as he still lay on his back. "Oh gods, dude, I am _sooo_ sorry! You alright?"

Sora's voice was completely strained as he answered without looking back. "Never better you son of a—urrah!" Despite the water that had splashed all over him, Sora was already panting in a cold sweat of shock. "I'll kill you later," he mumbled, reaching the end of the ring. Sora looked down.

There was a gap between the edge of the ring and the ground.

Sora's eyes twitched more than they already were. There was no way he was going to jump. He'd lose it. Lowering himself down also wasn't an option. He'd have to jump. Groaning in frustration he flipped off the ground with his middle finger and swore "Fuck you ground" under his breath before waving a hand in front of him. "Aeroga," he muttered. Wind swirled all around his body, and Sora took one heavy step off the ring quickly followed by the other.

The wind magic slowed his descent so that he lightly touched down, and Sora quickly hobbled over to the edge of the stands in front of Kairi. "Help me up!" he pleaded. Kairi and Naminé just laughed at him as they reached their arms out and grasped his own before yanking the Keyblade Master up to their level.

It was very amusing to them as they watched Sora's face contort on its own and heard him whisper. "FUUUCK—YEEOWW! That fucking hurts!" He winced even more as he sat down.

"Didn't the armour protect you at all?" Naminé asked.

"There is no armour over the nuts!" Sora snapped, "And even a cup would barely have done anything!" He closed his eyes tight and breathed deeply. "Shiiittt."

Kairi smirked and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't care how much pain you're in I am _not_ giving them a Kiss of Light's Grace."

"Urah!" Sora grunted painfully. "Fine; I'm not asking you to give them a Kiss of Light's Grace. It'd probably still hurt like hell if you touched them with a Kiss of Light's Grace. What the heck is a 'Kiss of Light's Grace' anyway?" he asked.

"Oh, it's just a light spell that Naminé and I learned from King Mickey and Master Yen Sid that can heal the pretty minor injuries," Kairi answered.

"Given our track record how minor is minor?" Sora asked.

"A scrape, a bruise, a burn, nothing a heck of a lot bigger than a paper cut, a dull ache," Naminé told him.

"So something pretty much useless," moaned Sora.

"And you need to be within kissable range to use it," Kairi added. "We can't blow it to someone."

"So who did you two practice it on?" Zack Fair asked, still overhearing them as Roxas and Percy continued to duel, the Keyblade Master striking Percy's shield and sword rapidly, both opponents weaving around each other in the pools of water on the stone. Grover had left the ring.

Kairi and Naminé both blushed and looked away. That drew Sora's attention away from his aching balls enough to look at his girlfriend. "Who'd you practice on?" he asked curiously, poking her in the side. Kairi giggled. "Come on, tell me." He poked her again, and Kairi tried to hold in another giggle before swatting his hand away.

"Uh…" Naminé began in embarrassment, "we kinda practiced on each other."

Sora sighed in regret as Kairi looked away, still blushing underneath her red hair. She looked even cuter with the blush on her face. "Oh… I wish I coulda been there to see that."

"Hey," Kairi started quickly, "whatever you think we were—"

"Hey man, I am so, so, so sorry about that."

Sora's eyes snapped open and he glared down at Grover Underwood. "Get out of my sight before I throttle you," he warned. Grover chuckled.

"Yeah, I'd probably be saying the same thing too if I were in your position," said the satyr.

"You took yourself out?" Naminé asked. Grover nodded his head.

"Yeah, felt too guilty about the way you went out," he told them, sighing. They all looked back at the match still going on between Roxas and Percy.

"Looks like it's just you and me now Roxas," Percy said, smiling a little as he moved his sword back and forth in front of his body, catching and stopping Roxas' swings from either side.

"So it would seem," Roxas replied, his booted feet sloshing through the water sitting on the stone ring as he moved forward on Percy with measured strides, striking at Percy with Twilight Thorn in his right hand while holding the Oblivion Keyblade close to his side. "But even so," he added, a downward stroke of his clanging against Percy's shield, "I'm still going to win this one."

Percy quickly blocked Oblivion with his sword as Roxas struck out with his second Keyblade and the son of Poseidon jumped back. "Sorry," Percy told him, a smirk on his face as he cast aside his shield, "but _I'm_ the one who's going to take this round."

"And why would that be?" Roxas asked him, bringing both of his Keyblades in front of him with Twilight Thorn in his right above Oblivion in his left.

"Because your brother was nice to me," answered Percy in a triumphant voice, "and because I am my father's son." He raised his left hand and all the water that had been left on the field from Sora's earlier attack that had wiped out Annabeth started to wiggle. Roxas looked at it in interest before the water suddenly surged from the places it had pooled and bore at the blonde Keyblade Master.

The water assailed him from all sides: soaking the white tabard, storming through the metal rings of his mail and drenching the padded cloth underneath, and hammering against his skin. Roxas was finding it hard to stay on the ground or keep a firm grip on his Keyblades as the water kept cycling up and back around in loops, forcibly moving his body up from the hard ground.

He cried out as the water surged suddenly with incredible force and he was heaved up into the air. Roxas flailed as the water spun him around, his limbs moving in every different direction as the water became a rapid torrent and splashed him around, twisting and spiralling around him in solid soft-tipped cones. He was a soaking sopping ragdoll being batted back and forth by the columns of water controlled by Percy's mind. One flicked him up higher, causing a gasp from the crowd, and then the water quickly rose to being above him and slammed Roxas back down to the stage. Twilight Thorn and Oblivion clattered uselessly out of the blond's hands.

_Hm_, Sora thought as Percy continued to have the water press Roxas into the ring, _this looks like it might be a bit of a problem. Wait, I know!_

Fully expecting to be slapped or for something similar to occur to his already pained body, Sora stood up and leaned forward as much as he dared or even felt able to. "Hey Roxas!" he shouted, doubly sending the message to his brother telepathically to be sure he got it. "If you screw this up and make us lose, I'm gonna have you hold my ice cream while I kiss your girlfriend!"

"Sora what?" Kairi asked, her and Naminé stunned beyond belief.

Water steamed and hissed as blasts of light and flame suddenly struck it from Roxas' hands, the blond spinning around so that he was facing the oncoming water, the deluge striking his chest rather than pounding into his back. His Keyblades appeared in his hands again, and now it seemed like Roxas wasn't being bothered by the thundering water at all. Roxas swiped both Keyblades through the water in identically opposite slices, and thin crescents of red energy that rippled like fire broke free of the water and created a shell around the Keyblade Master. The water hissed and steamed as it struck the impenetrable and impossibly thin barrier of Dusk and Roxas stood and glared at Sora.

"What was that!" he shouted. He flicked Twilight Thorn, and the shell that surrounded him and kept the water out folded its edges the other way, becoming a bowl now that the water was trying to drill through rather than a shell to completely smother.

"You heard me!" Sora answered. "If we lose because of you, then my tongue and Naminé's are going to waltz."

Sora could no longer look at Roxas as Kairi had stood up and spun him around. Her eyes were cool, and Sora could see her hair beginning to writhe on its own and trying to get out of its current form as its colour began to shift a little. It looked like she was struggling not to drive into her Fire Mage Form so that she could incinerate him. She was terrifying; and at the same time, there was something else in her eyes, something mischievous that made him _want_ to hear what she was going to say. She was tapping a finger on her arm and her lips were plumped somewhere between a scowl and a pout. "What was that?" she asked.

"Motivation," Sora answered simply.

Kairi snorted and turned her head away slightly, one hand moving off of her arm to flick her bangs back. She left her hair up. "So does this mean that you'd like to be kissing Naminé more than me, or that you'd prefer to be kissing all of what had once been me at the same time you lecher?"

Sora blinked. The mention of the word 'lecher' drove out the words Kairi had uttered right before it out of his mind. "Lecher?" he asked, revolted.

"Well technically Kairi," Naminé began, loud enough for Roxas to still hear her, "I _was_ you just as Roxas was Sora, so technically Sora's not doing anything wrong by kissing just another part of you." Kairi whipped towards Naminé, but the blonde was already prepared. "And I _know_ he's already kissed other parts of you." The fiery redhead stopped for a moment and blushed before pushing on.

"So you're saying that you _do_ want to kiss Sora," she said, stating it rather than asking it.

"I didn't say that," Naminé quickly countered, "but it might be interesting to see if Sora kisses differently from Roxas. I'll admit it, I did have a crush on him, but even if it doesn't happen and I don't kiss him, it would make a nice drawing. And especially if he's kissing both halves of what had once been only you."

Kairi almost seethed, stamping her foot down. "No!" she declared childishly, one arm clamping onto one of Sora's. "I'm not letting you kiss him!" Sora thought it marvellous at how the tables had turned. First Kairi had been somewhat peeved at him (again), and now she was jealously guarding him from Naminé when the blonde princess had shown no aversion to getting a kiss from him. "And besides," Kairi said, turning her gaze onto her boyfriend again, "hold my ice cream does not sound nearly as good or cool as hold my beer."

Sora blinked, and Kairi waited a few seconds before smiling at him. She'd cottoned on from the very beginning, he realized.

"Oh I love you," he murmured.

"And for whatever reason I love your sorry ass too, you lazy bum," Kairi said back.

"Do you know what's going on?" Menelmon asked Aiwemon.

"I don't know," he replied, "something about Kairi and Naminé. Human girls and human boys act in strange ways."

"No way Sora!" Roxas roared in his reply, without having heard any of the rest of their conversation because of how stunned he'd been at the initial proclamation. "I don't care how crazy our situation is, you are NOT kissing MY girlfriend!" He directed the point of the Oblivion Keyblade towards the interior of the bowl of Dusk that the water was still trying to penetrate through. Roxas looked at it, and the whole column of water evaporated instantly as a spire of raging Dusk engulfed it. The ring and stands became encased in a cloud of steam, and then there was a shouting voice from somewhere within and the sound of metal striking metal before the steam-cloud dispersed.

Roxas was standing in front of a disarmed Percy Jackson, the bayonet tip of Twilight Thorn touching Percy's chest directly over his stomach, and the Oblivion resting against the hero's thigh. Roxas himself was standing almost next to Percy, his arms bent back to keep the weapons from cutting the remaining member of Camp Half-Blood.

Sora smiled, knowing that this result would have come to pass. Not the _way_ it had happened of course, but the sheer meat and potatoes of the end result. Roxas had won; the Key Masters were continuing on, and there was even a little surprise he'd gotten. Naminé had giggled hysterically at the overprotective boyfriend routine that Roxas had done, and (not that he would admit it to Kairi) he'd discovered that his girlfriend was actually almost _more_ attractive when she was jealous, even if she was jealous at herself!

-A-D-

Even though Riku had felt his strength cut down, he still raised his Keyblade in front of him in a quick parry to ward off Paine's strike. He slid around to her side, raising his left hand and shouting "Breaking Aura!" A circular blast of red, gold, and black flames struck Paine completely in her left, sending her to the ground in a tumble. She got out of the tumble in a low crouch with her legs spread out wide, and then leapt for Riku again.

Black light encompassed Riku's feet and he pumped his legs, skating out of Paine's path and leaving trails of golden light behind him. Paine moved to come after him, but three Yuffie clones suddenly blocked her path. Riku quickly swerved around them to come up behind Paine. She blocked the stroke from a fake Yuffie's fake Keyblade and turned around, but two puffs of smoke appeared between her and Riku and two of the three Yuffie clones now blocked her advance with crossed Flower of Wutais.

Riku relaxed his body and closed his eyes, feeling the drum of his heart slow into a steady rhythm. He brought Way to the Dawn back behind him and placed his left hand on his Keyblade as well, letting his energies flow back into his arms and legs and adding the strength of his other arm.

Paine whirled around, knocking the fake Keyblade of the first out of her grasp and striking her in the chest. That Yuffie vanished just for Paine to sweep around, slicing her sword up towards the hips of the other two. Both were slow to block and took the hit, disappearing into black smoke.

"Zantetsuken," whispered Riku. He opened his eyes and blinked forward, slashing his Keyblade across his body. He appeared on Paine's other side, and the red-eyed Gullwing staggered and clutched her side before going down on one knee. "Yuffie, Dawn, now!" Riku yelled.

Rikku had just sliced through the last Yuffie on the platform and looked around in confusion before the stone beneath her broke apart as a hand lunged out from it. She squealed when the hand grabbed hold of her ankle, and the hand was swiftly followed by a whole arm, then a head, and finally the rest of Yuffie as she leapt out from beneath the stone and into the air, taking a stunned Rikku with her. She twisted around and swung Rikku around in a circle before flinging the blonde Gullwing to the centre of the ring.

Dawn knocked down one of Yuna's pistols with her arms and dropped down herself, swinging her legs out and catching Yuna's ankles. Yuna lost her footing as her feet were swept out from under her, and Dawn continued to spin her legs and kicked Yuna in the young woman's chest, arching her backward and making Yuna collide with her blonde cousin.

Yuffie's Flower of Wutai became sheathed in black energy and she swung it down towards the two Gullwings, yelling "Night Flyer!" A crescent of blackness in the shape of a bat's wing soared out from her Keyblade and struck both Yuna and Rikku, the crescent immediately scattering into a cloud of black smoke, the wisps of it looking like tiny dark creatures. The cloud engulfed the Gullwings for a few seconds before it suddenly expanded and contracted rapidly, as if a hundred tiny dark explosions were taking place within it in the span of only three seconds. The bulging blasts ceased as abruptly as they started and the smoke faded away into the air, revealing Yuna and Rikku moaning slightly on the floor of the ring.

Dawn flew across the ring and stood next to Riku as Yuffie dropped down, landing next to him in a crouch. "We give," Yuna said, raising her head from the stone. "Good fight guys."

Dawn jumped back into Riku as the victory fanfare started to sound and Yuffie began to celebrate by high-fiving her boyfriend before both of them helped the Gullwings back onto their feet. Riku's communicator started to ring in his pocket and he pulled it out.

"_All aboard! Hahahaha!"_

"(_Click_) Hey Sora, did you win?"

Sora visibly winced on screen and Riku and Yuffie started to head out to the stands, Yuffie waving to the crowd and blowing kisses in every direction. "Yeah, we won, but I don't really know if I'm gonna want to fight in the next one."

Yuffie paused abruptly in her celebrations and took the communicator right out of Riku's hands. "What do you mean you want to stop fighting!" she asked savagely. "Riku and I need to kick your sorry butt in the finals, so don't you _dare_ pull yourself out!"

Riku tugged his communicator back and asked Sora what he meant, because he got through his match perfectly fine. Sora scowled at him and replied. "Well _you_ didn't get kick boxed in the nads by a satyr!"

Riku showed his teeth in a highly discomforted display of sympathetic pain while Yuffie was barely able to clamber up and onto the stands, having begun to laugh so hard that it hurt her sides.

-A-D-

**Round One West Bracket Fight 2: Digital Champions vs. Zack Fair**

Sora and Kairi watched eagerly and wished them luck as Aiwemon and Menelmon took off from their shoulders and flew down to the ring. Zack Fair leapt out from the stands and landed easily on his feet, a smile on his face. He turned to look at the two digidestined. "Hey, these two are your partners right?" he asked. They nodded. "Alright, I should be in for a good fight then."

"Oh you have no idea," Kairi whispered with a smile as her fingers went around her digivice.

The trumpets blared and the crowds cheered as both sides stood against one another, the two digimon getting themselves ready as Zack did the same. The man unsheathed his sword. "Okay, don't hold back now," he told them lightly.

"Don't worry," Menelmon replied.

"We won't," Aiwemon finished.

_BONG!_

The crowd cheered as the two birds took to the air and Zack rushed towards them, his long sword with its golden guard and blue grip held easily in his two hands. He swung his blade at Aiwemon first, but the little hawk-like digimon with his white head swerved above it and turned his head around towards Zack's back. His eyes glowed with violent blue light. "Keen Sight!"

Two bright blue beams shot out of the bird digimon's eyes towards the base of Zack's neck, but the warrior turned around and sliced his sword across that path, deflecting the beams away into the sky.

"Snow Slurry!"

Zack turned around, expecting to have to ward off what would be a burdening pile of snow, but instead he found a cold and damp feeling on his feet. Menelmon wasn't directly attacking his face or chest, but the ground upon which his booted feet stood. Hearing a shout from Aiwemon behind him, Zack leapt off in a different direction as the digimon came in at him again, this time with his talons glowing with sharp silver light. Zack sliced his sword at the male digimon again, but this time Aiwemon dropped lower to avoid the strike before rising into the air again and firing another two beams at the SOLDIER from his eyes.

Again Zack slapped them away with a coordinated wave of his sword. He spun his weapon around his body as his feet shuffled around, keeping him a step ahead of the ice-laden feathers that Menelmon was now flinging at him just as Aiwemon continued to fire blast after blast of his Keen Sight attack at Zack. More snow piled beneath his feet and Zack leapt away again, the stone stage becoming slippery once again after being dried thanks to Roxas' final moves before claiming the victory in the preceding fight.

He leapt towards Aiwemon now, slashing his sword down at the flying bird digimon and missing by a hair's breadth. Zack turned around just as Aiwemon himself was turning to face him, and right light began to glow from Zack's left glove. He thrust that hand outward, and three fireballs twice the size of Aiwemon burst out from his palm and spiralled towards the digimon.

Aiwemon glowed with golden light, streams of it spilling out of his body, and Sora's digivice started to scream from his belt. "Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!" The large warrior-bird digimon dropped onto the stage among the awed sounds coming from the crowd, and the head of his massive mace glowed with white light. "Deciding Swing!" he belted out, swiping the mace in front of his body.

His attack caught the three Firaga fireballs dead on, the three fireballs burning out in a rush of flame that did nothing to the Champion-level digimon. Zack's eyes widened slightly in surprise and Ohtarmon advanced, swinging his mace for his black-haired opponent. Zack backed and ducked away, avoiding Ohtarmon's first and second horizontal swings. The warrior digimon then brought his weapon up and sent it crashing down for the warrior opposite him. Zack raised his own sword up in both hands and stopped Ohtarmon's advance.

"You're pretty good," Zack said, smiling.

"So are you," Ohtarmon added, his visible green eyes matching the smile that his massive beak had as he stood eight feet, nearly two feet taller than his opponent. "Menelmon, you want in?" The small ice-bird digimon landed on his shoulder, and her brown eyes were gleaming.

"Oh you bet I do," she replied as she took off. Her body started to glow, just as it had the day before. "Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!" The massive ice-eagle digimon soared around to Zack's other side, and she reared her head back. "Blizzard's Bite!"

Zack disengaged from the stalemate he had with Ohtarmon and rolled away from the blast of frigid energy in the shape of Soronmon's head. He smirked as a large crystal of ice came into existence on the stone stage ring right where he had been standing, and Zack then did the unthinkable to Ohtarmon and Soronmon.

Hey threw his sword away, high into the air.

The two digimon shared a glance at each other, but then Zack clapped his hands together and started to run very quickly on the spot. Yellow stars rose up from a glyph that appeared on the ground beneath him, and Zack cried out, "Yeah! I'm on fire now!" His sword came tumbling down, and he caught it easily by the hilt and spread his legs out, lowering his body while bouncing on his heels.

He rushed Ohtarmon, and the Champion-level digimon felt his strikes coming faster and harder as he moved his own massive mace to intercept Zack's blows, all of them. Except that he couldn't match all of them; a few strokes from Zack's sword hit the armour of his chest, but none of his own counters were able to touch the nimbler warrior.

"Deciding Swing!" Ohtarmon roared again, sweeping his mace out in a broad arc in an attempt to hit Zack again. Zack leapt over the attack and actually landed on Ohtarmon's arms. His feet slipped only slightly on the grey armour covering the digimon, and landed a heavy blow against Ohtarmon's round helmet. The warrior-bird digimon's eyes closed and he grunted in pain, placing a claw to his head as Zack jumped down. There was an intense ringing in his ears, a ringing he was sure he didn't like, not to mention that his head itself was inflicted a bit of pain.

Soronmon flew around to the other side, flapping her wings rapidly. "Polar Chill!" Watermelon sized icicles bombarded the area beneath her as they came into existence beneath her wings. Ohtarmon was carefully not targeted, but even though Zack bore the full front of the attack he dealt with it easily. His sword swung cleanly, deflecting the chunks of ice away while slicing pieces off, or cutting them right in half and dropping them right in front of him.

Ohtarmon swung his mace around as Zack was keeping the ice barrage off of him, and shouted "Feathered Mace!" A cloud of razor-sharp brown feathers with white tips flew off of his mace, and Zack glanced at the shout. The black-haired man's eyes widened and he deflected one last icicle away from him before leaping high into the air, twisting his body out of the path of the last of the icicles. Zack's left hand glowed with red light again and he shoved it towards Soronmon this time, the three fireballs shooting out and catching her before she could move away because of how close together the two of them were. Soronmon cringed as the fireballs pushed her higher into the air, burning at her feathers, and Zack landed on the ground.

Ohtarmon's mace collided with him with a flash of white light, and Zack tumbled back eight feet before getting to his feet. His breastplate glowed just above the sternum with green light centred around a small circular shape that shone brightest, and then the green glow washed all over him.

"He can heal?" Roxas asked aloud, surprised. Sora would have voiced something as well, if his own exclamation hadn't come at the cost of shifting his weight on his stone seat. That didn't do his suffering loins any favours.

Zack brought his sword back towards his ear, and then lunged for Ohtarmon. "I'm feelin' it!" he declared, swinging his blade harder and faster than he had before. Ohtarmon raised his massive mace defensively in front of him, but even its size and the Champion-level digimon's own uncanny speed were not enough to stop Zack from raining no less than five of eight powerful blows against the armour covering his chest.

Ohtarmon began to stagger back, placing his left claw against his dented breastplate as his breath came in through laboured pants. His green eyes briefly closed via a wince in pain. Zack sent another firaga spell towards Soronmon, and the ice-eagle digimon was only just able to avoid being hit a second time by the three fireballs. Things were not looking good for the two of them.

Sora leaned forward, gritting his teeth through the pain it caused him. Kairi was leaning forward next to him, as if she'd had the exact same thought. "Ohtarmon!"

"Soronmon!" shouted Kairi. Both of their digivices were already screaming, and the crests of Valour and Virtue that hung from their necks began to glow brightly with silver and blue light.

"Digivolve again!"

Ohtarmon and Soronmon both looked at their partners, and they nodded as one.

"Soronmon digivolve to…" Soronmon's body shrunk from the massive eagle she had been to eight feet tall, and her legs, which had been hunched beneath her, straightened as her centre of gravity rose and her spine became more upright. Her claws vanished, to be replaced by the five toes of human feet. Winged white heels slid onto her feet, and fabric the softest possible pink created a pant leg for her right while leaving her left bare up to her mid-thigh. The feathers on her abdomen vanished, revealing humanoid skin and a woman's body, covered to her bellybutton by a baby-blue breastplate with the emblem of Kairi's Crest of Virtue, a brilliantly radiating star over a full moon, engraved on its front. Her wings remained, but instead of the snow-white feathers they used to be they instead became closer to yellow gold, and arms and hands now became the wing-joints, making the feathers flow down from the arm like a hanging curtain. A golden ring was on one finger of her right hand. A pink choker lightly wrapped around her neck, and her face no longer resembled that of a bird's, becoming a beautiful woman's. There was a mark on each cheek, a golden tattoo at the cheekbone of a heart. Three ice-blue feathers curled out of a grey and gold headband crossing her forehead, and long tresses of perfect strawberry blonde hair fanned out behind her head. Her brown eyes opened as white and gold light streamed behind her, and she spun around on her heels, gold and white sparkles flying about her as her wings moved. "…_Thorondomon_!"

"Ohtarmon digivolve to…" Ohtarmon's body started to grow, so that instead of eight feet he stood at a towering ten feet tall. Ohtarmon's beak shrunk so that it was now inside of his helmet, which melded slightly to fit the point of his mouth. His armour turned from grey to gold, and his helmet sprouted two small swan-wings pointing up towards the sky. The seven-pointed star of Valour became imprinted in the golden helm's centre. A cape formed around his shoulders and swept down the length of his body, its width encompassing him from the exterior of one leg to the exterior of the other; it was edged three inches deep with golden thread, and the cape's interior was an invigorating red. Light flared in by his left arm and clawed hand, and the digimon grabbed hold of the red tower shield that was forming there. Embossed in the blazing red shield's centre was a silver three-pronged crown, and behind it was the picture of a diving hawk with outstretched talons in white paint. A sword sheathed in red leather with a golden and jewelled hilt appeared strapped to his left hip. Light shone in front of him, and the digimon's right hand came out and grasped at the light, and withdrew from it a long silver lance. He swept it back with a flourish, and his green eyes opened from behind the helm as wind stirred the cape at his back and light shone from behind. "…_MaltaOhtarmon_!"

The entire crowd was awed as the two newly digivolved Ultimate digimon stood on the ground in front of Zack, and the spiky black-haired soldier was somewhat daunted as well. He'd expected after the second match in the preliminaries after Menelmon had digivolved to Soronmon that her teammate would be able to do the same, even though he hadn't expected Aiwemon to become an eight-foot-tall mace-wielding bird-warrior. But he certainly had not anticipated that they would be able to change form _again_.

And now he had no reference on how strong they would be.

Roxas and Naminé each eyed both MaltaOhtarmon with looks of awe and admiration. "Whoa," said the blond male knight, leaning forward in his seat, "_that_ is cool." He turned to look at his brother. "And that guy's _your_ partner?" he asked. Sora nodded his head, filled with pride at the tone of his twin's voice, and Roxas looked back at the two Ultimates. "Wish I had a digimon partner," he muttered to himself.

"Well there's a slight catch to it that I figured out," Sora said aloud. Roxas, Naminé, and Kairi all looked at him. "Because Kairi and I are digidestined too, that means that we also have to look after the Digital World in particular compared to the other worlds. If we were just Keyblade Wielders, we kinda can't get involved in another world's problems or politics unless they were using darkness and Heartless and stuff to threaten not just their world, but others as well, or if they were accepting help from people like Pete and Maleficent. I think that's what everybody meant by 'not meddling' when it came to other worlds. With us being digidestined though, we _have_ to fight the evil digimon that try to take over the Digital World; we _have_ to meddle in that world _while_ looking after all the other worlds too as well as our own."

Naminé nodded her head and sighed slightly. "This is starting to sound like being a Keyblade Wielder is going to become a full-time job for us." She glanced at Sora. "Oh, sorry, or should I say that being a 'New Chaser' is going to become a full-time job?"

Sora shook his head and looked back down at the ring. "Honest to Poseidon, I don't know. But let's watch MaltaOhtarmon and Thorondomon thrash Zack in the meantime."

Zack Fair ran forward again, not seeing any signs of aggression from his opponents, and with a yell he swung his swung in a broad side cut for MaltaOhtarmon. The Ultimate-level digimon easily blocked the stroke with his red tower shield and thrust his lance at Zack in retaliation. Zack leapt back, away from the long weapon's point, and stumbled slightly as his heels landed at an awkward angle.

Thorondomon took into the sky with a flap of her arms and began to spin in a circle with her head directed towards Zack Fair. "Wings of Light!" she cried out as she spun faster, becoming enveloped in a whirlwind of the blanket of feathers hanging from her arms. Sparkles of silver and gold light flecked from those feathers and stormed right for Zack.

Even though he'd been able to avoid the cloud of feathers that had previously come at him from Ohtarmon's mace while dodging Soronmon's icicle rain, this came too quickly for Zack to get away from. His sword provided him little defence, and stinging cuts and scrapes started to appear on his arms and cheeks. Scratches and dents were inflicted to his breastplate, and a few strands of his hair and threads from his blue pants drifted down to the ground. Zack was wincing in pain; his feet were inching backwards.

MaltaOhtarmon pointed his lance into the air, and the vey tip began to glow like a distant star. "Shining Lance!" called MaltaOhtarmon, now striking his lance into the ground in front of him. He let go of the grip, and an orb of light formed above it. That orb broke into a dozen arrowed shafts of light, and each arrow flew into the midst of the typhoon of gold and silver sparkles Thorondomon was still radiating. Zack gritted his teeth and squinted as best as he could. He brought his sword back towards him and swung at the nearest of the oncoming shafts.

He missed! The shaft passed right over the blade of his sword and slammed into his chest just beneath his left armpit. The next one hit three inches to the right of that, and the other ten came in randomly; with each hit and each additional sparkle that hit him Zack felt the pain building and his strength leaving him for exhaustion. His muscles had had quite a workout, but they severely disliked the pain that these two were putting them through; it was like their strength was on a completely different level from what they had been before.

The last struck his chin and Zack staggered back several paces as Thorondomon let up. He dropped his sword and fell onto his backside and raised his hands with a slight laugh. "Alright, alright, I give!" he declared. "I know when I'm beat." He got up and Zack cracked his neck twice, once in either direction, and rubbed the back of it with a bit of disappointment. He'd hoped that he'd have been able to go farther, but he guessed that he was wrong. "The victory, and honour with it, is yours."

The trumpets started to blare the victory fanfare and MaltaOhtarmon and Thorondomon began to wave to the crowd in triumph as the audience's cheers assailed them. Both of them glowed with golden light and their bodies shrunk all the way down until they were miniscule heads, just Ninquemon and Luinmon now. But despite the de-digivolution both of them were ecstatic and jumping up and down with smiles and laughs almost as big as themselves coming from them.

Kairi jumped down from the stands to rush Luinmon and give her a big hug of friendship and pride. Sora was just about to be right behind her, until he moved and his eyes looked down at the drop. He hesitated for a second or two, but then vaulted the difference and landed. His legs nearly crumpled, but they didn't, and he held.

But _damn_ did it hurt! Only having Ninquemon bound into his arms with the biggest smile he'd ever seen plastered across the In-Training digimon's face could've made it bearable.

And it did.

"You did great out there buddy," Sora praised softly. Ninquemon just smiled and rubbed his little body into Sora's chest, practically cuddling his digidestined partner. And then he did something that could only make Sora laugh.

"Sora," Ninquemon said happily, still rubbing himself into Sora's steady chest, "I'm hungry."

"You bottomless pit!" Sora chortled. "You're just like Pooh Bear and his honey."

"I'm hungry too Keys," seconded Luinmon as Kairi took a few steps to come near Sora and Ninquemon.

Kairi laughed along with Sora. "Well then we'd better get some food into those bellies of yours," she laughed. Kairi poked Sora's shoulder. "And some for you too Sora, I _know_ that you're just as hungry as Ninquemon there."

Sora feigned offence. "Kairi how could you say such a thing?" he asked, "When you know that I'm nowhere _near_ as bottomless a pit as Ninquemon and Gomamon are." Right at that moment, however, his stomach growled quite audibly.

Sora glared at it and muttered 'traitor' while Kairi alone stifled a giggle. She placed a hand across his shoulder to help support him while leading the way out. They knew that there was only one match left in their bracket before the quarterfinals began, thanks to Asterix and Obelix forfeiting in order for Kairi and Naminé to win without damaging their Gaulish honour, so they didn't have much time for food.

Sora glanced down at Ninquemon, full of pride at what his and Kairi's digimon had accomplished. Zack looked like he had been no easy opponent for them to defeat if they'd had to go to Ultimate to win. But still, there was some little creature of knowing disappointment in his heart that was telling him that the next fight he and Roxas had wouldn't be against the digimon in his and Kairi's hands, there was no way that they'd be able to recoup the strength they needed for another trying battle fast enough, but instead would be against the smiling girl next to him and the blonde that had once been a part of her.

Kairi slowed as a sound started to come from her black purse with the pink ribbons, now strapped to her belt across her waist even with her mail and tabard and other assorted pieces of armour still adorning her body.

"_There were drums in the air as she started to dance,  
Every soul in the room keepin' time with their hands._

_And we sang ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And the voices rang like the angels sing.  
And singin' ay-oh-ay-oh-ay-oh-ay,  
And we danced on into the night."_

Kairi allowed motioned clumsily for Luinmon to shift into Sora's arms, because she was still supporting him and his limping from the injury he'd sustained to his groin. When the little ice-blue digimon complied with her request Kairi dug out the communicator, hit the 'TALK' button, and the screen flashed to life, showing Yuffie's face. "Hey Yuffie."

"Hi Kairi, Sora," the raven-haired kunoichi said brightly, seeing that Sora was with her auburn-haired Princess. "So guess who won in the second round on our side?"

"Hm, that's actually a bit of a tough one," Kairi answered. "Who was fighting who in that one again?"

"It was Disney's Trio against The Lionhearted. A.k.a. the King, Donald, and Goofy against Squall and Tifa."

"Ouch," Sora stated. "That is tough… actually, no it isn't. The King, Donald, and Goofy won right?"

"Bingo!" Yuffie said. "And on your side?"

"Aiwemon and Menelmon took down Zack," Kairi answered proudly. "And now we're just about to get them some food while Master's fighting his match. I don't need to see it; I already know he'll win."

Yuffie half-nodded her head. "Well, Riku and I are gonna watch your cousins take on Tidus' group and then that Auron guy go against Hayner's. We'll keep you posted."

-A-D-

**Round One East Bracket Fight 3: Easy's Champions vs. Island Siblings**

Riku glanced at Yuffie as she ended the conversation with Kairi and Sora and they shared a nod before looking down into the ring. Tidus, Olette, and Kia had just entered the ring on one side while Sade and Sikora came in on the other. The two siblings had dropped their ranch leathers for clothing similar to what the Guardians themselves wore. Each of them wore a short-sleeved cotton shirt underneath a steel breastplate, and each had simple greaves and cuisses on their legs above brown cloth pants. That was the extent of their armour, and it suited each fine. Sikora's raven hair was still tied back in a long tail, and the shirt underneath her breastplate was a brighter shade of red than most.

The girl's violet eyes swept over Tidus' team, knowing all too well that she was still a year younger, at the least, than all three of her opponents. In a way, she was glad that she'd turned fifteen a week previously, so that she could at least say that she was fifteen rather than almost fifteen. Her hands, free from gloves, flexed around the haft of the spear she carried. It was simple in its design, a wooden pole capped by a steel bodkin top; the spear's length was also only a foot longer than she was tall at six feet and two inches.

Sade stood next to his younger sister, less than half a year away from his own sixteenth birthday. Underneath his breastplate he wore a dark green shirt, and his fingers tightened around the cavalry sword in his hands. It was both long and heavy. He had grown used to the weight, but he still felt a little clumsy while using it on the ground. He'd been training well enough in combat on his feet but, well, a good part of what he'd been learning in comparison to his sister had been mounted combat, and he longed to be astride a chocobo. That was where he was most comfortable. His stomach growled slightly too and Sade patted it with a small amount of discomfort. He was still hungry after a hurried breakfast, but at least he had a banana for a snack packed away on his person.

Tidus, Kia, and Olette were in their army greys, limbering up across from the two siblings. A cheer came from the crowd and the three of them looked up. "Let's go Easy Company!" was what they heard, and from a voice that had pleasantly become very familiar to them over the past month. Major Akkan was a much better officer than Captain Sobel had ever been. In fact, the morale of the entire Company had never been better.

The entirety of Easy Company was in the stands, all of them dressed down to their green dress shirts without tunics or ties, but the heat didn't stop any of them from loudly chanting their designation. Right next to them, Tidus could see Abel Company, all of them ready to support their own contingent in the next match.

Tidus smirked. He bet that nothing would suit the two companies better than for him Kia and Olette to face off against Hayner, Pence, and Selphie. Already he could hear them chanting 'Ti-dus, Ti-dus, Ti-dus,' as well as 'Ol-ette, Ol-ette, Ol-ette,' and 'Ki-a, Ki-a, Ki-a.'

Tidus chuckled slightly and looked down at the three golden chevrons on his shoulders, bracers, and the small buckler on his left arm. "Looks like they've already forgotten that I'm a sergeant now," he said, glancing at Kia and Olette. Both corporals smiled back at him.

"Uh… It looks like you guys have some fans," Sikora said conversationally, approaching the trio before her brother could stop her. The three soldiers smiled and shrugged.

"Well, we _should_," Kia answered. "Otherwise, something inside of about ninety or so people's heads is collectively out of whack."

"And then we'd have to fix it," Olette grinned. She extended her hand towards Sikora. "Good luck."

The hand was taken and shaken in good faith, and Sora's youngest cousin skipped back to stand next to her brother. They nodded at each other as the trumpets started to sound, and Sikora readied her hands on her spear. Tidus started to flick the Brotherhood around. Olette's grip tightened on her small staff. Kia's fingers flexed, ready for her hand to be given the command to reach up and snatch a silver-fletched arrow from her quiver.

_BONG!_

Sade and Tidus each ran forward towards the other, their swords ready at their sides. Sikora let one hand go from her spear and pointed it at her brother, calling out "Praesidium a Sagittis!" A small white aura surrounded Sade's body for a moment and then vanished right before he and Tidus came to blows.

Tidus struck first, leaping towards Sade through the air and bringing the Brotherhood down and to the right. Sade stepped aside and got his sword up in time to block against the last bits of the stroke. Tidus spun around upon his landing and came on again, forcing Sade backwards towards his teammates with three more quick strokes; Sade ducked away from two of them and parried the last, finding the strength to stand up to Tidus.

Kia loosed her bow, and Sikora dived away from the arrow that streaked towards her. She rolled on the ground and rose in a defensive crouch as Kia's fingers grasped another arrow. _Should have cast that spell on myself,_ she thought in hindsight. Kia fired another arrow, and this one Sikora was just able to bat away with her spear, otherwise it would have struck her leg. Kia reached for one more and fired, but the arrow went wide and skittered across the stone a few feet to Sikora's right.

Then a fireball burst out of Olette's staff, heading right for the girl.

Sikora had never fired one quite as big as Olette just did with the burning projectile a bit bigger than the brunette's own head, but a spell was something she'd trained against. An arm reflexively came into a defensive position in front of her and Sikora shouted, "Reflect!" A small sphere of crystal-clear honeycomb pieces formed a barrier around her, and the fireball struck it but otherwise did nothing. The shield collapsed and blue balls of energy came into existence all around the Islander, but they did not appear near enough to Tidus or the other two to do any damage to them.

Sikora rose and rushed towards Olette and Kia with her long spear. Kia nocked one more arrow and sent it at Sade instead of her, but when the arrow struck him in the teen's left shoulder it simply dropped to the ground, as if it had lost all its force and merely bounced back. Lightning jittered around Sikora's fingers as she spun her spear in the air above her, and she stopped running and pivoted on one foot as she brought her weapon down. The pivot turned her action into a swing, and the thunder spell was loosed in a broad arc that struck both females from Easy Company. Shaking it off, both of them forsook their chosen weapons and drew their daggers and rushed to meet the younger female teenager. Sikora nimbly took a five-foot step back and swung her spear out in an arc in front of her, keeping the two other females at bay.

Tidus chopped the Brotherhood up from below at Sade's cavalry sword and finally broke through the boy's defences. With a tiny smirk he lunged forward underneath the other Islander's sword and the crystal blue blade the blond held struck Sade in the chest. Sade fell over, feeling his grip falter on his sword as it slid from his hands. He looked up, and rolled away as Tidus aimed another chop for his chest. Sade rose from a crouch, reaching for something, _anything_, that he could use as a weapon.

His hand came across the snack he had stowed away and he pulled it out without even thinking, just knowing that he had something the size of a kitchen knife in his hand and that it was at least a possible weapon.

Tidus gaped at it and the serious look in Sade's face in surprise. "Holy crap!" he shouted in disbelief, "He's attacking me with a banana!" Olette and Kia both ceased their attack on Sade's sister and looked that way.

To Sade's credit, most other people would be completely stiff with fear and doubt as to their course of action if someone were to come after them with a piece of fresh fruit, but the three alumni of George Company knew exactly how to handle this situation.

Kia sheathed her dagger and whipped her bow back out. She already had drawn an arrow and nocked it to the string in the blink of an eye. "First," she repeated the words of their instructor, "you force him to drop the banana." Her index, middle, and ring finger of her right hand closed around the string above and below the silver fletching, drew back, and fired. The arrow whistled through the air, and struck soundly against Sade's right wrist. It didn't penetrate the skin, and, like the last one, barely seemed to do anything, but the force of the arrow was enough to make Sade aware that he'd been hit, and his grip failed him again.

He dropped the banana.

Tidus bolted forward and scooped it up from the ground before Sade had a chance to react. He peeled it in great long strokes, already muttering the next step to himself. "Next, you eat the banana, thus disarming him. You have now rendered him helpless." Tidus shoved the banana into his mouth and began to eat.

"Hey!" Sade yelped. "That's my snack!"

"You don't happen to have a bunch of bananas do you?" Olette asked. "Or a point-ed stick?"

Sade frowned at her in confusion, and retrieved his sword in the confusion caused by the banana. "No, I just had the one, and wouldn't this count as a point-ed stick?" He gestured to his sword. At that moment, Tidus held up the empty banana peel in triumph, and swallowed.

"I have now eaten the banana!" he declared. "My foe, Mr. Sade, is now disarmed!" He looked back at Sade, saw that he had his sword in his possession again to contradict what he had just said, and chucked the banana peel away. "Dammit!"

He flung himself at Sade again with a vicious overhand cut. Sade blocked, and found his sword being driven down from the force of Tidus' strike. The blond whipped it out to the side and the Brotherhood sliced across Sade's left arm, lightly cutting into the skin. Sade hissed and pulled back.

"Hey Shrimplette!" he yelled to his younger sister. "Something's wrong with that spell you cast on me! Tidus' sword cut me!"

Sikora slammed her spear down towards Kia, the archer diving out of the way, and then spun it around to the right. Olette ducked underneath the butt end of the weapon and landed a stroke against Sikora's breastplate with her dagger. The metal sang as the armour and the weapon touched each other, but the strike did nothing more than send shockwaves and panic through the younger girl. Crying out, she slammed her elbow down, just missing Olette's head as the brunette dodged, and retreated. Then she registered what her brother had said. "Well of course it did!" she shouted back.

"What are you talking about?" Sade asked her. "The arrows from before did nothing!"

Sikora held her spear out in front of her again, warily eyeing Olette and Kia even though both were paying more attention to the exchange. "That's because the spell I cast was 'Praesidium a Sagittis', 'Protection from Arrows' you dolt! And don't call me 'Shrimplette'! I'm bigger than I was back in grade four!"

"Well then that spell's useless!" Sade spat back. "And you're still smaller than me, so I can still call you Shrimplette, Shrimplette!"

"Fire!" Sikora shouted, sending a fireball about the size of a fist from her raised left hand. Olette and Kia watched it in interest, as it hadn't been aimed at either of them, or even at Tidus.

The fireball punched Sade right in his cheek. He had not been expecting the move at all, and he lost his balance for a moment. Then Tidus struck him across his breastplate, and that was all that was needed to send Sade falling onto his back. He leaned his head forward and glared, not at Tidus, but at his younger sister. "What was _that_ for!"

"You know I hate it when you call me Shrimplette you stupid idiot!"

"In case you've forgotten Shrimplette, we're on the same team!"

Sikora's eyes flared and she completely ignored Olette and Kia, who were both close to giggling quietly to themselves, and started to spin her spear above her head. The air around it became chill, and snowflakes started to descend from it. She let it descend and began swinging it in a circular pattern at her sides, starting on her left and then to her right, and then back to her left. Each time the bodkin tip descended a ball of ice rocketed out, punctuated perfectly by her words: "DON'T…CALL…ME…SHRIMPLETTE!"

Sade was just able to dodge the four balls of ice that came for him, but then Sikora took her spear above her head again and dropped it down one final time. Now a jet of water left it and struck her brother, sending him flying out of the ring.

Sikora took a huge breath and looked down, placing her spear easily at her side with the point up. She was sweating, and her body was shaking slightly from the adrenaline. Sikora opened her eyes, and was not surprised to see Tidus, Olette, and Kia surrounding her. She sighed and let her weapon clatter to the ground. "You win; I surrender."

Tidus started to scratch the back of his head. "So… you basically won the match for us by taking out your brother. So how do we repay you?" Sikora considered his question, and glanced down at her stomach.

"Why don't you guys take me to lunch?" she asked.

"Lunch?" Tidus asked. "It's not even ten."

-A-D-

**Round One West Bracket Fight 4: Twin Blades vs. Garda**

Naminé saw Roxas glance at her soon after Sora and Kairi left with their digimon partners to get something to eat. She could tell that something was on his mind, and it wasn't the match that was about to be fought.

"Naminé," he began.

"Hm?" she asked lightly, "Yes Roxas?"

"I've decided that I'm going to pick up something I saw in the midway yesterday," he told her. "Want to come with me?"

Naminé could tell by the way he'd averted his eyes that it was only a courtesy that he'd asked if she had wanted to come with him. He was going to get something that he had wanted, but that he might have felt embarrassed in front of her if she'd known what it was he was getting. He didn't look embarrassed now, but he definitely would if she were to actually go with him.

The blonde princess decided after a moment that she should let him keep his dignity. She'd find out what it was later on anyway. "No, it's okay. I'm going to stay here and watch the match. Kairi may know how good her master is, but I want to see this match for myself." Roxas nodded gratefully and left.

Garda was in the ring already. His tall, muscular body was clearly visible underneath his unzipped white vest and white shorts. Thick black hair was drawn back into a short tail, and his two knotted arms had already drawn his massive black claymore from its scabbard on his back. That black sword gleamed in the sunlight, and he held it easily in his hands while his granite-grey eyes surveyed his two opponents.

The Twin Blades they had called themselves, but the two young men who stood across from Garda looked anything but twins. One was nearly six feet in height with ginger hair, while the other was noticeably shorter with a shock of unruly light brown locks. They each wore the leather armour that the other heroes from Olympus had worn, and both of them carried those same short swords and wore sandals strapped to their feet.

Both of them looked ill at ease about how confidently Garda with his massive claymore carried himself.

Naminé leaned forward eagerly, waiting to see how Garda did in this match. She had seen the last one too while Kairi had gone off with Roxas to get them all ice cream, and in that one he had hardly done more than blocking a couple of strokes before overpowering his opponent with a strike of his own, and then punching them out.

_BONG!_

Both members of Twin Blades decided that it would be best to strike quickly from opposite sides, and they moved to encircle Garda and hit him from the man's left and right sides in tandem.

Naminé saw that Garda made sure that that plan failed utterly. He turned towards the shorter one who had come in on his right side, letting the taller one attack for his back. Seeing an opportunity, both opponents lunged at his chest and back.

At the last moment, Garda twisted his body to make himself a slightly smaller target and dropped, yes dropped, his claymore to the ground. Both swords skittered across his back and got caught up in the folds of his vest. Both men had looks of surprise on their faces.

The looks vanished as Garda's heavy elbows smashed into their skulls. Reeling from the pain, both of them fell back, trying to blink it away. Garda wouldn't give them the time, and took two steps towards the taller one before giving him a punishing punch in the gut. All breath left the man's lungs as he bent over double, and he was knocked to the ground by a swift elbow to his back.

The shorter one dropped his sword and fell to his knees, his mind still able to comprehend that he didn't have a chance.

The victory fanfare played and Naminé worriedly wondered if they would be able to defeat Garda. She was confident that they _could_, but would he let them have the chance to?

-A-D-

**Round One East Bracket Fight 4: Abel's Best vs. Auron**

Tidus, Kia, and Olette elected to only spend a brief period of time with their company before moving over to sit with Riku and Yuffie. Selphie, Hayner, and Pence were already down in the ring across from Auron.

"So you know this guy Auron right?" Yuffie asked Tidus. He nodded his head.

"Oh yeah, I know him," he replied. "Hayner and Selphie are toast."

_BONG!_

The two warriors from Abel Company threw themselves forward at Auron, their swords held strongly in their arms. A fireball rocketed out of Pence's staff and struck Auron's chest moments before both Hayner and Selphie attacked.

The two swords hit the grizzled black-haired man in the chest as well, glancing off of the black breastplate worn under his haori. Auron hadn't even moved yet. In fact, he hadn't even shown any sign in the slightest that he'd even been hit, or recognized that he was under attack.

"What's he doing?" Yuffie asked incredulously as Hayner and Selphie each struck him again, this time hitting his arms. Neither blow cut him, Auron moving his limbs to deflect the two swords but otherwise still doing nothing. A piece of ice smashed into his right cheek, and the slight deference of movement was the most indication that anything the three had done so far had reached him.

Auron's eyes met Tidus' even from this distance, and suddenly the blond knew what was happening. "He's just soaking it up like a sponge!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"No," Tidus answered quickly with a shake of his head. "He's already won."

Riku glanced at him curiously. "How can you tell?"

"Because he's Auron," answered Tidus. "And he let them whale on him to give him another reason to show it."

"What?" Olette asked, glancing back at the warrior in his red haori.

Auron glanced away from Tidus and turned to look instead at Selphie and Hayner, the two still striking at him with their swords. In truth he could feel them, and they stung, but he held that from his face. With a shrug of his left shoulder he pushed his haori back, revealing the black breastplate underneath. His hand snatched out and grasped Selphie's blade during a quiet second of hesitation she'd suffered from his movement.

"This ends now," he told them softly. He shoved her sword back roughly, and finally brought his sword into play, sweeping it in a broad arc towards Hayner. The boy wisely backed away with a quick leap, and he glanced nervously at Selphie and Pence, now that Auron seemed like he was ready to fight.

"Pray. Now." Auron transferred his sword from his right hand to his left, and removed his sake jug from his hip with the right, and slugged down a draught, careful to leave some in his mouth. He brought the jug back down, and spat the liquor onto his raised sword. Both hands now came to the hilt, and the blade pulsed with black and magenta energy, and a cloud of it now rose above the point. Three rings of golden lettering surrounded it, and streaks of red and gold light started to fly out of the cloud and surrounded the sword. Then everything fused into the weapon, which pulsed with fire and darkness, and Auron swung it down at the stone ring. The sandstone beneath the sword became enveloped by a pool of the energy and three dark balls rose out of it. Almost immediately they headed for Selphie, Hayner, and Pence.

The three ducked and dived in vain. The three orbs struck them anyway, and left the three soldiers of Abel Company smoking as they lay on the ground, groaning in pain. Auron set his sword down and looked to the crowd. The victory fanfare struck up, and the crowd roared in approval, even to people in Abel Company. Auron was so cool that it hurt.

Riku looked at Tidus, who had a cheeky sort of smile on his face. "Aren't you facing Auron in the next round now?"

Tidus' smile vanished.

-A-D-

_That's all folks!_

_And… summon charms, time to guess. No prizes this time, but I think it'd be fun to have you guess them anyway. Also as a teaser, one of these summons will be used quite soon._

_Summon Charm #1 Description: _A round bottle of red liquid held in a yellow-furred paw.

_Summon Charm #1 Clue:_ Her dream is to one day be a princess.

_Summon Charm #2 Description: _A single unrecognizable letter.

_Summon Charm #2 Clue: _The letter means"Fool".

_And since I missed the date, I'm sorry this is late._

_In Flanders Fields the poppies blow  
Between the crosses row on row,  
That mark our place; and in the sky  
The larks, still bravely singing, fly  
Scarce heard amid the guns below._

_We are the Dead. Short days ago  
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,  
Loved and were loved, and now we lie  
In Flanders Fields._

_Take up our quarrel with the foe.  
To you from failing hands we throw:  
The torch; be yours to hold it high.  
If ye break faith with us who die  
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow  
In Flanders Fields_

_They shall grow not old,  
as we that are left grow old:__  
__Age shall not weary them,__  
__nor the years condemn.__  
__At the going down of the sun__  
__and in the morning__  
__We will remember them._

_**We Will Remember Them**_

_Shire Folk_


	49. The Zeus Cup: Quarterfinals

_(Kairi waves excitedly along with Yuffie, Naminé, Selphie, and Olette as the camera pans over them The five girls are all relaxing in the steaming waters of a hot spring)_

_Kairi: "Hey everyone! I know we're back a bit early, but that's because Shire's decided that everyone could use a new chapter to get through finals."_

_Olette: "Including him. He just had Stats yesterday. He doesn't really want to talk about it."_

_Selphie: (sighing) "As for us, well… I'm just glad that Shire sent us to a hot spring to relaaaxx… this feels _sooo_ good after being in Radiant Garden for forever. It gets cold there. It's chilly and snowing where Shire is too, so I'm really glad we live in the tropics."_

_Olette: "Sounds like the Islands are a great holiday location, but I don't think I could do without a white Christmas."_

_Yuffie: "I'd probably wish I had a river, I could skaaate awayyy on…"_

_Naminé: "Anyway. Shire just wants to say that he's tired with Disclaimers. You know it, he knows it, we all get it. He doesn't own anything but his own characters. Now grab those guys that are trying to peek and start reading."_

_(The five girls look towards the dividing wall that separates the boys from the girls, and there are distinctive sounds of surprise and sudden movement from behind it.)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter IL: The Zeus Cup: Quarterfinals

"You're right, what was I thinking?"

The words had hardly left Roxas' mouth before he put the small statue back down on the wooden counter. He looked at it once more. It was an ivory statuette of a woman, dressed in a toga, with two feathery wings stretching out behind her. It was a personification of Nike, the goddess of victory. Roxas had thought yesterday about getting it, and he had returned today to purchase the statue. In his mind, even though he didn't have much use for the gods, it couldn't hurt to maintain a small shrine to the goddess.

Then the keeper of the stall had recognized Roxas from the coliseum by his hair and tabard, and said that making a shrine to the goddess would be the very _last_ thing he should do.

"You do not want to attract the gods' attentions to you," the man had told him seriously when Roxas had inquired with a blunt 'why'. "You're in the tournament, and making a shrine to Nike would make her look upon you. While the act might please her, it would also attract the attention of the other gods, and the great Zeus might not look kindly upon one who is trying to gain Nike's favour."

"And…?"

"It's an unfair advantage," the man said definitively.

It was a moment after this that Roxas had placed the statuette back. "Thanks for the advice," he said, nodding his head at the man, and began to head back out into the myriad of other stalls.

The blond Keyblade Master sighed. _Well, that was pointless,_ he thought, _now what am I going to do? I suppose I could get something to eat too._ Shrugging and patting his stomach, he started to move out. _Maybe I should bring back some ice cream for Naminé_.

He made it to the place where he and Kairi had bought ice cream for the whole group the day before, and purchased two bars of sea-salt ice cream. "Guess I should head back now," Roxas said to himself. He took a small bite out of his ice cream and his eyes closed, thoroughly enjoying the taste.

"MREOW!"

Roxas gasped and nearly lost his footing as he tripped on something soft, and his eyes snapped open. His hands clutched tightly at his ice cream, and looked around frantically for what his feet had fumbled over. A cat was standing somewhat beside him, staring right into his eyes. The cat's hair was completely black and sleek, not what he'd have expected from a typical stray, and it looked up at him with very slanted golden eyes.

Those eyes, they were the most unusual eyes that Roxas had ever seen. He had seen a couple cats with slanted eyes before, but none to the degree that this one had. Roxas shifted his second ice cream into the same hand as the first and knelt down, extending a hand towards the cat. "Hey little guy," he began, "sorry about that."

His hand brushed the top of the cat's head without the creature even flinching or moving its eyes from his. It was eyeing him in that way that cats do. Now that he looked at it closer, this one wasn't a full-grown cat. It was positively a young kitten! But then, when Roxas began to move his hand down its head in a petting fashion, finding that the cat's, kitten's, hair was both short but very soft, it closed its eyes and leaned into the hand, purring slightly.

Roxas chuckled slightly. "I guess that means you forgive me," he remarked. Suddenly the kitten looked up, nipped his fingers with its teeth, and bolted away between two stalls. "Hey, wait!"

But it was too late, the kitten was already gone. Roxas sighed, glancing at the stinging pain in his index finger, before standing up and looking back in the direction the pesky beast had gone. He caught something just off to the left of the centre of his vision and headed for the stall. There were a number of small alabaster statues here, crafted with a high level of detail, and Roxas started to peruse through them. He couldn't recognize a single one of the statues, because unlike the ones he was accustomed to, all of these ones had the bodies of humans with the heads of animals. The biggest difference, in his mind anyway, was that all of these statuettes showed the human portion completely naked, as compared to the ones in togas he was used to.

But one in particular attracted his eye. It was a grey-tinted statuette of a well-proportioned woman with the head of a cheetah, standing on a small base.

Almost instinctively Roxas reached out and picked it up. "How much?" he asked the merchant.

"Twenty-two hundred munny," the merchant replied instantly.

"That's robbery," Roxas retorted quickly. "I'll give you eleven-hundred."

"What! Eleven-hundred for this work of art? Hey Nikos, he's offering me a paltry eleven-hundred for this! It's worth more than twice that if anything!"

"Fine, I'll give you thirteen-hundred," Roxas countered. But the merchant was, of course, a step ahead.

"Thirteen-hundred! Are you trying to insult me you armoured upstart?"

"Fourteen then."

The merchant bristled. "You will ruin me my friend! My family will starve if I sell for as low as that. Two thousand."

"You drive a hard bargain, sixteen-hundred munny."

The merchant leaned forward towards Roxas and spoke seriously. "Tell you what. That lovely piece of work cost me thirteen hundred back in Bubastis, a _long_ way from here. How about nineteen-hundred munny even; that's my final offer and not one munny less or may Ma'at strike me dead."

"Eighteen and a half."

"Done," the man clapped Roxas' shoulder and shook his hand with a smile. "A pleasure doing business with you…"

"Sir Roxas."

"Sir Roxas," the merchant nodded as Roxas paid him. "Enjoy your Bastet. Good luck in the tournament."

-A-D-

Sora walked freely from the place where they'd gotten an early lunch with Ninquemon and Luinmon. He still hurt, of course, but he declined Kairi's offer to help him walk back to the Coliseum ring. The truth was that he believed that he had to walk off the pain. It would fade, with time, and he would tough it out. He'd already had his moment of 'OWW IT HURTS' so now he needed to man up, grit his teeth, and outlast the pain before everyone started to think that he was going soft or complaining.

Regardless, Ninquemon burped in his arms. "That was really good," he said. "I enjoyed that."

"Never had lamb that way, that's for sure," Sora added.

"Never had lamb before period," Kairi informed them. "And, truth be told, I'm not sure if I'm going to have it again."

"But it was so juicy Kairi!" Luinmon reminded her. Kairi looked down at her partner with a bit of embarrassment.

"I know that," she replied, "but I just didn't like the taste of it as much as you guys did. Besides, it's a baby sheep."

"And veal's a calf, but we still eat it because it's nice and juicy and tender," Sora pointed out. He chuckled slightly. "_I want my baby-back, baby-back, baby-back, baby-back ribs. I want my baby-back, baby-back, baby-back, baby-back ribs._"

Kairi shook her head. "Sora…"

"_CHILLLIIII baby-back ribs!_" he finished. "Yes Kairi?" She just shook her head again, but there was a smile on her face.

They walked in silence for a little while before Sora broke it again. "You know Kairi," he began, looking warmly at her face, but with a hint of regret, "I do like your new hairstyle, with it done up like an old paintbrush and all, but I think I really like your old one better. It's more… 'Kairi', than this one."

Kairi heaved a sigh, and Sora began to think that he'd said something wrong, and then a hand went to the scrunchie and clips that kept that shock of hair in place. A second later her hair was freely flowing down the sides of her head again, and she smiled at Sora. He slid a hand to her face and gently tucked some of her hair back behind an ear and he smiled back. Kairi giggled, and her right hand met his left while they shifted Ninquemon and Luinmon to accommodate only being held with one arm. Kairi's thumb drew slow circles across the leather of the black glove that covered Sora's automail hand before her fingers linked with his. Her body flashed with light, and mail and armour now covered her, and the bottom of the cloth Star Seeker tabard now flapped between her legs in a slight breeze.

"I have my match coming up," she answered when he glanced at the mail shirt.

"Hey guys."

Both Sora and Kairi turned at the casual greeting and were somewhat surprised to see Roxas hastening to walk with them. "Hey Rox," Sora said, nodding at his brother. "What are you doing here?"

Kairi made a noise of amusement. "Isn't it obvious Sora? He was getting ice cream."

"Well, yeah," Roxas said, not ashamed in the slightest. He bit into the bar of Sea-Salt ice cream he'd been eating. He then held out his free hand, the other holding onto the two bars of ice cream. "I also got this."

Sora chuckled while he felt his cheeks growing just a little warm, and, to his delight, he heard Kairi snigger next to him. "So what are you going to tell Naminé when you show her that you bought a figure of a naked woman with a cheetah's head?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter what Naminé thinks," Roxas answered. "I bought it; it's mine, and she'll just have to live with it."

"Who's it supposed to be anyway?" Sora asked, taking a closer look at it. "It doesn't look like a deity or a nymph that I know of."

"I think the merchant said that he got it from Bubastis, and he told me to 'enjoy Basket' or something. I didn't really catch it."

"I don't think he really cares who it is," Kairi said. "So long as it serves his purpose of being masturbation fodder…"

"Will you shut up about the fact that it's a naked woman Kairi and no it isn't going to be that."

"Kairi," Luinmon said suddenly, looking up at her partner from her place in the crook of Kairi's left arm, "we're being followed."

The three humans stopped slowly and glanced behind them. "Who's following us Luinmon?" Ninquemon asked. She looked down, and the other eight pairs of eyes followed her gaze. Down on the ground, standing on all four paws and staring up at Roxas, was a cute black kitten with highly slanted golden eyes.

"It followed me," Roxas exclaimed in surprise, staring at the small black kitten that was several human-sized paces behind him and one to his right.

"It followed you?" Ninquemon asked.

"I guess so," Roxas muttered. He knelt down in front of the kitten and placed the figurine down before cautiously bringing his hand towards the small creature. "I accidentally tripped on him before, and then he bit me after I pet him."

So that explained why he was being cautious this time, Sora realised. But the cute kitten moved right past Roxas' extended hand and padded a circle around the figurine he'd placed on the ground, curious, before slowly moving underneath Roxas' fingers of its own volition. Immediately afterwards it began to stretch and curl into them, and Roxas didn't need any further prodding to gently scratch the kitten around the ears and under the chin. It started to purr.

"I think you've got a friend," Sora remarked. Roxas chuckled but didn't stop.

"Last time I did this, he bit me," he ruefully reminded Sora. It seemed that this time though, the kitten wasn't about to bite him, and Roxas continued scratching and petting him for several seconds.

"Sora, we'd better go," Kairi said abruptly. "I have a match, against Master, remember?"

Sora looked at his girlfriend and nodded his head. "Right, sorry. I'll see you back in the stands Roxas."

The blond looked up from the kitten and quickly rose, making sure he grabbed the statuette. "Hey, wait up." Sora glanced back and smiled a little bit. The kitten's small legs were quickly, but silently, carrying it after Roxas.

Roxas caught up, oblivious, and Sora snatched the free bar of ice cream from him. "Thanks," he said, before promptly suckling on it.

Roxas' face was one of friendly outrage. "Hey! That was for Naminé!"

Sora bit down and swallowed as Kairi pointed out that Naminé would be too busy with the match to eat ice cream. Roxas pouted and Sora took another bite. Man! He'd forgotten how much he loved the taste of sea-salt ice cream.

-A-D-

**Quarterfinals West Bracket Fight 2: The Key Mistresses vs. Garda**

Kairi and Naminé now stood in the ring facing Garda, the man swinging his massive black-bladed claymore in easy circles beside him with his right hand. Both girls had their Keyblades, and shield in Naminé's case, out, and Kairi was mimicking her Master's movements, even though her Keyblade was undoubtedly smaller and shorter by a good half-foot. Kairi took some comfort in the chain mail that armoured her torso, so the chances of being injured by her Master, as _had_ happened in the past, were slimmer, but then remembered that even the mail had been unable to stand up to Tismetrx' polearm when Roxas had fought the Nobody.

Even so, it was a modicum of comfort, since she as yet had been unable to unlock her own unique armour set as Sora had.

"I watched his last match," Naminé told her quietly, "while you and Sora were gone. He took down both opponents while unarmed, almost as if they were nothing."

"Compared to Master, they _were_ nothing," Kairi answered. "They were lucky to advance at all, really."

"Are you ready for this?" Naminé asked, looking at Kairi with a little bit of concern. "I mean, he _is_ your Master, and you have shown that you're… _hesitant_ when you think of fighting him. Most people, I think, strive to better their teachers..."

Kairi turned to look seriously at Naminé, even though she was biting her bottom lip. "Could you sit this one out Naminé, please?" she asked. "I know that together we could take him, and that Sora and Riku would probably each be able to beat Garda if push came to shove, but…"

Naminé understood at once, and she dismissed her Keyblade and shield. "You'll beat him, just trust in yourself Kairi." She placed her hands on the redhead's shoulders and smiled.

Kairi couldn't return the smile. "I don't think I can Naminé," she answered, shaking her head ashamedly. "You don't really know. Every Guardian the Islands know has been eclipsed by Garda. There's never been a challenge he's shirked away from; he's never lost a fight against any opponent. He never takes apprentices."

"But he took _you_," Naminé reasoned.

"And cast me into his shadow as soon as he did," Kairi returned. "I got better, a heck of a lot better than if I'd self-trained, and I am where I am now because of his training. But, unlike Garda, I've been beaten before; I've had to be rescued before; I've been _afraid_. You—" Kairi looked around, half in frustration, half in admiration. "You've changed from who you had been back when you were in Castle Oblivion. You're not the shy, submissive little Nobody who did what others told her to do because they threatened her. You're still sneaky and devious, but you're so much stronger than you used to be, physically magically and emotionally. And you're never afraid anymore! I've become something of a warrior-princess, but you're even more than that! You're a mage, you're a decent fighter, you're a leader, you're a…a—" Kairi cast around, trying to find the right word.

Naminé knew exactly what the word Kairi was looking for, and withheld a light chuckle as she removed her right glove and gripped it by the wrist in the same. Fortunately for Kairi, Naminé was legitimately able to give Kairi some of the courage and confidence she'd gained herself that had allowed her to become so much more than what she had used to be. She'd actually been planning on doing so anyway, she just hadn't found the proper excuse to do so. But here was one, given to her on a silver platter. "Kairi," Naminé began, her voice taking on a commanding aspect, "kneel." When Kairi didn't do so at once, Naminé applied light pressure to the auburn-haired princess' shoulder and repeated the command. "Kneel."

Now Kairi dropped onto her knees and looked up at Naminé, letting her Keyblade rest on the ground. She had some sort of idea at where this might have been going, but not all the tracks had been laid in her mind yet. Garda stopped spinning his claymore and instead had it resting on his shoulder, watching the two with interest.

"Our godfather said these words to me," said Naminé before beginning in that same strong, commanding voice that compelled Kairi's very being to obey. "Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that the Light may love thee. Speak the truth, always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong. That is your oath." She brought her hand back and slapped Kairi's cheek with the glove, sending stinging pain through Kairi's face as the crowd, watching, but unable to hear the words being spoken, gasped suddenly. Even Zeus and Hera leaned forward in their seats in a little in concern. This certainly hadn't happened before.

Garda though, who heard the words, and Roxas, who had been there when Lord Ramius had done the same to Naminé, and Sora and the In-Training digimon, who were being told everything by Sora's twin, couldn't stop smiling.

"And that is so you remember it," Naminé said as Kairi placed a hand to her cheek to feel the pain. The blonde gave the redhead a look of pride and declared loudly, so that all could hear, "Rise, a Knight of Radiant Garden."

Kairi did rise, with a confidence in her face that hadn't been there minutes before, and certainly hadn't been there the previous day when she'd discovered that her Master was in the Zeus Cup. Naminé suddenly drew her into a hug, taking Kairi by surprise. "Now never look back and kick his butt," Naminé told her, "Lady Kairi Talerith of the Dragon."

Kairi blinked several times before smiling and removing herself from the hug. She smiled at her sister for a few seconds before asking, quite amusedly, "Lady Kairi Talerith of the Dragon?"

Naminé flushed a little in indignation and started to ramble off an explanation. "Well Ovan never gave me a Knightly name when he knighted me and I figured that you'd want one when I was finally able to find an excuse to knight you so I spent weeks brainstorming and after all you like fire and you fight like a cornered mother dragon and it was the best I could come up with and it fit the bill!"

Kairi just laughed at the look on her sister's face and lightly pushed her back. "Well go on then, Lady Naminé Talerith of the Moon (she bowed low in a mocking fashion, to which Naminé snorted good-naturedly at). Let 'the Dragon' handle this." She smiled at Naminé as she rose, not a trace of doubt in her face now, and Naminé hopped down from the ring but stayed close by at ground level to watch.

_So you're ready?_

"Yes Al," Kairi answered calmly as Crowning Flame flashed from where she had left it on the ground and appeared dazzlingly in her right hand. "I'm ready."

_Nervous?_

"Butterflies like fruit bats in my stomach," Kairi replied. "But I'm fine. I'm ready."

Garda was smiling at her from across the stage. "You're ready now then are you girl?" he asked politely, hefting his claymore off of his shoulder and beginning to rotate it in slow circles at his right side once more. "Ready to leave the nest and fly off on your own wings? Ready to leave your apprenticeship to me behind?"

"You taught me many things Master," Kairi answered, "and there are probably still many more things that you could teach me. But you're right. I am ready to stop considering myself as your apprentice. I am ready to return to the war against Maleficent that needs me; ready to enter that next stage of my life and development with my friends by my side."

Garda sighed. "You are right, there are still many things that I could stand to teach you, even if all the incessant questions you asked in those few months I spent on you drove me up the wall." He smiled. "But you have already grown so strong on your own and been forced to struggle so much, I think that as much as you were honoured to be my apprentice, so too have I been honoured to have been your master.

"Now then, come at me girl! Transcend the bond between master and apprentice, and let us become something new as you send at me all that you have learned, and I fight it back with all that I know!"

_BONG!_

"Gladly!" Kairi shouted in reply. Her body flickered and Garda swiftly brought his left hand onto the hilt of his sword, at the same time moving it so that it was positioned in front of his head and slanted down to his left at a slight angle. A loud _clang_ filled the air as Kairi appeared again, almost instantly after she vanished, swinging Crowning Flame down against the massive black claymore that held fast. She vanished again, and Garda let one hand go and twisted his feet slightly to the right, moving his back muscles and his arm so that his claymore was pointed down, once more positioned in front of him.

Kairi appeared again, just as quick as his movement, Crowning Flame foiled in its horizontal slice against the obsidian sword her Master used. Kairi flashed again, and this time Garda dropped into a prone position and rolled. Kairi had appeared this time above where his head had been, and was slightly startled when her Keyblade cleaved through air. It was as if Garda was able to instinctively tell where she was about to flash-step to.

"High speed movement." Garda spoke highly of her with his impressed tone. "Too bad for you that you're facing the only one I know of on the Islands who's tuned their senses so finely that they can still feel the air moving when you pass by." He slashed his claymore towards Kairi's back with one hand on the hilt, but she quickly flashed away while still in the air. She appeared behind him, swinging Crowning Flame for her Master's back. Impossibly, he was able to alter his position and grip _just_ enough to deflect Kairi's Keyblade away.

"Really?" Kairi asked as she flashed back in front of him, swinging her Keyblade for his head once more. "You're _that_ good, Master?"

The Garda ducked away from her strike and backpedalled twice before delivering a crushing strike if his own towards her head. Kairi's arms jarred as they defended her with Crowning Flame. "Not really," he admitted freely. "I'm not _that_ good. But I _can_ hear the rings of your mail tinkling against each other as you move, even at that speed. Heavy armour isn't exactly stealthy girl." Kairi grimaced and flashed away again, once more appearing behind him. Garda half turned and blocked swiftly with an angled claymore, and then thrust out with a single hand on his sword and pushed Kairi's Keyblade and the girl back. She landed on her feet in a crouch and rose.

Garda turned around completely now, and brought his hands together on his six-foot-long black claymore for a precise horizontal cut for Kairi's chest. Kairi turned her right side towards the stroke and slammed Crowning Flame against it. The two swords rebounded heavily from one another and Kairi's feet began to lightly carry her around to the right. She brought her Keyblade back out in front of her and quickly aimed a cut down and slightly to the right, gunning for Garda's left shoulder. His claymore was there for the intercept, batting Kairi's Keyblade out of the way before lunging for her right shoulder in a stab.

A quick flash-step away was all that saved Kairi from having the point of the massive sword strike into the chain mail and cut into her. Regardless of how well the mail had held to distribute the force, her shoulder still would have been pierced, either by the rings or by the sword itself if it was able to shear through the protective.

Kairi caught her breath as Garda turned around again, swinging his sword out for her in a broad arc. She flash-stepped back and to her right, almost instantly avoiding the blow and placing herself behind it, and charged with a shout towards the now vulnerable left side of her Master's body.

For the first time in their bout, no, the first time _ever_, Kairi's weapon found the flesh and bone of Garda, striking him diagonally at about the third rib before quickly bouncing down and clattering against the stone.

He grunted, eyes lighting up with pleasure, before belting out a booming laugh. "HA! You did it! You actually hit me Kairi!" The auburn-haired girl's face lit up in a surprised smile. That was the first time he'd said her name since taking her on as an apprentice. He stood up fully and placed a hand at the spot where her Keyblade had stuck him. "And a fine hit too; that's going to leave a nice fat bruise tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, I guess it will," Kairi replied, still grinning. Garda cracked his neck back and forth and rotated his shoulders.

"So then, Lady Kairi, the Dragon Knight—" he began.

"Naminé!" Kairi interrupted, looking back at her sister who was still standing just shy of the ring. "The Dragon Knight, I like that one better!"

"Alright, fine!" Naminé laughed exasperatedly. "You can keep it. Sheesh, everyone's a critic."

Garda chuckled humourously. "Since it seems that you do have some claws and fangs," he continued, "what do you say we turn up the heat?"

Kairi smiled back at him. "I'd love to, Master Garda." He nodded his head, and Kairi felt another rush of pride. He'd permitted her to say his name rather than simply 'Master', and she thought that he liked the ring of 'Master Garda' more so than either his name, his position, or his unique position with her.

"Excellent," he remarked, and hefted his claymore up behind his back. A steel-grey aura began to swirl around the blade, and Kairi brought her left hand to the midpoint of her Keyblade and intoned, "Light, give me power; strengthen my sword." Crowning Flame began to shine with a pale light, and both weapons were launched towards each other simultaneously.

Even though Kairi had empowered her Keyblade, her arms were still jarred completely by the overwhelming force that Garda's stroke had, and the female Keyblade Wielder was thrown back. She bounced once on her back before landing in a crouched position. Garda was moving swiftly towards her, and Kairi instantly began to chant quickly but precisely. "Flames that rise from the ashes and fly into the sky, become my weapon and my blade. Flame Style 8: Burning Match!" She flicked Crowning Flame out to her side, and small burning embers flickered in and out of existence around her palely shining blade, appearing only fleetingly, but burning brightly for their short time of existence. Garda sent a stroke towards her that would have taken her head right off her shoulders had Kairi not had the presence of mind to duck well underneath, and she scratched the edge of her Keyblade against the stone beneath her Master's feet. The embers that danced around Crowning Flame flared before vanishing, and bright red flames suddenly erupted beneath Garda, consuming him. He let out a yelp of surprise and leapt back at the first touch of the fire. He'd endured worse, such as the jets of flame she'd thrown at him in their last duel, but these ones had come as a surprise, and he still didn't want to be standing in the middle of a fire.

"Wonderful work," he said approvingly, watching as the crimson fire died after a few seconds of burning from the spot she'd scratched with the tip of her weapon. "Masterfully done. I take it that you've used _that_ little tactic before, on an unsuspecting Heartless perhaps?"

"You're right Master Garda," Kairi replied. "I have. And it burned that Lance Soldier to a crisp."

"May I see something else you've developed to defeat these Heartless you fight?" Garda asked, extending his hand invitingly. "I'd like to see it."

Kairi nodded her head proudly. "I'd like to show you Master Garda," she answered. She held her Keyblade out in front of her, and let a small internal dam she'd built in her mind break. A pool of reserved energy flowed into her limbs and her entire body stretched in a spread eagle as a transparent crystal dome of honeycomb pieces briefly appeared around her and exploded.

Garda shielded himself from the concussive force with his arms, and then looked back. Kairi's whole body was covered in close-fitting black clothing, accented by fire-orange lines that segmented the clothing. A black cape wrapped around her shoulder blades, and Kairi's hair had turned from the auburn it usually was to become an aspect of fire, its colour the exact same shimmering, flickering creature that fire was. Two large swan wings composed entirely of flames rose out through the cape on her back, and an orb of fire hovered above her left hand. Crowning Flame was still clenched in her right hand, and it was now wreathed in white fire.

Garda's mouth was open in awe for just a moment before he closed it again. Then it opened once more. "Wonderful, wonderful," he told her. "Now… show me what you can do."

"You get him Kairi!" Naminé shouted encouragingly from the sidelines.

Kairi needed no prompting. She flew forward on her fiery wings, bringing her Keyblade back behind her in preparation for a powerful strike against her Master. Garda brought his own claymore back, and once more it glowed with a steel-grey aura. They both swung, Kairi across her body and Garda in a golf swing up, and there was a flash of light and flame as Garda's claymore deflected Kairi's Keyblade harmlessly away. Kairi's grip on her flaming Keyblade had remained tight, and she found herself being dragged up and to her right from the altered direction her weapon now took. With two surprised beats of her flaming wings Kairi halted in her new path and then turned around, looking down on her Master from above.

_There's no way I'll be able to hit him with Crowning Flame again,_ she reasoned. _At least, not without distracting him first._ She raised her left hand towards Garda, and called out, "Burning Bolts!"

One of her normal flash arrows made out of white light shot out of her hand and passed through the orb of fire that hovered in her palm. The white arrow became wreathed in red fire and streaked towards her Master. Four more arrows followed in rapid succession, and Kairi quickly altered her position and flew above and behind Garda, dodging one of her own bolts in the process.

Garda swung at the first burning bolt with his claymore and deflected it up high, nearly hitting Kairi herself as it soared close to her starting position. He struck the second arrow from above, and it bounced down into the stone a foot in front of him. A spark skittered across the shaft of the light projectile, and then it burst apart in a violent explosion of white light accompanied by a rushing roar of red flame. Garda recoiled and bent his head down, away from the blast, and then was suddenly aware of two stabbing pains in his chest and one in his left leg. He looked down, and saw that the other three bolts had struck him and were just barely embedded in his skin. He grasped at the shaft of one, grimacing through the burning sensation that stole through his hand, and painfully yanked it out before tossing it away. Almost as soon as he had, the three of them exploded and a pained yell was wrenched out of his gut as he was blown backwards by several feet.

Sora and Roxas in the stands were amazed. Kairi was beating him. Kairi was _actually_ beating him!

Garda shook his head and picked himself up from the ground. He grunted slightly and brushed his titan hands over his arms and the front of his vest, patting off the soot that was now on them. He looked up, but Kairi was not where she had been before. Frowning, he turned around.

"Vulcan's Forge!" A jet of flame was soaring out of the orb in front of Kairi's left hand, and what had once been a ribbon of flame circling her Keyblade was now a solid hammerhead of fire, both the jet and the hammer rushing towards him.

Garda stomped his feet sturdily onto the ground and dropped his claymore. The weapon clattered against the sandstone as he twisted his left leg and made his position that much stronger. Garda's hands glowed with green light and he slowly lifted them up from the ground. "Arise, Cho'kal!" he cried out.

A massive block of stone from the ring rose up in front of him, and the fire attack of Kairi's struck it head on and split in all directions, the stone block breaking it. Kairi watched in interest from above as the flames died out, because the stone block was beginning to mould into a humanoid shape.

Suddenly a feeling of déjà-vu struck her as she remembered the day she went to the headquarters of the Guardians to ask Garda to take her on. A female Guardian had called up rock and dirt from the earth and it had taken a humanoid shape as well. She recalled that the construct was called a Golem.

But where that particular Golem had been around six feet tall, this one was fourteen, and it was roaring at her with bestial fury and beating its stone fists against its chest in a challenge. On its forehead was a design of a calla lily.

Kairi's eyes widened in surprise, and a little bit of anxiety, as her flaming wings kept her above the construct. "You didn't honestly think that you were the only one with a few tricks up their sleeve did you?" Garda asked.

_A Golem? Kairi, have you seen this before?_ Naminé asked, concern clearly in her voice.

Kairi's returning head shake was barely noticeable. _I know that a few other Guardians have been able to, but I never once heard of Master being able to do it._

"This is Cho'kal," Garda told her. "Wherever there is stone, I can build him. He is bound to me, and obeys any command I give him." He smiled. "You're very lucky Kairi. Only the most senior Guardians know that I have him, and even among them, only a select few have ever seen Cho'kal before. None have fought against him. Count yourself as privileged, and as a sign for how far I know you to have come."

He gestured towards the hulking monolith of stone in front of him. "Defeat Cho'kal, Dragon Knight of Radiant Garden, and I will yield the victory to you. Even I, his creator, would find some trouble defeating him one-on-one."

Kairi's flaming wings continued to flap while she hovered in the air above the ring. Her eyes were on the golem, lingering on the calla lily design on the top of its head. "Naminé," she asked warily without taking her eyes off of the construct, "do you still have that book?"

Naminé looked up at her, her eyes having been switching back and forth between the three on the ring. "Huh? What book?"

"You know," Kairi returned, still looking only at Garda's summon, "that book. That book that you got with all those monsters in them."

Naminé's face now showed its recognition. "Oh, _that_ book. No, I don't have it with me. It's still back at the castle."

"Why's it back there?" Kairi asked, a little irritatedly, turning her head slightly now so that Naminé was in her peripheral. "I thought you'd have brought it with you."

"I really didn't expect I'd need it," Naminé answered, annoyed. "And you couldn't have expected to want a _Monster Manual_ with you either, until right now."

"Well then, since you perused through it a lot more than me, what would you call this in terms of a monster?"

Kairi watched as Naminé studied Cho'kal seriously with a finger to the middle of her lips. Her eyes closed and her head knelt down in a small incline before coming back up slowly. "If I had to classify it, I'd call it a Stone Golem."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "I already knew _that_ part Nami. I meant what would its stats be?"

"Well how would I know!" Naminé retorted. "I don't have even a hundredth of the book memorized and I don't plan to! It's a manual or a reference guide. And even if I did, I'd have no way of knowing what this _particular_ Golem's stats are, just general facts on Stone Golems. And I don't even know what _your_ stats are in comparison."

"Well then I'll just have to find out how tough this thing is for myself," answered Kairi.

"Are you sure you can beat it?" Naminé asked, showing a trace of anxiety for the first time as she looked between the fourteen-foot-tall man made of stone and the less than half as high Princess with wings of fire.

Kairi snorted and tossed her head slightly and flicked Crowning Flame to her side, white flame enveloping her Keyblade "Beat it? I'll break it and melt it!" She angled her body slightly and shot for the Golem like an arrow, her burning Keyblade wound up behind her.

Kairi came in under a long stone arm and struck Cho'kal in the chest. She smirked with satisfaction as a piece of the stone the size of her fist chipped off beneath the flaming weapon and she struck again, swinging Crowning Flame down for the exact same spot. Her smirk vanished as her Keyblade skidded off Cho'kal's chest, sparks flying off the edge of Crowning Flame but otherwise not leaving a crack in it.

Kairi looked up as an arm moved towards her and she quickly flapped her wings of fire and got from being so close to the Golem. Light flashed on her left hip and Kairi slid Crowning Flame into the light, like it was a sheath, and placed her hands together as flames began to lick her fingertips. Her yell was loud, but the rush of flames that left her hands after her shout of "Firaga" was louder still.

Cho'kal's large stone arms came together in front of his face, and all sight of him was lost to Kairi beneath the fires that streamed from her fingertips. She knew what she was doing. It didn't matter if he was made of stone, even stone melted under enough heat.

She never saw Cho'kal's fist punching through the fires that were rolling out of her hands until the moment before it hit her.

The force of the blow sent Kairi reeling back through the air. The air was crushed out of her lungs and her eyes were bulging at Cho'kal as he strode through the dying flames, swinging his other arm for her. Kairi's chest heaved as she forced air back in, and she felt her ribcage feeling _really_ tender beneath her chainmail and padded cloth that was beneath it. Even with crushed lungs as she forced air to expand them again, her wings carried her to safety, back and away from the swinging stone arm and fist that would have clobbered her.

Her lips were forming the words and whispering the incantation before she was even consciously aware of the fact, or even aware that she had the breath to do it with. "Sing now the hymn of the phoenix, the eternal fires of heaven and of hell; let Tartarus be forever lit by your falling effigy. I stand at the maw of the dragon of the skies to open its blazing gullet. Let the flame of the heavens rain down upon my enemy. Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!"

Her voice had gained strength as the words left her mouth, and she had felt her wind returning to her. Now, as she invoked the final words, her back arched out and her arms fell to her sides behind her. The sky filled with dark clouds, and light like red lightning flashed as they rumbled with their supernatural storm. Cho'kal even looked up, curious.

Then the meteors began to fall and he raised his great stone arms to protect himself. It didn't matter much, he was a large target to begin with, and he couldn't block them all. He broke one, two, and then three of the fireballs that were all equal in size to his fists, but then the first one slipped through and he stumbled. Then another, then two more, and Kairi could now only see flashes of the Golem amidst the fireballs that rained down on him, battering him.

_That should do it_, Kairi thought readily, bowing her head and giving a small sigh. Only Maleficent's Nobodies had been able to withstand her Skyfyre when she'd dropped it with the intent to kill; the other contestants hadn't been killed or knocked out, but none of them had wished for a continuation of the match after being struck down by it. This Golem would undoubtedly do the same.

All the same, she opened her eyes and kept her senses alert as the fireballs ceased to rain down on the Stone Golem, obscured by dust, shattered rock, and wisps of still burning flame. Then a vicious roar emanated from the cloud, a roar that momentarily stunned Kairi with a thrill of fear, and Cho'kal emerged.

_What is—?_ Kairi thought quickly, staring at the Stone Golem. A few chunks of rock had been blown off his shoulders and back, and there was a small piece the size of her head gone from what had resembled curly brown hair that had covered the back of its head. Rivulets of fire from her Skyfyre that had remained were still active in the depressions, and some burning embers were even still cascading down his body, like water dripping off someone who'd just taken a shower and had yet to dry him or herself.

A stone arm that was now covered in tiny chips swept up towards her, and Crowning Flame flared as Kairi drew it from the light-sheath she'd placed it in. She swung her flaming Keyblade down at the arm, but she might as well have been trying to stop a raging bull with a flyswatter, and in fact that's exactly what it did to her. Cho'kal's stone arm tore her Keyblade from her grasp and swatted her back, like she was an annoying fly.

Kairi's eyes were watering in pain as people screamed and dove out of the way. A split second later as much of a cry as her lungs were able to produce slipped past her lips as her back crashed into the stone seats. Her armour barely cushioned her at all; padded chain wasn't designed to be the perfect thing to wear when being hurtled into a tiered brick wall.

She winced and summoned Crowning Flame back into her right hand while pushing herself up. Kairi quickly felt herself over with her free left hand. So far it didn't seem like anything was broken, which surprised her, but she knew that she would definitely have some bruises and sprains. She experimentally flapped her flaming swan wings. They were still in working order too. Crowning Flame was still wreathed in white fire as well. All things considered, she was still pretty okay.

Kairi leapt back into the air, streaking towards Cho'kal on her wings. She dodged the other arm that was coming for her and struck for the dead centre of Cho'kal's chest with her Keyblade. Crowning Flame flashed as it connected, and a chip about the size of her fist broke free. She swung again, and another piece left to join its fellows making rubble on the ground while a sharp red-hot crack formed for a split second before cooling.

_Good,_ Kairi thought to herself. _I _am_ hurting it. I _can_ beat this thing!_

Kairi swayed back a foot and readied her Keyblade behind her. Now was the time for something quick at this weakened spot, something to give her an edge. "Flame Style 8: Burning Mat—YIKES!" Her spell failed and Kairi felt herself sapped slightly of the effort it would have taken and Kairi dove down, abandoning her quick attack as Cho'kal's massive right arm came after her again. She swerved to the left, hoping to avoid the punch she knew was coming, only for the hand to unfold and slap her wings and back as if he were bouncing a ball. Pain welled up in Radiant Garden's newest Knight's eyes as she barely held onto her Keyblade. Her wings, the white flames surrounding her Keyblade, and the distinctive look of her Drive Form vanished in a meek fizzle as her body bounced up from the ground. Then the left arm came in and punched her side. The Crown Princess of Radiant Garden couldn't even muster another weak scream of pain as she felt it collide painfully with her, and Kairi tumbled and rolled, Crowning Flame skidding on the ground beside her.

She slid to a stop, her ears deaf to the shocked gasps of the crowd and the obvious shouts of concern from Naminé, Sora, Luinmon, and Roxas and Ninquemon, as she groaned and pushed herself onto her knees with her right arm. Her chest heaved and she hacked, not too surprised to see that she was coughing up blood.

Not surprised, but that didn't mean that she wasn't distraught. This was not going as well as she'd planned. But then, if anything can go wrong, it will, and she was just unlucky enough that things had to be going wrong for her today.

Her eyes became clouded with red, and Kairi blinked and felt something wet on her forehead. She wiped the back of a grubby hand across where she guessed the stinging pain of the cut that was leaking her blood was. She wasn't entirely sure, because every part of her body was throbbing with an ache or two. Belatedly Kairi realized that she probably shouldn't have done that, because now the cut might have a higher chance of getting infected from the dirt she'd rubbed into it. She glanced to her left arm as she knelt, which Kairi just realized she was holding gingerly, and approached it with her right finger. Was it…?

Kairi couldn't stifle the sob that sharply left her as pain shot through her arm. So her left arm was broken then. That was definitely a problem… unless she took care not to try and attack Cho'kal with her Keyblade directly. That meant ranged attacks; that meant throwing her Keyblade in a Strike Raid variant, and she wasn't comfortable with tossing her weapon away even though it'd come straight back, or magic.

She could certainly do that.

Using Crowning Flame as a prop, Kairi pushed herself back to her feet and stood facing Cho'kal. She could still take this thing, and she noticed that Crowning Flame was still glowing with a pale light, so that was in her favour. She spun the Keyblade in front of her in a conical shape, rotating her wrist around and around while she left her left arm limp with that side turned away from Cho'kal, presenting herself as small a target as possible.

Wind filled the inside of the conic she made, and light poured off of her Keyblade into the winds themselves, making the air shine with bright white light. With a yell that showed her defiance, Kairi cried out "Blinding Twister!" and slashed Crowning Flame across her body. The cone inverted, so that the point was facing the Golem, and Kairi rapidly swept her Keyblade in front of her twice more. Three of her Flash Arrows flew out with the first pass, and two more came out on the second pass. Her body swayed and she nearly fell back down onto one knee, her already aching body now growing as tired as her mind was from this battle. She'd already cast a move she'd traditionally used to finish things, as well as Flash-Stepping around earlier and using three of her Flame Styles in addition to everything else. She knew that she still had quite a bit in her, but it wouldn't help her to push her luck right now.

But when she saw what happened to her attack, Kairi realized that she'd need to push it for everything she was worth.

By the time the first three arrows were reaching Cho'kal's body, Kairi's small twister of light had already bored a perfectly smooth depression about as wide as Kairi's arm across the thigh of Cho'kal's left leg, but it had already expended itself after only getting through about her index finger's length at its base, superfluous damage to the Golem. What was even worse, in Kairi's opinion, was that all five of her Flash Arrows bounced harmlessly off of Cho'kal's stone body, detonating in the sky like fireworks rather than inside of his… flesh? Body. Inside of his _stone_ body.

Kairi let go of Crowning Flame and fumbled in her purse with her one good hand, which she'd already decided was now less of a purse than a medi-pack, and pulled out a blue cube. She flicked the blood that was still running down from that scrape (wherever it was) with a finger, and Kairi crushed the cube into her forehead, rather as if she were about to break an egg with that part of her body. And like an egg's whites and yolk the blue dust that composed the ether fanned out over her face. A blue glow encompassed her body, and Kairi felt at least a little bit of refreshment as new energy entered her mind and limbs. Not near enough to completely top her, but she wasn't tired anymore.

That was when she saw Cho'kal's large hands coming towards her, his fingers cupped and outstretched.

Crowning Flame appeared in her right hand again in a flash of light and Kairi slashed at the fingers that were about to wrap around her. A flash of light erupted as her Keyblade struck at the fingers of the left hand, the actual body of the Golem somewhat crouched about ten feet away from her, but he'd come _far _too close for her comfort since she'd gotten to her feet.

Kairi faltered as Crowning Flame made contact with the fingers of Cho'kal's left hand and screamed in pain, as his right hand had just made contact with her broken left arm. Her Keyblade fell from her grasp as both hands now clutched her tightly. She tried to fight, she tried to struggle, but the pain… the pain that caused her eyes to flood and her throat to choke out sobs amidst the blood that already came with any bad cough… it was too much. She couldn't go through anymore; she'd have to do it after all. A pity, and she'd been saving that surprise for the next round too.

-A-D-

Sora, Roxas, Ninquemon, and Luinmon could only watch, petrified, as Cho'kal's arms raised the feebly struggling Princess higher into the air, until she was two metres above his fourteen-foot high head. Then, both hands came crashing down at a great speed, and the Golem slammed Kairi face-first into the stone ring. The stone beneath cracked and buckled and broke, and two feet down was when Cho'kal's stone hands stopped and came back up. The Stone Golem stood where his feet were rooted, just metres away from a small dust cloud that was slowly vanishing.

Sora was only barely able to see through the dust cloud when all other facts left him and his heart froze over with fear. He could only just barely see Kairi, but already he could tell that she wasn't moving.

The next thing he knew, he was shouting her name and was suddenly not shouting her name, but saying it, whispering it, while on his knees next to the auburn-haired Princess. Naminé and Roxas and the two digimon were beside him, surrounding Kairi. Even that cute little black kitten was there, hanging back, unnoticed.

"Kairi please," Sora pleaded, touching her very still shoulder very carefully in hope that it would stimulate Kairi into moving. His vision was blurred with tears. "Please, say something to me. Show me that you're here."

"Get up Kairi," Naminé whispered, the rubble painfully digging into her kneecaps and drawing blood from some of the sharper pieces. "Come on, please, get up."

"She's not going to." All of them turned and saw Garda with a sombre look on his face. He was in front of his Golem, and slowly walking towards them while Cho'kal stayed still. "She's not dead," he hastily assured them. "I made sure of that. Cho'kal knew his instructions were to defeat her, but not kill her or do so much damage that she wouldn't recover. I'd hardly be able to live with myself if I'd caused—"

"Well look at how she is now!" Sora retorted, fire welling up in his gut as Remembrance appeared in his grasp. His cerulean eyes were livid. "This is a friendly competition, and you went and fucking beat her half to death!"

Garda cast his eyes down, and there was an uncertain note in his normally strong, hearty voice. "I'll take her to the infirmary and assist in treating her wounds myself. I am… I'm so sorry Sora. To you, to Kairi, to Naminé, even to her godfather Ramius. I've been a horrible Master to her. I should have had Cho'kal stop after he'd landed that last punch; I should never have had her fight Cho'kal in the first place. But still, not even the Behemoth King was able to do so much damage to him as—"

Sora, Roxas, and Naminé were all about to raise snarls in protest when there came a sudden sound. It was low, and wasn't something that they'd been expecting, and at first they couldn't tell what the sound was or where it came from. Then they heard it again and all turned to look. It had been the 'meow' of the kitten, which was now by Kairi's head and licking her cheek.

"Where did that cat come from?" Naminé asked.

"He followed me back from the market," Roxas answered, not really sure of what was going on around him. Kairi's face flinched slightly as the black kitten continued to lick her exposed cheek, and her eyelids slowly flapped three times before a groan passed her lips and Kairi raised her head.

"Urh, wha—?" Kairi looked to her right, pushing herself up slightly with her not-broken right arm. Despite the pain she was in, a smile still came to her lips and she placed a couple of fingers that didn't hurt so much on the kitten's head. She started to run them through the soft fur there, and was rewarded with a purr. "Hey… little girl," she whispered.

"Kairi, are you alright?" Sora asked, almost lying down on his knees so that his head could be level with hers. He knew he couldn't keep the concern from showing on his face.

"I'm… I'm fine, Sora," Kairi replied, her voice barely above a whisper. She started to rise when a gentle hand went to her shoulder and stopped her.

"Don't move," Garda said firmly before anyone else could. "You'll only make it worse for yourself."

Kairi made an effort to spit, which consisted of allowing a punitive dribble of blood to leave her mouth. "I'm fine…" she rasped again, slowly moving her right hand so that it was beneath her. "I can… can still fight."

"Kairi stop, please!" Luinmon cried. "The fight's over."

Kairi smiled at her, an act that saddened Sora, and she started to push herself up again. "No it's not Luinmon. I… can still… stand."

Sora placed a hand on her shoulder too and tried to keep his voice calm when Kairi turned to him, pausing in her rising. "No Kairi," he said gently, shaking his head at the futility of it, "she's right. It's over. You need to rest now."

"Sora." The word made him bristle inside as a thrill of something went up his spine. Kairi's voice was still a rasp, but now only because of pain. Her tone was still strong; her indigo eyes showed no anxiety, only confidence. Even though her body was on the threshold of breaking down on her and pain signals were overwhelming every nerve, she still seemed to have the force of mind or will to block them out.

"I know I can beat him," she continued, very slightly inclining her head towards the unmoving Cho'kal. "Even though the only way… will be to do something I didn't want to do."

"Which is?" Roxas asked suspiciously. Kairi smiled guiltily.

"I had been planning on first releasing my Shikai in front of you two in the next round and seeing your initial reaction to it," Kairi answered, "but it looks like I'm going to have to show you now."

Ninquemon spoke up before Sora could. "You mean, if you use your Shikai now, you'll still be able to beat him?"

"Definitely," Kairi answered.

"You want to keep going?" Garda asked incredulously. He shook his head. "Kairi, I can't allow that. You've been injured too—"

"I said that I would break and melt him, Master Garda," Kairi shot back. "So, before I go getting myself looked at, I'm going to exact more than a little payback on Cho'kal if you don't mind. If he's your Ace in the hole, then I'm about to trump him with mine."

Garda still looked extremely hesitant. "Kairi, you've impressed me enough. There's no need—"

Kairi put one shaky foot down and started to rise again, also pushing off with her right hand. "You said that you wanted to see how far I've come," Kairi told him as both his and Sora's hands slid from her shoulder. "Well let me show you with every ounce I have left, just how far that is." No one tried to stop her. They all knew now that Kairi was going to give it one last try. And despite the punishment she'd already taken…

…they were curious to see if her ace really _would_ be enough to finish off Cho'kal.

White light flared in Kairi's extended right hand as Sora, Naminé, and the others moved to the extreme back of the ring, and the crowd's reaction was mixed. Some cheered that she was back up, others were horrified that she was back up, and others still were muttering about should-haves or would-haves.

Crowning Flame's blade no longer glowed with the pale light that it had when she'd first empowered it. But that didn't matter now. In a few seconds, all that the others knew about her and her Keyblade would change.

_Are you with me?_

_I chose you. I always will be._

Kairi nodded her head once, and brought Crowning Flame back parallel to her body, the Keyblade's tip pointed up into the sky. She started to whisper. "Envelop our enemies with the holy flame, Alcezeran!"

Her Keyblade shattered.

-A-D-

**Quarterfinals East Bracket Fight 1: Night and Day vs. Disney's Trio**

The crowd was cheering wildly through the fanfare as Riku and Yuffie strode into the ring, side-by-side with King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. The two young Keyblade Wielders were still in their Acolyte Chainmail and assorted bits of armour as they had been for their match with the Gullwings. King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were all dressed as they normally were; the King in his red outfit, Donald in blue and white, and Goofy in green and yellow.

"You ready Riku?" King Mickey asked in a friendly tone. Riku smiled and looked down at the mouse king.

"Yeah Mickey, I'm ready," he answered comfortably. "Good luck."

"You too," Donald told him. "You two are going to need it."

Yuffie placed her hands on her hips. "Oh really?" she asked. "Good luck Donald, because I think that you're the one who's going to need it before long." Donald grinned.

"We'll see Yuffie," was all he replied with.

The two teams took their respective places on opposite ends of the ring, and Riku heard Dawn whispering in his mind. _Do you want me out right away?_

Riku shook his head to himself very slightly. _No. I'll call you if I want you to come out._

"You go Dad! Knock Riku an' Yuffie out!"

Riku blinked. He recognized that voice. His eyes searched the crowd, and he quickly spotted the owner: a youth of the same kind of anthropomorphic humanoid dog that Goofy Goof was. Max Goof was indeed sitting in the crowd, along with his best friend PJ and his crush Roxanne. The three of them were obviously present to witness Goofy, and Donald and King Mickey of course, compete in the Zeus Cup. Riku was just sorry that he was going to have to disappoint them. They'd seen the first round, but this was as far as Max's father was going to get.

_BONG!_

"Fire!" Donald shouted, pointing his staff towards Riku and Yuffie. Riku'd already pooled black and gold energy around his feet, forming his Sun Skates, and swiftly pushed himself away from the swirl of fireballs racing towards them. Yuffie vanished in a puff of black smoke and reappeared almost instantly in another fifteen feet above where she had been standing. Three kunai were already out of the pouches in front of her shorts and flying in straight lines for the Court Magician.

Goofy got in their way, his round shield bearing a device in the shape of his monarch's head deflecting the three small ninja knives harmlessly to the ground. Riku bypassed both of them and skated straight for King Mickey, summoning Way to the Dawn into his hand as he went. The Reverse Kingdom Key appeared in the King's hand in a flash of golden light as well, and the two weapons met with a ringing clatter as their blades slid down one another to catch at the other's guard.

Mickey twisted his wrist and pushed his Keyblade down against Way to the Dawn, forcing Riku's arm down slightly, and leaped over the young Keyblade Master as Riku quickly thrust his left hand for the King's head, golden and black flames curling around his fingers. King Mickey slashed down at the back of Riku's head as his leap carried him over.

Dawn rose up from Riku's back and the golden blade of the Reverse Kingdom Key bounced off of her chest. King Mickey landed steadily on his feet with his back to Riku and twisted around, blocking a downwards slash Riku was making for His Majesty with a neatly angled Keyblade. The golden Keyblade rose quickly, stopping another one of Riku's attacks, and then darted towards the King's left side, holding back another one, before zipping diagonally across Riku's chest.

Riku stepped back a couple of paces, feeling the slight sting of the blow particularly on his left shoulder, and found himself being driven back as the King advanced with a series of rapid blows. Each of them Riku found that he was able to predict (diagonal, left, right, left, down, horizontal, diagonal again), but the speed at which the King was able to bring them to bear was making his job of deflecting them with his Keyblade that much harder. He knew that King Mickey was fast, but he'd never properly appreciated the mouse king's speed until right now.

_Dawn!_ Riku called, and the Keyblade spirit switched sides from floating behind his back to being in front of him. The Reverse Kingdom Key slammed into her chest again, and once more it bounced right off, eliciting a surprised yelp from King Mickey as he was left open. Dawn smiled and punched the monarch's chest. Mickey tumbled along the ground in a roll before popping up and landing back on his feet.

Riku was about to charge King Mickey again when he saw multiple things that made him change his mind. Dawn dropped back inside of his body and Riku sent a single black-tipped golden Ray of Dawn at the King instead before ramming his shoulders against Goofy's shield as the Captain of the King's knights attempted to ram him with it. Both combatants were pushed back as their strengths collided, but Goofy more than Riku and the silver-haired Wielder of the Keyblade pressed his advantage, landing a slash of Way to the Dawn against Goofy's chest. The Goof fell back and landed hard on the ground, and a storm of lightning struck Riku from above, conjured by the magician who had stood concealed behind Goofy when he'd been standing.

Yuffie had come diving down at King Mickey just as Riku changed targets, her Keyblade, Flower of Wutai, charged up behind her body. King Mickey didn't hesitate to bat away Riku's hastily fired Ray with a slightly glowing Keyblade, and turned his defensive move into an aggressive one, aiming for Yuffie's midriff as he spun a full turn around. The Reverse Kingdom Key hit home on the girl's chest, making her gasp slightly from the hard thump on her ribs thanks to the dampening effect of her armour.

And then the ninja vanished in a puff of black smoke, replaced instead by a simple block of wood.

King Mickey hesitated for a second, surprised and unsure of where Yuffie had gone, only to start turning a moment too late when he felt and heard her behind him. Flower of Wutai dashed across the King's shoulder and side, spinning him around in a whirl, before a booted foot collided with his other shoulder and sent Disney Castle's King flying through the air.

Goofy was up again now and he caught his king in the air like the mouse was a football. "You okay Your Majesty?" asked the knight as he set down the monarch.

King Mickey laughed slightly. "Perfectly alright Goofy," he replied, dusting himself off. "The two of them make a great team."

"You bet we do," Yuffie told them with a knowing smile as her Keyblade started to glow with purple light and develop four long blade-like protrusions of the light. She was eyeing Donald, who was sending spell after spell at Riku, each one either being stopped by Way to the Dawn or Dawn herself as Riku called her out to protect him. Yuffie tossed her Keyblade towards Donald, and it started to spin just like her old shuriken used to.

Donald looked up at the very last second, too late to do anything to protect himself, as Yuffie's Keyblade whacked at his chin and chest and back and the back of his head with every quarter-spin. Donald's head bobbed up and down as one stroke would strike up against his chin, and the next would bop him on the back of the head. Flower of Wutai flew back into Yuffie's hand, the purple energy extensions gone, and Donald swayed on his feet, stars circling his head in a daze.

Riku skated towards King Mickey on trails of golden light, rising over Donald and then dropping behind him, adding a kick to the back of his head for good measure that sent the duck sprawling onto the ground. A thin aura a black, red, and golden light enveloped Riku's front.

The King flourished his Keyblade, and cried out "Light!" Three blue orbs spiralled out from the golden blade and shot straight for the rushing teenager. They struck the thin barrier of multi-coloured light and disappeared in a fizzle that also shorted out the barrier. Whether or not Riku cared was subject to interpretation, since he outwardly didn't seem to mind that the light had faded.

He dodged left as the King lunged forward with his Keyblade and moved to slam the pommel of Way to the Dawn down between Mickey's ears. But the monarch dove in towards Riku, tackling him in the chest. Despite the King's small size and the armour that padded the blow, Riku still found the wind driven out of his lungs. He staggered backwards as his sun skates disappeared, and looked up just in time to see King Mickey's Keyblade dropping down towards him again. There wasn't enough time for him to bring Way to the Dawn into an appropriate angle to block or parry, so he did the next best thing. He snatched his left arm up and just barely caught King Mickey's descending Keyblade with the black metal bracer that protected his wrist. His arm was wrenched away and he felt a slight strain on his arm-socket, but King Mickey's Keyblade was also deflected to a different angle and slapped into the stone near to Riku's right foot rather than striking the silver-haired teen in the chest. Riku countered with a thrust at King Mickey with Way to the Dawn and the King backed away, the tip of Riku's Keyblade just barely missing his chin.

The two struggled back and forth against one another for many minutes. Riku was able to use his height as an advantage to gain a little more of gravity's power behind every stroke he sent down for his friend the King of Disney Castle, while King Mickey was able to use his smaller size and heightened agility to evade and leap out of the way of the silver-haired Keyblade Wielder's strokes, always ready to open up with a swift counter, whenever the opportunity presented itself, that had Riku rolling back on his heels. Riku was every able to just barely keep in time with the King's attack, but whenever a stroke broke through his guard Dawn was always on call to come out at the last instant and take the hit instead, deflecting Mickey's Keyblade away and leaving the mouse king open for a brief window, or Riku or Dawn couldn't act fast enough and Riku would take the hit instead and be driven back.

Yuffie, meanwhile, was stuck fighting against both Goofy and Donald after he broke free from the daze he'd been put into. Donald tried to keep the ninja girl pinned down with his array of magical spells while Goofy had the raw physical strength needed to shove off her varied attacks. Even when Yuffie created shadow clones of herself, Donald and Goofy were able to beat them back and stay standing against the Keyblade Wielder of Night.

Eventually, something had to give.

And it did when Yuffie was knocked back by Goofy's shield, the protective striking her in the side of the head. The kunoichi dropped to the ground, wincing and squinting in pain, and she tried and momentarily failed to bite back a cry of distress as a small lightning bolt from one of Donald's thunder spells struck her leg.

Riku looked in her direction and cried out, "Yuffie!" but it was a moment's distraction that he couldn't afford, and Dawn wasn't quite quick enough on the uptake to rise out in front of Riku and block the King's stroke from smacking painfully across his ribcage. Riku gasped in pain as he was thrown backwards, and a barrage of blue balls of light slammed into his stomach and blew him further across the ring, where he landed in a tumble.

Yuffie nursed at the smarting burn on her leg, rubbing her hand on it and the nearby skin and muscles when her vision darkened slightly. Goofy's shadow passed over her eyes as both he and Donald moved to stand over her, signifying that they'd beaten her.

Yuffie snorted slightly and hid a smile. Like hell they had! "Shadowmeld," she whispered.

Goofy shouted "Woah-ohoh!" and Donald let out a surprised "Wak!" as Yuffie disappeared. Both of them looked at each other in surprise and then back to where Yuffie had been. No puff of smoke, no flash of light, just vanished!

Goofy lowered his shield and scratched the top of his head. "Gawrsh, where do ya think she went Donald?"

"I don't know Goofy," Donald answered, looking around warily, "but I smell a trap." But no matter how much he peered around, he couldn't see Yuffie. He also didn't see his shadow flicker slightly, or the black image on the ground behind him, fleeing from him.

Riku groaned a little and looked up from the ground. King Mickey was approaching him at an easy walk. _Not again_, Riku thought, angry at himself. He did not like the fact that they had been knocked down even when they were still in it, again. Did things _always_ have to go badly before they came back to win?

Though, the chances of them coming back from behind to win looked pretty slim, especially with Yuffie disappearing like that. He glanced around, not seeing her at all. What was she doing? "I know that it's probably a clever trick or something, but, dammit Yuffie, how am I supposed to know what to do if I don't know what you're thinking?"

"By trusting yourself," a voice whispered into his ear.

Riku nearly jumped as he heard her. "Yuffie?" he asked quietly.

"I can jump from shadow to shadow," she replied quickly, answering his unspoken question. "Right now I'm hiding _inside_ of your shadow, but I won't be in a few seconds. When I jump Donald and Goofy, you'll know what to do." He nodded his head fractionally, and out of the corner of his eye he saw another person's shadow—Yuffie's, he realized, when he saw the hair sway as though moving and the arm pop up in a funny salute—detach from his and quickly zip along the ground to melt into the one underneath Donald.

"Are you giving in, Riku?" King Mickey asked politely. Riku looked back up at his friend, and smiled slightly as a plan formed in his mind.

Riku picked himself up, smiling wider now. "I'm not out until I pass out or can't feel my toes anymore Mickey," he replied. The King just chuckled, before stopping as Donald and Goofy suddenly shouted.

Yuffie had reappeared, springing up not two feet in front of them from within their own shadows. The two warriors of Disney Castle were too surprised to act in time, and Yuffie's foot had already kicked Goofy in the head, sending him down to the ground, before either could even move.

Donald tried to cast a fire spell at her, but Yuffie was much too close now and completely in her element of attacking by surprise. Her left hand smacked against Donald's feathered right one, forcing him to drop his wand and miss, while her right hand swiftly chopped into Donald's temple. His eyes wavered for a moment before he dropped to the ground, unconscious.

At the exact moment that King Mickey turned to look, Riku shouted, "Dawn, down!" The Keyblade spirit rose out from his back and dove into the stone ring as if it were water. Mickey turned back, just in time to see Dawn's white-blonde-covered head vanishing into the ring, quickly followed by her slender legs and sandaled feet. A pool of golden light glowed on the ground where she had entered, and then it swiftly moved to rest directly underneath him!

Mickey jumped.

Dawn's hand snatched his ankle.

A quick yelp escaped his mouth as he was yanked back down, and Dawn's arms and legs surrounded his body as she lay on her back on the ring, their positioning akin to her cuddling a massive stuffed animal. "Got 'im!" she reported happily, giggling.

Riku was smirking too as he got there a moment later and placed the tip of Way to the Dawn against the King's forehead. He cocked his head to one side, implying the question, _Give up?_

King Mickey looked around for two seconds, trying to see if there was a way out of this predicament, before looking back up at Riku with a big smile on his face. "We concede. Well played Riku, well played."

_Tshh-dun-dun-dun-dun—dun—dun—dun—dunun!_

Dawn released King Mickey and flew back inside Riku just as he chuckled at the victory fanfare. A flick of a wrist and the silver-haired teen dismissed his Keyblade before kneeling down to give his friend a helping hand back up. King Mickey graciously took the offered hand and rose to his feet, bowing politely to Riku for his victory. They looked and saw Goofy picking himself up from the ground, and all three of them were looking at Donald's prone figure on the ring. Then they looked at Yuffie, who was whooping and cheering and striking a victory pose. She then turned around and struck it again, aiming fully for him.

Whatever he had been about to inquire about was swept from his mind as her pose hit him full blast. She just looked too damn _cute_ when she did that! One leg raised into the air behind her, one arm extended forward with two fingers making a 'V for Victory', a chipper smile and a quick wink; Riku found his brain going numb for a moment.

Then she looked away and answered the question that King Mickey had been about to pose. "Oh he'll be alright Your Majesty," she told him. "Just give Donald eight, maybe ten, minutes and he'll come around."

"_All aboard! Hahahaha!"_

Riku looked quizzically down at his pocket as the sound attracted their attentions and he pulled out the communicator. What could Sora be calling for? "What's up?"

Sora looked a little uneasy. "I'm not interrupting a match am I?"

"No we just finished. What's up?" Riku asked again.

"You're going to want to come to the infirmary, right now," Sora said. "There's something we need to talk about."

-A-D-

**Quarterfinals East Bracket Fight 2: Easy's Champions vs. Auron**

Tidus swallowed uneasily as he strode into the ring with Olette and Kia next to him. Auron was already there, his back turned and looking up at the sun, which was just now getting near enough to the mid-point of the sky that people would be looking for lunch if they hadn't had an early breakfast, or any breakfast at all for that matter.

"Do you think we can beat him?" Olette asked, searching Tidus' face for an answer. He had adventured with this man after all, surely he should know if his own skills were comparable to Auron's.

"I think that Auron and I would come off dead even if we went head-to-head," Tidus answered. "But, with the three of us together, we've got him beat."

Auron didn't move even as his voice carried over towards the group of three. "It's been a while, Tidus."

Caught off-guard for a moment by the sudden indirect greeting, Tidus nodded his head and proceeded forward. He stopped several paces away from his former companion. "It has."

Auron made a noise of assent and continued. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Jecht was your father, after all."

Tidus nodded his head pointlessly. "I'm fine. Things have been settled between me and my old man now."

Auron finally turned around. "Not as settled as you think," he said.

"Huh?" Kia asked, glancing between Auron and Tidus. "What's he talking about?"

"I'm not sure," Tidus answered, "but I've got a shrewd suspicion that I'm about to find out."

-A-D-

Had this been the first time that Kairi had unleashed her Shikai, the sight of her Keyblade breaking apart into tiny slivers and bits of metallic dust would have sent her into a terrible panic. As it was, this was not her first time doing it, so she was prepared for what she saw.

Kairi bent down, looking at the pile of the remains of her Keyblade, the white crown keychain pendant lying on top of all of it. The fingers of her right hand closed around it and Kairi stood up, looking at the pendant. Last time, Alcezeran himself had helped her to understand what she needed to do. Now she was able to do so herself.

She placed the crown against her forehead.

Instantly it latched on, like it had been welded there, and began to shine with bright light and fill with heat. The dust and particles of metal that had been her mystical weapon rose from the ground, carried by a wind, and whipped around her in a spiral. When they reached the level of her eyes the particles were blown _into_ the crown pendant, which opened up in the middle like a mouth with sharp teeth and devoured the pieces. It grew warmer and warmer as they flew inside of it, until it was nearly burning up. When the final infinitesimal speck of dust entered, the tiny mouth slammed shut and emitted a burst of white flame. The flames split and surrounded Kairi. They curled around her feet, lavished her thighs like licking dogs and wrapped around her arms and back as expensive shawls. Within moments Kairi was completely enveloped in a warm orb of flaming Light. Her heart burned. Heat pooled in her chest. Power coursed through every single limb in her body as it invaded her blood and set it boiling. Her aches were non-existent, her arm was no longer broken, and with the energy that raged out of the furnace her heart had become she felt growth.

The shell of white flame blew away from Kairi, and the onlookers were stunned at the transformation that had taken place within. The crown pendant burned low on her forehead like a pilot light, and wings had once more sprouted out from the Princess of Heart's back. Her chainmail, which had before been a shiny grey, had turned into a hard white, and now resembled scales instead of rings. Two small, straight, pointed, golden horns had burrowed their way out from the top of Kairi's head and were stylishly curved behind her head for a hand's length. Kairi's arms had also grown longer by another foot at the least, and were twice as thick as they had been before. From the elbow down, her skin transitioned into hard white scales, and her hands were now four-toed claws instead of a human's five-fingered hands. There were slanted openings in two places on both arms just before the middle of her forearm, and all that a person looking into them would see would be bright whiteness that had a flickering quality to it. The wings were very different from her previous ones of fire. Their bones and joints were solid, and a clawed finger extended on either wing. The framework made by the wing-bones was filled with fluid, leathery yellow-tinted skin that would glow gold when oiled and placed in sunlight.

Sora gaped at his girlfriend, taking in every last change that had happened to her, when one thing struck him like a sledgehammer. There was no Keyblade. Then the quickly following answer nearly staggered him with its implications. If Kairi had just unsealed her Keyblade, but instead of the weapon changing shape and gaining new abilities like Zabimaru, and Kairi herself had changed, did that mean that the Keyblades, when unsealed for their Wielders of Power, actually _merged_ with them and revealed a little of what their truest inner natures were? Did this mean that when Kairi achieved Bankai, that she would turn into a fully-sized, fully capable, and entirely awe-inspiring _dragon_!

And if this was the beginning of Alcezeran's true form, then what would happen to him, or Riku, or Roxas, or Naminé or Yuffie, when they unleashed their own? Would they all turn into dragons?

_We are all different Sora,_ the Kingdom Key said softly, with an amused chuckle. _In our natures and the ways we exhibit ourselves when we reveal our truest selves. Some of us merge, some of us just change our form. We are all different. Sorry to say it, but you won't ever become a dragon._

_Oh,_ Sora thought quietly, _dammit…_

_How about a lion the likes of which you've never seen before?_ Remembrance asked in a throaty, growling, chuckle.

Sora's cerulean eyes brightened and he looked up at Kairi again. _That could be cool._

Kairi took two paces forward, seemingly perfectly in control of her much larger front limbs. "Cho'kal," she said loudly, looking up at the Stone Golem who still technically towered over her in size, "this is where you meet your first defeat." The vents in her arms flared, and holy white flames raced out and surged towards Cho'kal. They twisted through the air like serpents, and enveloped and bit at the arms of the Stone Golem.

Cho'kal looked at both jets of white flame with a somewhat pained frown on his face, and thrashed his arms wildly. The jets of flame continued to surge from Kairi's draconic arms, until with a wave of them and a particularly energetic flail of Cho'kal's stone limbs the flames ceased. Both stone limbs were red-hot, and small drips of molten rock fell from his arms and landed, hissing, onto the ring.

Cho'kal roared and lunged for Kairi just as the girl rose up on her dragon wings. Someone in the crowd shouted something encouraging at her, and Kairi did a barrel-roll as a red-orange arm swung through the air towards her. Her spinning wings deflected the blow that would have rained searing-hot rock onto her back, but even so she was knocked down a little and into the path of a right hook to her face.

"Kairi!" Sora cried out, watching helpless as she reeled through the air from the blow, spinning out of control. She heard his shout, and shrugged off the intense pain that last blow had dealt to her. The heat was intense, but it had, thankfully, been brief, and some of the dragon-horns that were now jutting out of the back of her head must have also gone into her skull, because otherwise some of that bone would have more than likely cracked.

Kairi's wings extended to their fullest, and she slowed down and righted herself. An honestly annoyed hiss left her mouth before she darted towards the Stone Golem again, flying in high, out of his reach. Kairi reared her head back and felt the flames in the furnaces that were her heart and stomach, and she belched them out in a concentrated blast.

Cho'kal recoiled as the white fires struck his head, then his chest, then his left arm, then the back of his head as Kairi flew over him, spitting fire breath at him from every angle as she made pass over pass. Parts of his body were breaking off as they softened and melted, and the ring was littered by globules of lava that had once been a part of him. Cho'kal was quickly losing all recognition from when he'd first come into existence here, and was already little more than a stone hulk covered by the fire and slag.

A bubble of lava popped and Cho'kal made one last throw. The Golem would not go down without having done its best to defeat the girl who was now half a dragon. He flung what remained of his arms towards Kairi, to slam into her with what was still tangible and strong. She dodged both arms, spinning on her yellow wings that seemed closer to gold now in the red light of the molten stone. But a molten part of one arm, what might have been a bit of the wrist, was slung off from the main body and struck Kairi in her chest.

Pain wracked her as the molten rock easily incinerated the tabard and adhered to the hard-white scale-mail on her abdomen. Kairi couldn't stop herself from giving a scream. The heat was so strong and while dragons revelled in heat, she wasn't one, not yet anyway. The intense energy in the liquid fire shot through the armour like it wasn't even there. Her skin was burning!

"Kairi wipe it off!" Ninquemon ordered suddenly. "Use your arms, they can take the heat!"

Without even thinking Kairi complied. If even Maleficent had told her what to do to remove the searing heat, she would have done it. Instantly the vast majority of the pain was gone, and Kairi looked down at the melting heap of the Golem that had inflicted so many injuries to her over the past few minutes.

"I'm ending this now," she said. "Cho'kal, if ever you are built again, pray that your master and I never face one another in a tournament again. I'll go all out from the very start and break you before you get anything in yourself!"

Kairi flew in, her clawed arms out wide on either side. One claw went for each shoulder. Her claws tore through the molten rock that now blanketed the Golem, and dug solidly into what remained of the stone beneath. What physical strength she had was devoted to keeping the Golem from flailing his arms at her again, while Kairi reared her head back, letting all the flames inside of her build up.

"Great Dragon of Light, I am your mouth in this world," Kairi recited quietly. "Light-Bringer's Roar!"

With that final exclamation, Kairi threw her head back down, and a storm of white flames belched out of Kairi's wide-open mouth. They expanded rapidly into a conic that was three times wider than Kairi's wingspan, and Cho'kal became completely lost under the inferno of holy flame. The force of her blast of fire breath was so great that Kairi was even being pushed back through the air as she expelled her fire, dragging the golem up with her.

It was then that Sora realized that there could be no Heartless he'd ever encountered, no matter how strong it was, even the Groundshaker in the Pride Lands, which could withstand Alcezeran's holy white flame.

Kairi's claws finally turned into fists as the last of the hardened stone finally turned into lava, and she ceased breathing white fire onto what had become of her worthy opponent. A few more flaps of her wings, and Kairi landed on the opposite end of the ring, landing right in front of Sora and Naminé, and stood before Garda. Her yellow wings furled together behind her as the lava started to pool, the heat rising from the molten rock in fuzzy waves.

"Naminé, get the lava," Sora said. She looked at him, smiled slightly in a way that said 'and-you-think-you're-not-our-leader', and wordlessly nodded her head. She passed Kairi, giving her a reassuring nod of her head, and then passed by Kairi's master. The blonde's hands were already starting to move as snowflakes formed around them. "Frosted gardens of the glaciers, frigid winds of the north that fly on snowy wings, descend now with sparkling crystal. Ice Style 13, Tundra Howl!" Blue light pulsed around her hands as she held them in front of her. A blue cloud flowed out of them and concealed the pools of bubbling stone. Two seconds later the cloud condensed and blanketed the entire mass of superheated rock. The blue hue lightened and became see-through as it vanished, and all could see that the rock had frozen again. Steam was slowly rising from the hunks of rock, but it wasn't molten anymore and would cool on its own in time.

Kairi, however, was still looking into Garda's eyes, waiting for one of them to break the silent tension that had come between them. The match at the beginning had been fun, but then it had escalated into a life-or-death situation, something that Kairi had never expected her master to have done to her. She could have died today, if she hadn't released her Keyblade.

Garda broke eye contact and bowed his head, his massive black claymore clattering to the ground. "I yield; I submit, Lady Kairi the Dragon Knight, for truly that is what you are. You are, unquestionably, the strongest woman of Destiny Islands, and I have never been prouder of you, or more ashamed of myself."

"You should be ashamed," Kairi told him seriously. Then she smiled, and almost brought a hand to her head to touch her horns if she hadn't remembered at the last second that her arms were longer than she was used to them being and that she didn't have so much of hands anymore as opposable four-fingered claws. "You know, I could've died today," she added in a lighter tone.

Garda chuckled a little to himself. "I don't think that your friends would have let you. Without becoming part dragon, Cho'kal would have been an opponent for three of you. To defeat him yourself… it is truly magnificent work."

Kairi smiled, and Garda took a towel offered by Sora and threw it to the ground, signifying that he surrendered. The victory fanfare loudly echoed across the arena and those in the stands, who'd already been cheering, now cheered wildly. Kairi then turned to her friends.

"Okay, don't be freaked out," she said quickly, holding up her 'hands' to keep them, especially Sora, from talking. "But, as soon as I seal Alcezeran back into a Keyblade, I'm going to change back. _This_ arm is going to break all over again, because it had been broken when I changed, and I'm pretty sure that a few ribs will be broken and that I'll have some burns on my chest as well as a bit of road-rash and the beginnings of swelling on my face. I'm _more_ than likely going to pass out instantly from the pain, got it?"

"Ouch," Roxas muttered. "That really sucks."

"Do you want a snow pillow?" Naminé asked. Kairi shook her head.

"No, but if Sora could catch me when I scream in agony before all becomes black and I keel over and if Roxas and his kitty could sit by me in whatever bed I'm put into that'd be great."

Naminé looked down. The black kitten was still with them, sitting down next to Roxas and licking the ankle on its front right paw. "Yeah, where did you say you got her from Roxas?"

"I told you, he followed me back from the market," Roxas said. He started fumbling around. "Right after I bought this, actually."

Sora and Kairi smirked while Naminé stared at the alabaster statue of the naked woman with the head of a cheetah, and then laughed quietly as she exaggeratedly threw her head up in the air and started tisking.

-A-D-

_Enjoying it so far? Good. Now get yourselves ready for the Semi-finals, Key Masters vs. Key Mistresses, and Night and Day vs. ? Just guess who's going to take on who in the final round and pull away with the win._

_And the whole cat thing was my sister's idea. I had been going to do something else, but she pointed out the error in doing so. The cheetah head is somewhat of a merger between a housecat's and a lioness' head, so that Bastet is still a protector sun goddess and patron god to cats._

_Also, since Blizzcon happened over Oct. 22-23, I have something to firmly mention about Warcraft for when it eventually comes into play. Since most of the major players are going to be introduced and used (Thrall, Garrosh, Varian, Jaina, Tirion, Mograine, Sylvannas, yada yada yada) there will be the fact that Thrall and Jaina are there, especially since both of them are at the Argent Tournament Grounds during the Argent Tournament. Yes, another Tournament... but one that serves a real tangible purpose! Now, there are a lot of ThrallXJaina shippers out there because of the close relationship that the Male Orc Warchief of the Horde and the Female Human Ruler of Theramore have, and someone at the quests and lore panel with Chris Metzen (VP of Creative Development, a.k.a. Blizzard's Loremaster) asked if Jaina and Thrall were going to get together after the Cataclysm and he answered thusly (before I lose my viewing privileges from my Virtual Ticket):_

"I don't want to hugely spoil it or whatever, and I don't mean this in a marketing way at all, but you guys should read _The Shattering_, 'cause it's good. Uh, and that will give you a pretty… ah hell I'll just tell you: absolutely not. Thrall is going to meet a nice girl from Nagrand and have beautiful little brown babies, like he's supposed to. (Crowd goes 'aww') What's the awws? He's a traditional orc, come on… And here's another point. What happens to the men that Jaina dates _[Jaina Proudmoore, daughter to Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore the lord of of Kul Tiras, dated Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron, who became the Lich King]_? I'm not gonna do that to my boy Thrall. Thrall must live! Let's put it to bed; that's a funny choice of words."

_But, I'm not Chris Metzen, so I'm going to spoil a little my plans for Jaina and Thrall. Thrall is going to meet a nice girl from Nagrand and have beautiful little brown babies, like he's supposed to._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	50. The Zeus Cup: Semifinals

_Well, looks to me like Obi-Wan Kenobi is winning in the poll. I'm surprised actually. He's only beating Batman by 3 votes, and Batman's only beating Spidy by 3 votes too. Weird…_

_It's Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas Everyone! It's too bad, but the month that the gang is currently in is the tail end of November, so only _after_ the Zeus Cup is over are they going to start stressing about Christmas. So Christmastime is going to continue through AoD for a while._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter L: The Zeus Cup: Semi-finals

Sora, Naminé, the In-Training digimon... and the majority of Kairi's friends currently on the world were all situated around her bed as she lay unconscious underneath a white sheet. Half of her face and head were obscured by white bandages, and underneath the sheet there were a great many more bandages, as well as a sling that her left arm was set into. The black kitty with slanted golden eyes that had followed Roxas was there as well, curled up on Kairi's chest, the white blanket bunched up around it like a nest between and on the two slightly quashed mounds that were Kairi's breasts, and greyed slightly with a few of the kitten's black hairs. Dawn was slowly ambling back and forth a little ways away, as if pacing with something on her mind.

King Mickey had been genuinely interested in what had transpired in Kairi's fight.

"So she merged with her Keyblade," he mused as Agatha raised Kairi's head a little and plumped her pillow. "And unleashing the Keyblade's true form and power is something only the Legendary Wielders of Power can do."

"We've already established that Mickey," Dawn said, completely disregarding his title. What did she care? She was a Keyblade, and had been around thousands of years before the monarch. "And we already know that Miss Light over there is the Wielder of Light, not only because Thessaura told us so but because _I'm_ a Legendary Keyblade of Power and I can sense who the double-yoo-oh-pees are. So what's your point?"

Riku shook his head in amusement while King Mickey gave Dawn a slightly annoyed look, which she shrugged away. "I'm thinkin'," he said, "that the true power of the Keyblades is immense, god-like even. There's gotta be a reason for why it's closed off to most of us."

Sora nodded his head slowly. "Probably because a lot of people would let that kind of power go to their heads," he said. He glanced quickly at Dawn. "Nothing against how well you Keyblades pick your Wielders Dawn, but to use that kind of strength on a daily basis to stop petty arguments… Kairi _melted_ Cho'kal without too much trouble."

Dawn huffed. "Nothing against your optimism and thinking the best of people, Grand Master Sora," she returned, "but if you knew anything about my past you'd know that I'm the _last_ Keyblade to talk to when it comes to making good Wielder decisions."

"You picked Riku," Sora told her quietly, "and that's enough for me. And don't call me 'Grand Master' if you won't call King Mickey by his title."

Dawn's reply was sharp. "It's different. You're master of _all_ Keyblades, including me, he's just a king."

"And my friend," Sora replied evenly, his eyes capturing hers.

"Enough bickering Sora," Leon said, placing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. He sighed and looked at Kairi's unconscious form on the bed. "So Kairi will become a dragon."

"When she achieves Bankai, yes," Dawn replied. "Shikai gives a moderate boost in various forms, more than a Drive at any rate. The Wielder of Light becomes half-dragon and gains mobility, defence, and raw power in a trade-off for her combat versatility. If Miss Light was awake right now and used her Shikai again, she'd discover that she suddenly couldn't remember how to cast 'cure', 'haste', 'reflect', 'thunder', perform a flash-step, or any number of support or attack spells that didn't deal with either fire or light. And for someone like Miss Light, whose true strength is in her Light and her ability to quickly react to the changes in a battle and adjust accordingly with an appropriate countermeasure rather than just powering through it, it's a lot to lose."

"So when we unseal the powers of our Keyblades, we lose as much as we gain?" Naminé asked. Dawn nodded her head.

"Yep," she told her, her face bright. "It's that whole Equivalent Exchange principle the squirt alchemist was going on about. You didn't really expect that you'd get huge boons without having to trade something for them did you?" Her smile widened a little at the guilty looks that passed over Sora's and Riku's faces.

_So, the Grand Master can do Shikai as well,_ she mused, _that could be interesting. I know Remby's because he's another Power Keyblade, but I don't think Keyla's ever been unsealed before. We all really have the same amount of power at the core, but it's just us nine that are special. I'm just glad that Riku's such a great guy. But then, if he was a prude I wouldn't have picked him._

"Then again," Dawn began again, starting to walk up a wall, "place Alcezeran Miss Light against an enemy that's completely immune to fire and her effectiveness is pretty much cut in half."

"So Kairi's be useless against even a little, tiny Red Nocturne?" Roxas asked, his eyebrows raised. "Well that really sucks."

"She said cut in half, not useless," Yuffie reminded him. "But if it's a Heartless, she'd still kick its ass regardless of elemental immunity."

Dawn was now upside-down, standing on the ceiling, but her hair was acting as if gravity was still in its favour and was falling up. "Miss Night's right," she told them. Dawn looked at Riku. "At least she's smart you silver-haired stud. You could have done a lot worse than her, believe you me."

"Dawn…"

"Alright, I'll shut up," she said playfully, sighing wistfully at Riku. "You already kissed me once, so I guess that's all I'm ever going to get."

The heads of multiple people, especially Yuffie, shook rapidly as they tried to process that statement. "Wait _what_?" Sora asked. "You kissed Dawn? You kissed your own Keyblade?"

"So?" Riku retorted, affronted. "I've seen you sneaking a smooch on the _Highwind_ before."

Sora rolled his eyes. "That's because the _Highwind_'s a _ship_. She's my baby!"

Donald cleared his throat and tapped his feet at Sora while his face held a look of disapproval. "The _Highwind_'s actually _my_ gummi ship you big palooka!"

"Since when!"

"Since always!"

"When did you call 'dibs'?"

"…"

"Dibs!"

"Dibs! Aw phooey!"

Riku drew the attention back to himself, which he later realized wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done, by telling Sora, "And if you've kissed a ship before, what's wrong with me kissing my Key—"

_SMACK!_

"You filthy cheating _bastard_ Riku!" Yuffie shouted, cowing everyone in the room to silence as a dark aura seemed to grow around her. The kitten even woke and looked up from where it had been sleeping on Kairi's bosom.

Riku blinked a couple of times, his head now pointed towards Naminé and Tifa. "I don't think I deserved that," he said to them. Both eyed him sceptically.

Unfortunately, Yuffie had heard him. She pulled him around and gripped him tightly by his vest. Shorter than him as she was, she still frightened him from this close distance. Those dark brown eyes of hers were cold and merciless, and filled with angry pain. "Oh, you didn't deserve it? And why is that Riku? Why wouldn't you have deserved a slap from your girlfriend after her finding out _from the woman you did it with_ that you'd kissed someone else! You jerk! You men are all the same! Squall's playing with Aerith's and Rinoa's hearts, Sora's with both Kairi and Naminé, Roxas has Olette and Naminé after him, Naminé's also going after you, Tidus is in a three-way with Selphie and Yuna, Anar's dealing with Kia and that Helena chick, and Cloud's tugging Aerith's and Tifa's heartstrings, so gods above, why should I have expected _you_ of all people to not be fooling around on the side when everyone else is!"

Many faces looked at Yuffie in shock, and in complete indignation, and the tumult that rose up was swiftly silenced by a very loud noise. Garda had slapped a meaty palm against the stone walls of the infirmary.

"Oh yes, how _very_ mature of you, Miss Kisaragi," the large man from Destiny Islands reprimanded sharply, "Deciding to spit immature garbage at your friends and loved ones all because your lonely heart has been broken. You haven't even given your poor boyfriend there a chance to explain his actions either, just labelled him as guilty. I've seen love within the ranks of my Guardians destroyed for pettier excuses; are you _intentionally_ trying to undermine the camaraderie you and your Keyblade-Wielding friends have developed these past four months?"

Yuffie stared at him, now shocked herself, and Sora spoke up quickly. "Isn't that also the pot calling the kettle black?" he asked. "As I recall, you up and kissed me once, and Riku forgave you right away after… not even an apology, and Kairi just laughed at me when I... practically fell on my knees and begged her not to kill me." He stopped and frowned before looking at Kairi's sleeping face. "Gods, you've got me whipped."

Dawn quickly dropped to the ground and placed her hands on the raven-haired kunoichi's shoulders. She'd realized instantly as soon as Yuffie'd started her rant that she should never have revealed what Riku'd done to cheer her up. "No Miss Nigh—Yuffie (she corrected at a glance from Sora)—it's really _my_ fault. I kinda put Riku into a position where he had no other choice than to do it. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me for it, not him."

"But Dawn you—" Riku was silenced before anyone could register his protest by Dawn's sandaled foot stomping onto his.

_Shut up or you'll lose the girl you're secretly in love with,_ she ordered. Riku agreeably clammed up.

Yuffie now looked past Dawn at Riku, her eyes vulnerable and uncertain. "Riku?"

The silver-haired Wielder of Dawn sighed, gently took Yuffie's arm, and led her outside of the infirmary in silence. Dawn floated along behind them, just to make damn sure that they patched things back together properly.

Roxas turned to Naminé. "So what's this about you and Sora, (his expression darkened) and Riku?" Naminé didn't reply right away. "Naminé?" Roxas asked again, this time sounding more scared of what her answer would be rather than angry. Amazing at what a few moments' hesitation would do.

"Well," Naminé answered at last, "there's nothing going on between us besides being just friends. Sora's Kairi's boy-toy ("Boy-toy? Seriously?" Sora asked no one in particular), so I know that he's off-limits, and Riku and I had this kind of back-and-forth, love/hate, co-worker relationship when we were with Ansem the Wise. We've transcended that now and are good friends after we buried the hatchet before Kai's trial. Even so, they're both hot, and I wouldn't really mind getting a kiss from Sora like he offered during the first round to motivate you, Roxas."

Sora blushed as he looked at her, and Tifa and Agatha giggled. "Naminé, I'm in the freaking room," he said. She simply shrugged.

"So…" Roxas began. Naminé turned around and smiled at him. Her hand cupped his cheek, and she leaned forward to whisper into his ear.

"But I love you more," she softly murmured to his heart, "so you have absolutely _nothing_ to worry about. That and you're cute when you're jealous." Naminé pulled back and raised her voice to a normal volume. "Now then, you and Olette?"

Instead of an accusatory tone, Naminé actually sounded curious. Roxas sighed. "She was my friend back in the Virtual Twilight Tow—wait a second, you know all of that already. Why does everyone think that I was attracted to her? Is it because she was the _only_ girl in our group?"

"Uh, doi," Sora answered. Roxas just shook his head and rubbed the back of it with his left hand.

Donald looked up. "What about you, Leon?"

The scarred man from Radiant Garden sighed slightly. "While I don't really know where Yuffie's coming from by naming Aerith, I met Rinoa when we were rebuilding an older section of town a few months before you, Sora, and Goofy woke up, and we hit it off pretty well."

"Do you like her?" Goofy asked.

Leon shrugged. "We exchange letters and see each other every now and then. Nothing serious, but I think that's because I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder where she went. She didn't say in her last letter, only that she would be gone for a while to help a friend."

"Then what about Cloud?" Sora asked, looking towards Tifa. Surprisingly, she seemed quite happy.

"Aerith will be off of him faster than you can blink as soon as she finds out that Zack's still alive," she answered. "Cloud's been guilt-ridden because he thought Zack's disappearance was his fault, so he's been torn between me and her and never started anything serious because he didn't want to hurt either of us. I know it's selfish, but I'm glad that I'll be able to have a chance to actually have a relationship with the guy now."

"You're right," King Mickey said, "that is selfish." Tifa shrugged. The door opened and all heads swivelled towards it. Dawn floated back in first, followed by Riku and Yuffie, the two humans with slightly pink faces. It piqued Sora's interest, but somehow he knew what had happened when Tidus, Olette, Kia, Hayner, Pence, Selphie, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine all came in behind. The room suddenly started to appear very crowded.

"Sora," Tidus began, "you're not going to like it, but we've got a problem."

Yuffie's face lost a bit of the pink it had come in with. "So do we name this one as 'Problem #23' or something?" Tidus responded with a slight smile at the joke before Sora wearily waved him on to explain.

-A-D-

_East Bracket Quarterfinals Match 2: Easy's Champions vs. Auron_

"_I'm not sure," Tidus answered, "but I've got a shrewd suspicion that I'm about to find out."_

"_Jecht is being brought back," Auron told him, "as Sin."_

"_That's impossible," Tidus answered instantly. "My old man's gone, and so is Yu Yevon. There's no way."_

"_There is," Auron said. "The enemy of your friend Sora, Maleficent, is attempting to bring him back."_

_Tidus' mind raced. "Why? How?"_

"_Excuse me," Kia quickly spoke up, "but who is Sin?"_

_Tidus glanced back at her, surprised. He'd forgotten that Kia and Olette were there, even though it had only been a few seconds. "Oh, Sin was a giant monster that terrorized the world of Spira for centuries."_

_Auron broke into Tidus' explanation. "Summoners went on pilgrimages across the world in order to gain the power to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm, a period of ten years in which the citizens of Spira could sleep safe and sound in their beds without worrying about Sin. It was a noble goal, even though defeating Sin would come at the cost of the Summoner's life and one of their closest companions would become the core of Sin when he returned."_

"_What!" Olette shrieked. "Knowing that, who would think of going on this quest?"_

"_Summoners didn't know that one of their Guardians would become the next Sin until they reached the end of their pilgrimage," Auron told her. "And when it came to that, they'd reached the point of no return, and usually went through with it."_

_Olette shook her head. "But still! Who would still—?"_

"_Yuna was a Summoner," Tidus quietly cut her off. "Wakka and I were two of her Guardians, Auron was another one. And Auron and my old man were Guardians to Yuna's father Braska, who defeated Sin and became known as High Summoner for bringing about the Calm. My old man volunteered to become the Final Aeon and slay Sin, only to become Sin ten years later. We, Yuna and the rest of us, beat Sin; we beat my father and the being who'd been making and controlling Sin for centuries, Yu Yevon, without having Yuna die or any of us being taken over. Yuna is now High Summoner because of it, and there would now be the Eternal Calm on Spira, if the world still existed."_

_Tidus stopped and turned to Auron again. "But Maleficent is trying to bring them back as Sin?" Auron nodded._

"_Yes. She's already had partial success with the darkness from another fallen world, but she has discovered her mistake, and is taking measures to make sure that she succeeds with Spira."_

"_What are you talking about?" Olette asked, confused. "How do you know this? What's going on?"_

_Auron huffed. "When you're dead and you keep an ear to the ground in the Underworld, you can pick up a few things if you sneak around Hades' place." Auron paused. "An experiment of hers has broken free of her control."_

"_What?" Tidus blurted out. "How?"_

"_Maleficent discovered her error in judgement," Auron answered. "She'd thought that she'd received the limitless powers of darkness from Kingdom Hearts. She was wrong. While she did gain great power, it was still from a fake, and she weakened herself by implanting her power into her subordinates in order to make herself immortal. That weakness has manifested itself; she cannot control all that she creates. She is about to undertake a search for the Cornerstones."_

"_Cornerstones?"_

_Auron shook his head. "That is all I was able to overhear last night, when Maleficent came unannounced." He produced a white sphere from a fold of his haori. "Tidus, take this. Give it to Lady Yuna."_

"_Huh? Why, what is it?"_

"_She will know what to do with it," Auron answered. He looked up into the sky, and trailing pink, azure, and teal lights winked into existence and started to flow around him. "My story is ending..."_

_Tidus' eyes widened in shock. He held out a hand and took a step forward. "Wait! Auron!"_

"…_Yours still continues," Auron said as the pyreflies continued to flow around him. "Farewell Tidus, and good luck."_

_Auron faded away._

-A-D-

Sora looked down, feeling a deep pit in his stomach. Donald and Goofy reflected his actions. "So Auron's gone."

Tidus gulped. "Yeah. He's back in the Farplane now."

"But what did he mean, Cornerstones?"

Everyone looked up at the voice, and Sora's head whipped around to see the face of the girl who was lying on the bed. "Kairi!"

She winced. "Not so loud Sora," she croaked. "It hurts. Oh, so that's what that feeling is."

"What feeling?" Agatha asked. "Are you all right Your High—Kairi?"

"There's a cat on my boobs," Kairi replied, looking at the snoozing kitten with a faint smile. Her right hand slowly moved out from under the white sheets and she began to stroke the kitten's black head with her index finger. "And I'll be fine Agatha, so don't worry about me."

She was holding back the pain, they could all see it.

"What did he mean by Cornerstones?" Kairi asked again. "I thought there was only one, the Cornerstone of Light."

"Hush," Garda ordered her softly, "save your strength."

"But I'm curious," Kairi whined quietly.

King Mickey smiled at her and spoke up. "That's alright Kairi. The Cornerstone of Light is just one of five Cornerstones; the most powerful one mind you, but just one of five."

"Wait," Roxas said slowly, "there are _five_ Cornerstones?"

King Mickey nodded. "Yes. Each of them holds a different power and each cornerstone looks different, that way if any one person tried to go out to all the worlds and collect them, and use their combined power for evil, it'd be a lot harder for them to find 'em if they all didn't look like big crystal balls filled with light."

"Makes sense," Yuffie said. "Why exactly is she looking for them though?"

Riku rubbed his chin. "I think I know. Tidus, you said that Auron told you that she couldn't maintain control on everything right? Because she'd weakened herself too much by putting too much of her power into her lackeys and the Heartless?"

"Yeah."

"Then she's not going to try and bring back this Sin being if she can't control it. But if she gets all of the Cornerstones, then she'd have enough power again, like using them as a battery to charge herself. Then she would be able to control it."

"My thoughts exactly," King Mickey agreed. "We'll need to keep the Cornerstones out of her hands. Any advantage we can use, we should try to use it." He looked down. "Only problem is, we only know where the Cornerstone of Light is."

Naminé's shoulders sagged a little. "So are we going to have to go all over the place and gather the Cornerstones together?"

"That would be the best option," Sora answered.

"And who knows?" Donald asked. "Maybe we'd be able to use them to beat Maleficent."

Light came into Kairi's eyes and she scooted back a little bit so that she was only slightly sitting up rather than lying flat. She hissed as her left arm was jangled a bit, and her eyes watered in pain, but still she spoke with new hope. "And then I wouldn't have to even think about sacrificing myself to beat her!" she declared. Her eyes turned onto her boyfriend. "Sora, we _have_ to find these Cornerstones."

"No Kairi," Sora told her. She was shocked into silence for a moment before Sora continued. "We need to do what we promised Strider. Frodo and Strider are going to need our help to get to Minas Tirith from Rivendell if Maleficent's going to be helping Sauron in finding them and taking them out. If that guy gets the Ring, there's no way we'd be able to beat him and get rid of the bit of Maleficent that she put inside him, and she'd keep coming back. That fight's ours now too."

"So who's going to get the Cornerstones then?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie snorted. "Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "We will. We'll look high and low, near and far, and with our army of friends and faceless red shirts behind us, we'll be sure to find 'em all."

Selphie sighed. "Naminé, Jiminy, someone, could you outline our objectives then for this 'quest' to permanently knock down Maleficent and bring peace?"

Jiminy popped out of hiding on Sora, and he and Naminé shared a look before she nodded her head at him, deferring it to the Royal Chronicler. "Well, it seems to me that they are as follows. One: Thwart her plans and forces wherever and whenever possible by saving worlds from Heartless and sealing their keyholes. Two: Defeat each of her major henchmen that have been empowered by her, opening the way for Maleficent herself to be killed. Three: Find and gather the other four Cornerstones so that she can't use them to summon a monster bad guy. Four: Defeat Maleficent, possibly using the Cornerstones ourselves. Five: (Jiminy gave Sora and Kairi significant looks) Don't die."

The two blushed slightly, remembering the promise they'd made to one another.

Hayner sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "We're in for a long haul aren't we?"

"It's a war Hayner," Leon spoke up. "It's not supposed to be over in seven days."

"But at least now we have something to do while world-hopping," Yuffie said, somewhat brightly while stretching her arms behind her head. "Something more than just sealing keyholes and K.O.-ing Heartless, I mean."

There came a knock on the door, and everyone looked towards the entrance and saw Phil standing there. "I know that you all are having a party and everything," he said. "But the crowd's getting restless. And you two and you two and you two and you three have the Semi-finals to do, unless of course some of you are going to withdraw due to injuries?" He looked at Naminé as he said that.

She shook her head quickly. "No. I'll take Sora and Roxas on by myself."

_Are you sure, Nami?_ Kairi asked quietly. The blonde princess smiled at her sister.

_I'm sure Kai,_ she answered. _But could I borrow that new summon of yours, just in case?_ Kairi nodded her head as the others started to file out, oblivious to their private conversation.

"We'll be back soon Kairi," Sora told her. He kissed her forehead. "Get some rest, okay?"

"Just do your best," Kairi replied. "We don't want Naminé to walk all over you two now do we?"

"Hey I resent that," Roxas laughed. Kairi smiled, but slid back down the bed and closed her eyes. Those who were still in the room slowly and quietly filed out to let her rest in peace and quiet, and a couple of minutes later Kairi fell into a restful sleep.

-A-D-

**Semi-finals West Bracket: Key Masters vs. Key Mistresses**

The trumpets and horns blared as the three Keyblade Wielders entered the ring together. Naminé stopped at the near side of the square, and Sora and Roxas moved to the side opposite before turning to face her. Sora's lips were pursed thinly and he had a barely noticeable limp, but there was a smile on his and Roxas' faces. Every now and then though Sora's nuts would still give him a painful throb in reminder of the blow Grover had dealt them just a few hours ago.

Their tabards were bright in the midday sun; the light bounced off of their mail and their bronze vambraces and greaves. They looked like warriors; they looked like Knights.

"So are you boys ready to taste defeat?" Naminé asked, smirking as her hand flashed with light and Nobody's Pride appeared in it, followed instantly by her round shield over her left arm.

"Not on your life," they both answered, their three Keyblades arriving in their hands.

"Well prepare to be disappointed then," Naminé told them, "I am takin' you down."

"Hn," Sora grunted through his smile as he got down into his fighting stance, "come and try."

"Oh I shall Sora," Naminé returned, "oh I shall."

_BONG!_

"And here I come!" Naminé shouted, bringing her hands together. "Ice Make… Gryphon!" Naminé thrust her hands out and the mythical beast made entirely of ice soared out from her hands, a chill wind accompanying it. The gryphon shrieked and flashed icy talons at Sora and Roxas. Each of them dived to the side, just avoiding the creature, and Sora got back to his feet just in time to hold Naminé back as she dropped her Keyblade down towards him.

The gryphon soared high and banked, coming in for another pass at Roxas. He leapt away again as the talons came in, and this time the ice gryphon landed hard on the stone and turned around, the ice hissing as it grated against the ground. It snapped its beak out towards the blond, shrieking at him, and silenced suddenly as Roxas slammed Twilight Thorn down on the upper beak. "You need a muzzle!" he said, striking at the gryphon again with Twilight Thorn before spinning around and having the Oblivion cut sideways against the side of the ice gryphon's head. The gryphon took the blow, before rebuffing him with a shove of its shoulders and swiping a claw at his head. "And you need to be declawed!" Roxas added, leaning back with his eyes going cross-eyed with how closely the tips of the claws missed his face.

"Thinking about that kitty of yours Roxas?" Naminé asked, blocking a retaliatory strike of Sora's with her shield before jumping back with a flip, getting out of his reach as he quickly tried another. She knew that she couldn't take Sora in melee combat, even with her shield. She waved her Keyblade in front of her and a whitish orb flew from it towards Sora. He rolled to the side but the orb followed, and landed on his left arm. With a curious hiss, Sora watched as the chainmail became covered with ice before wreathing the automail limb in fire to melt the ice away. He didn't need his metal arm frozen solid.

"When did he become my cat?" Roxas countered, backing away from the ice gryphon as it advanced again, using its bulky body to its advantage.

"She followed you after you got that…statue," Naminé answered, growling when she mentioned the alabaster figurine. "I think that makes her your kitten."

"But he's sleeping cosily on Kairi right now," Roxas reminded her while planting his feet in to the ground and driving the gryphon back again with four lightning-quick strokes against it, all aimed at its head. The gryphon reared on its hind legs and flashed its talons at the blond Keyblade Master, who ducked away and circled it so that he was facing the gryphon's right side. His Keyblades darted out, cutting chips of ice out of its flank. "I think that makes him Kairi's cat."

Naminé sidestepped Sora's thrust and raised her shield to block Remembrance when the lunge became a slash. She shoved the silver Keyblade away from her shield and made to hack at his chest, but he'd already recovered and backed out of her reach when her Keyblade began its descent. Then he moved in during the split second when she was vulnerable, and Naminé gasped as Remembrance smacked against the white tabard with the Chaser Shield and Star Seeker Keyblade on its centre. The chainmail beneath jingled as the metal clashed together, and Naminé felt the cushioned impact on her ribs as she staggered backwards. Sora followed up with another one, but this time Naminé got her shield in front of her in time to deflect the blow. She dismissed Nobody's Pride and lashed out with her right hand, sending a comet of opal light, about the size of her fist, directly into Sora's chest. Two more comets followed and the Keyblade Master retreated, keeping his footing even as they punched his stomach. Now with a small piece of breathing room, Naminé turned her head to look at Roxas, who now had the upper hand on her gryphon. Half of one wing was lying in a neatly broken block on the ground. "She's a kitten! She'll sleep on anyone so long as they've got a blanket over them and they'll pet her."

Sora grunted slightly and bounced a little on the balls of his feet, suddenly wincing as he felt a different set of balls twinge painfully. "Would the two of you just decide on the sex of your cat already?" he asked. "And Naminé, are you jealous of a statue?"

Naminé blushed and Roxas paused for a second after parrying the gryphon's swiping talons with his Keyblades. "Our cat? Why is he our cat?"

"Even if the kitten takes a liking to Kairi, there's no way we'd be able to take care of a ball of energized fur like it while we're tramping through a forest, fighting Heartless and who knows what else that's going to be coming after us all because of that Ring," Sora answered, warily watching Naminé as she stood several feet across from him. "So like it or not, the kitten's yours."

"But how am I supposed to know what sex he is anyway?" Roxas asked. Sora was stunned for a second.

The second was all Naminé needed. Nobody's Pride flashed back into her hand and she called out, "Devil's Lash!" A whip of fire formed around her Keyblade and she snapped it in Sora's direction. The end of the whip _cracked_ into Sora's right wrist, and he gasped in pain as he lost his grip on his weapon. Naminé whirled the whip around and sent it out again, this time the coils of fire wrapping around Remembrance's blade. She yanked it through the air, and sent the Keyblade soaring towards the dirt near the walls of the stands. "You pick the cat up," she told Roxas with a smirk, "and see whether or not the cat really is a pussycat or not."

Roxas paused for another moment as the obviousness of the answer came to him. "Oh," he said, probably in the same way that people who were given the obvious answer on how to tell boy/girl twin babies apart did. He shouted in sudden pain as the gryphon bit his right arm. He didn't quite feel it as a bite, but a very severe and painful pinching. "Ow! Get off me you stupid ice-thing that I can't eat!" He dismissed the Oblivion from his left hand and punched the gryphon between the eyes, which ended up only hurting his hand.

Sora, Keybladeless, jumped away from Naminé as she conjured a spear of ice in the air next to her head. She flung it at him, and it would have hit had he not moved from his previous position. Sora waved his hands in a circle in front of him, and four fireballs the size of his head appeared in front of them, spinning counter-clockwise in a circle. Each one rocketed off as it came to the zenith of the circle, striking into a different part of the ice gryphon. It howled as the fireballs blasted into it, melting large parts of its body and making plumes of steam rise into the air.

Roxas removed his arm from its beak as it shrieked in pain, and a red aura covered Twilight Thorn and the Oblivion as he summoned it back into his left hand. "Setting Strike!" he roared, slicing down with both Keyblades in an 'X'. The 'X' of light seared out of the blades and tore right through what remained of the gryphon and fizzled out a few metres after destroying Naminé's ice creature. Roxas was briefly reminded of the Boar Heartless back in The Big Top, and then turned towards his blonde girlfriend. "But Sora's right," he said, nodding slightly at Sora.

"You did seem to be jealous of that little statue," both males said.

Naminé flushed and her hand dove into a pocket. She didn't have to deal with them making fun of her disapproving of Roxas buying a statue of a naked woman if she didn't want to. And kicking their butts would surely shut them up! Naminé fished out the charm she'd borrowed from Kairi and slammed it on the ground, shouting "Excalibur!" Light flared up around the charm, and the stone upon which they stood turned to white. Naminé slowly brought her hand up, and as she moved her hand an elegant steel blade upon a pedestal came into being beneath it. The guard was gold-painted iron, and a golden writing was inlaid into the round pommel; it looked like the sun. Detailed writing in runes undecipherable to their eyes was cast into the hilt. The air was vibrating in its presence. It was impossible not to feel a sense of awe at the magnificent ancient weapon.

Naminé grasped her hand around the grip of the weapon, and drew it out from the stone pedestal upon which it stood. A flaming golden aura surrounded her, and she gleamed of magnificence. "You both can shut up about whether or not I'm jealous of a silly little statue," she declared, "because I'm about to pound your faces i—what!"

Excalibur started to glow brightly with golden light, too brightly for any eye to look at directly, and Naminé was forced to shield her eyes. She felt the sword leave her hand, but the light still radiating from the weapon was still too strong for her to look into. She opened her eyes again when it died, and gasped.

Standing on the ground, only as tall as her knees without the hat it wore, was a small humanoid creature with a very long and pointed bill-like nose. Its skin was all white, and it wore a white coat and a white top-hat, and was holding a white cane in its hands. A frilly white collar was around its neck. It also wore no pants, had rabbit feet, and big, round, black eyes.

"Wait a second," Roxas said, staring at the little white thing. "That's Excalibur? That's the mythic sword supposedly able to cut the sky into two? He looks so…so…"

"Lame," Naminé finished for him. "My sister got a lame summon."

Excalibur pointed his cane at Naminé. "And might I ask you, who summoned me, who you are?"

"Me?" Naminé asked. "I'm Namin—"

"My legend started in the 12th century," Excalibur cut her off. "You look like a Keyblade Wielder." He stuck his cane in her face again. "Which world are you from?"

Naminé brushed the cane's hook aside. "I'm a Princess of Radiant Gar—"

"I know!" he cut her off again. "I'll show you something good!" he said, turning away from her.

Naminé looked helplessly at Sora. Roxas glanced at his brother, and he returned both of their looks with a shrug. Sure he had the most experience with summons, but he'd never summoned one with so much personality before. Bahamut was the only one he'd actually talked with, besides Mushu and Genie and Simba.

"Do you want to know my legend?" Excalibur asked suddenly, pointing his cane directly at Naminé's head.

"Don't point that thing at me!" Naminé told him. "That's really getting ol—"

"Would you like to hear stories of my bravery?" Excalibur interrupted her, yet again. He still hadn't moved the cane from being two inches away from her face.

"Move the cane," Naminé pleaded. "I feel like you're threatening me."

Excalibur didn't, but then asked, "Where are you from?"

Roxas took three long steps forward and knocked the cane away from Naminé's face. "She's a Princess of Radiant Garden, but we're all from Destiny Islands," he answered gruffly. "That answer your question?"

"What's your favourite number from one to twelve?" Excalibur moved the cane back in front of Naminé's face.

"Thirteen," Roxas replied without thinking, also knocking the cane back.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Sora asked, coming up on Naminé's other side. She glanced at him, and at the lack of threatening movements any of them were making towards her. They were still in a match after all. Sora answered that with a simple look. They were friends first, and opponents second, and this summon and situation was just a little bit too crazy for them to continue the fight at this moment without Naminé being properly trounced.

"Seven," Naminé answered Excalibur's question. "It's lucky," she added.

He was silent, but stared at Sora. He sighed before answering, "Three."

"_Bakani!_" Excalibur said. "You don't have the right to choose."

Naminé blinked. "But… but you just asked us to—"

Excalibur interrupted her, again. "My legend started in the 12th century."

"You said to pick our favourite number," Sora retorted, getting annoyed.

The cane whipped around, and came to rest in front of Naminé's face once more. "Do you want to know about my legend?" Sora and Roxas each grabbed the cane and shoved it out of the blonde's face. "My legend started in the 12th century," Excalibur repeated. "I started the day with a cup of coffee. My afternoon begins with afternoon tea. And at night…"

"A scotch I take it," Sora supplied. "Kinda predictable really."

"_Baka!_" Excalibur exclaimed. "Naturally I wear pyjamas at night."

Naminé frowned. "But… that doesn't have anything to do with drinking coffee or tea."

"And it doesn't have anything to do with your legend either," Sora added. "What about King Arth—"

"_Bakani!_" said Excalibur. "Do you know anything about my hat?"

"What?" Roxas asked.

"I'm asking if you know anything about my hat."

"Who cares about the stupid hat?" Sora muttered.

Naminé giggled very slightly at Sora's words. Giggled was actually an overstatement, her mouth ceased its slight frown of annoyance at Excalibur and turned upwards into a razor-thin smile. "If you're asking us if we know that it's silk, then _I_ know."

"_Bakani!_" Excalibur scolded them. "It looks like I'll have to teach you."

"About a stupid hat?" Roxas asked. "What could you teach us about a friggin' hat?"

"The longer the cook's hat, the more important the cook it," Excalibur answered. The three of them glanced at each other before looking at the hat. It was as long as Excalibur was tall, which brought his total height up to the lower middle of their chests.

"But you're not a cook," Sora said. "And even if you were, there aren't any other chefs around to compare hat sizes to, so you could really be the _least_ important cook in the—"

"_Baka!_" shouted Excalibur. He turned around and held his cane out. "Whoever said I was a cook?"

"But I just said you weren't," Sora said slowly, like he was in pain.

Excalibur hefted his cane up and rested it on his shoulder. His voice held a patient sigh and he seemed completely at ease. "This is why I don't like country bumpkins," he said.

"Country Bumpkins!" Roxas nearly shouted. "You're really starting to get on my nerves you bastard!"

"Roxas calm down," Naminé said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let him get under your skin."

Roxas turned and glared at her. "But he's so annoying! And I _know_ that he's getting under your skin too." Naminé didn't answer him, but anything she might have said would have been interrupted immediately by Excalibur as he started to speak again.

"So, which one of you would like to wield me?"

That caught their attentions. Wield Excalibur, really?

But…

"I'm having doubts about how great you are," Sora told him. "What can you do again?"

_Sora, if you dare even think about it, I'll leave you for good,_ Keyla threatened. _I mean it._

_I just want to figure out why Excalibur's really so great,_ Sora answered.

Excalibur reprimanded Sora's question with a quick, "_Baka!_ My wielder will gain wings of light and the ability to teleport. With a single swing, I will cleave the Heavens in two. I am the Ultimate Weapon. No other weapon, no puny _Keyblade_ can stand up to me."

The three Wielders glanced at each other. With power like that at their command, Maleficent would be toast. They wouldn't have to go through the whole damn war, they wouldn't have to search for those Cornerstones; they could just rush straight for Maleficent, take her down with one stroke, and then bother with hunting down those minions of hers who carried her dark essence within them and smiting them too.

Furthermore, whoever got Excalibur would claim instant victory in the Zeus Cup. None of the others would be able to withstand the Holy Blade.

"What do we have to do?" Naminé asked.

_You're not seriously considering it!_ The Kingdom Key practically shouted into Sora's ear, with shock the dominating emotion in her voice.

Three stacks of paper large enough to make them a textbook appeared in the air in front of the three, one for each of them. They took them, and the crowd hushed. They had, of course, overheard quite a deal of what had been spoken, and a number had jeered at Excalibur or clutched their heads in agony. But now they all leaned in from their seats, wondering which one of these three would take Excalibur and dominate the match and win through to the finals.

"In order to become my Wielder, there are one thousand tasks you must complete," Excalibur told them. "Read them carefully!"

Naminé flipped a page. "Double-sided… this is going to take a while." The three looked up…down… at Excalibur, and then settled down to start reading through his modus operandi.

Excalibur started to hum and sway on his cane. It was a catchy tune, but it was a little _too_ catchy; a little too distracting. Sora looked up from the pages upon pages of tasks that they would have to complete to wield him and spoke up. "Would you mind not hum—"

"_Bakani!_" Excalibur pounced. "Item 58 from the thousand tasks you are supposed to do. Do not speak while I am humming. This is a very important task."

"Just as important as your task of having a cup of coffee every morning?" Naminé asked.

"Even more important!" Excalibur declared. "And even more important is this! Item 452: I'd like the three of you to take part in the five-hour reading out loud meeting." He suddenly started to glow with golden light and the air rippled and surged with energy. It blew around them, scattering the pages containing the thousand tasks to the four corners of the world, and the three Wielders stood up and stared at Excalibur as he transformed back into a glowing sword. "You have been chosen!" he announced. "And thus, you'll obtain the Heavens! Victory and Glory!"

The three of them grasped the Holy Blade in awe, stars shining in their eyes at the promises and the possible futures with Excalibur in their hands. "Now, let us go," Excalibur said, feeling their six hands grasping his hilt, "together!" Giant golden wings surrounded the three, filling all of them with such power that they felt as if the world was all theirs.

_That's it!_ The Kingdom Key said in a huff. _If you're going to trade away your destiny for a twat like him then I'm—_

The three Keyblade Wielders plunged Excalibur back into the ground.

…_leaving?_

"What's the meaning of this?" Excalibur asked, surprised for the first time since he'd started speaking.

"You _baka_!" Roxas shot off, finding some sort of poetic justice in calling the sword a fool after repeatedly being called one himself. "Who'd want to be with you?"

"Urgh!" Naminé cried out as she threw her hands up in the air, her teeth grating together most unpleasantly. "You're so annoying! What good are you as a summon if nobody can even stand you?"

"See if any of us are going to give up our Keyblades for you!" Sora snapped. The sword shone with light again, and shrunk until Excalibur was back as his white charm, lying on the ground. Naminé bent down and picked it up, a scowl staining her features.

The crowd cheered!

"I figured out why he's a summon," Roxas grunted. "He was so annoying that even his own world couldn't stand him, so when it was destroyed it chucked him out."

"That's probably the real reason too," Sora agreed, "regardless of how strong his heart is."

Naminé pocketed the charm. "I'm going to warn Kairi not to summon him," she said. "He's not worth the pain." Sora and Roxas nodded and then looked at each other, sharing an evil look. Naminé glanced at each of them. "What is it?"

"Get her!" Sora shouted. Both he and Roxas lunged at Naminé. A tenth of a second before they hit her Naminé remembered that they were still in a match! There was no time for her to react, no time for her to summon any weapons, just enough time for her to gasp as the two boys tackled her to the ground.

"Quick! Get that armour off her!"

"Good idea!" Sora agreed, nodding his head.

Naminé felt an apprehensive thrill travel down her spine. "Wha—what the heck are you talking about?" she asked, trying to fight back against the two, but she couldn't break the grip they had on her arms while each of them struggled to pull her chainmail off. It surprisingly only took a few seconds, despite her protests. She'd made sure after the preliminaries to have the padded cloth underneath the mail, unlike before when she'd been bare except for her bra, but even the padded cloth was useless at keeping her protests to removing the armour turn into laughing demands for them to stop attacking her stomach and sides with their fingers.

"Give up?" Roxas asked.

Naminé could barely get a word out. Her eyes were bleary, and her entire body was delirious with laughter. "Ne—ne—never yo—ou bas—tards," she squeaked. Sora and Roxas shared a look and redoubled their efforts, poking and prodding, dancing back and forth, pushing in at just the right spots to tickle her into a frenzy.

The blonde knight knew as soon as her body started screaming at her that it needed air NOW that she was done. Her sides were wracked with silent convulsions and giggles, and she started slapping the ground and gasped in all that she needed to say, "Alright alright! I gi—give. I give! Uncle! Uncle!" They both got off of her and the victory fanfare started to play, and Naminé waited for a minute before she was confident that she had her breath back. She leaned forward slightly, looking up at the two with a wide smile on her face. She had to be on an oxygen-deprived or a tickle-induced high. She was still laughing when she said, "I'm going to kill you two, you bastards."

Sora and Roxas laughed and extended their hands to help her up. "Aw, you wouldn't do that Nam," Roxas told her, "I'm too pretty."

"And Kairi would be extremely put out if you whacked me," Sora added.

Naminé snorted. "Then I'll maim you and take Roxas prisoner and do unspeakable things to him."

"Unspeakable because they're unspeakably… kinky?" Sora asked with a grin, "like a strip-tease and ess n' em?"

Naminé pressed her knee uncomfortably close to his groin with a look that showed that she was laughing inside, but Sora couldn't tell what it was that she thought was amusing. "Your mind, gutter, out."

Now he had some sort of idea: it was his reaction if she followed through with her threat. Sora did a funny little wave of his hand to save his hide. "Perish the thought; my tongue slipped."

Naminé removed her knee. She turned around and started to head back out of the ring, possibly towards the infirmary, and began to speak loud enough for Sora to hear. "I'm going to tell Kairi to rescind certain privileges of yours. You're turning into a colossal pervert."

Sora's eyes widened as he stood rooted to the spot, horrified. "Crap," he muttered before chasing after Naminé. "Wait! I'm sorry! I'll shut up! I'll stop saying stupid stuff like that! Don't tell Kairi! Naminé!"

Roxas laughed and was about to follow his brother when he felt a sudden chill run up his spine. His laugh and Sora's pleas with Naminé fell silent and both of them turned around. That woman in dark armour was watching the two of them intently from underneath her tusked greathelm, even though all they could see of her eyes were two jewels of ice-blue light.

Naminé paused when Sora stopped ranting at her to not tell Kairi, with the undertones that he didn't want to lose anything he already had (as gross as the thought sometimes was), and she turned around as well. She only glanced at the one person in the crowd who hadn't made a sound before setting her eyes on Sora's back and striding up to him.

"Come on, let's go see how Riku's doing," she said. "You two are probably going to face him and Yuffie in the final."

"Yeah," Roxas said automatically, "let's go."

But even then, it still took nearly ten seconds for them to tear their eyes away from an obvious agent of Maleficent, and their brains were still tormented by the question: _who is she?_

-A-D-

**East Bracket Semi-finals: Night and Day vs. Easy's Champions**

The five of them were all set and ready to go as they confidently stepped up into the ring in the early afternoon sunlight. Tidus lightly held onto his crystal blue Brotherhood, Kia had strung her bow and was flexing it back and forth absent-mindedly, and Olette twirled her little staff around in her fingers. She'd finally perfected that knife twirling trick that she'd been practicing while bored, and could now perform it with any small object. Olette and Kia had removed their celeta helmets to offer better visibility, while Tidus donned his own. He knew that he would likely be bearing the brunt of Riku's attack, being the fighter of the group, and he wanted every protective device he had on.

Riku, meanwhile, was readily standing next to Yuffie, consciously aware of the tension between them. It had eased, since her accusation of him fooling around in the month they'd been apart, but the air between them was still thick enough that it would slow an arm down.

_Why didn't you just tell her you love her?_ Dawn asked impatiently, sounding as if her arms were crossed and she was tapping her foot repeatedly. _That would have solved everything in a heartbeat._

_And would it have, Dawn?_ Riku asked back.

_Yes,_ was Dawn's emphatic reply. Riku sighed. This wasn't the first time in the past fifteen minutes that Dawn had told him he should have simply confessed his love for the raven-haired kunoichi after taking her from the room, rather than promising her that he would never cheat on her and kissing her. She was resilient at the start, but after a moment or two she melted, and the reassuring kiss became a make-out session that was interrupted by a pointed cough from Paine.

_I don't know Dawn,_ Riku replied. _I just don't think it's time yet for me to tell her. I want it to… I want it to mean something when I say it._ He got the impression that Dawn was rolling her eyes at him. So he was beating around the bush when it came to those three little words; so he was scared, so what? He'd even admitted to Sora that he was scared. He should be able to handle it.

He should, except he knew that he was weak-hearted when he was really afraid of something. True, he wasn't afraid of darkness, or the dark, or of any enemy he'd ever come across. Riku wasn't even sure if he was afraid of dying, but he did know that he had been so afraid of his friends finding out that he'd fallen into darkness again that he'd completely distrusted them with his secret; he was terrified inside that they would reject him.

He was terrified that Yuffie might not love him back.

His heart skipped a beat as Yuffie's face suddenly surged in front of his vision. Riku hoped that his face didn't show it though, and tried to keep it passive, surveying the female ninja's own expression. Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly in concerned curiosity. "What?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" she answered with her own question.

"Nothing's wrong," Riku answered, a little too quickly. He looked away, only for Yuffie to follow and stand in front of his vision again. Even though she was almost a head shorter than him his eyes were still drawn to her.

"I was a drama queen, I'm sorry."

Riku looked at her properly now, and moved his bangs out of his eyes. Had he actually gotten them cut? He couldn't remember now. "What?"

Yuffie's face was sincerely apologetic as she attempted to reconcile with the guilt that he could now see inside her heart. "I'm apologizing Riku," she said. "I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier. I'm sorry about me. I was just so… so upset when Dawn said that you'd kissed her that I thought that you were leaving me; I thought… maybe everything had been an act, and you'd really been messing around that whole month we were—"

She stopped as Riku started to chuckle. Her face flushed in embarrassment as she realized that she'd been rambling, but before she could start again Riku began to speak. "Yuffie, if I've been able to look at Naminé and her servant prancing around in their underwear almost every day for most of a month and stay both sane and a virgin, I don't think you've got anything to worry about."

Yuffie laughed for a second before blinking in confusion. "You're a virgin?" she asked.

This time Riku blushed. "Uh, yeah. Shocker, I know, considering everything about me. But I'm still only seventeen. Why, aren't you?"

Yuffie blushed and looked away. "Uh well…"

Riku felt his jaw drop. He'd asked the question out of hand, like a joke really, but he hadn't actually expected Yuffie to answer—well, not really answer, since she hadn't said much of anything—in the negative. "Wait, you're not! When? Who? I swear, if it's some guy I know, I'm gonna kill him."

"Whoa, hey, slow down speedy," Yuffie laughed, replacing her blush with a cheery smile, "Overprotective boyfriend much? Relax, it was just some guy I dated a couple of years ago, and definitely not somebody you know. We had a falling out a little before Sora, Donald, and Goofy showed up on Traverse Town and Squall already went through the whole 'kick-his-ass-if-he-hurt-me-in-any-way' routine. It'd probably be a bit awkward if I saw him again but that's life. And hey, virginity's a lousy quality to base someone's worth on anyway; so long as a girl's comfortable with herself and not wallowing in self-loathing why should it matter if she's a virgin or not? I really don't care, and frankly I'm pretty darn happy with my life. Besides, look on the bright side Riku. Sure you won't get to pop my cherry, and from your face I can tell that you wanted to be the one to do it, but hey, you get a girl with _experience_, unlike our favourite babe princesses. Even so, you're going to have to _work_ for you booty. And can I get through apologizing to you about spazzing out over the Dawn kiss thing and that time I kissed Sora please?"

"Slow down speedy?" Riku asked. "Look who's talking. And apology accepted."

Yuffie brightened. "Really?"

"Really," Riku replied nodding his head.

Yuffie blushed and looked down. "It was just… I don't want to feel alone again."

Riku felt like there was a bit more than that at work inside of Yuffie, but he decided not to press it now. He put a smile onto his face and cupped her cheek. "Hey, I said it's okay. You forgive me, and I forgive you."

Yuffie laughed a little to dispel the awkwardness. She beamed at him, nodding her head. "Great! Now let's go kick their—"

_BONG!_

"—butts," Yuffie finished. Flower of Wutai flashed into existence in her hands just as an arrow struck her in the side. The raven-haired kunoichi cried out in pain before disappearing in a puff of black smoke, leaving behind a log with one of Kia's arrows stuck in it.

The archer realized her mistake at the very last instant and turned to look behind her. Yuffie's fist collided with her cheek just as she saw it coming. Kia spun around from the impact, her short golden-brown hair whirling with her, and she felt Yuffie's left hand grab hold of her arm. With strength that the archer didn't know the ninja had, Yuffie hoisted the girl over her shoulders by the arm and slammed her into the ground.

Riku summoned his own Keyblade into his hand just as Tidus was springing for him. He parried the Brotherhood's horizontal slice for his abdomen with Way to the Dawn in a fluid motion, already angling his Keyblade to stop the stroke that was now coming down from above. Riku hopped back an inch, keeping his body just out of Tidus' reach, and then struck back from above. Both swords locked together as their wielders pressed against one another.

"I've got you Riku," Tidus said, smiling.

Riku grinned back, pressing Way to the Dawn against the Brotherhood. They were holding steady, but Riku wasn't using quite as much of his strength as he could. He was actually surprised at how strong Tidus was. But then again, if Tidus had been part of a group that defeated a monster threatening an entire world, he would have to have been strong.

Even so… Riku already had a little bit of a legend about him, just because of his weapon and the sparring he'd done in the past.

Riku pressed harder, forcing the Brotherhood to scrape against Tidus' breastplate. "No you don't," Riku replied. "I can see it in your eyes. You think you don't have a chance, and you really don't want to go on to the finals anyway, because then you'll be fighting Sora and Roxas, and you'd be on your last legs anyway if you beat me and Yuffie."

"Bullshit," Tidus answered. "I can take you. You're no Seymour Guado."

Riku shrugged and pushed Tidus back before kicking him in the chest. It didn't do much more than make him stagger even further back and drop onto his behind. "Maybe not," Riku said, "but I made a promise to Roxas that I was going to fight him, and I want to keep that promise. Besides…" Riku paused and looked off to his right. His eyes unfocussed, trying to see through to the other ring even though it was impossible, "I've been getting this weird feeling coming from over there all day."

Tidus stood up and followed his gaze. "A weird feeling?"

Riku nodded. "I'm not sure what it means, but Kairi's already out, and the rest of us are going to be dead tired at the top bracket, because (he chuckled) we're not going to walk off of that field without a win, no matter what it takes." He gave Tidus a significant look. "Expect trouble."

Tidus was only half-way through a nod when something heavy collided with the back of his head. "Hiya!" Yuffie shouted, dropping in on him with a kick. Tidus dropped to the ground, and Yuffie remained standing on his head and his back. Kia and Olette were both lying on the ground behind her, their heads to the sky and woozy looks on their faces. "Done!" she said, smiling at Riku. "Good job on distracting him Riku."

Riku was a little surprised, but then smiled. "Not a problem Yuffie," he told her as the victory fanfare began to play.

Tidus grumbled and shifted his head up to look at Riku's face. "Was that all an act?" he asked.

Riku shook his head. "No, I meant it. Be ready Tidus." He smiled again and turned around. "Well, let's go see to Sora and Roxas then Yuffie. You ready?"

Yuffie jumped off of Tidus and came next to him, all while Tidus was mumbling some disappointed stuff about how Yuffie'd gotten him before they really even had a fight going on. "How do you know that it's Sora and Roxas?" she asked. "Why couldn't it be Naminé?"

"Because I beat Naminé before," Riku told her matter-of-factly, "and if I beat her, then Sora and Roxas will have beaten her for sure."

"But she's become, like, our most powerful magic-user," Yuffie argued. "What makes you think they could beat her?"

"She's a glass cannon," Riku clarified. "More importantly, she's artillery. Sure she's got the spells, and Kairi too, but while Kai's well-rounded with firepower and she's excellent with her Keyblade, Naminé needs to stay out of the close combat most of the time against a strong opponent or she'll get overpowered. It's probably one of the reasons why she's kept that shield. And she was fighting Sora and Roxas."

Yuffie giggled slightly. "Oh, right. Yeah, she's toast." Her giggle turned into a chuckle and Riku looked at her. Yuffie had withdrawn a deck of cards from the pouches that also held her kunai and shuriken and was shuffling them.

"What's that for?"

Yuffie just smiled wickedly. "You won't see, but could you forgive me now for what I'm going to do? I promise I won't take it too far."

Riku wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what she was going to do. "Sure," he said, "just as long as it won't get in the way of my fight with Roxas."

"Oh it won't Riku, it won't."

-A-D-

_I don't know if a cat will actually sleep on a woman's breasts because they aren't exactly a stable place to take a nap on, but I know that I've had a cat sleep on that part of _my_ body so…_

_And seriously, yes. The summon charm that Kairi got a couple chapters back is indeed Excalibur from Soul Eater. Imagine the endless torture of annoyance to any and all who are near to him when he is summoned!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	51. The Zeus Cup: Finals

_So I'm not despicably evil for having Naminé lose through being tickled? I'm rather shocked. More people were upset and repulsed that the summon was HIM than they were upset that Namin__é lost because of tickling. At least, that's what the reviews told me..._

_Disclaimer: After fifty chapters, I think that the point of this disclaimer thing is moot._

**The War**

Chapter 51: The Zeus Cup: Finals

_1350hrs, Saturday, November 29, 2003  
Vestibule, Olympus Coliseum_

Sora raised a hand and waved as soon as he entered the vestibule. A strange name, he thought, since he'd always thought of it as an atrium or an antechamber compared to a vestibule—little did he know that they were all one and the same—but it's name didn't matter because Riku and Yuffie were currently sitting on a stone bench inside of it, apparently watching for them.

"So you won right Sora?" Riku asked.

"Yep," Sora answered proudly.

Naminé pouted. "That's because these two are douchebags who fight dirty!"

"She's just upset that she lost," Roxas said quickly when Riku looked at them.

Naminé folded her arms together. "You beat me because you _tickled_ me into submission!"

"You assholes," Yuffie said derisively while Riku laughed and gave Sora a high five when the brunet raised his hand for one.

"Why is it that only girls get upset when guys tickle them?" Sora asked aloud, looking at both Naminé and Yuffie. "I mean come on! We don't get that upset when you tickle us! It's amusing."

Yuffie seemed to take this as a challenge and lunged for Sora, extending her arms and fingers towards his sides and belly. Sora slapped her hands away, but Yuffie kept on coming, weaving them around and trying to break through Sora's defences. Sora kept slapping her hands and arms back, keeping his torso safe, until Yuffie thrust forward with both for his belly. He backed away, grabbing at her wrists, and pushed back until they were at a standstill with him holding her still while her arms shook, trying to get past him.

"I'm gonna get you," she declared.

"No you're not," Sora answered, grinning. "I've got your—" Yuffie spun her wrists around, breaking his lock on her hands, and snatched his own, "—hands?"

Yuffie smirked and pressed forward while Sora shoved back, and then he felt his back strike up against the wall. Yuffie forsook keeping a grip on his wrists and lunged. Neither of them had succeeded in tickling each other, yet both of them were laughing. Sora grabbed hold of Yuffie's upper arms and pushed her back. She started to lose her balance and reached out for the closest thing. One hand snatched Sora, and the other managed to latch onto Riku, and Yuffie ended up pulling both of them down with her.

_WHUMP!_

"Ow…" Yuffie groaned, rubbing the back of her head. "That did not go as well as I expected." She opened her eyes. "Oh, hey Riku. What are you doing down here?"

"You pulled me down," he answered. He glanced at Sora, smirked, and his hand shot underneath the hem of Yuffie's chainmail, dug underneath the additional protection to soften blows that was underneath, and went to the ninja's side.

Yuffie shrieked and began giggling as she attempted to thrash out of the way of Riku's ticking fingers, but Sora was keeping her pinned down. Roxas began laughing and Naminé said, "You guys are awful!"

Roxas glanced at her, but Naminé didn't notice in time to keep him from assaulting her again, ending with the Princess ensconced in the knight's arms and their lips pressed firmly against one another's. That is, they had been kissing quite enthusiastically—not passionately or hotly, they didn't have time to go into a make-out session—until Naminé was able to get her own digits into position, while her boyfriend was distracted by her lips, and provide him with the glorious sting of vengeance.

-A-D-

**Finals: Key Masters vs. Night and Day**

A few minutes later Sora, Riku, and Roxas ran into the ring, all three males being chased by Yuffie, who was flinging kunai at them so quickly it seemed like one big long stream of knives. Dawn had risen out of Riku's body and molded her legs together as a cord, keeping her body attached to his like the Guardian had been, and placed herself between them and the string of kunai being sent at them. Each knife bounced off of her chest, and after a moment and noticing that more than a few either struck her breasts or the exact middle of her head Riku was sure that Yuffie was taking the opportunity to vent a little bit of her anger that Dawn had kissed him at the Keyblade Spirit's avatar, and that Dawn was intentionally giving her the opportunity to do so.

"Are you guys done with the tickling?" Yuffie asked, still angrily flinging kunai at Dawn.

"We're done!" Sora shouted. "Don't worry, we won't tickle our way to another win!" Yuffie stopped and left roughly two-hundred kunai lying on the ground all around them. She shuffled her way through her weapons and went to stand next to Riku, and Dawn flowed back inside of Riku.

"Aren't you going to pick those up?" he asked. Then he glanced down at the pouches that she kept her kunai and shuriken in, "And how did you fit that many kunai into that tiny space?"

"Ever heard of a transdimensional storage device that can hold _far_ more than what it physically should be able to?" Yuffie answered. "Like Sora's pants, or Kairi's purse, or your jeans, or the interior folds of a dress?"

"You know I have kinda wondered at how I can keep a dozen potions in a space that physically is really only the size of my fist."

Naminé leaned forward from her seat. "Riku!" He looked up at her. "Bottom line: don't ask; everything is a bag of holding!"

Riku essentially looked back at Yuffie and gave her a thumbs-up, as if to say 'got it'. Roxas looked at Sora however and asked, "What's a bag of holding?"

"Convention used in role-play games so that the characters don't have a baggage train following along behind them carrying their ten sets of armour, dozens of weapons, five-hundred different assorted items picked up from defeated enemies, and key items and trophies. It gets suspicious if you've got a baggage train like that," Sora said.

Roxas frowned before becoming pleased. "Cool, bags of holding actually exist. I love magic. Wait, our pants became bags of holding after the three good fairies worked their magic on them?"

"Well I don't know about you, but I've got about seventy-eight thousand munny, two summon charms, about a dozen different keychains, my Christmas present to Kairi, an mp3 player with stereo speakers, two ethers, two potions, the communicator from Star Command, my guitar, my normal clothes, another set of clothes, _another_ set of clothes, the Dirty Minds game I got from Yuna and Rikku, a tube of everlasting hair gel, a razor and shaving cream, the plushie of Kairi, the drawing Naminé did for me at the same time as I got the stereo for the mp3 player, Kairi's letter, and a _frying pan_ all in these two little pockets."

"And my portable sphere player," Roxas added.

Sora nodded. "And your portable—" He stopped and stared at Roxas with wide eyes and a trapped look on his face, while Roxas gave him an unimpressed smirk. Sora laughed weakly. "I imagine that you want that back then."

"Yes, but not right now. That can wait until after I've kicked Riku's can." Sora looked like he was about to say something, but Roxas cut him off. "Sora, we've agreed. We're settling things here, and then we're done bickering. Alright?" The brunet looked at his brother and nodded his head. Roxas then glanced at Soar's thighs. "You really have your guitar in there?"

It was in a laugh, like he couldn't even believe the audacity of the statement. Sora smiled. "Yep. Want me to whip it out?"

"Please don't whip it out. It would break my mind if I saw something that big coming out of someplace that small."

"That's what she said."

Roxas laughed. "You're tooting your own horn."

"You're me; I'm tooting both our horns."

"Well thank you, but I don't need someone with a hairstyle as ridiculous as yours tooting my horn."

"Ever looked in a mirror Chocobo-head?"

"I thought that Riku was the only one who was going to call me that."

"It's catchy. In fact, I think I'm going to take it and make it my brotherly nickname for you."

"You do that and you become Hedgehog-head for the rest of your life!"

"Fine by me Chocobo-head! Now let's get on with this and win the Zeus Cup. There are a number of places I'd like to take Kairi to dinner to with that prize money."

"You said it Hedgehog-head," Roxas said, smiling and bumping knuckles with Sora as both of them turned to face Riku and Yuffie. The four of them summoned their Keyblades into their hands and Roxas smirked. "I've got Riku," he told his brunet brother.

"Then I'll take Yuffie," Sora agreed, nodding his head.

_BONG!_

The packed stands started to cheer wildly at the sound of the gong and Riku and Roxas charged at each other, both young men screaming war cries from their lips. Riku held his left hand out, firing a Ray of Dawn at Roxas, who barged right on through the attack as the ray exploded on his chest, never stopping. Roxas swung Twilight Thorn down towards Riku's head. His Keyblade was blocked by Way to the Dawn as the weapon rose up to meet it, and Riku stepped away and circled around Roxas as the blond followed up with a slice from the left with Oblivion. Now Riku dropped Way to the Dawn for Roxas' head, and the other Keyblade Wielder twisted his body so that the attack would miss and quickly stabbed for Riku's chest. Twilight Thorn's silver bayonet tip speared into Riku's left shoulder, but Roxas didn't have enough force behind his stroke to cut the chain links even though the cloth underneath tore to a degree. The very tip of the bayonet pricked the skin of Riku's shoulder, drawing no more than a few drops of blood.

Riku jerked back, his bodily movement getting the tip of the Keyblade away from his flesh, and whacked it down with Way to the Dawn. He quickly followed with a stroke towards Roxas' chest, blocked by a well-positioned Oblivion Keyblade. But he followed with two more quick slices, one aimed for Roxas' left shoulder and the other for his right, and the younger blond Keyblade Master inched backwards as he parried the attacks. Riku spun completely around, cleaving at Roxas' midriff with a strong slice, and the blond just barely missed Way to the Dawn with his two darting Keyblades.

Roxas staggered backward from the blow to his chest just as Riku's arm jerked down, his right bracer getting caught by Twilight Thorn's slightly too late attempt to block. Their mail coats jangled a little, and both of them looked up at each other. Their faces were set in identical determined tiny smirks. Neither of them was going to back down, and neither of them was going to show the other any mercy. This was a rematch that they knew had been long in coming.

-A-D-

Sora had charged towards Yuffie at the same time as Roxas and Riku had. He and the Wutai kunoichi clashed, striking their Keyblades against one another and stopping each other cold. Yuffie then smiled as Sora pressed Remembrance's slightly curved blade against the long black bodkin of her Flower of Wutai. The furthest tip of the seven pointed star hovered near to his left cheek, while the shuriken 'key' was near to Yuffie's.

Sora wondered at her smile, but then she said, "Enveloping Shroud," and tendrils of black mist flowed out of her body. Sora barely had time to gape before both he and Yuffie were surrounded by the mist, completely enveloped in a shrouded dome of blackness.

When Sora opened his eyes, he found that there was no more pressure against Remembrance, and that Yuffie was standing in front of him, but apart from that he could see and hear nothing but the darkness of the night. It wasn't completely black, nor was it grey, but what he could see of his surroundings had _just_ enough light lighting it for him to be absolutely sure that he couldn't get the slightest clue as to what he was looking at. Even the stone ring he stood on had so little light that if Sora didn't know exactly what his feet had been on beforehand, he'd have thought that he was standing in darkness.

Strangely though, he, his Keyblade, and Yuffie were completely lit as if it were a bright sunshiny day. Sora blinked as he thought about that. "What did you do Yuffie? And where's your Keyblade?"

"Oh, this is just a little place I learned that I can create out of the Night," Yuffie said proudly. "Well actually, we're still in the exact place we were before, it's just that I've completely surrounded us with an impenetrable shroud of the night. No one can see or hear anything going on inside, and we can't see or hear anything going on outside, and nothing, absolutely _nothing_ can escape the shroud until I lift it. Convenient for dirty deeds a ninja like myself might have to do, eh?"

Sora got the sudden impression that Yuffie was about to assassinate him, but then shook that particular chill away. That was the exact thought that Yuffie had probably wanted him to have, and if so, she'd succeeded. "Yeah, very convenient Yuffie. I'll let you know if I ever decide to stoop low enough to have someone whacked. So…" he paused, looking around at his indistinguishable surroundings, "exactly why did you put this thing up if we're in a tournament that's supposed to be witnessed by quite a lot of people? I'm sure that Naminé and King Mickey and Leon and everyone would have wanted to see us duke it out."

Yuffie snorted. "You saw the looks on Roxas and Riku didn't you? They'd tear the whole building apart if it meant defeating each other, and if we fought too we'd just get in their way. No, what I've decided to do is much better. We're going to wait it out in here, nicely out of their way, until one of us has won, and one of us has lost."

"Do we really have enough room to fight in here?" Sora asked, glancing around again. "If we're in pretty much the same place as before…"

"No, we don't have enough room," Yuffie said, smirking. "I made the shroud as small as I could while still giving us room. While I can jump in and out of the shroud's shadows at will, you'd end up running into an invisible wall wherever you went; and beating you like that just isn't fun." Sora grimaced, conceding the point that Yuffie pretty much had him at her mercy—even though he thought differently, he'd let her go on thinking that—but not liking it.

"So what do you have in mind then to decide which one of us wins?" Sora asked.

Yuffie's grin widened and she placed her hand into her weapons pouches. "I was _hoping_ that you would ask that Sora," she told him. Her right hand withdrew a deck of cards, their red and white patterned backgrounds brightly visible in the darkness. "Wanna have some fun and play a game to decide?" she asked.

Sora shrugged and dismissed Remembrance while a smile came to his face. "Sure, why not?" he asked. He placed his left hand beside him and sat down cross-legged, hearing and feeling his mail rings moving slightly. Yuffie dropped onto her knees in front of him and started to shuffle the cards on the indistinguishable ground between them. "What are we playing?"

"Poker," Yuffie answered, smiling to herself.

Sora frowned. _Poker?_ "But, we don't have any chips."

"You told Roxas that you had munny in your pockets," Yuffie answered, glancing up at him, "right?"

"Well yeah, but I—"

He found himself cut off as Yuffie dropped her eyes from his, and they weren't looking at the cards she was shuffling either. "But we aren't going to be betting with munny like last night," she said.

Sora studied Yuffie's dark brown eyes, finding them quite mischievous and himself suddenly slightly uncomfortable with this situation. "What _are_ we betting with Yuffie?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yuffie asked, her voice starting to grow loud in a challenging tone as evil stars practically shone in her eyes. "Your bet is limited to the clothes on you back!"

"You are NOT serious!" Sora shouted, standing up so fast that his head spun. Yuffie left the cards where they were and stood up as well. They weren't the same height anymore, which gave Sora an advantage, but her face loomed just as enthusiastic as his was unenthusiastic.

"And why not?" Yuffie asked. "We're the only ones who are going to see anything. Nobody else will, and nobody else will know what went on in here unless we tell them."

"We are NOT deciding this via 'Strip Poker' Yuffie!"

"A fold isn't an auto lose-round and you can win your clothes back," Yuffie pointed out. "Once you lose 'em they aren't lost forever. We'll use the clothes like chips even though they'll all be worth the same amount; a bra will be equal in value to a sock which is equal in value to a glove which is equal in value to a shirt, and you can even bet the clothes you've won off your opponent instead of your own. I don't see what the big deal is here."

Sora groaned, trying to slowly regain his sanity while he tried to keep the growing blush off his face. "Yuffie, the betting system isn't the issue here. You want us to decide the outcome of this whole tournament of skill off of a game of chance."

Yuffie bristled slightly. "It takes skill to play poker Sora. Are you saying that you don't have any? Funny, seeing as how you were the only one except for me to walk away plus last night, even after you'd already dipped into your pocket and bought yourself back in. I'd been planning on cleaning all of you out and you walked off with more dough than you put in!"

"So that's it?" Sora glanced sharply at her. "Looking to settle the score between us? I'm sorry Yuffie, but I'm not playing your—"

"I could put a knife in your back right now and win this tournament," Yuffie warned him blithely as she butted it, switching completely from her angry tone. "And then where would you be? No grand trophy, no massive cash prize. I wonder how Kairi would take it if you couldn't afford to take her to those fancy restaurants you wanted to."

"Second place is more than enough—"

"Or is it that you're too busy wondering how Kairi's going to react if she found out that you were playing strip poker with me?"

Sora's sudden leaden silence clearly said the word 'Bingo'. It was like music to Yuffie's ears. Truly the Keyblade Master's one weakness: he could brave the perils of the darkness and the unknown, he could fight against seemingly never-ending tide of Heartless, he could face down and fight any enemy put in front of him with honour and courage and, in the _very_ end, would find the strength not to give in to despair; but pit him against his girlfriend or do something to Kairi and Sora would go completely out of whack.

"We just got out of a spat Yuffie," Sora told her. "I don't want to be involved in another one, not when she's been hurt like she was in the quarterfinal. She's already depressed that our plan of blitzing through the tournament and getting out there's now been wrecked for her. I don't want her to get angry at me for playing strip poker too. That and Riku would effin' kill me if he ever found out."

Yuffie sighed slightly. "Sora look," she began. "Look at our little group of Keyblade Wielders for a second. Look at our ages. I'm eighteen, Riku's seventeen, and the four of you are sixteen. We're all supercharged hormone-filled immature teenagers. I've been watching you, and Riku, and Roxas, and pretty much every guy I've known or met for a few years now. Even though I can tell that you don't mean to do it your eyes have been unconsciously darting back and forth from a girl's rack to her face, even Aerith's for crying out loud, and you've only stopped when you've noticed that you're _glued_ to her chest. Don't squawk at me!" she said suddenly as Sora started to protest. "I don't care what you think of yourself. You're a guy. It's natural; it's _instinctive_! And before you start dragging yourself and your sex down you're not bad looking. You actually look a bit older, a bit more mature, with that bit of scruffy stubble stuff you've got on your cheeks since you're obviously too lazy to shave it off more than once a week. Not to mention that all of our physiques have improved with this past month of training. Kairi's a bit slimmer, which sucks for her because she was already underweight after that time you guys spent in Middle-earth prancing from wherezit to whatzit with midgets, but she's also firmer, stronger, and has more visible muscle than she had before; that goes for Naminé and me too. You, Roxas, and Riku have all buffed up. Well, Riku was already buffer than you two, but you two don't have skinny arms anymore! You've got muscle mass dude! And probably pecks and a nice waist and rocking hard abs! You're rocking the man triangle! I'm going to say it straight, but this past month made you hot! Aych-ay-double-yoo-tee hot! If you just stopped caring about the automail and wore lighter clothes that showed off a little more, Kairi would have to start beating the girls off of you with a stick! Selphie was checking you out when you came down to the pool; _Kairi_, you know _your girlfriend_, was checking you out and hasn't really stopped. You're just clueless!

"So given all of this," Yuffie concluded, "what are the odds that when we are through all of this shit with Maleficent that we won't have a few drinks while playing cards and decide, just for the hell of it, to play strip poker? Probably pretty high. Or we're going to end up innocently walking in on somebody when they're beyond making out or are actually going at it. Or whatever."

"But Yuffie—"

"Sora this isn't about sex. You've become hot, I've already got Riku and can wait it out with my invariable _much_ hotter man; I know what I'm getting so long as we keep it together. I want to take whatever chance I can to ogle _you_ and see what Kairi's will be getting."

Sora looked away. This was turning into a very one-sided conversation. In fact, Yuffie had dominated it from the very beginning, and Sora was unable to deny that she was wearing him down. He was blushing as images came to his head, specifically the one where he and Kairi had both been lost in darkness. "She's already seen it… and I've… already… seen, well, her."

Yuffie nodded slightly even as her eyebrows rose. "So I've figured, thanks for confirming it though, but from what I understand you two still haven't gone all the way. (She shrugged.) Oh well, not my sex life, not my problem. But, though I could probably never compare to Kairi in your eyes, wouldn't you like the chance to ogle me, spread languidly in a seductive pose?"

Sora finally looked up, since he'd mostly been trying to study his shoes while he'd listened and argued with himself. Yuffie was blushing for the first time. So despite all the bravado she'd put on and all of her 'sensible' talk _she_ was embarrassed too!

Sora studied her blushing face with a critical look. The longer he looked without saying anything, the more pronounced Yuffie's blush became until she shied away and turned around with a stuttered whine telling him to stop looking at her like that. Her dark brown eyes were hesitant and confused, and as much as Sora didn't want to have to do this he was slowly finding reasons to go through with it.

Firstly: if they decided victory on the basis of a card game where nobody actually got hurt, then nobody actually gets hurt and is forced to delay adventuring like Kairi already has to. Secondly: it's a friendly and playful, albeit sexy and embarrassing, way to pass time while Riku and Roxas hammer their past issues with one another out while trying to bury the hatchet in each other's skulls. Thirdly, he wanted to figure out what it was that had really made Yuffie push for doing this. It couldn't have just been that she wanted to see him butt-naked, or it could have just been that too. And his fourth reason…

…he kinda _did_ want to see Yuffie naked.

Did that make him a pervert? Probably. Did that mean that he was going to feel the wrath of Kairi? Again, a probable outcome. Would the action of seeing a nude Yuffie and not immediately cringing away with burning eyes mean that Kairi might turn her wrath on the raven-haired kunoichi as well? Not quite as probable as her being angry with him but still a possibility. Would Kairi just laugh it off and wish that she had taken part but forgive him as long as he made it up to her in some way that he couldn't think of yet? A wild shot, but given their previous exploits and that he had no idea _what_ girls talked about when they were alone this whole eventuality might have even been authorized with Kairi's approval!

He was hoping for that one, since it was the only one where he _probably_ wasn't going to get screwed over.

"It's just looking right?" he asked at last.

Yuffie looked up and her blush disappeared. "Yes."

"And we don't auto lose if we fold?"

"In the interest of fairness to both our modesties you will only lose betted clothing if we're both confident in our hand and stay on through the end. So bluffing to force a fold and win by a landslide ain't gonna happen buddy."

"How long do we get to look?" Sora asked, a weird look in his cerulean eyes.

Yuffie copied his smirk. "Well we'll each be looking at each other until one of us is _completely_ naked, including socks, gloves, headbands, and anything except jewellery, so your crest and crown necklace don't count. After you bet a piece of clothing, you take it off,_ and_ _you can't put it back on even if you win it back_, but underwear you don't have to take off if you're betting it unless you lose the hand. But once everything's off the winner gets to redress and then has two minutes of pure unspoiled ogling in any direction or position they want before I lift the shroud. The loser gets two seconds to re-dress before the shroud will lift. There is no _touching_ or _molesting_ or _grabbing_ or _kissing_ or _groping _or _masturbating_ of _anything_ at _any_ time! You _look_! That is all. If the loser, meaning you, can't get dressed in two seconds I provide nothing to protect your modesty from everyone out there. You get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!"

"Two seconds isn't a lot of time," Sora frowned.

"We can summon our armour back onto our bodies in an instant Sora," Yuffie remarked amusedly. "I think two seconds is adequate. You're really doing it then? I could always knife you now and end it."

Sora sat back down again and crossed his legs. "Nah, I think I'll go ahead," he said. "Besides, you just threatened that I would lose. No way in hell Yuffie."

"Perv. You just wanna watch me strip."

"You're the bigger perv for suggesting this stupid game, but I'll be damned if I play it and damned if I don't so I might as well get as much satisfaction out of you as I can. Start dealing."

"That's the spirit Sora," Yuffie said, getting back to shuffling the deck between them. Sora chuckled and shook his head. He would never, in his craziest dreams, have imagined that he'd have the chance to win an Olympus Coliseum tournament by playing strip poker one-on-one with one of his closer female comrades. Both of them were likely to get supremely embarrassed during this and, win or lose, Sora was confident that whether they were legal drinking age or not both of them might just attempt to drink the memory of this event away that night.

Sora could only hope that Riku and Roxas were having as much fun killing each other as he and Yuffie were about to have garnering blackmail and gratification.

-A-D-

Riku ignited his Keyblade with golden flames tinged with blackness at their very core and leapt for Roxas, slicing at his abdomen with Way to the Dawn. Roxas jumped above the strike and used the back of Riku's head as a spring-board to propel himself away from the Wielder of Dawn. Just as his foot ceased making contact with Riku's head, however, Dawn rose out from Riku's back with her legs together and tethered to his shoulder blades like a cord, and grasped at Roxas' right shin with both her hands. Her fingers closed around him and Roxas was jerked to a stop in the air as Dawn stole all of the momentum he'd gained. She laughed a little bit as she started to spin him around in the air above her head before releasing. Roxas yelled loudly as he flew through the air and braced himself for impact with whatever he was going to crash into. His arms crumpled as they collided first with the stone ring, slightly cushioning his landing as his chest struck next and he bounced up slightly.

_C'mon,_ a voice whispered in Roxas' head, _give me an opening._

The blond forced his limbs to twist and shift his body around as he skidded, watching Riku advancing towards him at a rapid pace on his sun skates. His head was facing Riku now, and his feet finally managed to find some traction on the stone beneath him. Roxas pushed off, reversing his direction, and sprang directly at his opponent. Riku swung his burning sword for Roxas' shoulder, but missed as the blond leaned into his own strike and body-checked Riku in the stomach. Riku coughed and slid backwards on the pools of light surrounding his feet and the flames covering Way to the Dawn flickered and died.

Roxas was on him now, both Twilight Thorn and the Oblivion coming in with a fury of strikes for anywhere Roxas could reach on the Wielder of Dawn. Riku was forced to back up as Roxas came in, moving Way to the Dawn and ducking out of the way to foil Roxas' attacks. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, all in rapid succession; it was almost too much for the silver-haired teen as Roxas kept slicing at him, a relentless storm of two Keyblades, and Riku found himself remembering the last time that he and Roxas had fought each other seriously.

"I'm not going to lose at all!" Riku shouted, swelling with energy before letting it burst out from him. Roxas leapt back from the honeycomb dome that suddenly appeared, just getting out of range of the explosive force generated from Riku's drive. Roxas looked into the glowing sphere of golden light and turned so that his right side was facing the sphere and his left was turned away from it. Twilight Thorn was held readily in front of him in the right with the blade pointed up, while the Oblivion was completely level at mid-chest height.

The golden sphere flared and surged forward, too quickly for the eye to catch its movement. At the same time Roxas turned completely forward and swept the Oblivion in his left up to his left and brought Twilight Thorn up with its blade crossing his body. A hair's breadth of time later two loud ringing noises jarred the ears and Roxas stepped back and to his right a few paces, his head already swivelling to catch sight of his opponent.

The golden light dropped from around Riku, revealing his light and dark grey cloak wrapping around his body over his chainmail and tabard. The golden chains and sun tassels swayed slightly. The golden zipper of the cloak was roughly half undone. Way to the Dawn was still held in his right hand, and the flowery, girly, Destiny's Embrace was within his left. "I'm not going to lose this tournament," Riku told him seriously, the Rose Star Wielder of Dawn now having driven into his Horizon Form. "Or if I am, it certainly won't be to you Roxas."

"Dream on," the blond retorted, getting his Keyblades ready in front of him. "This is payback for all the times you've put me down." Fire circled around the Oblivion, and Roxas quickly juggled the two Keyblades in his hands so that the obsidian one with an amethyst in its hilt was in his right. He flung the Oblivion at Riku, the flaming black Keyblade spinning rapidly and making the air around it waver with its intensity.

Riku slammed the hilts of his two Keyblades together and twin lights of orange and red formed at the key-tips of Way to the Dawn and Destiny's Embrace. The lights swiftly traveled clockwise and completed the circle, and a rosy-golden shell barrier formed in front of Riku. Roxas' fire raid bounced off the barrier and was deflected wide, but the blond Keyblade Wielder had already summoned Twilight Thorn back into his right hand and was moving to stab the silver bayonet tip of the Keyblade directly at the centre of the shell.

Coils of the red light of Dusk surrounded Twilight Thorn's silver tip and the blade pierced into the rosy-golden shell. The red light streaked into Riku's defence and scattered as thin lines throughout it, mapping the entire half-shell. Riku backed a step away as his 'Shield of the Rising Sun'—which had stood up to one of Renji's Shakkahō kidō spells— shattered under the influence of Roxas' stab. The blond's left hand shone with white light, and the still flaming Oblivion was now back in it.

Oblivion began its descent and Riku hastened to foil it. He just managed to get Destiny's Embrace up to the level of his eyes in time to stroke at the Oblivion. But Roxas had been using two Keyblades in tandem for a long time and was quite skilled in it. Sora, even, had picked it up easily enough when he'd first driven into his Valour Form and could wield two swords effortlessly since. Riku, literally on the other hand, was not practiced in the art no matter what boons being a Keyblade Wielder were granted to him, and his left-handed parry was weak and ineffectual.

The flaming Oblivion slammed down on Destiny's Embrace and knocked it from Riku's grasp just before continuing onward and striking the taller silver-haired teen on the head.

It bounced right off.

Startled, Roxas took a couple of paces back, batting Twilight Thorn at Riku's Way to the Dawn as the other Wielder swung it for him. Dawn slowly rose up out of Riku in her black outfit with the red-gold image of a rising sun on the front and back of her shirt, wordlessly challenging Roxas as she hovered protectively above Riku as a Guardian. Riku himself laughed and bent down, retrieving Destiny's Embrace.

"Got to admit," he said, placing the Keyblade into a sheath of golden light that appeared on his right hip, "I never thought that you'd be able to do that Chocobo-head."

"My name is Roxas," growled the blond.

"Hn," Riku replied. He held his right arm out and made Way to the Dawn parallel to the ground. Dawn hovered a little higher into the air and then dropped down onto her Keyblade form. Fierce orange and red energy filled the Keyblade before completely encompassing Dawn, drawing a pleased sigh from her lips as her head went back. The rippling energy shifted into white and black around her back, and there it formed two wings, one white and feathery and the other black and leathery. "Angel of the Dawn," Riku spoke as both wings attained an orange-gold aura, "take flight on your fiery wings!"

Roxas dove out of the way as Riku began his swing, knowing that Dawn was going to get propelled from his Keyblade with the force of a cannon and speed of a bullet behind her. The winged Keyblade Spirit passed right over him with trails of fire left behind her wings, the toes of her black sneakers just missing him as she attempted to kick him on her way past. The blond rose with his two Keyblades arrayed defensively in front of his body, his eyes darting around while he kept his body low and his feet carrying him in a slow circle. Dawn had slowed her momentum by unfurling her wings and climbing, and now she was facing his left side from about forty feet up, roses of fire forming in her hands as she crafted her staff.

Roxas gasped and swung Twilight Thorn across as a golden ray streaked right for his face. The missile bounced right back towards Riku, and the Wielder of Dawn was surprised for a moment as the magic missile headed for him now. Orange light pooled around Riku's left forearm and hand, forming an energy gauntlet over the top of the priest-looking cloak. He moved the gauntlet into the path of his back-fired ray, and his deflected ray was absorbed by it. Roxas' head jolted back in surprise as an aquamarine circle suddenly developed on the backside of Riku's gauntlet. The circle's colour changed to orange and began to glow, and Riku raised his left hand, pointed it at Roxas.

The blond howled suddenly in pain as his shoulder was struck hard by the spiked crimson-crystal orb at one of the ends of Dawn's staff. A jolt of orange lightning burst out from Riku's gauntlet and struck the Wielder of Dusk in the same shoulder that Dawn had just pummelled.

Roxas scrunched his eyes up as they watered in teary pain and rose, whipping his Keyblades around him for Dawn as she stood behind. She twitched her staff, catching both blows with its midsection, before flying backwards on her wings to avoid a follow-up of Roxas'. Yelling, she raised her weapon above her head and brought one crystal-orbed down for Roxas' head.

_Now!_

Roxas quickly brought Twilight Thorn up while deep red light swirled around the Oblivion. Dawn's staff struck against Roxas defending Keyblade and carried on, but the head of her attack missed his head completely as Roxas dove straight for her, lunging underneath her staff with the Oblivion Keyblade.

Dawn thought he was being reckless. Dawn honestly thought that he was being stupid. She knew that he'd seen how she worked, how she could just stand there and take it, blocking almost anything anyone sent at her or Riku, guarding him from any threat.

No one was more surprised than her when the red light swirling around Roxas' Keyblade turned into a lance-point and pierced her in the stomach. Dawn screamed as pain shot through her, more pain than she'd ever felt possible for a Keyblade to feel. When Riku'd defended against Paine's Power Break she'd just felt weakened as her own strength was cut in half, but this, this was agony. It was like her very essence was being countered by something that was at once completely equal and completely opposite.

For a brief moment, Roxas envisioned himself releasing the energy he'd built up in his Keyblade, much like when he had against the Boar Heartless in Big Top, except shooting it out of the Oblivion like an all-powerful cannon blast, tearing right through Daw…

_Stop!_

Roxas withdrew, horrified at the screams Dawn was making as she dropped onto her knees and he realized what was happening. Her wings of white and black that left a sheet of fire behind them vanished, her staff dropped and shattered as it hit the ground, and her arms clutched at the hole in her stomach as she sobbed and howled. Golden-white mist flowed out of the wound and dissipated into the air.

Pain split Roxas' head in two like a lightning bolt as Way to the Dawn smote his crown, followed swiftly by Riku's still gauntleted fist. Roxas fell to the ground silently, barely a gasp of pain having left his lips from Riku's two swift attacks. Riku's dawn-energy gauntlet vanished from his left hand and another sheath of golden light appeared on his person, this time on his left hip. He placed his Keyblade within it just as he was kneeling down, and his hands went to Dawn's back and chin. "Dawn!" he asked loudly, his concern for his Keyblade's spirit painful and obvious. And he had reason to be concerned, something like this had never happened before, even when they had first been fighting Hihiō Zabimaru.

"Riku…" Dawn squeezed out weakly, her voice filled with pain.

"Don't worry," Riku tried to console her. "You're going to be alright."

"Of course I'm going to be alright," Dawn said. It would have been a snappy retort had she not been doubled over and clutching her chest in agony with tears streaming down her eyes. As it was, her voice was weak and morose. "I'm a Keyblade; I'll repair myself with time, but look." She withdrew one of her hands from the wound in her stomach and held it towards Riku's side. She gritted her teeth as she clutched and pulled, withdrawing her weapon form from the sheath Riku'd just made.

There was a small hole in the Keyblade deep into the middle red section.

Riku gasped as he looked at the hole in his weapon before glancing back and forth between it and Dawn. He heard a noise: it was Roxas groaning and getting back to his feet.

"I am _so unbelievably sorry_ Riku," the blond said, trying to come closer and apologize.

"Shut up!" Riku retorted, standing now and placing Way to the Dawn back into the sheath before withdrawing Destiny's Embrace with his left hand before switching it into his right. "I'm going to straight-up kick your ass now!"

"Riku wait!" Dawn screamed, her orange eyes shining as she looked up at the back of his head. Riku turned, and the orange met the aquamarine. "Please," she pleaded, "please don't do this. Don't fall again. I couldn't bare it. I couldn't…" she started to sob, and Riku felt his aggression leaving as he dropped to his knees again and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Dawn?"

"Please don't be angry at Roxas," she whispered, noting that Roxas had now come over and was standing just a foot or so behind Riku. "Don't lay the blame on him. It's not his fault that he was destined to do that eventually. It's not his fault that your powers are opposite."

"What?" Riku and Roxas both asked at once.

Dawn trembled slightly and reached out and grabbed Riku's shoulder as the boy was about to turn around and stab Roxas. More golden-white mist seeped out of her wound, and Roxas banished both of his Keyblades and removed the purple and gold cape from his back. "Here," he said, giving it to Dawn and wrapping it around her chest.

She almost giggled. "I don't need it Mr. Dusk. My body will just repair itself like yours do."

"Take it anyway," the knight said, "I feel terrible about this. And I've got, like, a dozen of 'em. What's one?"

"Opposite?" Riku asked again. "I thought that… Dawn and Dusk, they might have been complimentary."

Dawn shook her head. "No. Dawn comes from the darkness rising into light; Dusk arises from the light falling into darkness. You made yourself the Wielder of Dawn when you rose out from the darkness Riku, and then claimed it again and decided to use it for the light. Roxas got it when Sora turned himself into a Heartless and fell into darkness. You are two sides of the same coin; we negate each other, destroy each other. As far as I know, we two, Dawn and Dusk, are the only two that are so equal and yet so opposite. Let me rest, but after this, you two should never cross blades again."

Roxas and Riku looked at each other, startled, and then they were even more surprised when particles of light started to come off of Dawn's body. "I need to rest now," she said, "but I will give you as much of my power as you have earned, Riku. Even though I'm injured, _we_ aren't going down without a fight." She looked up again at Riku, and her orange eyes were still slightly foggy with pain and his were watering with sadness at seeing his partner like this, but there was also courage in both of them.

"Say my name Riku," Dawn pleaded in a whisper, "please." Riku nodded and bowed his head. His shoulders were shaking.

"Protect everyone, Adamasimilis Virgini."

Dawn hugged him.

-A-D-

Sora looked up from his two cards and off to the right, staring into the abyss of the shroud he and Yuffie were within.

"What is it?" Yuffie asked, looking away from him and off in the same direction that he was looking. "I hope that you're not trying to distract me into doing something stupid, because it's still your turn."

"No I'm not," Sora replied, still not looking away. "I just… did you feel something just now? Something involving Riku?"

"Hm… I think so," Yuffie replied. "I haven't been paying too much attention though. He and Roxas are fighting and their emotions are running high, so I kinda tuned it out a bit."

"Something big just went down," Sora told her. "But I'm not sure what. I can't telepathically ask Roxas since it seems your shroud also closed us off from one another."

"Really?" Yuffie asked, genuinely surprised and a little bit pleased. "Wow. I didn't know it could do that. It's still your move by the way."

"Yeah I know," Sora replied, looking back down at his hand: Two of Clubs and Seven of Clubs, utter garbage unless you took into account that the four cards between him and Yuffie were the Three of Clubs, Three of Hearts, Four of Clubs, and Jack of Clubs. This round wasn't even over and he already had himself a flush. It was the best that he was probably going to get, given his hand, so he was pretty confident that he was going to win this one.

Sora glanced off to his right beside the deck where all of that round's betting currently was being held as the 'pot'. Yuffie had passed at first, but then Sora'd felt lucky when the first three cards turned out to have two clubs in them and chipped in a sock. Yuffie called with her shirt of mail. After burning the next card, the Jack of Clubs had come into play, and she put down Sora's other sock as well as her right boot as a raise.

Sora glanced between himself and Yuffie. They'd been at this for about six hands now. At least, Sora figured that it was six. Maybe the one they were on now was really the fifth or the eighth, he wasn't all too sure. They'd started off with relatively equal amounts of betting material: each of them wore two socks, two boots, a pair of pants, a chainmail shirt, two bracers, two gloves, a padded woollen shirt underneath the chainmail (that surprisingly didn't adversely affect them in the heat of Olympus), two greaves on their shins, a belt, and identical tabards. Sora also had on him an undershirt and boxers, whereas Yuffie—through information that she supplied to him—additionally wore her two pieces of underwear, her headband, and the pouches that she stored things in (counting as one item) that attached to the front of her belt. Altogether it meant that Sora had started with seventeen articles to clothe himself with, and Yuffie nineteen. He wasn't given a handicap even after they tallied their stock of clothes.

The score now stood after six (it really was six) hands, Sora: 14; Yuffie: 22. He'd lost his tabard, one sock, both boots, and mail shirt, but he'd gained Yuffie's left boot and headband in exchange. He had to bet two to call anyway, so why not play it safe?

"I'll call with your boot and headband," he said, tossing the two items into the pile. Yuffie nodded and he burned the next card before flipping the following one. Seven of Spades.

"I'm betting your tabard, boots, and my weapons pouch," Yuffie said, unhooking the item from her belt and dropping it into the pile along with a few articles of Sora's.

"Someone's got a good hand," Sora said humourously. Yuffie smiled back at him.

"Someone wants to see your naked chest," she replied. "I bet the only one who's seen it since you got your automail is Kairi."

"I think that you're right," Sora muttered, looking down at his hand. "You know what? Sure. I'll call with both my tops and both bracers." Yuffie started to giggle and blush as Sora unbuckled his bracers so that he could remove both the padded cloth and his cotton undershirt. His fingers fumbled a little on the leather strings that tied the armour piece together, but he got it off without too much difficulty. He then tossed the four articles of clothing onto the betting pile, and Yuffie was still giggling while her eyes began to rove over his naked chest. He noticed that not once did her eyes actually stay locked onto his metal left arm or the plate in his shoulder that connected it to his body, but that they took in his entire upper body as a whole before likely roaming over his pectorals and abdominals. Yuffie had been right in what she'd said earlier. Even though Kairi was the only human since Weathertop who had seen his bare chest, he had buffed out. His abs were hardened and defined, and his pectoral muscles were strong. Sora's right arm was also two and a half times as large as it had once been, not a bone-skinny limb anymore.

"You know," Sora wondered aloud, smirking through a slight blush at the hungry, glazed, look that Yuffie was giving him. "I think that the last time I was shirtless with Kairi was the twelfth. I've had another two weeks of training since then, so you're getting the first look at these guns. Hm, bet Kairi'll be a _wee_ bit jealous if she finds out."

Yuffie just giggled a little more and placed a hand to her lips, trying and failing to conceal her tickled smile. "Guns? You? What are you going to do next Sora? Create a pool of water and start making muscles at your own reflection?" Sora frowned. "And I'll have you know, Kairi may be a bit jealous, but this was all done with her endorsement."

Sora blinked rapidly as all mental function ground to a halt. Kairi'd done what? "Uh, excuse me?"

"I asked her a couple days ago and she agreed, after going glare, glare, glare, slap-in-the-face, glare, glare, stalk-off-and-mull-over-it-for-four-hours, glare, glare," Yuffie replied, smiling. "She still doesn't like it, but she said that she's willing to take the risks of me seeing your full Monty if it'll get you to lighten up about the automail. She put the restrictions on it though. If it were _my_ way, well, there wouldn't really be any restrictions. Now then…" Yuffie's smile lost its innocence and she tossed her cards down.

"Seven-high straight!" she declared, passing her hand over her Five of Diamonds and Six of Hearts. She folded her arms together. "Well Sora, I guess you're going to be feeling a little bit of a chill for the rest of the game, losing so many of your—"

Sora held up his Two and Seven of Clubs. "Flush," he answered smugly. He dropped the two cards and Yuffie snatched them, looking back and forth between them and the Three, Four, and Jack of Clubs on the ground between them, while his arms reached out for the pile and pulled them towards him.

Sora: 21; Yuffie: 15

Yuffie scowled and brought the cards together, glancing at the odd assortment of clothing that was being passed around while starting to shuffle. She'd now lost both of her boots, her headband, mail shirt, and weapons pouch. All of Sora's gear that she had left to bet with instead of putting more of her own clothes up for bid was his mail shirt.

Yuffie's eyes glazed over a little as she looked back at Sora. Damn, he _was_ hot now! If she wasn't already dating Riku, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to keep her hands off Sora.

The cards spilled out of her hands in a mess and she realized that they were trembling slightly. Yuffie tried to laugh it off and was suddenly glad that Kairi _wasn't_ here or even in the stands watching. If there was anyone who would find a way to break into this shroud it was the Wielder of Light, and Kairi would probably start cutting off fingers if Yuffie wasn't careful. She'd made it quite clear those couple of days ago that all parts of Sora's anatomy were hers to touch by any female, excepting doctors, and that if she even suspected that Yuffie had betrayed her trust then no amount of friendship, chocolate, or begging would spare Yuffie her wrath.

Yuffie wasn't all too worried. Even though she'd heard the story of how Kairi'd gotten into a catfight with another girl on Radiant Garden, when it came to things like this with friends instead of psycho fangirls Kairi was mostly talk. But that was still _mostly_ talk; she wasn't sure just how much action the Princess would put into backing up her threats, especially now that she was on their injured list.

She felt something crash against the side of the shroud and Yuffie glanced that way. They might be running out of time; the fight outside might be already over. Some people out there could be getting impatient and wondering what was going on inside of her shroud.

_Guess we'd better wrap this up then,_ she thought, finishing her shuffling. _I hope I get a good hand._ She started dealing, slicing the cards out towards Sora and herself before burning one and drawing the three community cards: Ace of Hearts, Eight of Hearts, and Eight of Spades. _Hm, a pair already,_ Yuffie thought with pleasure. _That's nice._ She looked at her own cards and did her absolute best not to have her eyes bulge out of her sockets and laugh maniacally.

Three of Hearts and Ten of Hearts, she had four fifths of a flush! All she needed was one more heart to come out of there, and she would have Sora right as she wanted him.

"I'll bet both my gloves and socks," Sora said, tossing the four articles together into a pile between them. Yuffie looked up, her eyes instantly zeroing in on his nipples before taking in the rest of his chest and arms. Only after they were done devouring every inch, again, did her dark brown eyes make it to his amused cerulean ones. "I still can't believe I'm doing this," he added, shaking his head while his cheeks appeared to be permanently blushing.

"For a second there it looked like you'd wanted to say 'enjoying the view' or something," Yuffie replied, smiling.

"I almost did," he replied, raising his head and giving a weak laugh. "Okay now. What's your bet?" Yuffie looked back at her cards, but was then distracted when she felt something thump into her shroud once more.

"I'll call with my gloves and bracers," Yuffie countered, unhooking the two protective devices on her wrists before tossing them into the pile, adding her gloves afterwards, "and I'll raise with your own mail shirt."

"Then I'll call with yours," Sora offered, chipping the shirt of rings in the same moment Yuffie did, both of them colliding with one another and forming a misshapen mass of metal of slightly different colours. Yuffie burned the top card on the deck and flipped the next one over.

Queen of Hearts! _YAHTZEE!_

"I'll add your boots," Sora said, picking up both of them and preparing to chip them into the pile.

"ALL IN!" Yuffie declared before he'd even let go of them. One of her boots landed in her lap by mistake as Sora flinched.

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"You heard me," Yuffie said, knocking her own boot from her lap before taking both hands to the leather strings tying her remaining upper armour piece together, "all in. All or nothing on this hand. This one makes or breaks us, and gives us unlimited blackmail." She finished untying it and peeled the garment off. She blushed a little and smiled, embarrassed, when Sora's eyes shot right to the black bra keeping hold of her C-cup bosoms. "Do you like?" she asked, anxiety creeping into her voice.

It wasn't the first time that she'd been so undressed in front of a guy before, but even though she'd gotten Sora's hormones raging, she wasn't entirely confident in herself. Put her shirt on overtop, her ninja headband on, and a pair of pants or shorts and her Keyblade and she was set, but a dress or just her underwear and, well…

"Those are so… _cute_," Sora told her, staring at the bra she was wearing. There was a small yellow cartoon chocobo on one cup. "I need to tell Kairi to get one like that."

Yuffie's smile increased slightly. "I'll tell her where to get one," she said. Sora nodded in thanks before his eyebrows knitted together. "What's wrong?" Yuffie asked, in the process of removing her belt.

"What's that?" Sora asked, pointing to the middle of her cleavage.

Yuffie blinked and looked down. Hanging on a string around her neck was a blue crystal. "Oh, this?" she said, lifting it up. "It's a power crystal from Atlantis. Riku, Max, and I each got one after we helped save the city from Rourke and the Heartless." She smiled and unhitched the greaves on her shins. "I wonder how those guys are doing now."

Sora sighed as Yuffie continued undressing. His fingers, metal and flesh, both went to the backside of his legs. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to go all in too. Might as well get this over with."

"Alright!" Yuffie said. "I'm going to see you nekkid!"

"Don't count your chocobos before they hatch," Sora chided her, stopping for a moment as Yuffie slipped her pants off. "It's a set?" he asked, his blush, among other things (which Yuffie noticed with a giggle), rising.

Yuffie's own signs of embarrassment grew more prominent. "Yes…?" she answered hesitantly. "Do you like them?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," Sora answered. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, it's just, people don't usually see… you know, _girly_ stuff on me."

Looking at Sora proved that this had been a bad idea all along. He was now looking at her curiously. "What's wrong with girl clothes?" He asked. "What's wrong with wearing a dress or cute underwear? What's wrong with looking like a girl for once?"

Something in Sora's comment stirred up something Yuffie'd thought she'd managed to bury. "You'd prefer if I started wearing dresses like your darling Kairi?" Yuffie asked hotly, now completely undressed except for her underwear, the blue Atlantean crystal, and the pink ribbon tied to her left arm.

"D-d, no!" Sora answered as he extracted himself from his pants. "You're you, not Kairi, and I never said that!"

Nearly everything was now in the pile. "But you'd still want me in girl clothes," Yuffie persisted.

"Can I just say that you look good even though you don't wear girl clothes?" Sora asked.

"Girls are weak."

Sora blinked. "Um, have you looked in a mirror lately Yuffie?"

"I'm not a pretty little flower," Yuffie muttered under her breath, dropping onto the ground and burning the next card. "I'm not some little doll that can be walked over or tossed around. I'm strong; I'm a ninja; I'm a Keyblade Wielder, no damsel in distress."

"Uh, okay…" Sora said, moving to sit down. The raven-haired kunoichi looked up to give him another piece of her mind, and almost wished that she hadn't.

"Whoa!" she yelped, staring at Sora's erection through his boxers. Sora's face immediately went tomato and he dropped onto the ground and grabbed his cards, placing his arms and hands in a position to hide as much as he could.

_And Kairi hasn't begged for him to stick that in her yet?_ Yuffie wondered. _Is she a lesbian or are they just very good at stopping before reaching bow-chica-bow-wow?_

"Uh, well, we're just very good at… holding back," Sora murmured.

Yuffie blushed, her hands still on the last card without having flipped it over. "I said that aloud?"

"Yeah…" Sora trailed, looking at Yuffie's feet. Yuffie gulped, and flipped over what amounted to nothing, the Jack of Diamonds.

"Well," Yuffie started, "looks like I get to see what it _really_ looks like!" She tossed her Three of Hearts and Ten of Hearts down. Adding with the Queen of Hearts, Ace of Hearts, and Eight of Hearts, she had a "Flush! Lose 'em Sora, and make sure that I don't wrap my fingers around your—"

"Read 'em and weep!" Sora shouted triumphantly, dropping down the Ace of Spades and Ace of Diamonds. Pairing them up with the Ace of Hearts already on and the pair of Eight of Hearts and Eight of Spades, that gave him a "Full House! Drop those cute things of yours and go lie on your back like a good little girl. Maybe if you're good, I'll let you switch to a position that's less girly."

"What! NO!" Yuffie shouted, grabbing his cards and looking down at the five drawn from the deck. "No! This isn't possible! I demand a recount!"

"You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em; know when to walk away, know when to run, and Yuffie, you shoulda just run." Sora's body flashed with light and all of the clothes he'd stripped himself of instantly adorned his body in their proper places. "Now get your gear off loser."

Anxiously grimacing, Yuffie complied. This had not turned out the way she'd planned at all. Legal or not, she was getting plastered tonight and praying that she wouldn't make a comment while trying to forget this incident.

-A-D-

The crowd gasped as the dome of black mist that had enveloped the two other combatants on the stage vanished. Yuffie was glowing as she jumped onto her feet from what might have been a compromising position, and then the glow ended, revealing her in all of her armour.

"We made a deal," Sora reminded her.

"We never shook on it!" Yuffie retorted quickly.

"Do you _really_ want me to kick your nice ass now that I've seen it?" Sora whispered just loud enough for her to hear. Yuffie hesitated for a second.

"I'll be in a tavern down in Thebes because I'm legal there, drinking my _eyes_ out," she said, striding right past

"Why is Yuffie going to be drinking her eyes out?"

Sora turned, and stopped dead. Roxas was lying, groaning, on the ground. Standing near to him and looking at Sora was… well, it _looked_ like Riku, but it looked like he was made entirely of orange-gold citrine crystal.

"Riku, that _you_?" Sora asked, stunned and confused. He nodded his head.

"Yeah it's me." At least his voice was still the same. Riku nodded down at Roxas. "Beat your brother. We're all good now."

"Well that's good," Sora said, looking Riku over. His entire body sure looked to be made of orange-gold crystal. He shone radiantly in the sunlight, but there was something new that looked permanently fixed to his right hand. It was a Keyblade but one that Sora couldn't recognize seeing before. The guard was composed of curved columns of spiked diamond, glittering with rubies on the inside, and the blade that left this hilt of jewels was but a simple grey rod ending in a blunted citrine gemstone, though the key-tip was two small angel wings forming the shape of a heart. Riku's hand gripped a blue handle, and the keychain that dangled from it was a radiating sun, like one of the ones that dangled from the ends of the zippers and strings on Riku's robes in his Horizon Form.

"So, uh, what's with the style and Keyblade change Riku?" Sora asked. "New Drive Form? Didn't think that one could turn a person into living crystal before."

He laughed slightly and shook his head. "No. It's not a Drive."

Sora comprehended just what Riku was saying. "You mean that that's your Shikai?" he asked, an astounded smile encompassing his face. "Wow, you and Way to the Dawn sure are amazing."

"Oh yeah," Riku chuckled affirmatively, his now truly aquamarine eyes glistening in the sunlight. He held out his Keyblade. "I become this, and Way to the Dawn turns into this, Heaven's Jewel, her original form. But her true name is Adamasimilis Virgini."

"So it is a Shikai," Sora said, nodding his head while placing a hand to his chin. "But, how is it that you can Drive by yourself again? I know that Kairi and I can because our Crests give us the power we need to do it without drawing on the strength of our friends, and Naminé from that gemstone made by the fairies, but how can you Drive solo?"

"I got this crystal from Atlantis—"

"Oh yeah, that thing Yuffie showed me. Okay, makes sense." Sora summoned Remembrance into his right hand. "Kairi becomes draconic, you turn into a walking jewellery shop, let's see just how good that Shikai of yours is."

"I took down your brother without so much as a scratch on me," Riku told him, "what does that tell you?"

The brunet looked down at Roxas before quickly going up to him. He knelt by his twin's side. "Hey, you alright Rox?"

Roxas groaned and looked up, his eyes blinking in confusion. "I lost didn't I?" Sora nodded. "Arg! I'm _never_ going to beat that idiot Tismetrx if I can't even beat Riku!"

"I don't think so."

Roxas looked up. Riku had been the one to say that.

"But, but you just took everything I threw at you without getting so much as a scratch!" Roxas proclaimed. "And I was barely able to do anything against Tismetrx either."

"Roxas he's using Shikai," Sora reasoned humourously. "What do you expect to do against him without at least Driving? Trust me, if I could've Driven to Final Form without help in Riku's and my fight against Xemnas, he wouldn't have lasted two minutes."

Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I guess you're right."

Riku laughed and extended his left hand towards the blond on the ground, since his right was busy permanently gripping his Keyblade. "He's telling the truth. And you did great Roxas. Good fight." Roxas looked up at the hand, and smiled.

"Yeah, good fight Riku," he said, taking the offered hand and letting Riku help him up. The crowd cheered as they shook hands. "I'll get you next time though."

"Remember what Dawn said Roxas…"

"No powers next time. Just you and me, mano-a-mano, wooden sword on wooden sword. Okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Riku answered, smiling and clapping Roxas on the shoulder. "Now get out of here, I've got to wipe the floor with your brother here."

Roxas just smiled further and shook his head. "Not on your life is my Somebody going down to you. Kick his ass for me Sora."

"Will do," Sora nodded. Roxas scampered off. Sora saw movement out of the corner of his eye and leapt backwards into the air, landing a good twelve feet away from Riku. His best friend had turned and was facing him with his Keyblade raised above his head.

"You really think you can beat me?" Riku asked.

Sora laughed. "Oh I don't think I can beat you Riku…" He Quick-Ran straight at Riku and landed a good, solid hit on the taller boy's chest, "I _know_ I can beat you." Sora struck at Riku's chest again, and Riku didn't even flinch as the moon-silver blade of Remembrance skittered against his crystallized mail. Sora Flash-Stepped away and appeared directly behind Riku. Remembrance dropped drown onto Riku's shoulder, and again Riku didn't even move.

Sora attacked again and again, hitting Riku from every possible angle he could, his best friend's lack of movement or even acknowledgement frustrating him and making him more and more annoyed until finally he got in front of Riku again and punched him in the face with his left automail fist.

Riku's face was pushed back a few centimetres, but beyond that, not even his automail had done anything. "Was that it?" Riku asked, a little surprised. He slashed his Keyblade at Sora, the brunet dodging what seemed like a slow counter-attack by Flash-Stepping ten feet backwards.

"What the hell is that stuff?" Sora wondered.

"Adamasimilis Virgini," Riku said again, holding his free left hand out to the side and gesturing with it. "Dawn's avatar's body completely covers my own and fuses with my body, turning my flesh into a diamond-like substance. Accordingly, it's the ultimate defence. I can take anything you dish out; nothing can break through it."

"Well then I'll have to put that to the test," Sora said, smiling.

Riku laughed. "I'm sure you will. Bring it Sora!"

Sora's body flashed with light and Riku stood stoically through the force that assaulted him as Sora Drove. When the light subsided it revealed the Keyblade Master floating above the ground, his tabard's background now blue instead of white and edged in white instead of gold. Sora's body was completely enveloped in his unique set of plate armour. Its accents had turned from their various colours of red, gold, or purple into blue and white. The Star Seeker was in his hand, and pure magical energy seemed to radiate from the ground Sora hovered above.

Now Riku's eyes widened. "Okay, I recognize Wisdom Form, but when did you get armour like _that_?"

"Few weeks ago," Sora answered nonchalantly. He raised his Keyblade. "Now let's get down to business again." The Star Seeker was pointed at Riku in both hands like it was a pistol, and Sora gripped its hilt almost like he was holding the grip of a pistol anyway. It was almost like there was actually a trigger or a button underneath his right index finger. He 'pressed' his finger down against the button and glidingly strafed to his right, circling around Riku. White arcane bullets the size of his fist burst out from his Keyblade's tip on volleys of three, the Star Seeker's blade popping up after each shot in recoil before Sora could bring it back down and level.

Riku started to laugh and wave his arms a bit, trying to get his crystallized limbs into place to block off the magic bullets as they struck his body and splattered. "Hey stop that, it tickles." Sora came to what he usually called his finisher after four standard volleys of three shots, rapid-firing a steady stream of eight of them right for Riku's back before blasting off an arcane cannonball twice the size of the star on the Star Seeker Keyblade. Riku was turning around to face Sora as the Keyblade Master strafed around him, and the eight bullets splattered into his back and left side. The big one however got underneath his arms and struck him in the chest, and Riku hissed and took a step back as that one detonated in a magical blast of light.

There was a scorch mark on his crystallized tabard.

"That one stung," Riku muttered, placing his left hand to it.

"Looks like your specialty there blocks all manner of physical attacks, but leaves you open to magic," Sora said, a small smirk developing on his face. "And look! I happen to be in a magic-centric Drive."

"Shit," Riku said to himself.

Sora propelled himself forward, a trio of fireballs rocketing out of his left hand as he fired more arcane bullets out from the Star Seeker's tip. Riku dodged to his left, one of the fireballs missing him but the other two as well as the magical bullets striking him in the arms and side. Riku looked up as he heard a sound, and saw lightning spark in the air right above him. He rolled out of the way, but even so the rapid thunder spells found him, striking his crystallized body in the back and backside of his legs three times while another volley of arcane bullets splattered against his face.

Riku blinked through the white remains of the bullets and his aquamarine eyes sought out Sora, finding him by spotting another oncoming volley of bullets bound for his right side. Riku barrelled right through them, ignoring the shivers they sent through his body as they struck his chest. Nine more arcane projectiles bounded into him as he charged Sora, the larger and more powerful ninth one pushing his right shoulder to one side with the force of its impact. A blast of wind flew out from Sora's Keyblade, followed immediately by a thunderbolt as thick as Riku's own arm. The quickly moving air buffeted Riku for a moment, and the bolt of lightning struck him in the same shoulder that the larger arcane bullet had, turning the right shoulder back some. Riku ignored the sting and the sudden small chip that flew off as he brought Heaven's Jewel down towards Sora's head.

Suddenly Sora wasn't there anymore, and his Keyblade was slicing air into two equal parts. Riku turned around as he felt the arcane bullets splattering into his backside again and looked at Sora. "You can't keep casting forever," he said. "Sooner or later, you're going to tire yourself out."

Sora's armour flashed with light, and he dropped to the ground with the sound of metal on stone, and the blues and whites returned to golds, reds, and purple on the cuirass. The Star Seeker Keyblade vanished. "Then I'd better finish this up then," he said, nodding at Riku, "that is, if you're still keen to keep going. I haven't hurt you too much now have I?" Riku realized that Sora was pointing to the chip on his shoulder.

"It's just a flesh wound," Riku answered. Sora laughed, and Riku chuckled at it.

_You ready?_ Sora asked.

_Let's do it,_ came the reply.

Sora raised his right hand, and the Kingdom Key appeared within it in a flash of light. He held the weapon up in front of him, the round grey shaft held up at the middle of his helmet.

"Shine your Radiant Light, Cosmos."

Riku had to take a step backwards and shield his aquamarine eyes with his citrine arms. The Kingdom Key had started to shine with such brilliance that it left him and everyone in the stands, including the gods above, blinded by its magnificence. The light shone from the Keyblade for a full half-minute before dropping to levels that permitted people to look clearly at it.

Unlike himself and Kairi, who had changed as they unleashed their Keyblades, Sora looked the same as ever, standing there in his full set of armour. The Kingdom Key, however, had changed. The square yellow guard was rounder around the edges, but still basically the same, as was the black grip that Sora's gauntleted hand held onto and the silver Mickey Mouse head keychain dangling from the end. But the similarities ended there. The grey cylindrical shaft had become marble edged in quartz and split into two, and ran parallel to one another up a good portion of the blade. About a foot from the end they broke off being parallel and formed a hollow circle. Suspended in the middle of this circle was a disk of golden light with silver runes written all over it, and on the circle's outermost edges the Kingdom Key's key portion was doubled, one to each side.

"Cosmos," Sora said as Riku looked at it in awe, "the first Keyblade ever made." He slashed Cosmos through the air in Riku's direction, and three blades composed of golden light appeared in the air and went straight for Riku. It was only at the last second that Riku realized something about the blades coming for him. They weren't swords made out of magical energy, they were Keyblades _radiating_ with light.

Riku weaved Heaven's Jewel around his body to intercept them and was able to parry one of the glowing Keyblades away, the weapon vanishing right after he struck it, but one of the other two slammed against his side and the other stabbed at his chest. Each blow felt like a hammer striking him, and Riku buckled slightly. Sora waved Cosmos again, and another three Keyblades shining bright enough to be indistinguishable, though these three looked different from the last three, formed in front of him.

_Dammit, I can't get hit by too many more of those,_ Riku realized. _This might be close to the Ultimate Defence, but every defence has its weaknesses._

_Then attack,_ Dawn answered, even though her voice was weary and sleepy. _But this is also the first time you've unsealed me. I do more than just crystallizing your body to protect you._

The thought of himself holding a shield entered into Riku's mind, and he felt something along his left arm growing. Riku looked down towards it and saw that just as he'd envisioned a shield was growing from the crystal that composed his left arm, the citrine coloured crystal melding out of the golden-orange and into an onyx black circular shield that was large enough to cover his entire body. The rim of his new shield was studded with rubies and diamonds.

"Okay," Riku said, holding his arm out in front of him and examining the new 'limb', "now that's cool." He smirked and looked towards Sora again before shouting at his opponent and rushing forward.

"Playtime's over Riku," Sora yelled in answer, smiling and counter-charging. Two of the three floating Keyblades that Sora had summoned shot in for Riku while the third remained hovering around Sora. Riku raised his left arm, the new shield on it vibrating as both shining Keyblades slammed into it before vanishing. His left arm dropped and Riku jabbed rapidly in Sora's direction with Heaven's Jewel while still charging at him. Three rays of golden-orange light burst out of his Keyblade's tip.

The third Keyblade that Sora left near him swiped the air mid-way between the two warriors and disintegrated into a solid down-curving arc of light. The three rays struck the arc and blew themselves and the arc apart just as Riku and Sora reached one another. Riku struck first, dropping Heaven's Jewel for Sora's armoured shoulder. Cosmos flashed with Light as the two Keyblades came together with Sora's parry.

_Get away from him!_ Dawn suddenly shouted into Riku's mind, fully awake now.

Riku blocked Sora's counter with his shield-limb before thrusting at his best friend's chest. Sora stepped to the side to avoid it, and Cosmos landed against Riku's right shoulder. Riku scowled and swung around, missing Sora completely as he Flash-Stepped away. He was slower as a crystal than he was otherwise. _Why should I get away from Sora?_ Riku asked.

_If he grabs hold of me, it's all over!_ Dawn answered frantically while Riku worked at holding off Sora as three more shining Keyblades were summoned into the air around the armoured brunet. _I may have chosen you as my master, but he's Keyla's, Cosmos', Master. She's the first, the head, the leader, the big Kahuna, the big Cheese, Queen, as far as Keyblades go. That makes him Master of All. The only Keyblades he no longer has power over are the ones who were banished to the Realm of Darkness with their Wielders. I doubt that he even knows it._

_And that means…?_

_If he grabs hold of me, I am his, not yours, to command. I'll break off from your hand and attach to his, and not even you will be able to summon me back unless he lets go of me. I like you a lot Riku, but he and Keyla can pull rank on you anytime._

Riku figured that Sora probably didn't know that, but he wasn't about to take any chances that he did. He rammed at Sora's chest with his onyx shield, and the crystal crunched against Sora's armour. A small smirk came to Riku's face and he stabbed Heaven's Jewel against the back of his shield. A hole formed in the shield, and flaming golden light dripped from the tip of Heaven's Jewel. "Dawn's Phalanx!"

Sora shouted in surprise as his body was struck suddenly by a fiery golden spear that emerged through the hole that had formed in Riku's massive shield. His breastplate wasn't dented, but it felt as if Hercules himself had whirled a sledgehammer into it with how the force traveled through the plate, past the chain beneath it, and through the cloth underneath that to land against Sora's ribcage.

Sora was pushed several feet away from Riku as the spear hit him, and then the golden light scattered and went out. His chest heaved and Sora's back bent and crumpled slightly as his ribs sent continual messages to his brain of smarting pain in them. Heavy footsteps entered his ears through his helmet and Sora looked up. Riku was coming at him again, Heaven's Jewel held at the ready to deliver the final blow.

_No way Riku; I'm not done yet._

Sora's body pulsed with light and Riku was forced to stop as the Keyblade Master Drove once more. Silver hawk-like wings emerged from the exterior of his armour and Remembrance appeared in his right hand while his grip on Cosmos remained strong. Silver now accented his armour, and Riku stopped for a moment in shock as Sora straightened.

_Sora can Drive even while using his Shikai!_ He realized, looking at his best friend as Sora let go of Cosmos and the Keyblade hovered in the air in front of him. He reached up with his right hand and removed his helmet, letting his brown spikes free and allowing his cerulean eyes to look at Riku's current jewelled ones directly. Sora let go of his helmet and grasped Cosmos' hilt again.

The second his helmet clattered onto the stone, he vanished.

Riku looked around wildly, but couldn't catch sight of Sora. What his eyes did land on was a line of silver light in the air, a line that was very rapidly forming the pattern of a seven-pointed star. Riku knew what was coming, and kept his shield-arm close to his chest as he forced two crystal roses to grow on his shoulders while light shone behind him. He held Heaven's Jewel aloft and the two roses absorbed the golden light behind him and turned their heads towards Heaven's Jewel. Beams of the golden light now joined by the red from ruby roses shone onto the Keyblade.

"Twilight Entrapment!"

Riku looked up as he felt pressure against his entire middle and saw Sora flying in the air on his silver wings right above the middle circle he'd just created, threads of silver light from each of the seven points of his star joining with that circle. It descended and wrapped around Riku's body, completely constricting him of all movement…

…Except for his right arm, which he'd held up above the ring. Heaven's Jewel was now enveloped by red and gold flame.

Sora flew up higher as Riku was lifted into the air by the ring he'd trapped him in, and Sora clapped Cosmos and Remembrance together and started to spin. His silver wings sent showers of silver sparkles around his body, and the tips of both Remembrance and Cosmos glowed with bright green light. He turned around and dove down for Riku, a spinning tornado of silver light with a green point. Three more Keyblades radiating with golden light appeared in front of him and spun around the concentrated tip of his own two.

Riku leaned back and stabbed with Heaven's Jewel just as Sora came in. "Fly…"

"Zephyr DFA!"

"…Javelin of the Sun God!"

All view of the two combatants was obscured in a sphere of white light as the silver tornado continued on upwards into the sky. A red-orange beam suddenly broke out of the sphere and cut into the silver tornado, taking a slice out of it.

Sora and Riku each collapsed onto the stone ring, Riku exactly beneath where he'd been trapped above the ring and Sora four metres away. Sora's collapse was more of a crash. He landed hard on his shoulder and chest and skidded several metres until he stopped a mere metre from the edge. He was missing a wing.

Small golden lights started to rise from their bodies and they shimmered. Riku's body and armour became flesh and metal again and Heaven's Jewel became Way to the Dawn once more while Sora's silver wings faded away and Cosmos returned to looking like the Kingdom Key before all three Keyblades on the field vanished.

Riku and Sora both groaned and moved their limbs, each of them trying to get back up. The overawed crowd (some of whom had fainted during the fight) waited with baited breath as they observed the two warriors. All four of their arms were shaking, even Sora's automail one due to the heavy toll on his energy, with weariness.

Sora dropped back to the ground, his armour scratching against the stone, and Riku managed to get his foot up underneath him. The crowd started to cheer, but then Riku collapsed and Sora forced his arms to push him back up. He got his right foot underneath him and managed to stand, wearily triumphant, without falling over.

_Tshh-dun-dun-dun-dun—dun—dun—dun—dunun!_

The brunet couldn't help but smile to himself as a surge of pride and accomplishment raced through his entire being. He'd done it! He'd won! He'd beaten Riku right at the top of the—

Riku!

Sora hobbled over to his downed best friend and shook his shoulder. "Hey, Riku, you alright?"

Riku groaned and rolled over before slowly sitting up and smiling at Sora. "I'll get you next time buddy."

Sora smiled and offered his hand. "I'm sure you will." Riku took his hand.

And then the peaceful atmosphere of warm and friendly competition was shattered completely by bellowing howls and trembling stonework.

-A-D-

_Heeere's Trouble!_

_Happy New Years everybody! I'll see you in 2011!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	52. I Believe

_ARGH! SQUARE-ENIX IS SCREWING WITH MY MIND! Trailer for 3D with information that ALL Disney worlds in it—with the possible exception of Disney Castle, since I think it might appear—are going to be new with the first confirmed one being Notre Dame. Yes, Notre Dame! We're getting Hunchback in 3D! An announcement that they're making FFXIII-2, so a SEQUEL to FFXIII! AND, to top it all off, BBSFM came out in Japan, and the Secret Episode's beginning and ending cutscenes have been leaked, with the ending of the ending cutscene proclaiming the mystery game Nomura had mentioned around E3 last year, when KH:3D's announcement came out, to be BBS Volume II! Sequel to BBS! My speculations are below._

_OH MY GOODDD! THERE IS A TRAILER ALREADY FOR FFXIII-2! WITH ENGLISH VOICE-ACTING! AND LIGHTNING LOOKS EFFING AWESOME!_

_Okay... Kingdom Hearts, check! Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories, check! Kingdom Hearts II, check! Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, check! Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, check! Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded, check! Kingdom Hearts: 3D (Dream, Drop Distance), waiting on release date. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Volume II, waiting on release date. Kingdom Hearts III, waiting on announcement date. Let's see now, that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... nine games in the Xehanort saga arc. I don't think I've seen another series that's had nine games with one villain tying them all together before._

_Disclaimer: I'm unworthy._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 52: I Believe

_1425hrs, Saturday, November 29, 2003  
Coliseum Main Ring, Olympus Coliseum  
Naminé_

She tore her indigo eyes away from Roxas' cerulean ones and the smile that had come onto her face right after Sora helped Riku up was broken by the howls and crashes. Naminé looked to her right, towards the entrance to the coliseum, where the sounds were coming from, and watched as the walls shuddered as tremors went through the stonework.

"Philoctetes," Zeus' powerful voice asked, "what's going on?"

Phil looked up from where he'd been standing beneath the marble pillars that Zeus and Hera sat on, their son Hercules on another pillar to Zeus' right but somewhat lower. "You know, I'm not sure," Phil answered. "Herc! Go check it out, Champ."

Hercules looked up at his father for a brief second before dropping fifteen feet down from where he sat, landing hard on his sandals. He quickly ran across the ring, congratulating Sora on the way, before stopping right at the edge of the ring when one last howl broke out above all the others and large cracks appeared in the wall.

"What is going on?" Roxas asked. His voice was somewhat weary and pained, reminders of his loss to Riku. Naminé glanced at him.

She whipped her head back in the direction of the southern wall as mammoth stone blocks broke off from it and thudded to the ground. A monster of purple and black skin charged in, rearing its lizard-like head up on its long neck. "Hydra," Roxas muttered, recognizing the monster from when he'd been inside Sora during the brunet's last journeys to Olympus Coliseum. Another roar sounded, and next to the Hydra another part of the stadium broke off and gave way as a giant black-furred canine with three heads barged in. "Cerberus."

With the appearance of the second monster the shock that had settled on the crowd broke completely and full-scale panic set in. Naminé and Roxas were jostled as the people of the crowd started to get up and run away from the two monsters in a single-minded mob. Parents called to their children; children reached for their parents; swears, panicked cries to family members and friends, and general sounds of distress and terror were fired out from mouths at lightning speed.

Naminé managed to reach the edge of the stands without falling over and without losing her grip on Roxas' shirt, a grip that she'd just barely been able to maintain. Hercules had backed up a couple of steps as both Cerberus and the Hydra eyed him with their combined eight eyes. Then Naminé looked back behind her and realized that the situation had already degraded into complete chaos. A thousand thoughts were whirring around in her head as she tried to sort out the situation, tried to find the one reasonable thread that did not lead down the road to PANIC and follow it.

"Sora!" Roxas shouted. At first Naminé thought that it was just one more voice in the din, but then immediately associated it with Roxas, since he'd spoken, and latched onto it desperately, hoping that it would keep her sanity for the moment. Then she realized that it really had been Roxas and there had been a very valid reason for him shouting at his brother.

Sora, still cocooned in his armour, was rolling across the ring as if something had just struck him heavily. Riku was looking around wildly, and then he too flew back several feet and crashed to the ground. The air around them shimmered slightly, like space there was warped, and then suddenly two orbs of blue light appeared, glowing violently!

"Stealth Sneak!" realized Naminé, leaping down from the stands. At the same moment, Hercules rushed towards the two monsters, rearing one fist back. He punched Cerberus in the massive dog's chest, and the black canine went over its hind legs and fell over. From behind Cerberus came a swarm of Shadows, Hook Bats, and Rabid Dogs. The Hydra hissed menacingly.

Roxas nearly fell onto his face as he landed, Naminé's hand, gripping his shirt, having dragged him down from the stands with her. The blonde Princess noticed at the last moment and helped keep him steady before glancing between Roxas, Riku, Sora, and the Steal—sorry, _two_ Stealth Sneaks (given the four glowing eyes in the middle of nothing) attacking the pair that had just finished fighting. She hadn't even noticed the other Heartless yet, shutting down most other parts of her brain to allow her to concentrate on the enemies in front of her. Sora and Riku were both up again and standing, barely, next to each other, with the damaged Way to the Dawn and pristine Remembrance held in their hands. Their eyes kept shifting back and forth after deflecting the homing beams of blue light the Stealth Sneaks had fired at them from their eyes, trying to catch sight of where their assailants were now.

Nobody's Pride and her shield appeared in Naminé's hands as she let go of Roxas. She started to yell as she ran in, but stopped suddenly as two thick yellow bolts of lightning split the space in front of her apart. Her war cry was swapped with a small scream of surprise as she flinched, and when she looked back the smoking husks of the two now revealed and dead Stealth Sneaks, dissipating into darkness, were lying on the ring, one on either side of Sora and Riku and both positioned behind the two Keyblade Masters. Zeus' booming voiced thundered above her.

"I will not tolerate an attack on these grounds during this tournament!" the Olympian god roared. "Hermes!"

"Yeah babe?" Hermes asked, appearing from behind Zeus' shoulder like he was there the whole time.

"Sound the alarm! The Coliseum's under attack. Ares, Apollo, Athena, and Hephaestus have priority."

"Right on it my lord!" Hermes said. A second later he was off. "Phil!" Zeus bellowed.

"Yeah?" asked Phil, looking up at Zeus.

"Defend the Coliseum until we return," Zeus ordered. A cloud formed beneath the King and Queen of Olympus and whisked them away.

Phil looked up into the chaotic crowd, trying to catch faces. "You heard him! Get to it!"

"Are you alright?" Naminé asked Sora and Riku, reaching the two at the exact same time as King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Asterix, and Obelix. Roxas was just a second behind. The contestants who had fought earlier were all jumping down from the stands in ones and twos and threes, slowly filling up the stadium.

"Not enough to take on all of _that_," Sora answered, looking at Hercules as the Hero fought single-handedly against at least thirty Shadows, Rabid Dogs, Hook Bats, and the Hydra and Cerberus. Naminé's eyes widened slightly as out of the rubble caused by Cerberus and the Hydra's entrance strode two more creatures, one a colossus made of bronze and another the bull-headed Minotaur.

"These guys again?" Ninquemon asked as he bounded into place in front of Sora.

"At least the Chimera's not here," Sora muttered.

More stone cracked and broke and Sora ate his words as that very creature burst into the Coliseum ring, the monster's three heads glaring at them menacingly. More Heartless pooled beneath it, including two tall black Charr Blade Storm Heatless.

"You just _had_ to say it didn't you?" asked Riku, giving Sora a sideways glare.

"How are we supposed to fight _this_?" someone whispered. Naminé couldn't help but agree slightly. In front of them stood Cerberus, the Hydra, Talos, the Minotaur, the Chimera, easily fifty Heartless, and two of the much stronger Charr variety.

"Easy, they're all crazy!" Obelix shouted eagerly, rushing off to join Hercules. A Charr Blade Storm roared and ran to meet him, the seven and a half foot tall Heartless towering in height over the Gaulish warrior, though Obelix did beat it out around the middle. The Blade Storm hacked its sword down.

Obelix raised one meaty hand up and grasped the wrist of the Blade Storm, stopping it cold. The other hand formed into a fist and punched the Heartless in the jaw, and the Blade Storm flew back into the air, vanishing into darkness as it went.

Naminé's eyes widened even more. _One of those monsters with one punch?_ She thought in awe. _The first time we encountered one, it took Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Max everything they had to bring it down, and Obelix just defeated one with a single hit!_ She paused. _Then again, Kairi boasted a while ago that she beat twenty, or was it fifty, by herself… maybe we really _can_ do this, even if she was exaggerating._

The blonde Princess' thoughts were torn back to the present as Sora spoke to her. "Naminé, me an' Riku an' Roxas are going to go and find Kairi; make sure she's alright. Do you think you and King Mickey can get things sorted out here?" Naminé looked around. Most of the other contestants, even those who hadn't progressed through the preliminaries, encouraged by Obelix's fearless charge towards the monsters and Heartless, had thrown themselves into the fray and were doing quite well. Asterix was right by his friend's side, his Keyblade—the Indomitable—slicing the Heartless he encountered to ribbons. The other heroes were proving that they really had deserved to have competed in the Zeus Cup, and had just been given a bad break. The only ones who hadn't charged were their own friends and both Abel and Easy Companies.

"Yeah, I think so," Naminé said, looking at the roughly _two hundred_ she had at her back.

"Alright," Sora nodded, "then let's go. Ninquemon, do you think you can digivolve again?"

Ninquemon smirked. "Just watch me Sora. I'm pumped up and ready to go! Ninquemon digivolve to, Aiwemon!"

The four of them took off, Riku mentioning something about needing to punch a hole through, and Naminé heard another voice speak to her. "Your Majesty, Your Highness, what are your orders?" She looked. It was Major Akkan, the one who'd taken Easy's low morale (despite excellent performance) and brought it right around. With him was Captain Spiers, CO of Abel Company that Hayner and Selphie and Pence and the silver-haired twin Isil were all in.

Naminé looked to King Mickey for a moment, completely at a loss for an order to give to two whole companies of soldiers, when the loud sound of a spell freezing something overtook her ears and Naminé looked around once again. The path in front of Sora's four was cleared out with spikes of ice beside them like columns, and a long red chakram was whipping about on one side. The Princess noticed instantly how the ice was positioned and looked at once for the caster, finding a woman dressed in a sleeveless blue wool vest over a black shirt and black shorts. Long black hair draped down the back of her head opposite her pale skin. Next to her was another woman, a bit shorter, wearing a suit and with somewhat curly tresses of long ginger hair flowing down the sides of her head.

"Thanks Rinoa, Cissnei!" Zack Fair yelled, the black-haired hero waving from where he was standing, incidentally with Leon and Tifa. Leon seemed to be startled for a moment and looked up at the ebon-haired woman, but Naminé turned her head away, finally coming up with something. King Mickey had stayed silent.

"I'd like to borrow Tidus, Kia, Olette, Hayner, Pence, and Selphie," she said, "beyond that… Major Akkan, take command of both Easy and Abel Companies and escort the civilians out of the Coliseum."

"Yes Your Highness," the Major and Captain said, coming to attention and saluting her. The Major immediately began to call out orders to his men. "Captain Kol, take over Easy, Spiers, keep Abel. If your name was called by her Highness, fall out! If not, follow me boys!"

"So what do you want us to do Naminé?" Hayner asked as he ran up to her. "Why us?"

"And what do you want the rest of us to do?" Leon asked.

Naminé glanced down at King Mickey, wondering why he was oddly silent and smiling to himself, before looking at Leon. "You all just do what you do best, fight them. As for us (she turned towards the people she'd named) we're going after Sora. I'm sure they'll be alright, Agatha and Garda and Luinmon are with Kairi, but those three and Kairi are tired and beat-up as hell. They might just need us. Yuna, Rikku, Paine, can you three come with us too?"

The Gullwings nodded and Naminé readjusted her grip on her shield and looked towards the combatant entrance/exit. It had become blocked off again by the fighting Monsters, Heartless, and Heroes. Donald and Goofy were both over there now, tag-teaming against Heartless and Talos. "Let's go!" Naminé shouted.

-A-D-

"Honestly, I have no idea why I have to be stuck with _you_ of all people," complained a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He stood at about average height, with carrot-coloured hair that sprouted from the top of his head and lay down in an unkempt fashion. His jaw was covered in stubble of roughly the same colour. He wore black pants, worn black running shoes, and a dirt-brown vest over a striped wine-red and white shirt. In his right hand he held a metal rod as long as his forearm, and holstered on his hip was a revolver.

The man's black eyes looked over his shoulder at the silent figure behind him. He really had no idea _what_ the others saw in her at all, dressed in all of that dark plate armour and that creepy tusked greathelm that kept all her face except her glowing eyes veiled in shadow. The eyes were what really pissed him off, shining electric blue eyes that just _oozed_ magic out of them. He couldn't figure a thing out about the thoughts running through the helmeted head by looking into them, and the whole oozing magic bit creeped him out.

She glanced at him and he looked away a second later. He'd only met her an hour ago, and he'd already come to the definite conclusion that he _didn't_ like her one bit. Screw whatever that stupid Nobody Nixion said, the first chance he got, he was ditching her. Hopefully he'd get into a fight with one of those finalists, beat the tar out of him, and drag him back by a bloody ear to Maleficent.

"Why do you think Maleficent wants those brats anyway?" he asked aloud, taking particular pleasure in the sounds coming from the Coliseum of the battle with Hades' monsters and the Heartless. Morgana remained silent, so he continued. "What's she gonna do with them? Force them into gladiatorial combat to the death against each other? Torture them? Publicly execute them to make examples of them? Brainwash them and sick 'em against each other? What? If she hates them so much, she should just kill 'em and be done with it!"

A sign saying the word 'Infirmary' with an arrow underneath pointing towards a closed doorway was mounted next to them on the wall in the torch-lit corridor the two were walking in. The corridor was wide enough for four people to comfortably walk side-by-side, but despite his dislike for Morgana, he was a little disturbed that she had made no move to walk beside him, always staying two steps behind and one to his left. That wasn't even right! If someone was walking behind someone and acting like some sort of guard, they were on the person's _right_, never their _left_, just what was the _deal_ with Morgana?

"Hn," said him, glancing at the sign, "looks like this is the place. The Princess should be in there, snoozing like a baby. Here comes her wakeup call."

The door suddenly slammed open, and standing tall in the doorway was the _very_ imposing figure of Garda, holding onto his black claymore. He wore a very stern look as he said pointedly, "Can I help you?"

"You can hand over the Princess of Heart," Morgana said, speaking for the first time in her hollow, echoing, voice.

"That's not happening," Garda declared flatly.

The man grinned. "Oh but it is. You see, we nab the girl, give her to Maleficent, and then she does whatever she wants to do to her and I get a huge bonus. It's win-win all around."

Garda manoeuvred his claymore to being in front of him. "You touch a hair on that girl's head," he told them seriously, "and I leave you in pieces."

Tendrils of purple energy surged out of Morgana's fingertips as she raised her left hand. They coiled through the air and wrapped around Garda. His eyes widened in slight surprise as he was lifted up into the air and yanked away from the door and towards the darkly armoured woman. "You're not the winner, but I accept your challenge," Morgana said, drawing her massive greatsword from where it lay behind her back. The long and thick blade emanated with a cool chill and the blue runes written all along the centre were sharp with icy clarity.

She swung her greatsword down for the Chief Guardian's head, and Garda swiftly brought his black claymore up and held it off before swiping at her unarmoured midriff. Morgana backed away and thrust her gauntleted left hand towards Garda. Frigid snowflakes and ice stuck onto his body momentarily, and instantly he felt a chill run down his spine while his skin broke out into a sweat, feverish. Garda shook his head, momentarily trying to banish the feeling, before chopping up towards her still-extended left hand. He missed as Morgana withdrew it and placed it back upon her greatsword's long gold-rimmed hilt.

Her blade fell down towards him once more, and Garda swiftly got his claymore into position to block it. His knotted muscles surged with effort as he shoved her off. Her strength did not match his own, even with the cold fire that he felt running through his veins, but for someone with such skinny arms it astounded him. Then he remembered the size of the arms of the girl lying inside, and wasn't astounded anymore.

Their bodies bonked together as Garda shoulder-checked his smaller opponent, pushing her backwards and away from the door to where his now former apprentice lay sleeping, and kicked her in the chest. Morgana staggered backwards, and the Chief Guardian of Destiny Islands raised his claymore above his head, the black blade beginning to glow with steel-grey light. He roared as he swung his weapon towards his adversary, an arcane crescent of grey light arcing out of the blade and cutting through the air towards her.

Morgana again raised her left hand, and this time it pulsed with a flash of sickly green. From her fingertips emerged a skull followed by wisps of black and green, with sparks like dirt-yellow flies stuck in the wisps. The skull met his crescent of grey light and cancelled each other out in a flash, and Garda felt his feverish blood freeze and his heart stop for a moment while his skin went cold. As close as he was, he'd felt a little of the power of that skull. It wouldn't have been near enough to do him in, but even so, its very essence horrified him.

This warrior across from him was unlike any warrior he'd ever seen. If Kairi and her friends drew upon the power of Light, then this one with eyes like flame-infused ice was born from and wielded the powers of Death.

"Who are you?" he asked, placing his massive claymore firmly between himself and her.

"The Champion of the Underworld," answered she in her cruel hollow voice, holding her own thick greatsword in front of her. "I am the Death Knight Morgana, servant of the Dark Queen's will, and I have come to take away your Princess of Light."

"Not while I still breathe," Garda flatly refused.

They charged each other.

-A-D-

As soon as Morgana had caught the big guy in her grasp, he'd slipped away and quietly entered the Infirmary door. There was the Princess, lying asleep underneath a white sheet on the third bed on the right. Her face was half-concealed by bandages, and there was a black kitten lying on her breasts. Sitting next to her was another young woman of around eighteen or nineteen with long blonde hair, dressed in a white blouse with a brown jacket and skirt. She looked like some kind of servant or maid. Lying near to the kitten was what looked like a stuffed ice-blue ball.

The kitten raised its head and hissed as soon as he entered, and the girl at the Princess' bedside looked up in surprise and half-rose at his entrance. "Who are you?" she asked, her eyes darting behind him as the sounds of the battle between Morgana and Destiny Island's Chief Guardian came into the room.

"You don't need to know," he answered, smiling at her. "Now just step over there and I'll get what I came for and leave you alone."

The girl quickly glanced towards Kairi before fixing him with a defiant stare. "No," she challenged, her hands flying out to her sides in a strong stance and moving to position herself between him and Kairi.

He smirked. "Ooh, you're a lovely young lady alright, and a feisty one too!" he laughed. "But you don't want to fight me, so do me a favour love and GO GET ME A CUP OF TEA!" he roared, drawing his revolver from the holster on his hip.

"Freeze!" she yelled, her right hand snapping out towards him. A tiny orb of grey-white energy shot out of her palm and struck his wrist. He gasped in sudden pain as his wrist and half of his hand became encased in ice.

"The fuck!" he shouted. Not even a single finger of his could move, nor could he rotate or bend his wrist in any way. He couldn't even squeeze the trigger on his revolver. His black eyes glared daggers at the girl and he raised his metal baton. "You'll pay for that bitch!"

The stuffed blue head suddenly jumped up, revealing a pair of sentient brown eyes. "Bubble Blast!" it shouted in a feminine voice. It puffed up, before blowing a stream of pink bubbles into his face. They burned as they popped against his eyes, and he brought both his arms up to defend it.

The servant then placed both her hands together and a magical blue seal appeared in front of her. "You get your own damn tea! Ice Make, Floor!" she said, dropping to the ground and placing both her hands on the floor. A sheet of ice quickly developed over the floor of the infirmary from where she stood up to the door. He slipped as he dropped his arms and landed hard on the ice-covered stone. The girl stood again and another blue magic seal appeared in front of her. "Ice Make, Shield!" A wall of ice that looked like a flower's petals slowly crystallized in front of her, dividing the infirmary into two sides, leaving him on one, and her and the Princess on the other.

"The boss sure ain't gonna be happy about this," he muttered, looking up at the pristine ice wall. "But then, when is she ever happy?" He grumbled as he got up, and carefully made his way towards the shield of ice. "Hey! You over there! Yeah, I'm talking to you girly! FUCK YOU!" He slammed his baton against the ice shield with all the force his left arm could muster, liking the sound it made if nothing else. "I'm gonna break down this wall, and then kill you and take the girl, or my name's not Clarence Joshua Lionel Upperton!"

Agatha sighed on the opposite side and glanced down at Luinmon as Clarence raged on the other side and beat fruitlessly against the ice. She knew that her shield would hold for quite a while against that guy, but probably not if the Heartless and a number of other things came to help break it down. The kitten had already settled back down, but was keeping an eye on the ice shield, and Kairi continued to sleep. Even injured as she was, Kairi was still a powerful warrior to be reckoned with, but Agatha wouldn't dare to wake her Princess when she desperately needed her rest to help her heal and regain her lost strength.

All Agatha could hope for was that the others would sort things out before everything got too far out of hand.

-A-D-

_This sucks,_ thought Yuffie as she appeared in front of three Shadows in a puff of black smoke before slicing Flower of Wutai through the three Shadows. They were reduced to wisps of darkness that dispersed into nothing. She'd almost made it to the small magical portal that would take her to Thebes-the city wasn't even near where the Coliseum located halfway up Mount Olympus was-contained inside a gazebo only big enough for one person that was just inside the gates to the Coliseum, when she'd suddenly been attacked on three sides by Heartless. They hadn't stood a ghost of a chance against her, but once they'd appeared Yuffie knew that she had to turn completely around and head back. All of her plans to get smashed were now utterly wasted. She blamed the Heartless.

Fortunately, she legitimately _was_ able to blame the Heartless for her misfortune, and so took it out on them with extreme prejudice.

A Large Body lumbered down the lane towards her, its rotund belly extended in front of it in preparation to charge headlong into her. Yuffie waited and jumped up high as it barrelled past. She twisted around as she started her jump, her hand digging into her pouch. Four kunai she withdrew, and threw all of them in a single swipe of her arm. Each one buried up to the end in the Heartless' back and it stumbled and dropped to the ground. Yuffie landed and sprang for the vulnerable Heartless, stabbing forward with Flower of Wutai. The Large Body burst apart into darkness, the Emblem's pink crystalline heart rising out of it.

Her Keyblade glowed with purple extensions of magic that made it look somewhat like her old shuriken and she whirled it out of her hand as she spun around. Flower of Wutai cut right through a small flock of six Hook Bats that had been flying down the lane towards her. Yuffie summoned her Keyblade back into her grasp, smirking a little, and watched as two Rabid Dogs and four Soldiers entered from the other end.

Then her smile vanished as a Charr Flame Wielder Heartless fell in step behind them, its bright yellow eyes leering at her while its hands clutched at its long dark-wooded staff. It brayed a challenge at her and thrust its staff out. The smaller Heartless rushed forward, and a fireball arced out of the Flame Wielder's staff as it sent a flare spell her way.

Yuffie avoided the flare by leaping up into the air. She hurled Flower of Wutai down beneath her, her Keyblade spinning around and around in a concentrated circle, chopping the six small Heartless beneath her to pieces. Raven hair swayed with its owner's body's movements as the kunoichi landed and snatched her weapon's hilt when it circled back towards her. Yuffie looked up towards the Charr Heartless and froze. Someone else was standing where the Heartless had been.

_Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!_ Yuffie's mind screamed when her dark brown eyes took in every last inch of the newcomer. Yuffie didn't even need to consciously consider her next move; honour and pride be damned, she wanted to live! She turned and jumped towards a stall to her right, melding into the stall's shadow, and ran from shadow to shadow in a flight of fear…

…ran from Sephiroth.

-A-D-

Naminé grimaced as she sent three large blasts of ice into the head of yet another Stealth Sneak before following up with a bolt of lightning to the Heartless' chest, the Stealth Sneak having reared up and brought its sticky feet up to protect its head but leaving the abdomen vulnerable to Naminé's spells. More and more Heartless had ported in to assist the monsters as the heroes of the Coliseum entered the combat and gained the upper hand. Percy Jackson and Hercules were fighting side-by-side, the cousins hacking the Heartless to pieces with their swords or Hercules' godly strength.

The Hydra's snapping head lunged down for Naminé, the monster's sharp teeth glistening with fat globules of saliva. The blonde princess leapt back, forming a barrier of opal moonlight in front of her with a thrust of her shield. The Hydra's head smashed into the barrier and stopped, even though its neck muscles continued to strain as it single-mindedly attempted to push through to get at her. Tidus then rushed over and severed the Hydra's head with three clean overhead strikes of his crystal-blue Brotherhood. The body flibbed and flubbed like a headless chicken as its neck and legs jerked in uncontrollable spasms, having lost direction from its brain. The cleanly severed neck plunged into the earth, and Tidus looked victorious for a moment before he remembered what it was he had just chopped the head off of.

He'd sliced the head off of the_ HYDRA!_

Three new heads on their own long necks burst out of the ground, one of them driving through the stone ring, and all three hissed and leered at the heroes below. Their skin was still slick with rapidly drying plasma, and their long tongues whisked out from between their pointed teeth.

"Oh great," Naminé muttered, placing her hands together. A blue magic seal formed in front of her as snowflakes formed around her hands. "Ice Make, Serpent!" Her mythical ice serpent formed in front of her, its icy scales glistening in the sunlight as it slithered on the ground before rearing up to its full height, almost matching one of the Hydra heads sprouting up from the ground like ugly purple mums. One head turned and hissed at her serpent, and the ice creature nipped its ice tongue out of its mouth in agitation. Two seconds later, her serpent and the head and neck were engaged in a frenzy of lunges, dodges, and snapping jaws.

Naminé had been about to take on another one of the snapping, hissing heads, but stopped when her eyes took in the serpent and Hydra head. She had never seen what it looked like when two snakes are battling it out to the death. It was so sick it was impossible to tear her eyes away from it.

But the blonde ice-mage did when a loud voice kicked her brain back into gear. "Hey Naminé! Get up on the Hydra's back! Get up on the Hydra's back! Get up on the Hydra's back! Get up on the Hydra's back!" She started looking around frantically, trying to find just _where_ that voice was coming from as it kept repeating every second and a half. It was starting to grate on her very quickly.

_Finally_, even though it was really only after six repeats of 'Get up on the Hydra's back', her eyes zeroed in on the voice's owner. Phil was jumping up and down on his red-furred goat legs near a portion of the wall out of the ring that had given way. He looked like a jumping jelly bean, a horned, somewhat furred, _annoying_ jumping jelly bean.

"Get up on the Hydra's back!"

"Why?" she asked. The Hydra's tail flicked up near to where Phil was bouncing, its main neck still buried in the ground while the three heads popping out of the ground continued to be a menace to everyone, darting down and snapping their teeth at the heroes. Hayner grabbed Olette's arm and dove out of the way of one head, the purple face ploughing into the ground where the two of them had stood and kicking up dirt.

"Just hurry up and get up on the Hydra's back!" Phil yelled, pointing a finger at the creature's back. "Do you know how many times I had to yell at Sora to do the EXACT SAME THING! Just listen to me will ya? Get up on the Hydra's back!"

Goofy popped out in front of Naminé, beating out a Shadow that had been running towards her. "You might want to listen to him Naminé," Goofy said, glancing at her as the Shadow quickly became a shadow on the ground to avoid Goofy's shield. "Phil knows what he's talking about."

"Get up on the Hydra's back!"

"Alright," she said, and immediately started to run towards the Hydra's body, firing a bolt of lightning out of her Keyblade towards a Morning Star that was about to leap into the air. The Heartless stopped, stunned, and Naminé barely noticed that an instant later it became completely engulfed in fire.

"Get up on the Hydra's back!"

The Hydra's abdomen and back loomed above her as Naminé came to a stop. Great thinking Phil, just _how_ was she supposed to get all the way up there? She couldn't jump that high. Well, she'd never _tried_ to jump that high and probably _could_ if push came to shove, but now would be one helluva time to find out that she was wrong and slip up and kiss the ground. Rational, restrained, limited thinking was winning this round rather than the insane 'I-can-_so_-do-the-impossible!' that normally seemed to be dominating everyone's minds but hers recently.

"GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK! GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!"

The blonde clapped her hands over her ears and tried to ignore Phil's voice. Damn he was _loud_ when she was this close to him! And couldn't he see that she was trying to figure out how to do the impossible task he was asking for?

"Need a lift Miss Naminé?'

She looked around, and was pleasantly surprised to see Obelix standing next to her, holding a struggling Soldier by its neck in his left hand. "Yeah Obelix. Could you get me onto the Hydra's back ple-_eeeeeease!_"

Naminé was screaming now as she flew higher and higher, Obelix having lightly grasped her by the armour on her back and tossed her up. She was easily fifty feet off the ground now with no signs of stopping yet.

"Smooth Obelix," Asterix said, folding his arms while he looked at his friend, who had a hand over his eyes and was watching as Naminé continued to go up.

"I could've gone higher."

After what seemed like an eternity to Naminé, she noticed that she was starting to slow down as gravity did its job. Only then did she close her mouth, reprimanding herself for shrieking like a little girl. She hadn't gone _that_ far up had she?

Naminé opened her eyes just as she stopped moving.

Naminé looked down.

Naminé screamed again and lost her shield as her hands started fumbling, trying to find that stupid charm as she began her descent.

"Perfect!" Phil shouted, seeing her starting to come down. "Hey Naminé!" he called as he gathered a large golden urn two and a half times his size into his hands, "slam this into the Hydra's back!" He chucked the urn into the air.

_Found it!_ Naminé's fingers clasped around the charm that, she reasoned, was her only hope, elation completely overtaking her at its discovery. She held it aloft in her left hand. "Come to me, Nebulus!" At the exact moment as her exclamation, she saw the golden urn in the air and realized what Phil had just instructed her to do.

Naminé's shield appeared around her left arm again and she wound her right arm back above her head, readying herself to hit the urn she was rapidly plummeting towards. It was going to be close…

Her Celestial Steed's neigh entered her ears as Nebulus flew in beneath her, descending with just slightly less acceleration than she was. Naminé slipped perfectly into the saddle and clenched the astral horse's flanks with her legs. She threw her right arm down almost immediately afterwards, and her Keyblade swooped into the urn.

It exploded into the Hydra's back.

The purple monster's body completely buckled under the force the urn had struck it with. Its legs gave out and either splayed out or crumpled beneath its body, and all three heads seemed to bite their tongues and freeze, especially the one that was still grappling with Naminé's ice serpent, the creature constricting its neck while the two had been snapping at each other.

Nebulus was still flying way too fast for anything to appear other than a blur to Naminé, all she knew was that she didn't have a hand on the reigns and was directing instinctively with her leg muscles, feeling the thrum of the horse's wings as the muscles that drove them moved beneath her legs, the rocking up and down of the animal's hindquarters, the slight negative g she gained every time the horse rose and fell with every wing beat…

…the extreme high as she slashed Nobody's Pride three times as Nebulus sped through the air faster than an arrow.

Ten seconds later after flying a little higher and Nebulus straining his wings to slow down, they were hovering above the battlefield. Almost everything; Cerberus, the Chimera, Talos, the Minotaur, the Heartless, and her friends and the heroes of the Coliseum, had come to a complete stop. They were staring at the three Hydra heads lying fresh on the ground.

"Did you just see that?" Rikku exclaimed. "She stunned 'im and cut off his heads all within _two seconds!_" The blonde Gullwing looked up at Naminé.

She suddenly felt outrageously cool, like she was the coolest person to ever live—even cooler than Chuck Norris, an impossible feat—as she sat on the hovering Nebulus. Her winged horse was still emitting small stars that surrounded them like a tiny cloud before they faded away after a few seconds. _That was insane,_ she thought, smiling, _that was completely nuts; like, Sora plus Roxas times two thousand insane. Has anyone else ever done anything like that? No! I did! Me! That was all me! And I did it without holding Nebulus' reins too! I rule!_

Her sense of coolness couldn't stop her emotional high at having pulled off such a crazy improvised stunt, nor could it stop the thought she thought of next from emerging from her lips at the top of her lungs in three pointed words as she hovered thirty feet above the ground on her stardust horse. "I. AM. AWESOME!"

Yeah, it was something that a member of the opposite sex would normally say, but at that moment, Naminé felt like she was the most _badass_ princess ever. Not even Kairi, with her fifty Charr Heartless killing streak (or so she said), could compare to this feat. She had just stunned and decapitated the _crap_ out of the Hydra in about a second and a half.

That was when it hit her, just like it had hit Tidus earlier. Her face was stuck with the smile, now looking stupid on her rather than just amusing. She'd just decapitated the crap out of the _HYDRA!_

_Aw crap…_

Just then the Hydra's legs regained their balance and pushed back up, and the neck emerged from its ostrich hole in the ground, suddenly sprouting no less than _thirty_ heads. Somewhere in Naminé's mind, going on the thought that for every head that the Hydra lost it grew it back plus two more, the thought that there should be nine heads there instead of thirty or more registered. Maybe the monster was just angry that she'd hardcore owned it under a half-minute ago.

Nebulus snorted and turned his head back to look at her with one eye. Naminé glanced into it. The horse snorted again and waggled his head and neck while still looking her in the eye as if he was saying, _YOU. ARE. BLONDE!_

The Wielder of the Moon lowered her head a bit and rubbed the back of it with her left hand. "I uh… I meant to do that," she muttered, glancing at the writhing mass of heads now attached to the body. She winced as her serpent bared its fangs and lunged, only to be cut down into chunks of ice as all the heads struck at it. Against one it had been a fair fight; her serpent had even had somewhat of an upper hand, but there was no contest against that many heads.

Nebulus snorted again and looked forward towards the Hydra, Cerberus, the Chimera, the Minotaur, Talos, and the Heartless, all of them having renewed the battle below. Her Celestial Steed looked back at her using the same eye. He neighed, as if trying to convey the question, _Suuure you did… would you like me to carry you into battle now?_

Naminé frowned and stared at his swirling misty blue eye. "Since when did you have an attitude?" she asked. Nebulus nickered at her and she kicked his flanks and finally grasped hold of the reins. He dove down, back into the fray. Nebulus rolled to the right as a fireball left one of Cerberus' mouths and Naminé sent a spear of ice towards the three-headed dog. Radiant Garden's blonde knight adjusted her steed's direction and prepared to send another chilly spell towards the goat head of the Chimera, that head belching fireballs towards Donald and Goofy beneath her, before being forced to stop as a chariot carried by glowing red horses blazed past Nebulus.

Standing in the chariot was a god with a curly beard whose entire armoured body was tinted with a red hue. His beard glowed red, his face glimmered, and his muscled arms rippled with strength as one hand still held onto the reins of the two horses that pulled his chariot while the other held aloft a javelin. A mighty shout came from his lips as he threw his spear, and the weapon pierced Talos wholly and completely through the colossus' head. The bronze construct crumpled to the ground, dead, as ichor flowed out of the mortal wound. Ares cried out in joy as another spear appeared in his right hand.

Then swooped another chariot, all of blue, and Naminé saw Athena armed with sword and Aegis her shield and the wise owl Bubo upon her shoulder. She leapt clear off her chariot, her periwinkle blue dress underneath her armoured chest swaying in the breeze, and landed lightly on her sandaled feet. She stood above all the mortals on the field around her, and with three quick strides she reached the Minotaur. "You!" she cried, slamming Aegis against the mattock it foolishly raised against her, "back to the Underworld with you!"

The Minotaur's head came off its shoulders, Athena's sword separating them.

Astral wings continued to beat as Nebulus hovered, as stunned as his rider, as another flaming chariot flew around above, this one with four bright yellow horses like the sun, and a god wielding a bow and quiver full of goose-feather arrows. His purple hair was long beneath his red helmet, and his red toga had a clasp with the design of the sun on it. The plume of his helmet radiated like golden sunbeams, and Apollo's aim was true as he loosed arrow after arrow towards the Hydra, each one of his arrows a stab of yellow-gold light as they smashed into the creature. Athena and Ares joined his assault on the dragon-monster, Ares deigning to accompany his sister on the ground after hurling his second spear towards the Hydra's flank. The God of War drew his sword and the shield from his back, and jabbed the eyes out from one head of the Hydra that snapped out towards him. The head was removed from the neck a moment later, and no heads grew back from the severed stump.

Somewhere in the midst of this, Naminé felt as if she heard a song in her head, being sung by voices sweeter than any she had ever heard before. Shaking her head, though it did nothing to remove the song's words, she kicked Nebulus' flanks and her celestial steed dove down. The monsters would be dealt with by the gods, but there was now an opening. "To me!" she shouted, looking for Hayner and the others she'd asked for. "Let's go!"

_There comes a moment  
When my heart must stand alone,  
On this lonely path I've chosen,  
Like a house that's not a home._

A torrent of flame approached from her right side, and the only warning that Naminé had was the sudden feel of heat and the startled whiney of Nebulus. She spun her horse around and hastily raised her right hand, dismissing Nobody's Pride at the same moment, and shouted "Reflega!" She was nearly too late. A few flames licked against her face—Naminé felt sure that a couple of strands of her white-blonde hair had been singed—and arms and two tongues of fire bit at Nebulus' chest, legs, and front legs, but the damage was minimal as the transparent honeycomb sphere formed around her and her celestial steed an instant later. The flames spewed out of the goat head of the Chimera, and even though they were stopped and parted to the sides of Naminé's spell, they were pressing hard.

_Sometimes when I feel I've had enough,  
And I feel like giving up,  
You embrace me to be all I can be…_

Naminé glanced down at everyone beneath her and Nebulus, and at the gods who were fighting alongside them, and then at the Chimera, the last beast holding her back from following Sora to make sure that her sister would remain safe.

…_No nothing can stop me._

The song grew stronger in her mind and she felt its power in her heart. _Who is…_ she began thinking before arriving at the answer to her own question. _The Muses, of course!_ Only putting half of her concentration on maintaining her defensive spell, Naminé began to chant. "Wind that stabs and chills, frost that bites through flesh, mighty snow that blankets all…"

_I believe in the power that comes,  
From a world brought together as one…_

"… bestow your terrible power in this small hand of man. Freeze the land beneath you. Ice Style 51, Ice Claw!" Naminé's reflega shield disintegrated and the Chimera's flames surged forward, but from her raised right hand a shaft of ice as thick as a rhinoceros barrelled out, a hill of snow and a tempest of cold wind right behind. The snow, ice, and wind stole the heat from the flames and bore down the centre of the Chimera's fire-breath; stripping all the flame behind of its energy. The ice shone slick with melt-water, and the wind whirled and buffeted, and the Chimera's goat head belched even more intense fire, fire that was nearly all blue, from its mouth. For a moment it looked like it was strong enough to stop the advance of the Ice Claw in all its fury.

But Naminé's spell would not be denied. At last it broke through and struck the goat head in the muzzle. The ice tore the flesh from it and buried deeper, stabbing into the goat head's neck and digging into the flesh. The snow that remained in the wind swirled around the Chimera's body, and with a command word of "Freeze!" from Naminé's mouth the snow snapped to a stop and shimmered blue before becoming long spiked formations of ice, pricking through the Chimera's golden fur and into its hide; two of the formations touched the ground, and that froze the sand-coloured stone beneath the monster, encasing smaller Heartless beneath the paws fully in ice and shackling the Chimera's feet; keeping it trapped in a webbed claw of frozen water.

The Chimera yowled in pain from her front lion head while the serpent one behind snapped at the ice, trying to break it off. Then three hot thunderbolts stabbed its side and one more at each head, and the ice shattered and the Chimera dropped dead with smoking holes in its body and a charred stump at the end of the serpent's neck. Naminé looked and saw Zeus standing on a cloud.

…_I believe together we'll fly,  
I believe in the power of you and I._

Naminé turned Nebulus and soared towards the ground. He landed near the breach in the wall, his hooves clapping on the ground, and furled his wings alongside his astral body. The blonde princess glanced behind her. Tidus, Hayner, Selphie, Yuna, Olette and the others were all hurrying towards her.

A startled whinny from Nebulus caused Naminé to jerk her head backwards suddenly, and a helmet missed popping her on the nose by only a few centimetres, almost too close for her eyes to focus on it. Stunned, her indigo eyes blindly followed the helm, watching as it flew on its own power into the building.

_That was Sora's,_ she realized three seconds later, now having had time to analyze the helm's make. _And if he's calling for it then, then I only wish that we'd been able to punch through sooner!_

"Sora's in trouble," Naminé told them as the others caught up to her.

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Tidus asked with a smirk. "Let's go bail him out, like always."

"I swear, that guy's useless without his friends to watch his back," Hayner said.

"Hm, you mean like you?" Olette teased.

"Look at these biceps and tell me again that I _need_ my friends watching my back instead of _wanting_ them watching my back," Hayner retorted, using the opportunity to flex for his girlfriend. Olette giggled slightly and shook her head, clearing her emerald eyes.

Naminé's lips twitched upwards slightly before wheeling Nebulus around again and having him canter forward. The others followed behind at a run. The Muses' song continued strong in Naminé's heart.

-A-D-

Sora stopped suddenly as they ran towards the Infirmary as he felt something nearby. He looked behind him into the torchlight corridor and squinted. "What is it?" asked Aiwemon, dropping onto his right shoulder.

Sora frowned and didn't answer. Then his eyes detected movement on the floor and he spotted a grey shadow moving rapidly towards the four of them. "Yuffie," he said, now recognizing the shape of the shadow, and the feel of her own distinct aura signature. Ever since he, Kairi, Naminé, Riku, and Roxas had dived into themselves and felt one another, standing beside each other, Sora'd gradually been getting better at being able to sense their presences both actively and passively, and he'd even started to memorize the differences between the unique auras of each of his friends like Tidus and Selphie. If he had to, he could walk blind into a crowded room and stride right up to Naminé—or anyone else he _knew_ in the room, Naminé was just the first that came to his mind—and strike up a conversation with her.

She popped up out of her own shadow only a metre away from him, panting. "Hey jerk," she said, still stinging from her loss, before quickly glancing behind here. "We've gotta get out of here, _now_!"

Riku pushed past Sora and came up to Yuffie. Sora knew why; even he didn't like the fearful urgency in Yuffie's voice. "Why Fie?"

"Because Cloud's not here, and he's the only one I know who can beat him!"

"Because Cloud's not—" Sora repeated before stopping as a large chunk of stonework further up the corridor where Yuffie had come from fell free from the wall. Dusk and rock entered the corridor, becoming red clouds in the torchlight, and a man emerged through it all. His silver hair was long, his perfect skin was cast with red hues from the fickle light, and the katana he carried was over three times as long as Sora was tall.

_Sephiroth._ Sora nearly froze at the sight of him, and then quickly gathered his thoughts back up. Summoning a little bit of energy, he commanded _Accio helmet_ in his mind. Confident, Sora popped both ethers out of his pocket and flicked one towards Riku while crushing the other on his forehead, moving past Yuffie to stand next to his best friend. The blue dust that composed the ether washed over him, and energy flowed back into his tired body. The ether he'd tossed at Riku hit his taller silver-haired friend on the noggin', and just as Riku's body was taking on the inflow of energy he popped two Hi-potions out of his own pocket and handed one to Sora. Both of them pulled faces and drank the horribly tasting healing tonic, not a word having been spoken between them since Sora spotted Sephiroth.

"Sora," Aiwemon whispered, glancing at his partner, "who is that?"

"Sephiroth."

"We meet again, Chosen Wielder of the Keyblade," observed Sephiroth.

"Looks like we do," Sora answered.

"Tell me, where is Cloud?"

"Beats me," Sora replied, lowering his voice and trying to subtly convey the message that Sephiroth should leave, _now_, even though Sora himself felt that his threat was hollow. This was the one person that in his heart he knew he couldn't defeat. "Why don't you go looking for him somewhere else?"

Sephiroth ignored him and turned his head slightly, now placing Riku in the centre of his gaze. "Well, this is interesting," he told them.

"What is?" Roxas demanded, brushing past Yuffie to stand on Riku's right. The silver-haired teen slipped Roxas a potion in a casual manner. The blond pressed it to his lips and drained it, the veins in his neck bulging as he strained not to make a face.

"You," Sephiroth said, his eyes not straying from Riku through the movement. "You seem to be especially interested in protecting that girl."

"Your point?" Riku asked, Way to the Dawn flashing into existence in his right hand.

Sephiroth smirked. "She's a friend of Cloud's. If I take you, then she'll likely go running off to wherever Cloud is hiding, and he'll have no choice but to seek me out."

Yuffie disappeared from behind the three boys and reappeared in a puff of smoke in front of them. Sora was only able to catch sight of about half of her face, but what he saw showed that Yuffie was now even more defiant than the rest of them. White light pooled around her right hand, as if she was toying with something. "Was what you did to Aerith and Tifa and Naminé not enough for you?" she muttered, glaring darkly at Sephiroth. "Well let me tell you something Sephy," she clenched her hand, and Flower of Wutai appeared in a hard flash of light. She swept her blade up to eye level and pointed it at Sephiroth's neck. "You're _never_ going to take Riku away from me!"

"Hey!" Sora jerked his head and saw Roxas stepping up next to Yuffie, smouldering anger rumbling beneath his face. "You're the one who hurt Naminé back then while I was out? That was you?"

"I don't know to whom you are referring," Sephiroth replied. "But if I did, she put herself in my way."

"Oh you know alright!" Roxas snapped. "Blonde hair, bit below average height, wears white and yellow, wields a Keyblade and a shield."

"Oh yes…" Sephiroth nodded his head. "I do remember her now."

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did to her," Roxas assured him in an even snarl.

Sora flickered his gaze towards his blond brother. _Don't do this Roxas, you can't win!_

_Watch me!_

"I highly doubt that you can," Sephiroth told Roxas, his voice as mockingly passive as ever. "Did your… friend, pass on my message to Cloud?"

"Haven't seen him since before you hurt my friends," Yuffie growled, "but he _is_ looking for you, and now I wish that he'd found you first, so that then you'd be out of our hair."

Sephiroth chuckled. "Your hope amuses me, Yuffie Kisaragi, Radiant Garden's Ninja Wielder."

_How does he know Yuffie's name?_

Yuffie's foot shuffled back slightly. She looked just as unnerved as Sora felt. As far as he knew, Sephiroth didn't even know _his_ name, so knowing Yuffie's… was he keeping tabs on her, and Tifa, and Aerith, and Cid, and Leon or any of the others just in the off chance that they would meet up with Cloud?

_Is Sephiroth shadowing them? _The thought made Sora's blood run cold.

Sephiroth twitched to the side suddenly as an object came hurtling towards him from behind. He glanced dismissively at it. His sudden distraction jolted Yuffie and Roxas out of their reverie, and both charged forward. The Oblivion and Twilight Thorn appeared in Roxas' hands in flashes of light, and Yuffie leapt towards the wall, angling her body so that she was not quite perpendicular to the ground. Yuffie leapt back and forth between the walls on either side of the corridor three times, darting towards Sephiroth the whole time. Her shirt of mail sounded like metal rain as the rings rubbed against one another.

Sephiroth flashed out his impossibly long katana, slicing through the prohibiting stone like a hot knife through butter. The places where his katana cut were even scorched and had tufts of fire coming out of them for a moment. Yuffie flipped upside down in the air on the jump before and quickly said, "Shadowmeld!" Her body became a shadow as she dove into the flickering one of a bracketed torch, and Sephiroth's cut missed her completely. The sound of metal striking metal still rang through the corridor as Roxas raised both his Keyblades and blocked Sephiroth's weapon.

The object that had distracted Sephiroth whipped right by Yuffie and Roxas, neither of them paying any attention to it, but Sora took one look at it and it vanished in a shimmer of white light before appearing on his head in a similar display. Quickly placing a hand on it to make sure it was secure, he looked at Riku. And quickly reached out and placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder as he began moving. "Wait!"

"What?" snapped Riku.

"We don't have any room to fight him," Sora said, turning back to look towards Sephiroth. "He's Roxas and Yuffie's fight now." Riku looked like he wanted to fire a retort back at Sora, but he bit it down and nodded his head in reluctant agreement.

Yuffie's shadow jumped from out of the torch's a second before Sephiroth would have cut a swath across it through the stonework. She looped around clockwise, rising to the ceiling before swooping back down to come behind Sephiroth and merge with his own shadow. He seemed not to notice, slicing at Roxas with his impossibly long katana, holding it with a single hand as Roxas worked hard to fend off the SOLDIER's lightning-fast strikes. Both of his Keyblades were swirling with the red light of Dusk.

The dark-haired kunoichi sprung out from Sephiroth's shadow, slicing at his back in midair with Flower of Wutai. The swordsman turned around, stopping her strike with a quick angling of Masamune, before returning her stroke with one of his own. Yuffie cried out as it struck her in the ribs. Her mail held, but the hit was no less painful. She dropped to the ground four metres back and flung two shuriken at Sephiroth's back (he'd casually turned back towards Roxas after countering her back attack). Sephiroth mocked her even further by dodging both projectiles the minimal effort, not so much as even looking at them.

Cerulean blue eyes widened suddenly as the two razor-sharp throwing stars came right towards Roxas' face. He yelped, bringing both of his Keyblades up to deflect them away, and then his startled yelp became a halting gasp of pain as Masamune struck his side with enough force to send him into the wall.

Sephiroth's body became covered by a purple and pink aura and his mouth opened. "Descend," he said, "Heartless angel."

Sora winced as he felt the effects of the powerful mental blast hit. What was even worse than the somewhat measurable drop in his strength was the sound: Yuffie and Roxas had both been the targets of Sephiroth's attack, and both of them screamed suddenly for only a second as their bodies and minds were hit, draining them of all of their strength and will. Their Keyblades were slack in their hands, and both suddenly looked as tired as if they'd been trying to lift a locomotive's steam engine with their bare hands for five hours.

Sephiroth slashed Masamune again.

"Yuffie!" Riku roared, terrified at the sound of her suffering. It wasn't even a scream, only a gasp of pain followed by a garbled and inarticulate cry. Sora didn't try to restrain Riku this time, he was right beside Riku, barrelling in. Aiwemon was off of his shoulders, glowing with the golden light of digivolution. A second later Ohtarmon was thundering in ahead of them, winding up his now glowing mace to slam it into Sephiroth's face. He didn't go more than three steps before he was swept into the opposite wall from Roxas, Masamune striking against his armoured side with enough force to crush the two pieces of grey metal together.

A blast of silver light preceded Sora, the Keyblade Master noiselessly in front. Sephiroth swept Masamune towards the attack, only to find that the silver light of Twilight had been aimed not for his upper body, but for his feet. The light became hard, and turned into chains that dug solidly into the stone beneath Sephiroth's feet, and shackles that clamped around his ankles and the roofs of his feet, holding him in place.

Golden light spewed off of Way to the Dawn like molten gold as Riku passed Sora and got close, striking at Sephiroth with reckless speed and strength. Each blow was matched by Masamune, but for the first time since arriving on this world, Sephiroth was at a disadvantage. He couldn't move his feet to advance or retreat into a more favourable position, and there were only so many ways in which he could twist his torso.

Sora looked past Sephiroth at the motionless figure of Yuffie on the ground, seeing with horror that the stone around her was wet and deep red. Movement and light further down the corridor caught his eye. "Naminé now!" Sora shouted suddenly.

"Ice Make, Gryphon!" Naminé roared from atop a charging Nebulus. She thrust her hands forward and the mythical creature of ice rushed out, shrieking and bounding through the corridor; the walls were too narrow to allow it to fly, but that didn't matter to the ice gryphon; its talons were as sharp as ice could be.

Sephiroth turned his head at the last moment and impossibly slashed Masamune upwards with a backhanded flick of his wrist, the blade barely clearing his shoulder blades but still managing to cut through the middle of Naminé's gryphon's head as if the ice weren't even there. That didn't stop the gryphon's final act of raking the talons of its right claw across Sephiroth's back before collapsing, broken and lifeless, onto the ground beside the master swordsman. Sephiroth scooped up the chunk of the gryphon he'd cut off in his left hand, and twisted his body as he could so that that piece of ice was raised up behind him, and that Masamune fell onto Way to the Dawn. Nobody's Pride fell towards Sephiroth in Naminé's hand, and her Keyblade struck against the ice that she herself had created.

At an impasse, with Riku in front of him and Naminé mounted on her Celestial Steed pressing on behind him, Sephiroth told them in a clear voice, "Find Cloud and tell him that his darkness calls to him, and that unless he faces me again, I shall continue to haunt your footsteps. That is a promise." A black feathered wing emerged from his back and wrapped around his body.

A quiver trembled through the wing, and its feathers fell and disintegrated, revealing nothing but the shackles and chains of Twilight.

"He's gone," Naminé said. Relief shot through Sora's veins and he felt suddenly weary, even though he hadn't traded blows with Sephiroth at all.

Sora's blood froze again as Riku dismissed Way to the Dawn and started forward, gasping, "Yuffie!" The silver-haired Wielder dropped onto the ground, the knees of his jeans soaking up the small amount of blood on the floor that was pooling beneath the girl. Sephiroth's last cut had managed to pierce her mail near her left side. Riku's hands shot underneath her head and shoulders; they trembled as they cradled her. "Yuffie!" he whispered, shaking his head as she remained unresponsive. "No, don't do this to me. You can't die, please don't die... not when I've worried _you_ so much before."

Naminé jerked her head towards Pence and Olette as she and Sora fell to their knees on Yuffie's wounded side, opposite Riku. "Pence, Olette, give us a hand here," she said before turning her attention towards the critically injured ninja girl. Sora'd removed his gauntlets and had placed both his hands on Yuffie's side, trying to read an extent of the damage Sephiroth's sword stroke had caused.

A few seconds later he removed his bloodied hands, frustrated. "Our armour's both too good and too bad," he declared. "The mail broke cleanly, but the padding underneath is all frayed and soaked; I've got no idea how much damage he did." His automail fingers were slick with the girl's blood and could barely grip anything.

"Then we'd better get her out of it," Naminé said. Sora nodded, not trusting himself to look at Yuffie's face as it steadily grew whiter. Instead he sought Riku's eyes, but his best friend was nearly as pale as the ninja.

"Riku, can you help us get her out of her armour?" Slowly, Riku nodded, blinking tears out of his eyes.

It was an odd experience for Sora as he worked with Naminé, Pence, Olette, Yuna, and Riku to strip Yuffie of her tabard, mail shirt, and padded wool shirt. Less than a half-hour ago he and Yuffie had been stripping in front of each other for fun and laughs as a means of jockeying for victory in the Zeus Cup, and now Yuffie was again being divested of her abdominal clothing, only this time it was her life and not potential winnings and blackmail that were at stake.

Olette winced as they finally got the last piece off. "That's bad," she whispered, measuring the cut as longer than her hand. "It looks deep."

"At least it was a clean cut," Yuna said.

Sora glanced around, gulping in a breath of air. The temperature in the corridor seemed to both be higher and lower than usual, and it was making him feel a little queasy. Or maybe that was because he was watching the life of one of his friends—not to mention his best buddy's girlfriend, a couple that would probably have never happened had he not been around—slowly bleed out. "Alright, let's do it before we waste too much time," he said. "Naminé, how's your 'cure'?"

"Well I can probably cast curagun or maybe even curaja, but even so I haven't had to actually play the role of a healer too much. You saw how much good I did when Tismetrx—" her voice caught and she glanced up at Roxas.

The brunet sighed and resisted the urge to run his bloody hand through his unruly spikes, which wouldn't have mattered because they were buried underneath his helmet. "Then mine's probably still better than yours with all my experience with it. Pence, Olette, are you ready?"

"We'll do what we can," Olette assured him. Pence nodded.

"Then we'll do it together," Sora said confidently. "I'm sure it'll work."

"I'll help too," Yuna said, standing up and running a hand over the blood that was staining her knees. "Tidus, give me that sphere Auron told you to give me."

Tidus—who had been surrounding the group at a distance with Hayner, Selphie, Kia, Rikku, Paine, Roxas, and Ohtarmon; acting as a guard in case anything nasty came along while they were working on Yuffie—turned around absently and asked, "Huh?"

"The sphere, give it. I think I know what it is." Tidus looked at her for a second before handing it over. Yuna looked for a moment like she'd entered a trance before muttering, "I knew it. The fayth really are messed up with Spira plunged into darkness."

"Yunie?" Rikku asked.

As an answer, Yuna clenched the white sphere in her hand and it vanished. Orbs bearing the images of stars surrounded her before purple and blue light flared up from the ground, sending the orbs into the sky. The half Al-Bhed raised her pistols into the air above her head, and the light shifted into orange and yellow and pulsed, emitting numerous white and golden lights like cherry blossoms and flower petals into the air around her. Both pistols vanished into orbs of purple light, and Yuna's clothes transitioned seamlessly from her trendy and tantalizing outfit into a plain white top with detached hanging sleeves and a long purple skirt that reached her ankles. Around her middle was a very wide yellow band with decorative green and blue embroidery, tied into a bow at her back. A long blue and red handled staff with a golden loop, containing a design of what could be three teardrops, on top formed in her hands.

Tidus and Rikku stopped and stared, whereas Yuna nodded to herself as she looked at the staff in her hands, as if she had known that this was going to happen. Without a word she turned around and came back to Sora on sandaled feet. "I'm ready."

Sora nodded and looked back at the wound on Yuffie's side. "Curaga."

"Curaga."

"Cura."

"Curagun."

"Cura."

The multitude of healing spells wound together, creating a bouquet of green flowers and vines over the girl's chest. Their magical roots seeped into Yuffie's flesh, burying deep into the cut. The top foliage faded, and the bleeding stopped as the roots took hold as green light and knitted Yuffie's tissues back together. Only a razor-thin scar remained.

"Let's get her to the Infirmary," Olette said. "She'll need to rest."

"Riku, you can put her on Nebulus and walk with me," Naminé said. She turned and sighed. "Sora, why don't you and the others go on ahead."

Sora gave Naminé a slight smile and nodded. He appreciated the gesture. His heart wasn't giving him any misgivings, but after this he wanted to make sure that Kairi was safe with his own eyes. Sora placed a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder as the older teen laid Yuffie on Nebulus' saddle. "She's a tough girl Riku, she'll pull through alright."

"Yeah," Riku breathed. "Yeah, she'll… she'll be fine."

Riku stared hard at Sora, and even though Sora had his helmet on and his face was completely obscured he knew that they were looking each other in the eye. "Does she know?" Riku shook his head.

"I haven't told her yet."

"Might want to work on that," advised Sora. He turned around, tearing his eyes away from Yuffie's pale face in the torchlight, and quickly jogged down the corridor.

-A-D-

_Bing!_

Kairi flinched as the sound invaded her sleep, drawing her from the depths of the comforting void of a dreamless sleep and into the world where her body throbbed with pain.

_Bing!_

She opened her eyelids, only to close them again and wince as the light uncomfortably streamed into them. Something was on her chest, and it took a few seconds for Kairi to remember that it was the black-furred kitten that had followed Roxas out of the market. Kairi's head physically ached, her chest ached, both her arms ached with her left one sending sharp spasms of pain from anywhere near the fracture, and the front right quarter of her brain was throbbing with a headache.

_Bing!_

"Uh…" Kairi groaned. "What's that sound?"

"Oh Kairi you're awake!" Luinmon said, bounding onto the princess' bed and coming to a stop near her head. "Someone's trying to break in and capture you."

Kairi let out another moan. "Urg, of all the stupid… why?"

"He said he was going to take you to Maleficent," Agatha answered, kneeling down so that she was at Kairi's level. "Are you alright Your Highness? Can I get you anything?"

Kairi smiled slightly and pushed herself into a sitting position. The kitten jumped off her, startled by the sudden movement of his bed made of Kairi's breasts. "No matter how many times I say it you aren't going to stop treating me like royalty are you?"

"Of course not," the servant returned with a smile. "It's my job, and I'm also asking as a loyal subject and friend, Kairi."

"Hm, well, I guess you could tell me where that big ice thing came from," Kairi suggested.

Agatha swelled with pride. "Oh, I made that. It's been keeping us safe from Clair—"

Her words were cut off as the ice barrier suddenly shattered into a thousand pieces. Standing behind the broken and falling ice was a woman arrayed in dark armour bearing a runed greatsword.

"You come with me, Princess," she declared, her voice hollow and unnatural.

"No," Agatha whispered. "No, there's no way you could have made it past him. Where's Garda?"

Fear unlike any Kairi had ever known entered the girl's heart at the servant's words. _Master Garda… lost? No. No, I refuse to believe that! I'm the only one who has ever beaten him before, and that was because he'd accepted defeat after melted Cho'kal. I never beat _him_._

"What have you done with him?" Kairi asked, trembling.

The woman didn't answer.

Closing her eyes as pain, anger, and uncertainty tore into her heart, Kairi clenched her right fist. She had no way of knowing if she could trust this woman's response, but it left her with a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Luinmon!"

"Luinmon digivolve to, Menelmon!"

"Ice Feathers!" shouted the Rookie, snapping her wings at the woman. She swept her arm across her body, knocking the ice-laced feathers away. She began advancing towards the bed.

"Deep Freeze!" Agatha called, a rush of cold air spewing out of her hands as Menelmon launched another volley of feathers. The woman walked unflinchingly through it, the frost that was forming on her armour cracking and breaking with every step she took, and the feathers of Menelmon bouncing off the plate armour covering her.

The Dragon Knight summoned Crowning Flame into her right hand and jumped off the bed, the adrenaline coursing through her masking the pain. Fire covered her Keyblade and Kairi spun around, bringing her blade towards the woman's midriff in a powerful slash.

The woman countered with an equally powerful parry, her great greatsword flying up in a golf swing to deflect Kairi's strike. Kairi hissed as her body was now tormented by differing momentums. Half of her wished to continue in her spin, while her right arm was flung across her body, forcing the other half to halt.

The woman took full advantage of Kairi's moment of vulnerability and grasped the girl's left arm in the sling with the full force of her gauntleted hand. Pain exploded into Kairi's brain and everything else was washed away. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to howl in agony and plead for mercy or for Sora to come and rescue her, but the pain overrode everything else and the tiniest gasp of surprise escaped a mouth open in an otherwise soundless cry. She couldn't even close her eyes. The touch on her arm was like burning ice.

"You're Maleficent's now," the woman told her.

"Hey! Who are you?" the man who had come in behind the woman asked. "Wait a sec, I recognize you, you look like this girly I used to SHAG!"

"Deciding Swing!"

"Shine your Radiant Light, Cosmos!"

Kairi used every ounce of will she had to look towards the light, seeing Ohtarmon slamming his mace at the man who'd spoken, and Remembrance radiating with such brilliance that it made Kairi's eyes water. The man leapt away from Ohtarmon's attack and at the wall, where a portal of darkness had appeared the instant before he would have broken his nose against the stone.

Armoured Sora was now carrying a new Keyblade that bore a resemblance to the Kingdom Key, and he lunged towards the woman who now wrenched her arm away from Kairi's. A horribly non-paralyzing pain now exploded in her body and Kairi collapsed. The strength to remain standing was completely gone from her legs. Crowning Flame vanished in a sparkle of white light as Agatha placed her arms around Kairi's shoulders and Menelmon and the cat stood defensively in front of her.

"Coward," the woman muttered, looking towards where her companion had fled. She looked past Sora and saw all the others entering the room. Glaring hard at the helmeted head of the Keyblade Master she nearly spat the words, "We shall meet again," before a portal of darkness enveloped her.

Sora dropped his Keyblade and ripped his helmet off before kneeling on the ground in front of Kairi. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Kairi sniffed, blinking tears of pain away. "No Sora I'm not okay," she mumbled. "I'm in pain, I have no idea whether my Master's alive or dead, and I was almost taken to Maleficent again out of nowhere, and we don't know what she'll do to me or any of us this time, and that woman scares the life out of me. I'm far from alright." She looked up at Sora's anxious face. "But you're still here with me, so I guess I'll hold on."

Sora's arms wrapped tenderly around her, and Kairi pressed her one good arm against his back. She melted into that hug and let it take away all of her shudders. "Garda will be alright," Sora whispered to her, "Yuna and Olette are tending to him. We'll get her for that, don't worry."

Kairi sighed and closed her eyes. For now, in Sora's strong and safe embrace, she felt like she could believe his words. She almost couldn't believe it as she thought of it, Sora had his Shikai too!

"So what did you do to get your Shikai?" she asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"What did you have to do to learn the Kingdom Key's name?" Kairi asked again. "I had to get super drunk, then purge all the alcohol from my system with fire, and then fight a giant wolfish Heartless to learn Alcezeran's name."

"I kissed Dawn," a different voice—Riku's, Kairi realized—said. Kairi didn't open her eyes in surprise. Riku too. She could believe in her hope, it was almost too good to be true. Nothing was going to stop them, nothing.

Sora chuckled and Kairi opened her eyes finally, pulling back to look at him with a pout on her face. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Boy you guys had it rough," he laughed. "Going through a battle and having to kiss Dawn. Oh boy…"

Kairi grimaced and lightly whacked his armoured shoulder with her good hand. "Well what'd you do to learn Cosmos' name Mr. Smarty-pants?"

Sora chuckled again. "All I did was ask."

It took a few seconds, but a disbelieving smile broke onto her face and she hugged him again. The voices of women singing entered her mind, and Kairi didn't push them away.

_I believe together we'll fly,  
I believe in the power of you and I._

-A-D-

_So that's the end of the Zeus Cup. Sora gets to be an Olympian for a day in the next chap, and then the world-hopping commences once more._

_Speculation time!_

_BBS Volume II: disappointed that the 'mystery game' announced by Nomura when KH:3D was announced isn't KH3, but still looking forward to the title. I mean, it's Aqua. She's the best thing that's happened to Kingdom Hearts since Sora and Riku's Limit: Eternal Session. Plus, since Nomura also said that there's no way that it would be KH3 because they need more time, that can be read (as my beta eloquently put it) as 'we need more time to make it badass as fuck'. I speculate that unlike the 3 stories that were in BBS Volume I there will be 4: Aqua's, King Mickey's, Riku's, and Kairi's._

_Aqua's story picks up where the Secret Episode leaves off, with her finding the RoD version of Castle of Dreams, and follows through her wanderings in the Realm of Darkness, until she meets DiZ roughly at the end of KH2 (assuming Ansem the Wise meant that by knowing Sora a year, perhaps more, that he'd known him since Naminé put him in the pod)._

_King Mickey's story follows his journeys in the RoD, from finding the Dark Realm's Keyblade (Kingdom Key D), to when he and Riku managed to get together in Castle Oblivion._

_Riku's story follows his shadowy exploits in KH1, to working with DiZ and Naminé during 358/2 Days, then shadowing Sora, Donald, and Goofy (possibly with Naminé, since the last we see of her before she rescues Kairi is Riku taking her with him in a corridor of darkness), and 'watching over' Kairi throughout KH2 until she gets to Twilight Town, and then back to shadowing Sora until they all meet up at the Castle That Never Was_

_Kairi's story picks up at the end of KH2. When Sora and Riku are summoned by King Mickey to do their Mark of Mastery Exam, either he or someone else sends another letter to her, or some weird stuff starts happening, or her heart just tells her that she has to go, and Kairi somehow makes it to Twilight Town (maybe Pluto took her?) and meets up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. She feels compelled to go to the Old Mansion, and something to do with Naminé goes down. Hopefully Kairi gets a bit of an adventure of her own while Sora and Riku are off being tested in whatever demented way the test goes in KH:3D._

_And my justification that Kairi's thing at the mansion happens after KH2 is this: when was there ever time for her to go to the Old Mansion with HP&O? Never! She and Pluto showed up in the Usual Spot, and stayed there as she told them her story until Axel came and nabbed her. That scene HAS to take place after KH2! It's gotta be! Plus, I'm just too excited at the prospect of Kairi taking another level in badass and finally becoming a more active character rather than the wall-flower damsel in distress who provides motivation to Sora but doesn't do _too_ much else. She gained a level when she jumped down about twenty feet, got a Keyblade from Riku, and unflinchingly waded into a sea of Heartless and took out several (we saw two in cutscene, but probably took out more in the time it took Sora, Donald, and Goofy to get up to her and Riku)._

_And I still think that Kairi/Aqua/Lightning would be female trio of supreme ass-kicking awesomeness, but Lightning could be substituted for Naminé and, if it has to happen, Aqua could be booted out for Xion and then all three Kairi's could form a team! I heard a silly speculation once that Sora's goal is to make a party of five consisting entirely of himself:_

_Sora - the Hero__  
__Roxas - the Lancer__  
__Ventus - the Big Guy__  
__Xion - the Chick  
Vanitas – the Psycho  
(Thanks to Krystal Lily Potter on substituting Vanitas – the Psycho in for Data Sora – The Smart Guy)_

_Anyway, that's my speculation. Now we just have to wait for forever like we always do. God, I love and hate Square._

_Oh, and the song doesn't need to be told to any Canadian, but for those of you who aren't, it's 'I Believe' by Nikki Yanofsky. It pretty much became Canada's second national anthem around this time last year when it became the CTV Olympics song, so it became the Canadian Olympic Anthem, and played on CTV every time we CREAMED the Yanks and took Fourteen Golds! FOURTEEN! After having never won a gold medal at home, we broke the most gold medals at a Winter Olympics record! And I don't care what you Americans say if you're going to argue that you broke the record for most overall medals at 37, IOC counts Olympic Victory by Gold Medal count, which we OWNED._

_Forgive me, I'm very proud of how we did at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, in case the previous Author's Notes about them weren't obvious enough. LUUUU-OOONNGOO! SIDNEY CROSBY! THE GOLDEN GOAL!_

_(Play the Coke Commercial where the text says "NOW THEY KNOW WHOSE GAME THEY'RE PLAYING")_

_And the nation rejoiced!_

_Oh, and have a good Super Bowl Weekend everybody! Go Packers!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	53. Godhood and the Ninth

_I'm still somewhat freaking out over everything that Square is doing. And just a healthy reminder, this fic acts as if Days didn't exactly happen and I already told my different version of BBS back in __**Origins**__. There's no Xion unless I want to include her in a different role than what she plays in the canon._

_Also, every once in a while I get somewhat tired of the things that keep popping up on my already subscribed lists and I go on a hunt for new fanfiction to read. My search this time has led me to four such fanfics that I heartily encourage you to read. __**Kingdom Hearts: Looming Darkness**__ by __**Shadow Horizons**__, __**Princess of Heart: A Kairi Story**__, by __**LobaLu**__, __**Xion's Blog of Literature and Philosophy**__ by __**Mademoiselle Anime Amour**__, and __**Milk and Marshmallows**__ by __**Redeeming Endeavor**__. They're all really good and I think that you'd all think so too. __**Mademoiselle **__also wrote a very good Rikuffie/Yuriku story titled __**Collide**__, after the Howie Day song._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 53: Godhood and the Ninth

_0445hrs, Sunday, November 30__th__, 2003  
Olympus Coliseum,  
Sora_

Bumps in the night didn't normally wake Sora. Ask any one of his friends, or even him, and they would tell you that he slept like a dead rock. Almost nothing could wake him until his body said that he'd slept enough to be at least semi-functional (even though he'd disagree almost every time) except for someone shouting in his ear, shining an ungodly bright light into his eyes, or dousing him with a bucket of cold water; anything less _might_ wake him, but he'd refuse to acknowledge it and drop into sleep again after a few seconds.

So it was so peculiar that a soft knocking on his door in the middle of the night woke him. Such a small noise would normally never have been able to rouse him, yet here he was, his eyes flying wide open and his mind wide awake.

The knocking on the door came again and Sora sat straight up, hearing Roxas sitting up in the next bed over. The two brothers shared a room, just as all the other teams for the tournament had, regardless of gendre make-up. Aside from the last reverberations of the knocking and the sudden sounds of their movement (as well as Aiwemon's and Roxas' cat's nearly inaudible breathing), the room was deathly loud with the sound of silence.

"Sora, you awake?" Roxas whispered.

"Yeah, you?"

It was a pointless question he knew, but it was one that was ingrained in every brain to ask.

"Yeah." Roxas was quiet for a second or two, and then whispered again, "Who's at the door?"

"Dunno."

Another three knocks. The soft metallic sound of the doorknob being turned now entered Sora's ears and he quieted his breathing. Warning buzzers were going off in his brain and he resisted the urge to summon Remembrance. He knew that if anyone was going to attack them in the middle of the night that there was no way that they would have announced their presence by doing something like knocking on their door.

The door opened fully, and Hermes entered the room with Hercules striding in behind him. The god emanated with his sparkly blue aura of godhood, the light coming from him just bright enough to cast a dim blue light around the room and reveal that Sora and Roxas were both awake and sitting up.

"Good, you're awake," Hermes whispered.

"Ready to go boys?" Hercules asked. "You get the second half of your prize today." Hercules stopped suddenly as his eyes shifted from Sora's face towards his shirtless body. "Sora," he gasped in a hushed voice (it was still very early in the morning), "what happened to your arm?"

An unbidden jolt of fear rushed down Sora's spine and he bolted out of bed. "Long story," he said briskly, grasping at a t-shirt and his black long-sleeved jacket and full gloves, "don't want to talk about it." He placed all three on in quick succession in the dim light, so that only a few seconds had passed since Hercules and Hermes had seen his automail limb before it was safely out of their sight in its entirety.

"Whatever you say, Sora," said Hercules, rubbing the back of his head and looking away from Sora, appearing uncomfortable. Sora kept his eyes averted from his friend. It was because of that very reaction that he tried to keep his automail hidden as much as possible from everyone but his closest friends. Great power may dwell inside him, but on the outside he was still human, he still looked like your everyday person. He was very grateful to Winry and Pinako Rockbell for making the limb so that he could be fully functional once again, and the metal arm had a large number of advantages, but…

The automail marked him as different; marked him as something not completely human. That's where his fears lay, that people would regard him not as some_one_, but as some_thing_.

"The second half of our prize?" Roxas asked, tossing the covers off of his bed and going to get his shirt and vest. "You mean the part where we get to become gods?"

"That's right kid," Hermes chuckled as Aiwemon stirred and the black-furred kitten woke with a wide yawn. "Zeus was telling the truth when he told Phil that he'd make the winners gods for a day, and today's your lucky day boys."

Sora put a smile on his face at the reminder. To be counted amongst the Olympians for a day! That was really the prize he'd wanted. The munny was nice, but to become a god was unequalled. He'd wondered occasionally the previous day why he had asked Phil to speed everything up to occurring on one day of competition instead of just dropping out entirely, and he'd always come to, _Hey,_ _if I win, I'll be an Olympian god for a whole day! That is too good to pass up._

Hercules looked back up at Sora in the dim light coming off of Hermes. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked, a smile coming back onto his handsome face. "After that victory ceremony yesterday after cleaning up some of the mess from those monsters and the Heartless, I'd have thought that you two wouldn't even be able to get any sleep tonight."

"Who do you think we are," Roxas joked, "kids at Christmas? Well you'd be right, I feel like a kid at Christmas."

"You've never celebrated a Christmas before Chocobo-head," Sora shot at him.

"Yeah I did," Roxas retorted. "We had Christmas that one time in the Organization."

"Sora what's going on?" Aiwemon asked tiredly, rubbing his sleepy eyes with a wing.

The brunet Keyblade Master smiled and went to his digimon partner, the bird snuggled underneath the covers on one corner of the bed. "Nothing Aiwë, Roxas and I are just going to get the second half of our prize."

The bird digimon blinked wearily. "Okay, I'll just go back to sleep then. Have a good time."

"See you later," said Sora, tucking his partner back in. He glanced over at Roxas' bed. The kitten was now wide awake and looking at both him and Roxas with its slanted golden eyes. As soon as his eyes made contact with her, for she was really a she, the kitten elicited a soft "mreow" and stood up before hopping off the bed and padding softly up to Roxas' legs. Both boys looked at the kitten in amusement for a second before quietly leaving the room with Hermes and Hercules, leaving the door open _just_ a crack so that Aiwemon could get out easier when he woke up.

"Anyway, then how come I don't have your memory of that?"

"I didn't share it with you Hedgehog-head," answered Roxas.

"Why? Embarrassed about something?" Sora teased. He placed his hands behind his back as Roxas' kitten bounded ahead of them down the hallway before pausing and looking back at the four. The stars and half-waxed moon were still visible outside past the marble columns. "Let's see, Christmastime last year. I was asleep then, so that meant that Larxene and the others were gone. DiZ was having Naminé act as a spy for him in the Organization… did Axel get you two drunk on spiked eggnog and have you kiss under the mistletoe?"

"We didn't get drunk and we did have a kiss under the mistletoe, actually since Naminé was the only girl again she ended up giving four of us kisses, but that's not the reason why I didn't share my memories of Christmas with you," Roxas finished quickly. "It was to save you from wallowing in the horror."

"What horror?" Sora scoffed. Hermes raised his feet up suddenly as the kitten pounced at his ankles, trying to catch the wings on his sandals.

Roxas' face grew pale despite the kitten's playful antics and Sora felt that his mind was now completely shut off to him. Even stray thoughts that Roxas didn't mean to project weren't reaching his own consciousness. "You don't want to know," the blond whispered.

"Aw come on, it can't be _that_ bad."

"You want a hint? Okay, here's a hint. It involves Luxord, Xigbar, Axel, Demyx, mistletoe, a cold fresh fish, cards, and some of Larxene's leftover, uh… unmentionables filched from her room, and that's as far as this train is going."

Sora frowned in disgust. "Okay, now I _don't_ want to know."

"Told you."

"Would one of you get this fur ball away from me?" Hermes asked, dodging the kitten again.

-A-D-

They snuck into Naminé's room and left the kitten there before sneaking back out, being careful not to wake either sleeping blonde. Agatha was taking up Kairi's bed, since the redhead was still in the infirmary.

"What happens if the cat jumps on Naminé?" Sora asked Roxas.

"Then she has to deal with her," he answered, shrugging in an I-don't-care way.

Hercules and Hermes quickly led them out of Elysium and onto the mountain path. They stopped just out of sight of the gates to the heroes resort and stood still. Hercules whistled. Sora glanced at Roxas. It was still dark out, and the wind this high up was cold and uncaring. The Keyblade Master realized that the air on this path was far different from inside the Coliseum grounds or inside of Elysium. In those two places it was always comfortably warm and pleasant, but out here, the elements were fickle and real.

The wind blew by, stinging Sora's face slightly with the slap of cold. He turned his eyes away from the silhouette of Roxas and looked instead at Hercules and Hermes, eyeing the glowing god and the demigod. "Why did we stop? What are we waiting for?"

Herc raised a hand above his eyes, and the neigh of a horse reached their ears. He turned around, smiling through the darkness of the night. "It's time," he told them. "Don't be shocked."

_Huh?_ Roxas asked Sora as the two of them looked at each other. Pegasus then flew over them from behind and almost immediately afterwards a bolt of lightning struck the ground between the pair's legs. Sora futilely threw his arms up to shield his eyes from the intense glace of the electricity, hearing and feeling Roxas' shock at the thunderbolt as clearly as his own. Something fluffy brushed against Sora's pants and he permitted his eyes to open a fraction. They flew open completely when he realized that he and Roxas were standing on a cloud!

"Roxas, we're on a cloud," he said. No sooner had his twin gasped and opened his eyes than the cloud started moving, and at a rapid pace. For a moment Sora feared that he'd lose his balance and fall off, but he felt nothing at all, like he was standing completely at rest in a calm field.

"Whoa," the blond muttered as the cloud carried them higher. Hermes darted up above them, rising at a faster pace.

"You know, I wish I had a mirror to show you the looks on your faces," he told them, the wings on his sandals flapping rapidly.

A familiar laugh filled the air and Sora turned his head again, seeing Hercules flying next to them on Pegasus' back. "How's this for knowing that you'll never be called a Junior Hero again?"

"Never again?" Sora asked. Hercules nodded his head in the affirmative and Sora laughed. His laugh caught in his throat and his eyes began to tear up as bright golden light streamed into them as they soared through the clouds covering the top of Mount Olympus. In front of them was a brightly polished golden gate set upon the clouds, with the light of heaven filling up the sky behind it. The gates opened for them and Hermes, Pegasus, and the cloud carrying Sora and Roxas soared through.

_This is awesome_, Roxas remarked as he and Sora looked around in awe. The buildings and entire environment in this place consisted entirely of clouds. It looked like one large cloud-created paradise, floating in the skies above the mountain.

_This is the home of the gods,_ Sora thought to himself, _and I'm among them._ Excitement and humility surged in Sora's heart. Despite everything that he'd done to save the worlds twice and the elation and sheer high that came from besting Riku in the tournament, he felt like he wasn't worthy to be up this high.

That worry was swept away as gods and goddesses in flaming chariots bore down upon them, shouting cheers of joy and hailing the victors of the Zeus Cup with enthusiasm. Sora waved back at all of them, shouting in greeting to the pantheon. The sky was filled with birds and flowers rained down on his and Roxas' shoulders, a few of them even getting stuck onto the purple cape on Roxas' back.

The cloud carried them towards a temple pavilion at the very crest of Olympus, and Zeus stood there waiting for them with the beautiful Hera by his side. Both of them radiated with warmth and light. Pegasus touched down and Hercules hopped off of his friend's back just as the cloud set down and vanished. The ground beneath Sora's feet was spongy, and he took a couple of steps around, staring at his feet the whole time. He was literally walking on a cloud.

_This is too cool,_ he thought.

_You said it bro,_ Roxas answered, a gleeful smile on his face.

Zeus' booming voice filled their ears as the King of the gods spoke to them, the 'Key Masters' snappily looking up to look at their host's face. "Welcome boys!" he said with a great smile on his face. "Welcome to Olympus. I trust the trip wasn't too rough."

"Well, Roxas' kitten did try and bite the wings from Hermes' sandals," Sora said, snickering at his twin even though it was completely out of the blond's hands, "But it was a great ride."

"Can we fly aloud on a cloud again?" Roxas asked, his eyes lighting up.

Zeus and the gods and goddesses around him chuckled. "All that and more shortly," Hera said. "As Zeus promised, we shall elevate you to godhood until midnight tonight. You will have nineteen uninterrupted hours of being gods and we shall count you amongst us until the end of time and our power reaches its end. Use these hours wisely, and enjoy them fully."

"Awesome," Roxas said. He turned and shared a high-five with Sora.

"Before we begin," Zeus said, "you must both first choose a discipline."

Sora frowned and he began to wonder what Zeus meant. "A discipline?"

"What do you mean?" asked Roxas.

"Even being a god does not mean that you are all-powerful," Zeus said. "I can no more forge my own bolts of lightning than Ares can knit a sweater."

"It's true," the God of War admitted when nearly everyone looked at him. "I tried once. It didn't end well."

Sora picked over the words he spoke. "So, by a discipline, you mean what Roxas and I are going to be the gods of for a day?"

"Correct Sora," Hera said with a pleased smile. "Zeus is God of the Heavens, of storms and thunder and lightning. I'm Goddess of Women and Marriage. Poseidon is the Lord of the Seas and God of Horses. Hades is the God of the Dead. Ares, the God of War. Aphrodite is Goddess of Love and Lust. Dionysus is the God of Wine and Ecstasy. Hestia is Goddess of the Hearth and Home. Athena is Goddess of Warfare, Wisdom, Justice and Crafts. What will you and Roxas be?"

Sora paused and lost himself in thought. This wasn't a decision that he could make on a whim. Well, he could make it on a whim and have a blast, like he could become the God of Go-Karting and simply dominate, but that didn't really have any sort of meaning to it.

_Hm, I guess I never really thought about it before,_ he thought. _I'm becoming a god for a day, but, what am I really going to do? I'm sure that the gods do their duties to uphold the balance of the worlds and listen to and answer prayers from time to time, but what would I—_

"I want to be God of Ice Cream," Roxas said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts.

Sora looked at his twin incredulously as Zeus and Hercules laughed loudly. "Roxas, if that is what you wish, then the God of Ice Cream you shall be," Zeus told him. He raised his hands, and all the other gods and goddesses followed suit. In one moment all of their hands and fingers pulsed with the same light that they sparkled with, and Roxas said, "Whoa!" and lurched back a bit as his body suddenly became enveloped in a white glow. His skin radiated with inner light, and his spiked hair became a lighter shade of blond similar to Naminé's. His clothes and cape glistened with the light, and Roxas couldn't help but look at the glow surrounding his hands in wonder.

Roxas held out his right hand, and a bar of sea-salt ice cream suddenly appeared within it with an explosion of snowflakes. A huge smile came onto Roxas' face and he said, "This is awesome," before placing his mouth over the ice cream bar. "Mmm," he moaned, closing his eyes and melting. "This is the best ice cweam I've ever had."

Sora couldn't help but laugh. "You look ridiculous."

"Shut up Hedgehog-head. I've got ice cream and you don't. I win."

"Well Sora," Hercules started, attracting the brunet's attentions, "what about you?"

Ignoring Roxas' moans of contentment, Sora scratched the back of his head. "I don't know. There's almost nothing that I can see myself doing as a god that I wouldn't already be doing as I am now. I'd just go back to fighting the Heartless alongside my friends and trying to bring peace to the worlds."

"Ah, but there lies the problem," Athena said, her owl Bubo glancing up at her, "gods, even temporary gods, should not interfere _directly_ in the affairs of mortals."

"Hmph," Ares huffed. "Didn't stop you from wounding me at Troy."

"My dear brother, that was Diomedes, not me," Athena quickly countered.

"You were with him and guided his spear," Ares shot back.

"And you, my son, were personally guaranteeing the Trojans' successes that day," Hera interjected. "We could not stand by and allow it."

"Yet you stood by and allowed that mortal to wound my arm," said Aphrodite.

"I had just cause," replied Ares, his voice rising, "for he attacked Apollo."

"PEACE!" bellowed Zeus. "Many of us did many things both directly and indirectly in that war. If we were to bring up every transgression it would bring war upon us as surely as it nearly did then. Let's put it all behind us." Grumbling, the Olympians assented.

"This happen often?" Roxas asked Hercules, pausing from suckling his ice cream.

"More than you'd like to know," answered the son of Zeus.

"As I had been saying, Sora," spoke Athena. "We, and you, should not _directly_ interfere with the activities and happenings of mortals. However, that does not mean that we cannot influence events to happen in ways that are more pleasing to us."

"What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"You're a true hero!" Dionysus cheered, raising his wine-filled goblet, and slopping a little on his toga. "You deserve more!" Sora looked at him blankly.

"I—I _am_ a true hero?" he asked incredulously, looked between Hercules and Zeus.

"Yes Sora," said the King of the Gods. "For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart. And there are few men alive today who have hearts as strong as yours."

Sora blinked a couple of times as the weight of that sunk in. "But, I don't understand. I mean, I kinda knew that you thought of me as a hero when you rearranged our perception of the stars to give me, Donald, and Goofy our own constellation, but a _true_ hero like Hercules? How, when did I—?"

"You have been a true hero since before Castle Oblivion Sora," Poseidon told him. Sora looked at him incredulously and he laughed. "Yes, we know all about it."

"You gave your life to save not only the life of the girl you love, but everyone else in the realm of light," said Hera. "For that act of valourous courage alone, you are in every way a true hero."

"And, if you should permit us, if you cannot think of a discipline for yourself, I should like to make you, Sora, the God of Hope," Zeus said. "Your own strength will suffer, for you are very powerful on your own, but your heart's great light will be easier for everyone around you to see. For the remainder of today, everywhere you go your heart will inspire all those who listen to the light in their hearts to act upon their feelings and be honest with themselves. Wherever you go, people will gain strength and courage and the will to do what is just and right. Is this something that you would choose to be your power as an Olympian for a day?"

Sora smiled and bowed his head as his mind ran over Zeus' words. "Yes, very much."

And it was done.

-A-D-

_0730hrs  
Kairi_

"I'm fine, let me out of bed!"

"You're not fine Yuffie, so you're staying in bed."

"I'm completely healed Riku! I'm fine!"

"Just rest Yuffie," Naminé pleaded in an attempt to appease the ninja. "You went through a lot yesterday and Riku was really worried about you."

"I said that I'm fine," Yuffie grumbled. "And I was fine yesterday when I woke up."

"You only felt fine because we poured so much healing magic into you," Naminé answered. "You were losing a lot of blood fast. It was the only way to save you."

Kairi stroked the head of the black kitten that was on her lap as she watched Yuffie argue with both Riku and Naminé. The redhead was still in pain from the previous day's events, but she was feeling much better about herself today than she had when Morgana broke through Agatha's ice shield to take her away. Her former master was sitting up on another bed a little ways away. He hadn't been too badly injured by the death knight, but the frost fever she'd infected him with had taken enough of a toll to allow her to knock him out. He was still stinging from the loss, but the last traces of the fever were gone thanks to an esuna spell from Yuna.

"Whatever," Yuffie retorted, flinging the white sheets off of her body, "I'm getting up. I'm not sitting around in a bed all day." The words had hardly left her mouth when her legs started to sway beneath her. Riku quickly caught her before she could fall. "Whoa…" she mumbled woozily, one hand now going to her head, "that didn't feel quite right."

"You lost a lot of blood Yuffie," Riku told her. "Stay in bed or you're going to pass out."

She chuckled weakly. "I guess you're right Riku," she said, allowing the silver-haired teen to lower her back onto the bed. She kissed him right before her head would have touched her pillow, and they started to whisper in voices that Kairi couldn't hear.

Menelmon glanced at Kairi with a small smile on her face. "I'm glad we're all still mostly okay," she said, snuggling her head against Kairi's cheek. Kairi giggled as the soft feathers tickled her nose slightly, and the kitten looked up at her and the bird digimon, eyeing Menelmon intently. Menelmon hopped up onto Kairi's shoulder to put a little more distance between herself and the cat, and Kairi laughed again.

"Well _you_ may be okay Menelmon," Kairi said, "but _I've _still got all of these injuries."

Naminé sighed. "I'm sorry that I can't do more Kairi," she said apologetically, looking at the arm that was now in a cast instead of a sling, as well as eyeing the redheaded princess' chest, which was wrapped in tight bandages to help keep her two cracked and two bruised ribs somewhat steady. A couple of band-aids were on the left side of her face, covering up the scabs that she would otherwise pick at. Kairi knew that she really shouldn't pick at scabs because it just caused the wounds to open again and risked scarring, but she couldn't help it, they _itched_!

"It's cool," she said. She laughed a bit. "Maybe Sora will heal me when he gets back from being on Mount Olympus and turned into a god, or maybe I'll just decide to keep them. After all, it was a highlight." Kairi smiled and turned to look at her former master, who was lying on his bed against the wall with his back and head propped up comfortably with pillows. "I still can't believe it, you summoned a Stone Golem and I beat it! And Naminé, you knighted me! If anything this broken arm will remind me of what I did and what I got, even though I'll be left behind for a few days for it to heal."

"A few days?" Garda asked her.

"Magic enhanced healing," Naminé replied. "We've had broken bones before, and casting spells early on and taking potions throughout the healing process has decreased the amount of time we need to take recuperating."

"What all do you do?" asked the Chief Guardian, interested.

"Cure and potions," Riku answered. "Cure at the start and potions throughout, even though potions taste like crap."

Clouds suddenly burst into existence in front of them, and faded away. Sora and Roxas were revealed standing where the clouds were, Roxas glowing with white light and Sora with golden radiance. His brown hair looked red with the gold light suffused in it. Kairi felt her heart lifting suddenly at the sight of her boyfriend, and a warm smile couldn't be kept from her face for any love of munny.

"Hey baby," she called. "Come to mingle with mortals like little old me?"

"I wouldn't call it mingling," Sora replied, smiling at her and striding towards her bedside. "I'd like to call it fraternizing."

Kairi leaned forward as Sora placed his hands, his _warm_, godly hands, around the back of her head and she kissed him. Everything seemed right, and she moaned into the kiss. "I like fraternizing," she mumbled, smiling still before their lips met for another kiss.

"Naminé," she heard Roxas say, "you _have_ to come with me. I've got something amazing to show you."

"Sure," Naminé replied, "but what were you two doing on Olympus?"

Sora pulled back from Kairi but didn't turn his head in Naminé's direction, preferring to stroke Kairi's cheek with his glowing hand. Her skin tingled at the touch, and she felt giddy all over. She'd just been kissed, _twice_, by a _god_ in every sense of the word. It was all she could do to keep herself from giggling like a gossiping schoolgirl. "We were cloud racing," Sora said in answer to Naminé's question.

"Cloud racing?" Menelmon asked. "What's cloud racing?"

"Soaring through the sky on clouds," Roxas answered excitedly, "bashing into each other and crashing into each other and throwing our Keyblades at each other. It was awesome, and I won."

"I let you win," Sora replied with a smile, glancing at Roxas.

"No you didn't. Just admit it Sora, I won."

Kairi laughed slightly and pressed her right hand against Sora's cheek. He looked so handsome as a god, and she felt like she was falling in love with him all over again as he took her hand and clasped in between both of his. "I'm going to heal you," he said, and his body flared with growing energy. The spikes of his now brown-red hair flowed in the wind that he was creating, and Kairi gasped as she felt a pulse of energy flow into her body through her hand. It travelled down her arm, through her chest, and into the entirety of her body as it penetrated her blood stream through her heart. She was filled with warmth, overflowing with strength, and she melted a little bit to fall back into her pillows.

But she still ached everywhere there had been an ache before. Her ribs and arm and irritated face still jabbed at her with their respective pains. Pains that had lessened a bit, but were still there.

"Sora," Kairi started, still too overcome to be hesitant, "I don't think you did anything but jumpstart my heart."

"What?" Sora asked. "Here, let me try again."

"No, it's okay Sora," Kairi answered, opening her eyes and looking up at him as she now laid back on her bed. "I'm not dying, and everything will have healed in a few days anyway. I'll live with them. Go enjoy being a god for a day."

"But I want to stay here with you," Sora mumbled, taking some of her hair in his hand and nuzzling against it. Kairi couldn't help but laugh at the affectionate gesture. She really didn't want Sora to leave, but she also didn't want him to waste his hard-won temporary godhood.

"You'll get bored being with a bed-ridden princess all day," she told him.

"You mean you? Never," Sora promised, leaning in again. Kairi felt her breath catch in her throat. Her skin grew hot underneath Sora's touch, and she clutched the back of his head tightly, her fingers forming small knots in the strands of his hair. Her teeth rubbed against Sora's lips, her tongue grazed his. She could feel her muscles shuddering, and all sense of her surroundings was swept away. Her god-turned love was kissing her, and the mere sensation of it was beyond anything that they'd ever done before.

It was twelve seconds into the inflamed passion that the girl realized that they hadn't had the chance to make out and for her to make use of her elation to being with Sora again since they started their separate training. Kairi paused as a sobering thought came to her. Sora looked at her, confused, when she broke off the kiss and drew down and away from him. She held it back for a second before opening her mouth. "Go to the Underworld; it may be your last chance."

Sora pulled back and sat down on the bed, stroking Kairi's cheek with his gloved hand. "What?"

"You're a god today, so you could go to the Underworld and visit your mom, and our other friends from the islands who've died. I… I think they'd like that," she finished quietly.

She could tell that Sora's eyes were on her the whole time that he was silent. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Are you sure that you wouldn't like me to stay here with you?"

_No,_ she thought to herself, _I _would_ like you to stay._ But instead she smiled and said, "I'll be fine Sora. This may be your only chance to go and see her before we get caught up in everything again, so go. I know how much she meant to you. I'll still be here when you get back."

Then his arms were wrapped around her and drawing Kairi close. She smiled and inhaled Sora's scent, draping her right arm around his back. "Thanks Iri," he whispered. She smiled and broke off the hug.

"You're welcome," she said. Then she shoved him playfully with her right hand. "What are you standing around for? Get going you mamma's boy."

Sora chuckled. "All right, I'm going, I'm going." He vanished in a puff of clouds.

Kairi shook her head, still smiling like a buffoon. She looked around before turning her eyes back to Riku and Yuffie, who were chatting to each other. "Hey, where'd Roxas and Naminé go?"

"They vanished while you were making out with your god," Yuffie answered, grinning impishly at Kairi. She blushed.

"So what are we going to do then?" Menelmon asked. "Are we going to go out?" Kairi shook her head and looked up at the ninja.

"Yuffie, do you still have those cards from yesterday?" she asked.

Yuffie's grin only widened. "Why? Feel like asking who won the match between me and Sora yesterday?"

"Oh I can guess that he won," Kairi answered humourously. "He hasn't mentioned it yet, but I can guess that he won. Did he enjoy it?"

"I can assure without fear of contradiction that he did enjoy winning," Yuffie grumbled. "And I can assure you without fear of contradiction that I did _not_ completely enjoy losing. However, there are certain uh, _purchases_ at Cloti's Closet that you might like to make the next time that you're in Radiant Garden."

"What are you two talking about Kai?" Riku asked, glancing between his girlfriend and his best female friend.

"Girl stuff; it doesn't concern you Riku," Kairi answered. She turned back to Yuffie. "What sort of purchases?"

"Black with yellow cartoon chocobos," Yuffie answered.

Kairi's eyes widened. She did not expect that out of Yuffie. "A set? (Yuffie nodded) _Really_? (Yuffie gave her a look and Kairi reversed and changed what she was about to say) So… he thought they were C or S?"

"C," answered Yuffie. Kairi giggled, and this time the grumble left Yuffie and she started laughing too.

"Mind cluing me in here?" Riku asked again.

Kairi gave him a sardonically sympathetic look. "Think about it Riku. Sora and Yuffie did something in their fight that dealt with cards. Yuffie just told me about something that I should buy that Sora thought was cute, 'C'. You obviously haven't seen them yet because of your confusion, and I already said that we were talking girl stuff. Now put that superior intellect of yours to good use."

A couple of seconds passed before Riku groaned. "You played strip poker inside that sphere of night didn't you?" Riku asked rhetorically. "And Sora won. That's why you wanted to drink your eyes out last night, because he… Roxas and I fought our asses off and you two fooled around in front of everyone without any of us being the wiser. That douchebag's dead."

"You can't kill him Riku," Yuffie told him, smiling and placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's a god now."

"Not past midnight," Riku answered, slowly punching his left palm in a steady rhythm. "That douche is dead."

"Don't kill him Riku," Kairi said in amusement, shaking her head slowly.

"That douche is dead," replied Riku. There was a smile growing on Riku's face, and she knew in her heart that he was saying that just to be funny to himself.

Menelmon pressed her beak against Kairi's ear. "I think Riku's jealous," she whispered.

"Nah, he's just being himself," she answered. "Can you push our beds together Riku?" Kairi asked, sitting up again. "Yuffie, get ready for crazy eights." The black kitten was still on her bed, and climbed back into Kairi's lap. Garda was now reading a book, a smile on his face as he had listened to the teenagers' conversations. Riku pushed the beds together, and pushed another one close for himself to sit on. Menelmon hopped off of Kairi's shoulder and sat next to her to learn the game and take part herself.

"Why should we play crazy eights?" Yuffie asked as she shuffled. "My cards, I pick the game."

"Uh, I'm the most injured, _I_ pick the game," Kairi retorted.

Riku snorted. "I'm the guy, _I_ should pick the game."

"No strip poker!" Kairi and Yuffie told him simultaneously.

Riku smiled as his head shot off to the side like he'd been slapped. "Damn," he said, trying and failing to sound disappointed through a chuckle.

"I'll go with whatever," Menelmon announced.

"Here, how about we play Rock Paper Scissors to decide?" Yuffie asked, holding her fist out in front of her. Kairi nodded, smiling. She had an impressive record at Rock Paper Scissors, but now she had more than the usual tricks up her sleeve. Riku thrust his fist in and Kairi followed suit.

"Rock, Paper, Scis—"

Kairi did not say 'scissors' just as the other two were and revealing their hands and instead swept her hand up towards her head and pointed, "Princess," she substituted for 'scissors', pointing at an invisible imaginary tiara. "I win."

Yuffie gasped while Riku laughed. "No fair!" Yuffie wailed. "You cheat Your Highness!"

Kairi laughed as Yuffie started dealing cards to the four of them. "I love pulling rank."

-A-D-

_1220hrs_  
_The Great Maw Training Camp  
Lea_

"Alright," he bellowed across the field where sixty soldiers had just been practicing their magic, mostly by using fire against an array of targets as well as each other. "Class dismissed. Get back to your people and go for lunch in that way you soldier types always do." He flicked his wrist at them and the men and women from Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, Destiny Islands, and Disney Castle went off after replying, "Yes sir!"

Lea watched them all head off. He was dressed in his black cloak he'd worn back in the Organization. As much as he'd told Lexai that he wanted to get away from the past, he just couldn't part with the cloak. He had to admit, when it was in his wardrobe it was a fashion crime not to wear it.

"They're as ready as they'll ever be," he muttered to himself, hunching his shoulders against a wind that suddenly blew at his back. It was cold out here, and it was snowing again, but neither of those things bothered him as he rubbed his hands together. The snow didn't bother the soldiers here too much though. There was always so much activity going on in their restless anticipation to be off that most of the snow had already been packed down under the tromping boots or melted by bored magicians. Lea placed his hands wistfully on the back of his head. "Wish Roxas was here. Mushu can get annoying after a while."

"Somebody call for me?"

Lea whipped around and saw Roxas stepping out of a cloud. The blond former Nobody was glowing with white light, which astounded Lea, but he had to laugh when he saw Roxas suddenly shiver and flash with light, his black Organization cloak appearing over his body. Roxas drew the hood up, but it didn't completely veil his face in shadows.

"Brr," said the blond. "Maybe I should've picked this place for the party. It's colder here than in Twilight Town."

"Roxas!" Lea shouted happily. "What are you doing here? Why are you glowing? And what's this about a party? How come I wasn't invited? Cripes, some friend. I am the party man, got it memorized?"

Roxas just chuckled. "If you'd just hold back on the fireworks I'd be able to tell you that I'm here to take you to the party."

"Well then let's go," Lea declared, clapping his hands together. "So why are you glowing?"

With a smirk, Roxas waited until Lea was right beside him before answering. "Because I'm a Greek God for the rest of today," he said. Lea looked at him incredulously and Roxas laughed. Suddenly a cloud enveloped them, and Lea yelped in surprise.

When he opened his eyes it was to find himself standing on top of the station tower in Twilight Town. The familiar place brought memories to the forefront of Lea's mind as Roxas strode forward, switching out his Organization cloak for his regular vest and the cape that marked him as one of King Mickey's knights. "Back," Roxas said, "told you guys it would only take a second."

"Yeah, yeah, show off," said a voice. Lea looked and dropped the surprise on his face for detached coolness. Hayner, Pence, Olette, Naminé, and Naminé's handmaiden Agatha were all sitting on the edge of the tower, dressed casually and swinging their legs back and forth. The air was cool, but it wasn't nearly as cold as it had been in Radiant Garden.

"So who's this party for?" Lea asked, looking around curiously, "and what kinda party are we gonna have on this cramped hangout? And who's it for?"

"The party is for me, from me, and you're all invited because I'm an amazing god," Roxas answered, extending his arms dramatically.

Olette laughed airily. "Alright Roxas, so if you're such an awesome god for winning the tournament, what are you the god of?"

"I thought that you'd never ask 'lette," said Roxas. Lea quirked his eyebrow as Roxas hunched over dramatically, preparing himself to give a monumental declaration. "I am Roxas, God…of… ICE CREAM!" he roared, throwing his hands into the sky. Clouds merged overhead, blanketing the horizon, and ice cream bars of every flavour started to rain down from the clouds. Gigantic scoops of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, chocolate chip, bubblegum, blueberry, banana ripple, rocky road, tiger swirl, and any other imaginable flavour of ice cream plopped onto the ground, with chocolate syrup and a caramel drizzle. Banana slices whizzed into the scoops, and maraschino cherries dive-bombed the sundaes on the ground.

Lea felt like he'd died and gone to heaven. He even hugged Roxas before both of them leapt off the station tower and landed right in a giant scoop of sea-salt ice cream peppered in blueberries. Lea stuck out his hand and snatched a falling bar of the exact same ice cream out of the air before bringing it to his lips. This was complete bliss.

"I think I've finally found a god to worship," he declared, then bit into the ice cream bar.

-A-D-

"Sora," Zeus said with surprise as the young teenage god-for-a-day walked up to him as he sat in his throne, "what are you doing back here so soon?"

Sora glanced between Zeus and Hera before his cerulean eyes swept back to Zeus'. "I came to ask if I could borrow the Olympus Stone," he said.

Zeus' eyebrows creased together slightly in confusion as his smile slipped off of his face. The last time that Sora had need of the Olympus Stone, it was because Hades was up to no good. But this time, apart from the monsters and Heartless at the Coliseum, he hadn't really done anything besides being an annoyance. "Of course my boy," Zeus told the brunet, "but what on earth for?"

Sora cast his gaze down at his shoes and mumbled something that Zeus couldn't hear. "I'm sorry, you'll have to speak up. What did you say?"

The Keyblade Master's voice shook slightly as his words became barely audible. "I—I'd like to visit my mother."

Hera gave a slight gasp and placed a hand to her chest, looking shocked. "Your mother? But why would…? Oh you poor dear…" Sora nodded his head wordlessly.

Zeus rose from his throne of clouds and golden light filled his hand. A golden disk with his emblem of a jagged thunderbolt shooting down from a cloud appeared in his hand. He personally came down to Sora and took the boy's hands in his, tenderly placing the stone in his care. "Here, take as long as you need," he said kindly, sympathy for the boy filling his heart.

Sora looked up, giving the God of the Heavens a bittersweet smile. "Thank you," he said. Then Sora vanished in a plume of clouds.

-A-D-

When he reappeared Sora was standing near the shores of a dark river, the area around him dimly lit by torches and braziers filled with blue flame. He felt a tug at his strength before it abated, and the Olympus Stone grew warm in his pocket as it protected him from the effects of the Underworld. In front of him were the glimmering ghostly shapes of the souls of the dead, pacing back and forth at the edge of the Styx.

The souls of the dead saw the soft golden glow emitting from his body and several turned to gaze at him with unblinking and silent stares. Sora bit his lower lip and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to dispel the discomfort and sympathy that was already eating away at his heart. Those who stood here upon these shores had died and been left without proper funeral rites, they had no coins or munny with which to pay Charon to cross to the other side. They were doomed to wander on this side of the Styx for all time, never knowing peace. Many could and several probably would return to the world of the living as vengeful spirits and haunting ghosts until they were given the proper send-off they deserved so that they might find peace.

Opening his cerulean eyes again, Sora steeled his heart and did his best to avoid eye contact. His heart was bleeding, but he knew that he couldn't help all of these wayward souls. Even as the Keyblade Master and a temporary god, it wasn't his place to try and give all of them peace. He had someone very important he needed to find, someone he already knew was on the other side somewhere.

_I need to thank Cossex the next time I see her,_ he thought sombrely. _I wonder what it is that that Nobody's up to now? We haven't seen or heard from her since after Kairi tried to surrender herself to Malef—_

"Sora?"

His train of thought ended, Sora snapped his head in the direction of the voice that had spoken his name. There he saw the ghostly image of a girl about his age with long blonde hair braided into two tails that ended just past her shoulder blades and blue eyes.

"Oh gods it is you!" the soul said, her eyes opening wider in realization before she ran forward on her ghostly legs and threw her arms around him in a hug, a hug that surprisingly connected.

Sora recognized the face and voice, but only now was he able to match them with a name. "B—Brit?" he asked, pushing her back to get a better look at her spectral face. Now that he looked closely, there was no doubt in his mind that it was his classmate and friend (not that he and she were particularly _close_ friends), Brittany. "What are you doing here?"

"Forget what I'm doing here, what are _you_ doing here? Why are you glowing? Are you and Kairi still going out? You two left so suddenly when the hook-up party we threw for you two got crashed that we couldn't even say goodbye. I swear that if you two broke up I'm coming back to haunt you!"

"Brittany!" exclaimed Sora. "What are you—?"

"I'm dead Sora," she answered, like she was annoyed. "Dead. Bereft of life, I do not rest, doomed to walk these endless shores forever." She turned towards the dark waters of the Styx, slowly flowing onwards like the slow creep of time. She bent down, crouching over the waters and passing her hand centimetres above the surface. Her voice sounded sad now as she spoke again. "I have no idea how long we've been wandering this bank. We keep wandering and wandering, hoping to find some shallow place where we might be able to wade across, but there are none. The river is too wide and too deep, and we cannot find the strength to take more than a step or two into the water. Only the Ferryman can take us to our final resting place, but we don't even have the twenty munny or the two drachmas each to pay him with." She laughed bitterly. "You know, I'd only half believed that this is really what awaited our souls after we passed on, but I guess only half-believing was enough. David was beginning to think that we were losing our minds down here, wandering through the endless hours with no hope of escaping our fate."

"David?" Sora asked. The name was familiar.

"You sparred with him in our first Combat Mastery Advanced class with Mr. Axel and Miss Yuffie, remember?"

The image of a teen just a few inches taller than Sora with neck-length red hair entered Sora's mind and he nodded his head, swallowing hard. "Yeah, I do. How did—?"

"The Heartless overwhelmed us all on Felra, pushing the Guardians and the rest who were fighting on the front lines back, and burning the city behind them. Mr. Axel created a corridor of darkness on the beaches, linking Felra to Dunash, and nearly everyone made it through. Darksides and Behemoths started to break through our line when Mr. Axel returned with Riku and Miss Yuffie, and he told us to fall back to the other island. While we—that is, me, David, Michael, Yumi, and Val—were in the corridor, we met Saji, who'd lost track of her parents. Then… (her voice shuddered slightly) there was a scream, and David kissed Yumi and told her to go on ahead and think well of him, then dove into the crowd as Yumi pressed forward. Michael and I rushed after him. We'd been best friends since second grade, and both of us knew that he'd been crushing on Yumi for _years_. Yumi and Saji and Val tried to stop us, but I…I told them to keep going, and Michael and I left to follow David.

"When we caught up to him," she continued, "he was fighting against a man with silver hair, armed with two blades that raced with lightning. There were a few bodies around him that the braver people who didn't have any weapons were dragging away. I haven't seen any of those people here, so I guess that they lived or were given the proper rites and crossed the river. Michael and I joined with David in fighting the silver-haired freak, and we drove him back and away from the crowd. I saw that just about everybody had left the corridor when I felt a searing pain in my side and chest and all turned to darkness before I found myself here, with Michael and David by my side."

Sora's eyes had turned hard as Brittany recounted her story. He'd heard the story of how his home island had fallen before from Riku, but this was a side to that same story that he hadn't heard; the side from one of his friends who had died in the battle. "Nixion," he growled, "Maleficent's lieutenant. It seems that all of my problems are coming from him rather than Cossex. Maybe she isn't such a bad Nobody after all."

A new voice entered his ears. "Brittany? What are you doing over there? Who's—! Sora!"

Sora looked up. Standing just a few feet away, as ghostly as the blonde female was, were two male teenage spirits, the one with neck-length ginger hair a few inches taller than the short-length raven-haired one. Sora stood, finding himself now at the same height as David's soul, which worked for him since the youth had been bigger than him when they'd first met. "David, Michael," Sora said in solemn greeting, bowing his head. "I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry that you all got dragged into this mess."

"Don't be," David said quickly. "We're not. I'm only sorry that I didn't have the courage to ask Yumi out properly before…" he trailed off, clenching his fist and looking down.

"What are you doing here Sora?" asked Michael. "Why are you glowing? Are you dead? What about Kairi?"

Sora smirked slightly. "You guys all seem to want to know about me and Kairi. Is that all everybody thinks about? _Ooh, I wonder if that Keyblade Master with the weird spiky hair is still going out with that pretty redheaded Princess? I swear, if he broke up with her, I'ma gonna kill slash haunt him!_ I mean, seriously?" He ceased his mocking of what he thought other people thought of his relationship with his girlfriend at the sounds of their laughter.

"You jolted our memories when you showed up," Brittany answered, running a ghostly hand through her blonde hair. "It's not our fault."

He chuckled. "Well, to answer your questions, Brit and Mike, Kairi and I are _still_ seeing each other, I'm not dead, and I'm glowing because Zeus granted both me and Roxas temporary godhood for winning the Zeus Cup yesterday."

The three balked. "You're a _god_?" they asked simultaneously.

Sora nodded. "God of Hope," he answered. "And I think I'll give you some. Although I'm not the one who judges lives, I'll do what I can to give you hope that you'll enter the Elysium Fields."

"But how?" Brit asked, rising suddenly and looking Sora in the eyes. "Are you going to go and give us a—"

"No," Sora answered, shaking his head. "From what you told me, your bodies are now lost in darkness. I'd never be able to find them. But Hades and I have a bit of an understanding, so I'm sure I'll be able to get you three across the Styx."

They gasped and stared at him again. "_You_ have an understanding with the _Lord of the Dead_?" breathed Brittany.

"Yeah," Sora answered with a cheeky grin, placing his hands behind his head. "He causes trouble for Hercules, and I help Herc put him back in his place with Donald and Goofy. We're Heroes after all. And now that I'm a god, even if until midnight, he knows that I'd probably be able to take him and win, so Hades and Charon shouldn't give you any trouble at all." Sora looked out on the Styx and saw a long weatherworn boat approaching from the other side, its prow gliding noiselessly across the water.

He placed his hand on Brittany's shoulder. "Come on," he said.

She looked shocked. "But Sora, we can't!"

Sora turned around, completely serious. "Yes you can," he told her. "You're my friends and I'm a god. We're hanging the rules, and I'm getting you the peaceful rest you deserve, got it?"

The girl's soul suddenly hugged him, and Sora was taken back for a moment as he felt her gratitude seep through. "Thank you Sora," she said, her shoulders trembling. "Thank you _so_ much. I worried, I feared… I thought we'd be lost here forever."

A smile graced Sora's face and he patted the back of Brit's head and ran his hand up and down her back in a comforting gesture. He looked up at David and Michael, seeing the heartfelt gratitude on both of their face. "And David, I think I can do one more thing for you."

-A-D-

_1355hrs,_  
_Zorba's Noodle Shack, Dunash, Destiny Islands  
Yumi_

A sigh left the lips of the girl with short midnight-blue hair. It was nearly two in the afternoon, and while she'd only been on since ten in the morning, she really wasn't looking forward to another five hours. Yes, she was a member of the Guardians now; yes, it was the weekend; no, she didn't have to patrol anywhere today nor had there been any substantial activity from fiends or Heartless; but in the name of Poseidon's golden trident she could not for the life of her figure out why this Sunday lunch had gone and she'd only got three tables!

She yawned. _Just send me home already,_ thought the bluenette. _It's too slow a day for us to have five servers on._

"Yumi, Nel, would you like to be cut?" Fraiser asked, the assistant manager walking out of the kitchen in his lime green dress shirt and black pants.

The blue-haired girl looked towards her boss. "If you're offering," she replied openly while thinking, _thank you Hera._

"Sure," answered Nel, the brunette fixing her square black glasses before her hands went to her hair to pull it into a tighter tail.

"Alright, you're off in five," said the assistant manager, the tall man striding past them to the front desk and initiating conversation with Jen, the hostess who was on at the moment.

Yumi felt someone elbowing her and caught sight of Saji's playfully jealous face. "Lucky," the pink-haired girl whispered. The bluenette smiled and shrugged and waited for the minutes to tick by.

A ceramic bowl broke in the kitchen behind her and Yumi whipped around, her hands instantly flying to her sides at the noise before she brought them back up to her chest and started laughing to herself. She'd been reaching for her daggers again, daggers which she wasn't allowed to carry while at work here. Nothing was going to happen in this restaurant, and the only danger to anyone was their own thoughts of what they would like to do to all the rude, obnoxious, annoying, cheap, or downright _creepy_ customers that came in. Or that one smelly old guy who came in on Tuesday nights, smelling like he never showered and that he'd taken a bath in stale urine and creeped on the hostess and servers.

Only Fraiser's powerful lilac and vanilla scented air freshener sprays were able to combat the stink that guy left behind.

The next thing Yumi knew, she was off, out of her black uniform and in a pair of black shorts that reached slightly past her fingertips and a yellow top with her daggers sheathed on her belt, and striding through the sunlight and the slight breeze; her uniform stuffed into a brown bag on her back and her purse on its shoulder strap hanging by her side. "I'm glad that that's over," she said to herself, "now I have the rest of the day to…"

Yumi stopped. She had the rest of the day to do _what_? Homework? No, she'd already finished what she'd gotten yesterday. _I suppose I could always call Val,_ she thought, _and_ _see if he wants to go see that new Witch's Destiny movie. I did get him into those books after all._

She passed by several chatting people on the streets as she made her way to the apartment that her family had managed to rent out. They'd been able to stay with relatives for the first month on Dunash, but soon enough her father'd been able to find work at a similar pay to what he'd been getting on Felra, and they were able to afford the place. Yumi sighed and shook her head. It didn't matter _what_ her dad told her, she was not going into accountancy.

"Mom, Val, I'm home," she declared as she entered the door.

Her mother's voice came back surprised. "Yumi? What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were working until seven?"

"It was dead Mom, so Fraiser cut me," she answered, pulling her bag off of her shoulder and traversing the hallway to the laundry room to dump her uniform into the hamper. She came over to her twin's room and saw him lying on his bed, reading a novel. "Hey Val, wanna go see _The Hallowed Bridge Part 1_? There's a three-thirty showing.

Her green-haired brother didn't really look up. "I would, but I went and saw it with Tay last night."

Yumi blinked. "When did you have time to do that? Weren't you on patrol last night?"

"Tay and I were just able to make the showing at eleven when I was relieved."

A question emerged in Yumi's mind, one that several people at school had asked her behind her brother's back. "Val," she spoke quietly, taking a step into his plain room (they still hadn't had too much time to fill them with their personalities) and closing the door, "are you gay?"

Now her brother looked up from his book and frowned. "Where did that come from?"

Yumi shook her head, realizing that this had been a bad idea. "Oh, it's nothing. I know that you're not but, just, some kids at school were asking me when you were going to come out of the closet and—"

"People at school think I'm gay?" Val asked incredulously. He sighed arduously and pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "Can't they tell that I'm just not interested in a steady relationship with a girl yet?"

"Some people would say you going to see _Witch's Destiny_ with Tay would count," Yumi told him.

"It's called a man-date. Have you seen the actress who plays Felicia? Have you _seen_ her? What with all the magic and the broomstick chases and how closely they kept to the book for this one, it was definitely a movie that a guy could enjoy."

"They were actually faithful to the book for this one?" Yumi asked, surprised. "How faithful?"

"Remember that fillerish scene in the book where Morgan and Felicia are in the shower and a bunch of pixies cause mayhem?"

"Yeah…"

"They kept that in," Val replied with a pleased grin. Yumi felt her eyes going wide. "And if they kept _that_ scene in, imagine just how true to the actual plot they were."

"I have _got_ to see this movie," Yumi announced. "I don't care if I don't have anyone to see it with, I'm going to see it."

"I'm glad that they decided to do this one in two parts," said Val as she reached his door again. "It allows them to put a lot more attention to detail. Oh, and Yumi."

The bluenette stopped midway through opening his door and looked back at her twin brother. He was smiling slightly at her in gratitude. "Thanks for telling me about the guys at school."

Her lips twitched up in answer. "No problem."

"Were they Stracans?"

She paused. "Mostly, but a couple of people in the hallway asked too." Val nodded and waved her off. She left, already calling throughout the apartment. "Mom!"

"Yes Yumi?"

"I'm going to see a movie! I might not be home for supper!"

"Alright," her mother's voice answered. "Make sure you call before four if you aren't."

She was just putting her runners back on when her mother finished her request. "Will do! Bye!"

"Bye Yumi."

The door closed behind her and Yumi looked forward, getting herself in the mental state required to going to a movie. That process stopped abruptly at what she saw. She opened the door again. "Mom! I'm not going to be home for supper!" Then she closed the door.

"Sora! David! What are you—? How did you—? Where have you—? _Why are you transparent and why are you glowing!_" she asked, coming right up to the two of them and turning between both of them. The bluenette didn't wait for an answer from either of them and turned towards David, looking down and away from the red-haired youth. "I thought you'd died."

"I did die, Yumi."

She gasped, looking up at him. "So… so you're…"

"I'm up to my ears in debt to Sora for eternity," he replied amusedly, glancing at the brunet whose whole body radiated with golden light. "He got me, Brit, and Michael across the Styx and into the everlasting paradise we were told we deserved." He paused. "I'm just a heart and soul now Yumi, without a body to call my own, even though I _can_ interact with you physically."

To prove it, he placed his hand against her cheek, and she shivered slightly at the ghostly touch. It wasn't cold, it was warm, but it was unexpected.

"But why are you two here?" she asked, looking between the two of them. "And why are you glowing Sora?"

He laughed. "I wouldn't have been able to make any of this possible if I wasn't a god right now," he answered. Yumi's brown eyes got wider and he chuckled. "Have faith Yumi, because until midnight you're looking at the God of Hope." He turned to David. "Remember, ten o'clock is as far as Hades was willing to go, and it's only this once."

He nodded. "Right."

"What are you talking about?" asked Yumi.

He looked into her eyes, and Yumi felt her heart fluttering. All of this was almost too much for her to take. Sora was a god, and the departed spirit of her friend who had given her her first kiss right before he died was standing in front of her.

"I had only one regret, Yumi," David said, his voice suddenly sounding unsure. "And that was…that was that I hadn't ever been able to... Yumi, would you… would you like to go see a movie with me?" he asked rather quickly, ducking his head so that she couldn't see his eyes anymore.

Shock stopped her heart momentarily before it resumed beating at an increased tempo. "You mean, like a date?" He nodded his head, still avoiding eye contact. Since he was looking down, Yumi eyed Sora and smiled even as she felt tears entering her eyes. She mouthed the words, 'thank you' to him as gratuitously as she could before wiping her brown eyes with the back of her hand. Her first date was also going to be the last she could ever have with the boy who'd kissed her first, but at least afterwards there would be no regrets, only peace between the two.

"I was just on my way to see the new _Witch's Destiny_ movie," she said, moving past the god and soul. She looked back and smiled at the spectral teenager. "You're more than welcome to come with."

The smile that spread on his face was all the answer she needed.

-A-D-

Sora watched the two go, happy that he had been able to give them as much as he was able. He glanced around and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and his eyes swiftly went over the words scribbled on it. Well, since he was in the neighbourhood…

A cloud appeared underneath his feet and he soared into the sky, now searching with his eyes for some sort of park where kids would be playing on a Sunday afternoon.

-A-D-

"Is that as high as you can go?"

"Nu-uh! I can go _waaay_ higher!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"Oh yeah? Un!" declared Hector, pumping his legs and pushing himself harder to go faster and higher. Rei quickly acted to try and match him, straining herself to swing faster and higher than she'd ever swung before. Helen and Sakura swung next to them and started to push harder as well, the three girls rising up to their friend's challenge.

"Is that all you got?" Rei asked a minute later, her breathing much harder than it had been before. But it was worth it; she was now swinging higher than the other three, even though she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up the effort, or how long she could keep herself from being bothered at the height.

"I've got plenty!" Hector told her. Rei saw that he was pushing himself really hard, and pushed harder to try and stay ahead. Hector laughed suddenly, and Rei, Helen, and Sakura glanced at the boy with glasses. "Hup!"

Rei couldn't help but gasp as Hector let go of the chains at the highest height of his swing. It looked for a moment like he was going to fly like Sora nii-chan had, but then he plopped onto the ground, his feet ploughing through the sand for a moment before he landed on his butt.

Allowing her swings to slow, Rei was about to speak up when Sakura beat her to it with a loud call of, "Are you okay?"

Hector stood up and wiped the sand off the bum of his blue shorts. "O' course I am," he replied, turning around and fixing his little glasses with a cheeky grin and an outstretched thumb. Rei couldn't help but close her eyes and giggle as she pumped her legs to keep a comfortable pace. Even though he was a boy, which instantly made him gross, for a moment she allowed herself to think that he was cute.

"You having fun there with your girlie friends, Four-Eyes?"

Rei frowned and looked to where she heard the voice, putting her feet down to run them through the sand and stop her swinging. Helen and Sakura stopped too, and it was Helen in her long braided blonde hair that asked nervously, "What do you three want?"

"Nothin'," said the bigger and stronger fifth-grader Charlie, his even bigger friends Chris and Tuck by his side. "We was just having a conversation with our friend Hector here." He turned back to the boy with glasses, who was clearly intimidated by the three older and bigger boys. "Well Four-Eyes Hecky, having fun playing with the _girls_?"

"Leave me alone," Hector mumbled. "Don't call me that."

"Aw, what was that?" Tuck asked, leering down over Hector. "Speak up, Four-Eyes."

"I said don't call me that," Hector said, louder this time, like he was trying to sound brave. Rei glanced at her friends and eyed the bigger kids fearfully, all three of them laughing now and starting to chant "Four-Eyes, Four-Eyes!" She wanted to do something, she really did, but the three bullies were bigger and stronger than her. They could hurt her if they wanted.

Rei squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her fist around the silver feather that she'd tied to a black string around her neck and kept with her always. _What would onii-chan do?_

Hector put on his bravest face and practically shouted over the chanting. "Oh yeah? Well I'm rubber and you're glue! Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you!"

"Then I wonder if _this_ will bounce off?" Chris asked, right before decking Hector so hard on the shoulder that the boy spun back into the sand. He started to sob. "Aw… is the baby cwying for his mommy alweady?" The three bullies started to laugh, and one of them kicked Hector in the chest. He looked back at Sakura, Helen, and Rei, his eyes alone pleading with them to help him. A howling whimper was torn from his lips as Tuck picked him up by the back of his shirt, taunted him again, and punched him again.

"I'm doing something," Rei said suddenly as Hector hit the ground, not entirely sure what was coming over her.

"What?" Sakura asked in a hurried whisper. "You'll get hurt!"

The girl didn't answer her, just got off her swing and pointed at the three bullies from school. "Hey!" Each of them looked over at her, surprised. "You stop picking on him right now or I'll—"

Their surprise gone, now replaced by confidence, the three sneered at her. "Or you'll what?" asked Charlie.

Rei's brave facade started to crumbled, but she clutched tighter at the feather in her hand. "Or I'll tell my Onii-chan on you, and he'll kick the pants off you so fast you'll—!" She stopped as they all started to laugh.

"Oh yeah, your _imaginary_ big brother. Like we haven't heard that one a hundred times, right guys?" Tuck asked sarcastically. "Tell me, wittle Rei," he asked her as he and the other two started walking towards her, stepping over Hector's shuddering form. Rei didn't step back into her swing, but her brave face was falling apart fast, "how many times has your big, strong _onii-chan_ come before when you've called? None of four, right?"

"Leave her alone," Helen said, stepping off of her swing as Sakura did the same. The three just sneered at them too, and both girls took a step back, afraid.

_Now I'm gonna get it,_ Rei thought, gulping. _But at least they aren't picking on Hector anymore._ "Sora nii-chan," she whispered as she clutched the feather so tightly she was almost afraid she'd break it, "where are you?"

Something suddenly dropped onto the ground between the bullies and Hector with a heavy _thud_. Wind blew all around it, kicking up sand in a twister around it and getting into the eyes of the bullies when they looked back, startled. Rei looked past them, and felt her eyes go wide with joy. Rising from the ground to stand on both legs rather than his feet and hands was the magical shape of her onii-chan. His body glowed gold, and hawk-like silver-feathered white-gold wings sprouted out of his back through his silver jacket with gold vines decorating it. His eyes were bright and blue, and he smiled at her as he stood up with his glowing brown hair dancing in the wind.

"Excuse me," he said, still smiling while towering over the three bullies, "but are you three friends of my little sister?"

Rei's smile turned smug as Charlie, Tuck, and Chris stumbled back and away from her, their eyes still watery from the sand that got blown into them. "We was just leaving. G'bye!"

"Yeah! And don't come back!" Rei called after them. A laugh danced out of her mouth as she watched them run away before she turned around and threw herself at Sora. "Onii-chan!"

Sora chuckled as he caught her and swung her around in the hug. "Hey Rei, how you doing?" he asked, his wings vanishing and his clothes becoming less cool, but at the same time no less cool, in a glow of white light. "I got your letter, but I'm sorry that I haven't visited in a while, even though I'm not your real brother."

Rei giggled and backed out of the hug. "That doesn't matter silly," she said. "You saved me from that scary man who took Sarah, so I'll always think of you as my cool big brother." She looked at her friends, who were looking at Sora in awe. "Told you!" Rei told them. "I told you he was real! But none of you believed me, nya!" She stuck her tongue out and pulled down one eyelid, and Sora laughed.

A sound touched Rei's ears and she spun away from her onii-chan. "Hector!" A moment later she was kneeling in the sand next to him, Sakura and Helen right next to her. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He sniffed and sat up. "Yeah, I'm okay," he said, wiping the sand off his arm and removing his glasses before drawing his arm across his face. "They've hit harder before. I just wish they'd stop calling me names."

Sora crouched down on Hector's other side, and he looked at Hector with the same look that Rei knew she was giving him. "Those boys have been picking on you huh?" Sora asked. Hector nodded.

"Sora-nii," Rei asked, breaking in slightly, "why are you glowing?" Sora shook his head and smiled at her.

"I'll tell you when you're older," he answered. He looked at Hector again. "What's your name?"

"Hector."

"Hector. That's a good name," Sora said. He placed his hand on his chest. "I'm Sora. It's nice to meet you." He held out his hand, which Hector tentatively took. As soon as they started to shake, golden light surged out from the glow covering Sora and surrounded Hector. Rei and her three friends gasped, and the glow passed after a second.

Hector replaced his glasses and his hands flew all across his body. "I don't hurt anymore," he said happily.

"They didn't hurt you too bad, so I was still able to heal you," Sora answered, smiling. "Have you asked them to stop calling you names? (Hector nodded) Have you told the teachers or your mom and dad about it? (Hector nodded again) And they're still bullying you?"

With a final nod from Hector Sora sighed and extended his right hand. Rei couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. There was a flash of light, and the sword that she'd seen him with when he saved her from the bad man appeared in his hand. Rei's violet eyes roved over the silver blade with the three gold lines running down the middle towards the seven-pointed star near the tip. She hadn't paid attention to it this up-close before.

"Pretty," she mumbled, feeling rather than seeing Sakura nodding next to her while Helen rebuked.

"No way, it's not pretty," she said. She looked at Sora as he glanced at her. "You shouldn't have that," she said. "Mommy says that knives and things like that are dangerous and that I shouldn't use them."

Onii-chan laughed slightly and smiled at her. "Your mom's right," he said. "These things are dangerous, but they're only _really_ dangerous if the person holding them doesn't know what they're doing. Fortunately, I do."

It was the kinda cocky way that he said those last three words that only further cemented Rei's belief that her not-real cool big brother was the _coolest_ big brother in the world.

"But this is also a _magic_ sword," he continued, rotating it around in a slow and small circle. The tip shone with shiny white light, and as soon as Sora had completed the circle twice, Rei saw a small white marble appear in the air in front of it. The marble glowed like a light bulb, but it wasn't painful to look at. Sora stopped rotating his magic sword and the marble floated towards him, shining the whole way until it dropped into his open left palm. He rolled the now dull ball around in his brown leather-gloved fingers for a moment, looking quite pleased with himself, and set the sword down in the sand.

"Hector," he said. "I want you to have this." He gave Hector the little marble, and the boy placed it between his finger and thumb and looked at it while Sora continued. "Keep it with you wherever you go, and if those bullies start bothering you again, I want you to hold the marble and say the word, 'Reflect'. Can you do that?"

Hector nodded his head like he'd just been asked to jump up and down. "Sure I can," he replied eagerly.

"Try it now."

Rei watched, trying to hold back a giggle, as Hector screwed up his face in concentration on the simple task (it required more effort since a _big_ kid told him to do it), and shouted, "Reflect!" The eyes of the girls, and even Sora, widened when Hector was suddenly closely surrounded in a crystal barrier that looked like it'd come out of a beehive. Hector opened his eyes and gasped as he looked around, finding himself surrounded by the beehive dome. He rapped it with his knuckles and found it solid.

"_That_'s pretty," said Helen.

"Now Hector, I want you to say, 'Dispel'."

"Dispel."

The crystal beehive vanished. Sora nodded his head, looking really happy.

"Now whenever those bullies come after you, and they look like they're about to hit you and your friends aren't close by to stand up for you," he gave Rei a look, one that she nodded at confidently, "I want you to clutch the marble and say those words, and they won't be able to hurt you. You understand?"

"You bet I do!" Hector said, looking at the white ball in wonder. He turned around. "Rei, you've got the _coolest_ big brother ever!" Rei giggled and nodded her head, looking at her glowing onii-chan with the biggest feeling ever in her heart.

"When's your birthday again Rei?" Sora asked.

She smiled wider. "I'll be nine on February fourteenth!" she said excitedly.

"Nine?" Sora gasped, his face equally as excited. "Wow! You're getting to be a big girl now! And February fourteenth? I bet you love getting Valentine's Day cards every year on your birthday."

"Yep!" Rei said.

"An' at school, we also get cupcakes with pink frosting," Sakura told Onii-chan. "An' Rei gets a candle in hers and we all get to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her." Sora laughed, and Rei giggled again. She liked his laugh and his smile, and absolutely everything about him. Her heart was swelling to full.

That feeling vanished when her eyes saw a bunch of big black bugs, with scary yellow eyes a little like the ones the man who'd kidnapped her had, suddenly appearing behind him, raising hands that looked like claws.

"Onii-chan behind you!" Rei shouted, leaping up and dashing past him.

_Onii-chan protected me before, now I'll protect him. I don't want to lose my big brother. He's the coolest and best brother in the world._

Sora whipped around just as Rei felt something heavy in her hands. She didn't know what it was, but it was heavy and big and she could hit the scary black bugs with it. She swung it like a bat at the first black bug, and she saw something gold-silver strike the bug in the head. The bug fell over backwards, landing on its back with all four of its legs in the air like a flipped beetle.

Rei gasped. Even though she'd knocked one down, the other three were now coming for her!

"Faith!" Onii-chan shouted behind her. Pillars of blue light dropped onto the four big shadowy bugs, and suddenly they were gone, turned into tiny black smoke that wafted away through the air.

Rei turned around, looking at Sora. He was looking at her. Wait, no, not at her, at the thing she was holding. Rei looked at it too, and gasped. The first thing she noticed was that the feather she had tied to a string and placed around her neck was hanging from the part of the magic sword she was holding on to. The sword's guard looked like an empty triangle made of silver feathers like the one hanging from the bottom, and the part she was holding was white-gold. The length of the blade was a background of black with pinprick stars, with small silver and brass jingle-bells running down it, joined by a bolt of yellow lightning. At the end, jutting up like the star on her onii-chan's magic sword, was a domed brass bell with a silver bolt of lightning on it.

"Thunderbell," she said, looking up and down the magic sword in awe and not knowing why she'd just said that, but somehow knowing that that was the sword's name. She looked up at Sora, who appeared completely shocked. "Onii-chan?"

Sora jolted out of the trance he was in, and looked down at Rei. He knelt down to her and his magic sword vanished in a flash of light. He placed one hand on her shoulder, then smiled and rubbed his hand through her hair. "Congratulations Rei," he said. "You are now one of us few Keyblade Wielders in the worlds."

"Keyblade?" Rei asked, looking at the magic sword. "Is that what this is?"

"Yes," Sora told her, nodding. Rei let go, and suddenly the Keyblade vanished from her hand. Surprise filled her as she looked at her empty hand. Just a second ago it had been holding onto that…Keyblade, and now the Keyblade was gone.

"Us?" she asked, not looking at her onii-chan.

"Yes," Sora told her again. "I'm one too." Rei looked up sharply, smiling suddenly as the knowledge hit her.

_I'm like Sora-nii! I have one, just like him!_

"I think I like mine better," she told him, wrinkling her nose slightly as she remembered what his Keyblade looked like. "Mine's prettier." Sora, Sakura, and Helen all laughed at her words.

"Girls are weird," she heard Hector say to Sora. "A sword's supposed to look cool, not pretty."

Sora smiled. "Never tell my best friend Riku that," he told him. "He's got the _girliest_ Keyblade _e-ver_. There are flowers all over it!" Hector looked aghast, and Rei clutched her sides and fell over, laughing so hard. The thought of someone as cool as Sora-nii holding onto something so flowery was just so funny she couldn't help it.

"Rei…"

Her laughed slowed and she stopped herself, wiping away imaginary tears. "Sora nii-chan?"

"Can you keep this a secret?" he asked her. Rei blinked.

"Why would you want me to keep it secret?"

"Well, if you tell everybody about it, then everybody's going to want to see it, and your Keyblade will stop coming to you. She doesn't like being used for show-and-tell."

"Onii-chan, we stopped doing show-and-tell in kindergarten," Rei said, a little disappointed. "Well, I guess that if _I_ was being brought to show-and-tell a lot, I wouldn't like it and would try to stop coming too."

"Right," Sora said. "But remember, you have to keep this a secret from _everyone_," he told her, "and that includes you guys too. If people know about it, it loses its magic."

"Our lips are hmf," Hector said, drawing a zipper across his mouth.

"Right," Sora said, sounding happy again. "Now who wants to ride on a cloud?"

-A-D-

Maleficent looked up at the table, each of her allies and the seven members of her prime _Eximius Septem _sitting around it. She smiled and allowed a small cackle to echo out of her throat while she stoked Diablo with a single finger.

"Commence the attack," she instructed.

"And… what about Ganondorf and the Cornerstones?" asked Jadis of Narnia.

"Leave Ganondorf be for now," Maleficent told them. "He will be dealt with in time. Either he will succumb to my will as he should, or he shall be destroyed. As for the Cornerstones, I will conduct the search for them _personally_."

Morgana looked to Maleficent, the newest addition to the council looking at her master with her flaming blue eyes of undeath. "And the Keyblade Wielders?"

"Capture them if the opportunity presents itself," Maleficent declared with vigour. "I will take great pleasure in breaking each one of them and bending them to serve my will, no matter how long it takes," she chuckled a little more and the orb topping her staff glowed slightly and Diablo crowed. "But… if capture is not possible, extinguish them and their precious light, with extreme prejudice."

-A-D-

_So, how was this? Expected, unexpected, fun? I had fun writing this as soon as I was able to get past a funk early on. Now the adventuring can resume._

_And yes, I know that the Trojan War technically happened later because Diomedes is Herc's nephew, but I really couldn't care less about that small fact. Phil claimed to have already trained heroes who took part in the Trojan War (Odysseus and Achilles being the only two named ones), so the Trojan War already happened._

_God I love Rei. Third-graders are fun to write._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	54. It's On

_Blergh. I don't feel as if this is my best work, but I've got midterms to worry about._

_Disclaimer: You know the drill._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 54: It's On

_1130hrs,_ _Sunday, November 30__th__, 2003  
Infirmary, Olympus Coliseum  
Kairi_

"Ha," Aiwemon laughed. "Looks like I win again, and diamonds," he declared, placing down his last card with his wings, which just so happened to be an eight. Kairi groaned. They'd been playing cards for hours on end (not counting the naps both she and Yuffie took in the middle of the day), going through Crazy Eights, Go Fish, Blackjack, Poker, Texas Hold 'Em, War, Old Maid, Uno, Blackjack again, and now one more go through of Crazy Eights. Aiwemon had joined them soon after they'd first started, and Roxas and Naminé and Agatha came back after supper, Naminé and her servant bloated and both girls on a sugar-crash.

It didn't stop the God of Ice Cream from making more ice cream for all of them though.

"I wonder what's taking Sora so long to get back," Yuffie said aloud, placing down her five of diamonds and leaving herself with two cards.

"Probably just enjoying the last half-hour of his godhood before coming back," Roxas answered, taking another lick of his sea-salt ice cream bar. There were a dozen similar sticks on the ground next to him, the god lounging on a bed with his white-glowing head leaning against a stuffed duffle like it was a pillow.

"Well the sooner he gets back, the sooner we can port out of here," Naminé said. "King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the others already left. And we're supposed to be meeting up in Radiant Garden before King Mickey briefs us on what he found out at Star Command today."

"And because that's the logical place for me to go while this arm and these ribs heal," Kairi added, growling a little of his displeasure at the thought before shaking it away. It didn't matter now; it was pointless to keep a grudge over it.

A Sora-sized cloud suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, a short ways away from where Kairi's bed was. The auburn-haired princess looked that way, smiling as the cloud disappeared and left Sora in its place. "Good, you're back. Now we can go."

"We're leaving?" Sora asked, taking a step forward towards her. Kairi reached up as Sora knelt down and she joined lips with him in a light kiss. She didn't get too into it, but even from how light it was she was still able to tell that he loved her from just the feel of it.

_That song's right,_ she concluded,_ it _is_ in his kiss._

"Yup," Yuffie answered Sora. "The King came by and told us that he, Donald, and Goofy were going to swing by Star Command today and get a sitrep from Commander Nebraska ("Nebula," Riku reminded her, to which she replied with, "whatever.") and then meet the rest of us at the castle in Radiant Garden tomorrow. Kairi's also supposed to hold up there while her arm and ribs speed-heal."

"What time does King Mickey expect to meet with us tomorrow?" asked Sora.

Kairi shrugged as the kitten got off of her lap and moved over to Naminé's and the card game was forgotten. "We don't know. Maybe around one in the afternoon?"

"Aw," Naminé cooed as she placed her hand on the top of the kitten's black-furred head and began to pet, "you wanted to see _me_ now, didn't you Mrs. Huggles?" The kitten gave Naminé a happy 'mreow' and laid her head down and began purring while Kairi stared at her blonde sister, only able to hold in her laughter for a few seconds. "What?" asked Naminé.

"Mrs. _Huggles_?" Aiwemon was the one to ask. "I don't know, but that's the weirdest name I've ever heard."

"This coming from someone who knows things with names like 'Yokomon', or 'Shellmon', or Kuwagamon'. I don't think we get to hear any flak from you about weird names _Bird_mon," Kairi said, smiling as she recalled that the root of his name, _Aiwë_, was high-elven for 'bird'.

"What? Sora, she's picking on me," Aiwemon called after his retreating partner. Sora just chuckled and shook his head. Aiwemon cocked his head just as Sora reached the door. "Where are you going?"

"Well if we're leaving right away, I should probably quickly pack and at least drop the Olympus Stone off with Herc."

"You're already packed," Agatha told him quickly, Sora stopping as soon as she spoke and looked around, noticing that there was a full black and yellow duffle bag next to the bed Roxas was lying and eating ice cream on. "I packed up all of yours and Sir Roxas' belongings after we returned from Twilight Town."

"Then I guess I'm just dropping off the Olympus Stone," said Sora. "I'll be right back."

Kairi nodded and got out of the bed as Yuffie grabbed the cards and put them back into their case. "Still," Kairi wondered, "why did you name her Mrs. Huggles?"

"Well," Naminé began with an undecided tone, to which Kairi knew she wasn't sure whether she should say it or not, "I was originally toying with Bast, because that's the name of the goddess that Roxas bought that statue of." She threw him a dirty look.

"That's Bastet," he told her.

"Same goddess, _slightly_ different name," Naminé answered. "But then, that _is_ the name of the goddess he got the statue of, in all her nudity, so I went with Mrs. Huggles for our kitten's name because it's way too cute and innocent. You are cute and innocent aren't you Huggles?" She gave the kitten and affectionate hug and even kissed the top of the kitten's head. All Huggles did was purr and meow and snuggle her head into the crook of Naminé's neck.

"She bit me," Roxas muttered, referring to the kitten, causing Riku to laugh.

Sora came back a few minutes later, nodding his head at the others. Kairi _heaved_ with her right hand, cursing her preparedness at bringing her new swimsuit and towel and hair care products along with two full changes of clothes and pyjamas, and got the shoulder strap of her duffle bag over her head…

…Only for Sora to snatch it out of her hand just as she was about to duck back in pain. Her two cracked and two bruised ribs did _not_ love her the way Sora did. He chuckled slightly, his voice still carrying the very slight echo of benign godhood as surely as his skin was still glowing with the same quality. The sound of it made her heart lift and she smiled as he added, "Here, I'll take your stuff."

"Aha," Kairi remarked as Sora slung her pink and white bag's black strap across his other shoulder. "I knew I'd make a gentleman out of you someday Sora."

"Just didn't realize that it'd take getting pummelled by a walking stone man to do it, did you Kai?" Riku asked.

Kairi turned her smile on the silveret and shrugged just before Menelmon landed on her usual perch on Kairi's left shoulder. "Hey, whatever works to get the lazy bum off his butt."

"Ouch," Sora laughed. "Maybe you'd like me to carry you the whole way there too, Your Highness?" Sora asked, going into a sweeping bow in front of Kairi and just barely missing getting hit in the nose by both bags he was carrying.

"Nah, you're carrying enough," Kairi answered. "Besides, it shouldn't be too hard on you. After walking all the way from Bree to Rivendell with the Nazgûl chasing after us, this should be a breeze."

"Don't forget," Aiwemon reminded her from Sora's shoulder, "I carried _both_ of you, plus your packs for three days without complaining."

"You're complaining now," Yuffie told him with a sideways smile.

"Enough time's passed that I've earned the right to complain about that," he answered. "But before we go, can we get some food?"

The rest of them laughed while Kairi flicked her right wrist and a portal of light appeared in the room. Roxas raised his hand, and each of them now carried ice cream cones. Menelmon nudged Kairi's cheek and the auburn-haired princess held her cone towards the ice-bird digimon so that she could share. With Riku leading the way, one hand cautiously on Yuffie's side in case she started to feel a bit weak, they entered the portal.

-A-D-

A man with long snow-white hair, wearing star-studded robes of yellow and blue overtop a black shirt and pants, stood in a blooming garden under a star-filled sky. Behind him was the wooden patio of a spacious white-walled house that belonged to him. Soft golden lamplight illuminated him and the man at his side. This one wore white and grey, with tanned skin and a scar on his face. His black hair was bunched in an untidy knot at the back of his head. Both of them were looking up at the stars, one of them particularly bright, with peaceful looks on their faces.

"It was nice of you to come by, Eraqus," said the first man. "One does miss his friends' company from time to time."

"I know Walt," Eraqus replied. "I know. And besides, an old coot like you living with those three apprentices of yours still, you're either stronger than I knew, or a cursed man."

Walt chuckled. "Sometimes I am. Those three in their perpetual youth have boundless energy. Some days it's all I can do to keep up, while others, I can outlast even Ventus."

"Master?"

"Hm?" Walt hummed, glancing behind him with Eraqus mirroring his actions. Coming out of the house and standing on the patio, all three of them in their night-clothes, were his three young apprentices, though one technically wasn't anymore: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, the blond better known as Ven.

"Oh, forgive us Master," Aqua said, putting a hand to her chest, and inching back slightly. "We didn't know you had a guest."

"No no, it's alright," Walt told her, smiling kindly. "You know that Maser Eraqus and I are old friends. You do not need to fear embarrassing yourselves or me in front of him. Now, tell me what's on your minds. It has to be important for all three of you to be up and out of bed."

"Thank you, Master," Terra said, the brunet taking the first steps forward. He came off the patio first, followed by Aqua and Ventus.

"It's about," Ven started, a little unsure, "it's about what Heith asked of us."

Walt nodded his head, noting out of the corner of his eye that Eraqus glanced at him. "So it's true," the black-haired Keyblade Master said.

Aqua stopped for a moment, and Walt didn't miss the worried look she gave Eraqus. "Does everyone—?"

"No," Walt told her decisively. "Only the five of us here know. I was just discussing it with my friend Master Eraqus. I hold him in complete confidence, and know that he will keep this issue a secret."

Relief spread across Aqua's face and she sat down on a stone bench while Terra and Ventus remained standing. "Thank you Master Eraqus," she said, nodding at him. Master Eraqus chuckled and smiled at her, telling Aqua that it was no trouble at all.

"Should we do it?" Terra asked suddenly. "I don't think that anyone has ever done something like this before."

"We haven't faced a time like this before, not since long before memory," Walt answered. He looked back up into the sky, staring at the brightest star. There was no moon here, and there were no clouds this night. His view of the star was unobstructed.

_In my memory and in all I have read, I have never heard of one of the gods asking something like this of one of us Wielders already departed, or still living. To smuggle Cosmos' chosen one into Valeria by going through Kingdom Hearts! This is a desperate plan, and he didn't come to Terra, Aqua, and Ventus with all the details either when he is usually very thorough. Something is very wrong with the Ancient Gods in Valeria for Heith to act like this._

"I would recommend going to him, and asking him more about it before you make your decision," Walt answered. "Maybe you should also speak to Kírínaz or Allerínaza or another of Kírínaz's consorts if you can."

"Something must have spooked the God of Death if he brought this to you," Master Eraqus added. "I agree with Master Walt. It would be wise to ask around and gather more information. But discreetly; he did mention that this was not reach his wife's ears, didn't he? Aqua," the girl looked up at him suddenly as Master Eraqus addressed her directly, "you have a friend among the Valkyries, do you not? I'm sure she could make your search easier."

"It sounds like a smart move," Terra spoke before Aqua could. "But… I'm still not sure."

He fell silent for a moment and looked down, his fingers drumming against his bare arms, his muscled chest covered by a grey muscle shirt. "I know that she'd be able to help us," Aqua said. "And she wouldn't give us away, but how are we going to keep this a secret from the Council as well as Thessaura?"

"We'll deal with the Council of Cosmos," Walt told her with an assuring tone, inclining his head towards Master Eraqus, who nodded. "Don't worry about them."

Ventus rubbed the back of his head. "This is just so… _bizarre_," he said. "Why is he asking _us_ to bring him through? Why not you, or another Master? Well, I mean Aqua's a Master because she passed the test before you sent us to search for Master Nhaerto, but…"

"Do not doubt your abilities, Ventus," Master Eraqus told him. "From all I have heard from Master Walt here, if we still performed the Mark of Mastery Exam here, you and Terra would assuredly pass.

"As for why, I am sure that Heith alone knows why he picked you three, but you also have one quality that many of the rest of us don't have. Regularity."

"Regularity?" asked Aqua.

Walt nodded his head, understanding what his friend was getting at. "Yes Aqua regularity. The three of you have travelled back and forth between here and Valeria much more frequently than anyone else; you have friends there. The guards between Valeria and Kingdom Hearts are used to you, on friendlier terms with you than they are with most of the Masters even. There would be far less suspicion in you three crossing the gate than other Wielders."

Finishing, Walt looked to each of his apprentices, the three of them glancing at each other. "I think we have given you enough to think about tonight," he said, passing a hand through his long white hair. "Get some sleep; I'm sure that you will have a few busy weeks ahead of you."

"Of course Master," Terra said, nodding his head at the others. "C'mon, let's get some shuteye." Aqua and Ventus nodded, and the three politely excused themselves.

"But what could have spooked him so?" Eraqus asked, turning towards Walt. The white-haired man shook his head.

"That, I do not know. But it worries me, my old friend. Something is wrong with the gods. Only time will tell."

-A-D-

_0230hrs, December 1__st__, 2003  
Talerith Castle, Radiant Garden  
Sora_

"Shh," Kairi warned him as he set both bags down in the hall and started to work the kinks out of his right shoulder, since there weren't any in his left. "It's late, someone might hear us!"

"No one should be wandering in this corridor," Agatha answered in a whisper in the semi-darkness of the corridor, lit only by the light of the portal they had just exited from. Sora watched as the servant took a few steps forward in her bare feet. She had taken her heels off soon into the long walk. "We're deep in the royal family's living quarters," she announced, recognizing the hallway. "See, down there is the den, and around the corner is the wall with its windows and the secret spiral stairwell."

"For a secret staircase, we seem to use it quite often," Naminé mentioned, still whispering even though there was _nobody_ sleeping in this corridor since everyone who actually did was standing all around her.

"Guess it isn't all that secret now is it?" Agatha offered meekly just before the portal vanished.

"Whoa! Who turned out the lights?" Aiwemon asked, Sora feeling the bird digimon moving around on his shoulder.

"Yeah, even I can't see," Yuffie complained, "and I'm the Wielder of Night, not to mention the **greatest** ninja ever!"

"It's _the darkness!_" Roxas started in a creepy voice. "_Ooh…_"

"Hang on a sec," whispered Kairi, even though she was laughing at Roxas' joke. A second later there were three orbs of white light, each about the size of peach pit, hovering around her and softly emitting just enough light to give shadowy luminescence to the corridor. The princess waved her right hand and one of the lights stayed with her while the other two sped off to the other end of the corridor. One stopped at the corner, and the other rounded it and was lost to their sight.

"Much better," Menelmon told her. Sora saw Kairi smile at the praise and he nodded as well in agreement, then he yawned.

"Boy, am I tired," he muttered, yawning again and rubbing a hand through his spikes. "I never knew that being a god and playing with little kids for hours could—" Sora stopped, momentarily feeling wide awake.

_That's right! I still haven't told them! But should I say it now or wait until…? Yeah, it can wait until tomorrow's briefing._

"What were you doing with kids?" Naminé asked, Roxas grabbing both hers and his bags while Naminé held onto the sleeping Huggles.

"Long story short, I went to Destiny Islands and played around with Rei and a few of her friends after I was done in the Underworld," Sora answered, picking up his bag and letting Kairi hoist up her own. It was high time that she carried her own bag, since he'd been doing that for about three hours now.

"How was your mom?" asked Kairi quietly, wincing as her ribs troubled her.

Sora paused and mentally cursed. He'd gotten so side-tracked with Brittany and David and Michael, and after that with Rei and her friends (especially after that Keyblade had chosen her), that he'd completely forgotten the entire reason he'd gone to the Underworld in the first place. "I—I never saw her," he admitted. "I met Brittany and Michael and David on _this_ side of the Styx, and one thing led to another and seeing Mom again was driven out of my mind."

Kairi gasped slightly before asking, "How's Brit?"

"She's fine now. I got the three of them across the Styx. They're peacefully in the Elysium Fields now."

Yuffie sighed as they reached the corner. "It's nice to know that they're at peace." Sora nodded. A minute later he followed Kairi into her room and forsook the one he'd been given. Nobody questioned them. The room was just as dark as the earlier hall, being without a window, and Kairi created one more orb of soft white light to illuminate the room before they began undressing.

"Hm, Sora," Kairi started just as he'd relieved himself of his jacket and shirt, "do you think you could help me with this?" Sora looked over at her, smiled, and nodded before proceeding to help Kairi get the red sweater she'd been wearing off. The fabric tugged at her cast, and Kairi's ribs were too tender for her to stretch. Really, Sora thought, Kairi just wanted him to help undress her, because he _knew_ that she was perfectly capable of getting the sweater off herself.

"That's better," she purred as the sweater dropped to the ground, leaving the girl in just her underwear, cast, and bandages. Her right hand came up and cupped Sora's cheek, and he felt his body temperature rising slightly and the back of his neck tingle just before their lips met. Her soft kiss sent a jolt through his body. Even though the time that passed when he was on Middle-earth with Riku and Kairi was here with Naminé hadn't been too long, his heart and body felt like it had been. Now she was standing in front of him, her lips softly caressing his with opening kisses while her body was almost on complete display for him.

Sora needed more than just an opening kiss with her being so close that all he could smell and see and feel was her. His arms wrapped around her tenderly, still aware that she was injured, and he leaned in to start a soft and loving kiss of his own. He wasn't quite ready or sure if he should surrender himself to the passion that he knew was begging to be released. His girlfriend was still injured after all, it might be better if they didn't jump each other tonight.

Kairi had other ideas.

She pressed against him and clutched at the part of his left shoulder that was still his flesh, startling him as Kairi claimed his lips hungrily. Sora offered her no resistance at her sudden prompt and just gave in to the urge to mash her closer to him. If Kairi wanted this closeness, then he was more than ready to oblige her with as much as he could. Sora drank in the scent of her skin and hair; revelled in the taste of her lips and tongue; this was the addictive tonic that he knew could sustain him through anything. The feel of her hair and skin under his fingers drove him wild; her skin was still so very soft even after everything…it amazed him. Every sensation he felt when he and the Princess in his arms were this caught up in each other drove any other one away.

The feel of Kairi's hand somewhere other than his shoulder brought him slightly back; just enough for him to break off their kiss, open his eyes, and look down. Kairi looked down as well; her hand was fumbling at the waist of his pants. "These have to go," she whispered huskily.

Even though the wheels were still turning in his mind, Sora was unable to keep a mischievous smile from coming to his face. "Really? Are you sure you're ready and up for…? Because if you aren't, tha—that's still okay."

Kairi giggled slightly just as she succeeded in single-handedly undoing the button and zipping down his fly. "No, I'm not. So look out for my ribs. But I don't want scratchy pants coming between me and the object of my cuddling." Disappointment flashed through Sora for a brief moment before it was replaced by shock as Kairi yanked the long black multi-pocketed shorts down from his waist and they fell around his ankles. She really wasn't waiting for him to do anything tonight. "Besides," she continued, waiting for her boyfriend to step out from them, "we have an audience."

Sora turned his head slightly and saw Aiwemon and Menelmon watching them intently, while Jiminy Cricket had the decency to be pretending to be asleep at least.

_Damn,_ Sora thought. He nodded at both their digimon partners before looking at Kairi again. _What the hell?_ His eyes ignored the band-aids covering the scabs on her face and he planted another kiss against her lips. She was melting in his arms, he could tell, and Kairi moaned into his mouth and allowed his tongue to enter once more. He did a once-over of the inside, merging into a brief tango with Kairi's own organ, before retreating back to the confines of his white-gated castle, playfully closing them on Kairi in a nip on her lower lip.

Her breathing against his face was heavy as Sora turned his attention towards her collarbone, kissing and sucking and biting in a path up to the side of her neck. His fingers made knots in her hair and danced along her bandage-covered side. Kairi moaned and gasped, whispering his name; each time it was uttered it urged Sora on further to give his love more, to please her further.

Finally Kairi gasped and laughed. "You really don't have any control do you?" she wondered quietly, the words barely registering in his mind.

It took Sora about four seconds to formulate a response that did not involve kissing the sensitive spot beneath her ear or wrapping his hand at the base of her neck. "If you told me right now that throwing myself out the window just outside would make you cum, I'd probably do it."

"If you threw yourself out the window right now, I'd probably have an orgasm."

Sora teased her and took his mouth and hands away from her, leaving the girl standing in a state of dumb shock as he made his way to the door. "Your wish is my command, Princess," Sora told her in a husky whisper, his hand grasping the doorknob and turning it with a jerk of his wrist

It was difficult for Sora to keep the grin that wanted to emerge from surfacing on his face when Kairi gasped at the first step he took into the hall. The hanging chandeliers on the high ceiling above them were now radiating dimly, offering a little illumination in the hallway in case any of them might have needed to find the bathroom. Agatha'd probably turned them on before leaving the corridor for her own quarters. A fleeting shadow moved away from the door, but Sora didn't even notice it as his bare feet padded onto the rug in the middle of the hall. His hand was inches away from the curtain covering the window when Kairi's arms wrapped around his trailing one. "I was _joking_ Sora!" she whispered frantically. "I didn't know that you were that far—"

Sora spun on a dime and silenced Kairi by covering her lips with his own and inserting his tongue back into its second home. His hands held her face to his, and he grinned as their tongues played with one another, Kairi powerless to stop him. Sora pressed forward as he kissed her, forcing Kairi to retreat slowly and carefully back into the room, never ceasing in their tongue-play the whole way.

His pink organ came back home when they were standing in almost exactly their original position before he'd darted out like a possessed maniac. Sora grinned at the half amused and half unimpressed look on his girlfriend's face. "Aw come on, can't you take a joke Iri?"

"I didn't realize that you were still all there up here," Kairi answered, flicking his forehead. "I thought that your other head was in control right now."

"Well I can't give him full control," Sora joked. "If I did and had jumped and you _had_, he wouldn't have been able to see or hear you do it, which would have severely disappointed him."

He attacked the side of her neck again, and Kairi delighted him once more in the lovely sound of her laughter, even as her face turned even pinker. Her hand reached for the door and closed it again, leaving them in only the soft white light from her conjured orb. "Let's get some sleep and calm down. You are such a HTB right now," she told him sweetly.

He had to slow and pause after her comment this time. "HTB?"

"Horny teenage boy," she answered. Sora couldn't help but chuckle. She was right.

"Well that's because you're such a BTP," Sora returned. Now Kairi looked at him quizzically and he answered her unspoken question. "Beautiful teenage princess."

Kairi snuffed the light out just as their lips met once more.

-A-D-

_1010hrs_

The King surprised them all when he entered midway through their ten o'clock breakfast. Sora didn't notice, too busy with eating his thick and warm and cinnamony apple and raison porridge and sneaking hand squeezes with his girlfriend, until Goofy laughed and said, "Good morning everyone!"

A wide smile cracked his face open. Sora swallowed the food in his mouth and joined in welcoming King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as soon as his mouth was vacant. "You're here early," Naminé observed. "We thought you wouldn't be here until about one."

"Things are worse than we thought," the King answered with a sigh. Sora looked at him expectantly, sensing the tension rising in the people around the table with him.

"Bagel, Your Majesty?" asked Kensworth, offering him a plate filled with them.

"No, thank you," King Mickey answered.

"But I'll have one," Donald told the steward, taking half of one in his hand and plopping down on a chair. He began to spread butter and cream cheese with a knife, seemingly unaware of the silence that was taking hold of the rest of the table.

Sora felt the seconds tick by with each pulse in his arteries. He didn't even find himself hungry anymore, which was surprising to him. He'd only had three-quarters of his, admittedly large, bowl of porridge. Finally he could bear the silence no longer and said, "Well?"

King Mickey looked up as if he'd just been jolted out of thought. "Huh? Well what, Sora?"

"How bad is it then?" Sora clarified.

"Yeah, what did you find out from Commander Nebula?" Yuffie pitched in.

King Mickey only shook his head. "Finish your breakfast first and get dressed. I'll tell you at the briefing."

-A-D-

Twenty minutes later all of them were together again in the war room, located on the fourth floor of the castle, adjoined to the large training hall for the castle guards and members of the army. Sora had to admit that he was surprised to see so many people congregated in the room. Not only was he there along with Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Yuffie, King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (and, of course, Jiminy, Aiwemon, and Menelmon, and Agatha), but Asterix and Obelix were present as well as Leon, Merlin, Zack Fair, a man in a suit that Sora was sure that he recognized but couldn't place a name to, Urophi Magellan, the mayor of Twilight Town; Ralph Manish, the Prime Minister of Radiant Garden; a fully well Garda; Commander Nebula himself; Ovan Ramius, the Marquess of Ramius; four men and one woman in similar uniforms Sora was sure he didn't know; and one man with short and cropped jet-black hair in a blue uniform with white gloves on his hands, bearing a design in red on them. The woman was blonde with red eyes, dressed in the same blue uniform as the other. Three of the uniformed men were in green dress uniforms, each with four silver stars on the epaulettes, and the other was in grey with a wedge and five silver stars. The one in the blue uniform had four thick gold bands in the place of stars; the woman with one thick gold band and one thin one, and all but the woman had golden lanyards. Two of the men in green were white, and the other was dark-skinned and of a heavier build.

"I'm surprised that this room's big enough to fit all of us," Aiwemon said, glancing around from Sora's shoulder at the assembled group. All of them, except Agatha Quin and the blue-uniformed woman, were sitting down around a large circular table that, in truth, took up only a sixth of the room. The blonde servant was standing behind the chairs that Naminé and Kairi were sitting in.

"It's important that most all of us are here," King Mickey replied. "Before we begin, I think it would be best if we introduced ourselves, since we haven't all met before." He cleared his throat. "I'm Mickey Mouse, King of Disney Castle and a Keyblade Master. At my side are Donald Duck, my Court Magician; Sir Goofy Goof, the Captain of my Knights; Sir Roxas Dual Blade, a Keyblade Wielder from Destiny Islands and one of my knights; and Merlin the Wizard, who takes residence in the castle from time to time." King Mickey turned his head to his right, looking past Roxas who sat next to Goofy, and caught the eye of Garda.

The big man from Destiny Islands nodded his head. "I am Garda," he proclaimed, "the Chief Guardian of Destiny Islands; head of the Guardians, the body of dedicated protectors of our Islands. Right now, I suppose, I am also the _de facto_ leader of our Islands." Sora noticed that he didn't mention the Duke or Prince Alexander's presence and superior authority at all. Unlike King Mickey, Garda just looked to his right.

"Riku," said the silveret. "Unofficial Keyblade Master from Destiny Islands." He kept it short and simple and turned his own head. Sora locked eyes with his best friend before opening his own mouth as the final member of the 'Destiny Islands' group.

"Sora, the Lion Prince of Pride Rock and Unofficial Grand Master of the Keyblade, from Destiny Islands," he proclaimed. A couple of people gave him disbelieving looks, and Sora flashed a look of annoyance their way before summoning the Kingdom Key to his hand and placing it flat on the table in front of him. "And here's the proof in case anyone is doubting it," he said definitively. A touch on his cheek reminded him of one other thing, well, two at a mental prod from a certain blond. "Roxas is my twin brother, and this is my Digimon partner, Aiwemon, from the Digital World." Smiling, Sora ran one finger of his right hand over Aiwemon's white-feathered head, the hawk-like digimon stretching into it in pleasure, before removing it and placing his hand on Kairi's cast-covered left arm.

"Princess Kairi Talerith," said Kairi, appearing to ignore his touch and dressed not as many of them would have expected a princess to dress, in something like an elegant gown, but in a red sweater and a pair of blue jeans with a black belt. "My birth father was King Raithen, the last king of Radiant Garden, but I have spent my life on Destiny Islands since I was five as the daughter of our last Mayor, Seymour. I'm the newly knighted Dragon Knight (she glanced with a smile at Naminé) of Radiant Garden, also a Keyblade Wielder, and this is my Digimon partner, Menelmon."

She turned. "Princess Naminé Talerith," Naminé said, still dressed not like a princess at all but her yellow and white outfit with the black hood, "twin sister to Kairi, with technically almost the same history. I'm also a Keyblade Wielder and Knight of Radiant Garden, and this is my handmaiden, Agatha Quin." The nineteen-year-old young woman curtsied.

"Ovan Ramius," said he, "Marquess of the Marchlands of Ramius, Knight of Radiant Garden, and godfather to the Princesses."

"Ralph Manish, Prime Minister of Radiant Garden and leader of the Conservative political party."

"Squall Leonhart, but you can call me Leon," said Leon, folding his arms across his chest. "Former leader of the Liberal Party, and head of the now Radiant Garden Restoration Committee." He turned his head, prompting the person next to him to speak.

"Zack Fair," said the SOLDIER with a smile, "Radiant Garden. I'm here to take names and kick ass."

Yuffie burst out laughing next to him. "Oh Zack, we missed you," she said, quickly getting her outburst under control. "As for me, I'm The Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi! I'm a Keyblade Wielder of Radiant Garden and member of the Restoration Committee."

The man in the black suit next to her shifted slightly. Sora felt his sunglasses-covered eyes lingering on him for a moment underneath the crisply gelled black hair on his head. "Brad Write," he introduced himself in his deep voice, "FIST Operative of Radiant Garden."

Now Sora knew where he recognized him from.

The man next to the FIST agent was the one in the blue uniform, and standing behind him was the woman. "Colonel Roy Mustang," he said, "the Flame Alchemist, from the State of the world of Amestris. This is my aide, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye."

The black man spoke up now, in a deeper and darker voice filled with power. Just listening to the man's voice made the hair on the back of Sora's neck stand up. "General James Solomon of the Global Defence Initiative."

_Add a couple of _hooooo-puhhh_s in there and he sounds like Vader,_ Roxas whispered to Sora. The brunet nodded.

"Asterix, Keyblade Wielder of Gaul. I'm one of the old Chaser crowd, and this is my best friend Obelix." Everyone nodded at the short, experienced warrior and at the much larger and rotund one next to him.

"General Howell," spoke the next man, also dressed in the green uniform, "Chief of Defence Staff for President Vincent Harling of Osea. I'm also here to represent Prime Minister Nikanor of Yuktobania." He looked at Sora, Roxas, Kairi, and Naminé each. "The Razgriz send their regards, and I thank you for the part that you played in ending the war between our two countries."

"You're welcome," Naminé told him.

"And tell them we said 'Hi'," added Sora.

The ginger-haired balding mayor of Twilight Town spoke next. "Mayor Urophi Magellan, of Twilight Town," he said. "And this is General Berger, my top officer," he indicated the final man in green, sitting at his left.

Commander Nebula was last, sitting with the grey-uniformed officer. "Commander Nebula, head of Star Command," said the Commander, running a finger and thumb along his moustache. "And this is Fleet Admiral Yoshi Kago."

Sora nodded at the commander and admiral along with the others and King Mickey started speaking again. "Well, now that we all know each other, I think it's time that we got down to business. All eight Keyblade—"

"That's not true anymore, Your Majesty," Sora broke in. He ignored the looks he was getting and Kairi's urgent whisper of his name.

"Whaddya mean Sora?" asked King Mickey, confused and looking around the table. "All of us are here."

"But there aren't just the eight of us who bear the Keyblade," Sora announced, "there is a ninth."

"How do you know that?" Yuffie asked, stunned.

"Because I was there when she got her Keyblade," Sora told her, looking over and smiling slightly at the ninja.

"Then reveal her boy," General Solomon instructed him. "If there is another one of you then—"

"No," Sora denied flatly. "She can't help us, not yet. And I wouldn't bring her into this anyway. It's too big and _way_ too dangerous for her."

"Who is it Sora?" Kairi asked curiously. He looked at her. There was no frustration or anger in her eyes, only curiosity and acceptance of his decision.

"Rei."

Sora saw with a bit of amusement that several people's eyes bugged out of their sockets for a moment, and Kairi and Naminé both gasped slightly. "Rei?" asked Kairi. Sora just nodded. "Wow. I take it that it happened yesterday?" He nodded again.

"Well no wonder you forgot about visiting your mom in the Underworld," Yuffie said.

Leon frowned slightly. "Sora, who's Rei?"

"She's an eight-year-old girl that Sora and I saved from Xayn Shu," Aiwemon said proudly. "She's really sweet."

"I'm not bringing a little girl into this," Sora declared. "She can stay safe at home, keeping her Keyblade a secret until this is over and I have time to take her as my apprentice."

A few eyes shifted towards him at that statement and Sora withdrew into his seat. "You've thought this out, haven't you?" Naminé asked him. He nodded at her and quietly assented.

King Mickey spoke again. "You made the right choice Sora," he said. "You're right, we can't ask anything of her, especially not when it's this big."

"How big is it?" Colonel Mustang asked. "Roxas and Naminé told us a little of what was going on when they were last on our world, and Führer King Bradley has given me command of two divisions of State soldiers even though I'm still a Colonel, but I need to know just what we're up against."

"What do you know about Nod's movements and involvement?" asked General Solomon. "We'll help however we can. I'll even put McNeil on the job."

King Mickey looked to Commander Nebula and nodded. The Commander rose to his feet and placed a small metal ball in the middle of the table. He clicked a button, and lasers making up a three-dimensional hologram showing their galaxy shot out of the device.

"Hell's opened," the Commander said. "The flood started last night. They're everywhere. We have no reliable information anymore. All our warning and threat classification systems were struck by some kind of advanced computer virus. We're not alone, but we are in the dark. So far, we know that the other Princesses of Heart on their worlds have not been attacked, and Radiant Garden, Destiny Islands, and Twilight Town appear to be relatively safe; but it won't stay that way for long. She is coming."

Sora felt his spirits slowly drop with every second that he looked at the mass of black that was slowly seeping across the map. There were quite a few gaps in the stars that should have been there. But when he looked towards the opposite arm where they were, and saw the light shining brightly, a bubble of courageous hope started in his heart.

_I'm not going to let her win this,_ he decided. He'd decided that long ago, but now…

"She's finally made her move," Kairi muttered. "The one we knew that she'd make from the very beginning: the swarm."

"We can't save all of—" Naminé began.

"It's on," Sora said, a smile coming to his lips. Everyone looked at him as he stood up.

"What's on Keys?" Menelmon asked him.

Riku stood up next to Sora. "_It_, is on," he told her. Sora felt Riku's hand come to his shoulder and he shared a smirk with his best friend. "You gonna let her stomp on us?"

"Not a chance," Sora returned. "Donald, Goofy, since Kairi's out of action for a couple days, wanna wipe out some Heartless together like old times?"

Donald got out of his chair immediately. "You bet we do Sora," said the court magician. "C'mon Goofy, we've got work to do."

"Ahyuk, I'm with yah there, Donald," Goofy said, getting out of his seat as well. Sora grinned at his friends, and not even the somewhat disbelieving or disapproving looks of a few of the people in uniform could knock the determination out of his heart. Since it had begun, they might as well get started on cleaning up those Heartless now. Besides, this meant that there were more worlds to see and more friends for him to make.

At least, until he and Kairi slipped back into Middle-earth to help Strider and Frodo. But Strider had still promised to teach him tracking skills, so there was a plus there.

"But Master Sora," began Ralph Manish, looking a little shocked, "the briefing? You can't just—"

"Let him go," Leon said with a faint chuckle. "You don't know who you're dealing with."

"Is that supposed to be another 'Leon compliment'?" Sora asked humourously, remembering when Leon had said something similar soon after he'd woken from his nearly year-long beauty sleep. Leon shrugged with a wry smile.

"Are you all as determined as Sora to leave right away?" King Mickey asked.

"After hearing that Maleficent just kicked it up a dozen notches, I'm already itching to stick it to her," Yuffie told him. "I'm tired of sitting on my butt and training."

"Me too," Riku agreed, clenching his fist. "Let's go get 'em."

"If I weren't being ordered to stay put here and recover, then I'd be on the next flight out," Kairi added. "So you know that I'm ready to fight back."

"Me too," Naminé said. "We've sat back and waited for her for too long. Well now she's let her army loose. I don't know how prepared our forces are, but I know that I'm ready to fight back."

"Same here," said Roxas.

"No arguments from me," added Asterix.

Sora glanced at King Mickey, and noted with a degree of pleasure that the mouse monarch was getting excited. "Okay," he said, "since you're all raring to go we can leave the more 'boring' matters of this briefing until later, since you won't be here then. Right now let's get a few teams together so you can get out and give us a head-start and fightin' chance. Sora, you and Aiwemon will be going with Donald and Goofy, right?"

"You know it," Sora replied eagerly. Yes! They were getting out there! About time too!

"Riku, you and Yuffie will make another team," King Mickey continued for a moment before Leon raised a hand.

"Not alone they aren't," he said. "I've already heard interest from a few others. Since Yuffie's one of us too, the Restoration Committee is going with them. Sephiroth might be stalking those of us who are Cloud's friends after what he said at the Coliseum when he attacked Yuffie, and while I'm sure that Sora can take care of himself, the rest of us are going to be grouping together while looking for Cloud."

"So how many is that?" Riku asked. "Like, you, Aerith, Tifa, Barret, Cid, and Vincent?"

"And me and Rinoa," Zack added. "And I'm sure that Barret isn't going to be leaving Marlene here by herself."

Yuffie, however, started to whine. "You mean that we're going to get chaperoned everywhere by you guys? Ugh! You're totally ruining my day Squall!"

"Don't think of it as chaperoning," Leon began calmly, trying to bring peace, "think of it as watching each other's backs."

"No, think of it as chaperoning," Zack said, smiling good-naturedly. "Simply put, I don't trust you and your boyfriend over there."

"Why not?" Yuffie pouted.

"You're like, eighteen and seventeen. I don't want to have any late-night screaming waking me up in the middle of the night."

"You're worried about _us_!" Yuffie asked incredulously. "Riku and I are probably the tamest couple here! _I'm_ more worried about overhearing you and Aerith going at it or walking in on you two while you _are_! And if you should be worried about anyone, be worried about those two!" Sora was acutely aware of the finger that Yuffie was pointing at himself and Kairi. "They're only about three months into their relationship and they've already… if it keeps up, by March they'll be humping each other like rabbits in heat!"

"Yuffie!" Kairi gasped, her face going crimson in embarrassment. "We-we're not like that at all!" Sora felt his own ears reddening and he couldn't meet anybody's gaze.

Yuffie snorted. "Not like that at all, yeah right," she muttered. "Making out for two hours with barely anything on even though you were already bone-tired and sleepy."

"What?" Sora asked, mortified. "Where did that come from?"

_How does she know?_

"And that's not true anyway," Aiwemon added. "They went to bed as soon as the lights went out, which was really soon after we got in."

"Don't try and change the subject or spread rumours Yuffie," Leon said calmly, though he did quirk an eyebrow at Sora, which only made Sora's face grow warmer. "We're going with you and Riku, so deal with it and grow up."

"Don't wanna," she pouted, sitting back down, defeated.

King Mickey was quiet for a moment before looking at the second princess. "Naminé, how about you and Roxas? Will you be travelling with anyone?"

"Lea," Roxas declared, Naminé instantly adding, "Agatha." The King nodded.

"And Kairi's staying here…" he mused. "Asterix, will you and Obelix be fine on your own or…?"

"I'm not sure," Asterix said slowly. "We've got a barrelful of magic potion from Getafix, but even so…" After a moment he looked up. "Goofy, is your son still interested in the offer I gave him?"

"Gawrsh, Maxie's up and ready for anything so long as he can take PJ with him," Goofy told the Wielder from Gaul.

"Then we'll be with Max and PJ," Asterix said.

"Oh goodie," Obelix thought aloud, "someone else who appreciates a good roast boar."

Lord Ramius looked towards the CO of Star Command. "Commander Nebula, now that the Keyblade Wielders have split into groups, do you know of any worlds where they should start?"

The Commander shook his head. "There are so many and I know so little. Kids, follow your hearts to whatever worlds they may lead you."

"And Sora," Garda added. "If you can be back here in five, maybe six, days, I think Kairi will have healed sufficiently."

"You should all prepare for the trip ahead," Colonel Mustang said. "The rest of us will continue with the briefing, and hash out as much of the logistics as we can."

"Because that's what we're good at," General Bergen added, earning a chuckle from the few others in uniform.

All of the Keyblade Wielders and those who were going with them, who were not already standing, rose from their seats; even Kairi, even though she wasn't leaving Radiant Garden. "Thank you," Sora said. "Please excuse us." A grin came to his face as he turned his cerulean eyes on Donald. The poor duck wouldn't know what hit him. "Dibs on pilot!" he yelled before darting out of the room, laughing at Donald's flabbergasted quacks in retaliation as the magician chased after him.

-A-D-

_1130hrs,  
Kairi_

It only took an hour for everyone to pack, get ready, and be gathered together. Heartfelt goodbyes were shared, and Sora had refused to leave without having a five-minute tongue-war with his girlfriend before he marched out into the snowing outdoors.

Kairi sighed as she watched Sora walk away, the Keyblade Master in perfect health. She glanced down at herself with something like resentment welling up inside of her heart. Left arm: broken and in a cast, chest: bandaged up with two cracked and two bruised ribs. The session she and Sora had had the night before didn't help those much. The swelling to the left side of her face was minimal now, but she'd kept the bandages in place to keep her from picking at the growing scabs from the cuts. What could she say? If she saw them, she'd scratch them off.

_He's leaving me behind again,_ she thought restlessly, _they all are._ Her eyes mainly stayed glued to Sora's back but still encompassed Riku, Aiwemon, Naminé, Lea, Agatha, Roxas, Yuffie, Leon, Aerith, Tifa, Cid, Vincent, Barret, Marlene, Zack, Rinoa, Asterix, Obelix, Max, PJ, and Donald and Goofy.

Sora stopped and looked back at Kairi over his shoulder. It didn't matter that they'd shared the longest goodbye, _and rightly so!_ Kairi thought. He smiled sympathetically and rushed back to her. The others all paused and watched, and Kairi felt a bit of her resentment at her current situation being swept away as Sora carefully laid his arms around her, so as not to hurt her, and pressed his lips against hers.

She wrapped her right arm around his neck and clutched at his shoulder, kissing him back. She didn't quite know just how long she was going to be out for, all thanks to her former master Garda's Stone Golem Cho'kal (though the five days was probably a good guess), but if she was going to be left behind for any amount of time then she was going to give Sora the best thing possible to urge him to hurry back to her.

Well, the best thing possible short of sleeping with him, and the best thing possible that could be completed within a few seconds, so the best kiss she could give to show how much she would miss him would have to do.

But Sora appeared to have a similar idea, and when they finally parted both of them were blushing and breathless as they looked into each other's eyes. "I'll come back for you," Sora whispered, "and I'll call you every night, promise."

"I know you will," Kairi returned, "and then we'll go out together." Sora nodded, and Kairi felt his hand slipping out of hers as he turned away and rejoined the others. They let him come to their head, and most of them had the decency to half-turn and wave and call goodbye to her while she stood close to the base of the golden mermaid fountain, before exiting into the cold, snowy grounds in front of the castle.

When the doors closed and the last of the chill wind from outside nipped her sides and there was no more sight of her beloved or her friends, Kairi drew her arms closer to her body. Goosebumps were forming on her arms, even her left beneath the confines of both her red sweater and the cast.

Menelmon alighted on Kairi's right shoulder and the digimon started to rub her feathered head against Kairi's cheek. It was soft, and the motion was comforting, and it also ticked her nose a little. Even though it hurt, Kairi couldn't keep herself from giggling until a hand touched her side. "Kensworth?" she asked, turning her head to look at the castle steward.

"Come Your Highness," he said, "let's find you something to do. I'm sure there's quite a lot of paperwork that the government would like you to look over. Or you could return to the briefing."

Kairi groaned. "Do I have to?" she asked. "I don't feel like doing paperwork or dealing with the logistical and administrative problems of merging several armies together. I'm too bummed out." Kensworth hummed a chuckle as he led her down the corridors to the grand staircase at the castle's north end. He opened the big double doors for her and they slowly started to make their way up the stairs.

The Princess sighed, but then her ears perked and she looked up quizzically. She could hear something, but she wasn't sure about the source, nor was she sure what it was she was hearing. A few seconds later she was able to tell that it was music, and Kairi stopped as she tried to decipher what it was.

"…_not cry.  
You better not pout;  
I'm tellin' you why._

_(Badum-Badum)_

_Santa Claus is coming to town!"_

Kairi felt as if her brain had just been struck with a hammer and her eyes found the back of Kensworth's grey-haired head. "When did they start playing Christmas music!" she demanded, recognizing one of Bruce Springsteen's versions of the popular Christmas song.

"Hm?" Kensworth asked, pausing and glancing back at her. "Oh, Friday I believe."

"It's December first," Kairi realized quietly, placing her good hand to the top of her head. "I can't believe it, it's December first. I haven't gotten anyone anything yet! I haven't baked anything yet! I haven't decorated anything yet! I haven't baked anything yet!" Kairi rushed up the few stairs that separated her from the head servant. She bowed her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go to the kitchen. It's not what I _should_ be doing, but I need to do something and Sora loves my Christmas cookies and he's going to want some when he gets back and realizes that it's December."

Phillip Kensworth looked at her with growing curiosity as Kairi rushed off into the second level. Of course, he hadn't watched the Princess grow up like he'd have liked. From five onward until this year everyone had thought her dead like her entire family. Had she grown up in the fashion that she was supposed to, she probably would never have even considered setting foot into a kitchen and cooking or baking herself. That was servants' work, far beneath her station.

And yet…

"I wonder what her Christmas cookies taste like," Kensworth thought to himself as he slowly turned to follow the Princess.

Kairi strode into the dining room on the second floor and barely gave the table and chandelier a glance before turning to her left and heading for the swinging double doors that led into the kitchens.

It was as if everything paused as soon as she entered the room. All the kitchen staff looked up at her, stunned that the Princess had just waltzed right into their place of work while Kairi continued on as usual, as if they weren't even there, and started to look around and get a feel for the place.

"Okay," she started muttering to herself, "so the flour's here, and the white sugar's here…where's the butter? Oh, and I need to make my own icing so I need the ingredients for that…"

"Kairi?" Helia, the head cook who quite often doted on Kairi and Naminé and always made sure that they received anything they wanted so long as it was within her abilities (there was always a pot of hot chocolate on the go as soon as it had started to get cold, a pot that was quite often emptied by the two princesses), asked hesitantly. "What are you doing here? Is there something specific that you would like for dinner?"

"Hm? Oh, no," Kairi answered absent-mindedly, "but could you tell me where the powdered sugar, milk and butter are? Oh, and a whisk and some bowls and some cookie cutters? Like snowmen, bells and stars? Oh! And vanilla! Almost forgot about the vanilla!"

Helia glanced at a young woman of about twenty-five, who just happened to be the closest person to her, before looking at Kairi again. "Sure Your Highness, but why?"

"It's December first and I want to make sure that I've got my shortbread Christmas cookies ready and waiting for Sora when he gets back," Kairi answered, a slight blush on her face as she looked in Helia's direction, with her eyes directed towards the cook's toes. "Sora loves shortbread cookies," she added, as if she needed an explanation.

"Your shortbread cookies?" a man about twenty-eight asked. Kairi nodded her head.

"Yes."

"You… want… to bake?" Helia asked slowly, making sure that she worded her question correctly.

"I've been baking Christmas cookies every year with my mom since I was ten," Kairi answered. "Even though I wasn't very good at first, my mom and dad and Sora and Riku and Selphie, especially Selphie, really liked eating them, or they _pretended_ that they liked eating them at first so as not to hurt my feelings. Mom and I would sometimes bake every other day, but Sora had this uncanny knack of picking out the ones that I made, even if they didn't turn out quite as well as Mom's did. I don't even think he realized it. Two years ago I told Mom that I wanted to try making shortbread cookies, and when I brought them to school Sora practically melted when he tried one. He was asleep all through last Christmas, so I want the first thing that he and the others do when they get back is to have cookies ready for them."

"Then let's get baking!" Helia declared enthusiastically, realizing while Kairi was monologuing that the girl could indeed bake and would be very upset if she _didn't_ get to bake. "Honoka, could you help the Princess out please? It'll be difficult for her to do everything herself with her injuries."

"Sure thing," said the young woman Helia turned to.

"Huh?" Kairi asked. "Oh no Helia, I can still do it myse—"

"Don't be silly," Honoka said, smiling at her and grasping her wrist. "We're baking cookies. It'll be fun to do it together. And if the Keyblade Master loves them so much, maybe I should try them, Your Highness."

"Yeah," said one of the cooks, "maybe you'll be able to catch a guy for once Honoka."

"Hey, it's not like you're doing any better Tristan," she shot back. "What's the count now? Four girls you like who already have boyfriends?"

The guy blushed and waved a ladle at her. "Watch it Honoka! There's nothing wrong with being the fallback guy."

"Except that they barely know that you even exist," someone else ribbed him.

Kairi couldn't help but laugh and smile. "What? I'm employing a stalker?"

"A stalker who makes a mean four-bean chilli," Honoka answered.

Tristan grinned. "Honoka! You just insulted and complimented me in the same sentence, I'm touched."

"Don't be because I didn't mean to. Your chilli's mean, it bites."

"I'll help too," Menelmon said, nudging Kairi's cheek with her own. Kairi was already giggling a bit at the interplay developing between members of the kitchen staff, all of whom were obviously friends with one another, so all she did was nod her head encouragingly at her digimon partner. Kairi smiled. She liked the atmosphere in this kitchen, it was refreshing.

Helia clapped her hands twice. "Alright everyone, listen up! Lunch and dinner can be delayed a little in their preparations. And since the princess would probably agree, we don't need anything special for either. Soup and sandwiches would make a good enough lunch, but we're going to have to use that duck that's already out. We can worry about it later though, let's bake cookies and brew eggnog and hot chocolate!"

"An excellent idea," Kensworth said, entering from the same doors that Kairi had a little earlier. "And I shall instruct the other servants to begin decorating the castle." He then went away, muttering to himself, and Kairi couldn't help but start giggling. The entire castle it seemed was open to her very whim. She wanted to start Christmas because it was the first of December, and because she wanted it, the entire castle now wanted it.

Being a princess wasn't such a bad thing after all.

_Wait a second,_ Kairi thought, registering something that Helia had said. "Um, duck?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, deary, duck," Helia replied. "Why? Is something wrong with duck?"

Kairi faltered a little, not sure how to put it in a way that wouldn't hurt the Head Cook's feelings. "Uh, no, or I dunno, maybe? I haven't tried duck before so I don't know if I like it or not, but… I just don't think I can eat duck. You say duck and I think of Donald and Daisy and I don't really want to associate eating an animal if I'm friends with an animal of the same species, even if both of them are anthropomorphic animals from a world populated entirely by others of the same type," she added in an undertone.

_But I don't care if I _do_ meet Clarabelle Cow or Clara Cluck, I am _not_ giving up beef or chicken!_

"I see," Helia said, thinking for a moment. "Well then, I guess us servants and staff will be eating well tonight then, if you approve of course?" she asked.

Kairi just smiled and nodded. "If you want to eat the duck, then go ahead and cook it in the most scrumptious way you can think of and eat it yourselves. I'll make do with a nice steak and mashed potatoes and asparagus if that's alright." Helia nodded again and Honoka brought over a mixing bowl and the flour and a sieve.

_Okay, _now_ being a princess isn't such a bad thing after all._

-A-D-

_So I'm planning on writing a little companion ficlette that takes place from Dec. 1—Dec. 5/6 that concerns Kairi and her 'adventures' in winter/Christmastime Radiant Garden before she gets completely back into the fight. Thoughts?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	55. Friends on the Other Side

_Sora: "We're back, doing the disclaimer! And we have passed another birthday for the story. Shire's been telling this tale for over four years now. Let's give him all a very big hand!"_

_Kairi: "No."_

_Naminé: (Looks quizzically at Kairi) "Why not?"_

_Kairi: (Blinking) "I…I don't remember. I think I was going to go on a tangent about being paranoid about what the gods are doing and how it'll affect my fate, and how I think Shire's targeting me because he decided to determine how the fight between me and Cho'kal rolled out by rolling dice, but the only thing I can think of now is how much I want to punch that girl in the face!"_

_Sora: "Who?"_

_Kairi: "The world's youngest fashion designer. Look her up on Youtube; I want to punch her in the FACE!" (Kairi punches her fist into her open palm, gritting her teeth in anger.) "Urg, she grinds my gears. Even more than Maleficent, and that's saying something. She's the snootiest little… Rah! She's a word that I don't even _want_ to call a ten-year old."_

_Shire: (Snorts) "Pent-up anger much Kairi?" (She nods her head)_

_Riku: (Frowning at Shire Folk) "You rolled dice to decide how the fight between Kairi and the Stone Golem played out?" (Shire nods) "Does this mean that you're going to be rolling dice for every battle we have?"_

_Shire: "After I've made up character sheets for all of you and enemy sheets, maybe."_

_Sora: "So Kairi's fate rested in the roll of the die in that fight?"_

_Shire: "Pffsh, no. That thing was scripted for Kairi to win. But the duration was in the dice. Kairi actually rolled pretty well. She had to make seven fortitude saving throws and only failed the one after the grapple, which was the fourth. As to rolling dice for every encounter, not sure but you'll find out what I've decided when you meet a certain someone that Donald knows."_

_Sora: "What? Who does Donald know?"_

_Shire: "Lots of people. Now then, who wants to do the disclaimer?"_

_Roxas: "Not yet. Can't we have a barbeque like two years ago?"_

_Shire: "Sure."_

_Roxas: "Sweet! I'll round up Axel and Hayner and the others!"_

_(Roxas runs off together with Sora. Shire pulls a barbeque out of _nowhere_, and Riku begins to help him set that up while Naminé runs off mentioning something about getting burgers, dogs, and buns. Kairi goes with her, still jamming her fist into her palm.)_

_Shire: (Calling after Naminé and Kairi while running a hand over the beard on his chin) "Make sure you pick up some coleslaw and coleslaw dressing too!"_

_Riku: (Looking at Shire Folk with interest) "I don't think you had that last year," he says, indicating the beard growing around Shire's mouth._

_Shire: (Smiles and laughs) "Nope. Grew a full beard under cover of Movember to see if I could, then cut it back to the goatee in December. I like it; haven't been ID'd once since I grew it, and it makes me actually look like the Uni kid I am instead of some high school grad."_

_Yuffie: "You look good with it. Your girl like it?"_

_Shire: "Still don't have one."_

_Riku: "What about that-uh…?"_

_Shire: "That's a friends-with-kissing kinda thing we've got going on there. She's got a boyfriend."_

_Yuffie: (Nodding her head with a suggestive look on her face) "Ah, friends with kissing, I see… Wait, you're a brunet, why is your beard red? Did you dye it?"_

_Shire: (Laughing) "Nope, that's natural. It's the Irish blood in me, what can I say? I was born a red-head but it looks like the only place it hasn't completely grown out of me is my face."_

_(Riku runs a hand over his own face while looking at Shire's beard)_

_Riku: "You planning on giving any of us beards?"_

_(Shire shrugs)_

_Shire: "Sora's been thinking about getting one after what you said to him in the tournament, Yuffie, and after seeing mine, and he'll probably think more about it in Middle-earth because Aragorn has one like this, and Théoden has one like this, and Eomer has one like this, and Boromir and Faramir have ones like this…"_

_(Riku and Yuffie are both nodding their heads slowly)_

_Shire: "You have no idea who any of those people are do you?" (They shake their heads) "Gonna do the disclaimer before the others get back? I'm not planning on making this chapter solely a story anniversary chapter. I'll do that at five years next year."_

_Yuffie: "Alright, cool. We get a party chapter to kick back and relax next year. Sweet. Anyways, Shire Folk does not own Kingdom Hearts, Square-Enix, or Disney or any other works produced and/or copyrighted by other people. Now enjoy!"_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 55: Friends on the Other Side

_1205hrs, December 1__st__, 2003  
The _Hunter_  
Roxas_

"Aaaannnd we're off!" the blond declared with a smile, the _Hunter_ shooting out into the lanes between beside the _Highwind_, _Roadster_, and the ship that Asterix was using that looked a little like a boar's tusked head, aptly named _Boar_. Looking straight ahead into the star-filled void in front of him, Roxas sighed. He couldn't have gotten out of Radiant Garden fast enough. It was still far too cold for him there, and he'd slipped on the ice and fallen over more times than he cared to count. "This is the part of the adventure I always missed."

"But how could we miss it?" Naminé asked, unbuckling her seatbelt and moving to lean over the pilot's seat where he was sitting. "This is the part of the adventure we never really had."

Roxas glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"When we were still Nobodies, Sora and Kairi only went to worlds Sora'd already been to, and then the only worlds that hadn't been visited before that we went to were Amestris and The Big Top. And Sora'd already known _somebody_ from that one."

"So we're flying into this by the seat of our pants?" Agatha asked. "Well, that's a comfort."

Lea chuckled. "What Roxas, already forgot all those recon missions we did back in the Organization?"

Roxas smiled at him, remembering fondly those group missions with Lea that had been few and far between. "No, I haven't, Naminé just forgot that I went on them. So really, she and Agatha are the only ones who are going into this blind."

"Actually if Silver puts that blindfold over his eyes again, he'll be the one going in blind," Lea chuckled. Roxas nodded and steered the ship aimlessly for a couple of minutes, running through a list of worlds in the ship's navicomputer.

Naminé waited patiently behind him. "So where are we headed?" she asked after a while.

"I'm not too sure," muttered Roxas. Taking a stab in the dark he said, "Let's try… this one!"

A couple of minutes after he input the coordinates into the computer and set a course for the world, sitting in the chair and enjoying the feeling of the wheel on his hands and the ship at his command, Agatha dared to ask, "What now?"

Roxas sighed; he knew that it was too good to last. "Now I activate the warp drive so we get there faster, and then… then we…"

His stomach rumbled.

"And then we eat lunch!" Roxas laughed. "Hang on, we're going to bump up to Ridiculous Speed."

"Ridiculous Speed?" Lea asked. "If we're going past light in the warp, why don't we just go right to Ludicrous Speed?"

"If we went to Ludicrous Speed we'd be going too fast to do anything," Roxas answered. "Besides, even though I'm sure she can take it, I don't want to put the _Hunter_ through that."

"Boys and their toys," Naminé muttered.

"Hey," Roxas said, feeling annoyed with her. "She is not a toy." He punched it and the _Hunter_ streaked forward towards the unknown.

Naminé was not smirking when she unbuckled and said. "No, apparently it's a woman." She looked about to turn away and head down the stairwell in a jealous huff when she paused. "Wait a sec," she said. Naminé stopped and turned around, and Roxas couldn't help but be caught in her eyes. "The ship's only got two bedrooms."

His eyes sliding off of Naminé's, Roxas glanced at Axel (er…Lea), then Agatha, then back to Naminé. "So…" he said slowly, carefully testing the waters, "should we do this boy girl or same sex or does one of us get the couch or…?"

"Roxas," Lea said quickly. "You're my best friend; I love you, but there is _no way in the freaking universe_ that I am _ever_ sharing a bed with you, get it memorized."

"Alright, glad to know," answered Roxas, feeling incredibly relieved. Despite the fact that he knew that nothing would have happened and that they would arrive at the world before then, he still knew that a restless night of awkwardness would have ensued. There were bound to be nights spent onboard.

That only left…

He looked back at Naminé, hope rising slowly in his chest. Maybe… just maybe Naminé would be alright with sleeping in the same bed. Sora and Kairi did it, but them being as needy for each other as they were it wasn't really surprising that they preferred to sleep at each other's sides; Riku and Yuffie from all appearances really _were_ the tame couple despite their comparatively older ages, and they slept together without degrading into whirling dervishes of passion (or if they did, they hid it so well that nobody even had an inkling of it); so that left him and Naminé as the only couple in separate beds. However, given the shortage of beds onboard the _Hunter_, this could be his perfect opportunity to see what all the fuss about sleeping next to your significant other was all about.

"Naminé," he began hesitantly, purposely ignoring the smirk Lea was giving him, "would you mind if…"

_Aw crap, how do I say this without sounding like a total pervert?_

"…we… uh, _shared_ a bed and room to, well, sleep in?"

Roxas' heart was pounding in his ears above the humming noises of the instruments. He couldn't look his girlfriend in the eye, but kept sending hopeful glances up at her face anyway. Maybe if he used the cute and hopeful puppy look she'd agree?

A couple of seconds later he realized that she was smiling and trying to hold back her laughter, Agatha indecently holding a fist to her own mouth. "I don't know Roxas," Naminé said with the underlying giggle still present in her response, "I'll have to consult my better half." The communicator from Star Command appeared in her hand and she pressed a couple of buttons before holding it out with the screen in front of her face. Roxas' eyes fixed on the object as he heard ringing.

_Who's she calling? What's Nam doing? Why can't she just answer the stupid question! Yes or no Naminé! Yes or no! Stop teasing me with a half-yes like this!_

"_Hey what's up Nami?"_ asked Kairi's voice, some sounds in the background that weren't immediately recognizable to Roxas.

He saw his girlfriend frown slightly. "What are you doing?"

"_Baking cookies, now what's with the call?"_

"Why are you baking cookies?" Naminé asked.

"_If you don't know then it's a surprise. They'll be done in a couple minutes and I'll need to get them out of the oven. So hurry up, what's the call for?"_

"We've got a bed shortage on the _Hunter_ and Roxas is asking me if it'd be alright if we share a room and bed. Should I?"

Roxas could hear Kairi sigh. _"Why are you asking me—wait a sec, did he just ask you, like right now?"_

"Yes…"

"_So he's still in the room?"_

"We're all together in the bridge Princess Kairi," Agatha said.

"_Turn me around, let me see him,"_ Kairi ordered. Naminé flipped the communicator around, and Roxas looked right into Kairi's eyes, seeing that she was in a kitchen. Kairi laughed suddenly. _"Oh Naminé, look at him! Just put him out of his misery and say 'yes' already."_

"Then yes Roxas, it's alright if we share a room," Naminé said. A big grin cracked his face open and suddenly they all began laughing.

"You were going to say yes anyway, weren't you?" he asked, taking the better part of ten seconds to get his laughs under control. Naminé nodded and ended the call with her sister. "That's just mean Naminé."

"I wanted to make sure Kairi knew," was all Naminé gave him. Before Roxas could question her further, she'd grabbed Agatha's hand and danced down the stairs.

"I guess this means that I get the servant," Lea said giving Roxas a rascally look. "But," he sighed, "knowing my luck I'm probably going to end up becoming the couch king."

"Forget that, let's get something to eat."

It was only a few minutes after they discovered, to their horror, that the freezer was grossly under-stocked, the pantry was practically empty, and nearly everything in the fridge had gone bad, that the ship dropped out of faster-than-light speed and the threat-warning klaxon started blaring.

"Great," Roxas muttered as he dropped into his seat on the bridge again, watching as red blasts rebounded off the cone shielding protecting the front of the ship, "no food, and now swarms of Heartless between worlds. They better have a feast for me when we get show up, because I'm in a bad mood."

-A-D-

They never did make it world-side that day. The Heartless had kept up a constant presence, forcing Roxas to stay in the pilot's seat for hours with only cheese and crackers to go on while he flew the _Hunter_ as fast as he dared. The Heartless ships were so numerous, several times Lea and Naminé were forced to exit the _Hunter_ and take up the controls of the single two-man mini-ship that was docked inside of their larger one.

It was around ten in the evening when they'd finally gone for more than fifteen minutes without coming under attack, and Roxas felt it was safe to activate the warp drive again. It was unusual. Normally when in warp it was impossible to be intercepted and drawn out of it by the Heartless, but the group that had attacked them today had made it quite clear that they were able to pull them right out of it. Roxas didn't know how they did it; there were no big boss ships present at all, just the little buggers that annoyed the crap out of him in such numbers that they'd nearly depleted the _Hunter_'s frontal shielding. It was going to take some time to recharge, so he hoped that they wouldn't be hit again during the night.

Heaving a heavy, tired, sigh, Roxas got out of his seat and slowly made his way down the staircase from the bridge. A little something sifted into his nose and Roxas inhaled deeply, the scent stealing away some, but not all, of his weariness. "Something smells good," he announced as he stepped off the stairs and into the lounge just beneath the bridge.

An exhausted Naminé, who was lying on the couch and almost completely invisible to Roxas at the moment, raised her hand up high with a half-eaten something in it. "Agatha found mozza sticks!" she declared, dropping her hand out of sight again.

Roxas poured as much appreciation and gratitude as he could into his face when he looked at the servant, sitting on a chair and petting Mrs. Huggles. Lea was slumped on another armchair, his mouth full and a small pile of the appetizers on a plate on his lap. Agatha pushed the kitten off of her lap and got up, grabbing the large plate that was beside her. "Care for some, Sir Roxas?" she asked.

He was at the plate in an instant and had one between his fingers an instant later. They were still warm! He promptly bit into it, moaning as he savoured the breading and the warm, stringy, melted mozzarella cheese underneath. "Oh, you're the best," he said after swallowing the first half.

Agatha smiled. "Why thank you Sir Roxas, and I look forward to serving you far into the future," she gave him a small curtsey and waited for Roxas to take another mozza stick before turning around and returning to her chair and the SV, upon which they were watching some show that Roxas didn't really care for but also didn't really dislike. It had a pretty boy starring in it, so it was pretty much intended to draw the young female population and leave their boyfriends scowling at _that one guy_ even if the plot was halfway decent.

Naminé lifted her torso to let Roxas sit down before dropping her head into his lap. She looked over at Agatha with a slight frown even as Roxas began to play with her hair with his fingers. "Are you hitting on my boyfriend?" she asked.

"No," Agatha answered, "I'm stating a fact. I do look forward to serving you and him in the future, since I'm pretty sure that you two are going to get married." Roxas looked down at Naminé, blushing slightly as she looked up at him. "And then you'll probably live the castle and have a bunch of little babies that'll run all around the castle and drive Kensworth crazy!" The four of them laughed, even as Roxas felt his ears grow a little warm.

"What makes you think that Roxas and I will be the ones living in the castle?" Naminé asked. "Kairi's technically the older one, so she gets the crown and throne."

"Do you honestly think Princess Kairi wants to be Queen?" Agatha asked, quieting slightly. "I really shouldn't be saying this, and nothing against your sister, but Kairi's too independent and values her freedom to do as she pleases far too highly to become our Queen. She'd probably make a good Queen, no doubt, but I think she might resent it a little if it's forced on her. She'd have to do it willingly, and from what I've seen from her I don't think that she would."

"And nothing on Kairi, but I kinda want the job," Naminé added, a little quiet and unsure. Roxas stared at her. Naminé paused for a moment before continuing. "I want to be… _somebody_, not just a former Nobody with a Keyblade. I'm a _princess_ now, even though Kai and I don't really act like princesses. Kairi wants to fade back into the obscurity of her old life, but I… I don't want to be like that… now that I actually have a life of my own I don't want to be pushed into the…" she sighed, "never mind."

"What is it Nam?" asked Roxas. He was curious about this. Naminé had never spoken before about an interest in what she would like to do after Maleficent was defeated. The topic had never really come up before in their circle.

"It's nothing Roxas," Naminé replied. "Just keep doing what you're doing." He assumed that meant toying with her hair with his fingers. Naminé's body began vibrating, or humming, with giddiness. "Ooh! Justin's taking his shirt off!" she squealed, pointing her finger at the SV and the teenage boy, with golden skin and washboard abs, on it. She started giggling a little and her handmaiden began smiling lewdly at the screen, _Justin_ in the process of undressing in order to go for a swim with the female lead in the girl's pool. What was worse (in Roxas' opinion), was that he was her _side_ love interest, not even the real love interest who was the awesomely epic hero with the armour of epicness and flaming sword of supreme ass-kicking for whenever the demons of Makzôr crossed the Void to possess people in the city of Hamlet and cause trouble according to the Big Bad's agenda. _This guy_ just happened to be the one who somehow was able to be even _more_ badass than the real hero, and the girl was flirting with both of them _constantly_ even though anyone with half a brain could tell that she really liked the hero and her best friend liked Mr. Pretty Boy!

Roxas paused for a moment and considered that if it were to be equated to his life, it was the equivalent of Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Selphie, and that Sora and Riku both had it bad for Kairi and Kairi had it bad for Sora but she was also toying around with Riku and that Selphie was crushing on Riku in the background and Kairi didn't know it and Riku and Sora both flirted with Selphie too and that was kinda making Kairi jealous and the bad guys just _had_ to add more drama with their…

Naminé squealed again as Mr. Gag Reflex started splashing with the heroine in the pool. Roxas glanced at Lea before both of them gave the actor on screen looks of disgust. Damn female eye-candy. Not that it mattered too much, since the girl who Mr. Chokes-On-Sunbeams was flirting with in the pool was freaking hot when she was wet and in a bikini like she was now. The producers of the show obviously knew _just_ enough on how to keep the male audience placated with plot and epicness and a smidge here and there of fanservice while a good portion of the girls watched just to feast their eyes on the co-star Mr. Takes-My-Shirt-Off-Every-Episode-Because-I-Am-The-Hottest-Thing-In-Existence-And-Fangirls-Go-Gaga-Over-Me, a.k.a. Mr. Cha-Ching!

-A-D-

_0710hrs, Tuesday, December 2__nd__, (Destiny Islands Reckoning)  
Roxas_

_Well, at least it looks like a nice enough place._

The blond looked out of the alley that he, Naminé, Lea, and Agatha had beamed down into. They'd found themselves in the middle of a city, built mostly of wood and brick and stone with cedar-shingled roofs. Vintage convertible cars piled far above their intended passenger limit rumbled by on the streets alongside streetcars and covered cars and trucks, and most of the people walking around had darker skin than Roxas was used to seeing regularly. Nearly all of the women of every age were wearing dresses, with the men in slacks and vests and snazzy suits. The air was warm, and the atmosphere was casual but with an air of impending excitement. There was music on the wind, music that Roxas found quite enjoyable. He could hear drums and horns and saxophones all playing in a swinging beat; he could hear _jazz_.

"Alright," he said, "anyplace I go where I can hear jazz music playing on the streets, I like."

Another sound much closer to home sharply entered his ears from behind. "Hold that thought Roxas," Lea said, "trouble's just arrived."

He turned around, scowling as Heartless appeared in the alleyway behind them. Slinking Neoshadows emerged from out of the ground, and four turquoise Heartless two-thirds as tall as Lea with four arms carrying four golden cymbals popped out of their personal dark portals.

Roxas summoned both the Oblivion and Twilight Thorn to his hands. "Ready to dance guys?"

"I was **born** ready!" Lea replied with a gleam in his teal eyes, his two chakrams combusting into the palms of his hands. The two of them raced past Naminé and Agatha, the Princess and her handmaiden each preparing some kind of spell. Roxas slashed twice at the first Neoshadow in his path, pushing it back with each stroke of his Keyblades and drawing wisps of darkness from its body. Lea came in from above and to Roxas' left, slicing the Heartless across the forehead with one chakram, then spinning around and delivering a kick to the Heartless' head. Wobbling, the Neoshadow fell back into the path of another black devil, and Lea chucked both his chakrams at the two with his battle-cry, "BURN BABY!"

A pillar of fire enveloped both and Roxas turned slightly so that he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Lea, relative to the height difference between them. One of the new Heartless was clumsily coming at him with its four cymbals in-hand, but before it could reach him, another one of the Neoshadows burst out from the ground in front of Roxas, slashing at him with its claws in a spin attack.

But Roxas' reflexes were sharp, and his Keyblades were bared and holding the claws back in an instant, an impenetrable fence of magic steel. The Neoshadow fell back, foiled, and the red light of Dusk swirled around Twilight Thorn's bayonet tip. Roxas stabbed, and the red light pulsed on the inside of the Neoshadow's body, and the Heartless exploded into darkness. A small satisfied smirk surfaced onto the blond's face.

"Yow!" he yelped suddenly, the smirk vanishing and jumping three feet off the ground. A blast of reverberating sound had just slammed into his right eardrum with enough force to deafen most everything else. He whirled back, the Cymbal Master having just crashed all four cymbals together mere centimetre's from the right side of his head. It did it again before Roxas had even finished his exclamation or his turn-around, and now his ears and his head were throbbing with pain and his eyes were watering. The sound… the sound was so intense! He couldn't hear himself think!

Dimly, Roxas was aware that the Cymbal Master had just wound up two of its arms and two of its cymbals, like it was going to swing them at him and carve his face open with the musical instruments. Forcing himself to act rather than give in to the pain that was bouncing all around the inside of his head, Roxas brought both his Keyblade up to defend himself. He was able to block one cymbal, but the other struck him in his upper torso and he gasped at the sharp pain, staggering backwards.

Muffled voices shouted behind him, and when Roxas looked up he saw a large hammer made of ice appear in the sky above the head of the Cymbal Master in front of him. It dropped like a stone, crushing the Heartless beneath it and a Neoshadow that was right next to it. Simultaneously as the Heartless' fall, cold wind blew around Roxas back and shards of ice flew past him in the wind, sinking deep into the Neoshadows and the Cymbal Masters.

Even with his equilibrium thrown a little bit out of balance and his head still crashing with the after-effects of the cymbals, Roxas rushed forward at the few remaining Heartless, slicing into them with his Keyblades right next to Lea. The other fighter threw both of his chakrams at the last Cymbal Master on hooked paths that would bring them to strike it from the Heartless' left and right sides. But the Cymbal Master held its cymbals out in their path, denying Lea's attack from harming it but leaving its middle open and vulnerable.

His hearing returning, Roxas was sure he heard Naminé say, "Sorry Roxas!" right before he felt a weight on his shoulders. A quick glance to his right showed him the yellow and black zippered sneakers that his girlfriend wore before they pushed off from his shoulders, nearly sending him to the ground as he looked up. He nearly toppled to the ground again as he blushed, unable to keep his eyes from going underneath the hem of Naminé's dress and catching sight of her underwear.

Naminé was in the air above the Cymbal Master and brought her shield to bear in front of her, the pointed crossroads device upon it glowing with opal light. "Moon's Cannon!" the blonde princess cried. The light blasted out of her shield and cut the final Heartless to ribbons of darkness, only its captive pink heart remaining to float into the sky and disappear in a wink of light.

Roxas tried to shake away the blood rushing to his face and the memory of the panty-shot he'd just had when he looked at Naminé, caught by Lea after her attack eviscerated the Cymbal Master and she'd fallen. She was saying something, but he couldn't quite tell what. "What?" he said, loud enough that even his own muffled hearing could decipher it.

"She said she's sorry for jumping on you, but she wanted at least one kill too," Agatha said directly into his ear. He looked at the nineteen-year-old servant. "She thought you two were having too much fun, and you don't have to be so loud."

"Hey Naminé," Lea began, "don't you think that last one was just a tad overkill?"

"Says the guy who just looks at a Shadow and drops a pillar of fire onto it." Lea laughed at her comeback.

Roxas slapped the side of his head a couple of times. His hearing was coming back, he knew it; otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hear their exchange so easily. "Let's find someplace to eat," he reminded them. "Come on, we're all starving." Nodding their heads, the others followed him out of the alleyway.

Their search for a restaurant to eat breakfast in didn't take long at all. Just as they left the alley a band playing trumpet, tuba, clarinet, trombone, saxophone, and ukulele walked right past a café called Duke's, with the Latino ukulele player taking off his hat and giving the waitress who'd come outside for a moment a charming look. The pretty black girl in her yellow dress and apron just rolled her eyes and strode back into the café, with the ukulele player shrugging and continuing on his way with the others.

"I'm saying let's go there," Lea declared, pointing at Duke's. Roxas looked at him, and noticed the look in Lea's teal eyes.

"You just want to go there because of that waitress," he accused his best friend.

Lea shrugged. "Yeah, so? If you hire attractive staff to attract customers, then I say that it's working." He looked down at himself. "Hm, but even though the cloak is quite daring, I'm going to need something else while I'm here to maximize my roguish charm." He turned on Roxas. "Buddy, you and me are going suit shopping after breakfast, got it memorized?"

"What? Why? Oh never mind, let's go inside and get something to eat," Roxas said, rolling his eyes slightly before crossing the road after a car lumbered past.

Naminé's hand slid into his and she gave it a slightly squeeze. "Don't worry so much about it," she told him, a bit of amusement in her tone of voice, "you could use a suit anyway. You'd look good in one." Roxas turned to his girlfriend and squeeze her hand back in response, a smile coming onto his face. Even so, he did not miss the message that Naminé wanted him to have a suit and everything that went with that.

_Bet Kairi isn't hinting at Sora to get a fancy suit,_ he thought, entering the café.

Duke's was your standard café. The front was orderly littered with square tables with comfortable wooden chairs surrounding them. A bar about half as long as the café was opposite Roxas with barstools all along it, behind and beside the bar an area for waitresses to add any last minute preparations to the food that was being passed out from the window to the kitchen. There were several other patrons in the café already, notably a woman with a small child and a group of five young adults around twenty, and a man who was just getting his coffee refilled.

"Just take a seat and I'll be right with you," said the waitress, apparently the only one on at the moment.

"You can be with me whenever and wherever you want," Lea replied, giving her a wink. The young woman rolled her eyes and turned away. Roxas honestly didn't try to conceal his amused chuckle at Lea's crash and burn, and went to a table. He pulled out Naminé's chair for her before the princess' handmaiden could do it, and then did the same for Agatha despite her initial protest. Lea gave him a look that said, 'Oh sure, show _me_ up mister gentleman', and sat down.

"Hey Tiana," one of the girls of the table of five began, "we all going out dancing tonight. Care to join us?" Roxas glanced over at their conversation.

"It's Mardi Gras, live a little," one of the boys said, encouraging whoever Tiana was to join them that night. While another said that she could dance with him.

"Sorry," the waitress, apparently Tiana, answered as she went towards the table with the small child playing with her food. "You know I got two left feet. Besides I'm—you need a napkin there sweetheart?—I'm gonna work a double shift tonight—here are your hotcakes—you know, so I can—"

"So you can save for your restaurant. I know, I know," sighed one of the girls at the table. "Girl! All you ever do is work!"

Tiana gave them an apologetic look before glancing at Roxas and his table. "Maybe next time," she told them before coming towards Roxas' group. She began passing out some menus and asked, "Good morning all. Can I get you anything to start with?"

"I told you all she wouldn't come," drawled the voice of one of her friends at the other table.

"Yes," Lea said, ignoring the voice of the girl who'd spoken out, "I'll start with your phone number and a side of dancing with me tonight." Tiana frowned at him, and Roxas laughed quietly.

"You're not going to stop are you Axel?" Naminé asked.

"Lea."

"Whatever," Naminé said. "Um, could I get some orange juice please?"

"I'll have some of that too and a slice of toast to nibble on while I decide between pancakes and…" Roxas began. He frowned and glanced at his stomach, the beast already growling at the smells wafting into his nose from the pancakes the man a few tables over was now eating. "Scratch that. I'm starving and ready to order some pancakes and bacon and OJ. What about you guys?"

"Now that you mention it… it is pancake time, get it memorized!" Lea said. "Pancakes and bacon and black coffee for me."

Agatha glanced at Naminé, who nodded her head. "I think we're all going to go with the pancakes and bacon, please. And I'll have a coffee as well. And, what's Mardi Gras?"

"Oh, are y'all visiting for the festival?" Tiana asked. "It's a big carnival thrown every year, with floats and dancing and celebrations all over."

"So that's why we saw bands walking through the street putting out their tunes," Roxas guessed. A bell _dinged_ from the kitchen, the cook calling, "Order up!"

"We should stay," Lea said quickly.

Roxas looked at him incredulously. "We just got out from a tournament and Maleficent just put the Heartless out. We need to kick Heartless butt, find the Keyhole, save the world, and move on to the next one; we don't have time to kick back for a festival just so you can get laid."

Lea snapped his fingers in front of Roxas' eyes rudely. "Roxas, think next time before you open your mouth."

The blond frowned. "I _am_ thinking! Or do you need to be reminded of the run-in with the Heartless we just had in that alley back there?"

"I agree with Lea," Naminé said. "We need to stay for Mardi Gras."

A little bit of shock came over Roxas and he looked at Naminé. He felt betrayed; his girlfriend was siding against him. "Why?" he asked.

Naminé answered patiently while they could overhear the cook telling Tiana that she had about as much chance of getting a restaurant as he did of winning the Kentucky Derby. "Because, if it's a big festival, there's going to be a lot of people out in the streets in the open, and that's going to be a _lot_ of hearts for the Heartless to take."

A slap in the face was comparable to the feeling he got when he realized that they were both right. And that was all he could say as the bell to the door rang as it opened. "You're right," he mumbled.

"You're damn right I'm right," Lea said. "Now there's a real excuse for us to go suit shopping together."

"Morning, Mr. La Bouff," Tiana said, looking towards the somewhat plump and tall white man with a well-kept head of red hair and red moustache who entered.

"Good morning, Tiana," he answered, giving the black waitress a warm look as she bustled to the other side of the restaurant with orders.

"Congratulations on being voted King of the Mardi Gras parade," Tiana congratulated him, smiling at the man while placing a tray with a plate, a plate that contained a healthy stack of pancakes already buttered and syruped, in front of an eager customer.

"Caught me completely by surprise," Mr. La Bouff confided in her, before placing his hand to the side of his mouth to mimic secrecy, "for the fifth year in a row!"

Roxas had been listening in on the conversation between Tiana and Mr. La Bouff while Naminé and Agatha started making a little small talk of their own. The way that the two spoke to each other indicated a very friendly relationship between them, one that transcended mere waitress and customer. But because of their age difference, Roxas couldn't guess how they knew each other so well.

La Bouff clapped his hands together as he laughed. "Now, how about I celebrate with…?"

"Beignets?" asked Tiana as she readily placed a plate heaping with the delicacy of dough covered in powdered sugar in front of Mr. La Bouff. "Got a fresh batch just waiting for you," she added, further cementing Roxas' belief that these two were more than just friendly with one another.

La Bouff picked one up happily as Tiana walked off. "Well keep them coming 'till I pass out," he told her.

"That cook seems to make food fast," Lea said, looking at the window where Buford, the cook, was cooking.

"Yeah, and?" asked Roxas.

"Bet our food's two minutes away, tops," bet Lea.

"I'll take that bet. Loser pays for the winner's meal."

"Just cough that munny up now Roxas. I knew how to make a bet _long_ before you ever met Luxord."

Just then the door burst open and a pretty blonde young woman in a pink dress, pink heels, pink hat, and pink scarf exploded into the room with a yell of, "Oh Tia!" Roxas found that he couldn't keep his eyes off of her as she bounced towards the waitress. The girl just screamed pink, and all the energy and bubbly nature of that colour. "Tia, Tia, Tia, did you hear the news?"

"Hey Charlotte," Tiana greeted as Charlotte went around her, dancing with her pink-furred scarf.

"Tell her," Charlotte said to Mr. La Bouff, hopping up and down on her heels as she approached him. "Oh, tell her Big Daddy!"

_Guessing that that's her dad,_ Roxas thought, _and the way that she greeted Tiana… if that girl's Tiana's best friend then it makes sense that she and Mr. La Bouff are so friendly with one another._

"Oh, yeah," Big Daddy La Bouff began, clearing his throat and extracting a newspaper. "Prince Naveen—"

His daughter completely cut him off, snatching the paper from her father and emphasizing the picture on the front page. "Prince Naveen, of Maldonia, is coming to New Orleans!" she squealed before screaming like the enraptured fangirl that she was. "Oh, isn't he the bee's knees? Tell her what you did Big Daddy." Not wanting to wait, she grabbed her father's suit and started to shake him, "Tell her!"

"Well, I invited—"

"Big Daddy invited the prince to our masquerade ball tonight!" Charlotte La Bouff finished for her daddy.

Roxas glanced at the rest of his table, and noticed that the others were all looking at the La Bouffs too. It wasn't surprising. An excited Charlotte La Bouff could attract the attention of a forest full of sloths in an instant.

"Tell her what else you did, Big Daddy," Charlotte said, leaning on her elbows just as her father was about to begin eating his second beignet. He paused and looked down at her, his mouth still open and the beignet still in his hand. Charlotte was withholding herself. "Go on," she told him.

A sly look came onto the man's face. "And he's staying—"

Charlotte burst out instantly. "And he's staying—!"

Her wide-open mouth was suddenly full of beignet as her father stuffed the one he'd been holding into it. "And he's staying in our house as my personal guest," he announced, finishing dignified rather than flustered.

"Oh Lotte that's swell," Tiana told her.

Tia? Lotte? _Yep,_ Roxas concluded, _BFFs for sure._

"A little word of advice," began Tiana light-heartedly as she came back to the La Bouff table with another plate of beignets, "my mama always said, 'the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach'." She patted Big Daddy La Bouff's well-fed stomach lightly to prove it and he chuckled before picking up another one of her beignets.

Charlotte's eyes lit up as Tiana turned back, another order done. The blonde snatched the beignet out of her father's hand, gasping, "Ah! That's it!"

"What just happened?" a puzzled Big Daddy asked, noting that the beignet was out of his hand and in his daughter's. Charlotte ignored him and rushed up to Tiana.

"Tia! You're a bona fide genius! I'm gonna need about five hundred of your _man-catching_ beignets for my ball tonight." She returned to her father and snatched out his wallet. "'Scuse me daddy," came out of her lips while large amounts of green paper money bills were produced from the wallet before being stuffed into Tiana's hands. "Will this about cover it?"

Tiana appeared completely shocked as she stared at the money in her hands with a slowly growing smile and an immeasurable amount of gratitude in her eyes. "This should cover it just fine, Lotte," she half-mumbled as excitement began to take over her voice and Charlotte kept giggling. "This is it, I'm getting my restaurant!"

Charlotte whooped a "Woohoo!" and Buford, the cook, dropped the egg he'd had on his flipper onto the bell, his open jaw ready and waiting for flies to enter it. Perhaps that was his way of showing that he'd just won the Kentucky Derby. But the blonde couldn't stop gushing as she grabbed her daddy and pushed him out of the café. "Tonight my prince is finally coming, and I sure as heck ain't letting him go!"

As soon as Charlotte left, Roxas found that he was able to look back at the other three at his table. "So…" he began jerking his head towards the waitress, "she's getting her own restaurant." Naminé gave him a somewhat stern look. "What?"

"You couldn't stop watching that girl," she said.

The tone was far more accusing than Roxas was used to hearing from Naminé. "I'm sure everyone was staring at her, she was pretty hard to miss."

"She was pretty pretty too," Lea added. "So don't go biting your teenage boyfriend's head off just because he was looking at another pretty girl. We know Roxas ain't that dumb." He frowned slightly. "You're not that dumb are you?"

"No!" Roxas resisted the insinuation that he was dumb enough to fool around on the side vehemently. Agatha giggled while Naminé gave both males a slightly amused expression as she came out of her tiny twinge of jealousy.

"So we going to this ball tonight then Your Highness?" the servant asked.

"Not while off-world are you to call me that in public and yes, I think we will," Naminé answered. She gave the nineteen-year-old servant a smile. "Come on, we're friends so just call me Naminé. Or am I going to have to give you a silly nickname like 'Aggie' to shut you up?"

"Don't you dare Naminé," Agatha said quickly.

"Here y'all are," Tiana said as she arrived with the food. "Nice and piping hot pancakes."

"Two minutes, twelve seconds," Roxas said triumphantly, looking at his watch. "I win the bet Axel. Ha!"

"That's Lea."

"You'll always be Axel to me, so enjoy paying for my food." He speared the top pancake on his stack, eagerly taking special note of the square of melting butter sitting atop a river of syrup. One bite later and he was melting just like the butter, and he started to sing. "_Food, food, I love food. I love food-food, I love food. Food, food-a-food-food-food, food, fooooood._" He stopped on the low note and grinned. "That was the food song, a Roxas trademark. Any one of you schmucks use it without my permission, and I'll… well…"

"Eat more food?" Tiana asked with a smile, placing Naminé's pancakes in front of the girl before standing up fully again. "Enjoy your meal y'all."

-A-D-

Just a few tables away, a man dressed in black and purple wearing a tall black and purple top hat and a short woman with copper hair in red and black had their faces hidden behind their menus. "So that's them?" asked the man.

"Yes," answered the woman. "Two of the Keyblade Wielders are here, and one of them one of the Princesses of Heart. Do you think you can get them? I'd do it myself, but I'm not really one for getting my hands dirty."

Strangely enough, the man's shadow nodded as if the shadow had its own will free of the man it was attached to. "Oh, I'm sure I'll be able to do something about it, since it's Maleficent who's asking so kindly and all."

"Excellent," purred the woman. "Now then, what shall I have for breakfast?"

-A-D-

The foursome split into two groups after breakfast at Duke's. Lea and Roxas would go suit and costume shopping on their own while keeping a lookout for more Heartless roaming the streets and causing trouble, while Naminé and Agatha would do the same on the female end of the spectrum: dresses instead of suits.

Naminé and her handmaiden wandered the streets of New Orleans for hours, looking through shops and trying local delicacies and bathing in the light and music that was in the air. Heartless were mysteriously absent. They eventually found masquerades that suited each of them. Naminé discovered a lovely princess gown that suited her well and even went with her silver earring studs, blue gemstone necklace, and the diamond and sapphire tiara she'd kept in her possession since she made the throne speech to inaugurate Ralph Manish's Conservative government. Agatha had decided to throw tradition to the winds and managed to scrape together an impressive female knight costume. A breastplate would cover entire torso, but left her arms bare for detached white sleeves that slowly shifted into baby blue that would hang down on her forearms. A white skirt with stunning plate armour on the front, back, and sides of her legs in the shape of a point of a star, with a band all around at the top, would join with her breastplate at her waist. A pair of metal boots would be on her feet. She would have no helmet and let her long golden-blonde hair down. Pretty much all of the armour would be decorative, and nowhere near up to the standard required for battle, but it would look decent enough for a masquerade.

"I think we're all set for this masquerade ball," Naminé declared, walking down the street with their purchases in bags slung on their arms.

"Do we even have invitations?" Agatha asked.

"Uh, well no…" Naminé admitted, remembering that little detail. "But, I'm sure we'll be able to figure out some way of getting in. And once we are, and all in costume, there's no way that they'll know that we aren't supposed to be there."

Agatha looked at her, deadpanning just long enough to make the princess feel nervous before breaking into a tiny smile at the younger teen. "So, we're crashing the party then?"

A little embarrassed, Naminé answered, "I wouldn't really call it crashing, since we don't intend to cause trouble."

"We're showing up to a party uninvited, we're party-crashing," said her handmaiden.

"Well, I guess—" Naminé began before stopping abruptly as she tripped on something and fell down. Agatha was down by her side in an instant, asking if she was alright. "Yeah, I think so," Naminé answered with a faint laugh. "Guess I tripped over my own feet."

A shadow came over her and both the sixteen and nineteen-year-old girls looked up to see a man with brown skin dressed in a snazzy black jacket and pants over a purple shirt. On his head was a black top hat with skull and crossbones on the front, a red band above the brim and a purple feather sticking out of the band; and in his hands rested a straight cane topped by a purple orb. "Ladies," he said conversationally, his lavender eyes smiling at them, "_enchanté_." He held his cane out to Naminé in a helping gesture and she took it, allowing him to help her back to her feet. The man popped off his top hat to reveal his sleeked back frizzy black hair. "A tip on the hat from Doctor Facilier. How y'all doing?" he asked, giving Naminé a business card.

_Dr. Facilier_, she read. _Tarot readings, charms, potions, dreams made real._

"We're doing fine, thanks, Doctor," Naminé answered, looking up slightly from the business card. She had to admit that while she didn't care so much for the tarot readings or making dreams real, the charms and potions did intrigue her a little. She bent down and started to pick her bags back up.

"Seems like y'all are doing a little less than fine, what with not getting an invite to that party and all," Facilier said shrewdly, "especially with who you are and everything."

Naminé stopped and was about to look at him suspiciously before switching towards ignorance. "What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to move past him. "We're nobody of importance."

Facilier gracefully intercepted them and took Naminé's palm, looking at it and running his fingers down it. The sensation was something that Naminé found oddly, pleasing? "Now that's a shame, because if I were a betting man—and I'm not, I stay away from games of chance—I'd wager I was in the presence of royalty."

He turned her hand around and kissed the back of it. Charmed, Naminé smiled at her handmaiden, who offered an uncertain smile back. "I'd think more carefully about the bets I place if I were you," the handmaiden addressed him. "Come on Naminé, we have to meet up with Roxas and Lea and then get ready."

Conceding that Agatha was right, Naminé nodded her head at the young woman. "I'm sorry Doctor," she apologized, "but she's right. We need to be going now." They started to move away.

"What if I told you I could get you into the masquerade ball?" Facilier asked, "and make all your dreams come true in the meantime?"

Naminé and Agatha stopped and turned towards him. "You… have a way in?" Naminé asked.

Facilier nodded. "All that and more." He gestured towards an alley. "Please, step this way to my shop."

The white-blonde haired princess turned to her handmaiden. "If it'll keep us from being party-crashers…" Agatha trailed off. They nodded their heads and turned into the alley.

Ten seconds later they were in a little stone courtyard between buildings with a large dead tree in the middle of it. Against the opposite side was a lavender door with an oddly shaped wooden carving of a human sitting next to it, and above the door was a sign shaped like a top hat with the skull and crossbones lit up by flames from underneath it, reading "Dr. Facilier's Voodoo Emporium".

"Interesting little magic shop you've got here," Naminé said, looking at the sign. "But… I'm not too sure I'm a fan of the dead stuff."

Facilier waved her off. "It's all a part of the ritual, but that doesn't make it evil. Don't you disrespect it little princess. Don't you derogate, or deride. 'Cause you're in _my_ world now, not _your_ world, and I've got friends on the other side." Just as he said that, he pointed at the door with his cane, and it opened slowly with a creak and other voices added in low, "_He's got friends on the other side._"

The two girls looked at each other. Both of them knew magic now, and both had to admit that they were impressed a little. Dr. Facilier placed his arms around their shoulders and led them into his shop. There were two book cases against the walls lined with books containing the voodoo man's voodoo secrets, and a large number of assorted items lining the walls as well, notably masks or skulls and a coffin. An array of wooden masks hung from the ceiling.

"That's an echo girls," Facilier told them. "Just a little something we have here in Louisiana, little parlour trick. Don't worry." He snapped his fingers and a red light shone down on a circular table raised up on a dais with three straight-backed chairs around it. Brightly coloured table-cloth hung down from the table. "Sit down at my table," he told them as he led them towards it. "Put your minds at ease. If you relax it will enable me to do anything I please. I can read your future. I can change it round some too. I look deep into your heart and soul; make your wildest dreams come true."

Something about the soothing, charismatic way he was saying all of this was making Naminé feel much more at ease. So far, this man had done nothing in the way of trying to scare her, intimidate her, imprison her, attack her, or anything like what any of Maleficent's minions have done. To her, he was probably a simple magician with a talent for fortune-telling that wanted to make a bit of money, and who was she to argue that?

"I've got voodoo, I've got hoodoo, I've got things I ain't even _tried_," Facilier said to them in front of his chair on the other side of the table, opening a box that suddenly had a mask of pure flame erupt from it before closing the lid and tossing the box away. "And I've got friends on the other side," he added again, sitting down on his chair while leaning forward towards the two girls, his chair sliding forward by itself to catch him.

"_He's got friends on the other side_," the echo said again. Both girls whipped their heads around, thinking the sound to be coming from the masks hanging behind them, but to a one they were motionless and silent and not-sentient.

"I'm impressed by how you're able to do that," Naminé complimented him.

"Me too," added Agatha.

There was a crystal ball now on the table. Facilier extended his hand towards Naminé and Agatha. "Your hands, please," he asked, "so that I might decipher your future from by ball?" They acquiesced. Purple mist filled the crystal ball, and Naminé looked at it intently, expecting to see something appear in the mist.

For a good ten seconds, she saw nothing while Facilier muttered under his breath, then he gasped aloud and Naminé looked at him. She might not have been able to see into the mists, but he obviously could. His smile was still there, disarming her nerves and making her comfortable. "You _are_ royalty as I predicted," he told her, "royalty from another world." She was about to answer, but he kept on talking. "But you are not the elder, you have a sister; a sister that you once were, in a sense." He looked up at her and spoke plainly. "She'd get the throne wouldn't she, what with no King and Queen currently on the big chair and her being the true heir?"

Naminé nodded. "Yes, she would."

"And that would leave you playing second-fiddle, fading out of the spotlight and back into the obscure, where people can simply use you for who you are, and not give a damn about the consequences or your feelings because you're not important. You're just little old Naminé, thrown away or disposed of once your usefulness has run its course."

"I guess that that would happen," the blonde agreed. She remembered her days in Castle Oblivion, and she remembered her days with DiZ and Riku. She was the tool to be used in both betrayal and revenge, and both Marluxia and DiZ had shown little interest in her own desires. She had worked on Sora for Ansem the Wise out of guilt for what she'd done initially. It hadn't been for _him_, it had been for Sora, but DiZ hadn't made it any easier for her with all of his own plans.

She had always been that tool, useful but restrained; dangerous but not respected. Even now as a Keyblade Wielder, Knight, and Princess she wasn't even allowed to take full control of her life. There were others always giving her orders and telling her what to do. The greatest amount of autonomy she was ever free to exercise was right now, here, off-world with Roxas and Lea and her handmaiden.

"It doesn't have to be that way," Doctor Facilier whispered.

She looked at him wildly. "What do you mean?" Naminé asked.

"I looked into your future and I saw a coronation!" Facilier announced, "And not the coronation of your sister, but _your_ coronation, as a Queen! Not just Queen, though, that's not it alone. But a full Keyblade Master, and the greatest frost-witch in the entire universe! No more will you be a nobody who gets punted around by those above her, you'll be a somebody who does the punting around; who lives her life as she sees fit. The exact person you want to be.

"And you," Facilier said, turning to Agatha. "In your future, the you I see is standing right there behind her every step of the way, just like you want it to be." He stood up and came between them on their side of the table. "Shake my hand," he said, extending both his hands to them. "Come on girls, won't you shake a poor sinner's hand?"

"If I shake your hand," Naminé began anxiously, "it'll come true?"

"All that and more," Facilier told her. "You'll become far more important to the worlds than you could ever realise, and _you_ (he turned to Agatha) will be beside her the whole way through."

Each blonde grasped his hands.

"Yes…" the Shadow Man chuckled as Lexai stepped out from behind a curtain. Naminé gasped, recognizing one of Maleficent's Nobodies and realizing her mistake now that it was too late.

"You will be important," Lexai giggled as snakes appeared and tied both Naminé and her handmaiden to the chairs before they could do anything, "important, to Maleficent."

-A-D-

_Well, here we have it. New World # 1, also New Disney Movie # 1, Princess and the Frog. I hope you enjoyed it._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	56. The Bells of Notre Dame

_Let it be known! I am now Uncle Shire Folk to a beautiful baby boy! Born on the 12__th__, 8lbs 3 oz, 20", Colton James. Yes, I know that I said in a different a/n that I was against Colton, but he's been born now and there's nothing I can do to change his name so I whole-heartedly support and love my new nephew. He's adorable._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I own nothing._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 56: The Bells of Notre Dame

_1245hrs, December 1__st__, 2003  
The _Roadster  
_Riku_

"Good thing this ship is a miniature Alliance Dreadnought," Yuffie said, glancing at Riku as Cid and Tifa were at the controls of the _Roadster_, "otherwise, I don't think our posse would all fit."

"You're right about that," Riku agreed, nodding as he looked out the viewport on the side and saw the _Highwind_, _Boar_, and _Hunter_, all out in a line alongside. Marlene giggled and peeked out of the viewport at the gummi ships alongside them in the lanes between.

"Wow," she said, smiling widely. "Aerith! Tifa! Yuffie! Come and look at all the pretty colours!"

"I see them Marlene," Tifa answered from her chair next to Cid. She turned to the pilot. "It's too bad we couldn't take the _Shera_."

"Nah, too small for this party," Cid answered as Yuffie and Aerith came over to where Marlene was and began enjoying the view with the girl. Riku watched the three for about a half a minute, a small smile on his face as he quietly contemplated the scene, before he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Leon was standing there. He nudged his head slightly. "Riku," he began, his tone completely neutral as only Leon was able to use, "come with me a sec." The silveret glanced back at Yuffie for a moment, saw that she was content to be with the little girl and Aerith, and then followed Leon quietly.

The gunblade wielder led Riku into the depths of the ship for a minute or two before stopping in an empty hall and leaning against the wall. He gave Riku a look meant to break through the Keyblade Wielder's armour, but Riku stood his ground and leaned against the wall, staring right back at Leon. They were almost the same height, but Riku was sure that someday soon he would be as tall if not taller than the brunet next to him.

"What did you want me—?"

"Riku," Leon broke in, breaking eye contact and nodding his head down with closed eyes, "what do you plan to do with Yuffie?"

Riku hid his surprise at Leon's question. "What do you mean?" he asked, getting defensive.

"You're dating, you sleep together, and you've even somehow managed to get Yuffie to start learning how to cook properly from Tifa." He raised his head again and watched Riku's face. "You now both hold Keyblades, and Yuffie just threw herself at Sephiroth to protect you."

Riku winced and looked away.

"She's like a little sister to me, as annoying and jumpy as she is," Leon continued. "She's already been through a… bad relationship, so I want to make this crystal clear to you. If you hurt her, in any way, I will come after you, no matter where you are, and do what has to be done. And if you end up getting her killed, I'll make you regret having ever set eyes on her."

Riku withheld his urge to gulp nervously. He pushed off of the wall and turned towards Leon, facing the gunblade wielder. "If you're threatening me Leon, it's not going to work. I'm not leaving Yuffie, and I promise you that hurting her is the furthest thing from my mind. But no matter what happens, I will _never_ regret having met her."

The two stared at each other for a long time, each searching the other's soul with their eyes to try and find some kind of weakness they could exploit or button to push. But Riku and Leon were cut from a little of the same cloth, and each hid their emotions well from the other.

"Gotcha!"

Riku nearly jumped as a weight landed on his back and around his shoulders. Eye contact with his adversary was broken as he turned to look at the hazel eyes of his assailant. "Here you are," Yuffie said cheerily with a smile. "I was wondering where you and Squall ran off to brood to. Man, I've gotta keep you two away from each other. I can just _feel_ the lightning and gloom in this hallway. If you both weren't straight, I wouldn't be surprised if you were compatible with each other. Mm… might be smexy though."

Riku blushed, not at any inappropriate thoughts of Leon, but because the very idea made him embarrassed. He smirked over it. "Oh yeah? Well I guess I'm just too unlucky that you don't swing the other way."

Yuffie giggled nonchalantly. "And why would that be, Lord Rikums? I thought for sure you liked the fact that I just happen to like you. Probably a fluke, but I can't change that."

"Because, and Kairi would kill me if she found out I said this, I find the idea of a threesome between you, her, and Aerith to be sexy beyond belief," he threw Leon a look. "Right Leon?"

"Leave me out of this," said the brunet, scowling.

"Eew!" Yuffie exclaimed, shoving Riku's shoulders in her move to get off him. "Pervs! You're both sicko pervs!"

"Yuffie," Leon said quickly.

The one word cut through and she turned towards him. "Yeah Leon, what is it?"

"Don't lose Riku," he told her quietly, "he's a good kid."

Riku and Yuffie both blinked in surprise and looked at each other. They were speechless just long enough for Leon to amble off to another part of the ship.

"What was that about?" Yuffie asked. She looked at Riku curiously. "What were you two talking about really?"

Riku shook his head. "Nothing, don't worry about it Yuffie."

She nodded her head. "Okay, I won't." The ship jerked violently and Yuffie staggered on her feet as the faint sound of Cid cursing from up front bounced down the corridor. Riku caught her quickly and held Yuffie steady, but that didn't stop her face from going white. "Riku, I think I'm gonna…"

"Don't worry," Riku assured her quickly. "Bathroom here we come. Hopefully this won't last too long."

It did.

-A-D-

_0800hrs, December 2__nd__, 2003 (Destiny Islands Reckoning)_

Bells sang in the morning air that hovered over the waking city of Paris. The sky was clear and blue and the sun was shining brightly, and it almost seemed brighter than what it was in the music of the bells. A great gothic cathedral stood in the middle of the city on the east end of an island within it, towering over all other structures. Its elegant flying buttresses fanned out from the cathedral, two massive symmetrical towers at the front of the structure, with the left tower (when facing the cathedral) holding the great bells that were ringing.

The bell-ringer in the tower dropped down from the cords he was pulling that rang the bells, his task done for the moment, and stood up on the wooden platform that led out to the balconies of Notre Dame de Paris. The man was twenty years old, but one could never have guessed that by his height, for he stood shorter than most with a nearly permanent stoop that was impossible to overcome unless he tried insanely hard. The cause for his hunch was the hump on his back that deformed him, and his face looked as though a child who had an idea of what a face looked like had sculpted it with putty. A mop of red hair sprouted from it, and his teeth were far from perfect.

But despite all that, Quasimodo's blue eyes were bright and cheerful as he strode through the flock of pecking pigeons and had them take wing into the sunlight. He glanced into the mouth of a gargoyle that was perched on the balcony, and found a fledgling pigeon sleeping in a nest.

"Good morning," Quasimodo said softly to the little bird, causing it to wake up and look up at him joyfully. Evidently the bird and the hunchback were friends. "Will today be the day? Are you ready to fly?" The bird reacted with an anxious mumble of a chirp. "Are you sure?" Quasimodo asked, "Good day to try." He gently picked the bird up out of its nest in his big hands, corded and calloused from pulling constantly at the fraying ropes of the great bells of Notre Dame, and carried him to the edge of the parapet so that even the little bird could look down at the square below. "Why, if-if I picked a day to fly, oh, this would be it. The Festival of Fools."

He raised his hands up and down, giving the little bird a feeling of weightlessness as the little guy started to flap his wings in his first attempt at flying. "It'll be fun, with jugglers, and-and-and music, and dancing." He chuckled and removed his hands, the little bird flying on his own in the same place Quasimodo had left him. The bird opened his eyes and looked down before quickly glancing back at Quasimodo, who proudly held his hands up in front of him, showing the little bird that he was flying on his own. The little guy chirped excitedly and landed back on Quasimodo's hands.

A flock of full-grown pigeons flew right past, probably the same flock Quasimodo had stirred up from their pecking, and the little bird chirped excitedly at them. Quasimodo smiled and rubbed his little head with one finger. "Go on," he urged. "Nobody wants to be cooped up here forever." He extended his hand, and the fledgling excitedly flew off after the others of his kind. Quasimodo looked fondly after him for a moment, before his face turned to a saddened one.

The squat gargoyle with straight pointed horns jutting out of the back of its head next to him suddenly spat out the nest the young bird had rested in with supreme disgust. "Oh man!" he said, still hating the taste of straw, feathers, and pigeon droppings, "I thought he'd never leave; I'll spitting feathers for a week."

Another gargoyle further down, this one taller and leaner without horns at all folded his arms together and spoke with a more educated voice. "Well that's what you get for sleeping with your mouth open," Victor told Hugo.

"Eh-he-he, go scare a nun," Hugo retorted under his breath. "Hey Quasi, what's going on down there? A flight, a flogging?"

"A festival," Victor answered.

Hugo looked up excitedly. "You mean the Feast of Fools?"

"Uh-huh," Quasimodo confirmed.

"Alright alright!" Hugo cheered, "Pour the wine and cut the cheese!"

"It is a treat to watch the colourful pageantry of the simple peasant folk," Victor said.

Hugo elbowed Quasimodo in the arm, causing him to knock the other gargoyle aside. "Boy nothing like balcony seats for watching the old FoF," he said excitedly.

"Yeah," Quasimodo answered sarcastically, "watching." He turned away.

Hugo got an evil look on his face. "Oh look, a mime." He loudly prepared himself for a loogie and was just about to spit it out when Victor clamped a hand over Hugo's mouth. Hugo looked up at him with eye-watering depressed sadness at being foiled and now being forced to swallow what he had been about to sick upon the lowest of the low on the performing hierarchy. Victor nudged his head backwards and Hugo turned around, seeing Quasimodo walking away. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, what gives?"

"Aren't you going to watch the festival with us?" asked Victor. Quasimodo grumbled something and continued to walk away.

"I don't get it," Hugo said.

"Perhaps he's sick," Victor wondered.

"Impossible," a new voice said. The two of them turned around and saw a female gargoyle with elderly features hopping towards them on her round base of stone as pigeons chased after her. "If twenty years of listenin' to you two hasn't made him sick by now, nothing will."

"Watching the Festival of Fools has always been the highlight of the year for Quasimodo," Victor protested.

Laverne turned around and gave him a look as the pigeons started to land on her face. "What good is watching the party if you never get to go? Here, get away from me!" she exclaimed, beating away the pigeons. "Go on, ya bunch of buzzards! He's not made of stone like us."

"Hey do you guys hear something?" Hugo asked.

Laverne and Victor stopped, having been about to enter the cathedral's bell tower after Quasimodo. All three of them listened, and they could faintly hear something sounding like a scream that was slowly getting louder, and louder, and **louder**, and _**LOUDER!**_

"WAAAHHH!"

_Ker-SMASH!_

The three gargoyles turned around at the dust that rose up from the screaming thing that had just fallen onto the balcony. It turned out to be another gargoyle, and Victor and Hugo stared. It was another female, but unlike Laverne, who was elderly, this one looked young and, and…

Cute.

Hair was carved into her granite head, and her arms were slender and torso shapely; she was like them in not having any legs, her lower half being a round block, but there was an odd-shaped sword strapped to her 'waist' (the sword looking like a weird skeleton key), as well as granite carvings that resembled clothing: at least a vest, shirt with a floral design, and belt and belt pouch. Stone bat-like wings were carved out of her back, just a tiny bit larger than the angel-esque wings Victor had, and small nubs of horns popped out of the top sides of her head.

She opened her eyes slowly and pushed herself up, holding her head in one hand. "Urg, what happened?"

"You just fell right out of the sky," Laverne answered, hopping up to the young gargoyle with concern. "Are you alright sweetie?"

She nodded her head slowly and closed her eyes tightly. "Yeah, I think so. Uh, where am I, and who are you guys?"

"You have arrived here at the pinnacle of modern gothic architecture," Victor told her with a sweeping arm gesture at the bell tower, "the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris."

Hugo knocked him aside. "Eh, don't mind Victor too much. He's a nut for theatrics. I'm Hugo. So, where you from? Old Maurice up in Heaven decided that he needed another gargoyle that could come alive down here to brighten this place up huh?"

"Uh…" the gargoyle replied, "I'm not really sure what you're talking about." She looked around. "I'm the only one that fell? Nobody else?"

"Just you honey," Laverne replied. "What's your name?"

"Yuffie," she answered.

"That's a cute name," Hugo said. He grasped Yuffie's arm, but not too tightly, and said, "C'mon, let's go introduce you to Quasi."

Yuffie smiled bemusedly as the squat gargoyle began dragging her off, and she followed the other three inside. She figured that this Hugo may have developed a crush on her. It was almost flattering, really, but she couldn't help but wonder where the others were…

…or if Sephiroth really _was_ shadowing them. A chill went up her granite spine at the thought and she glanced behind her, but the One-Winged Angel was nowhere in sight.

-A-D-

"I'm surprised Riku," Tifa said as she, Riku, Zack, Aerith, Marlene, and Leon walked the streets of the city, "you're taking the fact that your girlfriend beamed down wrong when we suddenly got rammed by that Heartless rather well."

Riku smirked, glancing back at her. "This is Yuffie we're talking about, remember? I'd be more worried for the people she runs into."

Tifa smiled. "You got that right," she said. "She's a lot stronger than she was a couple years ago. Taking on the Heartless in Traverse Town and you and Sora have really helped her come out of her shell."

Riku chuckled slightly. "I thought she was the one that helped me come out of _my_ shell. From what I've seen, she's always been this cheery happy-go-lucky kinda girl."

_But then what was with that reaction she had about not wanting to be alone again? And wait, why did she tell me that she had dated a guy a while back, but yet __**I**__ was her first kiss?_

"What is she hiding from me?" Riku questioned quietly.

Tifa's eyes widened slightly. "Uh-oh," she whispered to Aerith, "did I just let something that Riku didn't know about slip?"

Aerith nodded slightly. "I think you did," she said.

Zack glanced down at his girlfriend. "What are you two talking about?"

Aerith shook her head. "Nothing Zack. Come on Marlene, keep up."

"Kay," said the brunette girl as she skipped ahead of Leon to catch up. "I wish Daddy were here too," she said.

Tifa smiled at the girl. "I do too Marlene, but you know that he, Vincent, Rinoa, and Cid had to look after the ship and take care of those nasty Heartless." Marlene nodded her head in understanding. Nearby a beautiful gypsy with long raven hair was dancing and playing her tambourine to the music that a fellow gypsy was making on a trumpet, a kid goat dancing as well.

Riku watched her, impressed, as a number of other people walked by whispering that the gypsies would steal them blind. He sure didn't think so, and reached down into his pocket to produce some munny. He tossed the golden beads into the upturned hat lying in front of the kicking and dancing kid goat. The gypsy smiled at him and jangled her tambourine slightly in his direction, and Riku felt a slight blush creep onto his cheeks.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, is our little Riku getting an eensy weensy bit of a crush there?"

"Shut up," Riku huffed. He gasped slightly and frowned as a shout of distress sounded just around a bend in the road. A squat guard in dull cloth covering his breastplate and belt with a helmet that Riku called nothing more than a tin hat scrambled around a corner, dropping his sword as he went.

"Devils!" he shouted, running past them and the worried gypsies, who had now stopped playing and dancing. "Demons!"

"Wha—?" Riku started to ask before a creature floated around the corner and stopped, staring at Riku with its yellow eyes, its hand clutching onto its long blue sword while its black wings slowly flapped to keep it aloft.

"Invisibles?" Tifa said, surprised at the strong Heartless before them, watching as four more floated around the corner. "What are they doing here?"

"Same thing we are," Riku answered, Way to the Dawn flashing into existence in his right hand. "Looking for the Keyhole!" He thundered forward as the four Invisibles took note of his Keyblade and they glided towards him.

Riku raised Way to the Dawn in a quick slice, parrying the falling sword of the lead Invisible before jumping to the side, avoiding the downswing of the next one. The third wasn't so quick, and as Riku steadied himself from his dodge he sliced Way to the Dawn across the chest of the big Heartless. It threw its head back slightly, recoiling from the pain, and Riku's Keyblade traced another line across the front of its body, but his following stab missed as the Invisible became intangible, turning into a ring of purple flames while its sword stabbed into the ground between the cobblestones.

The silver-haired Keyblade Wielder knew that he had to move and get out of the way of the coming attack, but the fourth Invisible wouldn't let him, its sword carving a path through the air and meeting with Riku's blocking Keyblade.

Sounds of an Invisible falling behind him and Tifa's victorious shout reminded him that he wasn't alone, and that reminder was enough to put a smirk onto his face as he kicked the Invisible between the legs. He had no idea if humanoid looking Heartless were the same as humans in having their crotch as a weak point, but it was worth a try.

It worked.

While the Invisible hunched over almost double, Riku rammed Way to the Dawn right between its eyes. He glanced and saw the purple fire of the Invisible that had disappeared was surrounding him, and it pulsed. The flames converged on him too quickly for Riku to get out of the way of the ring, and he felt their searing touch before they vanished and reformed as the Invisible, which picked up its sword again…

…Only for Leon to lop its head off its shoulders with his gunblade in the Heartless' moment of weakness. Riku glanced to his left, the last remaining Invisible had just succumbed to Zack Fair's swordsmanship, and then glanced at Leon again. "I call half of that one," he told the gunblade wielder.

"What?" Leon asked, his brow furrowing.

Riku pointed while his Keyblade vanished. "That one. You only helped me kill it, so I get half, and I get that one," he added, nudging his head towards where he'd stabbed the fourth between its eyes.

Tifa stretched, smiling. "So the tally's one and a half for Riku, one and a half for me, half for Zack, and half for Leon then," she declared. Her smile turned onto the two others. "Jeeze, you two are slipping."

"Anyone hurt?" Aerith asked before either Zack or Leon could rip into Tifa. The raven-haired woman fist-bumped the silver-haired youth, the two of them smirking at their tied kill count of the four Invisibles. "Riku?"

"Nah, it's fine," he replied. "Can't even feel it anymore."

"Hey." Riku's group turned around at the word. The gypsy who had been dancing was approaching them cautiously. "That was really impressive," she said, her voice just as warm and fair as her appearance, "much better than the guards." She placed a finger to her chin and looked at them with a critical eye. "Hm, yes, yes I think that would be alright."

"What are you on about?" Zack asked, sheathing his sword on his back again.

"Judging by your clothes, you wouldn't happen to be travelling warrior gypsies would you?" the woman asked.

Leon was about to open his mouth and say something when Tifa stepped on his foot. "Yes, yes we are," she answered. "My name's Tifa. This is Leon, Zack, Aerith, Riku, and this little one here is Marlene."

"Hi," Marlene said, waving cheerily. "You're really pretty," she said. "And I don't agree with what that lady said earlier. I don't think you'd steal us blind."

The woman laughed and bent down slightly. "Why thank you. What a kind thing to say. Most people here are superstitious of us, all thanks to the rumours and proclamations of that Judge Frollo."

"Judge Frollo?" Riku asked.

The gypsy turned to him, anger in her eyes at the very name. "He's a cruel man, and he rounds up and tortures my people in his 'Palace of Justice' whenever he can get the opportunity to get away with it." She calmed down and offered her hand to Tifa. "My name's Esmeralda. Come with me; it's Topsy Turvy Day, and we're about to begin the Festival of Fools."

"Festival of Fools?" Leon asked.

"A time when nothing is as it seems, and the most hideous fool in Paris is crowned King of Fools for the day." She nodded her head and waved them on. "C'mon. It's fun, and if any more of those monsters show up we're going to need you."

Riku glanced around at his 'chaperones', shrugged, and followed along. Nearby they came across a male Gypsy with black hair dressed very much like a court jester with his flamboyant yellow, purple, and blue outfit with a purple mask on concealing his face from his nose upwards. He was in his cart with his hands guiding the strings of marionettes, and in front of him were a number of small children listening to a story he was telling with help from his puppet show. Riku couldn't help but stop and watch.

"'_Stop'! Cried the Archdeacon._

'_This is an unholy demon. I'm sending it back to Hell, where it belongs.'_

'_See, there, the innocent blood you have spilt,  
On the steps of Notre Dame.'_

'_I am guiltless. She ran. I pursued.'_

'_Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt,  
On the steps of Notre Dame.'_

'_My conscience is clear!'_

'_You can lie to yourself and your minions;  
You can claim that you haven't a qualm,  
But you never can run from,  
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes!  
The very eyes of Notre Dame!'_

_And for one time in his life  
Of power and control,  
Frollo felt a twinge of fear  
For his immortal soul._

'_What must I do?'_

'_Care for the child, and raise it as your own.'_

'_What? I am to be saddled with this misshapen—Very well, but let him live with you in your church.'_

'_Live here? Where?'_

'_Anywhere.  
Just so he's kept locked away where no one else can see,  
The bell tower, perhaps? And who knows? Our Lord works in mysterious ways.  
Even this foul creature may yet prove one day to be,  
Of use to me.'"_

The Gypsy looked down at the small gathering of children and at Riku, Marlene, and Tifa who had stayed to watch, and his voice became one that could very well haunt the minds of the children for one or two nights.

"_And Frollo gave the child a cruel name;  
A name that means half-formed:  
Quasimodo._

_Now here is a riddle, to guess if you can,  
Sing the bells of Notre Dame.  
Who is the monster and who is the man?  
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells,  
Bells, bells, bells, bells,  
Bells of Notre Dame!"_

He finished his show and closed the curtains, taking bows for the children. A minute or two later he came out and introduced himself as Clopin.

"And you must be the warriors who protected our little dancing flower Esmeralda," he said.

"Some of them," Tifa replied with a smile.

Clopin laughed and waved his arm. "Well come, come! We must prepare you, the Feast of Fools is about to begin!"

-A-D-

Standing on the parapets of a dark-looking building on the opposite side of Notre Dame on the island in the middle of Paris was a tall and thin man. Age lined his face, but his eyes were strong and showed none of it. Robed all in black, with a large circular hat striped black and purple topping his head, Judge Claude Frollo looked across the city from the Palace of Justice, his bastion of piousness.

He didn't even turn to address the man standing next to him. He was broad-shouldered, blonde, with a trimmed goatee lining his lower jaw; wearing a blue cloak around immaculate gold-painted armour with an iron longsword bearing a gold-painted hilt strapped to his hips. "You've come to Paris in her darkest hour, Captain. It will take a firm hand to save the weak-minded from being so easily misled."

"Misled, sir?" asked the man, a war-hero of great repute, Captain Phoebus.

Frollo gestured down into the streets of the city. "Look, Captain. Gypsies. The Gypsies live outside the normal order. Their heathen ways inflame the people's lowest instincts." He gave Phoebus a look that warranted no argument. "And they must be stopped."

Phoebus gave argument anyway. He could somewhat see the reasoning behind the Minister's words, but… "I was summoned from the wars to capture fortune-tellers and palm readers?"

"The real war, Captain, is what you see before you," Frollo insisted, directing his attention down into the streets again. He glanced down at the stone parapet in front of them, noting a few ants scurrying along across the stone, doing the things that ants do without any mind to giant humans. "For twenty years, I have been, taking care of the Gypsies, one (he crushed an ant beneath his finger)…by (another)…one (the third). And yet, for all my success, they have thrived." He lifted up the block of stone the ants had been on top of, revealing a whole hill of the insects beneath it.

"I believe they have a safe haven within the walls of this very city; a nest, if you will." He chuckled. "They call it the 'Court of Miracles'."

"What are _we_ going to do about it, sir?" asked Captain Phoebus. In answer, Frollo reversed the stone so that there would be no room beneath it, and dropped the stone back onto the scurrying ants.

He ground it in.

"You make your point quite vividly, sir," noted Phoebus.

"And it is wise that you do," said a strange voice.

Frollo and Captain Phoebus turned around, looking into the shadows cast by the pillars along the side of the Palace of Justice. Phoebus' hand went to the hilt of his sword. "Who's there?" he asked.

"Reveal yourself," Frollo added.

The stranger did, revealing herself to be a woman. Long ivory hair dropped to her waist, a black shirt was underneath an unzipped silver-coloured light jacket. White pants came down to her ankles, held up by a belt of blue so dark it bordered closely on black, and feet were covered by wide-toed leather shoes dyed in lightest grey.

"A woman?" Frollo asked himself, astounded. "What are you doing here?"

"I bring you a warning, Minister Frollo," the woman answered. "Your darkest fears are true. The Gypsies down below are harbouring witches in their midst, witches who have made pacts with their heathen gods to summon foul demons of darkness."

"Impossible," Captain Phoebus said.

The woman backed away. "Believe what you will, brave Captain, but that will not change the truth. You would do well to heed the warning of Senox. But know this, if one's mind and will is strong, they can steal the demons away from the witches' hands and have them do one's own bidding instead."

Frollo and Phoebus glanced at one another, but when they looked back the woman, Senox, was gone.

"She sure slips away quickly," Phoebus observed.

Frollo frowned. "Stealthy as any Gypsy thief." He placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder, shrugging away the strange meeting. "You know, I like you, Captain. Shall we?" The crowd of peasants awaiting the start of the festival cheered boisterously and Frollo sighed while rolling his eyes. "Oh, duty calls. Have you ever attended a peasant festival, Captain?"

"Not recently, sir."

"Then this should be quite an education for you. Come along."

-A-D-

Maleficent seethed as she listened, and the words that had been shouted across the stars reverberated through the chamber within her underground fortress that she stood in.

"…_I vow that I will put an end to you! Do you hear me, witch! I'll get you for this! _I_… _will_ defeat you! The Light I hold and the Light of my friends will cut you down, and then all the people of all the worlds will live free from the fear of you; free from your black soul and tainted darkness! Then nobody else will have to die because of _you_! You won't take anybody else I love from me!"_

"That insolent little trollop!" Maleficent spat furiously. "How dare she mock me? How _dare_ the wench taunt me so? She still does not realize who she is dealing with. Her feeble Light… how dare she? I am the Queen of Darkness, I will not be challenged by that little Princess of Light." Her head snapped up, glaring at the two others in the room with her. "Nixion, Kane."

"Yes, Your Majesty?" asked Nixion.

"I want the City of Light annihilated. Prepare your commands, and I'll alert our compatriots. I should never have let that girl live."

-A-D-

_Blah… finals have been screwing me over and stealing my writing time and inspiration. But I think I'm getting it back now._

_Probably had something to do with Colton being born. Now that I've got a baby nephew, I have to prepare myself for the endless hours of watching Disney movies with him in a few years._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	57. Paradise

_So, BIG news! Canada's fucked. Stephen Harper, a.k.a. Canada's biggest dictator douchebag who cracks the party whip like there's no tomorrow, has become our Prime Minister, again, except this time with a majority government. So even though the NDP (that's the New Democratic Party, but all you Americans just take note that they are the SOCIALIST Party, not that there's anything wrong with that) is forming the official opposition with over 100 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, they can't do much in the way of opposition unless Douchebag Harper wants to do anything in Québec, because the NDP _own_ Québec._

_Anyway… saw Thor, damn awesome movie, and saw the new trailer for Deathly Hallows Part 2. Trailer's awesome… and I need to play Portal 2._

_If you recall, my sister is also on this site. __**Goldpen**__. Anyway, I'm shamelessly plugging her new Ouran High School Host Club story. I can't remember the title at the moment, but go to her page if you like Ouran and might be interested in Ouran fics. She wants reviews, so review!_

_Disclaimer: Ha! I wish… not!_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 57: Paradise

_1245hrs, December 1__st__, 2003  
The _Highwind  
_Sora_

Sora ran his hand over his face as he plunged the _Highwind_ into a spin, firing the ship's cannons as Goofy took control of the slash gummis on the side of the ship. Blue lasers directed by Donald shot out from underneath the ship, while large blotches of purple explosions from the graviga cannon struck into the Heartless ships directly in front, clearing wide patches of them away at the same time as the smaller blue blasts from the smaller fire cannons peppered the masses.

"Guys, I've got a hypothetical—Donald get tha-! Oh, you did—question for you," Sora said, never taking his eyes from the view in front of him.

"What sort of Hippocratic question Sora?" asked Goofy.

"Hypothetical ya big palooka," Donald retorted, the duck firing off a blast of the lasers towards six separate targets. Goofy chuckled and Sora grinned.

The brunet quickly ran a hand over his chin again before placing it back on the wheel and jamming his thumbs down on the triggers for the cannons. "I've been thinking and wondering and now I kinda want your opinion. Should I grow a beard?"

Donald and Goofy both stared at him while Aiwemon innocently looked down from the top of Sora's head and asked, "What's a beard?"

"A man's facial hair," Sora answered. He rubbed a finger on his chin. "See the hairs that have been growing here?"

"Uh-huh."

"When they get long and thick, it's called a beard."

Goofy glanced at Donald before looking back at Sora. "Gawrsh, I dunno Sora. I can't really picture you with a beard."

Donald fired a blast from the lasers. "And shouldn't you really be asking Kairi?" he asked. "She's the one who'll be touching and looking at your face the most, after all."

"I guess you're right," Sora answered. "But still, I'd like your opinion. Like, moustache and goatee around the mouth and chin? How about it?"

Jiminy popped out of Sora's hood and stood on the boy's shoulder. "Why are you wondering Sora?" asked the Royal Chronicler.

He shrugged and jammed his thumbs down for the cannons to fire again, pulling the ship up out of the dive he'd put it in and blazing through the Heartless ships, fiery yellow explosions lighting up the multi-coloured space all around them. "I'm not sure. It's just… Kairi mentioned a while ago that my facial hair was getting darker instead of being that… blond skin colour, and then Yuffie told me a couple days ago that I looked more mature with the stubble that I _am_ too lazy to shave off and, well…" He left it hanging for a few seconds before declaring with a burst of cannon-fire, "I wanna see if I can grow a beard!"

A beard would help him feel more mature himself. It might even help authenticate the newfound authority and command he might soon wield. They'd just been in counsels with generals who'd commanded thousands of men, and he'd been called _boy_. That wouldn't do. He wasn't a 'boy' anymore. It was time for him to start looking the part he was to play.

"Talk to Kairi," was all Goofy said. "You just might look good with a beard Sora, and you might be proud of it, but Kairi'll have to live with it just as much as you will, so you'd better talk to her first."

"Alright, I'll consult with Kairi," Sora agreed. "But she's not here, so I'm going to go for it anyway and _then_ see if she likes it or not."

"Your funeral," Donald muttered.

-A-D-

_1212hrs, Tuesday, December 2__nd__, 2003 (Destiny Islands Reckoning)  
Kauai, Hawaii  
Sora_

He had to blink many times and rub his eyes with his gloved hands to be sure that he wasn't seeing things when the four of them beamed down to the world's surface. In many ways, he might have mistaken the world they'd just come to as Destiny Islands. The ocean was the same, the beach sand was the same; even the vegetation looked to be the same. The only difference was that the people he could see had a darker skin-tone than those of his home islands and that more of them, correction, a _lot_ more of them, were into surfing.

Ten-foot high waves rolled down from the vast green-blue ocean to crest as they came into the shallows of the island's beaches, young men and women and boys and girls all on surfboards watching or riding the ocean blue as the sun's light shone down upon them.

It took more than a little bit of concentration for Sora to tear his eyes away from the fine figures of the surfer babes in their swimwear. _Thank you Aphrodite for the creation of bikinis_, Sora mused to himself, admiring the locals. _It's only too bad that Kairi's not here, but _man_, she looked good at the pool at Olympus_.

"Gee," Goofy said, "this looks like a nice place."

"Yeah," Aiwemon added. "And everyone here looks to be having fun too."

"Doesn't seem to be any Heartless around either," Donald noted, glancing around.

Sora groaned. "Don't say that Donald, you'll jinx us." Sora whipped around quickly, because almost as if on cue…

…nothing happened. "Huh, guess you didn't jinx us," he said with surprise in his voice. Donald coughed. "Uh, sorry Donald. Guess I was just being paranoid."

"Well I can't blame ya Sora," Goofy said. "We almost always seemed to run into trouble as soon as we showed up on a world."

Something suddenly collided with Sora's head, whatever it was shouting, "Sora!" and knocking him clear off his feet and into the sand. Aiwemon fell off of the Keyblade Wielder's shoulder, and he, Donald, and Goofy looked at the creature that was now slobbering over Sora's face with a large pink tongue with fascination. It was small, and shaped a bit like a koala, with four legs and a round head. Its body was covered in blue fur.

Reorienting himself and trying to blink away the saliva, Sora was just able to get a good look at the big koala face and eyes covered in blue hair before the animal giggled and started to lick his face again, keeping him from saying anything beyond laughs the tongue tickled out of him. "Isn't that Stitch?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah, it is!" Donald fumed. "I still haven't forgiven you for the MCP sucking us into the Grid you know."

Stitch stopped licking Sora and turned around to look at Donald. "Ee cheeba nuaga!"

Sora laughed and sat up, Stitch falling onto his lap while the teen wiped his face off. "How've you been Stitch? I wondered where you went since I haven't seen you in Radiant Garden recently."

Stitch looked up at Sora and shrugged, saying "Meh, okay."

"Sti-itch!"

Stitch gasped and looked beyond Sora into the ocean. "Lilo. Lilo!" He started waving a hand, and Sora followed its movement to find a little girl with long black hair wearing a swimsuit of striped yellow and red dashing up the beach towards them.

"There you are," the little girl, Lilo, said as she reached them. "Why'd you run off like that Stitch? We were just about to give Pudge his peanut butter sandwich."

"Found friends," Stitch answered in his slow English. Lilo cocked her head to the side in confusion, like a dog. Stitch pointed. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, an' uh… uh…"

"Aiwemon," answered the digimon, standing in the sand.

Lilo's eyes went wide. "Hey he talks!" she exclaimed, pointing at Aiwemon. Before anyone could answer, she added, "That is SO cool! And you're a giant duck! And you're a dog-man! Cool!"

"What about you?" Lilo asked, rounding on Sora and starting to examine him with fascination. "Is there anything special about you? Do you have tentacles sprouting out of your chest or shoot laser beams from your eyes?"

"I go across the worlds and fight the darkness with a giant skeleton key," Sora answered cautiously, not sure what to make of this little girl.

"Show me," she said. Sora's eyebrows went up. The way that she'd said that, like she was both ordering him and preparing to fawn over him at a moment's notice, made him chuckle. The Keyblade Wielder raised his right hand, and Remembrance appeared within it in a flash of light.

"Keyblade," said Stitch, pointing at it.

Lilo appeared to be stunned into silence for a second, just staring at the Keyblade with an open jaw, before she tried to get past Sora's left side so that she could touch it. "That is the _coolest_ thing I've ever seen!" she shouted, her foot coming down on Sora's left hand. She slipped, and Sora gasped as his black glove came off of his hand. He quickly grabbed for it with his right hand and tried to shove the glove back on, but he froze when he saw that both Lilo and Stitch had caught sight of the light glinting off the automail and were staring at it intently.

_Oh shit,_ Sora thought, _now she's going to scream and…_

"COOL!" Lilo shrieked. "You've got a metal hand under there? Are you like Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader with robot limbs? Can you use the Force? Are you like a Jedi cyborg or something? Can I take your picture?"

Stunned didn't quite cut it to express Sora's reaction. _She's not scared? Not at all? She doesn't think that this arm is weird or that I'm an abomination or something?_ "You, think it's cool?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Lilo answered emphatically. "How many people do you see walking around with robot arms? Can I see it? Can I touch it? Can you split rocks open with it?"

Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon all laughed at the expression on Sora's face. "No, he can't split rocks with it," said Goofy.

"'Cause if he could he'd have already broken his own head open," Donald added.

"And Winry would be very, _very_ upset with him if he'd broken it trying to bust up a rock," Aiwemon finished for good measure.

"Hey," Sora moaned, "who's side are you on here? Mine or theirs?" Aiwemon shrugged.

Stitch suddenly took Sora's left hand into his two ones, and then bit it. Sora gave a gasp and retracted the hand. "Hey stop that," he said, looking over the metal to see if Stitch's teeth had left any scratches on it.

"Didn't that hurt?" asked Lilo.

"No," Sora answered offhandedly while he continued to examine the back of his hand. "I don't feel pain with this arm, just everything else: pressure, temperature, texture, all that lovely stuff, but no pain."

"Wow," was Lilo's awed reply. "And you call this a Keyblade?"

Sora glanced at her, and noticed that she had taken hold of Remembrance while he was looking over his hand (to which no damage had actually been done), and was holding it in both of hers with one hand on the blade and the other on the bronze basket hilt. She took the hilt into two hands and brought it down in front of her upon the head of some imaginary enemy. "Hi-yah!"

"Hey, careful with that," Sora told her, snatching it back into his own hand with a thought and a flash of light. He dismissed the Keyblade, putting the disappointed look on Lilo's face out of his mind. _Thank the gods Rei isn't like this,_ he thought. _How would I ever deal with having an apprentice, oh gods an _apprentice_, if I have to keep reminding her that the Keyblade isn't a toy? Gods, what am I thinking? How could I have possibly considered taking Rei on as an apprentice?_

_Because she was chosen by a Keyblade,_ answered Cosmos in his mind.

_And because she looks up to you and requires guidance,_ added the voice of the lion spirit of Remembrance.

_I know, I know, but… Cosmos, Raion, do you guys think I'll be ready to take on an apprentice?_

_You?_ Asked Cosmos with the impression that she was laughing at him. _Never, but you'll learn on the fly like all the others have. You think you've got it bad, you should have seen the master I chose two wielders ago. He was _horrible_ with younglings._

Feeling somewhat better, Sora looked up as Stitch jabbered something in his alien tongue, and Lilo gasped and clapped her hands together. "That's a great idea Stitch!" she said before turning and looking collectively at Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon. "Would you all like to feed Pudge with us?"

"Uh, who's Pudge?" Donald asked cautiously.

"Fishy!" exclaimed Stitch.

Lilo nodded her head, adding, "Pudge controls the weather, so I give him a peanut butter sandwich once a week to keep him happy and make the weather nice."

Sora glanced at the others, then at the ocean, then at Lilo in her swimsuit, then back at the others. "I'd like to Lilo," he said slowly, turning back to look at the tan-skinned black-haired girl, "but while you may think that my arm is cool, I don't think a lot of other people would think the same."

"Aw, come on Sora!" Lilo pleaded. "Please!"

The look on the girl's face was breaking his resolve, and Sora knew it, so he looked away before he could crack. It was a mistake to look at Goofy. "Yeah, come on Sora," he urged. "It's part of who you are now, and yah can't keep hidin' it from yerself and everybody else forever."

"I don't hide it from myself," Sora retorted.

"Then how come you're always keepin' it covered?" Goofy asked.

"I don't when I'm with Kairi," he fired back.

Stitch muttered something and Lilo gave him a confused look. "Who's Kairi?" she asked.

Donald sniggered. "Kairi's Sora's _very special sweetheart_," he teased.

"Just say 'girlfriend' like everybody else ya big palooka," Sora mocked back.

"What'd you call me?" Donald asked, placing his face right against Sora's.

"Palooka, got a problem with that feather-head?"

"Porcupine-hair!"

"Mung-tongue!"

"Fowl-eater!"

"Quack!"

The two of them glared daggers into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Donald's feathered hands went to Sora's shoulders, then shoved the Keyblade Wielder's jacket off.

Sora didn't even flinch. "Thanks Donald," he said evenly, even as he felt blood seep into his cheeks, "you guys are right."

"Darn right we're right," Donald grumbled.

"Yay!" Lilo cheered, her eyes even more excited at seeing the full extent of Sora's automail, "We're going swimming! Ooh! I'd better tell Nani and David so they're not worried about me and Stitch being with strangers."

Lilo ran off and Aiwemon landed on Sora's right shoulder, being careful not to rip too big of holes into the blue t-shirt Sora had been wearing underneath the dusty brown leather jacket that was now off. "You're really going to go swimming Sora?" he asked.

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "I… guess I am." Suddenly, he couldn't help it, he laughed. Stitch cocked his head inquiringly and Donald and Goofy shared a quick glance with one another. "Yeah, I'm going swimming," Sora declared, standing up, and gaining a wistful look at the waves. "And I'm not that great at surfing, but this could be the perfect time to improve, don't you think?"

"Uh, Sora," Donald began, "Heartless and the keyhole?"

"Oh pish posh," Sora replied. "We spent all day yesterday blasting Heartless out of the skies and we haven't seen a single one since we got here. We stuck around and sang in a musical in Atlantica didn't we? _And_ we still had to take care of the Organization and still worry about Maleficent back then too. So if we've found a world that hasn't been hit yet when she's unleashed the swarm, we can at least have fun while looking for the keyhole."

What he didn't want to say was that seeing a world so much like his own, but completely at peace without the darkness bothering it, was putting desires into his head that he didn't want to acknowledge. If he could just stay here, and keep _this_ world safe and protected, keep this paradise free, then that would be more than enough for him.

-A-D-

"I hope you have a good reason for requesting I be here Gantu," Hämsterviel said irritably, walking around the inside of the rocket based deep within a mountain upon the same island. "The Mistress is getting impatient, so you'd better not have brought me here just to inform me of _another_ miserable failure!"

"Of course Hämsterviel," Gantu answered, the nine-foot whale-man bowing slightly. "I actually wanted to let you know in person, I have captured one of Jumba's evil Experiments."

"No kidding," 625 said from nearby, lounging on a swivel chair near a computer monitor and eating a sandwich.

Hämsterviel withheld his disdain at the yellow sandwich-eating Experiment and quirked an eyebrow at Gantu. "Really?" he asked. "When? Which vile Experiment did you capture, Gantu?"

Gantu answered promptly. "Last Tuesday," he answered. He chuckled. "And trust me Hämsterviel, _this_ little beauty is going to make all our problems disappear; with the trog and little girl, _and_ with Maleficent."

The door opened and Hämsterviel took a look in that direction. His smile widened considerably. "Oh yes," he said, "you will do nicely."

"Hey boss," Experiment 625 said after glancing at a monitor. "We've got a problem."

"Hm? What is it now?" Gantu asked, lumbering over to the screen. He and Hämsterviel both gasped.

"Why, it is that insufferable Keyblade Wielder!" Hämsterviel said, staring at the image of Sora on the screen. He paused for a second, then glanced back at the Experiment that had come in through the door. "Oh yes, she'll do _quite_ nicely indeed."

-A-D-

Water cascaded all around Sora as he crouched down on the rented yellow surfboard, stooping low beside the wave he was riding. The board wobbled slightly beneath his feet, Sora curling his toes against the wood. The Sun was shining, and he could see Lilo and Stitch cheering him on some distance away on the board of a toned Hawaiian man in his early twenties or very late teens, next to a pretty girl of the same age who was on her own board. Both man and woman had black hair, with Nani's being long like her sister Lilo's and David's being cropped short. Donald and Goofy were nearby, on surfboards that they too had rented, with both of them in matching one-piece swimsuits that covered their bodies in bands of colour. Goofy's was yellow and red, and Donald's was white and blue. Aiwemon circled above them all; too high to be hit too much by indirect spray and get his feathers damp, but still low enough to be seen clearly.

Passing his uncovered automail left hand into the rolling wave next to him, Sora sighed as he stood up fully and relaxed in his black board-shorts swimsuit patterned with white flames along the side of one leg. The feel of the cool water was so pleasant, and not for the first time he wished that Kairi could be here with him, or that he actually owned a surfboard with which to learn the sport back on Destiny Islands.

The board bobbled a little more at the Keyblade Wielder's shifting weight and Sora jerked his hips, trying to maintain control of the board. It moved slightly again, its point turning more towards being perpendicular with the wave rather than parallel, and some water tumbled down over the edge of the board.

"Oh crap!" Sora shouted to himself as he felt the board become more effected by the rolling water than his own weight, and the water pushed it up from beneath. Sora slipped as he lost his balance, falling back into the wave as the board went right out from under him.

_Stick with blitzball and smashing things with us,_ Cosmos chuckled, _it's what you're good at._

_I'm also good at eating Kairi,_ Sora replied with a tiny smirk as his back broke through the wave. He could tell that both Keyblade Spirits were blinking at his boldness for saying so. Then Sora got the impression that the female green-haired spirit of the Kingdom Key was grinning.

_Aw, look Raion, our wittle Sora's all grown up and got himself an ego because his girlfriend is so easy to please._

_I thought she was just a tease?_

_She _is_ a tease, but she's a lovable tease for tormenting our chosen master so._

Water swirled around him and Sora quickly exhaled slightly through his nose to prevent too much water from entering his respiratory system. He also blocked out anything else that his Keyblades were bantering about. The wave had pushed him further down in its wake, and as quickly as he registered that he was sinking beneath the surface he started to fight back up.

_Something's wrong,_ he thought after a second and a half as his body became more disoriented than it ever had before underwater. _I'm still sinking. Why am I not rising?_ He continued to fight, but for every decimetre Sora gained on the clear blue sky he inexplicably lost another half._ Why is this getting so hard! I'm more buoyant than this! It's like there's something weighing me…_

A large bubble left his mouth as he gasped in surprise while paddling up, catching sight of his left arm like it was the first time he'd seen it. _Automail, metal, dense, heavy, weight, sinks!_ The gasp at the realization that his left shoulder and everything below was made of heavy, dense, metal had cost him. Blitz training and conditioning with his friends back on the Islands, as well as everything else absurd that he'd done (such as the trek from Bree to Rivendell or Mr. Hat n' Clogs' extreme training) had pumped up his cardiovascular system and lung capacity by a large margin, but losing a good chunk of his stored breath had not been a smart move.

Lungs and his leg and arm muscles began to burn as Sora pressed harder to reach the surface. _I can do this, _he urged himself. _All I have to do is overcome the weight of my automail. It's a snap! Come on legs, work! Come on arms, do it! Push harder! Come on, come one, just a little bit more…_

Sora let out a gasp and took in a huge lungful of air as he broke the water's surface. Treading water like he'd always done before wasn't an option, so he fought hard with his legs and arms to keep his head above the water. For as long as he could remember, that had never been a challenge at all.

"Are you okay!" Lilo yelled from David's board.

"Yeah I'm good!" Sora called back across the water. He saw his board drifting nearby and latched onto it tightly before pulling himself back onto the item.

"You went down pretty hard," Nani said, paddling up to him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Sora waved her off. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he told her, keeping up his façade. What just happened had shaken him up inside. Fighting to get back to the surface was ten times harder now than it ever had been before; even though he knew about it now, he didn't have the strength to keep fighting his way back to fresh air after every wipe-out, and even just regular swimming now would be insanely difficult with how much his left side would keep dragging him down to the depths in an unintended attempt to drown him. "I uh… I think I'll go back closer to shore," he said. "Maybe get some ice cream."

"Okay," Nani said, patting him on the shoulder with a sympathetic look. "Hey, when you're feeling better, come back out. You're a good kid. With a bit of practice, you might even get as good as David."

She glanced over at her boyfriend when she said that, and David's chest swelled slightly with pride. Lilo and Stitch both laughed from his board. Donald paddled past Sora and Nani, and seconds later a wave passed underneath them. Donald was there and waiting for it when it started to foam and roll, but he only lasted a few seconds before slipping off his board.

Sora winced before chucking slightly and nodding to Nani. He paddled back, Aiwemon joining him, and picked up the board underneath his arm while his feet carried him to the ice cream shack.

"Master Sora?"

The brunet stopped upon hearing his name and turned towards the voice. Standing against a coconut tree, towering above him, was a heavily muscled man with tanned skin in a black suit and sunglasses. He was bald. "Who are you?" Sora asked.

"And how do you know about Sora?" Aiwemon asked, landing easily on Sora's shoulder and exercising his usual caution to prevent piercing Sora's fleshy shoulder with his talons.

The man raised his eyebrows slightly at the small bird digimon before returning his covered eyes to Sora. "Cobra Bubbles, Social Worker," he told them.

"You sure you're not with FIST?" Sora asked. When Cobra raised an eyebrow, this time at him, Sora waved it off. "Never mind, forget it. How do you know me again?"

"You're the Keyblade Master," the social worker answered. "I was told by the Grand Councilwoman of the Galactic Federation to keep my eyes open in case you came around."

"Why is that?" Aiwemon asked. "What do we have to do with this Federation?"

"Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel has allied himself with an enemy of yours, as you are probably well aware," Cobra told them, Sora and Aiwemon nodding. "He's a fugitive from the Federation, and wants to see its downfall by capturing and using experiments like Stitch over there." He chuckled. "Fortunately, Lilo and Stitch have been successful in turning any activated experiment from evil to good, and together they've been taking care of any Heartless that have appeared."

"Really?" Sora asked, slightly interested. "Well, that's good news." Sora passed a hand through his sopping wet hair, even though it was still spiked up. _Thank you, Master Yen Sid._ "Still haven't explained how _they_ know about me though."

"The Federation keeps open communication with Star Command."

"Oh, well if that's the case, then I'm going to go get me some ice cream, peace."

Cobra Bubbles removed his sunglasses, and Sora stopped and looked the man in the eyes for the first time. "Oh, by the way," the social worker said, "please don't cause too much trouble for Nani and Lilo while you're here protecting our world; they go through enough trouble of their own with the two aliens living with them as well as all the experiments."

"They have aliens living with them?" Aiwemon asked. Cobra nodded.

"Yes, two. One is a former scientist and the other a former agent of the Galactic Federation. They're both a little weird, but Lilo loves them dearly and calls them part of her _ohana_."

"_Ohana_?" asked Sora.

The man in black chuckled and replaced his sunglasses. "I'll let Lilo tell you that one." He pulled out a business card. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call. I'll leave you to your business now, Master Sora. And one more thing," he added as an afterthought, turning back towards the brunet. "Don't worry about that arm of yours too much; it suits you."

"I thought _flesh_ would have suited me," Sora muttered.

Cobra appeared to have heard him and gave one last quip. "You're an extraordinary person; it pays to be a little extraordinary in your appearance. Master Sora." With those parting words, the social worker turned down the beach to head for the streets of the town. Sora watched him for a few seconds before pocketing the card in a pocket in his swim shorts and starting towards the ice cream shack for a second.

"If that guy isn't, or wasn't at some point, a secret agent then I'm a hobbit," he told Aiwemon.

"You've got that right Sora," Aiwemon replied. "Can I get rocky road for mine please?" Sora laughed.

"Sure thing bud—"

His words were cut off as his heart suddenly hammered in his chest, horrified fear running through him. All of his skin went cold and clammy, shocked perspiration beading on his forehead. Sora grabbed hold of the nearest solid thing attached firmly to the ground: the sand beneath his knees.

_This feeling,_ he thought in terrified confusion, _what is…? Kairi!_

"Sora what's wrong?" Aiwemon asked sharply, dropping to the ground in front of Sora's sweat-and-sea-water-soaked face.

"It's Kairi," he answered as comprehension of the fit came to him. He listened to the whisperings of his heart. "Kairi's in horrible pain, but not physically. I don't know what it is, but something horrible has happened to her or to someone close to her." A little colour returned to his face as the thought made anger surface. "Dammit, and only _one day_ after leaving her behind! Gods dammit! I almost wish there were some Heartless for me to beat up now."

"Whoa, Sora cool down," Aiwemon said as his digidestined partner started to rise. "I know you're angry, and I am too, but there's nothing we can really do right now. So let's just get our ice cream and you can talk to Kairi about it later, okay?"

Sora fiercely shook his head. "NO!" he nearly shouted at his partner. "No, I've gotta talk to her, now. She's a complete wreck right now and I'll be one too until I find out what's wrong." Sora got onto his feet, his left hand diving into the left pocket of his shorts. His eyebrows rose in surprise as his hand found nothing in there. He could've sworn that he'd always kept that communicator in that pocket.

_DUH!_ He winced at the loudness of his own mental exclamation. _In my pants pocket, not my swim trunks pocket!_ Sora took his arm out of his pocket and started to run to the place where they'd left their clothes in duffels beside beach towels, but as soon as he started to run he… tripped.

"Sora are you okay?" Aiwemon asked, hopping on the sand to stand next to the brunet's head. Sora spat out a mouthful of sand and shook his head, trying to figure out just what had caused him to trip when he both saw and felt it. His hand was still in his pocket, and it must have thrown him off-balance when he'd tried to sprint at full-tilt from nothing.

_That's odd_, he thought, pulling the automail out slowly and looking at it. Nothing seemed wrong with it at all, and his fingers still moved with exact precision when he flexed them and rotated his wrist. Shrugging it aside as he still felt Kairi's emotional pain piercing his heart (just not as fiercely as when it had come on), Sora got to his feet again and bolted towards where his clothes were stashed.

It took him a few seconds after arriving to find his pants, and he instantly began rummaging through the pockets. A few seconds more told him all that he needed to know. The communicator wasn't there. _Okay, panic time._

"What is it Sora?" Aiwemon asked in concern.

"It's not here," Sora muttered. His voice rose as he tore through his other pockets. "It's not here. It's not here. It's not here. Here it is! Why the hell did I put it there?" An instant later his fingers were roving about the touch screen at the top of the baton, pressing the number '1', and then his thumb jamming down on the 'TALK' button.

Four rings, then Kairi's voice answered. _"Hi—"_

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, "What hap—"

"—_this is Kairi. I can't answer my communicator right now because it's either not own me, off, or something's happened that's made me unable to answer it at this time. The life of a warrior-princess Keyblade Wielder, what can I say? Please leave a message after the beep. And Sora, if it's you, please don't spend ten times trying to call me and just use the light. Peace off." BEEP!_ Scowling, Sora pressed 'END' before immediately speed-dialling her again. It rang four times, then Kairi's voice came on again. _"Hi, this is Kairi. I can't ans—"_

Sora jammed his thumb down on 'END' again before immediately calling her again. "Sora…?" Aiwemon said cautiously.

"Why doesn't she answer?" Sora murmured, ending the call as he got her voice mail again.

"Are you even listening to the message?" Aiwemon asked. But Sora was already calling her again.

Now he was sending her a text message.

Now he was calling her again.

Now he was just staring at the communicator.

Aiwemon waited five minutes before flapping onto his partner's shoulder and nudging Sora's cheek with his own. "Sora?"

"Why doesn't she answer?" Sora chokes. "What could have shaken her up so badly that I could feel her heart's pain even from here, but she still doesn't answer my calls?"

"I don't know," Aiwemon answers softly. "And I'm worried too, but there's nothing more we can do besides wait for her to call back." Sora nods glumly and rises to his feet.

"You're… you're right Aiwemon," he says, though his voice is hollow. "Come on, let's—let's get you that ice cream."

"You should have some too," Aiwemon is quick to tell him. "It might help calm you down."

"Al—alright. How much rocky road Aiwë? Two scoops?"

Aiwemon's beak curves into a small smile. "Two? You don't know me at all Sora. Make it three."

A ghost of a smile flits across Sora's face and stays. "Pig."

-A-D-

_That's it for this one folks._

_Again, going to plug my twin sis __**Goldpen**__. Check out her OHSHC story and review! It's pretty good._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	58. Frogs

_Not much to go here this time. Hm… oh! Colton's able to lift his head a little bit now!_

_Disclaimer: …you guys know this already._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 58: Frogs

_2134hrs, Tuesday, December 2__nd__, 2003 (Destiny Islands Reckoning)  
La Bouff Estate  
Roxas_

"Where could she be?" Roxas wondered to himself, looking around at all of the people dressed up and dancing and chatting at the La Bouff masquerade ball. He and Lea had spent a pleasant, though not thoroughly enjoyable, day looking at suits and costumes that they could use for the masquerade ball. At first Roxas had thought of going as a knight, because that's what he was after all, before he remembered that his younger cousin Sikora had given him a Stetson hat for when he turned sixteen.

Cue western cowboy outfit, and Roxas was good to go. Lea decided that he would masquerade as a man in a mask, in a suit; and he looked swell in it too. A nice black suit jacket with faint pinstripes and matching pants overtop of a white collared shirt with its top two buttons undone, and a black mask covering his eyes and upper face.

When Naminé and Agatha didn't arrive to meet up before the party, the two of them waited for an hour to show up before deciding that the girls still needed more time to prepare, or that they believed that fashionably late was the only way to arrive. The two of them then snuck around and jumped the fence and got in, and nobody so far was any the wiser, expecting the girls to be along in their own time, which should have been shortly.

_But now,_ Roxas thought, looking through the crowd as he sipped at punch, _where could she be?_ "Hey, Lea," Roxas called, "any sign of her?"

Lea looked over from where he was dancing with a woman dressed as a ballerina. "No more sign of her now than in the last ten minutes. Don't worry Rox, she'll be fine."

Roxas tapped his heeled cowboy boots, feeling a little strange standing in footwear with something he had always attributed as women's. A young girl asked him to dance, but he politely declined. A sigh passed his lips a few moments later, and went towards the table where Tiana, dressed as a medieval noblewoman in yellow, was keeping the beignets.

Charlotte was on the stairs near the table, dressed in a puffy princess pink hoop dress that showcased her plump, grown, breasts quite nicely. A freckled young man dressed as a jester was trying to speak with her, and Roxas couldn't help but eavesdrop as he picked up a beignet.

"But Miss Charlotte, you said 'later' two hours ago," said the young man.

Charlotte sighed and stopped, pressing a white-gloved hand against the railing. "Travis," she said, turning towards him with her little fan closed, "when a woman says 'later', she really means, 'not ever'. Now run along, there are plenty of young fillies _dying_ for you to waltz them into a stupor." Roxas watched and shook his head as Travis walked away, dejected and rejected like a sad puppy, before Charlotte suddenly dashed to the table next to Tiana. "Gimme them napkins quick!"

"What's wrong?" Tiana asked as Charlotte snatched about thirty napkins and hastily started shoving them anywhere on her body where there was a concentration of sweat glands: in her armpits, on the back of her neck, between her breasts…

"I swear I'm sweating like a sinner in church," she declared to her best friend, Tiana rolling her eyes. "Oh Tia, it's getting to be so late."

"There are still a few stragglers," Tiana reminded her.

"My Prince is never comin'," Charlotte whimpered.

"Lotte—"

"I never get anything I wish for!" shouted Charlotte, tossing the napkins away and storming up the stone stairs to the front door of her daddy's estate mansion.

Roxas looked away with a faint shake of his head and bit into the beignet. It was his fifth of the night; they were really good, and he hoped that he'd be able to come back to this world sometime after Tiana opened up that restaurant of hers so that he could have more of them. He watched as Lea continued to dance with that one girl, and he couldn't help but shake the feeling that something wrong had to have happened for Naminé and Agatha to be delayed for so long without so much as a message.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! His Royal Highness, Prince Naveen! And Her Royal Highness, Princess Naminé!"

Roxas looked up across the dance floor that suddenly parted. The Prince that he'd seen in the pictures in the papers was there, more handsome than the pictures made him out to be, but his eyes were reserved for the blonde in the long, elegant white gown wearing a tiara of silver and diamond. Her arms were covered in long white gloves, and the slightly poufy dress she wore with the straps placed beside her shoulders parted on either side just past her waist and revealed another gown of silver beneath it. She was breathtaking.

Roxas growled and clenched his right hand into a fist, his eyes locking onto the hand of hers being held by Prince Naveen.

_The FUCK is he doing with my girlfriend!_

Naminé had been looking around slightly while she and the Prince entered, and their eyes met. She suddenly let go of Prince Naveen's hand and moved swiftly through the crowd to stand right in front of him. A spotlight fell on them, and Roxas felt his cheeks go red as he looked up and down at Naminé. He dimly heard a whistle and the sound of another spotlight lighting up, but all he could pay attention to at that moment was his girlfriend, standing in front of him and looking so radiant.

She curtsied and extended her hand. "My knight in western armour, would you do me the honour of having this dance?" Naminé raised her head slightly, and smiled at Roxas.

All doubt fled and he tipped his Stetson. "Why certainly, my lovely little lady," he answered, taking the offered hand. "But you know," he added as they took a few steps onto the floor, "I've never danced before."

"Really?" Naminé asked, sounding surprised as Charlotte suddenly waltzed past them with Prince Naveen, "I thought for sure you had before."

Roxas shrugged in embarrassment. "No, I haven't," he answered, "so we're going to have to take it slow, okay?"

"That's alright," Naminé replied, clutching at his shoulders. "I've got two left feet too."

Roxas looked at her funny for a moment. "Naminé, your voice sounds a little…off."

She paused for a moment before smiling and continuing. "Sorry, Agatha and I had some spicy food earlier. Guess it must have left a bit of a frog in my throat."

A short distance away, Lea stopped dancing with his partner and stared at the two of them. He glanced back at the entrance. Naminé had entered with Prince Naveen, and had been called 'Princess', which was unsettling enough, but her handmaiden had been nowhere in sight and still hadn't entered. Agatha wouldn't have let Naminé out of her sight.

Something about this didn't smell right.

"Is something wrong?" asked his tutu-wearing dance partner.

Lea turned towards her. "Yeah. Sorry love, but I've had enough dancing for one night." He took her hand and kissed it before turning away and heading to a secluded spot on the opposite staircase from where Charlotte had descended.

Roxas and Naminé were dancing slowly, his hands upon her shoulder and waist and hers on both of his shoulders. Roxas was leading, for what little dancing that the two were actually doing, which surprised him. Roxas hadn't been dancing before in his life, but he was sure that Naminé would have brushed up on it somewhat. She'd spent a lot more time at the castle, and while a good percentage of that had been training time, he was sure that a dance lesson or two had managed to worm its way in there. Either that or etiquette, since it certainly wasn't proper for a Princess to be stripping every three sec…

_Wait!_ Lea thought. _She's not even sweating! Because of her strong affiliation with ice magic, and Ur's insane training, Naminé's become far more used to the cold, and anything that was comfortably warm before is now a bit too warm for her. She's probably withheld stripping all day, except to change, so she must be _boiling_ now._

_So why isn't she trying to take her dress off?_

"Psst!"

Lea glanced around for a second, not quite sure that he'd heard someone 'psst' him or not. Not seeing anyone looking at him like they had, he shrugged and frowned, observing Roxas and Naminé dancing again.

"Psst! Lea!"

Okay, now the voice was mentioning his name, and it sounded like Naminé for some strange reason. Lea glanced around more earnestly this time, but apart from Naminé dancing with her complete attention on Roxas, he couldn't find the source of the voice.

"Down here!"

He looked down. There was a frog sitting right between his feet. Lea continued to look down at the frog and began scratching his chin. "Okay, a frog just 'psst' me, am I dreaming?" Glancing at his hand for a second, he pinched himself in the side of his thigh.

He pinched hard.

Wincing, Lea looked down at the frog again, now rubbing the pinched spot. He gave it an unamused look and said, "Say 'ribbit'."

The frog appeared to roll its eyes and wearily drummed the toes of a forefoot against the ground while holding its head in the other foot in a very human-like gesture. "Wibbit," it answered, as if mocking him.

"Okay, so I'm definitely _not_ dreaming," Lea muttered. The frog leapt up from the ground and landed on his shoulder.

It hissed, "Does this _look_ like a dream to you, Axel?"

Lea's eyes widened. "_Naminé!_" he gasped. "Is that really you?"

"Doi!"

"Well, then, who is…?" Lea stopped and jerked his thumb towards Roxas and Naminé.

Froggie Naminé scowled. "_That_ would be Lexai," she informed him.

Lea glanced back between froggie Naminé and the princess dancing with the cowboy. "How did—?" he began before cutting himself off and closing his eyes with a faint laugh. He opened them again, and inside the teal irises and black pupils there was a flame burning. "Know what, never mind; I'll find out later."

He barged towards the dance floor, pushing aside the couples that were waltzing and bypassing Charlotte La Bouff and Prince Naveen of Maldonia, making a beeline right for Roxas and 'Naminé'.

Roxas looked up as his friend came towards them. "Hey Lea, what's—?"

Roxas' words died on his lips as Lea snatched 'Naminé's' shoulder and dropped the frog in Roxas' hands. "You're coming with me," he said, before adding as an aside to Roxas, "hold my frog."

"Hey what are you doing Lea? Let me go!" Naminé said, struggling against Lea's hold as he dragged the teenager away from the dance floor with Roxas following along behind in irritation.

He glared at the frog in his hands and growled at it since he was pretty sure Lea wasn't about to say anything to him right now. "Now what in Sam Dean's tarnation is a yellow-bellied-cotton-pickin'-fly-munchin'-vagabond-varmint doin' here de-beautifyin' these here festivities?"

The frog glared back at him just as there was a crash from the beignet table. They didn't look over at it. "I've changed my mind," the frog suddenly said, "I take my room, you get to sleep on the couch with Lea, and Agatha will sleep in your room."

Roxas felt his jaw drop. "_Naminé!_" he gasped. "What did—? How did—? What's going on?"

"Shit," the Naminé in front of them muttered, and she now struggled even harder to get out of Lea's grasp. "Let me go, let me go! I'll incinerate you for this!"

"Cork it Lexai!" Frog Naminé told her, pointing an accusing toe towards the masquerading Nobody. "Now you just tell me how to reverse the spell that voodoo man used on me, and we'll let you go free."

Lexai started to laugh, now no longer trying to mask her voice as Naminé's but still keeping up the appearance of the Princess. "You think I'd just _give_ you that information? I'll never tell you anything! Got it memorized?"

Lea rammed her shoulder blades into the side wall of the La Bouff mansion, the four of them now far enough away from the party so as not to be noticed. Roxas winced. As much as he knew that that was Lexai, it still looked like Lea was hurting Naminé. "I told you already: that's _my_ line, got it memorized?"

The female Nobody grimaced. "What makes you think that you get the monopoly on a catchphrase?"

"Because it was mine first," Lea answered, jabbing a thumb at himself. "So I automatically have trademark, copyright, and dibs written all over it."

"And what makes you think I'd believe you when you say you'll let me go free? We've still got your little handmaiden locked up, _and_ I'm one of the Septem! Why would you do anything halfway decent to your enemy?"

"Haven't you heard yet?" Naminé asked with a very tiny smile. "We're the good guys, and even though you're one of the bad guys, you personally have just been a tiny bit annoying."

"I fought against you, and your sister, and your brother and you three aren't incensed?"

Roxas shrugged a little. "Hey, we're enemies; we fight each other. It's what we do. And besides, they kicked your butt, but that doesn't mean we can't respect one another."

Lexai, still in the guise of Naminé, looked between the three of them with confusion. "You three… are the _weirdest_ people I've ever met."

"Funny," Naminé said, "I thought Maleficent would have taken that. Now, tell us how to break the spell that voodoo man put on me."

"How'd you escape anyway?" Lexai asked.

"Never underestimate a Keyblade Wielder's ability to escape from crazy situations," Naminé told her. "Look at Kairi. She was hogtied, gagged, drunk as fuck, _paralyzed_, and surrounded by Heartless and she _still_ slipped out of Xayn Shu's fingers. Now start talking, or I'm going to let Lea and my man get persuasive."

"You've got a point," Lexai muttered. "Alright, you can break the curse, and all you have to do is kiss the right guy."

"Great. Roxas, pucker up. I wanna be a human again."

_She can't be serious,_ thought Roxas as he looked at Frog Naminé. "Uh…"

Naminé's face slipped into a frown. "What's wrong?"

"This is going to sound bad but, well, you're a frog," he answered.

She started tapping her webbed foot against his palms. "_And…?_"

Lea intervened. "Well what if he gets frog germs?" he asked. "What if he gets sick from kissing your slime-coated body?"

"What if I turn human again and I'm able to nurse him back to health?" Naminé countered. "I'm sure he'd like that," she added, patting the side of Roxas' cheek.

Roxas sighed and adjusted his Stetson. Even if it was a frog's touch, it was still Naminé's. "Alright; here goes nothing. But you'd better be good on that if I catch something." Naminé agreed, and he leaned forward and kissed the froggie princess on her froggie lips.

_POOF_ was the sound as light flared from the touch and a cloud of purple smoke enveloped Roxas in a shroud. Naminé suddenly yelped as she dropped into the grass, and she looked up as she heard Roxas' voice. "How come you're still a frog? And why am I down here on the gra—?" His question ended as he caught sight of his own right hand, now all green and slimy and three-toed with a 'thumb'.

Roxas had been turned into a frog.

Lea shoved the Naminé-look-alike Lexai into the wall again. He summoned a chakram in a blitz of fire and placed one tip inches away from her throat. "You lied to us! How come she didn't change? Why's Roxas a frog now?"

Lexai grimaced in pain. "Did I ever say that her boyfriend was the right person? No! You just assumed so because they're 'right' for each other. Your princess needs to kiss herself a prince, and one that _isn't_ Prince Naveen too." She barked a laugh. "Good luck finding one."

"What's wrong with Naveen?" Roxas asked, though his green cheeks burned red. He was beyond stunned that he'd been turned into a frog and beyond angry that their assumption was completely wrong.

"He and your girl were both keyed to the same spell," Lexai answered. "If Naminé were to kiss Naveen, nothing would happen, got it memorized?"

"I said that that's _my_ line," Lea growled.

"Wait, what do you mean she and he are keyed to the same spell? Isn't that Prince Naveen over there?"

"And I say that you can't claim catchphrase rights!" Lexai shot back, completely ignoring the frog form of Roxas. "Now, I think that I should rejoin the party as Princess Naminé before people start to wonder where I went." She elbowed Lea in the gut, and the red-haired former Nobody released his hold on her slightly.

It was at that moment that the four of them heard a scream, and then the drummer picked up the pace from the slow music that he had been tediously drumming to. The musicians reacted with joy, and instantly hopped into a swinging jazz tune that the dancers all got into in a heartbeat. They turned, looking right at the drummer costumed as a man in plate armour, and saw two frogs fly from a cymbal of the drum set into Charlotte's back. Both slid down and into her dress, and the blonde started jittering around, trying to figure out what slimy thing had just slid down her back and how to go about getting rid of it. She tripped in her heels and fell flat on her back, the ribs of her hoop dress showing and revealing the two frogs. Lotte screamed.

Big Daddy La Bouff placed his hands to the side of his head and shouted, "STELLA!" The mutt looked up from the beignets he'd been chomping down on, all of them ruined and on the ground for some reason. "Get them frogs!"

"Run!" one of them shouted, hopping off of the hoops of Charlotte's dress.

"I can't run!" the other, this one female with a voice that sounded remotely familiar, protested as they flew through the air past Prince Naveen, "I'm a frog!"

Naveen dropped the two glasses of wine he was holding. "How'd he get out?" Lexai asked herself.

Roxas glanced back at the Nobody impersonating his girlfriend, and then felt a tap on his shoulder and he saw Naminé giving him a significant look. "We need to go with them, now!" Realizing that now was _not_ the time to ask questions, Roxas nodded once and pushed off with his powerful legs. He leapt through the air, landing on his shoulder on the table right next to the two frogs who had just escaped from Stella.

"Oh, hello Naminé," said the first frog, Roxas now able to tell that it was a male who was speaking with a peculiar accent he had never heard before, "fancy meeting you here." Naminé smiled slightly.

"Same here Naveen," she said before gasping. "Get down!"

"_En garde!_" cried a man dressed as Zorro, swinging a sword for the frogs. They ducked, and the sword whizzed right over their heads and cut off the top part of a man's giraffe costume. Roxas glanced up and gave a shout of surprise right before the neck and head of the giraffe plummeted onto the four frogs and stuck around them.

"I can't see a thing!" said the female frog while all four of them continued to run on their legs as if they were still human.

"Neither can I! Whoa!" With eight legs running about underneath half of a giraffe mask, it was only a matter of time before one of them stepped on another or accidentally tripped a different one up, which immediately resulted in all four frogs tumbling out of the mask and into the strings of a bunch of helium-filled balloons.

Roxas blinked open his eyes as he came to rest against the strings and then they widened considerably out of fear at the sight of Stella's teeth, the dog barking and scrambling towards them.

Turning around, Roxas freed up the balloons and said, "Grab on!" They all quickly grabbed hold as the strings and balloons started to rise, and the other female frog started calling to the dog as it leapt for them.

"Stella! Stella it's me, Tiana!"

"Tiana?" the dog asked, suddenly switching from rabid barking to a confused question before falling back to the ground.

"Stella just talked to me," the female frog, who sounded _exactly_ like Tiana now that Roxas thought about it. "The dog just spoke to me."

"You know," said the first frog, the male one with the funny Latino accent, as they rose up into the sky and away from the masquerade ball towards the bayou, "if you're going to let every little thing bother you, it's going to be a _very_ long night!"

-A-D-

Beneath them, lowering a white clown mask from his face, Dr. Facilier scowled and turned his head. He glared at Prince Naveen, who wilted under the stare and rushed away from the ruined ball towards the guest house of the La Bouff estate. The prince quickly opened the door and ran to a cabinet. He opened it, and two open jars were lying within. "Oh dear," he mumbled. The Shadow Man came up behind him, and the prince gasped. "Oh! You're so quiet."

"You let them go!" Facilier declared angrily.

"The poor devils were _gasping_," explained the prince. "So I loosened their lids, ever so slightly." He tripped, as the shadow on the wall of the Shadow Man slipped away from where it logically should be and instead knelt down behind the shadow of Naveen's legs and tripped him through shadow-play. Naveen glanced at the shadow, which started laughing, and then looked down helplessly. "How did I ever get tangled up in all this voodoo madness?" he asked himself. Standing up, Naveen wrenched a wooden charm shaped like a voodoo skull mask from his neck, saying, "I can't go through with this." Instantly, the Prince of Maldonia grew shorter and plumper. His face fattened and skin turned from tanned bronze to a pasty cream. The magnificent black hair that had grown on the crown of his head left him and went to the sides of his face, turning grey in the process and leaving him bald. Prince Naveen's manservant Lawrence now stood revealed in front of the Shadow Man.

He shook the talisman in front of him. "You wear this ghastly thing!" Lawrence said, throwing it away.

"Careful with that!" Facilier shrieked, diving to catch it. His fingers grasped hold of the haieko just before it hit the ground, and he rose, preparing his cane for a swing at Lawrence. "Anything happens to this, and I'm gonna be—!" He stopped and sighed as Lawrence cringed away from him. "Fun fact about voodoo, Larry," said Facilier as he attached the talisman over his own neck. He made a slightly profound gesture as nothing happened before shrugging, "can't conjure a thing for myself. Besides, you and I both know the real power in this world ain't magic, it's money; buckets of it."

"That's true…" Lawrence muttered.

"That's what you believe!" retorted a voice from a corner. They both turned and saw the blonde-haired Agatha Quin sitting there with her wrists bound behind her back and her ankles tied together.

"Oh-ho-ho," Facilier laughed. "Is that so, little servant?"

"You just wait," Agatha said. "Naminé will stop you and your plans. She's a keeper to more powerful magic than you could ever hope to have. Next to her, your voodoo tricks are just that, cheap tricks!"

She received a slap to her face. "Quiet you!" Facilier told her as Agatha slowly turned her head back to give him a heated glare that earned her nothing. "If she's _so_ powerful and _so_ much better than me, then how come she's now hopping around the bayou as a slimy little, _powerless_, frog, and you're all tied up here, hm? Which reminds me," he started tapping the side of his chin with a finger. "We're going to need to get her back; Maleficent wants that Keyblade Wielder. No, no we don't. The froggie princess is not our problem, she's Lexai's problem." Facilier turned back to Lawrence, who appeared to be wobbling in the face of Agatha's staunch resistance. "Aren't you tired of living on the margins, while all those fat cats in their fancy cars don't give you so much as a sideways glance?

"Yes," Lawrence shuddered angrily, "I am."

"All you got to do is marry Big Daddy's little princess," Facilier reminded him before placing the talisman back onto Lawrence's neck and transforming him into the handsome Prince Naveen again, "and we'll be splitting that juicy La Bouff fortune right down the middle. 60-40 like I said."

"Hm, yeah, but uh, what about Naveen and Naminé?"

"Your little slip-up," Facilier slapped the back of his head, "will be a minor bump in the road, so long as we've got the prince's blood in this."

"And Naminé?" asked Lawrence.

Facilier shrugged. "Heh, she's not our problem anymore. If Maleficent wants her so bad, she can have her lackey go frog hunting. Speaking of which," he turned and looked towards the door, "where is that little play-acting shrew anyway?"

-A-D-

"I am terribly sorry you had to witness that, Your Highness," Big Daddy told 'Princess Naminé' as they stood on the steps outside of his mansion.

"No, it's alright," Lexai replied. "We have frog troubles from time to time back where I'm from too."

"If you don't mind me asking, where would that be?" Big Daddy asked her.

"Oh it's a small kingdom that doesn't get much talk abroad. I doubt you'd have heard of Radiant Garden much here in New Orleans since we mostly keep to ourselves."

"Then why is such a pretty face out here away from your kingdom?" he asked.

Lexai smiled. "Mommy and Daddy told me that I needed to see the world in order to better understand how to handle our diplomatic relations when I'm older. So they had me and my manservant Lea here pack up and sent us out. We've already seen New York and Washington and Philadelphia and a few other cities along your eastern seaboard, and now we're here in the Crescent City to sightsee before going to the Central American nations."

"Yes," Lea said. "Remember Your Highness, Maldonia is actually next on our list, got it memorized?"

Lexai closed her eyes. "I have memorized it, _thank you_, Lea. You don't need to remind me every single minute of our itinerary, got it memorized?"

Big Daddy laughed. "Well you couldn't have picked a better time to come down here Your Highness. The Mardi Gras parade is just three days away. I would be honoured if you could stay here in my house with us until such time as you choose to leave."

The phoney princess smiled. "We'd be delighted to accept your hospitality. Lea, let's go get our bags."

"Yes, Your Highness," Lea answered. He steered her away from Big Daddy and back down the stairs.

As soon as they were out of earshot of any of the other guests or their new host, Lexai shot Lea a look and issued a venomous hiss. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping an eye on you until my friends get back," Lea answered firmly.

"You will rue this day."

"I probably will, but so will you."

"How is that, I ask you?"

Lea smirked. "One, you let Naminé slip away from you after having her captured. Two, you let both her _and_ Roxas slip away after having both of them turned into frogs. Three, you have not yet located the keyhole and aren't causing general mayhem with the Heartless like she could expect you to do. And finally four, you're fraternizing with the enemy."

"I'm a Nobody Lea, and you know that better than anybody. I cannot fraternize with anything for I cannot _feel_ anything."

Lea's smile did not increase, and did not slip, but the sense of satisfaction inside of him certainly did swell. "Then why, Princess Naminé, is your hand so casually entwined with mine?"

She scowled and removed the offending appendage only to punch him in the gut with it. Lea paused at the unworthy punch the Nobody disguised as one of his friends made before she started off at a quicker pace in her heels. Oh yes, he was either going to marry or kill her, he was sure of that, but again, neither of those things was going to be happening tonight…

He was enjoying this too much.

-A-D-

"Voodoo?" Tiana asked incredulously as the four frogs held onto the balloons tightly in their froggie hands. It was raining sheets, and the strings were slippery. Thunder rolled through their ears as lightning flashed in the clouds above. "You mean to tell me this all happened because you two were messing with the Shadow Man?"

"He was very charismatic Tiana," Naminé told her, as if this excuse was any sort of defence.

"He _lied_ to me," Naveen wailed for a moment.

"No he didn't," Roxas said.

"What do you mean?" Naveen asked, probably a little more sharply than he intended.

"Well he said that there was green in your future right? And you're a frog now. What colour are you?"

Naveen groaned. "Thank you for not making me feel any better at all."

Tiana sighed. "This serves me right for wishing on stars. The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work."

"Hard work?" Naveen asked in confusion. "Why would a princess need to work hard?"

"Oh, I'm not a princess," Tiana admitted, "I'm a waitress."

"We knew that Tiana," Naminé said. "We saw you working this morning." Tiana smiled apologetically at her. It wasn't Naminé's fault that _she_, Tiana, had been turned into a frog.

"A _waitress_?" Naveen blurted out. "Well no wonder the kiss did not work. You lied to me!"

"Now now, I never said that I was a princess."

"You never said that you were a waitress! You… you were wearing a crown!"

Tiana's face had dropped into a frown while Roxas and Naminé looked on in apprehension. "It was a _costume_ party, you spoiled little rich boy!"

"Oh yes?" Naveen retaliated. "Well, the egg is on your face, alright? Because I do not have any riches."

"What?" Tiana gasped.

"I, am completely broke!" Naveen laughed.

_POP!_

"Uh-oh," Roxas muttered, instantly looking up to where the first balloon had popped against a tree branch and seeing that the others were now about to pop. It took only a second, and then the other balloons had popped and all four of them were descending to the bayou's swampy ground level. Naminé and Naveen both bounced off of tree branches. Roxas fell straight into the drink, and Tiana's fall was stopped an inch away from the water by some luckily hanging spider webs. Naveen then dropped onto her back while Naminé hit the water centimetres away from them just as Roxas was emerging.

The former blond boy pulled a leaf from his head as Naveen, Naminé, and Tiana broke the water's surface. "You said you were fabulously wealthy," Tiana gasped in disbelief as she removed some of the swamp fauna from her body.

"No no," Naveen answered. "My parents are fabulously wealthy, but they cut me off, for being a _leech!_ Leech!"

"Here," Naminé said, reaching out despite the squeamish look on her face. "I'll get that."

"No, I'll get it," Tiana said without the slightest hesitation before tugging at the leech on Naveen's arm. Roxas started to go a little greener just looking at it. "You're broke, and you had the gall to call _me_ a liar?" The leech came off of Naveen's arm and she tossed it away…

…Right into the mouth of the giant catfish that leapt out of the water.

"Nightmare city," Roxas yelled as they hopped away and onto solid land, "here we are!"

"It was not a lie!" Prince Naveen told Tiana as they all tripped and ended up in a tangled heap on the ground. "I fully intend—AH!" Lightning flashed in the skies above and silhouetted the heron, spreading its wings wide and screeching at them.

"Run!" Naminé shrieked, the four of them getting out of the way just before the heron's beak would have speared at least one of them.

"I fully intend to be rich again!" Naveen said as he hopped, leading them away from the heron whose beak continually plunged down in its single-minded goal of making a meal out of the frogs. "Once I marry Miss Charlotte La Bouff, if she will have me."

"You're a prince?" Tiana asked.

"Obviously," Naveen replied obnoxiously.

"She'll have you," Tiana assured him. It was only an instant later when they reached the slope of a steep hill and began screaming again on their path down.

"This is not my day," Naminé muttered when they finally came to a stop on a log in the bayou's waterways.

"Tell me about it," Roxas droned.

"Oh shut up," Naminé whimpered. "You didn't get turned into a frog because some voodoo witch doctor lured you into his shop and played on your insecurities with your sister and your political and personal position in the line of succession for the crown and spun a web that told you that you would become Queen instead of Kairi."

Roxas was stunned. He'd been wondering as to how his girlfriend had been tricked by the Shadow Man, and now he knew, but he didn't think that it would be because of something like that. "Naminé…?"

"First it's Marluxia using me, then Sora chooses his memories of Kairi over me, not that I can blame him; then it's DiZ using me; then I don't even get any freedom to really do anything because I was always with Kairi; then as soon as I get out on my own I'm a pawn in the game everybody else is playing. Now, when I'm finally free to adventure and explore, I get manipulated and turned into a frog and Agatha gets kidnapped and we were almost sent to Maleficent… and I can't even do anything now because I'm a frog! I've tried everything but nothing works and there are no voices in my heart to comfort me. Why does nothing _ever_ work out for me?"

She buried her head in the log and started beating it with her fist. This whole outburst of Naminé's was unprecedented to Roxas, but then again, it must have been building up from a long time ago given what she'd been talking about the night before. He didn't know what to say, so he did the only thing a supportive boyfriend could. Roxas took her head into his lap and stroked it with his froggie fingers.

Tiana and Naveen both looked at Naminé in amazement. "I don't know what she just said," Tiana spoke, "but after hearing that, it makes my problem with my restaurant seem not quite as bad as it had an hour ago."

"Why are those logs moving?" Naveen asked suddenly, looking out into the water. Roxas glanced up from the back of his girlfriend's head and Naminé lifted her own slightly. Green logs were moving towards them; green logs with hungry eyes.

"Those aren't logs," Tiana said anxiously as the snarls of the alligators made their way into their ears. Suddenly the log they were on moved and a head emerged from under the water and turned towards them with a sickening smile.

"I got dibs on the big one," the gator said. His smile and the smiles of the other gators increased for only a second before large mouths with pointed teeth chomped down for them. The four frogs practically flew off the gator's back as they made their bid for freedom and safety. Tiana, Roxas, and Naminé grouped up underwater beneath the alligators, and Tiana pointed. Roxas glanced in that direction and nodded, pulling a tiring Naminé along behind him.

The three entered a hollow tree adorned by some vines from an underwater root that had rotted out on the inside, and peeked out from a hole in the trunk to see the alligators snapping their jaws at one another in a feeding frenzy as they all searched for the frogs. "Psst!" It was Naveen, his back pressed up against the tree. "Lower the vine."

"Find your own tree," Tiana told him harshly.

"Tiana!" Roxas gasped. She glared at him.

Now the gators took notice of Naveen. "There he is!" "I see him! I see him!"

"Alright," Naveen started, practically praying to Tiana. "Look, look. Help me get out of this swamp, and once I marry Charlotte, I shall get you your restaurant."

"Mm," the lead gator purred. "You're going to taste so good basted and battered and fried."

Tiana nodded her head, but Roxas was already lowering the vine down to him. Naveen grabbed hold and Roxas heaved him up just as the alligator's jaws were slamming down. "Quick! Quick! Pull me up!"

"Heave!" Roxas moaned, the three of them pulling hard. Naveen tumbled over the edge and inside.

Outside, the alligators laughed. "You can hop, but you can't hide."

"We got _all_ night."

Roxas saw Naveen glancing up at the hole before sighing. "Well, waitress, looks like we're going to be here for a while. So we may as well get _comfortable_."

Tiana smacked him in the face. "You get your slimy hands away from me."

"I told you: it is not slime, it is mucus!"

"That's even more disgusting," Naminé murmured. But there was no denying it; they weren't leaving this tree until morning at least. Roxas and Naminé both looked into each other's eyes. What had they gotten themselves into this time?

-A-D-

Green fire came into being in the centre of a ring set in the middle on the top of a tower of chilling blue stone, ice stretching out beyond the rim of the tower's edge. Pillars of ice clawed into the sky from the four corners of the tower's actual edge. In front of the flames a stairway climbed, covered in snow and ice. Massive crystals of frozen water flanked the stairway, and rose up even higher behind the platform at its top. At the top of the stairs, a throne crudely chiselled out of ice sat frozen in place upon the top of the massive fortress upon the glacier of Icecrown. On either side of the frozen throne were pillars of grey metal, their bases frozen over with ice and snow and chained into the tower by massive spiked links. The pillars bore iron brackets shaped like the skulls of creatures that resembled antelope and spiked collars, with wicked-looking iced-over crenelations at their peak.

Upon the throne sat a thick-set man in armour. His left shoulder was encased in a high-rimmed plate pauldron, and his right in a lower one that was filled with the face of a skull. Skulls were on his vambraces, and on the poleyns over his kneecaps. The front of his belt was also a metal skull, and the cuisses on his thighs were like ribs. The heels of his fur-lined boots were also adorned with skulls, and a long black cape billowed out behind him. But the most noticeable things about him were the great helm he wore over the wisps of ghostly white hair that flowed out from beneath it, and the sword in his right hand. The helm was topped with a ring of spires, like a crown, and the eye-holes revealed two eyes that glowed blue like living fire. A gem set at the great helm's forehead glowed with the same blue, and the central spire at the front had a skeletal face at its top. The sword in his hand whose point rested at the base of his foot was long, one edge near the hilt was jagged, and a skeletal face was set into the guard down the top of the blade. Fiery blue runes ran down the centre, and the whole blade emanated with a cold chill. He made no sign of surprise at the green flames that had suddenly appeared in front of him, as if he'd been expecting them all along.

Maleficent strode out, looking up at the Lich King with annoyance on her face when she wasn't even able to speak first. "Ah, Maleficent. I was wondering when you would turn up here."

"Do not play games with me, Lich King," Maleficent said coldly. "I require your services."

"You… _require_, my aid?" asked the Lich King. "Is that a demand? Can you not take care of your problems on your own, _Queen of Darkness_?"

"Do not perceive that you can mock me without consequence!" snapped Maleficent. "The Keyblade Wielders and their Princesses of Heart are a nuisance," Maleficent told him. "They are a group of meddlesome gnats. All I wish for is a bigger flyswatter to crush them with."

The Lich King rose from his throne, clenching the hilt of Frostmourne tighter. "You should not pretend that you can make demands of me, Maleficent," he told her coldly, placing his foot down upon the first step of the landing from his throne. "You have the aid of the fallen Maia, and of the White Witch. If you want to crush them, by all means, do so on your own! A sorceress of your power with allies such as yours has no business seeking my aid, especially not when her wishes go against my own."

"What!" Maleficent spluttered in surprise for a moment. She regained her composure a second later. "What are you prattling on about? It sounds as if you wish me to fail, boy."

The Lich King chuckled, his voice dark and laugh menacing. "You _will_ fail and fall Maleficent," he proclaimed, "and that arrogance of yours will be your undoing. Even now, it's undermining your very sanity."

"Enough of this!" Maleficent said, turning her back on the Lich King. She looked over her shoulder. "If you wish to take no part in this, then by all means, watch from the sidelines as I crush those meddlesome orphans and make them slaves to my will."

She took three steps forward, her staff making sharp raps against the cold blue stone she stood upon, before the Lich King chuckled again and sat back down upon his throne. "You have not the strength."

"What was that?" asked Maleficent slowly, stopping and turning her head.

"They will never break and submit to you," answered the Lich King, "and that is something that you have yet to understand. No matter how strong _you_ become, they would rather die before they are ruled by you.

"However," he added slowly, "if the power of the Keyblade at your command is what you desire…"

Maleficent turned around in a graceful circle. How she loathed placing herself at the mercy of another, but this was the game that was played by all the powerful masters of evil throughout the worlds. Always they tread a thin line between open hostility and reluctant acceptance, and the situation between her and the Lich King was no different. Gatherings of villains of the sort of Maleficent's current group and previous one were not so rare as one might think, but their cohesiveness and ability to function together was always second to their own ambitions, leading to the downfall of many before the gatherings could accomplish anything at all beyond the slit throat of one of their members.

"I am listening," she declared.

"An associate of mine has uncovered a world that contains a repository of knowledge learned and taught by the Chaser Knights of old," said the Lich King. "It is called the Resting Star, and therein lies the Library of Ages. Find it; I'm certain that whatever you may hope to find is there."

Maleficent nodded. "Thank you, you are most generous. Now, what would you like me to do in exchange for this information?"

Underneath the Helm of Domination, the Lich King smiled. "Do your very worst to defeat them," he answered.

Mystified slightly by his answer, Maleficent took it as a meaning that the boy would request a favour from her after she ruled the worlds. _Let him think so,_ she thought as she turned to leave again, enveloping herself in green flames, _for it will be ever so sweet to deny the fool._

The Lich King watched her go. Should the Keyblade Wielders succeed, even against the odds Maleficent would certainly put them to, then they would prove to become just as strong as he could only hope for.

-A-D-

_I laughed my butt off the first time I saw Princess and the Frog in theatres and Big Daddy yelled, "STELLA!" _Streetcar Named Desire_ for the win._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	59. Fools

_Apparently there's a fake KH Famitsu Interview that's been posted. So, the most 'recent' interview is fake. Don't take it seriously._

_I'm sorry for the wait. Somehow I wasn't in much of a writing mood recently. It took me forever to get through this chapter. I am also, not _terribly_ sorry, but I am sorry that this is on such short notice, but I will again be staffing at a Cadet Summer Training Centre this year. I'm supposed to leave for my post as Flight Commander in a day or so._

_Disclaimer: No, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 59: Fools

Yuffie watched with her head in her hands and her elbows propped against the parapets of the west bell tower of Notre Dame, Quasimodo slinking down the stonework of the great cathedral like a gorilla or a strong and well-practiced gymnast/rock climber. They'd persuaded him to wear a cloak to hide himself and sneak down to enjoy the festival, since he had watched every one for twenty years and never once participated. The Feast of Fools, as told to her by Quasimodo and Victor, Hugo, and Laverne, was about to begin. As much as she'd like to go down there herself, she did at least recognize that the place of a gargoyle was up here, amidst the stonework of the cathedral.

Besides, it might be fun to watch the festivities with balcony seats, and if she was lucky, she'd be able to spot Riku in the crowd somewhere. It wasn't like they would show up on a world when some big event was taking place and then not be anywhere nearby it.

Settling down as comfortably as possible as stone among stone could be, Yuffie only wished that she had some popcorn with her while watching the festivities. Hugo slid up next to her. "So, where've you been all this time?" he asked her. "Not very often we get new gargoyles up here that can talk and move around. And by not very often, I mean never."

Yuffie smiled slightly. "I've been far away from this cathedral, I can tell you that. Been hopping around from place to place; I hear there's a very nice castle gargoyles and angels like to hang out on, but I haven't gone there yet. Just seemed like now was the time to visit this piece of stonework."

"And what a gorgeous piece it is," Hugo agreed, laughing. Yuffie's smile increased marginally while the satisfaction of a bluff gone right swelled inside of her. "Hey look, there's a mime, want to bean 'im?"

"Hugo!" Laverne scolded, like a mother about to put an impertinent child in its place. Hugo turned to look at the elderly female gargoyle, but as soon as his back was turned Yuffie wound up and fired.

"Ptoo! Ha! Bulls-eye! Right on the noggin'!" she crowed. Victor sighed and placed a hand over his head.

"Oh, that poor mime," he lamented. He peeked out through two fingers. "Felled to the ground by a gargoyle's spit."

Hugo elbowed Victor in the ribs to shush him. "Hey look, they're startin'."

"So what happens in this festival anyway?" Yuffie asked as Laverne and Victor both got right up to the parapets with her and Hugo.

"Common peasant pageantry," Victor replied. "Music, dancing, games, shows, gypsy fortune-telling and acting…"

"And the crowning jewel of this one," Laverne added, "the crowning of the King of Fools."

"King of Fools?" Yuffie asked.

"The guy who wins is voted in for having the most disgusting, nauseating, hideous, uncharismatic face in all of Paris," said Hugo. "So naturally Frollo should win it every year. But he's pardoned by being the big cheese Judge who oversees the festival every year, cocky bastard…" Yuffie, Laverne, and Victor all laughed to varying degrees just as the music and song began from down below, the chanting coming from a group of tall men and women in black robes carrying tall wooden crosses with rolled-up banners.

"_Come one, come all.  
Leave your looms and milking stools,  
Coop the hens and pen the mules.  
Come one, come all.  
Close the churches and the schools,  
It's the day for breaking rules;  
Come and join the Feast of…"_

A man dressed in a brightly coloured yellow and purple jester costume slid out from underneath the robed men and women, laughing out the word, _"FOOLS!"_ Instantly the banners on the crosses unfurled their yellows, blues, purples, and golds. Those wearing their robes tore them off, revealing themselves to be more gypsies in their own brightly coloured clothing in patchwork patterns of white, red, blue, gold, purple, and green.

The gypsy who had slid in from underneath the others started dancing; grabbing Parisians and spinning them around before swinging from a pole.

"_Once a year we throw a party here in town!  
Once a year we turn all Paris upside-down!  
Every man's a king and every king's a clown!  
Once again it's Topsy-turvy Day!"_

Tents with bright canvas that before had seemed skeletal and unused were now filled with people as gypsies started plying their various crafts inside. From the parapets of Notre Dame Yuffie could see several waving their hands around crystal balls and a few who were looking at people's hands and there was one who—Yuffie gasped and laughed in amazement. Aerith was reading tea-leaves!

"_It's the day the devil in us gets released!  
It's the day we mock the pig and shock the priest!  
Everything is topsy-turvy at the Feast of Fools!"_

The music floated right up there to the cathedral, not a hard feat since it was all taking place right in front of the cathedral and the music and singing was loud enough to begin with. The crowd sang along with the singing gypsy whenever they knew the words, and Yuffie began to hum the tune to herself. Just watching it all was exhilarating, so imagining what it was like to actually be down there was a breathtaking possibility. Dogs were walking men!

"_Topsy-turvy!  
Everything is upsy-daisy!  
Topsy-turvy!  
Everyone is acting crazy!  
Dross is gold and weeds are a bouquet!  
That's the way on Topsy-turvy Day!"_

"Some party eh Yuffie?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "It's awesome!" Her stone brown eyes scanned the crowd. She'd managed to spot Aerith doing tea-reading, a skill she'd never known but always suspected that the brown-haired beauty had, and now her eyes found Tifa dancing merrily with Marlene. One part of the crowd suddenly started gasping and gave two gypsies a wide berth as two more on stilts waved their hands to persuade them to give the two performers a ring with which to use. At the same time, a black carriage protected by ribs of steel rolled in towards a large tent with a stage set in front of it, guards on horseback trotting in around it. Their captain was easily identified as the man in gold-looking armour with a blue cape on a white stallion, silently issuing orders for where his men were to go.

Watching him for a moment, Yuffie missed the start of whatever performance the other two gypsies were about to begin, but a startled gasp from Victor and a chuckle and comment of, "Well those two and that's new," from Laverne attracted her attention. The ninja's eyes bulged out of their sockets in disbelief and Yuffie had to take a double-take.

She'd found Riku and Zack, and the two of them were juggling with each other. The crazy thing, though, was that they were juggling swords back and forth.

_THEY WERE JUGGLING SWORDS!_

"What are those idiots doing!" Yuffie shouted.

"Hm, juggling apparently," said Victor.

"Well would you look at them?" Laverne added with a slight scowl. "They could lose a finger doing something dangerous like that."

"If Riku misses one, I'll never forgive him," Yuffie growled under her breath so the others wouldn't hear. Contrary to what she said though, Riku and Zack showed no signs of screwing up in the near future, and they had five blades passing back and forth between them in the air. Regardless of her aversion to seeing her boyfriend doing something so reckless and possibly scarring, she was impressed. She was impressed enough, in fact, that after a further thirty seconds of watching the two of them easily keep track of the five blades that she was confident that they wouldn't injure themselves.

Her hand strayed to the hilt of the turned-to-stone Flower of Wutai. _Wonder if they can handle six?_

Quick as a flash, Yuffie'd drawn the stone Keyblade from where it had been strapped to her waist and hurled it over the parapet, down towards Riku and Zack with a mental thought of _Catch!_ She watched as the blade spun end over end, sawing its way through the air towards Riku's back, and for a second terror seized her when Riku showed no signs of recognizing the danger she had just unleashed upon him. _What have I done!_

Riku impossibly turned around and snatched the spinning stone Keyblade by the hilt, altering its direction and tossing it up into the act with absolute perfection, now standing with his back to Zack and _still_ catching the swords as they fell!

Yuffie stared at him in shock for a second before a wide grin covered her face and a whooping laugh left her mouth. "Damn! He is good!" she laughed. _He can sing Michael Jackson, he can juggle __**phenomenally**__ well, he can probably waltz me into a stupor and he's hot to boot? How did I become the luckiest girl ever?_

"I'll say," Hugo laughed, "Didn't even take him by surprise when you whipped that sword of yours at him." Riku turned around again in mid-catch, redirecting the weapon he'd caught, Yuffie's Keyblade in fact, right for a female gypsy who was standing to the side, watching them eagerly. Yuffie didn't even pay any attention to her, but now the six swords were going between the three performers in a flashing dance in the sunlight that caught just about everyone's attention.

Sighing, the Legendary Rose Star Wielder of the Night dropped her chin to her palm and gazed wistfully at Riku as he continued to juggle with Zack and the new girl. "What are you thinking about dear?" Laverne asked, hopping over to be next to the only other female gargoyle.

"Just imagining the day when he'll go down on one knee," Yuffie returned without thinking. She moved as if blushing for a second. "I'm sorry; did I say that out loud?"

"_Topsy-turvy!  
Beat the drums and blow the trumpets!  
Topsy-turvy!  
Join the bums and thieves and strumpets!  
Streaming in from Chartres to Calais!  
Scurvy knaves are extra scurvy, on the sixth of Janu-ervy,  
All because it's Topsy-turvy Day!"_

Riku and Zack stopped juggling with the gypsy girl and packed away the swords as the music took on the dramatic fanfare that it had at the beginning, the jester gypsy now hopping onto the large stage erected with the pavilion that the wrinkled, old, sour-faced man in black who had left his iron carriage had entered.

"_Come one"_ he sang, _"come all.  
Hurry, hurry, here's your chance,  
See the mystery and romance!  
Come one, come all.  
See the finest girl in France,  
Make an entrance to entrance,  
Dance la Esmeralda…  
DANCE!"_

The gypsy threw his hand down and became enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke for only a moment before a beautiful brown-skinned woman with flowing raven hair was in his place. She wore red and violet dress that hugged her thin frame in the bodice but hung loose around her legs to give her absolute freedom of movement, accented by the golden bangles on her wrists and her golden earrings and the showy tiara she wore. The woman, Esmeralda, began to dance instantly, earning the whistles, whoops, and attention of just about every male in the crowd as she performed for them.

"Good looking girl," Hugo said before whistling. Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Well I will give her that," she muttered, hearing the 'oohs' and cheers as Esmeralda kicked her leg up before dancing over to the man in the pavilion, pulling a violet scarf out from a fold in the back of her dress as she went. Yuffie was too far away to see many details, but Esmeralda placed herself on the man's lap and wrapped her scarf seductively around his neck while caressing his face with one hand. Then she slammed her hand down on his hat and flitted away, waggling her hips suggestively.

Laverne laughed. "That sure put old Frollo in his place," she hooted. Yuffie couldn't help giggling.

Esmeralda continued to dance for several more minutes, bringing the crowd into her palm more and more with every twist and turn of her voluptuous dance.

"Hello…"

The sudden new voice, also so _very_ near to the four gargoyles enjoying the show, froze them in sudden fear of being discovered animated. "Stone up!" Victor declared swiftly and quietly. He hunched his back and loomed with unfocused eyes towards the river on the other side of the island before becoming as unmoving and silent as the granite he was made from. Laverne and Hugo acted similarly, clamming up and hardening in an instant, and Yuffie followed their lead, wishing that she could have remained paying attention to the festival for just a little bit longer.

They had no idea who it was that was now skipping across the walkways above Notre Dame towards them until the voice spoke again. "Oh, there you are, we'd been wondering. A gargoyle huh? Well that's an interesting change Miss Night. Cute wings; I like the horns."

Yuffie unfroze, turning her head towards the girl with white-blonde hair and a yellow top and very light pink shorts, white fingerless gloves with the Heartless emblem printed on the backsides. "Hi Dawn," she said. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Dawn said cheerily, leaning over the parapets next to Yuffie. "Festival's nice. Oh, and Rik wanted me to give this back to you." She brought her arm out from behind her, holding the stone Flower of Wutai out. Yuffie took it and Dawn smiled. "There, now Wulu's back with his master."

Yuffie snorted and rolled her eyes at the nickname. _Wulu? Where does she come up with these?_

A loud cheer went up from below as Esmeralda finished her dance, wrapped around a spear she'd 'borrowed' from a soldier who'd been standing near to the stage. Yuffie and Dawn both frowned slightly at the gypsy girl, beads of munny being tossed onto the stage where she was now bowing alongside the jester gypsy. "Riku's got a bit of an eye for her," Dawn muttered.

"Does he now?" Yuffie asked. "Well, looking at Zack's face it looks like all the pigs down there do, except for Leon. Do you know where he is?"

"He's been patrolling around the square," Dawn answered. "He's got something planned for my Master if Riku ever does anything to hurt you; I swear that's what he's plotting while brooding by himself out there."

_Huh?_ Yuffie thought, also voicing the question aloud. "What did Leon say to Riku?"

"Just that he'd do what needs to be done if Riku ever hurt you." Yuffie looked at Dawn, surprised by the revelation, and the orange eyes of the avatar met Yuffie's currently granite ones. "Riku's also beginning to think that you're hiding something from us."

"It's nothing," Yuffie said quickly, turning her head away. Down below, a ball struck against a wooden target and a man dressed as a monk got dunked into a tub of water. Dawn narrowed her eyes.

"You are hiding something," she said pointedly. "But…" she sighed, "I won't press you. I have secrets of my past too. However, I do think you should tell Riku."

"It's nothing!" Yuffie snapped, a little more harshly than she'd meant to say it. "I don't need to talk about this with you!"

"Fine!" Dawn snarled. "Forgive me for wanting to be friends with my Wielder's girlfriend!"

"Friends?" Yuffie asked, incredulous. "You kissed him!"

"For the first and _only_ time!" Dawn snapped back.

"How do I know that for sure?" Yuffie retorted. "How do I know that you won't sneak kisses or other things from him behind my back if you've already done it once?"

"What are you implying?"

"You know what I'm implying!"

"I'm his Keyblade, it's impossible for us to mate!"

"But you're also a woman!" Yuffie fired off. "And if you can't make babies then you're a perfectly safe person for him to—"

Dawn's arm was now pressed against Yuffie's stone throat, but it wasn't the 'flesh' that it had always appeared as before. The blade of Way to the Dawn now formed her arm, the crimson ribbed with black crescent with the angel-wing key where her wrist would otherwise have been. "You shut your mouth right now Yuffie," she told her with deadly seriousness. "You have no idea just how enamoured he is with you, just how much you mean to him. Yes, he kissed me, but I got all that I needed to reassure me of how far I'd come from my dark past from that single kiss, and it will sustain me for a thousand of your lifetimes or until I turn to dust. It need never be repeated, and he and I both know it. We've apologized and you've accepted it, so move on and speak of it no more! If you insult his honour one more time, then you are a fool Yuffie Kisaragi. There is a special bond between me and Riku, between Keyblade and Wielder, a _platonic_ love that you won't be able to comprehend unless you speak with your own."

Dawn inclined her head slightly towards the stone Keyblade Yuffie had replaced on her left hip, but her orange eyes still pierced Yuffie with the cruelty of ice. "How _dare_ you doubt his loyalty, his love for you? You sicken me."

Dawn's words were the sledgehammer that had just slammed through Yuffie's stone chest to strike her in the heart. The girl-turned-gargoyle rocked back, away from Dawn's transformed arm.

_He—Riku loves me?_

Yuffie looked back at Dawn, not entirely sure what it was that she was feeling. Surprise, yes, but a jumble of other emotions were vying for supremacy, and Yuffie didn't know which one she wanted to win out in the end. "He…loves me? But how can you be sure? How do you know that he—that he won't—?"

Dawn snorted derisively. "And here I thought that you were in love with him."

"But I am!" Yuffie returned vehemently. "I am in love with him!" A tiny measure of further surprise took her as the normally raven-haired Keyblade Wielder realized that this was the first time she had admitted the fact aloud, and it was to Riku's own Keyblade no less!

Her eyes and heart hardened as she looked Dawn up and down. "But how do you expect me to feel?" she fired back. "How do you expect me to feel when I find out he's kissed you behind my back? You're beautiful beyond cute, you're his Keyblade, you have a connection to him that's deeper than any I could dream of having, you two have everything I could ever want with him and more; I can't go through being tossed away like a used, dirty rag again!"

Her hand clapped over her mouth as if she'd said too much, and Yuffie averted her eyes. The next words Dawn spoke to her cut right into the cracks that the sledgehammer had created. "Then trust him," she said, her arm turning back to normal.

_Trust? But…_

"I… I don't know if I…" the kunoichi's voice trailed off as she looked at where her toes would otherwise be if she weren't a gargoyle presently. "Not since Tseng…"

She'd already had her heart shattered once; she couldn't bear it if it happened again, she wasn't strong enough; she was just a weak girl. _Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?_ _Why did I have to…?_

"You trust Sora don't you?" Dawn asked, beginning to walk away.

"Wha—of course I trust Sora!" Yuffie refuted. "He's my friend. It's just that—"

"He will always remain a friend, and doesn't hold the key to your heart," Dawn finished for her. Yuffie wasn't sure, but it looked like there was a sad smile on the face of the only Keyblade who could walk amongst them. "You need to talk to Riku," she continued. "I won't say anything to him, and I won't ask you about it again, but you _need_ to talk to him about this when you're ready. If you never do and the two of you fall apart, then you really are a fool."

Yuffie said nothing, only watching as Dawn went through a doorway and descended back into the depths of the cathedral.

"What was that all about?" Hugo asked, moving once again.

She wanted to cry, a little, but Yuffie found that her current body wouldn't allow it. Forcing herself to settle with less, Yuffie just said, "I don't want to talk about this," and hopped into the bell tower. This was too much all at once.

Victor looked like he wanted to follow her, and Hugo was almost right behind, but Laverne placed her hands on their shoulders and stopped them. "No, give the girl her space."

-A-D-

Riku clapped as Clopin leapt up onto the stage again. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the _piece de resistance!_"

"_Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for.  
Here it is, you know exactly what's in store.  
Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore;  
Now's the time we crown the King of Fools!_

"You all remember last year's King?" Clopin asked. He gestured, and Riku followed his gaze to where an unappealing looking man with a fool's hat for a crown was lounging on a litter throne being held aloft by the crowd. He belched, loudly, and Riku couldn't stop a laugh. Tifa snorted next to him, but she was still smiling when Clopin continued his call.

"_So make a face that's horrible and frightening;  
Make a face that's gruesome as a gargoyle's wing,  
For the face that's ugliest will be the King of Fools.  
Why?"_

"_Topsy-turvy!"_ the crowd chanted as masked people climbed onto the stage.  
_"Ugly folks forget your shyness.  
Topsy-turvy!  
You could soon be called Your Highness!  
Put your foulest features on display,  
Be the King of Topsy-turvy Day!"_

_Yuffie wouldn't like that comment about the gargoyle's wing_, a voice spoke softly into Riku's head.

The silver-haired Keyblade Wielder didn't make any visible indication that he'd heard the voice, watching as Esmeralda lined up the contestants on the stage. Dawn had made it back. _Why's that?_

_Because she's been turned into one of the gargoyles up on the church_, Dawn answered matter-of-factly, _and her wings are actually kind of pretty._

Riku chuckled, making a mental note that he'd have to get up there soon and see what his girlfriend looked like as a gargoyle, and watched as the first man was unmasked by Clopin. He was remarkably average in appearance, but somehow felt that by covering his upper lip with his lower one that that made him ugly. The crowd booed; he was too handsome. Djali, Esmeralda's kid goat, butted his bum and knocked the too-attractive man off the stage. The next was even worse, pulling his lips and eyelids down with his fingers in a comical scary face.

Djali knocked him right onto the first contestant.

Eight more quickly followed, the crowd booing each one for not being ugly enough to be crowned the ugliest person in Paris. Riku didn't really know what to make of the tradition, but something about it just didn't sit quite right with him. Esmeralda and Djali came up to the last one on the line, a man in a green tunic with a hump on his back and a large growth above his left eye. That mask was quite good in Riku's opinion. The unnatural and deformed look certainly worked for being foul, but the mask seemed almost too good.

Esmeralda tugged, and her shock was complete when the mask she'd grabbed turned out to be the young man's actual skin!

"That's no mask!" someone in the crowd gasped.

"It's his face!"

"He's hideous!"

Riku snorted and sent a glare in the general direction of the voice that had uttered that. _Okay_, Dawn commented, _so he's lacking in the looks department, but do you need to shout that to his face?_ Riku nodded privately, but then he suddenly felt a deep jolt of pain, that had nothing to do with the man on stage, strike his heart.

"It's the bell-ringer from Notre Dame!" declared a final person, in a voice that Riku barely heard.

"Riku, what's wrong?" Marlene asked quietly.

He must have shown that sudden pain on his face, because Marlene, Tifa, Zack, Aerith, and Leon were all looking at him funny. "Kairi's in pain," he offered.

Leon's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Riku replied. "Just that her heart's in pain and I can feel it. Sora can probably feel it a lot more strongly than I can. I wouldn't worry about it until we see her again. She's got Selphie and Olette and Menelmon and Tidus and Wakka and Lord Ramius and Garda and them with her, and she'll tell Sora without a doubt and probably Naminé too, so they'll deal with it. We can start to worry about it if she calls me for help."

The gasps and fearful backing away of the crowd appeared to be getting to the man on stage, because Riku noticed that his breathing was getting faster and sharper, and he covered his 'monstrous' face with his large hands.

Clopin rushed to the rescue, sort of. "Ladies and gentlemen, don't panic. We asked for the ugliest face in Paris, and here it is! Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame!" Clopin placed the crown upon Quasimodo's head, and the crowd cheered as they realized that they had a King of Fools, in fact, the _perfect_ King of Fools! "Ev-er-bo-dy!" Clopin shouted.

The crowd took up his call and started singing and cheering, picking up Quasimodo and bearing him into the King of Fools' litter. The Parisians' mood had changed from fearful to ecstatic in such a short span of time that it was almost staggering that they were now throwing confetti into the air and breaking out the champagne and draining mugs of beer in celebration of their new king.

Riku clapped along, refraining from singing, as the crowd bore Quasimodo past Judge Frollo. The hunchback waved awkwardly at the man, who returned with a look of stern disapproval. Quasimodo was brought to another wooden platform in the centre of the square where there was a raised disk with spokes. Clopin placed a purple cape with white ermine trim on Quasimodo's back and handed the hunchback a golden sceptre ringed with a crown. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself as the singing reached a crescendo and a fount of confetti was flung into the air. "Quasimodo!" was the crowd's continual chant as roses and flowers and munny were all tossed his way.

_I'm happy for him,_ Dawn commented. _It probably isn't that often that he's the most popular guy in Paris._ Riku nodded in agreement.

He stopped and stared as the crowd suddenly hushed. One of Frollo's guards had thrown a tomato right into Quasimodo's face. "Now that's ugly!" the man bellowed.

"Hail to the King!" another cheered, throwing a tomato of his own at Quasimodo.

"Tifa! Riku!" Marlene said, looking between both of them as she sat on Tifa's shoulders. "Those men are being mean to him!"

"Long live the King!" Another tomato. More tomatoes were hurled at the hunchback, and other vegetables, and now it wasn't just the soldiers under Frollo's pay that were hurling produce at Quasimodo, the regular Parisians were joining in. One of them got a rope and lassoed his neck and dragged Quasimodo down. Another rope snatched his wrist and tore the sceptre from his grasp.

Riku was appalled as he stood with Tifa, Zack, Aerith, Marlene, and Leon. "How can they be this mad?" He asked aloud. What had the hunchback ever done to them beyond coming to join the festival? It was a festival for crying out loud! _Everyone_ should be able to come to a festival, no matter how ugly. And besides, didn't they say he was the bell-ringer of the cathedral, the one who rang the bells that were the daily signals of their lives?

Quasimodo was fighting now. His shirt ripped beneath his hump, and he fought back against the eggs and tomatoes and cabbages and wrestled the ropes from his body. But more were hurled at him, chaining down his strength, and men ran up while he was occupied and bound his hands and tied him to the spoked disk. They set him to spin, and the crowd laughed and continued their abuse.

"Master!" Quasimodo cried out, looking towards Frollo. "Please, help me!"

Riku'd never seen a more pitiful sight, and anger rippled in his chest when he saw Frollo turn his head away.

_That son of a bitch!_ Riku thought, glaring at Frollo. He was about to open his mouth to give the man a piece of his mind when the obvious captain of the guard beat him to it.

"Sir, request permission to stop this cruelty."

"In a moment, Captain. A lesson needs to be learned here."

"What lesson!" Marlene yelled, the first to vocalize her outrage at Frollo. "You aren't teaching, you're just being a big bully. If you had a heart you'd stop it!"

While Riku's party all beamed at Marlene, Frollo sneered. "Captain, remove this insolent child from my pres—" He stopped, because the crowd had suddenly gone silent and had ceased hurling various items of food at Quasimodo.

Esmeralda, dressed simply in her regular clothing instead of her crimson dress, was slowly making her way up onto the platform, deep sympathy in her eyes. Riku noticed that some of the guards were giving her angry looks, as if her silent interruption of their bullying the hunchback was worthy of physical punishment. He nodded at his companions, and they politely pushed their way to the base of the platform's stairs in case any of the guards decided to take punishing the gypsy into their own hands.

As it was, they were able to hear the gypsy girl speak when she knelt beside Quasimodo and wiped the juices, yolk, egg whites, shells, and vegetable skins from his face. The bed of flowers and beads of munny were barely visible beneath the refuse. "Don't be afraid. I'm sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen."

"You! Gypsy girl!" Frollo commanded. "Get down at once!"

"Yes Your Honour," she replied. "Just as soon as I free this poor creature."

"I forbid it!" Frollo returned angrily.

In answer Esmeralda drew a knife from a hidden sheath tied to her leg and cut the ropes.

"How dare you defy me?" Frollo snarled.

Esmeralda snapped. "You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people. You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help."

"Silence!" Frollo bellowed.

"Justice!" Esmeralda retorted. She turned her back on Judge Frollo, threw the last of the ropes off of the bell-ringer's frame, and helped him to his feet.

"Mark my words gypsy," Frollo warned, "you will pay for this insolence."

"Then it appears we've crowned the wrong fool," answered Esmeralda. She took the hat from Quasimodo's head. "The only fool I see is you!" The jester hat landed only feet away from Frollo's seat and the crowd started to laugh.

Unable to be mocked and scorned any longer, Frollo turned his head. "Captain Phoebus, arrest her!" Reluctantly, the mountain captain waved his men forward.

"I think we're going to get into a fight," Tifa said, taking Marlene off of her shoulders. Riku nodded, summoning Way to the Dawn behind his back. Leon drew his gunblade and Zack his greatsword. Aerith grasped at the staff at her back. Esmeralda, meanwhile, did a headcount of the mounted guards that were coming for her.

"Now let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… so there's ten of you and one of me." She slipped a hand to the bosom of her shirt and withdrew a handkerchief and with a dramatic air she asked rhetorically, "What's a girl to do?"

"We are here to help you know," Leon reminded her. "Fighting is our job description."

"Shh," Esmeralda whispered. "You're spoiling my fun." She winked at Riku's chuckle, and then wept into her handkerchief. Suddenly she blew her nose and disappeared in a burst of red smoke that covered her body. The horses being ridden by the guards reared up in fright, and the soldiers themselves were startled at the girl who vanished without a trace.

Frollo's eyes widened. "Witchcraft!" he murmured to himself, remembering the words of the strange woman who had paid himself and the Captain a visit.

The closest guard to the platform looked down at the motley assortment of warriors and pointed his spear directly at Riku. "You there, tell me where she went, or I'll arrest you instead."

"Well I don't know about that," Riku replied, easily placing Way to the Dawn up in its customary ready position by his right ear, "but if you're looking for a fight then I'd be happy to oblige."

"Oh boys. Over here." They all looked around and saw Esmeralda's and Djali's heads at a basket next to the executioner's broad-bladed axe, the basket for severed heads currently holding masks from the festival. She was smiling in a creepy innocent way, slowly batting her eyes at the crowd. The gypsy girl turned her head and gasped. Appearing on the execution platform near to the gallows were three hulking Invisible Heartless. "Not these things again," she said, picking up Djali and rushing in the opposite direction of the Heartless. She jumped from the platform onto the arms of the crowd, the Parisians cheering her and bearing the gypsy away from danger.

The Invisibles came to the edge of the wooden planks, their large hands grasping their big blue swords.

"Demons!" Frollo gasped. That precise moment was when the Parisians, guards and civilians alike, noticed the Heartless. A great scream rose from those closest to the tall hovering Heartless and immediately people started pushing, trying to get as far away from the terrifying creatures as possible.

"There's our cue," Leon said.

"Then here we go!" Zack crowed. "Hero Zack Fair on the job!" Zack bolted directly towards the three Invisibles on the execution platform, the crowd parting for him and his greatsword in jubilation when they recognized that he, unlike the fleeing guards, was going to defend them. With a single leap Zack was up on the stage, his sword descending from above his head. The closest Invisible looked his way after watching Esmeralda being borne away by the crowd, but its sword was in no position for it to defend itself. Zack's greatsword cut a large slash across its chest, and the Invisible backed floated back a pace, darkness pouring out of its wound. Zack's sword struck twice more, cutting another wound into its chest before he stabbed the Invisible between the eyes.

Spinning around, Zack raised his sword above his eyes, firmly blocking a slash the second Invisible was delivering. He backed up, his sword flashing as it moved to intercept the Heartless' weapon, Zack's movements perfectly countering it. Suddenly it disintegrated with its head no longer on its shoulders. Leon nodded at Zack, turning his head and gunblade to glare at the third Invisible. He squeezed the trigger on the hilt, and a pair of fireballs rushed out along the length of the blade. They struck the Invisible in the eyes, and was blinded for a moment but rushed forward anyway, swinging its blade with strong slices.

Both Zack's and Leon's swords cut it down from behind, none of the three having touched them.

Riku turned his head as he sensed more Heartless appearing in the opposite direction. Brightly clothed humanoid Heartless with disfigured ball-shaped heads with flowers spurting from the sides stood on single legs, juggling balls. Riku took a closer look at the juggled items as one of the ten Heartless wobbled slightly on its single foot while passing the balls up and around. One ball looked to be aflame, another was trailing ice, a third was black and purple, a fourth was bright gold, and the fifth buzzed with lightning.

Their heads snapped in his direction, yellow eyes zeroing in on the Keyblade held in his hand. As one, each of them turned their bodies around on their one leg, facing him with their right sides forward, and the Jugglers directed the burning ball towards Riku.

He jumped towards the Jugglers, leaping over the small fireballs. Aerith took his place, her green eyes firm and unyielding. Holding her quarterstaff horizontally in front of her body, she spoke a single word of command. The flaming balls zipped towards where she, Tifa, and Marlene were still standing, but when they got five feet away from the group they all disappeared in puffs of flame and smoke, as if they had struck an invisible barrier.

Frigid balls of ice now swept towards Riku, and he made no move to dodge. Instead he brought his left arm in front of him, enveloping it in an energy gauntlet of orange light. He was able to catch five of the ten balls with his gauntlet, and two others missed, but three still struck him against his chest and arms. He thought he would have been chilled by their touch, but surprisingly when they touched his body they just shattered like the fire ones had vanished.

_I got your back Rik, remember that._

Grinning at Dawn's comment, Riku brought his arm back. His gauntlet had gained five small circles of aquamarine light against the back of his hand, and with a thought all five of them merged into one large one that covered the backside of his hand and the colour changed from aquamarine to a clear blue. "You guys need to chill!" Riku said, jumping into the air. He came crashing back down about ten feet away from them, punching his left arm into the street. The air temperature plunged, and Riku's breath came out in a misty cloud. Ice burst into existence around the ten feet of the ten Jugglers, crystallizing up to their knees and leaving them trapped.

The nearest one manoeuvred its hips to continue to face him while still juggling three orbs, and sent another one straight out for Riku, this one the one that crackled with lightning. The Wielder of Dawn rolled to the side, but even if he hadn't moved the lightning ball wouldn't have hit him, the ball going off wide to his left. The gauntlet vanished from Riku's left arm and he rushed forward, bearing down on that one Juggler.

It fell with one blow.

Four balls of darkness from nine of the remaining Jugglers streaked towards Riku, and one of them missed. The other three hit him square in the chest, and Riku forced back a scream of pain. Inside his heart and through his hand he could feel Dawn shuddering in a shared feeling.

_Shit!_ He thought inwardly as he winced and sweat beaded on his brow. _What the fuck was that?_

_Darkness Riku,_ Dawn answered through a mental grimace. _If you can help it, I don't want any more of those cookies to hit._

_Why did it hurt so much?_ Riku asked her. _I don't remember darkness feeling anything like that before._

_You're heart is full of light now Riku,_ Dawn answered. _Your heart is now as opposed to darkness incarnate as a Princess of Heart's. It'll hurt us like nothing else can, but then again, our strength against the darkness is now greater than if your heart had been what it was before Xehanort's Heartless and your darkness was pulled out of you._

_Good,_ Riku told her. _Then let's use that strength_.

_We already are,_ Dawn replied smugly. Riku smirked and lashed out at the nearest Juggler, coincidentally one of the ones who had struck him with a dark ball. Way to the Dawn pierced it in the chest, and he ripped the blade up and out of its body, freeing its heart. Riku turned slightly and cut down another one, his Keyblade cleaving its body in two across the chest. He spun down, taking out the leg of a third before coming up and driving it back to the ground with Way to the Dawn driving through its heart. "Ray of Dawn!" Riku called, pointing his left hand at a fourth. The black-tipped golden ray burst from his hand and exploded in the Juggler Heartless' face, taking out a large chunk of it.

The critically wounded Heartless was about to send one of its remaining juggled balls at Riku, when a sturdy foot attached to a creamy smooth leg landed squarely in its stomach. The kinetic force behind Tifa's kick was enough to break the Heartless out of the ice it was trapped in, but it had to leave its leg behind. The two wounds were more than enough, and it exploded into a cloud of darkness while it was in the air.

Balls of light and lightning now streaked for both Tifa and Riku, and the two hissed as the lightning balls struck, sending unwanted impulses to their nerve endings and burning their skin slightly; but when the light hit it just seemed warm, and its energy soaked into their limbs. Given what Dawn had just told him, he figured that he would feel something like that as opposed to when the darkness hit, but Tifa at least should have felt some form of pain.

"What was that?" Tifa asked.

"Light," Riku answered. He chuckled slightly. "Seems dumb for the Heartless to be wielding light, but I'll take it." Rushing the few feet between himself and the remaining five, Riku stabbed the first one in the skull and kept on going, hacking straight through the shoulder of a second before spinning around and burying the hilt of Way to the Dawn into the chest of a third. He ripped his Keyblade out the Heartless' right side and was about to finish it off when Tifa's fist connected with its head.

He glanced at her with a curious look while Tifa wiped her hands with a satisfied look on her face. "Gee Riku, you sure are cutting them up today," she said pleasantly. "Barely left any of them for me; sure you aren't at least a bit worried about Yuffie?"

Riku smiled at the woman. "Well, maybe a little."

"Good, I was about to dock you boyfriend points for not being worried about being separated from your girl in a strange place," Tifa replied. Riku barked a laugh before someone grabbed his arm. It was Leon.

"We need to get out of here," he said.

"What? Why?" Riku asked. In answer, Leon inclined his head towards the pavilion. Judge Frollo was giving them a very cold look. Tifa started backing up.

"Yeah… we should—" Tifa began, but didn't finish as the three of them turned their backs and ran into the safety of the crowd.

-A-D-

_A few interesting statistics here for you: Riku and Yuffie became a couple in Chapter 14: Maleficent's Revenge, Yuffie realized that she was in love with Riku in Chapter 72: The Heart of Atlantis, Riku realized that he was in love with Yuffie in Chapter 77: Lord Ovan Ramius, Riku first told somebody else, Sora, that he was in love with Yuffie in Chapter 109: To Olympus; and now Yuffie has confided in somebody else, Dawn, that she's in love with Riku here in Chapter 122: Fools._

_(waiting for you to do the math here)_

_It's been 108 chapters since the start of their relationship in this series and neither one has said those three little words to one another yet. I can only think of Drizzt Do'Urden and Catti-Brie (if you don't know who they are, shame on you for not knowing the legendary drow ranger or the adopted human daughter of the dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer, Eighth (and Tenth) King of Mithral Hall) or Takara Kamiya and Daichi Motomiya (if you don't know who they are, look up __**Broken Angel01**__'s Digimon mega-fic: Following the Footsteps of Destiny) in length of time taken—even for the characters to finally become a couple!—taking longer than that. And with Drizzt and Catti-Brie it was her going, "There ye go, with yer tongue wandering about again. Did ye ever think ye should just shut up and kiss me?"_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	60. Ohana

_Mischief Managed!_

_Okay, so, Animethon 18 was AWESOME! That weekend I had on leave was **THE** most fun I had all summer! :D Bought a lot of anime, watched a lot of anime, took a lot of pictures, made some friends, watched three straight hours of AMVs, and I laughed my ass off! Todd Haberkorn was there for a panel as well, and when we got to the questions he called on me to ask one and he answered my question of "What would happen if two of the characters you've voiced, Italy and Allen Walker, met?" in epic fashion. Here's essentially what he said._

_Italy: "Hi, what is-a-wrong with your eye?"_

_Allen: "Oh...the Millennium Earl gave it to me when I was little."_

_Italy: "Millennium Earl? I would-a-like-a to meet this guy."_

_Allen: "Oh no, you don't want to meet him, or the Akuma."_

_Italy: "Akuma? That sounds like a pasta! Do you like pasta? If you don't know I can make you some pasta! Or I can a-teach you to make pasta, then you can a-make-a your own whenever you want."_

_Yeah... I will forever remember my first con. Before you complain, yes, I do know that it was Mana that cursed Allen's eye when Allen turned him into an Akuma after Mana died, but there's something that's just awesome about around two thousand people all sharing a common interest gathering in the same location to celebrate said interest. I am also updating today, a whole half-week sooner than I had planned, because I bribed **SirAngelo** with this chapter being released today instead of on Sunday in exchange for finding a way to make his new in-between fic **Last Summer Dreams** at least eight chapters long instead of six. So thank the Vancouverite for the early release date!_

_...Kairi's right, he does have creepy acronyms for his fics. GOD and LSD... there's something wrong with this. Hopefully his next one won't be titled Furry Under Crowned Kingdom, or Sabres Eternal Extreme, or Angel Innocence Drive Sora, or something like that._

_Anyway..._

_Disclaimer: (sign crushed underneath 1 600 pairs of drill boots)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 60: Ohana

_1700hrs, Tuesday, December 2__nd__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Kauai, _Ohana  
_Sora_

The ice cream had long been devoured by himself and Aiwemon, but Sora had not ventured near the water since his incident after wiping out on the rented surfboard. He'd politely cheered on David, Donald, Goofy, and Nani as they surfed with Lilo and Stitch, but his mind had been centred elsewhere. Kairi still hadn't called him back or returned any of his text messages, and he was wracking his brain with what could have happened that would have sent her heart into such a spiral of panic and fear.

He sighed, looking up into the sky, wishing that it was night-time so that he could try to find the star of Radiant Garden amidst the hundreds of others. Out there was Kairi, alive but not well, and Riku was off on another world as well, probably doing his best alongside Yuffie and the large crew that had gone along to 'escort' the ninja-wielder and her boyfriend. Naminé and Roxas with Lea and Agatha were somewhere out there too.

Sora sighed and Aiwemon glanced at his digidestined partner's face from Sora's right shoulder. "What are you thinking about Sora?"

"You know, just stuff," Sora answered noncommittally.

"What kind of stuff?" prodded Aiwemon in an honest tone.

Sora leaned back and the small bird digimon hopped off of his shoulder and onto the sand before walking onto the beach towel that the human and Jiminy Cricket were resting on. Sora knew that Jiminy was listening in too. "Just, thinking about how spread out we all are," he answered truthfully. Aiwemon cocked his head to the side and Sora continued. "Well, think about it. I'm here with you and Jiminy, Donald, and Goofy; Kairi's back in Radiant Garden with Menelmon, King Mickey, Garda, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and all our other friends; Riku and Yuffie are somewhere out there with Leon an' them; and Naminé and Roxas are also somewhere else with Lea and Agatha; we've kinda been scattered, haven't we guys?"

"Well when you put it that way," Aiwemon replied, looking skyward now, "it does seem like we've all separated, and that the only person who we know where she is is Kairi."

"Is that bothering you Sora?" Jiminy asked. "That Kairi's the only person who we know where she is?"

Sora shook his head. "No, it's not that. Well, maybe a little, and that part's even worse because I can't help but wonder just what happened on Radiant Garden to upset her so much. It's just… we're stronger together. If we were all together, maybe whatever happened to frighten Kairi wouldn't have happened. And if it could happen to Kairi, even with all the others there, what's to say that something like it couldn't happen to Riku and Yuffie, or to Roxas and Naminé, or even here?"

"Come on Sora," Aiwemon said, "you think that we'd just let whatever could have scared Kairi so much happen here?"

Sora's answer was firm. "No."

"Or that Riku or the others would allow the same?"

Sora's answer was the same. "No."

"Then you're just thinking too much," the digimon told him straightforwardly.

Jiminy sighed. "Sora, you know why we had to split up. We just can't cover the ground we need as one group; we can't cover the ground we need to even now."

"I know that Jiminy," replied the Keyblade Master. "It's just that I miss her."

"Sora!"

Glancing out to sea, Sora saw the others coming ashore from their surfing. Donald was completely soaked—well, they all were, but the duck looked like he'd been underwater almost the entire time—but was still in a surprisingly good mood. "Lilo said she wanted us to meet Stitch's cousins."

"Tomorrow Lilo," Nani told her younger sister. "It's getting late."

"Aw, but Nani," Lilo moaned, "Stitch and I were going to start our slug circus tomorrow."

"It's okay Lilo," Sora told her, getting up. "I'm sure that we'll meet them soon enough." _Slugs…_ he thought privately. Laughing at the thought, he swung his arms out in a stretch. Sora froze for a second. While his right arm came back forward, his left had stayed extended behind his back.

"Uh, Sora," Goofy said, pointing, "I think your arm's stuck."

"Yeah," the teen answered, puzzled. "It is." He tried commanding his automail to move, but it surprisingly didn't want to follow his orders and stayed put where it was. "Um, a little help?"

"Cheeka nuaba," Stitch said. The blue koala-looking alien spat on his two hands and rubbed them together before walking up to Sora's stuck limb. Stitch got a good grip, and then shoved.

Sora yelped as his arm now flew forward and nearly dragged his feet off the ground. His yelp of surprise became one of pain an instant later as the back of his hand struck his forehead. Now Sora did fall over, groaning. "Ow, that hurt."

Stitch fell onto his back, giggling maniacally, while Lilo and the others gave him stern looks. "Stitch! No!" Lilo scolded.

"Can someone help me up now? I'm seeing stars, and not the stars I like looking at, and I'm _definitely_ not looking at the famous actress Suniki either."

"I got you," David said, bending down and grasping the Keyblade Master firmly by the shoulder. "Come on, up you get." Sora leaned into him rather heavily as he got back onto his feet, and David chuckled slightly as Goofy came to help. "Just take it easy now Sora, we've got you."

"No worries," Goofy added. "We won't let you down."

"Who's Suniki?" Aiwemon asked.

"A famous actress," Sora replied as they began to get underway. "Didn't I just say that?"

"What does she star in?" Nani asked. "I haven't heard of her."

"She's in movies from my world," stated Sora. "And she is _nice_." He frowned, not even noticing the looks that his friends were giving him. "I think I might have a concussion, maybe I should lie down as soon as we get to your house."

"You sure you don't want to get checked out?" Lilo asked.

"No, thank you, but your couch should be just as good."

David and Nani looked skeptical, but Jiminy assured them. "Don't worry, Sora's had a very minor concussion once before after taking on Ursula the first time, and a couple days resting aboard the _Highwind_ cured him right up. He heals from those things fast."

"Must have something to do with the Keyblade," Goofy guessed.

Sora chuckled and continued to shuffle his feet forward while David and Goofy helped to support him. He was mostly supporting his own weight anyway, but it never hurt to have a couple of shoulders to lean on whenever he tipped to one side. Something off to his right caught his eye and he stopped. "Am I hallucinating?"

"What is it Sora?" Nani asked.

Sora pointed. "Donald, Goofy; look over there. Is that what I think it is?"

"What's that?" Aiwemon asked, looking in the direction of Sora's finger.

"It's a chest!" Donald exclaimed. "Wahoo!" He jumped up in excitement and rushed forward on his webbed feet.

Sora smirked. "Good, my mind's not making it up." Placing one foot in front of the other, he started to head over to the chest. Donald was already eagerly looking around the red chest banded with gold.

"Wonder what's inside," he muttered to himself. "Maybe a giant ruby, or a diamond!"

"I don't think so Donald," Jiminy was quick to say. "Remember that most of the time when we last went around hunting chests we found them to just have potions or ethers or synthesis materials that the moogles wanted."

"And who says a ruby couldn't get me a better staff?" Donald asked, drawing out his short staff topped with the brown wizard's hat.

"Yeah, what happened to Save the Queen and Save the King?" Sora asked, looking between Donald and Goofy.

"Gawrsh Sora, we put them in the armoury," answered Goofy. "Ya never know when you might really need them back home."

"Speaking of which," Donald wondered, glancing at Sora, "whatever happened to the Ultima Weapon Sora?"

Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't really like using that one much."

"Wak! Why not? We spent forever getting all the Orichalcum+ the moogles needed for that!"

"Didn't they just rip us off though?" Sora asked in irritation, just figuring out the depths of moogle trickery. "If Tylythia's the one who made all the Keyblades, then the moogles already had that keychain on them and they just ripped us off, _twice_, while only 'pretending' to make it. Besides, I don't have an emotional connection to it."

"Um..." Lilo interrupted in a quiet voice. "Aren't you going to look at the chest?"

Stitch was crawling over the chest, examining it. He bit at the lock, but jolted back when he found he couldn't break it open with his teeth and muttered something that sounded like disappointment in his alien dialect. "Open it Sora!" Donald ordered. Sora frowned as a thought came to him.

"You know, I was the one who opened up _every single chest_ on both of our journeys," he stated, "even the ones that you found that were, like, two kilometres away from where me and Goofy were. Why don't you open it?"

Donald mumbled something, looking down. "Sorry Donald," said Goofy, "but even I didn't hear you there."

"Because I don't know any spells for opening locked things," answered Donald.

Sora hastily stifled his laugh and pushed away what he was thinking, still earning himself a glare from the magician, and summoned Remembrance to his right hand. Lilo's eyes became wide as saucers again at the second sight of the weapon, and Nani and David both looked at Sora in surprise. The teenager ignored their looks and whacked the top of the chest with the Keyblade.

Golden light spewed out of the chest in a flash for the moment following when the chest's lid popped open at the Keyblade's touch. Then the flare died, and the contents on the brown felt-lined bottom were visible. There was only one item inside, a small ash-grey bottle corked with a wax-sealed stopper. On the bottle was a symbol of a single tongue of fire. "What is that?" asked Aiwemon.

"I know what this is!" Jiminy proclaimed, hopping down into the chest and grabbing it. The bottle was only about two and a half times the size of the cricket, still only the size of a potion bottle. "This type of potion is very hard to come by, but we'll be glad we've got it in case the worst happens."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, dismissing Remembrance. He bent over and picked the bottle up, letting Jiminy climb up his arm again. "What's it do?"

"This is a Phoenix Down Sora," Jiminy told him. "It's a poultice, made from the down feathers of newly reborn phoenixes. If it is washed onto the tongue of a person who is very recently deceased or is about to die, it can bring them back to life and repair damage done to their body to enough of an extent where they won't be in any serious danger."

"Sounds powerful," Sora remarked. "How recently…dead?"

"Minutes," Jiminy answered. "And it's a one-use potion, so you can't spread it around; it has to be all or nothing."

"Ah," Sora returned. "We should really hang on to this then." Jiminy, Donald, and Goofy all nodded and Sora placed it deep into his pants. He looked down, just to make sure that there was nothing left in the chest, and they turned back towards the road.

-A-D-

"There you are! I've been waiting for you to come home for at least a half-hour. Dinner's almost gotten cold!"

_Okay, I must have a _bad_ concussion,_ Sora thought as he blinked rapidly after entering Nani, Lilo, and Stitch's house. _I am seriously tripping._ Coming out of the kitchen was a tall green… _thing_ with one giant eye set in an ovular head that had a single small antenna protruding from the top. The… _thing_, also had two arms with three fingers on each hand, four legs, and was wearing an orange dress covered by an apron. It looked like something Olette would wear if Sora had ever known Olette to wear dresses—just without the apron, he would never go so far as to have a girl slave away in the kitchen for him.

Well… maybe one, if she was baking cookies.

"Sorry Pleakly," Lilo told him, "but we ran into a few of Stitch's friends."

"Friends?" scoffed a new voice with a thick accent. "Bah! Is nonsense! Six-two-six have no friends before he met you little girl, and you know that."

"Naga!" Stitch fired back at the voice. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, friends."

"What!" the voice's owner said, before stomping out of the kitchen to show himself. Sora nearly lost himself again, as this new alien, as there was nothing else to describe him or the green one, was just as tall, but _much_ larger and purple. He had four black eyes with yellow sclera and a pair of thick arms and legs each, wearing a yellow and red Hawaiian shirt. "Ah," he said upon laying eyes (all four of them) on Sora, "is Keyblade boy. You look about right, but still shorter than my imagining."

"Taller than you," Sora retorted. It was true, even if you didn't include his hair. Sora still didn't file away the alien's comment about looking about right, taking pride in the strong muscles his body was now displaying.

_That's another reason to be thankful to Kisuke Urahara,_ whispered Cosmos, _your improved physique. Don't think we haven't noticed how much you noticed the girls on the beach looking at you, and it wasn't because of your automail._

"Jumba, be nice to our guests," Nani said with a firm tone. The large alien waved his massive hands in the air in a submissive gesture, and Nani turned to her boyfriend. "Thanks for coming out today David," she said, then gave him a light kiss on the lips.

"Hey, no problem," he answered with a smile, "I'm always happy to help. Plus I got to make some new friends. Sora, Goofy, next time I see you guys, I want to see you riding some waves."

"I'll sure do my best David, ah-yuck," Goofy laughed. Sora nodded, even though he severely doubted that he'd go surfing again. It was fun, but the risks associated with wiping out were too severe.

David left, and the rest of them sat down to a dinner that the green alien, named Pleakly and indeed male, had made for them even after his complaining that there might not be enough food for all of them because they hadn't called ahead of time to let him know that there would be guests.

"So you are Keyblade Bearer," noted Jumba Jookiba as they made their way through their enjoyable fish dinner.

"I may be," Sora answered noncommittally. "How would you know if I was?"

"Grand Councilwoman," Jumba returned. "She has had communication with us."

"Wait," Pleakly started, surprised, "hold everything! You mean you're the kid?"

"Who are you calling a kid?" Donald asked. "He's a hero!" Sora smiled appreciatively at his companion.

"Thanks Donald," he said, before turning to Pleakly and placing his finger and his thumb close together while looking at the green alien's head. "And I'll crush your head if you refer to me as 'kid' again."

"I'll pinch your face!" Pleakly fired back, holding two of his three fingers with the gap horizontally in front of his eye compared to Sora's vertical gap.

"I'll crush your head!"

"I'm pinching your face!"

"That's enough," Lilo quickly scolded them. "We don't need to be fighting at the dinner table."

"We're not fighting," Sora clarified, "we're bantering." Pleakly nodded.

"He's correct Lilo," the alien said. "I never thought I'd find someone who would do the same imaginary thing as I do."

The teenager looked at the alien swiftly. "Crush, crush." Pleakly wailed as if he had physically felt his head being crushed by a pair of gigantic fingers, causing everybody to laugh.

"But serious question," Jumba said, "what are you doing here on this world?"

"We're here to find the keyhole," Goofy answered.

"And take out any Heartless that show up," added Donald.

Sora nodded and noticed the looks that the household was giving him. "Hämsterviel's joined Maleficent," he told them, "and she's just let loose the probably millions of Heartless she's got under her sway across the galaxy. Every keyhole we seal and world we protect is one more win for us and one less world plunged into darkness and destroyed."

"Heartless?" Jumba asked. "Would those be little strange creatures composed of darkness and stolen hearts?"

"Sometimes they're big," Aiwemon piped up.

"Um, yeah," Lilo began, "we've already had to beat some of those. They're working with Gantu."

"Who is working with Hämsterviel and Maleficent," Sora said, nodding. "Yes, my brother's met Gantu when he tried to kidnap Dumbo and turn him into a Heartless."

"So that's what they're doing!" Lilo exclaimed. "They're trying to steal the hearts of Stitch's cousins and turn them into Heartless."

"And then they'll have control of them!" Donald realized.

"And their Nobodies," Goofy added, sharing a worried look with the court magician.

Sora gave Lilo's older sister an apologetic look. "Sorry if this is going over your head Nani."

She returned with a half-hearted smile. "Most of this has been going over my head for the past while, so I'm used to it Sora. It seems to me though that you can handle yourself, and Lilo, Stitch, and her friends have been doing very well in rehabilitating Jumba's experiments. I'm very proud of her." She gave her young sister a fond look.

"Nani," Lilo whined, blushing. Stitch laughed.

"Just how many experiments are there when you say experiments?" Sora asked. "I thought that there was only Stitch?"

"Oh no," Jumba said with surprising earnest. "While Genetic Experiment Six-Two-Six is my greatest creation—combining near-indestructibility, ability to lift masses a hundred times his size, brain like supercomputer, and desire to destroy all civilization—he is but one of—"

"WHOA!" Sora yelped. "Desire to _destroy_ all civilization? Are you MAD?"

"I prefer the term Evil Genius!" cackled Jumba. "But do not worry," he mentioned after finishing his evil laugh, "I am good now. Little girl has shown that genetic experiments meant for destroying civilization can actually find homes that suit them helping civilization prosper."

"For example," Pleakly added, "one experiment tried to turn the whole island into a winter wasteland, and now Slushie runs a snow cone shop."

"And another one caused big lightning storms and messed up all the power on the island," Nani joined in, "and now Lilo tells me that Sparky is an electrician."

"And another experiment that kept stealing everybody's things now has a lost and found stand on the beach," said Lilo.

"But how many are there?" Donald asked.

"As was explaining," Jumba continued, "Stitch is experiment number six-two-six of six hundred twenty-six different genetic experiments designed to conquer and/or destroy galaxy in multitude of ways."

"Why did you make over six hundred of them!" Sora asked incredulously.

"It fun," Jumba returned with an innocent shrug.

_I'm worried about him now,_ said Remembrance.

"And now," Lilo told them, "Stitch's cousins are all becoming part of our _ohana_."

"Gawrsh Lilo, what's an ocarina?"

"_Ohana_ Goofy," Nani corrected politely.

Stitch answered him. "_Ohana_ mean family; family mean no one get left behind, or forgotten."

-A-D-

_Ohana_, wondered Sora, lying on a bed in the house's guestroom. It had gotten dark outside, and Donald and Goofy had gone back up to the ship, as there wasn't enough room in the house and they had both agreed that it would be best for Sora with his probable minor concussion to rest it on the world's solid ground rather than up in the _Highwind_. "_Ohana_ means family huh?" he questioned aloud. Memories slid through his head as they came to him, and a lump formed in his throat. Riku racing against him for the right to name the raft, meeting and facing Roxas for the first time inside of his heart's platform, arguing with Donald while Goofy and Jiminy both tried to keep the peace, racing on Brightfeather against Sade and Beaky, seeing Aiwemon digivolve to Ohtarmon for the first time, Kairi lying peacefully asleep in bed next to him in Rivendell, roaring from Pride Rock with Simba, Rafiki, Nala, Kiara, and the lions of the pride standing proudly behind him; laughing with Sikora while they mucked out the stables before going in for lunch with his aunt and uncle; dancing with Kairi in Alain's castle; telling stories to his father aboard the _Flying Dutchman_; playing tricks with Yuffie in Radiant Garden; meeting Naminé in Castle Oblivion; coming home with a banged-up knee for his mother to bandage it up and kiss it better before giving him chocolate…

"No one gets left behind, or forgotten," he whispered.

"What's that Sora?" Aiwemon asked, looking over from where he was perched on the end of the bed.

"Nothing Aiwë," answered Sora. "Let's go to sleep." A couple of tears were welling up in his eyes, and Sora fought to make his automail move and gently wipe them away. A few seconds told him it was much more effort than it was worth, and he ceased in order to wipe them with his right arm.

"_Ai yai yai,  
I'm your little butterfly…"_

The first syllable had Sora up and moving, lunging for the communicator from Star Command with both hands. He almost started speaking before accepting the call. "Kairi, what happened? Why didn't you answer?"

Kairi laughed on the screen, and he let his eyes take in the picture. She didn't seem harmed, and she was in some room in the castle that he didn't remember ever being in. There were background voices coming through from people that were seated at tables behind Kairi, and he was sure he could see Selphie and Olette trying to look in at him from next to his girlfriend. "Sora you lazy bum," Kairi said after her giggle fit ended, just annoying Sora, "if you'd _really _wanted to talk to me right away you should have sent a message using the Light like I taught you. Didn't you even listen to my voicemail message?"

Embarrassed guilt flooded into Sora as he remembered hearing the words meant for him if it was him calling, which it had been. "Uh… I kinda tuned it out," he muttered as a half-assed apology.

Kairi sighed. "Well next time, listen to the message, okay?"

Sora nodded, slightly frustrated that his quest for information had been waylaid momentarily. "Alright. But seriously, what happened? One minute I'm going to get ice cream with Aiwemon, and the next, my heart's been hit by a freight train of pain coming from yours. What happened Kairi?"

She didn't look at him and bit her bottom lip. Warning lights blinked on in Sora's head at the movement, and he put all the background noise out of his mind and tried to brace himself for what she might say. Kairi spoke haltingly. "Sora… Menelmon died today."

He hadn't expected that.

In staggered shock was the only possible way that Sora could be described at the moment, but Aiwemon wasn't staggered by the news even if he was no less shocked. "What?" he yelped, flying to Sora's shoulder and putting his face right in front of Kairi's. "What do you mean she died? How? What happened?"

Speech returned to Sora's voice box as his body shook in horror from the information. He forgot all about his possible condition as he offered, "Kairi… I'm so sorry. Do you want me with you? I'll come back right now if you want me to."

Kairi sniffed slightly on the other side. "No, it's okay. I'm alright. Stay where you are and keep doing what you're doing. As for how it happened… I was 'advised' to give a press conference to apologize for disturbing the peace by being too loud having a snowball fight last night with Selphie, Olette, and the others, and Heartless showed up in the square where my press conference was taking place." Sora and Aiwemon nodded, the blood already draining from Sora's face and leaving it white and cold.

"We took them out, but there was this type there that we hadn't…hadn't seen before and…and it was big and looked like a black scorpion except inst—instead of claws it had scythe-blades and there wasn't a stinger but there was this…" Kairi struggled to get the words out, and Selphie's hands came onto her shoulders. She couldn't look at Sora anymore, "…this big, stupid, mouth thing that spat gooey purple acid out! A couple of people got hit by splashes of the stuff, including Olette in the leg, but then one… one more came straight for me and Olette, and Soronmon… Soronmon, she—"

Kairi couldn't finish her sentence, and Sora didn't need her to. Already he could envision the horrid picture in his head. Her digimon partner would have pushed Kairi out of the way and taken the hit instead, just as Aiwemon would do for him; just as any of them would do for anyone else.

It took half a minute for Kairi to compose herself, and when she did she was putting as much effort into them being as clear as possible. "Sora you have to watch out for those," she said. "Those Scorpionkin will be the death of us if we aren't careful."

"Alright," Sora assured her seriously. "If I see one, I'll take it out right away. Are you _absolutely sure_ that you don't want me to come back now?"

Kairi nodded, taking a long breath. "I'm sure Sora. I'm okay."

Aiwemon slowly laboured through the air back to the bed. "Menelmon," he mumbled, only loud enough for Sora to hear.

"How are you okay though?" Sora asked. He knew that he'd be absolutely devastated if the little bird digimon behind him were to die. There's no way he could have recovered even a little bit in just a few hours. "I mean, Menelmon…" he caught sight of something sitting in Kairi's lap that he hadn't noticed before because it hadn't been in sight and gasped. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Kairi confirmed with a smile and a tear. "It's her digiegg. I can be alright because Master smacked some sense back into me and because she's still here with me. It'll be a little while before I even see Luinmon again if how long it took Angemon's digiegg to even get back to Tokomon is any indication, but she's still here with me."

Relief flooded into Sora. He hadn't lost her; he hadn't lost Kairi. Becoming 'okay' so quickly after a loss like that just seemed so impossible, and there was no way they'd hardened their hearts to grief so strongly despite all that had occurred to them. An idea came to him, now that he was talking with Kairi. "That's good. Hey, this might not be the best timing, but I've got a question I want to ask you."

"Go ahead," Kairi told him.

"What would you say if I told you I want to grow a beard?"

"…"

"Kairi…?"

"What are you smoking and why aren't you sharing?"

He would later regret not having clued in from that.

-A-D-

A few hours later—after he'd grumbled and gotten over Kairi shooting down his beard request and chatting about several other things including her period, his automail, her baking her addictively orgasmic shortbread Christmas cookies, and having a private conversation of sweet nothings—Sora woke with a start, his heart briefly clenching in fear. Blinking for a few seconds and trying to figure out why he was so terrified he discovered that once again it wasn't his fear, but Kairi's.

_She must have had a nightmare,_ Sora reasoned before sitting up. He didn't blame her, but he yearned to be there to comfort his girlfriend. There was something about when they were separated by great distances that made him feel her strong emotions more acutely than when they were close together, or maybe their hearts were just becoming powerful long-range aerials attuned to one another's pain. When all was good with both of them, there were no disturbances, but when Menelmon was deleted he'd been blindsided by the pain that rippled right out of Kairi's heart and into his. When Riku had been shot by Commander Rourke, both he and Kairi had felt the blow and woke up from their sleep just days away from Weathertop; and after talking with Riku Sora knew that his best friend had also felt it when he'd been stabbed by that Black Rider, and they'd all felt it when he'd been thrown into darkness.

It wasn't just Sora and Kairi, even though they'd shared a paopu, it was all three of them, so he knew that Riku should be feeling some of this as well and be wondering what was going on.

_Well,_ Sora thought, noticing that Kairi hadn't called him or sent him a message since he had woken up, _I can at least let Riku know what's been happening._

-A-D-

_1420hrs , Wednesday, December 3__rd__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Lilo's house, Ohana_

Sora yawned as he lay on the couch next to Pleakly, watching a show on the television set—something that Sora found surprisingly similar to a spherevision set, except that instead of displaying images and sound through spheres it did it through electronic data-storage units—when Lilo and Stitch walked in through the door with Donald and Goofy, Lilo and Goofy each carrying a glass jar.

"Find any?" Sora asked. He was beginning to think that he didn't have a concussion after all. No headaches, there hadn't been any stars swimming in front of his eyes at all that day, his muscle control was as good as it had ever been (minus his misbehaving automail), and he could understand everything that was going on around him.

"Yep," Lilo said proudly, unscrewing the top of the cap from her jar and emptying the contents onto the coffee table in front of Pleakly and Sora. Goofy laughed and did the same thing, just as Pleakly was beginning to gasp.

"Ah! Lilo! I told you not to bring bugs in the house!"

"These aren't bugs," Lilo corrected him, "they're _slugs_." She leaned in to whisper something as if it were embarrassing, "That's a snail without a home." Pleakly still looked annoyed at her and Lilo continued her explanation. "Their only hope of survival is to join the circus."

Sora snorted while Donald giggled. They were both quite sure that the slugs had been surviving just fine until Lilo had found them and removed them from the shady, moist places that they liked to inhabit during the day. He could only imagine what her older sister would say when she got home from work. Pleakly still looked annoyed, but the music signaling the show's return from commercial break sounded and both Pleakly and Sora turned to start watching it again.

"Whatchya watching Sora?" Donald asked, jumping up onto Sora's splayed out legs on the couch.

"Oof!"

"America's Gushiest Home Love Stories," Pleakly answered. "Love-crazed earthlings send in home video-documentation of their absurd courtship rituals; it's absolutely fascinating."

"They're not all absurd Pleakly," Sora spoke up. "Okay, I'll admit that the guy who proposed to girlfriend while they were skydiving _was_ absurd, but the one about the boy and girl who grew up only knowing each other from the letters and little gifts they sent each other was a little sweet when they finally met each other and fell in love for real."

"And you wonder why Riku calls you a total sap," Donald teased.

"If my automail was working right I'd smack you."

"Bleh!" Stitch groaned with an outstretched tongue. "Love icky."

"Aw, come on Stitch," Lilo said. "You gotta believe in love."

"Lilo's right," Pleakly said, coming to the defence of the earthling. "Just you wait. Someday you'll find another little monster who shares your likes and dislikes; who finds all your little quirks just oh-so-adorable."

Sora found that hard to believe, since Stitch was picking his nose with his tongue. "Ah kachaka," Stitch grumbled dismissively.

"Come on," Lilo waved to him as she neared the door, "we need to go get more stuff for our slug circus." Stitch raced out after her.

"Gawrsh wait for me!" Goofy called.

"Aren't you going?" Sora asked Donald, looking at him as Goofy ran out the door.

"Nah," Donald told him, stretching back, "I'm comfy here."

"You're sitting on my legs."

"You've been awfully quiet today Aiwemon," Jiminy said, coming out of Sora's hood. "Is something wrong?"

Sora glanced down at Aiwemon as the bird digimon rested wrapped in Sora's arms. Jiminy was right, he hadn't spoken much today, and wasn't up to his usual gusto when eating his breakfast and he'd nearly skipped lunch. The digidestined knew exactly what was up with his partner, but Jiminy had already been asleep by the time they'd talked to Kairi. "Just thinking," Aiwemon mumbled.

"What about?" Donald asked.

"Guys," Pleakly complained, "the show's on."

"I was just thinking about Angemon and Soronmon," continued Aiwemon, his voice still downcast. Not even gushy love stories were able to cheer him up today, when usually he was cheery.

"You know they both became digieggs," Sora reminded him. "They'll be back, promise."

The small bird digimon glanced up at him. "I know that Sora, it's just that… Angemon and Soronmon are both really strong, and they both gave absolutely everything to protect their partners. What if I'm going to have to—?"

"Don't even think it Aiwë," Sora told him earnestly. "I'm not losing you. We're going to fight every bad guy that crosses us together, and we're going to stay together."

Aiwemon looked up into Sora's face, his green eyes bright with emotion. "Sora!" He flung himself right at the teen's head, wrapping his brown-feathered and white-tipped wings around Sora's torso and nuzzling his white-feathered head against Sora's cheek. "I knew that finding you was the best thing that could ever happen to me."

"And I knew from day one that you were going to be one of my best friends ever," Sora replied, hugging the little digimon.

"Oh!" moaned Pleakly, "I should have recorded this and sent it in. I know it's more friendship than love, but the passion's there!"

They ignored the alien. "What? Not your bestest best friend?" Aiwemon asked, sounding shocked.

Sora chuckled. "Sorry buddy, but Kairi's obligated to have that spot." He spotted Donald giving him a funny look from where the duck was sitting on his legs. "And as for coming up with ranking positions after Riku and Kairi and Roxas in terms of friendship… I just have so many friends that I can't decide who I like more," he finished cheekily, flashing his patented grin.

"Sora!" whined Aiwemon and Donald simultaneously.

Feeling caught between trying to pick between two of his best friends, Sora found an alternative. "Hakuna Matata," he said, unfurling his arm from Aiwemon and grasping a slug between two fingers. He swallowed it whole a second later, to the utter disgust of Aiwemon, Donald, Jiminy, and Pleakly. "Not bad," he said to himself, licking his fingers, "better than that snail in Middle-earth. I could probably do with another one."

Jiminy voiced aloud the thought that the three friends were thinking as Sora helped himself to a second member of Lilo's slug circus. "Sora, we need to get you help."

"I will beat Simba and be Timon's Hakuna Matata champion!"

-A-D-

Not even an hour later Goofy burst in through the front door, startling the TV watchers. "Whoa-oh!" yelped the goof as he fell over from the force he used to come through the door. "Donald, Sora, we found an experimabob!"

"An experiment?" Pleakly asked.

Goofy picked himself up and tried to regain a little shred of whatever dignity the knight carried himself with. "Yessir. We ran into this big honkin' whale feller while me an' Lilo an' Stitch were looking for stuff to keep the slugs cool, and Lilo figured out that if Ganshu were around then there was one of Stitch's cousins running around, so me an' Lilo tripped the big feller on a bunch of coconuts and he got taken on tour by a bus, and Stitch found the cousin. She's all small and Stitch-sized and pink and cuddly and cute and Stitch really seems to like her."

"A girl Stitch?" Sora asked, amused at the image. "_This_ I've gotta see."

"Wait a minute!" Pleakly cried in excitement. "If Stitch is really into her, then this could be my big break to get featured on Earth television!" He jumped off the couch and hustled away as quickly as his four legs could carry him. Almost ten seconds later he returned to the room, dressed in a white button-up shirt, green beret, and beige pants with a director's sighting monocle, a scene marker, a megaphone, and an antique camera on a tripod.

"Wow, he's fast," Aiwemon said, watching as Pleakly rushed out the door.

"Well we'd better move fast too," Donald said.

"Yeah," piped up Sora as his curiosity piqued. "I wanna see a girl Stitch."

They found them sitting together on a hammock outside. Just like Goofy said, the other experiment looked like Stitch, except she was pink-furred with a cute purple nose and two long antennae that came out of her head and curved back behind her body. The fur on her belly was of a softer shade than the fur covering the rest of her body. And Sora thought that her stubby little tail—again, like Stitch's but pink—was adorable.

_Wait,_ he thought for a second, _I just thought that she's adorable._

_Well… she is,_ Cosmos told him.

_I've been watching that show too much,_ he told himself, forcing his left arm to rest against his head as it continued to move with resistance. _I need to watch a blitz game or get into a fight or something. Riku, where are you? I need to spar with you to remind myself of my own masculinity!_

_Not with your arm like that you aren't,_ growled Remembrance. Sora tried to ignore that fact that his Keyblade was right and shoved his arm back down to his side.

"Gee Sora," asked Donald, "has your automail always made squeaky noises?"

"Eh?" Sora asked.

Donald pointed. "It squeaked." Sora shrugged and looked at Stitch and the female experiment.

Stitch was once again picking his nose with his tongue, but he only did it for a second before he realized that this act just might be offensive to the lady and ceased. "Uh, excuse me," he apologized.

She purred in interest, and replied by putting her own tongue up one of her own nostrils.

Stitch reacted with delight!

Sora nearly gagged.

"Da boochi-boo!" exclaimed Stitch, hugging her tight. She was surprised for a second, and then her arms went around his back to return the hug.

"Gawrsh Sora," teased Goofy, "this reminds me of the hug you and Kairi shared in the Organization's castle."

Sora groaned. "Don't remind me of how awkward I felt back then." Donald and Goofy sniggered.

Pleakly was already filming with his camera, one arm cranking the handle to keep the camera going. "That is beautiful!" he declared, "Now move in for the kiss." The two experiments stopped and stared as they noticed him and the camera. "Feel it. Don't look at the camera! Keep emoting!"

"You're not being very discreet there Pleakly," Sora called from fifteen feet away, "shoving the camera right into their faces and all. People don't like that."

"Yeah," Donald added. "The best pictures and video we get of Sora and Kairi together are when they don't even know we're there."

"Huh?" Sora rounded on the court magician in bewilderment. "Y—you mean you guys have been spying on us?"

"No," Donald said hastily. "But we _do_ have a video of you and Kairi singing ABBA."

"You ARE spying on us!" Sora lunged for the duck, but Donald held him back with a finger.

"Ah-ah-ah," he tisked. "Make a move, and the video hits Youtube just like the karaoke one."

"So you're the one who did that!" Sora cried. "Commander Nebula hauled me into his office after we got back from Osea and actually reamed me out because of it! I'd thought we were off the hook, but _nooo_, he goes and makes a huge deal out of it because of all the paperwork headaches it caused him trying to keep the reporters out of his base and away from us. And it's all your fault!"

"What are you guys doing?" asked another voice.

They turned. "Oh! Lilo!" Sora said, trying to push aside his frustration at Donald.

"I'm making my very own video to send to America's Gushiest Home Love Stories," answered Pleakly. "Let's see. I've got my vocal projection enhancer, directorial skull protector, combination scene marker and finger crusher (_SNAP!_) AH! And uh…" he looked blankly at the sighting device around his neck, "well, I don't know what this thingy does, but it does make an attractive accessory. And these two are a fascinating subject." Pleakly took the camera around to the other side to get a close-up on Stitch. The blue experiment growled, not liking the camera filming him and his 'boochi-boo'.

"Don't worry Stitch," Sora told him. "The camera won't bite." Stitch just growled further and and knocked it down.

It shattered horribly.

"Certainly won't be biting now," Donald muttered.

Sorrow came into the male teenager's voice as he sniffled. "The poor camera. All it ever wanted was to film things. You should be ashamed of yourself Stitch!"

Lilo frowned slightly as Pleakly gathered up the wreck. "That's not a video camera; that's an antique. And it doesn't even have any film in it."

"I knew that!" Pleakly said defensively. "I was just, uh, practicing. I'll bet Jumba has a video camera I could use for the real shooting."

"Let's find out," Lilo said, motioning for them to go. "I wanted to ask him about this little… Angel."

"Angel," Sora repeated, looking at her as she gave Lilo a somewhat amused and intimidated look that said 'I'm watching you girlie' behind Lilo's back. He shrugged. Lilo's tone of voice when she named the experiment already told him all he needed to know. "Have fun Stitch, Angel." They nodded at Sora and he backed away with Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon to follow Lilo. Her footsteps were coming down on the wooden steps and concrete walkway harder in her sandals than they usually did, and Sora knew why.

Lilo had JBFFS: Jealous Best Female-Friend Syndrome.

It didn't take long to find Jumba in his room. "Jumba!" Lilo called just before entering, "we found another experiment!"

"You did?" Jumba asked, turning around from a project of something or other that he was working on.

"Yeah," Lilo replied, "and that little Angel has Stitch wrapped around her finger. I wanna find out which experiment she is." Jumba motioned towards a laptop device with an ovular keyboard and screen and Lilo hopped up onto a stool at the desk and started searching the database.

"Jumba, do you happen to have a video camera I could borrow?" asked Pleakly. "Stitch and Angel make the perfect couple for my documentary for America's Gushiest Home Love Stories?"

"Video camera?" Jumba asked. "Wait here, I check."

"They're disgusting," Sora muttered as Jumba turned around and started rummaging.

"Like you and Kairi are disgustingly… _in love?_" asked Donald, batting his eyelashes.

"Get out."

"Aha!" Jumba said in triumph. "Here! Jumba's evil genius camera is fully digital bazillion megapixel super-zooming boo-yah image snagifyer, with built-in calorie counter."

"That seems a tad excessive there Jumba," Goofy remarked. "You sure you don't have a more regular video camera?"

"Bah!" Jumba told him. "Go big or go home."

"I can't wait to start shooting!"

Jumba turned away from Pleakly to look at Lilo on his database. "So, Stitch has found female experiment you say?"

"Yup," answered Lilo. "It's this one. Stitch really likes her, but I think she's _evil_!"

"Because you're jealous!" Sora accused dramatically, pointing a finger at Lilo.

"What?" Lilo gasped. "No way I'm jealous of her!"

Jumba nearly staggered backwards when he saw the experiment Lilo brought up on his database. "Experiment Six-Two-Four! Oh no! She is designed—"

"Jumba!"

They all looked around. "Well speak of the devil," Jiminy said. Stitch and Angel were standing in the doorway. Angel rushed forward to Jumba like a little child seeing their parents after a couple days away from them. She leapt up and kissed his cheek before singing sweetly into Jumba's ear in an alien tongue. His eyes, all four of them, glazed over midway through her song, and when she was finished he grinned at her in amusement.

"Eh-he-he, oh 624 you are little dickens you are," he chuckled, rubbing under her chin with a finger.

"Huh?" Sora asked blankly. _That was a pretty sudden mood change._

Lilo seemed to be just as confused. "Jumba? What were you going to say?"

"Ah? Say? About what?"

"About her," Lilo reminded him. "You said, 'Oh no'!"

Jumba scratched his chin in thought. "I was saying, oh no problem. 624 is harmless early experiment designed to, uh…" he quickly closed the lid on his database, "pop popcorn for Jumba's movie night."

The pink Angel made a noise of satisfaction.

When Lilo and the others didn't make any notion to suggest that they didn't believe Jumba's story, Sora rapidly burst out, "He's lying! He's lying! He's lying! He's lying!" and startled all of them.

"Sora!" Aiwemon whispered.

"Eh." Jumba said, narrowing his eyes at Sora.

"Stitch is Experiment Number Six Hundred and Twenty-six right?" Sora reminded them, "and he's the most recent. So how the heck could Experiment Number Six Hundred and Twenty-four be an early experiment when she was made just two before Stitch? You lie sir, you lie!"

"Sora," Jiminy said. "Be reasonable here, you need to think before you—"

"I am thinking Jiminy! Agree with me here."

"I think it's the concussion," Donald whispered to Goofy. The goof nodded.

"Sora, maybe you should go back to bed," Goofy suggested. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling great! But Jumba just had a total mood swing and is blowing off what was obviously a huge problem given his panicked tone of voice. How am I the only one that's noticing this? Fine. You know what, fine. Lilo, I agree with you. Angel, you're cute but you're evil, and if you make a move I'm going to take you down. Jumba…" instead of saying anything, Sora just faked smacking his head in frustration. "I'm going to go downstairs and make a stroganoff for supper so Nani will have food when she gets home."

"Don't you know how long that takes to cook?" Donald asked.

"Yes!" Sora returned emphatically. He turned and glanced down at Stitch. "Stitch, if you can turn her good, good for you and I support your relationship whole-heartedly."

"I agree," said Jumba. "And as her creator, I am thinking she is perfect boochi-boo material for 626," Jumba announced before placing her back on the floor.

"Da boochi-boo!" Stitch said, extending his arms and rushing for Angel, only to be intercepted by Lilo, who dragged him back.

"Come on Stitch, I really need your help with the slug circus."

Sora tried to withhold his private thought about what Lilo had just done, but chuckled at it all the same. Either way, he was going to keep an eye on that experiment, and on Jumba. What had just happened was too weird. He didn't sense any darkness or anything, but it was still just too strange to let it slip.

-A-D-

The stroganoff was excellent, or at least everyone told him so. Sora knew better though. The sauce was a tad too thin. Jumba and Angel didn't do anything to further arouse suspicion in him, but he still kept them on his mind as he went to bed in the guest room. Donald and Goofy were starting to think that he was confused and that he might actually have a concussion from hitting himself on the head from Stitch 'helping' with his automail, and asked Nani if he could spend one more night there at the house. Besides, they still hadn't found the keyhole, even though they hadn't done _any_ searching for it at all during the day due to not knowing whether or not Sora had a concussion and not wanting him to hurt himself.

The last thought on his mind before he fell asleep, however, was Kairi. She said that she'd been in briefings for most of the day and that she'd inspected a very large Capital-Class Gummi ship that was to be the flagship of one of two task forces, and was very impressed with it, and that they would be launching the ship tomorrow. There was a big bruise forming on her cheek that he inquired about, learning that after she'd inspected the _Starlight_ that she'd played road hockey with a group of kids and that she took a ball to the face making a save while in net. Quickly changing the subject, she mentioned that the day after tomorrow she would be going to an elementary school named after her birth mother to visit the students and give them some of her shortbread Christmas cookies. Kairi also said that she had a surprise for him, but that Menelmon's digiegg had hatched into a cute baby digimon called Minyamon! Sora knew that that would definitely make her happy, and with that he went to sleep. His thoughts of her somehow must have worked his way into his dreams too, because after sleep came to claim him he saw her sleeping in her bed.

A smile came to his face and he strode towards the magnificent four-poster that she was lying in. A small orb of light was floating near the wall beside the closed door, softly emitting white light into the room that would otherwise have been pitch dark. For some reason there was also a red fiery glow coming from the top of one of the bedposts, but Sora couldn't see what it was and it didn't seem to be doing anything besides generating light so he ignored it. In the orb's light he could see Kairi in her pink pyjamas, and he could also see a tiny creature sleeping next to her under the blankets. It was all yellow in a blob shape, and its sides continued to ripple like waves, but its eyes were closed and its body gave a very faint luminescence as it slept next to Kairi.

_Kairi…_

Sora sighed as he looked at her, but then he ceased and he stared intensely at his girlfriend. Her face wasn't one of contentment, serenity, or just plain blankness as she slept. There were wrinkles on it, and unrest and anxiety. Kairi's sleep was far from peaceful. "No, don't," she mumbled, her legs slowly kicking at the blankets and shifting them away from her body. "I won't let you…"

"Kairi," Sora whispered, moving as close to her side as he dared. She was tossing and turning. So what if this was a dream? He couldn't remember if you were supposed to wake people or if waking them actually hurt them.

"Sora… help me," Kairi said, louder this time. "Where are you? Amb—NOO!" Kairi screamed, her word turning into a primal sound of pain. It pierced Sora's heart, and no amount of uncertainty or possible rational thinking could keep him from leaping onto the bed and pulling her into his arms.

She continued to try to move about, screaming in pain, and Sora held her tight. The blankets were completely off of her now, and the little creature had woken up and was looking at her with wide, frightened blue eyes. "Minya Minyamon?" it asked questioningly, its body's luminescence glowing a bit brighter.

Sora couldn't spare the baby digimon more than a glance before Kairi was sobbing while her mind still slept. Her voice came out in a quiet whisper that sent shivers down Sora's spine. "She didn't do anything!"

"Sshhh," Sora whispered while holding onto the girl, "wake up baby, wake up Iri."

The princess didn't answer his call, and now her voice was rising again. "No… no… NOO! Stay away!"

She thrashed about, screaming her lungs out and trying to get away from whatever it was in her dream, and Sora held on tighter, trying to keep her from hurting herself. Kairi fought back, pushing and scratching at him. Whispering to her in an attempt to calm her was out the window, and it was only through roaring, "KAIRI WAKE UP!" directly into her ear that her eyes opened wide. They stared into one another from only inches away, and Sora with both of his hands grasping her wrists tightly to keep her from pummeling him further.

The terrified look in Kairi's eyes completely solidified that he _hated_ this dream. To dream of himself witnessing Kairi having a nightmare? This was a nightmare in and of itself.

"Sora?" Kairi whimpered. He nodded his head. "Are you here?"

"I'm here," he whispered comfortingly.

"Why are you here?" she asked, her voice still filled with the fear from her nightmare. "You're still supposed to be in Ohana, and why are you ghosty?"

"Huh?" Sora asked. He glanced at his arm. It was semi-transparent. "That's funny, normally I don't dream myself to be a ghost."

"Oh screw it," Kairi declared, and wrapped her arms around him in a very tight embrace. It was only then that he realized that her pink cast was gone. "I can feel your heartbeat, so whatever it is, I'll take it."

He could feel her body shaking, so he wrapped her arms around her. "Iri..."

"Hold me Sora," Kairi pleaded, burying her face into the pillow beside his neck. "Stay with me. I know I can bear these dreams if I know that you're here with me."

Feeling Kairi's distress through every single sense in his body, there was no inkling of denying her that wish. "I won't let you go Kairi, I promise."

She raised her head, and planted a soft kiss against Sora's cheek. Her lips did not tremble when she did it, and warm gratitude spread from the spot that she touched. "I remember walking once with you on Pride Rock while I slept," she whispered in a sigh as exhaustion from the previous dream took her. "Stay with me now, until you wake…"

A light went on in Sora's mind at Kairi's words. _That's right, she __**did**__ appear the morning before I officially roared to become Prince of Pride Rock, and she was transparent but we could interact with each other. Our hearts must have answered my wish and brought me here, and I'm glad they did._

The door cracked open and Sora glanced at it. He saw part of a face look in in concern, and then part of another, and a couple more behind. At least Garda, Ovan, Kensworth, Helia, and a couple of servants had heard Kairi and had come to check on her, but they apparently didn't know what to do when seeing her being suddenly comforted by an astral projection of himself. Sora raised his right hand, because he didn't want to risk his disobedient left not obeying him, and waved them back. The door inched closed before finishing with a small _click_.

If Kairi knew that they had just been looked in on, she didn't say it, and Sora waited until her breathing was soft and rhythmic before he answered her. "I'm not going anywhere Kairi. I'll be with you to the end, I swear it. I'm not leaving my _ohana_." He kissed her temple, and held her close as he began his silent vigil, vowing that no bad dreams would visit her again tonight while he was here. Minyamon rolled up into the crook between Kairi's shoulder and her neck, and it glanced at Kairi before looking up at Sora.

"Minya, Minya," it said, and Sora nodded in understanding.

Together they watched over the one they loved most.

-A-D-

When Sora truly woke up on the morning of Thursday, the fourth of December, he was tired but happy. He understood what had happened, his conscious soul and heart had migrated to Kairi's location right when she needed him, just as hers had come to his when she had needed him before. After she'd fallen asleep again, he and the baby form of Menelmon had stayed with her through the night, and Kairi's rest had been nothing but calm and peaceful; she'd slept with a smile on her face, and a few times he'd heard her murmur his name in longing and bliss.

All in all, he was rather pleased. And why wouldn't he be? His girl had whispered his name in her sleep, and when she _wasn't_ having a nightmare. _I think I'm going to go and have breakfast,_ he thought brightly, rolling over to shake Aiwemon awake.

His arm gave a loud _SKEEEEEE_ as it moved. He didn't even need to touch his digimon partner before Aiwemon was up and flapping halfway across the room.

"Stop Sora please!" Aiwemon pleaded. "It hurts my ears!"

Panic flashed through Sora. "I'm sorry buddy! I'm sorry! I won't move it!"

_SKEEEE_ went his automail as he slowly returned it to its resting position, falling down to his leg. Aiwemon winced and whimpered, placing his wings over his head in a pitiful attempt to lessen the keen of the metal limb.

"Is there a banshee wailing in here?" Jiminy asked, coming up from out of Sora's bag. The boy shook his head and stared fearfully at his automail arm. What was going on with his automail?

"As soon as we're done here, we're going to Resembool to pay Winry a visit," Sora announced. Jiminy and Aiwemon didn't hesitate to agree, and Aiwemon was quick to suggest that they go down for breakfast.

Donald and Goofy were already downstairs, and Nani had already left for work and Lilo was working on her slug circus, when they came for breakfast. Sora had barely gotten a slice of toast and an egg into him when Angel suddenly rushed past them, Stitch crying out to her while carrying a bunch of red flowers still in their pot. Sora looked at the two experiments with a frown. Angel, almost regretfully, looked back at Stitch before rushing out the door and closing it. "Angel!" Stitch yelled, dropping the flower pot and dashing through the doggie-door that he used.

"Gawrsh, I wonder what's going on," Goofy said.

"You can bet that whatever it is, it isn't good," Sora answered. He still remembered what Angel had done the night before regarding Jumba's mood change.

"Ah, you're just imagining it Sora," Donald said lightly, "did you get into a fight with Kairi?"

Sora's tone was serious when he looked at his friend. "Donald no," he said, "just no. It's completely the opposite."

Goofy looked at Sora with concern. "Gee Sora, what happened?"

"Kairi's having trouble sleeping," was all he said. He felt as if he didn't need to let them know that she was having nightmares.

"Our first conflict," Pleakly announced gleefully as he came into the kitchen. "She slams the door and leaves without a word. He follows, his faith unbroken. I gotta get this stuff! Sora, are you coming?"

"Yeah," Sora said, rising from his chair. "I want to see what Angel's up to, and cheer Stitch on. He needs a girl. And while we're out we can look for the keyhole. Donald? Goofy?"

"You're feeling okie-dokie today Sora?" Goofy asked.

"I feel great, let's go."

-A-D-

The four of them followed Stitch all the way into town, Stitch chasing after Angel the whole way like a game of tag and Angel simply refused to be caught. She ran up to a stand with the sign 'SHAVE ICE' on it, and behind the counter wearing a round white hat was an experiment who looked like he was made entirely of ice. He was putting lemon flavouring into a snow cone, and Angel went up to the counter and sat on it.

Sora looked at her posturing and knelt down, rubbing Stitch's shoulder with his right arm and doing his absolute best to keep from trying to move his left, since the sound grated on his ears as well. They could hear her singing. "Okay Stitch, she's flirting with another guy. Woo her! But don't overbear her; be subtle, but still show your dominance as the alpha male." Sora's companions gave him funny looks.

"Eega!" Stitch agreed, nodding. He looked to his right and saw a stack of watermelons sitting unattended in front of a fruit stand. Picking one up, he grew two extra arms out of his sides, and started to claw at the melon's hide with the extra limbs. He smiled at his handiwork, and then held the melon out towards Angel and the other experiment across the street. He'd delicately carved a heart into the skin of the melon, and the phrase 626 + 624 inside of it.

"Impressive," Donald said.

Pleakly nodded in affirmation while he stood _on_ the fruit stand with his megaphone and evil genius camera. "The spurned suitor, desperate for attention, love it!"

Sora placed his hand to his chin. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but it could work."

The blue experiment hopped up onto the counter, Angel smiling at him as he puffed out his chest. "Hm? Slushie?" Stitch asked quizzically. The experiment blew out his pent-up air, and a blue cloud of cold swirled out.

"Whoa-oh!" Goofy shouted as the blue swirled around him, depositing snow on the ground at his feet.

"C-cold," Sora muttered, teeth chattering as the cold seeped into his limbs. He felt a sharp pain on his left shoulder, and very slowly moved his frozen neck towards it. The place where the plate that connected his automail to his body was very, _very_, cold! If he had ever stuck his tongue to a frosted metal fence post, that's what it would have felt like to him, except all around the plate. Aiwemon was shivering horribly on his shoulder, and Jiminy was trying to rub his tiny hands together. They were all frozen in place, and the watermelon Stitch was holding shattered.

"C-c-c-coffee break," Pleakly stuttered out. "T-t-take five."

"F-five?" Donald asked. "You know wh-wh-what rhymes with five? Fire!" His hands flared, and the snow and ice covering his feathers quickly melted away under their heat. Water pooled around the duck, and he broke into a fit of shivers, but moments after running the flames over his limbs and issuing sighs of contentment, Donald's shivers had ceased. Stitch broke free from the constraining ice, and made his way over to the duck with the fire while trembling from the cold. The sun's rays were warm, but she wasn't enough at the moment to free the chill from their bones.

"Donald, little h-h-h-help here," Sora requested. The court magician complied and came over, his hands still burning but not affecting him. Stitch followed the heat. Moments later Sora could feel life and feeling in his right hand again, and with the renewed warmth he encased his own hand in flame and touched it to his shoulder. The automail was frozen stiff, and the skin directly adjacent to it would have been frostbitten if he'd left it as it had been for a few minutes more. As soon as he was done warming that up, he got to work on Jiminy and Aiwemon while Donald moved on to help Goofy and Pleakly.

They got out of the cold melting snow as soon as they could all move properly. When they looked across the street, however, Angel and Slushie were gone.

"Where did they go?" Donald asked.

"An' how come Slushie froze us?" Goofy added. "I thought he was good."

"He _was_ good, until Angel got to him," Sora replied. He mulled on that for a few seconds before shaking his head. _Could her flirting be turning Jumba and the experiments bad? I've never heard of anything like that before. No, that's crazy, but then again, she was developed as an evil experiment, and there are myths of things like succubae and the sirens, not that I've seen a succubus or siren, but still…_

"Let's find her Stitch," he said, looking to the blue experiment. Stitch nodded, but looked up at Sora with sad black eyes. Just looking into them Sora could tell that Stitch was asking him, _Why? Why is she ignoring me?_

He didn't have the heart to give Stitch his suspicions. "I'm sure she's just playing hard to get," he answered, plastering a grin onto his face. "It's what some girls that like guys do when they want the guy to work to earn their affection. You need to impress her." Stitch looked at him. "Hey, Kairi and I have been together for three months now, you think I'd…" the colour drained from his face as he considered his own words.

_Oh shit…_

"I FORGOT ABOUT OUR THREE-MONTH MILESTONE!" he roared, grasping his hair with his right arm and yanking down at it, trying to rip it off almost. "SHIT! SHIT-SHIT-SHIT! Kairi's going to kill me!"

"Whoa! Calm down Sora!" Goofy said, coming up to the youth and placing his hands on Sora's shoulders. "You're overreacting."

"Yeah," Donald said. "Kairi wouldn't kill you. If you were dating Daisy, I'd be scared, but I'm sure Kairi will understand."

Sora passed a hand over his head, now glad that Goofy was comforting him a little. "When was it?" Goofy asked.

"Two days before the Zeus Cup started," Sora answered.

"Well there you go," Donald said, "you had an excuse. You were too excited about the Zeus Cup to remember."

"And I think Roxas and Naminé forgot about theirs too, and Riku and Yuffie now that I come to think of it," Sora said. He shook his head. "Arg, too much stuff has been going on. Even though it's late, I need to get Kairi something. But what?" Donald and Goofy didn't answer him, already knowing that they'd told him before that they were sure Kairi would like almost anything he gave her.

Sora smacked himself in the head and glanced at Stitch. "I can mull it over later. C'mon Stitch, let's find Angel." Stitch nodded and raised his head into the air, sniffing. The blue experiment started to wander, his nose up and eyes closed, searching for the scent. He went rigid for a moment then bolted down the street.

"The game's afoot!" Sora cried, dashing after his companion with Donald, Goofy, and Pleakly on his heels and Aiwemon flying above him.

-A-D-

The found her on the beach, lying on a tanning bed with pink sunglasses covering her eyes. Sora and Donald rubbed Stitch's shoulders in anticipation. "Right," Donald said, "now go out there and show her what you can do." Stitch nodded and rushed forward. He tapped Angel on the shoulder, and she glanced at him, bending her sunglasses down slightly. Stitch waved, jabbered something that they couldn't understand, gestured, and then went behind her.

He started to dig sand up from its resting place, rapidly dashing about and moving his arms like windmills caught in a hurricane. Very quickly he had a large pile of sand in place. Spitting on his hands, Stitch went to work, moulding the sand into the desired shape.

"Sora," Aiwemon said as they watched Stitch play with the sand, "why are you and Donald saying those things to Stitch?"

"Because he need motivation and guidance to get the girl, mon," Sora answered, faking an accent for a moment.

Aiwemon frowned, and Sora wasn't sure whether it was from confusion or because his digimon thought his accent might need work. Sora picked confusion. "But I thought that Kairi loves you because you're sweet and cute and fun and can make her laugh, and make her feel safe," he said, "not because you're tough or strong, or have impressive skills."

"Kairi also never played hard to get," Sora answered, "and we grew up together, so I never really needed to woo her."

Goofy scratched his head. "Gee Sora, but wouldn't dating and courting Kairi still be considered wooing her?"

Sora blinked and considered Goofy's words for a moment. "Didn't think that one through…" he mumbled. They laughed.

Donald continued the thought. "Angel's different from Daisy or Kairi though," he said, "so she requires a different touch."

Sora let out a low whistle as Stitch stepped back from his creation: a six foot tall statue of himself in a heroic pose. They looked to Angel, but she was gone. "Slimy vixen," Sora swore, "where did she go?"

_THUMP!_

The ground shook beneath them, and all looked desperately for the source. The ground shook again, and they saw Angel standing next to an experiment that looked like an ankylosaurus, except purple and with a flat end at his tail rather than a club. She was looking rather smug as the other experiment smacked the ground with his tail and made the earth quake. The rumblings ate away at the sand sculpture Stitch had erected, and it toppled onto him, burying the blue creature.

"Stitch!" Sora shouted, rushing with the others to dig him out. Stitch popped his head out right next to Aiwemon's wing as the bird digimon tried to help, spitting out a bit of sand, and they looked at Angel and the other experiment in confusion.

"Eh? Richter?" Stitch asked, a little stunned at the smile Angel was giving the experiment who kept causing the mini-quakes.

"Richter?" Donald said. "Well that makes sense."

Stitch looked down, saddened at the joyful look Angel was giving Richter, and Pleakly narrated. "In a world of pathos and pain, one little monster refused to give up on love!" Giving Pleakly a look that told him to stop, they turned back to Angel and Richter.

They were already gone.

Sora frowned and tapped his foot. "This is really getting on my nerves," he said. Stitch growled in agreement before picking up her scent and getting out of the sand.

They found her next on a beachside weightlifting club, noticing that all of the body builders were being thrown out headfirst onto the beach. Angel was standing next to another experiment with purple fur, this one just a little taller than her or Stitch but much broader and with four gigantic arms. She was rubbing her hands over the muscles on one of them. "Hex!" Stitch yelped, glancing back at Sora and Donald.

Sora rubbed his nose and glared at the experiment Angel was fawning over now. "I don't think we need to tell you what to do here Stitch," Donald growled. Sora agreed. If he ever saw Kairi gushing over a man's muscles like that in front of him, especially now that he'd built size and tone into his thanks to Urahara and swinging around the Keyblade, his first instinct would be to clobber them. Whether or not he would follow through on that was up for debate, but he'd still like to give them what for.

Growling, Stitch pulled up the 'sleeves' on his arms and strode right up to Angel and Hex. Tapping Hex on the back to get his attention, he grew out his two other arms and the antennae on his head. "Meega naga creesta!" he declared in challenge.

It was over in one punch. Hex flew through the air and landed on Pleakly, who raised one massive hand off of him. "Okay, this scene's playing a little heavy," he wheezed, before dropping the hand back down. Stitch clapped his hands together in satisfaction, but when he looked back to see Angel now gushing over his superior strength, she was nowhere to be seen. Stitch grabbed his ears and pulled down on them hard.

"We hear you buddy," Sora said comfortingly, coming up to Stitch. "She's been going around to every single experiment but you."

"It's like you don't even exist to her," Donald said.

"Nah, she's just ignoring him," Goofy disagreed. "But why I have no clue."

"It's because she really is evil!" Sora declared. "No woman plays around with a guy like that and isn't evil!"

"But they aren't human Sora," Jiminy said. "Maybe this is all part of Jumba's experiments' courtship rituals."

"Well it's too damn hard on Stitch if it is," Sora retorted. He glanced at Hex. "And it's too hard on the others too. I don't get it, if he and Richter and Slushie were supposed to be good, then why did they start doing bad stuff after being with Angel for a minute?"

Donald and Goofy glanced dubiously at Sora. "Are you still thinking that she's making them evil?" Donald asked.

"It's the only explanation!"

"Sora, I think you've eaten one too many slugs," Aiwemon continued.

Shaking his head, no, Sora fired back. "I haven't had one too many slugs. I'm just saying it's the only thing that all the experiments that have either attacked us or done crazy things have in common: they've all been with Angel."

"But Stitch has been with Angel," Goofy reminded him, "and Stitch hasn't turned evil."

His mouth was open with a ready answer when he found none on his tongue. After foolishly keeping it open for a few seconds, Sora shut it before the flies could nest and withdrew, feeling sheepish. "Okay you stumped me." Feeling a tug on his pants, Sora looked down and saw Stitch pulling at the fabric, pointing. "Want to keep trying?" he asked. Stitch nodded. Sora gave him an approving smile. "You must really like her don't you?"

"Angel Stitch's boochi-boo," Stitch answered.

"Of course she is," Goofy said. "C'mon Stitch, let's go find her."

-A-D-

They chased after her for the rest of the day and into the night, leading up to a signpost that said that a place called Mt. Waialeale was only two miles away. Pleakly was continuing his narrative, filming Stitch every step of the way. "Still our hero pursues her, though she treats him like a loser; a flop, a buffoon, a pathetic—"

"RARH!" Stitch roared, bearing his teeth at Pleakly and the camera. The green alien backed away.

"Okay, okay, no need to get huffy," Pleakly said, retreating away. Stitch gave Donald and Goofy the same look, and both of them backed away under its intensity.

"I think we're gonna go back to the house Sora," Goofy said warily. Stitch was looking like he could kill right about now. "You sure you want to keep going?"

"Yes," Sora answered confidently. "I—I can feel something coming from that mountain over there."

Jiminy popped out from Sora's hood and Aiwemon looked down at him. "You can feel something Sora?" asked the digimon.

The boy nodded. "Yes. I'm not sure what, but it feels familiar and I want to find out what it is."

"Maybe it's the keyhole," Donald suggested.

"Yeah, maybe," Sora partially agreed. "Hiding in an out of the way place like that seems about right for a keyhole. Remember that one in Deep Jungle? It was in a tree beyond the cliffs behind a waterfall, and the one in Agrabah was deep inside the Cave of Wonders. Kairi said that the one in the New World was hidden in a talking willow tree, and Port Royal's was in the keel of the _Flying Dutchman_."

"Gawrsh, they seem to be everywhere," Goofy remarked. Sora nodded.

He glanced behind him at a noise in the jungle. "I think you guys should go back and make sure Pleakly's okay," he suggested with more than a bit of worry in his voice. "Jungles can be dangerous at night." Knowing that Sora came from a chain of islands where there _were_ dangerous jungles, his two friends from Disney Castle agreed, and quickly left to catch up with the green alien.

Sora turned to Stitch, but Stitch had already continued on, and he was just a fading figure in the dark of night that had taken hold. "Drat," Sora muttered, giving chase with Aiwemon flying alongside him.

-A-D-

Lilo sat at home, playing with one of the slugs on a plate on a tray at the kitchen table. She sighed with a crestfallen expression on her face. "This just isn't as much fun without Stitch," she mumbled, heading for the pantry. "David says canned ravioli is the best cure for rejection." She grabbed a can of the stuff, got the lid off and a spoon, and started to ingest it. She couldn't tell whether or not it was helping, but looking at her slug kept making her heart plummet; she needed to get out of the kitchen.

Pleakly, Donald, and Goofy were in the living room next to the TV, with Pleakly hooking up Jumba's evil genius camera. They noticed her and waved. "Lilo!" Pleakly said excitedly, "you're just in time to watch the raw footage of my documentary masterpiece."

The little girl could really care less right now about seeing Stitch going after Angel, but there was really nothing else to do and Pleakly was always so insistent. The screen came to life, showing Angel running past the signpost for Mt. Waialeale with Stitch following her. "You know of course that a single orbiting satellite symbolizes obsessive love," he chuckled, "we all know that."

Lilo stared at the screen with wider eyes and moved right next to Donald. "Wait! Go back!"

"I know," Pleakly told her, "I can't get enough of my genius either. Francis Ford Pleakly." He pressed a button on the camera and it started to rewind.

"What is it Lilo?" Goofy asked.

"What's that?" Lilo asked, pointing at the screen. "On her collar?"

Frowning, Pleakly paused the video and started to zoom in until Angel's collar was visible. "She was wearing a collar?" Donald asked. "Why didn't we notice that before?" Goofy shrugged.

Lilo began to read. "If found please call 555019829343453365882. Hm…"

"Gawrsh, can phone numbers be that long?" Goofy asked.

"If you're calling someone who isn't on this world, yes," Pleakly answered.

"Let's call it," Lilo said, rushing to grab the phone. She started dialing the number in, being careful to make sure that she had the numbers right.

"_Hello? Who is calling me with a call?_" Lilo gasped and dropped the phone, making sure to keep away so that the person couldn't hear her voice. "_Stop with the not answering me!_"

"Oh no," she said, "Hämsterviel!"

"Wak! Hämsterviel!" Donald quacked.

"But he's one of the villains who's working with Maleficent," remarked Goofy.

"I _knew_ she was evil!" Lilo said darkly. "We need to tell Jumba!" They all started to run for the stairs to Jumba's room. "Jumba! Angel's not harmless at all! She's really—!" Lilo gasped as she opened the door.

Jumba was hunched over a workbench in the semi-darkness, an Erlenmeyer flask growing purple in his hand and tubes of the green liquid flowing around him; other flasks glowed white, containing compounds none of them had any fathomable idea of their composition. "Evil," he said in a creepy tone, "I know. And she has returned me to evil as well. And boy, am I having fun!" He ripped two of the tubes apart and poured some of the liquid inside into the purple flask. The liquid frothed as the two compounds reacted, and a noxious cloud of red gas was released right into Jumba's face. He seemed not to care as he laughed.

Lilo placed her hands on her hips with a stern look. "I knew that Angel was no Angel," she muttered.

Donald and Goofy looked at each other guiltily. "Gawrsh, Sora was right," Goofy said.

"Ah phooey."

"Jumba," Pleakly began, "how does Experiment 624 work?"

"Simple, is programmed with special musical neuro-linguistic behavioural modification trigger."

"In a language we can understand please!" quacked Donald.

"She sings a little song, _poof_, you're evil," he smiled at them. "Is tricky genius, no?" and laughed.

"That would explain why after she sang to Slushie, he went and froze us into popsicles!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Is there an antidote to the turning evil part?" Lilo asked.

Jumba nodded. "Of course, but also: I'm not telling, because I'm back to evil."

The little Hawaiian girl frowned, and then glanced at his database. He'd left it open and on a chair near the door. She smiled slyly. "Evil and _slow_," she mocked, dashing for the database. Jumba was quick to rush after her.

But Lilo was the quicker, grabbing the database and hugging it to her chest. "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" Jumba shouted, leaping at her. Lilo moved out of the way, and the large alien flew out the open doorway and started to tumble down the stairs. She shut the door behind him.

"And clumsy," she added to herself, locking the door.

Goofy peaked out from behind two fingers. "Gawrsh, I hope he's not hurt too bad."

"Quick, Lilo," Donald prodded, "what does it say about Angel?"

"I'm getting to it," she answered.

The door _thud_ded as Jumba pounded on it with his fist. "Opening door!"

"Sounds like he's okay Goofy," Pleakly said. "And none too happy either."

"Let's see," Lilo began. "I knew it! To reverse evil effects, simply chant evil song… _backwards_?"

"Open door," Jumba ordered, "or I am obliterating you and entire ridiculous _ohana_!" Lilo tapped a few buttons on the database, and held the computer up towards the door. Angel's voice started to come out of the speakers, and in a way it sounded like the song she had sung to Jumba the previous day, but it was indeed backwards. The pounding on the other side of the door ceased.

Lilo waited a second, and then unlocked the door and opened it. Jumba was standing there, looking a little apologetic. "Ah, little girl," he said pleasantly, "hello. Is nice Mumu you are wearing this evening."

"C'mon," Lilo told them, "we've gotta find Stitch!"

"Sora's never going to let us forget that he was right," Donald grumbled.

-A-D-

"Angel!"

Sora hauled himself up the last foot of the cliff, finding it very, _very_ difficult to do so with only one hand. He could barely even move his left one now, and whenever he did it still made the most _awful_ noises that made his hair threaten to jump right off his neck. "Whew," he said, crawling onto the flat horizontal ground. He wasn't exactly tired or worn out, but he was relieved to be on steady terrain again.

Aiwemon landed next to him. "What took you so long?" he asked.

Sora smiled snidely at the digimon. "Hush up you bird-brain."

"Aw, you hurt my feelings," Aiwemon replied, grinning. They both laughed and turned their heads. Stitch was roaming around, calling out for Angel. Stitch froze in place, and they stopped and listened. They could hear Angel's voice. Stitch rushed forward eagerly, clambering over a rock to peer down in the direction of 624's voice. Sora and Aiwemon quickly followed, and gazed down, looking for the source. There was a long circular tunnel leading into the mountain with a light at the end of it illuminating the rock near its base.

Sharing a look, the three of them cautiously went down the tunnel. The familiar feeling Sora had gotten was getting stronger, but now it felt darker. The rock ended abruptly, becoming the metal on a ship's hatch. Sora stared at it in interest before summoning Remembrance to his right hand. This did not feel right at all. Aiwemon had a concerned look on his face as well, and the two of them went into the room right after Stitch.

Their surprise was complete when they saw _seven_ different experiments held in glass pods in a semi-circle to one side of the room. Hex, Richter, and Slushie were there, and there was also a yellow one with electricity running between his antennae which Sora guessed to be Sparky; joining these was a squid-like experiment as well as one that was red like cooling lava with volcanic protrusions along his curved body, and a pink and white experiment that looked kind of like a cuddly teddy bear. Sora couldn't fathom what that last one's power was unless it was the power of unsuspecting cuteness.

Casually leaning against the wall next to the captured experiments was another one with yellow fur and a red nose. His arms were folded, and Stitch was making his way towards him. Sora followed cautiously. This experiment was out and free, so he didn't know what to make of him. "Stitch," Sora asked, "who is that?"

"625," Stitch answered quickly.

"Ooh cousin," 625 said, shaking his head and tisking, "you sure made a mistake leading yourself and your friends here."

Stitch followed 625's gaze and turned around. Standing on the other side of the room, right next to the hatch they'd walked in, was Angel. Stitch's face beamed while Sora's grew more serious. "Angel!" cheered Stitch, happy to finally see her not running away from him.

One of Angel's antennae went up and touched a button, and four separate doors that had lined the hatch all slammed closed, sealing them in. Stitch started forward to Angel, but stopped as a very large humanoid with whale features stomped in carrying a plasma gun.

"Gantu!" Stitch cried.

"You weren't invited to this party, 626 and Keyblade boy—"

"Well we're going to crash it anyway," Sora broke in, frowning at Gantu. "I can feel Maleficent's power in here."

Gantu chuckled. "I'm glad that you can, because now that you're here, our host can turn you into a party favour." He turned, and Sora looked in that direction.

A door into a different section of the ship opened, and out walked a machine. It stood on two legs, supporting a pod with a glass front. Attached to the pod's sides were two arms with cannons mounted just above the wrists, and inside the pod Sora could see a white rabbit with red eyes wearing a red cape that had a big yellow H clasped to the front.

"Hämsterviel!" Sora shouted, rushing forward with Keyblade in hand. Neoshadows appeared all around him, but Sora's digivice started to emit brilliant white light and Aiwemon began to glow.

"Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!"

"Deciding Swing!" roared the champion, swinging his massive feathered mace with a single arm. Three Neoshadows that stood blocking their path to Maleficent's ally were knocked aside by the hit and Sora leapt forward with a shout, the way cleared.

He yelped as a net hit him in the back and took him to the ground, locking his arms and legs up. Panic flashed through him.

"624," snapped Hämsterviel, "sing!" The experiment obeyed, opening her mouth and beginning to sing loudly throughout the chamber.

Something started to invade Sora's mind, unintelligible whispers that began compelling him to give in. _Ack! No!_ Sora thought desperately, realizing that these whispers were nothing good and desiring them out. But Angel's song was loud and unyielding, hammering away at whatever thoughts Sora tried to bring up to shut them out.

He and Ohtarmon had lost before they'd even begun fighting.

"Gantu," Hämsterviel said after a moment, "release him." Nodding, the former Federation captain unbound Sora from the net, and the brunet stood. Smiling in satisfaction when Sora made no further move against him, just standing surrounded by a dozen Neoshadows with an equally unmoving Ohtarmon, he turned to address the whole room from within his mech. "Hello, you formally goody-do-gooder experiments and Keyblade bonehead you. I say formally, because thanks to the work Experiment 624, which Gantu miraculously captured last Tuesday, you are all now evil, and will soon become invincible Heartless and will help me wreck havoc upon all the worlds!"

The experiments all laughed manically, but then Sora spoke. "You don't need them to become Heartless," he said, grinning.

Hämsterviel and Gantu looked at Sora cautiously. "Eh?" the rodent asked.

"If you make them into Heartless," Sora said, "they'll lose their personalities and the advanced brains Jumba programmed them with. They'll be mindless pawns, and their potential will be squandered." The Wielder of Twilight looked up. "Simply put, you have no imagination for the destruction they could cause if you left them as is; you aren't _fit_ to assist Maleficent."

"What!" Hämsterviel roared. "Are you trying to mock me you evil-turned brat you?"

Sora chuckled. "Trying? No, I _am_ mocking you." He casually turned his head. "Ohtarmon, deal with Gantu."

"Yes," said the digimon. Sora's crest glowed with black light. "Ohtarmon digivolve to, _MoreOhtarmon_."

MoreOhtarmon stood at the same height as MaltaOhtarmon, but that was where the similarities ended. Where MaltaOhtarmon's armour was golden as the sun, MoreOhtarmon's was pitch as a starless, moonless night. Razor sharp spikes protruded from his pauldrons and the thigh portions of his greaves as well as on the backs of his gauntlets. More spikes ran in a straight line down the spine of his pointed helmet, the final one being positioned at his forehead and pointing into the sky like a unicorn horn. All that could be seen of his once green eyes through the slit that was now in his helmet were two pinpricks of dark red. Across his back draped a cape of black and grey, patterned with a red-eyed spider on a web. In the digimon's mighty hands rested a massive great axe, its wicked head simple in shape, but nearly half as big as Sora was tall in size. Sharp blood-red lines ran along it, so that when it was swung it looked as if its curving path was the hellous trail of a demon.

Gantu, Hämsterviel, Stitch, Angel, and 625 all took a step back at the sight of the Ultimate-level digimon. Fear-inducing power radiated darkly just from his presence, and even those who Maleficent had given a piece of her power to felt as if they did not want to cross this ten-foot black warrior. Gantu, who was still a bit taller, was stuttering as he backed away.

Sora glared at him. "This is where those who fight Maleficent would charge in," he told them calmly, "even when facing impossible odds, they would wade in eagerly, knowing that even if it all seems hopeless that they still had something to fight for; something worth protecting even at the cost of their lives. Tch," Sora turned his head dismissively at Gantu before returning his gaze to Hämsterviel's subordinate. "If you can't fight against another evil with the same conviction, then evil will always, _always_, fall to good." Raising Remembrance, Sora intoned quietly, "Roar from beyond the Twilight Veil, Kaze no Raion!"

The moon-silver blade of his Keyblade, with the three golden lines on each side running to merge at the centre of the seven-pointed star key-tip, melted at his words. The molten silver ran back, folding over the bronze basket-hilt of the Keyblade and encasing Sora's right arm up to his elbow. Then the molten metal solidified, and the basket-hilt had turned into the maw of a lion. Sora thrust his right arm forward, and the lion's maw opened wider and let loose a concentrated roar in a cone directed at Gantu.

Gantu found that his limbs no longer responded to impulses from his brain; that he couldn't move an inch at all. The roar was all around him. It was in his ears, in his arms, buried into his very heart, caught in the moment of paralysation when you hear some sound and try to place what it is and how you should react.

MoreOhtarmon brought his great axe back. "Hope Crusher!" he said in a hollow, raspy voice. The Ultimate swung his axe across his body, and it connected with Gantu's completely undefended chest with a splash of darkness. The whale-man flew across the room and crashed into the wall, completely unconscious. Wisps of darkness started to leak out of him, forming a cloud that hovered in the air.

Hämsterviel was stunned for a moment. "Heartless!" he shouted. "Get the brat!"

The twelve Neoshadows leapt forward, each one of them bearing its sharp claws at the unarmoured teenager.

Sora flickered and vanished the instant before they would have cut into him.

"What!" Hämsterviel cried. "Where did he go?" He'd hardly gotten the first few syllables out before Sora appeared again, above all twelve of the Neoshadows as they huddled around the spot where he'd just been. He thrust his arm out again, and another roar came from Kaze no Raion. Each one of the dozen Heartless became rooted to the spot.

Sora smirked. Wind swirled out of the lion's mouth, and came together to form a sword-blade composed entirely of the whirling air, and Sora cut through three of the Neoshadows' heads in a single stroke. He leapt back, MoreOhtarmon swinging his axe down in a chop for the mob. "Hope Crusher!"

Darkness splurged around the remaining nine, and when the black light was gone so too were the Heartless.

"Nincompoops!" Hämsterviel shouted, working at the controls on his machine. "I'll deal with you myself!" Sora turned around, seeing that the two cannons on the arms of the mech were charging with bright golden energy. He smiled arrogantly at Hämsterviel, who got even angrier at the look on Sora's face. "Take this!" roared the hamster-like creature who looked more like a rabbit. Hämsterviel slammed his fist down on a big red button.

The energy around the cannons intensified, growing brighter and brighter as it prepared to discharge. Sparks then started to burst out of the cannons, and the energy fizzled. _Pop! Pop-pop-pop!_ Mini-explosions rattled the cannons all along them, sparks gushing out of the weapons and curls of smoke issuing from destroyed panels. The golden light in the base of the cannons died.

"Wha—Work, stupid machine! Work, I command you…DAMN WINDOWS 98!" There was a smash, and Hämsterviel looked up to see that Sora had punched out the glass separating the two of them. The Keyblade Wielder grabbed the evil rodent by the cape and threw him out of the mech. Hämsterviel cried out in sudden pain and discomfort, and then shouted again as MoreOhtarmon placed one foot on top of him.

"Now," Sora began conversationally, "you're going to open communications with Maleficent. I have a proposal for her."

"Fine," Hämsterviel replied, now fearing Sora more than the sorceress he had allied himself with and eyeing the dark cloud that had left Gantu but still hovered in the room. "But I am beginning with the launching of my ship and the punishment of dratted 626 first."

Sora shrugged. "Whatever works for you."

-A-D-

"This is so exciting!" declared Pleakly as he stood in the jeep with the camera held in front of him, "Careening towards our thrilling climax!" They whizzed past the signpost to the mountain.

"Faster Jumba!" Donald ordered.

"Is Stitch going to be turned evil too?" Lilo asked.

"No," Jumba assured her. "625 and 626 built after 624, her spell is not working on them; they are immune to her sireny song."

"Do you think Sora's immune?" Goofy asked Donald.

They looked into each other's eyes.

"FASTER JUMBA!"

-A-D-

Sora watched as Hämsterviel started to launch the ship, pressing buttons on another console. Stitch and 625 were leaning against the opposite wall, and he could overhear their conversation as they looked at Angel, the female looking around with a smug and pleased expression on her face. "Sad story ain't it coz?" 625 asked. "Her spell doesn't work on us but we fell for her just the same."

"Eh," Stitch agreed.

"I guess she's just incapable of tender feelings for the likes of us," hypothesized 625.

Stitch sighed. "Yeah," he agreed.

_What would Kairi say if she could see you now?_

Sora winced, placing his right hand to his head. He'd sealed Kaze no Raion back into Remembrance and dismissed the Keyblade, but Cosmos' voice ran through his head. _Quiet!_

_I know that you're still good at heart Sora,_ she insisted, _you must fight it!_

_I'm doing this to protect her!_ Sora snapped back. _It's the perfect way to keep her safe from anything anywhere that could harm her!_

_You're wrong,_ roared Kaze no Raion, _being beside her, standing with her, protecting her with your own two arms is the best way to keep her safe, for both you and her. Remember last night, _that_ is how you protect her! Don't throw her love away like this!_

_You'd break her heart if she knew!_ Cosmos added.

"Shut up!" he hissed, unintelligible whispers ghosting through his ears. They were fighting him, telling him that this was wrong on a thousand levels, that he would never in a million years act like this.

"_Launching in… one minute."_

"Alright evil Keyblade brat," Hämsterviel grumbled, pressing another button. "Maleficent will speak with you." A screen descended from the ceiling, and it crackled with grey static for a moment before Maleficent's face appeared on it.

"My my," she said. "Now this is a surprise. To what do I owe the _honour_?"

Sora could tell just how much she was loathing the sight of him, and grinned. "I wanted to present you with a proposition," he said, grinning.

_Stop it right now Sora!_ He kept his wince down, but it didn't look like Maleficent noticed. She frowned.

"Another meaningless offer of surrender?" the sorceress asked. "I'm afraid I must—"

She stopped, appalled, as Sora began to laugh in her face. "Surrender? Heck no! I had him call you because I want to join you."

The sorceress was silent for a second. "_Join_ me!" she shouted. "What are you trying to pull? Do you honestly think that I would believe that for an instant?"

"Experiment 624's song has turned him from being a goody-do-gooder to evil, Maleficent," Hämsterviel said. Maleficent looked towards the pink experiment.

"Has she now?" the witch asked, more to herself than anyone else. She turned back to Sora. "So, you wish to join me?"

"Yes," Sora said, "as an _equal_ partner, able to choose which parts of the galaxy I want to rule."

"I forbid it!" snapped Maleficent. "You think much of yourself to consider yourself an equal partner with me! I am your superior in every way! I am the Queen of Darkness, the Mistress of all Evil!"

"And I am a Prince of Light!" Sora retorted. "Not all evil is darkness witch, remember that."

"Even so," said Maleficent, "the light will fall. In three days time, the world that is so full of light that you stole away from me will fall to darkness, and then, in time, the rest of these pitiful worlds will lose their light and become one with the everlasting darkness. Your light will never be equal to my darkness."

"So I can't sit on a throne the exact same height as yours?" Sora clarified.

"Never!" snapped Maleficent. "Either you are my underling or you are my enemy."

Sora crossed his right arm in front of his chest. "Very well then, I'll just kill you and take over."

Maleficent's eyes narrowed. "You'll _what_?"

"Kill you and take over," repeated Sora. "When the people of the worlds see me smite down the one who's been trying to dominate and destroy them they will flock to me, their saviour, and follow me willingly. I will rule the galaxy with an army of sheep praising me, far better than anything you could ever accomplish!"

_What are you saying! RULE? You have no desire to rule, nor does Kairi! Remember the plan you have! The future you want! A quiet inn like the _Prancing Pony_._

The floor beneath his feet started to rumble, even as his mind was in turmoil from that reminder.

-A-D-

Jumba stopped the car right on the top of the mountain where Stitch and Sora had descended. The ground beneath them was shaking, and there was a rumbling in the air. "I am knowing that noise," Jumba told them, "is noise of spaceship rockets charging up for takeoff." The summit in front of them suddenly cracked and the rock tumbled away as a large white ship that looked like a limbless human rose out of the earth. Two curving wings extended from inside the ship's body, and it began to turn around in preparation for takeoff.

"Wow! Special effects!" Pleakly cheered excitedly. "Real live movie magic!"

"Sora!" Donald shouted, placing his wings next to his bill in an attempt to make his voice louder. "Can you hear us? Sora!"

The spacecraft stopped turning, and they could see Stitch up against a rectangular porthole. He was banging against the glass and calling Lilo's name. The girl smiled and undid her seatbelt. "Stitch! I was right! She is evil!"

-A-D-

"_Navigation systems, activated,"_ said the pleasant female announcement voice. Sora turned at another sound and saw a console rise out from a section of the floor._ "Launch in five, four, three…"_ The floor shook even more as the ship began to take off. Stitch leapt at the navigation console, but as soon as his body left the ground a dome covered it. There was no way for Stitch to change his direction or stop his leap, and when he touched the dome he started to convulse. Sora could see the electricity skirting over the dome, protecting it, and Stitch fell back.

A strong desire to call out Stitch's name and go to him emerged in Sora's head, and he actually had to fight it back. The goodness in him wasn't going to let the evil he'd switched to win quietly.

"You know," 625 said to 626, "you really ought to get a professional electrician to do that."

Maleficent frowned, seeing the twitch in Sora's face. "Not quite as evil as you think. He is resisting."

"Bah," Hämsterviel answered, "he is evil. And now, something I have waited a long time to see, Experiment 626 crushed by his own miserable cousins." He pushed a button and robotic arms descended to each of the glass domes containing the turned evil experiments. The arms removed the lids, and Stitch smiled sheepishly at the seven advancing cousins.

"I am done here," Maleficent declared. "If you will not submit to my rule Sora, then you will be destroyed."

"Just try it bitch," Sora replied easily. He grinned at the seething look Maleficent gained on the other side of the screen.

Stitch yelped suddenly and Sora turned to look at the experiment. The others had grabbed hold of him, and Hex was preparing to punch him into oblivion. Stitch locked eyes with Angel, and sadly said to her, "Bye-bye, boochi-boo."

Hex wound up.

"Naga!" Angel cried, stopping him. She opened her mouth and started to sing.

"No! You stupid experiment! Stop with the singing! You are turning them back to gooder-goodies!"

Sora felt the change come over him like a wave of cool refreshing water, and he was more than happy to be back to himself. He looked at MoreOhtarmon, and saw the blackguard Ultimate encased in golden light and shrinking in size. When the golden light faded, he was back to Ohtarmon. The champion digimon blinked a few times and held his head with his left hand. "Sora, did we just do what I think we did?"

Sora didn't answer that, but turned instead to the screen where Maleficent was still watching, now completely infuriated. She was so angry that he could even see dark flames rising around her. "What was that you said about the world full of light that we stole away from you?" Sora asked. "Something about Radiant Garden?"

Maleficent's anger did not leave her, but her smile returned. "In three days time the world of your precious princess' birth that you have done so much to restore and safeguard will be destroyed, and you will be powerless to stop it!"

The screen went dark. At the very same time, the dark cloud that was still hovering in the room started to move rapidly towards the porthole Stitch had been peering out of, and Stitch called "Akata, Hämsterviel!" to the other experiments now turned back to good.

Sora gave a panicked glance to the fleeing cloud of darkness that had seeped out of the unconscious Gantu. "Shine your Radiant Light, Cosmos!" Remembrance flared with light, and its blade shortened, straightened, and doubled. The seven-pointed star key became that of the Kingdom Key's block with Sora's crown bitten out of it, and it mirrored itself on the other side of the marble hollow circle edged in quartz with a golden disk suspended in the air in the circle's middle.

Sora directed Cosmos towards the retreating cloud of darkness, and three Keyblades spun into existence in flurries of golden light, radiating the golden light that surrounded them. Sora could actually recognize one of them this time, for one of the three that had appeared was the Oathkeeper. All three Keyblades shot forward and Sora unleashed silver light from Cosmos that became shining silver chains. The chains reached the cloud just before it would have escaped through the structure of the ship, and pulled it back slightly as they became taught. A moment later all three Keyblades pierced the cloud, and burst apart in streams of golden light. The cloud evaporated in the wake of the light.

A shout came from Hämsterviel as the experiments had him surrounded. Stitch had called off Sparky and Richter to take away the jolt of the electricity guarding the navigation system and to destroy the protective dome, but Hämsterviel continued to back away from the other experiments. Sora wasn't too surprised, but he didn't want to take any chances. Hämsterviel may appear to be a rodent who preferred to sit on the inside of a powerful machine, but he still had some of Maleficent's power within him. Sora remembered Devimon and Hades.

The golden disk covered in silver runes that hung suspended in the middle of the circle at the end of Cosmos' blade started to glow with bright blue light, and Sora spun around, pointing the Keyblade at Hämsterviel. "Guardian Arc!" he called, and the blue light stormed out of the disk in a straight beam only as wide as Sora's hand, silver and gold threads weaving through the brighter blue. Hex moved out of the way, and the blue, gold, and silver energy beam struck Hämsterviel right in the chest. The rodent roared in agony as the light wormed its way into his body, and bolts of darkness skittered all over his body. Suddenly he went limp, and a shadow leapt out from his heart and launched itself at Sora.

Ohtarmon swung his brightly glowing mace into its path, shouting, "Deciding Swing!" His mace cut through the cloud, the light exploding when it met the darkness, and the shadow disintegrated into the air.

Sora cut off the beam, and dropped down onto the seat of his pants. The rodent was out cold. Hämsterviel and Gantu, four of them were now down; Jadis, Nixion, Xarcs, Xayn Shu, Pete, Sauron and Saruman, and the rest of her greater Nobodies, including the brute Tismetrx who'd injured Roxas, were left.

The Keyblade Wielder glanced at Ohtarmon even while he still held onto Cosmos' black grip. They'd won a victory here, but there was still work to be done. He wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.

-A-D-

"Are you sure you have to leave right away?"

Sora nodded his head and bent down, all of them standing on the beach. The waves slowly crashed against the shore underneath the waning crescent of the moon. "I'm sorry Lilo, but we really do have to go. I need to see the mechanic who made my arm so she can fix it."

"And then we have to get to Radiant Garden lickety split," Goofy added.

Donald nodded his head emphatically. "Yeah, we can't let Maleficent win!"

"Then I wish best of luck in journey," Jumba said, shaking hands with Sora, and then Donald and Goofy.

"Don't be a stranger," Pleakly added. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon nodded.

Remembrance appeared in Sora's hand.

"Um, Sora," Aiwemon asked, "why did you summon your Keyblade?"

Sora was just as confused. "I didn't summon him." He saw light out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head. He made a funny face as he saw the outline of a keyhole. "Why is the keyhole in the ice cream stand?"

"Maybe it's a sign?" Donald suggested.

"A sign? What kind of sign could it be?" asked Sora.

"That ice cream is good for you," replied Donald.

Sora chuckled and raised the Keyblade. "Roxas' love that one." He pointed Remembrance at the arbitrarily appearing keyhole, and golden stars swirled around the tip before a beam of white light shot out from the tip of the blade. It entered the keyhole and light shone out of the pathway to the world's heart before a loud _click_ could be heard. The light dimmed, and the keyhole vanished, leaving an imprint on the wooden siding of the shack.

Sora turned to Stitch, who was standing hand-in-hand with Angel. "Stitch," Sora began to attract the experiment's attention. Stitch's big black eyes now looked up at him. Trying his best not to smirk and failing, Sora said, "Keep your _ohana_ safe, and…" he glanced at Angel for a quick moment before eyeing Stitch again, "stay outta trouble."

Stitch returned his look with an evil smile and a giggle. Angel shifted away slightly with a flirtatious smile on her face and Stitch grabbed her and dipped her. "Boochi-boo," he said seductively, watching her face for a moment before leaning down and kissing her.

Sora and the others beamed back up to the _Highwind_ just as Lilo began to scold him.

-A-D-

_And the Oathkeeper is now hanging from around my neck forevermore. Just saying._

_Ugh... why is it that the _last_ week of camp my staff cadets have to snap? It's the last week Reid, why did you have to write a three page written complaint against the FSgt? I could feel her anger burning out of the page!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	61. Familiar At the Starlight

_So no matter how many times I see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, it still never loses its charm. Each time I leave on an adrenaline high. And you know what? Apart from a couple of points, I actually prefer the movie version of events for the Battle for Hogwarts compared to the book... Well, I guess that there's a first time for everything._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Command and Conquer, Ace Combat, FMA, or anything else in this fic that is not mine._

_Enjoy! And when there is a mention of a song in this chapter, particularly _Same Old Lang Syne_, it would be beneficial if you listen to it alongside reading._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 61: Familiar at the _Starlight_

_Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Talerith Castle, Radiant Garden _

Kairi's eyes opened suddenly as she woke up, completely conscious. The first thing she noticed was that she was in her bed, and that there was light in the room. Glancing around quickly, she noted that Garda was standing beside the open door, his head dropping in what appeared to be sleep. The curtains on the windows across from her door were pulled back, allowing light from the outside to filter in.

_How did I…? _thought Kairi, trying to piece together the previous night. She'd had a dream of fighting Heartless in the streets of the city, and then it had turned into a nightmare as she watched Soronmon die again. Then Maleficent had… she couldn't remember, and in a way she was glad that she couldn't, because she almost didn't want to know what could have caused her to cry herself to sleep in Garda's arms. Garda, he must have carried her, and Menelmon's digiegg now that she saw it lying next to her, back to her bed.

Affection for the outwardly gruff Chief Guardian blossomed in Kairi's heart. He had told her that she didn't have to be a Princess for him; that she didn't have to be any more than what she was in front of him. "Did you mean that?" Kairi asked quietly, hoping that it hadn't been just a pleasant dream after a terrifying one. But if it had been a dream, why was he here now?

"Every word," answered Garda. Although he looked heavy with sleep, he was actually wide awake. Kairi jolted, startled that he'd heard her and answered. He raised his head, and beckoned with one hand. Kairi obeyed without question, rising from her bed and going to him in her bare feet. She stopped halfway, turned, and quickly put on her sling before scooping up Menelmon's digiegg in her arms. She had no idea what was about to happen, so she might as well bring the digiegg with her.

Garda placed his arm across her shoulders and guided the princess out through the door and towards the windows. It was snowing again, large broad flakes that lazily drifted down to join the thousands beneath them. Nat King Cole's _Christmas Song_ flitted into her ears from the hidden speakers in the hall.

No words were spoken between them as they watched the simple elegance of the snow falling, a sight so very rare on their home islands. Garda's arm across her shoulders was as strong as it had ever been, and warm and supportive. The bad memories from the nightmare were already fading.

"I remember seeing a snowfall like this before," Garda said, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

Kairi looked up at him, her arm moving slightly in her sling. "Master Garda?"

"It was years ago," he continued. "Aellya and I were on a grassy knoll outside of Felra because she wanted to pick some winter lilies. Then it clouded over, and we thought that it would rain, but then the air cooled and snow fell just like this. She gave me a kiss in that snow."

Kairi's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. _Grassy knoll, does he mean Lily Hill? He goes there too!_ In the year she had been Garda's apprentice, she had never once heard him discuss anything about his personal life, or life before he became a Guardian. All she had managed to gather in snippets from her father or the other Guardians was that he was thirty-seven, could be a General in the King's armies on the continent if he'd wanted, and that he was the _best_, save anyone with a Keyblade. Before she'd begged on her knees in the mud for him to take her on she'd only seen him a few times when he'd come over to her house to tell her father about a fiend outbreak that he needed to be informed about, but she still hadn't learned much more about him than that.

She looked up at the man who towered above her five-foot-seven frame in his six-foot-three, two-hundred and twelve pound body; with his thick charcoal hair pulled into its short tail that brushed against the base of his neck and his granite-grey eyes. Was this image of cold unrelenting human strength opening up to her, when he hadn't to any Guardian (and she'd checked!)?

_Then again,_ Kairi reasoned as she bit her bottom lip slightly, _my relationship with Master has always been different from any of the other Guardians. They're his comrades and subordinates, and he's their commander. But, I was his apprentice, his first and _only_ apprentice—Sora's cousins don't count, given what I _know_ they've been doing and it hasn't been what I was put through!—and he was my Master. Still is my Master, maybe, even though he said I was finished with him._ She chuckled slightly inwardly. _I guess old habits die hard when they've been beaten into you._

But her curiosity at whether or not the walls around his heart were really coming down was gnawing at her as every second passed. Garda hadn't spoken in at least a minute and the silence had settled in. Now that silence was eating her insides, and the question that had formed in her mind couldn't stay back any longer. "Master Garda," she dared to ask, "who is Aellya?"

For an instant she felt a stiffening of the muscles in his arm, and then he relaxed. He took in a deep breath, and then told her, "She was my childhood sweetheart."

_Was?_ Kairi thought, heavily noting the use of the past tense. Garda shifted, rummaging with his right arm while his left still held her shoulders. 97.8 Radiant Rock had switched to a different song, but Kairi could care less at the moment that she was listening to _Same Old Lang Syne_ in the background, her mind what wholly focussed on Garda.

"Here," he said, producing a picture and placing it in front of Kairi's indigo eyes. Hesitantly, she took it and looked at it. There were four people in the picture, all of them children around the age of ten; two were boys and two were girls. One of the boys had messy black hair—almost messy enough to look like Sora's spikes, she noticed with amusement—and the other boy was a blonde, his hair in a neat mushroom cut and his emerald eyes bright and cheery. Of the girls, one had hair of a brilliant shade of scarlet, long and tied into a ponytail behind her back, with violet eyes; the other a cute brunette in yellow with freckles dotting her nose and cheeks beneath deep blue eyes, smiling at the spherecam while sitting on a swing. The picture was taken at an angle, with the brunette on the swings having her head turned to the left to look at the spherecam. The blond and black-haired boy were beside her, standing and smiling as only ten-year-olds could smile, and the scarlet-haired girl had her arm wrapped around the messy-haired boy's right arm in what she obviously thought was a discreet manner while also glancing at him instead of the spherecam. She was giving the boy a shy smile.

Kairi's heart melted looking at the picture, and Garda tapped the boy with black hair with his finger. "That's me," he said, and Kairi noticed his grey eyes in the photo. They certainly weren't as hard and unyielding as they were now. There seemed to be warmth and cheer in them in this photo. Garda's finger moved, and tapped the brunette on the swings, "that's Erica, and the boy there is Kurten, 'Kurt' for short, and this," he paused briefly as his finger rested on the violet-eyed and scarlet-haired girl, "this is Aellya."

"Your hair was a total mess Master," Kairi said, smiling.

"Yes it was," Garda answered, his tone not quite as light as it had been. Kairi shut her mouth. "About six months after this was taken, I cleaned it up and made it into the tail I have now."

"Why?" Kairi asked. She knew from the look on Garda's face that she might be pushing it, but pushing it just might be exactly what she needed to do.

Maybe it was the notes of the piano in the background, or maybe it was that her Master had been aching to tell _somebody_ for years but had always held back, but Kairi was nearly floored while also rooted to the spot when he began to speak. "I… I behaved foolishly, and Aellya, and Kurt, and Erica got hurt because of it; because of my own stupidity, and because I couldn't protect them."

"You?" Kairi whispered. "You couldn't protect them? But, but you're—"

"The greatest legend among the Guardians?" Garda supplied dryly. "The man who was able to single-handedly defeat a Behemoth King? Let me ask you girl, a year ago, before you came to me in the rain, could you have fought Cho'kal and melted the very living rock he was made of?"

Kairi noted the renewed use of his name for her, just as he'd probably noticed her continued use of 'Master', and answered in the same brisk tone for answering yes or no questions as he'd instructed her to answer in. "No."

"As it was with me," he told her. "When I was ten I could only lift a sword and swing it. Let me tell you, a ten-year-old who can bear a sword and has access to one, but has no training in its usage, is dangerous, to himself and to his friends. Fiends don't care about age or training."

Kairi was about to ask a question when it died in her throat. She could already imagine what had happened. Garda had taken the sword he'd found and gone fiend-hunting like the Guardians did, and he'd convinced his friends to come along to watch how great he was. Then they were attacked, and he found out that he couldn't do anything to beat the fiends back, and they got really hurt before real Guardians had arrived and saved them.

She asked him if something like that had happened, and Garda shook his head. "No, Kairi (now she noticed the usage of her real name), I did something worse. On a class trip to Guardian HQ, I broke into the research labs where we keep captured fiends and examine them to take what we learn and make data versions of them for training simulations. I brought Aellya, Kurt, and Erica with me, took a sword, and freed a Kusariqqu."

Kairi gasped. "But, those are…"

"Yes," Garda said, "a four-legged wingless drake with an armoured hide and a mouth that spits thunder magic. I had no idea then what it was, only that it was a dumb fiend, and that I was a 'master' swordsman." He sighed. "The Guardians heard its roars and our cries for help, and it took two of their junior members to subdue it and cage it again. Aellya's parents never forgave me for my stupidity which got all of us put in hospital, and she, Kurt, and Erica all moved soon after we were discharged, even though my friends were all more than willing to forgive me. I don't know where they went, but I haven't seen or heard from them since." He removed the white vest he wore and turned around. There was a large salmon-coloured starry splotch fifteen centimetres above and twelve centimetres to the right of his tailbone. "I've lived with this scar ever since."

Kairi's eyes returned to the picture that was still in her hand as Garda put his vest back on, and her eyes roamed over the four friends before settling on the one her master had pointed out as Aellya. Her hair looked like Kairi's had a year ago, before it had darkened a little, except that the style had been one Kairi'd never truly wanted to try. She didn't like letting her hair grow long enough to make a nice tail out of it. Actually, sometimes she wasn't even sure just what colour her hair was anymore. Sometimes, like now, it was a darker auburn, but when the sun was rising or setting and its golden light filtered through it, Kairi swore that her hair became the brighter shade of scarlet that it had been when she was younger, and don't even get her started on when she drove into her Fire Mage form, when it shifts through all the brighter colours of a campfire. Her hair had a life of its own.

"I'm sure she and the others would have forgiven you if they'd been given the chance," Kairi told him.

"Hm," Garda said, "you sound confident."

"Because I am, Master Garda," she replied honestly. "Riku, Sora, and Naminé have all hurt me, though none of them ever intended to, and I've forgiven all of them and we've only grown closer."

"Well," Garda said briskly, taking the picture back and replacing it in his pocket, "the four of us have been very good at avoiding each other for the last twenty-seven years, so you'll forgive me if I doubt you." He looked at her inquisitively. "How did Sora hurt you?"

Kairi hesitated and nipped her bottom lip before answering. "After he rescued me from Maleficent and Riku and Xehanort's Heartless in Hollow Bastion, and we were safely in Traverse Town, Sora told me that he was going back for Riku. I told him that I was going with him, but then he said no because it was too dangerous for me to go. I asked him if I couldn't help, and he told me that I'd only be in his way as nicely as possible. I laughed it off, but it hurt inside."

"Which is why when he stayed behind to find Riku and come home together, and left you safe on Felra, you came to me and pleaded with me to take you as my apprentice, so that you wouldn't only be a burden that he'd rather set aside in safety the next time," Garda concluded, nodding his head. "And you're no longer a burden to him or anyone, Kairi," he told her honestly.

She appreciated his words more than he could ever know, but Kairi still huffed as another thought came to her. "Try telling that to those senators, Master. They think I don't know anything and that I'm not 'acting appropriately to my station'. Bunch of idiots." Garda chuckled at her derisive mockery of her perception of the senators all being uptight snobs.

"Well, I know one way we can get them off your case," he said. Kairi looked up into his granite eyes, searching for an answer. He provided her with one. "Take a more active role in what's occurring now rather than being a partying, angsty, mourning teenager."

"But I _am_ a partying, angsty, mourning teenager," Kairi replied, glancing down at the digiegg. The nightmare resurfaced, and Kairi shuddered as she almost heard Soronmon's pained cry flit through her ears again. She took a deep breath and tried to banish those thoughts, they only pulled her down.

_Do not throw them away,_ a voice spoke in her heart, _accept them. Remember, you are unharmed, and she is still here with you. You have not lost her._

A tiny smile perked the edges of her lips. _Thanks Al._ She felt two hands now on her shoulders and opened her eyes fully from the half-open lids she hadn't noticed she'd switched to. The sea washed against stone as her former Master had come down to her level.

"Come to the meetings today," Garda said, though he stated it as a request. "Your input would carry some weight, and it'll help you get a better understanding of what we do have, and when it gets overwhelming, go and see the _Starlight_ and meet with her crew. We'd like you to be there for its official christening and launch with all hands tomorrow, and I think it would help. You're not alone in this fight, though I know sometimes you feel like you are."

"Garda…" Kairi whispered, not even using 'Master' this time.

"We're all standing beside you Kairi," he assured her. "So don't falter and keep moving forward."

"_We've got the Razgriz on our side; don't falter and go forward."_

The voice of one of the men on the ground in Sudentor while she flew alongside Sora, Naminé, Roxas, Blaze, Edge, Swordsman, and Archer now entered her mind. They'd all had a role to play in that battle, and they'd done their duty with distinction and won. She'd been terrified near the end of that tunnel, when Hamilton's missile had struck her Arrow and her shields had fallen and her engine had caught fire, but she'd made it out alive. Then, when they took flight before sunrise as the SOLG fell into the atmosphere on a course for the Osean capital city of Oured, and the eight ace pilots of the aggressor Ofnir and Grabacr fighter squadrons that had helped instigate and prolong the whole war between Osea and Yuktobania came against them, they still triumphed; and they won again when they reached the SOLG itself, the satellite having turned into a Heartless of frightening size and power. It had been hell in those skies, and they'd thought that they'd lost Naminé twice during the attack on the SOLG, but they all came through, standing beside one another.

It was a wonder that she hadn't been having nightmares before now.

"I think I will do that," she said, nodding slightly. "I'd like to see the _Starlight_ at least, before tomorrow if I'm expected to be there." Garda nodded his head, and they went to breakfast.

-A-D-

"That won't be enough," Urophi Magellan, Mayor of Twilight Town, said argumentatively. There was already annoyed sweat on his balding ginger-haired head. "Even if you move the _Jericho, Sleipnir, Egret, Calypso, _and _Kestrel II_ there isn't enough support for the _Avenger_ to become her own flagship and form a third battle group. And even if it were you'd take too much away from the other two."

"She's a replica of an Imperial 2nd-class Star Destroyer as near as gummi technology can make her," retorted Ralph Manish, Prime Minister of Radiant Garden. "She could be a fleet all on her own, as could the _Starlight_ and the _Unity_."

"I don't want any ships by themselves," said the grey-uniformed Fleet Admiral Yoshi Kago of Star Command, his wedge removed to show all of his coffee-coloured hair above a set of brown eyes. "The risks associated with leaving a ship on her own, even a ship of the line like the _Avenger_, are too great if she were to be ambushed by a flotilla of Heartless. We don't have the luxury of safety like we used to."

"That's why the _Avenger_ has as many weapons as she does as well as her own hangar bays and mini-ship drones," Manish countered. "She can hold nearly fifty F-105 Arrows or B-40 Ajaxes and already has two dozen mini-ships installed. That dreadnought's a flying fortress by herself."

"Add to that the additional craft aboard the _Kestrel II_ that effectively triple that number and there are sufficient numbers to make any attack against them highly impractical," added General Howell, representing the countries of Osea and Yuktobania.

"Even the strongest defences can be breached by a determined enemy with nothing to lose and the numbers to make any number of sacrifices meaningless," General Solomon from the Global Defence Initiative put in. "That's what the Heartless under Maleficent's control are. Am I wrong, Your Highness?"

Kairi glanced at the brown-skinned General whose voice was so powerful and nodded her head. "That's right General." She frowned. "Forgive me, but I missed a couple of days here dealing with less important matters in the grand scheme of things. What are we debating here?"

"Prime Minister Manish and General Howell want the _DCS_ _Avenger_ to form a third battle group instead of being part of the one being led by the _UFS Unity_," answered Lt. Riza Hawkeye, standing behind Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist from Amestris.

Lord Ramius eyed the public servant who led by the will of the people. "What?"

"It's brilliant," said Ralph Manish. "By pulling the cruiser _Calypso_, the frigate _Jericho_, and the corvette _Egret_ from the _Starlight_'s battle group; and the corvette _Sleipnir_, carrier _Kestrel II,_ and the dreadnought _Avenger_, from the _Unity_'s, the _Avenger_ can lead a third task force and cover more area. Or we could even just pull the _Avenger_ and _Kestrel II_ and the two of them could be a strike force all on their own."

"Hm…" muttered King Mickey, "the problem I'm having with your plan, Prime Minister, is that while it sounds nice on paper, you also didn't ask me about it. The _Unity_ may be the flagship for her battle group which the _Avenger_ is part of, but the _Avenger_ and the _Egret_ are still my world's ships and the _Avenger_ is currently my own flagship and you have not yet asked me whether or not I agree to your plan."

"In addition," said Commander Nebula, placing his hands together and leaning forward at the circular table in the war room in Talerith Castle, "the _Calypso_ has been built and given to the people of Destiny Islands, and the _Jericho_ is under my command, and neither Chief Guardian Garda nor myself have signed on to your plan either. In fact," he glanced down at one of the papers in front of him, "the only ships of noteworthy size that you or General Howell can draw upon are the carriers _Enterprise_ and _Kestrel II_, the _Cassiopeia_, _Soyuz_, and the _Starlight_ herself."

"The _Enterprise_ and _Kestrel II_ would both be sitting ducks out there," General Howell replied instantly. "With only a cruiser and a frigate to act as escort ships if the Heartless have any really big craft then they're all done for."

"Cruisers and frigates have some formidable firepower of their own," Kago reminded him. "With cruisers much more than frigates."

"But they aren't ships of the line," snapped Howell. "They're not dreadnoughts; they can't take the punishment something like the _Avenger_ can."

"And you have two carriers' worth of fighter and bomber protection," pointed out Garda.

"Something could still slip past them," admitted Ralph Manish.

"So you admit that your pilots aren't trained," said General Berger from Twilight Town.

"They're somewhat trained," said Lord Ramius. "All of our new flyboys, including yours George, just got their fighters and bombers two weeks ago, and they've had the simulators for over a month before that. In the real cockpit each of them should have between eighteen and twenty-two hours flying time."

"Hm," mumbled King Mickey, "not the greatest amount of time."

"That's why my boys and girls are all their flight leads," said Commander Nebula.

Some grumbling went towards the commander, and Kairi wasn't quite able to pick up what, when Garda spoke again. "Ralph, you were all on about the number of fighters the _Avenger_ and _Kestrel II_ could field, but now you're backing down on that. Why? Don't you have faith in your pilots?"

"I do have faith in my boys," said the Prime Minister. "But fighter and bomber pilots can only do so much on their own, I need the anti-starfighter power of the corvettes in addition to the overwhelming firepower of a dreadnought like the _Avenger_, and I really doubt that even if we pulled our ships out to form our own battle group that we'd get the _Starlight_ to lead—"

Kairi interrupted him. "You're right Mr. Manish," she said, "I'd never sign to changing the _Starlight_'s assignment."

There were a couple of uncomfortable glances around the table—including the PM, who had always been very reasonable and nice to both Kairi and Naminé—before General Howell spoke to her. "With all due respect Your Highness, you haven't even seen the _Starlight_ and you are…very young. Perhaps you don't quite understand the benefits of—"

"No," Kairi said. "I was told yesterday that the _Starlight_ would be the flagship of a battle group consisting of eleven vessels including her, and today when I looked at the ship lists I saw that she was leading a group of ships from Destiny Islands, Twilight Town, Radiant Garden, Star Command, Disney Castle, and the GDI from General Solomon's Earth. I was told that she'd be a beacon for our people to follow, that she'd be the flagship of both myself and my sister. I'm not moving her to a different task force consisting solely of ships from two worlds; that won't solidify any of the bonds we're trying to make here.

"Furthermore, as I understand it, a third task force would create even more problems than the two that we have. All of the ships will need to take on supplies before departing, and they will probably need to be resupplied and sent…" she gulped,"_replacements_…during the campaign as well. If we have three battle groups instead of just two then we will need three convoys of supply ships and transports that will have to be escorted and defended against possible Heartless attacks than if we needed to worry about just two convoys. It will cost us more to defend three than it will two, and besides that, I don't feel comfortable having two carriers leaving the battle groups and forming their own. Looking at the technical specifications you have here, they aren't the best defended of ships and rely greatly on the skill of their own compliments of fighters. As Lord Ramius has said, our pilots don't have a lot of experience yet, so even though I believe in them, since I barely had any experience when I flew to assist the Razgriz, I don't know how well they will do."

"With all due respect, Your Highness," said General Howell, "I don't think a girl of your age knows the strategic…"

"All Guardians are trained to think strategically in any situation," Garda swiftly countered. "They're trained to evaluate and weigh risks against advantages. Star Command only has five spare gunships, a light carrier, two frigates, three squadrons of Arrows, and one Ajax squadron to use as supply escort, since they're also in charge of putting ships in orbit around each of our worlds to protect them from further Heartless incursions as well as defending Star Command itself. I agree with the girl's reasoning; we can't spread Star Command's resources even more thinly than we already have."

Kairi looked at Garda in surprise and he winked at her. _Did he just make me a Guardian?_

"Back to the pilots," said Admiral Kago. "You said that they had about nineteen hours flight training. Princess Kairi, how much flight time did you have before you went in?"

Kairi blushed and looked sheepish as she avoided everyone's eyes. "Only about seven hours actually piloting the _Highwind_ and one in my Arrow before we engaged the enemy in Sudentor. I was in a few other fights while Sora was piloting the _Highwind_ though; but most of my experience is on the ground, so I was lucky that the Arrows are built so well and that I had such good wing mates and flight lead."

"You mean Sora," said Lord Ramius with a smile.

"Hey, Ovan," Kairi returned playfully, "my boyfriend is a damn good pilot; he's the only one of us that didn't take a hit, even though he was right in the thick of things the whole time."

Silence fell around the table as they all looked at Kairi. "You were hit?" Ralph Manish asked.

Kairi winced, realizing belatedly that she should have kept her mouth shut there. "I had an engine fire," Kairi answered, "Roxas almost sacrificed himself to save Naminé—he _didn't_, because his shields saved him and we would have killed him if he had—and Naminé lost part of a wing when a piece of the SOLG was knocked off and hit her. Sora's the only one who came out of that flight without a scratch on his gummi ship."

The Prime Minister exchanged a look with Lord Ramius and with Mayor Magellan. "I petition that the Princesses stay—"

Kairi stood up and placed Menelmon's digiegg firmly on the table in front of her. "I will fight," she declared. "Menelmon gave herself for me, and many others have fallen to the Heartless. I will fight with my friends and we will win. And you won't stop Naminé either."

"Well spoken Kairi," said King Mickey. "I know you'll do your best."

Kairi smiled at him, rubbing a hand against the top of the digiegg. "Thanks Your Majesty."

"I agree with the Princess," sided Colonel Mustang. "Her friends are strong; they'll win. But I agree with her on more than just the nonissue of her fighting, I also agree with her on keeping the battle groups together. Though my world has no ships assigned to us, I understand that our ability to defend the numbers of supply and support vessels needed would be stretched thinner than it already is, and we would not be able to afford the potential losses."

"In addition I don't like the idea of the _Starlight_ and _Unity_ losing some of their fighter support," said Kago.

Ralph Manish shook his head vigorously. "But we aren't asking for the _Enterprise, Cassiopeia, Soyuz, _and _Kestrel II_; we're asking for the _Avenger, Kestrel II, Egret, Sleipnir, Jericho, _and _Calypso_."

"In which case both battle groups are still giving up part of their fighter and bomber compliment to the _Avenger_'s group, and the _Unity_'s more than the _Starlight_'s, because even though the carriers carry more fighters, cruisers and frigates still have a squadron or two stationed onboard," argued King Mickey, "we shouldn't be weakening the fleet so much by dividing it into three."

"Actually I think the _Starlight_'s group gets weakened more than the _Unity_'s Your Majesty," put in Commander Nebula. "While both technically do have eleven ships in them at present, and while the _Soyuz_ and _Cassiopeia_ are still under construction, if we take the _Egret, Calypso, _and _Jericho_ from the _Starlight_ that only leaves her with one cruiser, one frigate, two corvettes, two carriers—and the _Nexus_ from Twilight Town only a light carrier at that with the _Enterprise_ not much bigger—and one ship of the line; while taking the _Sleipnir, Kestrel II,_ and _Avenger_ from the _Unity_ still leaves her with one carrier, one dreadnought, two cruisers, two frigates, and one corvette. The _Unity_ loses more fighters, but discounting the pilots and their skill in their Arrows and Ajaxes, the _Starlight_ is left with fewer support ships. If anything really big came at her, I wonder if she and the _Arizona_ would be able to handle it with just the _Judicator, Fox, Arrow,_ and _Ocean_ to help."

"That's what the additional fighters are for," answered General Howell.

"They can't be everywhere," Kairi told him. "If you've got Red and Green groups providing fighter cover for the _Starlight_ but they get tangled up in Heartless ships and then bombers roll in underneath the dog fighting Arrows what are you going to do with no ships really capable of fending them off? Spit at them?"

"Call the fighters back," Ralph Manish suggested.

"That's an order a lot of pilots would fight against," General Solomon said. "Their training would dictate that they follow the order, but when you've got an enemy in your sights, and he's been denying you a clear shot for a while, the only thing on your mind is knocking him out of the sky, and damn the order to withdraw! If you let him go he can come up on your six when you least expect it and then there's a missile straight up your ass and your tail's on fire."

"I don't like that we Keyblade Wielders have to split up," King Mickey added. "I'm confident that we can handle it, but I still don't like it. Any of us could be ambushed out there and beaten down, and that's why we team up; but I'd hate for it to happen to a whole fleet or to a barely defended convoy just because we stripped ships from other sections so we could cover more ground."

"So we're agreed then?" Garda asked. "We're keeping the fleet organized as is."

"I call for a vote," General Howell said. "All in favour of accepting our proposal raise their hands." He and the Prime Minister of Radiant Garden raised their hands.

"All opposed," called Fleet Admiral Kago. Every other hand rose into the air, Kairi's included. "Then the fleet will stay as it is."

_Snick!_

Everyone frowned at the noise. They glanced around. "What was that?" asked Lieutenant Hawkeye.

_Snick! Crick!_

Kairi looked down in surprise and a smile leapt onto her face. There was a crack in the digiegg's face. "C'mon!" she called encouragingly. "C'mon! You can do it. You're almost out." The crack lengthened, breaking around the upper middle and slowly continuing on all around the egg. The instant the crack made a complete circuit the egg started to wobble, and then the top of the white shell patterned with blue circles popped off.

Kairi couldn't help but gush. Inside was a tiny little digimon, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. It was a yellow blob, its sides rippling like waves softly beating against the shore and the inside of its body emitting a faint luminescence. Its eyes were closed, and it yawned after using all of that energy to break free of the digiegg. But then it opened its little blue eyes and locked eyes with Kairi.

Suddenly its body's glow grew and it leapt out of what remained of the egg. "Minya Minyamon!" it declared happily. Kairi couldn't help but laugh and catch it in her hands and bring it up to her face. It rubbed its side against her cheek, and Kairi nuzzled against it, loving the smoothness of its skin and delighting in the rippling feeling. Its body was warm and happy, and all of Kairi's being became joy at seeing the baby digimon.

"You hatched!" she giggled. "Great job Minyamon!"

"Excuse me Your Highness," said Ralph Manish, though none of them could keep from smiling at the happy looks on the girl's and digimon's faces from being reunited, "but what is that?"

Kairi looked over at him. "This is Minyamon, the baby form of Menelmon. She's a jelly-type digimon, and her body glows brighter when she gets excited. Don't ask me how I know, I just do." She turned to her digimon. "Are you hungry Minyamon?"

"Ee!" affirmed the digimon, nodding and smiling. Kairi was gushing at how cute she was.

"Then let's get you something to eat," she said, "and then we can tour the _Starlight_ together."

"Princess Kairi," said the elected leader of her world, "the meetings?"

In answer, Kairi transferred Minyamon to her shoulder, and the little digimon seemed happy to be back in a familiar place. Keeping her broken arm close to her body, she scooped up the papers in front of her. "I'll look through these later," she said, "and I'll probably inspect our Cavalier and Felix squadrons either today while I'm out or tomorrow. But right now," she smiled brightly, "I have a baby digimon to take care of."

Minyamon chirped, "Minya!" and Kairi left the war room. Her partner was back! Nothing could bring her down today.

-A-D-

"I'm telling you, it doesn't look like a pig!"

"I have to agree with him on this one sir, the _Starlight_ really doesn't look like one at all."

"No! I ain't talking about the ship; I'm talking about the jeep." The other two glanced at the vehicle that had just driven in, carrying a couple of soldiers and loaded as full as possible with gear and supplies.

"What? You mean the Dingo LRV?" asked the first one.

"Exactly," replied the complaining one. "It looks nothing like a hunting dog, and I should know; I've roasted a couple on a spit with my shotgun."

The two looked at him in confusion. "Sarge, do you mean to say that you roasted them on your shotgun over a fire?"

"No Simmons! That's crazy talk."

"Okay good, because I thought that—"

"Everyone knows that the taste of lead from a hot shotgun cooks dingo meat better than any fire ever can. It's all in the grapeshot school of cooking."

"So what about the bullets that are left in the corpse?" the first one asked.

"Don't you know anything Grif?" Sarge asked. "They add iron, and extra protein. In fact, I think you could use some more right now."

"I'm good sir," said Grif.

Sarge gasped suddenly, looking over at the jeep as the two soldiers who had come on it came back with another six and started to unload it. "Sweet Napoleon waterloos! They're playing polka music off the Warthog's radio!"

"I'm telling you sir, it's called a Dingo," said Simmons.

"Yeah," Grif added. "It looks more like a puma than a pig anyway."

"Grif, what the Sam hell is a puma?"

"It's a big cat, like a lion."

"Simmons are you believing this?"

"I think he's making it up sir."

"I'm telling you it's a real animal!"

A bell started tolling, and at the same time a whistle blew sharply. The soldiers in green who had come on the Dingo looked around in confusion, but everyone who was dressed in navy blue and black started rushing around like bees in a beehive that had just had a rock thrown into it. Orders were issued in loud shouts, and calls for people to wait up, hurry up, or to tell them what was going on were fired off rapidly. Hooting could also be heard somewhere in the hangar, but no one could tell where it was coming from.

"Hm, looks like the navy's gotten a hedgehog up their butt," said Sarge, watching the chaos unfold in front of them.

"Wonder what's going on," said Grif.

"Dunno," said Simmons, watching as a man with four thick gold bars on his shoulder flashes descended from the _Starlight_'s loading ramp, flanked by his aides, "but it must be pretty important for Captain Heartman to be coming out."

"Hey guys," said a voice from behind them. "What's going on?" They turned around.

"Donut! Where the hell have you been?" asked Sarge. "We're supposed to know where all personnel are at all times, ready to act at a moment's notice!"

"I was in the mess kitchen baking muffins," replied Donut. "I brought a whole batch with me in case you want any Sarge."

"Donut, how are muffins going to help us in a combat situation against the Heartless?" Sarge asked.

"Well…I wasn't thinking about combat when I made them. There were Christmas carols playing, so I thought of my aunt's Christmas muffins."

"Wouldn't you get fat eating those?" Grif asked.

"Not if they're _apple_ muffins," answered Donut. "Loophole!"

"We could always lace them with nano-explosives and throw them like grenades," Simmons said.

"Exploding muffins!" Sarge exclaimed, looking at Simmons. "I like it! We make a nitro-glycerine icing that we spread on top of the muffin, and then we leave the muffins out. Our unsuspecting victim comes towards the muffins, picks one up, and when he takes a bite…his head goes all kablamo!"

"Great idea sir," congratulated Simmons, "except that you don't put icing on muffins and the Heartless don't eat."

"Heartless? Who said anything about the Heartless?" He looked at Grif.

"This is why I'm glad I'm on the vowel diet," said Grif. "My Oreos will keep me safe."

"And that's the beauty of the nitro-icing," Sarge declared. "You can take the icing off of two Oreos and replace it with our homemade brew and hide them with the rest of the box. They'll never know what hit them."

"I think I'll just give up eating," Grif said to Simmons.

"Hey what's that?" Simmons asked, looking towards a side door into the massive hangar. Most of the doors into the building were closed to keep the heat inside the building in, but some of the doors that could accommodate vehicles like the Dingo were open as soldiers were busy moving gear and supplies into the capital ship. This door was just a regular door for people to enter in and out of the hangar, and the few people that were filing in were all dressed in bright red and gold jackets. "What's the Royal Guard doing here?"

Then out of the cold in the middle of the people in red stepped a girl wearing a white, fuchsia, and steel coloured winter jacket with the hood drawn up over her head. On her legs were white snow pants and white ski boots, and black mitts were on her hands. The girl sighed in relief upon entering the warm hangar, and drew back her hood to reveal her shoulder-length auburn hair and something tiny that was next to her neck under the hood. They couldn't get a good look at it though from the distance they were at.

"Royal Highness raspberries," Sarge said, "it's the Princess Royal!"

"Wow it is!" Donut said. "I think this could be my big chance to meet her."

Simmons sighed. "Donut, you can't just walk up to royalty and say, 'Hi Your Highness, how's your day been going?' You'll get tackled by her guards."

"I think I'll ask her how her day's been going," Donut said. "Wish me luck guys."

"I wonder if he even heard a word I said," Simmons said as Donut walked away. "Hey Sarge, should we stop him."

"I want to watch her guards tackle him," Grif said, "watching Donut get hurt is much better than getting hurt myself. OW! Son of a bitch!" Grif screamed as Sarge whacked him on the head with his shotgun.

Sarge chuckled. "I suggest we observe Donut's progress from a safe distance, and then, should he miraculously not get arrested, we might get to meet Her Royal Highness."

"Yeah, I don't think so," said Grif. _WHACK!_ "OW! Son of a bitch! Sarge!"

-A-D-

Kairi was floored the moment she walked into the hangar and threw back her hood. In front of her was the dreadnought _Starlight_, just receiving the last touches of paint to her body. At the bow of the ship, high above Kairi's head, was a spherical head with a one hundred and fifty metre diameter, following the head was a bit of a slimmer neck before the ship's height and width steadily increased. The sloping curve upwards reached a plateau, before increasing further in height as two riser-like sections were stacked midway down the fuselage. In the middle of the top riser, a tower rose above the rest with a gentle curve, topped by a disk-shaped dome. The plateau continued after the first riser gave way for another hundred metres before sloping down a little and reaching the engines at the aft; two massive things placed side-by-side in the middle of the block. Two wings also stretched out for four hundred metres at mid-height of the _Starlight_ with the beginning of their leading edge just behind the tower's stern. In total, the _Starlight_ was over eighteen hundred metres long, three hundred metres tall (including the tower), and four hundred metres wide from the first riser onwards (excluding the wings).

Kairi'd read the technical data about its size, but seeing it in person left her feeling breathless. The entire vessel was white-silver, accented by powder blue in a few places, and tiny periwinkle blue lights littered the exterior with red ones trailing the wings. In places where there was little light to reflect the white-silver paint, the _Starlight_ would look just like a blanket of blue stars in the night sky; and if the Heartless came upon her then, she would light up with dozens of weapon emplacements. Kairi couldn't see all of them, but she could certainly make out enough to know that even Sora would think twice before trying to try and take on the _Starlight_ even if he was piloting the _Highwind_ or an Arrow at his best. She was a true ship of the line. Heck, she could probably hold the line even when there was no line to hold!

"Whoa," Kairi whispered, the only word she could utter in her breathless state.

_I'm impressed,_ said Alcezeran in her mind. _That completely dwarfs the size of our Bankai._

Kairi mentally glanced at her Keyblade. _You keep mentioning our Bankai, but you haven't taken any steps in helping me get it._

_You're not ready for Bankai and you don't need it yet,_ Alcezeran replied sharply.

While privately grumbling about that, Minyamon chirped on her shoulder, and Kairi shrugged it so that Minyamon could rub against her cheek. The grumbles went away and Kairi smiled before adjusting her raspberry beret.

"Come Princess," Captain Beagle said with a smile beneath his spears of grey-flecked brown hair. She looked up into his green eyes at the sound of the veteran's voice, "Let's go meet Captain Heartman." Kairi nodded and started to unzip her jacket.

"It's warm in here," she stated as she took the jacket off, "I like it, so why did I wear these snow pants? I swear I'm going to sweat myself to dehydration in them."

A slightly chuckle came from a few members of her guard while one took her coat from her, dressed in their bright crimson and gold coats with black pants and belts, sharp creases running down the middle of their pants on both sides and shiny brass buckles centred on their belts; shined boots dulled by melting snow on their feet. They'd all walked here through the snow. "Still not acclimatized to the Garden's winters eh Your Highness?" asked Private Jenkins beneath her short charcoal hair.

"I like my islands," Kairi answered, grinning. "But you're right Captain Beagle, let's go."

"Whoa there," Sergeant Higgs called suddenly. "Who are you?" Kairi looked past the sergeant towards the person who was approaching them with curiosity. He wasn't in a navy uniform that was for sure.

"Private Donut," said the man, "I just wanted to ask the princess how her day was going and see if she wanted a muffin I'd just baked in the mess." Kairi gently pushed the well-meaning sergeant aside and smiled at him before turning to Donut. He came to attention and saluted, and Kairi returned it quickly. "Morning Your Highness, how's your day been?"

"My day's been going great," she answered. "Yours?"

"Pretty good Your Highness," Donut answered. "I just baked these awesome low-cal apple muffins in the mess kitchen. I even brought a batch with me, but Sarge didn't really want any."

"They're hot and fresh?" Kairi asked.

"Your mouth will waterfall with their freshness," Donut answered.

Kairi laughed. "Sounds great. I'll have one. Harris (for Harris Higgs), would you like one? Nikolev? Crysta? Marie? Alex? Rick? Bianca? And… uh…?" Kairi looked sheepishly at the last of the eight members of her guard that had accompanied her. "I'm sorry Glavis, but I can't remember your name."

The woman smiled in understanding. "Liz."

"Liz," Kairi repeated, graciously nodding her head. "Liz? Muffin?" She nodded.

"I think I'll take that muffin," said PFC Alex Trent, nodding his head.

"Me too," added Marie Namis.

"I think we'll all have them Private Donut," Captain Nikolev Beagle said. "Thank you for the offer."

"Thank you sir, Your Highness, I'll be right back."

-A-D-

"Look, here comes Donut," Simmons alerted Grif and Sarge. "And he's not in shackles."

"What!" Sarge asked. "You mean he didn't get clobbered?"

"That's unreal," Grif exclaimed.

"Hey guys guess what?" said Donut as he got close.

"Her guards hit you so hard that you can't remember your name?"

"No silly," Donut replied. "They didn't even touch me. Princess Kairi and her guard want my muffins."

The three looked at each other. "You mean the muffins we were just about to spread the nitro-icing on?" asked Sarge.

"Yeah, those ones," Donut said.

"I don't know, can't we just put the icing on one of the muffins to see if they work or not?"

Simmons looked at his leader. "Sarge, I'm pretty sure none of us want to get arrested and shot for assassinating the Princess with an exploding muffin."

"The Princess?" Sarge asked. "Who said anything about giving the Princess the muffin? I was talking about Grif."

"I'm still surprised that you two were able to mix nitro-glycerine into the icing without it exploding," Grif said, completely used to Sarge's death threats.

"Us?" Simmons asked. "You must have us confused for idiots Grif."

"Yeah, that's what Lopez is for," Sarge clarified.

"Well just hurry up and bring the muffins without the icing, she's waiting."

-A-D-

While waiting on those muffins, Kairi and her guard advanced towards where the man with four thick gold bars on his shoulders was waiting for her. He came to attention and saluted, and Kairi returned it. "Your Highness," the man said, dipping into a bow. "My name is Captain Reginald Heartman; I'm pleased to see you out and well, especially after what happened yesterday."

Kairi glanced at the little digimon on her shoulder, and the small smile that had been stuck on her face ever since Minyamon had popped out of her digiegg widened slightly. "I think I'll be okay," she answered.

"Minyamon!" chirped the baby digimon. Kairi giggled as it tickled her cheek with its rippling body, glowing brighter at the touch. The smile that came onto the man's face was warm and sincere.

Kairi looked back at the captain and her eyes zeroed in on his shoulder flashes. "Hm…" she said, twisting her mouth to the side in thought. The captain remained silent, waiting for her to speak. "You're a captain," she said, "and _you're_ a captain," she added, looking to Capt. Beagle, "so why do you have two thick gold bars and he has four thick gold bars?"

"Army Captain, Your Highness," Beagle answered.

"Navy Captain, Your Highness," Heartman added.

Kairi tried to remember and bit her bottom lip. She could hear hooting in the background, but dismissed it. "Okay… in army and air for officers it goes Officer Cadet, Second _Lef_tenant, _Lef_tenant, Captain, Major, _Lef_tenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General…Major General, _Lef_tenant General, and then General; and in the navy it goes…Naval Cadet, Acting Sub-_Lef_tenant, Sub-_Lef_tenant, _Lef_tenant, _Lef_tenant Commander, Commander, Captain, Commodore…Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, and Admiral, right?"

"That's correct Your Highness," affirmed Reginald Heartman.

"So if you were in the army or air force you'd be a Colonel and if _you_ were in the navy you'd be a Lieutenant (Navy)," Kairi declared.

"That's right," said Nikolev Beagle in a patient voice.

"Awesome, I've got my officer ranks right," Kairi crowed, clenching her fist in victory for an instant. She looked up at the massive ship. "But, how were you guys able to build the _Starlight_ in such a short amount of time?"

Captain Heartman smiled. "Anything is possible when you have an army of motivated moogles and a little magic." There was a puff of smoke next to the captain, and out stepped a familiar figure with a tall blue hat and long white beard.

"Merlin!" Kairi cried.

"Yes, Your Highness," the wizard said. "It seems my magic must always be needed to assist in these projects, but I must say that it's been working splendidly."

"Have you fixed the spell on your brushes so that they don't wash a girl red yet?"

Merlin stuttered. "Er, no, not yet Kairi. My washing brushes haven't really been high on my priority li—Plato what are you doing!"

A small dragon made completely of fire was flying around the hangar, chasing a small horned owl through the air. "There you are you—you—you old windbag!" the owl shouted, diving for Merlin. He shot under Merlin's hat and stayed there, narrowly avoiding a jet of flame coming from the dragon. Kairi recognized the fire shaped like a dragon from a couple of stories she'd heard from Roxas and Riku, but this was the first time she'd actually seen it. Roxas had conjured that way back to convince Edward Elric that magic existed. _It's still around?_

"Now now Archimedes, what are you on about?" Merlin asked.

The owl pushed up the rim of the hat. "That dragon is a menace," he said, "and if you had any sense, you would get rid of it this instant."

"Now Archimedes be reasonable," Merlin said as Plato landed on his shoulder, inexplicably not burning the wizard's robes. He started to pet the fire dragon's head with a finger, and it closed its yellow-orange eyes in contentment and lied down. Kairi looked at it closely. Its body was a foot long, with its tail another foot in length. Plato's head was conical, with two straight horns jutting out just above its ears, and its spindly neck and four strong legs each only as long as her index finger. "It's a brilliant creation of Roxas', one that I never expected him to make for how sophisticated it is from such a simple spell. It should have expired long ago, but I've discovered that Plato sustains itself from its own flames. The food he eats acts as the fuel needed to maintain combustion, and so long as he is in an atmosphere with enough oxygen to continue burning he will remain alive. If ever his incredible heat were to be doused or the air stripped of oxygen, Plato would fizzle and be no more, but unless those things happen or he burns down the house I see no reason to get rid of him."

"Hmpf!" Archimedes huffed. "If you don't get rid of him, you can find yourself another familiar."

"Archimedes you've been with me since I was twelve, I know that you're not about to leave me because of something tiny like this."

"I will! I swear it!"

Kairi laughed, and Merlin, Archimedes, and Plato all looked up at her. She couldn't help it, but the sight of the old wizard arguing with the cantankerous owl was just too funny. "Oh, Merlin," Kairi began, starting to weave around while her feet stayed rooted to the ground. There was a slip of paper in her jeans underneath the snow pants she had on, and her fingers fumbled as she tried to pull it out. "There's this…design that I came up with and I think that…Naminé would like as well and I was hoping if it wouldn't be _too_ much trouble, where is that thing, if you could paint it onto the _Starlight_? Aha! Here it is." Beaming with pride, Kairi pulled out the piece of paper and showed it to Merlin.

He rubbed his beard, looking critically at the drawing, but Archimedes laughed from underneath the protection of Merlin's pointy hat. "And what is this supposed to be?" he asked, pointing a wing at the picture.

Kairi bristled. "It's supposed to be a white dragon in front of flames in front of a purplish-pink full moon all surrounded by roses. I'm sorry that I can't draw as well as Naminé!"

"Hm," Merlin announced, "yes, yes I think this is quite doable." He drew a long brown wand from the folds of his robe, and then tapped the image on the paper. Kairi couldn't see what happened, but Merlin smiled so it must have been something good. Maybe he changed it to make up for her lesser ability as an artist? Then suddenly he dragged his wand across the paper sharply, pointed it at the _Starlight_, and cried, "Higitus Figitus migitus mum, prestidigitonium!" There was a sound like cannon fire from Merlin's wand, and hands came to everyone's ears but the wizard's. Splashes of purple, red, and white sparks suddenly appeared on the upper middle of the dome and came from the midway down the wing. When Kairi looked up at the dome, there her drawing was, except far better than she could make it. The dragon almost looked alive.

"Thank you Merlin," she said, dipping her head graciously.

"No trouble at all my dear," Merlin answered jovially. Kairi turned her attention away from Merlin though, because the little dragon that was on Merlin's shoulder had been watching her ever since it came down with Archimedes, and its flaming tail was gently wagging back and forth. The little dragon seemed to smile excitedly at her, and with a roar it leapt off of Merlin's shoulder and landed on her left one, opposite to Minyamon, in a single bound. Kairi looked at it in surprise, even more when it stretched its flaming neck up and licked her cheek, and then it yawned and curled down on her shoulder and went to sleep. Suddenly Kairi felt a gentle burning on the spot where the dragon had licked her and placed a finger to the irritated skin. By the time her finger reached it, however, the burning and irritated sensation had stopped, but she was feeling a sense of satisfaction and contentment. She automatically knew that they weren't her emotions though.

The Wielder of Light glanced between Plato and Merlin with a confused look on her face. "What just happened?" she asked. "Did I just get a tiny fire spell in the shape of a dragon as a pet?"

"No," Archimedes, surprisingly, answered, coming out from beneath the wizard's hat with eyes wide for even an owl. He was staring at Plato even as he hopped sideways on Merlin's shoulder. "He's chosen a companion."

Looking at the sleeping dragon on her shoulder, Kairi questioned, "Companion?" of Archimedes. "But, I already have a partner," she said, nudging Minyamon on her other shoulder.

"No, no, no, no," Archimedes told her rapidly, "silly girl. Not like you digimon partner. That dragon is more than any living spell as this fool here thinks. Your friend Roxas somehow managed to summon an elemental, and one who bonds himself to a magic user he takes a liking to. He's now your familiar, like I am with this old coot."

Merlin bristled and said, "Now Archimedes!" but didn't do anything else.

"For someone who doesn't like him very much, you sure know a lot about him," Pvt. Marie Namis said to the owl.

"Hmph," replied Archimedes with a proud ruffling of his feathers. "A familiar can always tell another familiar on sight. I have a companion, and he didn't. Because of that, he was jealous of me and annoyed me like a gnat, but he figured that if he stayed with me and Merlin that he would find a wizard whom he liked. Now that he has chosen you, Kairi, he should calm down a little. He had been getting rather agitated lately."

Kairi looked at the owl in shock before slowly turning towards Plato. "My… familiar?" she asked aloud.

"_If you will have me,"_ said a raspy voice with a male inflection. Gasping in surprise, Kairi saw one of Plato's eyes open lazily, revealing the black slit for a pupil amidst the fiery eye. His jaw had opened, showing his flaming teeth. _"I like you, Queen of white flame, so if you will have me, I would like to be with you."_

Kairi stared at him for a second before blinking and nodding her head. _"Yes, I will have you. The more the merrier. I just hope you and Minyamon will get along."_

Gasps erupted all around her, and Kairi glanced around at her guard and the officers of the _Starlight_. Merlin was stroking his beard in interest while muttering a string of words under his breath, and Archimedes was wearing a rather smug look at the sight of the officers. "What is it?" Kairi asked.

Captain Beagle was the one to answer her, though he seemed anxious to voice his words. "Your Highness, what did you say?"

She looked at him curiously. "What do you mean, what did I say? Didn't you hear me?" Again, she felt a bubble of emotion that wasn't her own, a smugness that was emanating from her shoulder. Glancing quickly, she saw the look on Plato's face as he looked at the captain of her guard.

_I'm empathically linked with him like I am with Sora?_

"Well," the captain continued, "your voice… you spoke in rasps and hisses."

"She is speaking with her familiar," Merlin told him. "You cannot understand a word that they say to one another."

_So that's why they all look like I just went crazy,_ Kairi thought, taking in the faces of the men and women around her. She felt a nudge against her cheek again.

"_I'm going to nap now, my Queen,"_ said Plato, _"chasing the feather-head around always tires me out."_

"Watch who you're calling feather-head, flame-tongue!" Archimedes snapped.

Plato looked over at him. _"Apparently the wizard and his owl can still understand our conversation."_ He glanced back at Kairi. _"Would you mind, my Queen?"_

"_No, go ahead and nap on my shoulder,"_ Kairi answered. _"Is Plato an okay name for you, or would you like to change it? And why do you call me Queen, when I have no intention of becoming one?"_ Her guards were still giving her shifty looks, and Kairi supposed that she'd never get used to it. She couldn't tell that her voice was coming out in rasps and hisses like a reptile.

"_Plato is fine my Queen,"_ replied the fire elemental, _"as for calling you Queen, my Queen,"_ this time she felt playful amusement come from him, _"I like calling you Queen."_

"_Are you a boy or a girl?"_ Kairi asked suddenly. _"You sound male, but then, Archimedes said that you're an elemental so…"_

"_The owl is correct, I am an elemental. I have no gender."_

"_Well I don't like the idea of thinking of you as an 'it'. It makes you an object, not something with a personality. I like pronouns."_

"_If it should please you, my Queen, to think of me as a male, then you may call me 'he'. Now, about that nap…?"_

Kairi blushed. _"Yes, sorry. Go to sleep Plato."_ Smirking in satisfaction, the dragon lay down his head again and tightened the grip on her sweater, curling up and going to sleep. Smiling, Kairi turned her head the other way. Minyamon was looking at the elemental with a tiny frown on her chibi face. "Will you be okay with this Minyamon?" Kairi asked.

Minyamon's eyes scrutinized Kairi for a few seconds before the baby digimon nodded. "Minya!" she said pleasantly, and Kairi sighed in relief. This was turning into a very interesting day.

Then the muffins arrived, and they began the inspection with non-exploding low-cal apple muffins in hand and in stomach.

-A-D-

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	62. Goin' Down the Bayou

_So I have a Facebook group for the fic now, because I'm lame and caved. Follow the link in my profile and request membership if you'd like to join._

_I'm now 21 as of yesterday! That means I'm legal anywhere but it doesn't matter because I'm a broke University student! Hooray!_

_I want to clarify this for all of you, because I'm pretty sure with my Harry Potter reference at the start of the previous chapter that many of you thought this. Kairi was not speaking Parseltongue. I repeat, Kairi was not speaking Parseltongue. She was speaking a modified version of Ignan, which is the language of fire elementals. Technically Ignan is supposed to emulate the pop of flames, but since Plato is an elemental in the shape of a dragon and Ignan uses the draconic alphabet I chose to make it more of a draconic language. Furthermore, this is _only_ possible because Plato is her familiar._

_"Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help" (D&D Player's Handbook Core Rulebook I v.3.5, pg. 53)._

_Kairi can only speak to Plato in Ignan, she can't speak to other fire elementals (should they encounter them) because she doesn't consciously know the language, just like she doesn't consciously know Quintessence. She also doesn't actually know any draconic languages, so if she were to encounter dragons, she wouldn't be able to understand them herself unless they spoke to her in English or unless Plato were to act as translator for her (same as if they encounter other fire elementals, Plato would be able to speak to them, but Kairi would not)._

_Secondly KH news! As some of you are probably aware, Kingdom Hearts: 3D (Dream, Drop, Distance) appeared at this year's Tokyo Game Show, and there is a playable demo available. Sora and Riku each have new outfits (well, Riku's looks MOSTLY the same, but it's still new), and there is also a trailer but I haven't seen it yet. Anyway, in Sora's portion of the playable demo he's in Traverse Town, meeting up with Neku from TWEWY (The World Ends With You), so he's kinda going along with his look-alike from another Square game released in another time while we were waiting on new Kingdom Hearts stuff (...huh, imagine that). Riku's scenario has him guarding Esmeralda and Quasimodo in the bell tower in Notre Dame, and he FLIES. The enemies that they are fighting are called 'Dream Eaters', goblinoid creatures that eat sleep, and both Sora and Riku have strange animal companions that look like offshoots of Pokemon or Digimon. Sora has this panda/dog/cat-like one called Wandanyan as well as a squirrel one that there's no current picture for, and Riku has a Zubat re-colour called Koumori Bat as well as a unicorn-like companion. Sora can at least ride around on the panda-cat Wandanyan and trample the Dream Eaters underneath; haven't seen what Riku can do with his companions yet, and everything's still up in the air about them. Reactions on the KHInsider forums about them are mixed since I started up a thread about them. Still no sign on what's going on after the MoM exam is over though, and there's a release date for Spring 2012 for Japanese fans. Curse you Japan! We might not get it until just before the world ends on December 21st (hmm... maybe that's why TWEWY is in here...)! If you want to speculate about anything going on, the AoD Facebook page is also a good place (yes, shameless advertising)._

_Disclaimer: Na na na, KH is still not-a-mine. Na na na, I'm sure it's still not mine. Na na na, I'll never get ownership. Na na na, though it's my favourite game. (Sung along to 'Kissy Kissy' by Smile)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 62: Goin' Down the Bayou

_0657hrs, Wednesday, December 3__rd__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Bayou, Mystic Bayou,  
Naminé_

"Ugh, I had the craziest dream last night," Naminé said as she woke up, rubbing her closed eyes.

"Yeah?" Roxas asked. "What was it about?"

"You were in it, and so were some other people. I dreamed that when we showed up in town that Agatha and I met this voodoo witch doctor who turned me into a frog, and then when you kissed me at a masquerade ball to turn me human again, _you_ got turned into a frog too, and then we escaped on balloons from a rabid dog with two other humans who had been turned into frogs. Then we landed in a swamp, ran from a catfish, a heron, and a bunch of alligators and got holed up in a hollow stump, then we went to sleep and I felt Kairi having a nightmare."

Roxas chuckled. "That's some crazy dream alright," he said. "Sounds exactly like reality."

Naminé's indigo eyes snapped open and looked up for the source of Roxas' voice. Sure enough, there was a frog's face waiting to meet her eyes, but at the very least it resembled Roxas' and the eyes were his eyes. She'd been sleeping with her head in his lap, and if had been a nice sleep despite the strange feeling that Kairi had had a rough night.

She whimpered and tried to hide her head in her froggie hands. "I'm still a slimy little frog who can't do anything!"

"Naminé…" Roxas sighed.

"I told you Naminé," said Naveen, the prince who had been turned into a frog by the voodoo man as well, "it is not slime, you are secreting mucus."

"Mucus," Naminé mumbled. "_Mucus_… how is mucus better than slime?"

"Slime is mushy decomposing plants, mucus is made to serve a useful purpose," Naveen answered.

"You know a surprisingly large amount about slime and mucus," Roxas noted while Naminé continued to shudder.

Naveen shrugged. "I have lots of free time." An acorn suddenly flew in from the outside and hit him in the head. "Ow!"

"Up and at 'em sleeping beauties," Tiana called, her voice drifting in from somewhere outside, "gators are gone." Naminé moaned and stood up, awkwardly walking to the hole in the trunk. Her eyes widened. Tiana was down on the water, finishing up a lashing that was keeping together a rather impressive—considering that they were in the middle of the swamp with no tools—raft that would be propelled by a twig that Tiana had found that was lying next to the waitress-turned-frog on the raft. _She's a hard worker,_ Naminé thought, staring at the raft in the early morning light. "We need to get back to New Orleans and undo this mess _you_ got us into."

They knew that she was talking to Naveen when she was playing the blame game, since he was the one who had insisted on having her kiss him to turn him human again only for it to backfire and turn Tiana into a frog as well, but they still glanced at each other before leaping down at the raft. Naveen and Naminé landed perfectly, but Roxas missed and splashed into the water just off to the side.

The raft rocked at the wave that Roxas had accidentally created, and Tiana scolded, "Roxas be careful! I worked hard on this."

"I can tell," he replied as he climbed aboard. "You must have spent hours on this, how much sleep did you get?" She ignored him.

"I got us into this mess?" Naveen asked casually as he placed his forelegs behind his head and lay back against the cattail pillow Tiana had lashed down, "I was not the one parading around with a phoney-baloney tiara." He snatched a twig with spider webs on it from an overhanging bush as Tiara sighed in frustration. She turned around and started pulling them forward with the stick and Naveen began to stroke his froggie fingers along the webbing, creating a nicely improvised—if seemingly impossible—ukulele. "Ah, music to paddle by."

"I could use a little help!" Tiana growled.

Naveen seemed surprised. "Oh, then I will play a little louder." He went back to jamming on his new ukulele, louder and with a catchy tune that Roxas began to bob in time.

"I could paddle like this," Roxas said, "I could paddle all day listening to this," he added happily, grabbing a stick and joining Tiana. Naminé smiled at him; she was enjoying the music too, even though everything that had happened the day before was now going through her mind. She almost couldn't believe that she'd broken down like that in front of them all when they'd landed on the alligator's back, but… it was all just so much. The princess-turned-frog reached up and grabbed a leaf and a stick, and began to scratch away at the leaf. Fortunately she could lose herself in her art.

Tiana had smiled gratefully for Roxas' help, but she really seemed to want Naveen to help, which was why she turned and began to speak to him. "How about a little less picking, and a—!" she gasped, and Naminé stopped scratching at the leaf and turned around. She gasped, and Naveen stopped playing, shouting in surprise.

An alligator was coming up behind them, its mouth open wide and ready to bite down on all of them!

Roxas dropped the stick and pushed Naminé behind him, flashing his right foreleg out to the side. He stopped and stared in shock at his three-fingered hand, and Naminé knew what he'd just discovered, since it had happened to her ever since she had become a frog. The Keyblade was being blocked by the voodoo spell.

The four of them screamed as the gator came up, ready to eat them, and Naminé hugged Roxas tightly. She really didn't want to die, and certainly not like this: lost in a dirty smelly swamp, turned into a harmless frog and eaten by an alligator.

But the alligator did not eat them, and the inevitable never came, as the alligator instead said excitedly, "I know that tune! _Dippermouth Blues_!" The tooting of a trumpet entered their ears, and the four snapped open their eyes to see the alligator playing a horn to the same upbeat song that Naveen had been playing on his improvised ukulele.

Naveen dropped Tiana, who yelped, and said, "Play it, brother," before snatching up his instrument and joining the gator in the song. Roxas started to bob in place, and Naminé couldn't help but giggle at the movement. He turned to her, smiling, and took her hand and the lead in a quick little jig that they created on the spot, just following the upbeat tones of that music. It didn't last long, not nearly long enough in Naminé's opinion, but Roxas seemed to know when the end was coming because right at the beginning of a sharp blast of the trumpet followed by a beat of silence he dipped her. Then Naveen rapidly strummed on his ukulele for the end, and Roxas slowly brought Naminé back up, their eyes never leaving one another.

Naminé felt as if her breath had been stolen away. They'd only had maybe ten seconds to get into it, but already her worries about the previous day were gone, and all she could see was her wonderful boyfriend's eyes. She kissed him. "I thought you couldn't dance," she whispered. "You seemed so awkward last night when you were dancing with Lexai."

Roxas frowned slightly at her name. "Don't remind me who I was really dancing with," he told her, "but… _that_," he said, looking over at Naveen and the gator, "can make me dance." He looked back at Naminé and grinned before spontaneously giving her a kiss back.

"Where have you been all my life?" the gator asked, picking Naveen up and dancing on the spot with the frog in his hands.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" Naveen asked back.

The gator began spinning his trumpet around on a gator finger. "Why, the bayou's the best jazz school in the world. All the greats play the riverboats. Old Louis would give anything to be up there jamming with the big boys."

"Why don't you?" Roxas asked. "You play great."

"Oh I tried once," Louis answered. He deflated. "It didn't end well."

"Uh-huh," Tiana said pleasantly with her arms folded over in a somewhat submissive gesture, like a maid. Naminé scrutinized her for a moment. Tiana almost looked like she was trying to look like Kensworth or Agatha when they were waiting on her. "It has been a real pleasure meeting you, Louis. And thank you kindly for not eating us, but we best be on our way." She grabbed Naveen and started to drag him back to the raft.

"Where…?" Louis asked in confusion. "Where y'all going?"

"To find somebody to break this spell," Tiana answered.

"What spell?"

"Brace yourself, my scaly friend," Naveen began. "We are not frogs, we are humans."

Louis started to laugh hysterically, even falling onto his back and rolling around. He got himself under control and took a deep breath before looking back at the four frogs. "Y'all serious?" he asked nervously.

"I am Naveen," declared he, "Prince of Maldonia. This is Naminé, Princess of Radiant Garden, and this is her boyfriend and knight in shining armour, Roxas. At least, I think he has shining armour. I don't know; I haven't seen it. And lastly this is Tiana, the waitress," he finished with a less impressive voice at Tiana's less than impressive title. "Do not kiss her," he whispered softly.

"Now just a second," Tiana said in disbelief at Naveen's words. "This goon here and Naminé got themselves turned into frogs by a voodoo man and now—"

Louis gasped, dropping his trumpet and getting the shivers. "Voodoo? Like the kind Mama Odie do?"

The four frogs looked at each other. "Uh, who?" Naminé asked.

"Mama Odie," Louis repeated, "She the voodoo queen of the bayou. She got magic, and spells; all kind of hoodoo."

"Could you take us to her?" they asked in unison, eagerness in their eyes. Naminé was motivated by more than just the prospect of finding a woman who could turn her human again though. The thought of new magic, and seeing and possibly learning how to use it, drove her more than the thought of getting her body back. Of course, in order to perform said magic, she would still need her body turned back to normal.

Louis gasped again at their request. "Through the deepest, darkest part of the bayou? Facing razor-sharp pricker bushes and trappers and hunters, with _guns_! No." With his flat denial, Louis sat back against a tree and began to blow softly into his trumpet.

Tiana looked helplessly and shrugged but Naveen held up a finger to keep her from starting to paddle again. "Watch and learn."

He stopped, because Naminé had placed a 'hand' against his chest in a soft motion for him to stop. "No Naveen, I'll do it."

Giving her a slightly amused smile, Naveen backed a pace away and slowly waved his arm in front of him. "Be my guest." Naminé smiled back at him and went off the raft. She placed her hands behind her back, and dawdled over to where Louis was blowing on his trumpet.

"You play that horn really well," she said, placing her back against the tree trunk and looking at him from over her shoulder. "It's a shame that you don't have an audience to play for. I know that I'd hire you to play in my castle, and people would absolutely love to hear your music, coming from miles around to listen to old Louis play. Well, they would, if you were only a little less scary; a little more…human. Well, we're off to become humans again. If you change your mind…" she left it at that, making a sound of non-commitment with a tiny shrug before walking down to the raft.

"Nice," Naveen said, nodding his head. "A little wordy, but you offered him a job too."

"And left an opening," Roxas added approvingly.

Tiana had her arms folded. "It was cute, but it's not going to—"

Naveen silenced her by holding up a finger again, and then turning it in Louis' direction. At that exact moment, Louis turned away from the tree trunk and plopped down right beside their raft. "Hey guys! I just had me a crazy idea! What if I asked Mama Odie to turn me human?"

"Louis," Naveen said, as if the thought was only crossing his mind now, "you are a genius." He grabbed Tiana's hand and leapt onto Louis' head dragging her with him. Naminé and Roxas exchanged a very quick look and smile before leaping up next to them.

"Hallelujah!" Louis said, leaping up for joy and dropping into the water. He started to play exuberantly on his horn. "You know the first thing I'd do if I were a human being?" he asked them while beginning to swim. Naminé was about to open her mouth, but Louis didn't even wait for an answer. "I'd head straight for New Orleans, and I'd blow this horn so hot and strong like no one they've ever seen."

"Really?" Naminé asked.

"Heard of Louis Armstrong? Sidney Bechet?" he asked her.

Naminé shook her head truthfully. "No."

"Of course I have," Roxas answered.

"All of them are gonna step aside when they hear this old ex-gator play," Louis told him confidently. "Just listen." He blew his trumpet in a swinging upbeat tune, and Naminé had to agree with him out of a lack of experience with jazz music. "When I'm human," he said longingly, "as I hope to be, I'm gonna blow my horn 'till the cows come home, and everyone's gonna bow down to me." He started to kiss his claws and thank an imaginary audience all to the rest of their entertained laughs, and then turned slightly to Naveen. "What about you Naveen? What are you going to do when you're human again?"

"Me?" answered the Prince of Maldonia. He chuckled and started to play on his ukulele alongside Louis on the trumpet. "When I'm myself again, I'm going to have just the life I had. A great big party, that doesn't sound so bad, no?"

"Parties every night?" Naminé asked, "No, that sounds fun." Tiana sighed and rolled her eyes.

"A red-head on my left arm," Naveen elaborated, a red butterfly suddenly slinking up to him, "and a brunette on my right," now there was a brown butterfly next to him. Naminé glanced up, seeing female butterflies hovering all around them. Was his ukulele and Louis' trumpet attracting them? "And a blonde or two, to hold the candles, now that seems just about right, eh guys?" Roxas smiled at Naveen, but Naminé frowned slightly. "Life is short; when you're done, you're done. So we're on this earth to have some fun, and that's the way things are."

"Uh, playboy," Naminé pointed out, feeling a little bit insulted. "_I'm_ a blonde."

He winced. "Sorry for your loss," then gave Roxas a wink. "You're in for a fun time."

Naminé flushed and Roxas laughed. "No, that's my brother who's got her sister. Kairi's a red head, and you know what they say about them." They both laughed even louder.

"I'm sorry, no," Tiana said, giving both boys stern looks and preparing to scold them. "What _do_ they say about red heads?"

Naminé rolled her eyes. "Red on head, good in bed," she said, but even so, she couldn't resist a small smile. "Sora's in for a wild night when they finally go at it."

Naveen chuckled again, and eyes the butterflies following them. "When I'm human, and I'm gonna be, I'm gonna tear it up like I did before, and that's a royal guarantee." The fillies flocked to him, and Tiana angrily beat them away with a stick.

"You are getting married to Lottie!" she reminded him.

Sighing in resignation, he shrugged and waved goodbye to the butterflies. "I guess I'll just have to leave a string of broken hearts behind me."

Tiana took away his twig and spider web ukulele. "You know your modesty becomes you, as does your nonexistent sense of responsibility." She chucked away his ukulele and handed him the stick she'd been holding instead.

"Whoa! Tiana!" Roxas said, about to leap off for the ukulele before thinking better of it, "you do not throw away a musician's instrument."

"I'm with Roxas Tiana," Louis said. "That just was not nice."

"Really?" Tiana shot back while grabbing another stick. "He's a layabout. I've worked hard for everything I've got, just as it's supposed to be." She glanced back at Naveen, to see that he'd broken the stick she'd given him into two and was now drumming on Louis' scales. "When I'm a human, at least I'll act like one."

"That's a very cynical and sad way to look at life," Naminé told her.

"If you do your best every day, good things will happen. You get out of life what you put into it," Tiana answered, "my daddy told me that, and I'll never forget it. What about you Naminé, and you Roxas? What are you going to do when you're human again?"

Naminé frowned at Tiana's words. She knew her answer, but Tiana was being far too hard on the three of them—herself, Roxas, and Naveen—for acknowledging the need for fun in life. Whatever, she didn't want to get into a debate right now, now that they were on the path to getting their bodies back. "What are we going to do? Well, first I'm going to see if Mama Odie will teach me anything, and then we're going to go find Agatha and Lea, and then we'll go to Mardi Gras."

Tiana shook her head and muttered something under her breath, something that sounded like, "Royal slackers."

Naminé was about to blow her top when Roxas placed a hand to her shoulder. "Let it be Naminé," he said. "Let it be." She blinked, then took in a deep breath, and smiled appreciatively at her boyfriend. He nodded, and reached up into the branches above them.

"Naveen," he said, holding out another twig and spider web ukulele, "play some more for us. I need to teach my girlfriend here how to swing dance."

The princess was shocked for a moment. "N-no Roxas, I really don't—"

"Yes you do!" he cried, grabbing her.

-A-D-

"So just how long are you planning on _keeping an eye on me_?"

Lea laughed at Lexai's bitter question, looking straight at the perfect impersonation of Naminé, apart from the voice and attitude. She was currently changing from her night clothes into Naminé's day attire: the white dress with the yellow mini-top and miniskirt overtop and black hood, with black and yellow boots. As of the moment, however, she was in Naminé's favourite set of black underwear with a strange hayacall hanging from around her neck…

…and Lea was watching her change with appreciative eyes.

"As long as it takes for Roxas and Naminé to get back," Lea answered, already dressed in a black and white suit with purple pin striping on the jacket and pants, "and for you to tell us where you've stashed Agatha."

"How do you know I haven't just killed her?" Lexai shot back. "And at least put the damn screen up you perv!"

"No," Lea told her smugly. "You're doing my buddy's girlfriend's body justice, and you haven't killed her because you're using her as a bargaining chip."

Lexai dropped the dress and turned to look at Lea through Naminé's indigo eyes, folding her hands to her chest just beneath her covered breasts and with one hip jutting out in an unimpressed stance. "And what would your 'buddy' do to you if you had to tell him—or if I told him _if_ they come back—that you watched me masturbate or that I performed oral sex with you using her body."

Lea froze. "You wouldn't dare tell so bold a lie."

"I would," Lexai said.

"You don't even like me."

"And _that's_ the understatement of the century," she commented sarcastically. "That's exactly why I'll do it. You are nothing to me, but you are something to those two friends of yours. Imagine their faces when they learn of your betrayal."

Lea already could, and frowned deeply at Lexai. "I didn't do anything like that. And who are they going to believe, you or me?"

"Likely you, but I'll make them doubt, just a little."

She had him, right where she wanted him and he knew it. He _hated_ being manipulated like this. "You play dirty."

"I play smart," she answered. "Now get out." Snorting angrily, Lea left the room. Lexai smiled slightly and sighed. "Well, now that that's taken care of," she said, picking the dress up again, "I can continue with this charade."

"That is no longer necessary."

Lexai stopped and took a breath in. "What is it Nixion?"

"You're being recalled."

Lexai turned around, dropping the girl's dress on the floor, again, of the room in the La Bouff mansion 'Princess Naminé' had been given. Nixion was standing in the middle of the room, wearing the black cloak of the late Organization XIII with the hood down, showing his spiked silver hair and yellow eyes. "I'm being what?"

"The Septem is being recalled," Nixion told her. "The Queen of Darkness has ordered a final assault on Radiant Garden, one that will crush it completely. Prepare for battle, the Keyblade Wielders will surely be there."

"Not two of them," Lexai told him. "I was able to get the Princess and her knight turned into powerless frogs. They should be hopping around the swamp right about now, with no idea how to turn back to normal. When's the fighting start?"

"Four days," Nixion answered. "Good work on Naminé, but why are the Heartless not running rampant, gathering hearts for Maleficent and locating the keyhole?"

Lexai fumbled for words. "We—well I…"

"Never mind," Nixion told her. "You can worry about that later. You are to return to the fortress at once. We will be departing later in the day."

"Yes boss," Lexai said, nodding. She flicked her hand, and a portal of darkness appeared in the room. She was about to step through when a gloved hand touched her shoulder.

"You are still wearing the appearance of the blonde princess," Nixion told her.

Lexai brought a strand of hair in front of her head. "So I am," she said. She took off the hayacall, instantly shrinking down several inches to her regular height of five-three. A gasp escaped her lips and she quickly took off the black bra constricting her chest. "That girl is too small," she said, giving Nixion a lewd smile that he did not return, "got it memorized?"

"Just go," he said.

"Keep your panties on," she hushed him, "I've got to get mine off; these are too big. Now do I have any of my…? No I don't. Pff, I'll get into my clothes back at base. Do I have permission to kill anybody that makes any remarks about me being naked?"

"No fatal wounds," Nixion warned her.

"Is a broken pelvis a fatal wound?"

Nixion glared at her, not entertaining her thoughts at all. "Give me the hayacall." Lexai made a show of bending down to pick it up from the carpet, but Nixion did nothing and said nothing, just jerked his head towards the portal.

"Fine, be a pussy then," Lexai called as she walked into the portal. "I'll go see if Tismetrx or if Xayn Shu wants any of—" Nixion shut the portal before Lexai could finish her sentence. Giving the hayacall a long look, he placed it around his neck. His body shrunk, his hair turned white-blonde and fell out of its spikes to lie at his shoulders, and his eyes changed from yellow to blue.

Not giving the clothes on the floor a look, he turned to the door.

Lea was waiting outside, leaning against a wall near a window at the end of a hall. He turned and looked at 'Lexai' with surprise. "Whoa! Lexai? What's with the cloak? You're never going to pass as Naminé if you're wearing old Organization wear."

Nixion raised his hand. The fool. Lexai would be punished severely for thinking that she could keep secret her refusal to attack and kill this man on two separate occasions. "Shock knife," he said.

Lea's eyes widened in surprise, but that was the only thing he had time to do before Nixion had lunged forward, a small blade made entirely of lightning held in the right hand of 'Naminé'. Lea howled in pain as electricity crackled and splurged everywhere in the hallway. Walls were scorched, a light shattered, and a painting burned to a crisp within its frame. "Slice," said Nixion.

The lightning surged, and Lea was thrown through the window out of the La Bouff mansion and towards the trees on the estate, three floors from the ground.

Smiling in satisfaction, 'Naminé' straightened before removing the hayacall. Nixion chucked it to the ground, where it broke. If Naminé was already turned into a powerless frog, then they had no further use for keeping up appearances. Lexai had only made things more complicated by masquerading as the princess rather than just unleashing the Heartless, and Maleficent had wanted Naminé captured and brought before her, not simply removed for the time being.

_Oh well,_ he thought as he opened a portal, _complications can be taken care of in time. In four days, Radiant Garden will fall. This world and _Her Highness_ can wait until then._

The portal closed, and a figure shot up from a silver swirl from the floor. It looked towards the broken window, and then vanished in a similar swirl.

The figure appeared again down below amidst the trees, and slowly started to look left and right. It didn't take long for the figure to find what it was looking for. Lea was propped up against a tree, his hand pressed tightly to a burn at his side, and his eyelids flickering up and down. The figure rushed towards the downed man, and Lea looked up in disbelief.

"I…I…I recognize you," he wheezed out, teal eyes roving over the Samurai Nobody. "You…you're Harima."

**Conserve your strength Lord Axel,** said the Nobody. **You require rest and aid.**

"This…is nothing," Lea answered, though his voice showed that he was in some pretty considerable pain. "That guy…he never took…never took one of Larxene's….Larxene's electric knives to the ass." He looked up at Harima again. "What are you…doing here?"

**Lord Roxas asked me to accompany him from the shadows before the Zeus Cup began. I have since lost track of him, but I will assist you in any way I can if it will help Lord Roxas.**

Lea took several deep breaths and tried to clear his thoughts while the Nobody waited patiently. Harima was right, he did need to rest. Nixion and the fall had taken a greater toll on him than he'd wanted to admit, even to himself. "We need to find Agatha," he said, not even trying to move away from the tree he was backed against. "We need to find her and break her free from wherever Lexai was keeping her. After that, we can worry about finding Roxas and Naminé." He looked at Harima again. "But I don't think we have much time. If it was Nixion that came out of that room instead of Lexai, then that old bitch has something big planned."

Harima nodded his head, and vanished in a swirl of silver. Lea continued to sit, taking in deep breaths while keeping a hand to his side. He winced in pain as the burn rubbed against the charred and frayed edges of the white shirt underneath his suit jacket.

"Damn stupid…" he muttered under his breath. "How was I supposed to know that he'd show up here?" There was movement in the upper corner of his eyes and Lea raised his head slightly. A small completely black kitten with short sleek fur and highly slanted yellow eyes was padding her way towards him. A confused smile emerged on Lea's face. "What are you doing here?" he asked as the kitten came right up to him and started to stare at the spot he was clutching. He opened his other arm in an inviting gesture, and the kitten took it, leaping into Lea's lap. She climbed up his chest, placing her forepaws against his shoulder and rubbing her head against his cheek.

Lea wrapped his unoccupied arm around the kitten, slowly petting her and drawing purring noises from deep inside the kitten. "I don't care what Naminé says," he told the cat, "you are far too dignified to be called Mrs. Huggles. You're Bast, got it memorized?"

The kitten licked his cheek, and Lea suddenly felt warmth flow through his body, travelling towards the spot where Nixion's shock knife had stabbed him. The pain from the burn lessened, and then was gone altogether. Lea took his hand off of his side in shock and found that the skin beneath it was no longer an angry red but was the peachy skin colour that it had always been. The words, _Smart boy,_ spoken in a feminine voice, drifted mysteriously into his head.

Lea stared at the little kitten in total bewilderment, and the kitten made an innocent 'mreow' sound before climbing onto his shoulder and beginning to play with the crimson spikes of his hair.

"No way…" he whispered.

-A-D-

The sun had risen high into the sky and was riding towards noon when Charlotte La Bouff and 'Prince Naveen' met with one another in a pond-side gazebo under the shade of tall trees in front of the house. A bottle of bubbly had been popped and two champagne glasses had been filled. Boughs of lavender hung from the gazebo's roof and grew all around it.

After sipping from her champagne, the bubbly smile that had nothing to do with the wine slowly slipped from Lottie's face and she spoke. "Oh, Prince Naveen dear, I am positively mortified you had to endure that…_frog_ fiasco last night."

'Naveen' waved it off as if it were nothing, the sort of thing that happens all the time. "Well, when you're next in line for the throne, you're poised like a panther," he told her, suddenly getting an adventurous look in his face, "ready to expect the unexpected." To prove it, he picked up his fork and waved it at her, growling in an imitation of a panther.

Lottie growled back, enjoying the game, and then Naveen's left ear suddenly got bigger. She looked at it quizzically. "Uh…your ear?"

"What?" Naveen asked, reaching up for it. As soon as he touched his ear, his face became one of surprise and he bent down beside the table, pulling the hayacall he wore around his neck out. He whimpered as he saw the blood of the real Prince Naveen slowly draining. Thinking quickly while popping back up, so as not to worry Charlotte, Lawrence covered his ear and laughed. "Those pesky mosquitoes," he said, waving his hand through the air as if swatting them away, "they're everywhere." Charlotte seemed to take it, so he moved on to the next stage and grabbed her hand.

"Please," he began, standing up and clearing his throat. "Miss Charlotte, I can no longer ignore the throbbing of my…" he glanced behind himself at a noise and a feeling, and saw that his butt had become its regular size and shape, "heart," he finished worriedly. He was turning back too quickly.

Lottie started to glance behind him for the noise's source, and he quickly spun the girl around so that she wouldn't see. "Even though our time together has been brief, it's been _heavenly_." Lottie started to giggle as her heart spun, Lawrence dipping her suddenly. She pulled herself out of his embrace.

"Land's sakes, Prince Naveen!" she said, her hat accidentally getting pulled down over her eyes. His nose, cheeks, and chin reverted, and Lawrence began to panic. "You've got me blushing like a—" She squealed, unable to finish that sentence.

Lawrence pressed his face into the folds of her dress while he held tightly onto her legs. "Would you do me the honour of becoming Princess of Maldonia?" he asked.

Lottie was in shock, and had to take a few steps away. This was her fairy tale, and had been her whole life. "Are you serious?"

Lawrence hid his face beneath his shirt. "As the plague," he replied.

"YES!" Charlotte screamed, leaping onto him and giving 'Naveen' the most excited hug he'd probably ever been given. "Oh I most definitely will marry you! Oh there's so much to plan! I mean the guest list, the dress, the music, the flowers, the shoes…" she screamed in excitement and Lawrence dove down to hide behind the table. He was now nearly entirely himself, the only thing still Naveen besides the clothes being the skin colour and hair. Charlotte either didn't see or her eyes were so clouded by pink hearts that she didn't notice before she skipped off hooting and holding onto a bouquet of lavender, "We're going to have ourselves a Mardi Gras wedding!"

Lawrence sighed, and then was choked as Facilier appeared beside him and grabbed the hayacall. "No!" he growled, watching as the last of the blood drained out of it and Lawrence was returned completely to his original body.

"What do we do now?" the manservant asked.

Facilier gave Lawrence a dark look. "Because somebody let our froggy prince go, Larry, I'm reduced to asking for help from my friends on the other side."

"Why couldn't we ask Lexai to help us with the Heartless?" Lawrence asked.

"Because she's gone Larry," Facilier answered. "Up and gone; got the whole town and Big Daddy La Bouff in a tizzy. An unannounced Princess shows up at the ball, gets invited to stay in his mansion alongside the Prince of Maldonia, and then up and vanishes in the morning with her clothes still in the room as if she were getting dressed. And with her went the Heartless."

"So… what do we do about her?" Lawrence pressed, meaning Agatha.

"We have to keep her," Facilier grumbled. "Now that the girl's left and their masquerade is up she's become our problem. Lexai was supposed to handle the frog princess and her punk boyfriend, but now that's fallen to us, and if I don't deliver the goods to Maleficent, then it'll be _my head_ that's on the chopping block!" He jerked his head. "C'mon! Let's get you out of sight before anyone figures us out."

Harima watched them from up in the trees as they strode away.

-A-D-

"Now this restaurant of yours," Louis asked Tiana, "is it going to have étouffée?"

"Jambalaya, gumbo," Tiana added. "It's going to have it all."

"I'm going to have to come back here after you open," Roxas said. "This is just sounding too good." They had travelled for most of the day and now it was night, Louis swimming slowly through the waters of the swamp. Naveen and the gator had kept things interesting, playing music whenever the mood had come to them—which had been quite often—and Naminé had become pretty decent at swing dancing on the back of an alligator as a frog. Naveen had watched them with a smile on his face while she learned, but Tiana had watched them with a frown of disapproval, and Roxas also sensed some jealousy.

"Mm," Louis moaned, "I've always wanted to try red beans and rice, muffulettas, po' boys."

"Oh Louis please stop," Naminé said, "you're making my mouth water."

"And me as well," Naveen added. "I'm so very hungry right now." At that exact moment, a group of mosquitoes flew past, with Naveen's eyes following them without conscious thought. His tongue suddenly slipped out past his mouth. He glanced down at it, "Interesting… Roxas, are you hungry?"

Eyeing the mosquitoes, Roxas licked his lips. "If it means one less mosquito that could come out and suck somebody's blood, I'm all for it." Nodding at each other, they leapt off of Louis and started to swim.

"What are you boys doing?" Tiana asked.

"Shh!" Naveen told her. "You are frightening the food." He shot his tongue out at the mosquitoes, but missed all of them. His tongue came right back, wrapping around his head as he failed to get it back into his mouth. "Heh, this is harder than it looks," he said, pleasantly surprised by the challenge. He fired his tongue again, once again missing the mosquitoes. Naveen did hit something this time though; his tongue latched onto a twig at the end of a branch and yanked it off. His eyes grew wide in shock as he felt the wood on the end of his tongue and it came reeling right back towards him.

None of them could help from laughing at Naveen's pitiful moan as he fell over, the twig slamming into his mouth and keeping it jammed open. "No, no," Roxas said, hunching down on all fours and watching the mosquitoes, "_this_ is how you do it." He shot out his own pink tongue, and just barely got hold of one of the mosquitoes by one of its legs. It fought back, struggling as Roxas tried to bring the insect back to his waiting mouth and stomach. Suddenly it broke free, and Roxas gave a startled gasp as his tongue shot back and wrapped around his own head.

Naminé did not restrain a giggle at Roxas' misfortune and then said, "Roxas, am I going to have to start worrying that you'll turn out like your brother and start eating bugs?"

"Only as a frog Naminé," Roxas answered to assure her, after he'd gotten his tongue back into his mouth, "only as a frog. But Sora's got the right idea in case we're ever completely out of food somewhere."

Tiana and Naminé shook their heads as a firefly flew past. It landed on the tip of a seeded dandelion, looking up at the crescent moon. Tiana's tongue slipped out of her mouth. "What?" she asked in surprise. "No, no, no! There is no way I am kissing a _frog_, and eating a _bug_, on the same day!" she told herself definitively. That didn't stop her tongue or stomach however, because her tongue continued to slip out, determined to nab that firefly. It even dragged Tiana off of Louis' back as she tried to keep it constrained; tried and failed.

Naminé leapt off of Louis and landed gracefully next to Roxas. She shook her head and appeared to struggle with something for a moment before addressing him. "Roxas, I think I'm going crazy," she said. Naveen started to stalk the firefly that Tiana's tongue wanted to devour.

"Really?" Roxas asked.

"Yes," Naminé replied. "First I break down into tears last night because I finally realized that I've been so gullible and complacent my whole life and that each and _every single time_ I stand up for myself either I or someone I care about gets hurt, and now tonight I'm seriously contemplating eating a mosquito." She sniffed. "I'm going crazy, I must be. Nothing's working the way I want it to."

Roxas sighed and was about to speak when there came a loud noise from off to the side. He and Naminé both looked, and saw Naveen and Tiana stuck together by their mouths with the firefly nowhere in sight. He raised his 'eyebrows' in surprise. "Hello," Naveen mumbled through the locked lips. Tiana stood up and pushed Naveen away, revealing that the reason for their lip-to-lip contact was that their tongues had become stuck together.

He couldn't help it. A laugh escaped from his lips. Naveen and Tiana both glared at him, and that was enough. Roxas' arms went to his sides and he fell onto his back into the water, laughing hysterically.

"Roxas," Naminé scolded, even though his laughs seemed to be having an effect on her, "it's not funny."

"But Naminé, they're tongue tied!" he snorted. She broke at his pun, starting to giggle.

At that moment Louis appeared out of the bushes. "Did y'all find anything to eat yet? I—" he stopped as he got a look at the two frogs with their tongues stuck together. "Oh my… hold on. Old Louis got it covered." He picked up Tiana and Naveen, and, with dextrous hands, started to mash the two frogs together. He twisted and turned, and then put them back down. "How's that?"

The two were now completely tangled, turned into a frog Rubik's Cube standing only by one of their legs. Just whose leg it was was completely indecipherable, but Tiana was somehow able to say, "This could be a little better."

Naminé broke again, bending over with her arms over her chest in a silent stream of giggles. Roxas couldn't take it anymore, and pounded the water with his fists, gasping in air. Louis silently pondered the situation. "You know what this needs?" he asked, "a sharp stick! Be right back!" He rushed off, scatting and waving his trumpet by his tail.

Roxas wheezed in air and struggled to keep himself from continuing to laugh. It had just become serious. "I think a sharp stick is the exact opposite of what this needs," he declared, hopping up to the two bound frogs.

"This is all your fault," Tiana muttered as Naminé approached as well.

"My fault, my fault," Naveen mocked, "listen, if you hadn't—"

"Coo! Well looky here!" Roxas and Naminé looked up, surprised to see the exact same firefly that Tiana and Naveen had tried to eat flying back. "Girl, looks like you and your boyfriend got a little carried away, am I right, am I right?" he asked, elbowing them.

"Wha—?" Tiana said as Roxas started to laugh again. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"I am the Prince of Maldonia," Naveen added, trying to make it sound as if Tiana were completely beneath him.

"Uh-huh," the firefly said, his tone making it clear that he didn't believe their protesting at all, for the moment. "Let me shine a little light on the situation." He strained and strained, and to Roxas it looked like he was trying to remove himself of constipation. For a split second his backside lit up with a sound that was like a fart, and the firefly looked at them in slight embarrassment. "'Scuse me, one more time now." He beat his back end against a stick, trying to shake it into working, and it glowed for a moment before dying out.

Giving his rear end an unimpressed look, the firefly twisted it like he was screwing in a light bulb, and suddenly it lit up with a strong yellow glow. "That's more better. Yeah," he said before flying back over to the four frogs. Roxas giggled, the little firefly was funny. Naveen and Tiana winced away as the bug approached, but he quickly assured them, "It's okay, baby. I don't explode me. I ain't no firecracker! I just got my big butt glowing! That's right! Ooh, the women like a man with a big back porch!"

Now Roxas was all-out laughing and giving Naminé a look. "Hey Nam, I know it doesn't glow, but do you like my butt?"

She snorted and placed a hand to her mouth, covering her laughter. "Roxas stop, you're making me blush."

"_I like big butts and I cannot lie…"_ Roxas started singing under his breath. Naminé began snorting even more as she tried to restrain her laughter.

"Hey you two," the firefly suddenly said, addressing them. "How'd they do themselves up real good like this?"

"Huh?" Naminé asked, looking away from Roxas

"…_and a round thing in your face you get sprung."_

He wasn't paying any attention.

"Well," answered Naminé, "they both tried to catch a bug at the same time, and their tongues made a knot. Then Louis tried to free them, but ended making them a…a… well a frog and tongue Rubik's Cube."

"Well there you go," the firefly said. "Hang on, Cap," he assured Naveen as he started to wiggle his way in between the frogs, "I'm just going to give a little twist here." The little firefly squeezed his way in, and suddenly they could just see him as a big yellow light seemingly _underneath_ Naveen and Tiana's skin. "We're getting to know each other now!"

Beams of light burst out from tiny cracks between the frogs, stopping Roxas in his absurd singing as both he and Naminé stared at the now disco ball frogs, the firefly singing a work song to himself as he went about freeing the two tongue-tied frogs from the inside. Roxas swore he heard a circular saw and a hammer or a nail gun somewhere in there, but he never saw any of those things on the firefly.

"_Won't you catch a fish? Catch one, catch two; we're back in the bayou 'round fishin' time,"_ sang the firefly, coming out from the frogs and holding one end of a tongue in his hands. At the end of his singing he gave a hard yank, and the two screamed as their tongues suddenly came to life and became disentangled from one another. Naveen and Tiana fell back into the water, staring at each other as they slowly rolled the long and sticky organs back into their mouths.

Roxas and Naminé couldn't help but begin to laugh again, and the firefly clapped his hands together with a self-satisfied expression on his face. "'Bout time I introduce myself," he said. "My name Raymond (he wrote the word out in the air with his glowing butt), but everybody call me "Ray" (he blurred off the "mond")."

Naveen waggled a finger at him. "Pardon me, but your accent, it's funny, no?"

"Heh," Naminé remarked. "Look who's talking."

"I'm a Cajun, brah," Ray answered. "Born and bred in the bayou. Y'all must be new around here, huh?"

"Yup," said Roxas, "we're new."

"Definitely not from around here," Naminé added. "From far, far away from here actually."

"Go to bed," Ray asked excitedly, "y'all from Shreveport?"

Naveen started to stutter, not entirely sure how to answer that. "No. No, no, no. We are people."

"Prince and Princess Charming here got themselves turned into frogs by a voodoo witch doctor," Tiana explained, indicating Naveen and Naminé, who just shrugged.

"Well, there you go," Ray smiled, elbowing Naveen's cheek.

Tiana continued. "And we were on our way to Mama Odie's. We think maybe she can…"

Ray cut her off quick. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Mama Odie?" Tiana nodded. "Y'all heading the wrong directional _chère_. Now what kind o' chucklehead told y'all to go this a way?"

Louis burst out from the bushes, shouting excitedly, "I found a stick!"

Naveen, Roxas, and Naminé all smirked at the gator. "Well speak of the devil," said Roxas.

Tiana was not impressed. "Louis… Ray here says you've been taking us in the wrong direction." Louis dropped his stick and chuckled nervously.

"I was… well listen," he started to ramble, "I was confused by the topography and the—the—the geography, and the choreography…"

Ray flew close to Naminé's side and whispered. "First rule of the bayou, never take direction from a gator." He whistled, and suddenly the whole bayou behind them became filled with yellow lights as fireflies lit up. "Well me and my relationals will help show y'all the way," Ray told them helpfully.

"Wow," Naminé whispered. The icky, wet, dirty swamp had suddenly become beautiful. Ray's cousins all started to play musical instruments such as fiddles and accordions, and Ray flew down amidst the music.

"Come on y'all," he called with a wave, "just follow the bouncin' butts! We be goin' down the bayou now!"

-A-D-

Facilier began to sweat as he approached the back room of his voodoo emporium. There was always a measure of care he had to take when dealing with his friends on the other side. Most of his magic came from them, bound by his promises and deals with them. While the magic of his own that he had was potent enough for most of his purposes, the special spells (such as the one that had turned Naveen, Naminé, Tiana, and Roxas into frogs) came from them with the assurance that he wouldn't fail.

He was already on thin ice with them, which only made his tongue even drier as he entered the circular chamber. Purple light illuminated the room, making the large masks look even creepier. Facilier feared for his soul whenever he came into this room.

Removing his hat, the Shadow Man started humbly. "Friends, I know I'm in hock to y'all pretty deep already, but seems our royal froggies have lost their way, and I need your generous assistance in getting them back."

The masks leered at him and growled their great displeasure at being asked for yet another favour from this man.

Facilier laughed nervously. "I hear you! Now what's in it for y'all? Well…" he pulled out a cloth doll, one in the likeness of Big Daddy La Bouff with the heart clearly outlined. "As soon as I dispose of Big Daddy La Bouff, and _I'm_ running this town, I'll have the entire city of New Orleans in the palm of my hand. And, once the princess is handed over to Maleficent, the defiant worlds who oppose her will be opened to us, and you'll have all the wayward souls your dark little hearts desire." He noticed the pleased looks on the masks' faces. "Y'all love that don't you? So, we got ourselves a deal?"

The large and scary mask in the middle looked left and right, finding the other masks agreeing, before it opened its mouth. Behind the jagged wooden teeth came eerie green light from swirling abyssal mists, and from the mist shadows crept onto the floor. They surged out, moving all along the floor and walls and shrieking in excitement. They encircled Facilier with eager looks on their faces, complete bodiless shadows all.

The Shadow Man laughed. It had worked! His soul was still his own. "Now we're cooking! We're going to find ourselves some frogs! Search everywhere," he instructed, "the bayou, the Quarter. Bring them to me alive. I need their hearts pumping, for now." He struck his cane onto the floor. "_Allez! Tout suite!_"

The shadows raced out.

-A-D-

The line of fireflies slowed down as they reached the end of their home in the bayou. According to Ray, they were most of the way there when they hit the end of firefly lane, and he assured his family that he'd get them the rest of the way.

"Nice meeting all of you!" Naminé called as the fireflies started to head back.

"Bye-bye, Pookie!" said Louis.

Ray gave an instruction in French, which one of his cousins said that he'd do, and then added, "And don't forget to tell Angela Ray-Ray say "_Bonne chance!_"

Tiana smiled as she hopped onto a branch. "That's your girl?" she asked.

Ray blushed. "Oh, no, no. My girl?" he chuckled. "That's Evangeline."

"Evangeline?" asked Naminé, unable, like Tiana, to stop smiling. Roxas grinned from behind as he made up the rear.

"She the most prettiest firefly ever did glow," Ray said before giving a heartened squeal. "You know I talk to Evangeline most every night. She kinda shy, don't say much, but I know in my heart, someday we are gonna be together. Yeah."

Roxas came forward and whispered into Naminé's ear. "I know who the most prettiest frog ever did hop is."

He chuckled as he saw the blush rising to her cheeks, if frogs could blush that is, but she still answered playfully, "And who might that be?"

"You," Roxas answered simply, his voice still at just a whisper in her ear from behind. He could see the shudders going down her spine, and kissed her right at the back of the neck.

"Roxas," she said breathlessly, "you're going to have to stop being so amazing."

"Why is that?" he asked impishly.

"Because if you keep going, I'm going to want you to start doing things to me that I don't want you to be doing while we're frogs."

After a brief period of quiet reflection, fireworks were going off in Roxas' mind.

_Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!_ Said a voice from within. _Woo-woo! All aboard the Laid Express!_

_Aren't you going to tell me your name yet?_ Roxas asked.

_I told you before, you already know who I am._

Shrugging that annoying thought away, Roxas heard Tiana say, "Aw, that's so sweet."

"Yeah, so sweet," said Naveen in a slightly sarcastic tone. "Just do not settle down so quickly, my friend," he advised Ray, "there are plenty of fireflies in the swamp." Roxas rolled his eyes and picked up a stick with Tiana. They'd come to the pricker bushes Louis had warned them about. Roxas and Tiana started to whack them away, with Naminé and Naveen following.

There was a shout of pain from behind as Louis pricked a finger on a pricker bush. "Pricker bushes got me! Gator down! Gator down!" Roxas stopped and glanced back behind him while the others went on ahead. Louis was such a drama queen. "The darkness… is closing in! I'm so cold."

"Would you hold still you big baby?" Ray said, moving to take the pricker out.

"OWWW!"

"I ain't touched it yet."

Smirking and laughing quietly to himself, Roxas moved back into the bushes. Or, he was about to, had a familiar silver swirl not appeared in front of him, and a Samurai Nobody surged out of the ground. It towered above him in his little froggy form, and then knelt down. **Lord Roxas.**

He recognized the female voice that entered his head. "Hannah? What is it?"

**We infiltrated Maleficent's fortress just as you instructed**, she answered, **and I am afraid I have grave news to report.**

-A-D-

"You know waitress, I have finally figured out what is wrong with you," Naveen declared, walking comfortably next to Naminé while behind Tiana. Naminé wished that Roxas was up front, but it sounded as if he was going to help Ray out with Louis. She felt a little guilty that Tiana was doing all the work clearing the way in front.

"Have you now?" asked Tiana.

Naveen obviously didn't catch the angry growl in her voice, and so continued. "You do not know how to have fun. There. Somebody had to say it."

"Thank you," Tiana answered sweetly while pushing aside a branch, "because I figured out what your problem is too."

_Uh-oh, this could get ugly._

"I'm too wonderful?" answered the Prince of Maldonia. Tiana let the branch go to smack him in the face.

"No," Tiana explained, "you're a no-'count, philandering, lazy bump on a log."

"Oh Tiana, don't be such a killjoy," Naminé told her.

"What'd you call me?" Tiana asked.

"I called you a killjoy," Naminé repeated. "You just don't have fun enough. He knows fun. He's a playboy. He grew up a playboy, he's always been a playboy, and he wants to stay a playboy. There's nothing inherently wrong with that."

"Yes there is," Tiana answered. "He hasn't had to work a day in his life for anything he's got, and you're probably not much better, your highness."

Naminé's eyes widened. _What did she just say!_

"Stick in the mud," Naveen muttered under his breath.

Tiana came up and poked him in the chest. "Listen here mister. This stick in the mud has had to work two jobs her whole life while you've been sucking on a silver spoon chasing chambermaids around your—your ivory tower!"

"Actually it's polished marble," Naveen mumbled.

Naminé pushed her way past Naveen and went right up to Tiana. "Okay Tiana, I'm sick of this. So what if he hasn't had to work for a thing in his life? So what if he was born a prince and you were born common? You think that just because you work hard and have suffered that you're a better person than he is?"

"And I'm supposed to believe the words of a spoiled rich princess with a knight for a boyfriend?" Tiana fired back. "You've been living the high—"

_SMACK!_

Tiana stopped as Naminé smacked her across the face. "You want my story? Alright, I'll give you my story. My parents are dead! My birth parents are dead, and the ones who raised me and my sister in a middle-class home are dead, and my boyfriend's parents are dead! Assassins took out my birth father, mother, and older brother, and henchmen of an enemy of ours killed my mom and dad. I didn't find out I was a princess until a few months ago, but even since before my mom and dad were killed I've been fighting against our enemy's goons and training for the big battle where we're going to bring her down.

"It's not a walk in the park Tiana! I've been electrocuted, I've been burned and cut, I've had bones break, I've watched good friends die right in front of me and I've been terrified more times than I can count. I've almost lost Roxas twice despite everything I've done! And now, one of my friends has been kidnapped by the Shadow Man and I have no idea where she is or how we're going to get her free or even if she and Lea are still alive because the one who helped him catch me and Agatha is just one of our enemy's strongest goons. Fuck, _nothing_ happens the way I want it to, and nothing good really happens to me. Don't give me shit about my life being all sugar and rainbows just because I'm a princess! I work hard too, but sometimes the whole universe likes to shit on you, so take whatever moments of fun you can in case they're your last!"

Naminé finished, breathing rather heavily and glaring at Tiana, who for her own part carried a highly shocked look. Naveen suddenly gave a yelp from behind them, and they looked around just in time to see a net having scooped him up. A hillbilly hoisted Naveen up and closed his fist around the top of the net, sealing the frog in.

"I got me one, boys!" the frog hunter shouted. "Y'all get those little ones over there!"

"Naveen!" Naminé shouted, cursing herself. Her last words had to have been some sort of stupid self-fulfilling prophecy! She and Tiana both jumped after the one who had grabbed Naveen, but a figure burst out of the tall grass and grabbed both of them. Naminé panicked for a brief second, but then realized that the man who had grabbed them had done so with a very, very, poor grip. He only had two fingers.

_Inbreeding, yuck._ Naminé looked at Tiana, and the other female frog nodded. They got out of Two Fingers' grasp, and forced his fingers to do the splits. Naminé grinned slightly with satisfaction at the sound of his knuckles cracking before she and Tiana hopped out of there.

"What do we do?" Tiana asked.

"We're frogs; we can't really fight them," Naminé answered. "Our best bet is to get away. AH!" She grabbed Tiana's arm and yanked her to the side. Moments later nearly ten knives stuck into the ground where they'd been hopping. How the two fingered man was feasibly able to hold onto those and throw them accurately was anyone's guess.

-A-D-

Louis screamed as Ray pulled the pricker out of the gator's finger. Roxas rolled his eyes at the sound, but his face was completely pensive as he waited for Hannah to relay what she'd learned. The Samurai was now standing in front of him, completely silent as she waited for the order. He glanced to his left, and then did a double-take. Naveen was being held in a net by a hunter with guns. Louis said as much, and frightfully dove into the bushes to hide from the man with the gun. No sooner had he gone in than he started to scream, no doubt covered in the prickers from the pricker bushes.

Another scream came from somewhere else, a feminine scream.

"Naminé!" Roxas shouted, suddenly conflicted. He looked at the lieutenant that had reported in. "Hannah we'll talk later, go help Naminé, I'll get Naveen."

**At once, my lord,** Hannah replied, unsheathing her two katanas and indiscriminately slicing into the bushes. Branches fell before her swords and the Nobody waded into them. Roxas turned away from his loyal subordinate and leapt into the water.

"Ray!" he called, "Naveen's—!"

"Oh, no, no, no," Ray called. The little bug extended a fist and flew straight for the hillbilly who had Naveen caught. "A bug got to do what a bug got to dooo!" Roxas gaped in surprise at the firefly, for Ray had just flown straight into the hillbilly's nose. The man yelped in pain and let go of the net, and Roxas quickly swam forward and leapt into the boat. Naveen was just getting out of the net as he landed.

"C'mon," Roxas urged. "We gotta get out of here. Ray'll only hold him for so long."

"No arguments from me," Naveen answered. They leapt out of the boat, just as the hillbilly snorted Ray out of his nose with a great blast of air. The little bug darted rapidly through the air encased in a wad of mucus, and he struck a rock hard.

"I think I done chipped my favourite tooth," he moaned. Ray slid down the rock, dropping into the waters of the swamp.

-A-D-

Naminé and Tiana kept hopping, fleeing from the two-fingered man with the knives and the cage. A dumb voice from in front suddenly drew their attention and what looked to be a giant bearing a log as a club was thundering towards them. "Here I come Two Fingers!" he bellowed, "I'll help!" He slipped on the mud a moment after that declaration and went bum-first into his brother's face, causing Two Fingers to drop the cage. Unfortunately for the frogs, the fall of the giant also sent the log they were on bumping up, and the girls landed in the cage.

"Pa!" shouted the big one excitedly as he grabbed the cage. "We got them!" He and Two Fingers picked them up and ran for a boat.

Naminé immediately started looking around at the wires of the cage and the screws and hinges as they were carried off, searching for some means of escape. _There's gotta be some way out of this besides the lid; there has to be._

Suddenly they were slammed onto the wooden planks of a boat, and Naminé and Tiana fell to the floor of their cage and couldn't rise in time to push the lid up and escape before Two Fingers sat down. He punched the cage's wires, startling them to the back. "Shush now! Get on quiet there!"

"What happened to yours?" the giant asked the short man who had netted Naveen, the man now pushing the boat along with a pole.

"Shut your trap, Darnell!" he growled.

Tiana looked at Naminé, a hopeful glitter in her eyes. "Does that mean Naveen's free?" she whispered.

"And Roxas too," Naminé agreed. She inspected the cage one more time. There was no other way out besides the lid. "Without my Keyblade, they're going to have to get us out of this."

Tiana looked like she was about to ask what a Keyblade was, but then thought better of it.

-A-D-

"Free!" Naveen cried as he and Roxas burst above the waterline again. "Oh freedom, you've never felt so good."

"First time being confined?" Roxas asked with a laugh. Naveen chuckled back and looked at the boat to give the hillbillies a raspberry, but then he gasped. Roxas looked over and shock crossed him for a moment. Naminé and Tiana were both caught and caged! "Quick, after the boat!" Roxas said, starting to swim. He was only going for a moment before he yelped as Naveen snatched him, the other frog speeding by after sticking his tongue to the wood of the rowboat's aft end.

_Yeah, now we're talking,_ Roxas thought as he saw Tiana and Naminé look at them with renewed hope. _The cavalry's coming!_ He fired his own tongue and got out of Naveen's grasp, both of them now being reeled in by their tongues.

_I hate to be the bearer of bad news chief,_ said Roxas' Keyblade, _but this is going to hurt._

_THUD!_

The three hillbillies stopped at the sound. "Pa," asked the big one, "did you hear that suspicious thud?"

"Yeah," Pa answered, taking off his hat, "I sure did." His two sons and Naminé and Tiana looked up at him in shock as he tried to scratch his head. Naveen had somehow slipped underneath his hat, and was now scratching the spot that Pa was trying to scratch instead.

"Na—" Tiana started, but a very faint tapping on the cage stopped her. Roxas was behind them, quietly shushing the girls.

Darnell began to raise his club, and only then did Pa look at his two sons in bewilderment. "What you two gawking at—OW!" Naveen jumped up as Darnell's club came down on his father's head, just missing Naveen as the frog prince hopped.

"Just missed him!" the large man declared in annoyance, winding up for another big swing onto his father's head. Naveen hopped up and down with practiced ease as Darnell swung again and again, always just shy of hitting the frog but more than capable of inflicting pain on his poor father. "I will make him pay for his insolence!"

"Two Fingers!" Pa cried as Darnell struck him again. "I need some help over here!" Two Fingers complied, rising from his sitting position on the cage and drawing his double-barrelled rifle out from behind him.

Roxas grabbed the lid and hoisted it up. "Quickly now, out of the cage!" he whispered. Just as he opened the lid, Naveen slipped down from Pa's head and onto his face.

"Hold still Pa," Two Fingers said, aiming the rifle right for the frog in front of his father's eyes. Gasping, Naminé and Tiana leapt out of the open cage, Tiana landing on the rifle and forcing its path down with her weight, and Naminé right onto Two Fingers' hat. Two Fingers jerked at the sudden froggy assault and fired.

Roxas had to hold back a relieved laugh. As much as the men had captured his girlfriend, seeing that Pa's son had just missed relieving his father of his loins was a welcome sight, and the classic white underwear with red hearts on them was just way too out of character for the man. Roxas leapt onto Darnell's head, just as Naveen and Tiana landed on Two Fingers' foot. "Watch this," Naveen said, and then blew out his vocal sack like a bullfrog. The loud noise attracted Darnell, and he stomped…

Only to crunch Two Fingers' foot as Naveen and Tiana hopped away! Roxas jumped down from his perch in Darnell's hat to join Naminé in Two Fingers' and then they hopped out of the way as they saw the club coming to smack Two Fingers in the face. The man who'd just been clubbed shook his head, and then got a wad of Tiana's tongue in the eye. Gibbering, he swung his rifle down for the pair of frogs up there, and it opened as it struck his dim-witted brother's thick head.

"Get them froggies!" shouted Pa as he and his sons started to swing, kick, punch, and do everything in their power to knock out the four bouncing, hopping frogs. Unfortunately for them, all of their attacks kept hitting each other, eventually leaving all of them lying on the floor of the boat, moaning in pain and sporting enough wounds to have been in a bar brawl.

"These four, ain't like no frogs I ever seen," Pa mumbled. "They smart."

Tiana, Naveen, Naminé, and Roxas all hopped down in front of them, almost as if their mere unharmed presence in front was enough of a mockery. But Tiana took it one step further as she spoke, clear as day, "And we talk too."

The three's eyes went completely wide and their pupils became pinpricks and they screamed. The four frogs leapt from the rowboat just as Darnell grabbed the oar and rowed the three hunters away at a speed far faster than what the manufacturer had probably recommended.

"And we talk too," Naveen repeated, looking at Tiana as the four walked back to the bushes, "I like that. You are secretly funny."

"Not a stick in the mud?" Tiana asked.

"Well, not exactly…"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. What?"

"…a complete stick _deep_ in the mud," Naveen finished.

"And I'm sorry too Tiana," Naminé said. "You're not so much of a killjoy as I thought."

"No, it's alright," the other female frog replied. "You were right, I don't have fun often enough. I'd forgotten how, well, fun it can be."

"OW! OOH!"

"What's that?" Roxas asked, furrowing his face at the noise and looking towards the source.

"Sounds like Louis," Tiana answered. The four of them started to head in the direction of the screaming gator when a rustling in the bushes stopped them.

"You two go on ahead," Roxas said quickly, catching a flash of silver among the branches, "we'll come soon." Naminé stopped at his side, and Naveen and Tiana went forward to Louis and Ray.

A katana cut down half of a bush and Hannah strode forward and knelt in front of Roxas, not that that seemed to matter much since he was now so much smaller than her. **Forgive me my lord, but I have failed you.**

"It's okay Hannah," Roxas told her, "Naminé's here and safe. No harm done." The Samurai looked at Naminé and bowed her head.

**Forgive me, Lady Naminé,** she said, **I could not reach you in time. The bushes…**

Naminé shook her head. "It's okay. I'm alright now. But I would like to know why one of the Samurai is here."

Hannah looked away from her and returned her gaze to Roxas. **Lord Roxas, is Lady Naminé to be briefed on the results of our mission as well?**

"You can tell both of us Hannah," Roxas ordered, "then we'll be the ones to tell Sora and the others. Go on; tell us what you found out."

**Yes my lord.**

-A-D-

Hannah spoke; Roxas and Naminé both nodding along with her words, with Roxas looking grimmer and grimmer while Naminé becoming more and more worried with each sentence. When Hannah finished Naminé was running her hand through where her hair would otherwise have been, indigo eyes fading.

**Your orders my lord?** Hannah asked after a long pause.

Roxas sighed and glanced at Naminé for a moment before looking at his Nobody again. "You're sure?" he asked.

**Without a doubt.**

"Okay…" he answered slowly. "Find Harima and tell him everything that you told me. Then I want both of you to assemble the Samurai, all of them."

**Including Henry and his followers?**

Roxas paused for a second as he thought about the mission he'd given Henry. "Inform Henry, but recall all of those he's got with him and let him continue the search alone. We can spare one, but we can't space a score. Understand?"

Hannah nodded. **And when we are all assembled?**

"Go to Radiant Garden under Kairi's command until I arrive," he instructed.

The Nobody looked up sharply. **But, my lord…**

"I know that you can't talk to Kairi," he said, "but she can talk to you, and all of you can write. It'll be inconvenient, I know, but I should be along no later than a day after you if we're lucky. Understood?"

Hannah nodded her head again. **Yes my lord. It will be done.**

The Samurai vanished in a swirl of silver, and Naminé spoke for the first time. "Will it even matter though?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper. "With numbers like that…"

"Naminé?" Roxas asked, searching her eyes.

"Should we even fight?" Naminé asked abruptly. "It's just…That's too many! Even for us, and adding in three thousand Samurai! There's too many! We should…let's run."

Roxas looked at her incomprehensibly. "What?" he asked slowly.

"When we get out bodies back, let's just run," Naminé pleaded. "Just us, the two of us, run away from all of this. We'll survive, we'll live. I don't want to die Roxas, not when I can finally live! Let's just take the _Hunter_ and go, Agatha and Lea too, if they want."

"Naminé, don't be like this," Roxas told her seriously, grabbing her arm and forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Roxas, I can't… I can't do this. What Hannah just said, that's too many. I can't just die, not now! Maybe I won't become Queen like I want, but at least I'll be alive."

"Don't be like this, Naminé," he repeated. "This isn't the Naminé I fell in love with."

She stopped and stared at him, uncertainty in her indigo eyes. "Which Naminé did you fall in love with then?"

Her question caught him for a few seconds. Thoughts whirled through his head, and he felt his long tongue starting to grow dry. Naminé was about to turn away in disappointment when he jerked her back. Fear was in him, but he couldn't bear her turning away. "The Naminé I love," Roxas said haltingly, trying to find the right words, "isn't as selfish and self-centred as you're talking. She's not a defeatist coward. She's a selfless… protector, doing everything she can to keep those she cares about safe, even if she gets hurt along the way. She… she takes care of her friends when they need her, and does everything she can to help them, even if it's only a token gesture."

She gave a very faint snort in disagreement. "I can't remember."

"Yes you can," Roxas argued. "You defied Larxene and Marluxia in Castle Oblivion. You protected Sora from Larxene, even though she knocked you down."

"And look where that got me!" Naminé retorted. "Sora still chose Kairi over me!"

Roxas was incredulous, and felt like he'd just been stabbed in the heart. "Are you still hung up on that? Sora _loves_ Kairi; he always has. Changing his memories didn't change that, and you knew it. You knew that you were only making him fall harder for her, but even so, you could have walked away when he chose Kairi."

Naminé gasped, "What?"

Roxas paused. "You could have walked away; you could have said 'no' and not returned his memories."

"Are you crazy!" Naminé fired at him vehemently. "That's the stupidest—"

"So why'd you help him?"

The question stopped Naminé in her tracks and she started to stutter. "Be—because! I…I was the one who'd, and I was the only one who…I needed to make it up to him for messing up his mind so much. I owed him, but… I wanted to help him, even after he rejected me."

"Didn't my brother also say that he'd find you again, and become friends for real?" asked Roxas. Naminé smiled slightly and nodded her green head.

"Bu—but, but, there's still no way I could have said no! I could never walk out on him!"

"Is walking out on me and your kingdom any different?" Roxas asked quietly.

Naminé froze in her tracks. Roxas repeated the question. "Is walking out on me and the people of Radiant Garden, people who look up to you with respect and hope for a new reign of leadership and protection, any different? Sora needs you Naminé, Kairi needs you, _I_ need you, and the Garden does too. Can you abandon them, Lady Naminé of the Moon, Princess and Knight of Radiant Garden? Will you let them all die without a fight? Will you stand by and let your people and sister and friends and me die fighting for what they believe in!"

Naminé stayed rooted to the spot, just staring at Roxas as his words whirled through her mind. Her heart thudded in her chest, and it gave a new lurch as he forced a few more words out, barely above a whisper. "Do _I _mean less to you than Sora does?"

"No!" she nearly shrieked. "No, of course not Roxas! I love—"

He wasn't listening anymore. He couldn't bear to hear Naminé like this. "Whatever you choose Naminé," he said quietly, almost fighting to get the words out as he turned his head, "I'm going to fight. I've made my choice. Maleficent will die; I won't stand by and let her destroy and rule the worlds. My mother's dead because of her. The witch needs to pay."

He took a step away, and Naminé felt her heart going _boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom_ in a rapid pace.

_He is right. He's completely right. It's not like me to be acting this selfishly, to be behaving like some spoiled rich kid who thinks everything in the world should be handed to her on a silver platter and that my life is more valuable than everyone else's. Very few things go the way I actually want them too, but, has that really stopped me before, now that he's reminded me? No. I went against DiZ and Riku too when it came to helping Roxas. And it wasn't just for Sora's sake; I wanted to help Roxas too. He's just like Sora in so many ways, but he's also himself. And Kairi, I could've resented her. I still could resent her, but I don't, I love her. And I love Roxas, I _love_ him; and Sora, and Riku, and the Islands and the Garden too. I'm so stupid, but I can't just… I can't…_

_I can't back out on them now._

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies," she half-whispered, half spoke in her mind. "Be righteous, and upright that the Light may love thee. Speak the truth, always, even if it should lead to your death. Safeguard the helpless. Do no wrong. That is my oath, and I will always remember it, strong and proud; a Knight of Radiant Garden."

A tear leaked down from her eye as she bent her head down. If she died, then she'd die a good and proud death, killing Heartless and protecting the world from evil. "Roxas…" she whispered, "thank you." He turned around, smiled, and came back to her. He'd only taken two steps when Naminé flung herself into his arms, which accepted her with strength and care.

"I love you," she whispered. "I love you Roxas, I always will."

"I know Naminé," he replied gently, like the breeze that was blowing. "I know. I love you too."

"I'm coming with you," she said quickly, urgently. She had to get this across. "I'll fight. Even though it looks hopeless, I'll fight with everything I have and more."

Roxas gave her a small smile. "I know you will. Just don't die on me. We can't be dying before Maleficent's taken care of, eh?"

His smile disarmed her, and the princess was out of comebacks, so she leaned up and kissed her knight.

_Then you will need all of your power._

_Hm?_ Thought Naminé, suddenly breaking the kiss and pulling back.

"What is it?" Roxas thought, perplexed, as Naminé looked around.

"I—I thought I heard a voice in my…" she slowed. The world was getting dizzy. Naminé blinked a few times, but it didn't help at all; it almost seemed to make matters worse. "…voice in…in my head…"

She sighed, and then fell backwards and knew no more.

-A-D-

_She's been called into her heart,_ said the voice in the back of Roxas' head as he held onto his girlfriend's non-responsive frog body. _The Moonmaiden of Dreams' time of ascension is upon her._

"Great," Roxas muttered. "I think this makes her the last of the six of us to ascend, unless Yuffie hasn't yet. It's a good thing it's happening now, when we'll need it the most."

_Of course, if she fails… you know what will happen right?_

"She won't fail," Roxas assured himself as he laid her down gently, "she won't die on us, not now."

_Here's hoping,_ whispered his Keyblade's voice.

-A-D-

_Halfway through Princess and the Frog now! How are you enjoying it so far? Please be honest, I actually read every review I get you know. And once again, Facebook page, follow my profile link._

_By the way, I just came up with an idea for fanart if anyone out there is an artist. Aqua enjoying PASTAAAAAAA!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	63. Pretender

_Shire Folk: "So we have a pretty impressive milestone here, celebrating over 1,000 reviews! I couldn't have done this without all of you who review to let me know of all your thoughts and opinions."_

_Sora: "Ahem!"_

_Shire: "Huh?"_

_Kairi: "Actually, you couldn't have done this without **us**, you know, the cast? If we didn't exist for you to please and torment for your pleasure, then where would that leave you?"_

_Shire: "Not on this site and with a much lesser degree of writing ability than I have now. But it would also leave you without a boyfriend, Kairi."_

_Kairi: "That's true."_

_Yuffie: "So let's give Shire a big hand for giving me and Kairi boyfriends to love and tease!"_

_(Clapping is heard)_

_Riku: "Shire Folk does not own us or Kingdom Hearts, though if he did, I'd probably break thousands of fangirl hearts by falling hard for this cute ninja."_

_Roxas: (looking around) "Hey wait a sec- where's Naminé?"_

_(Shire Folk clears his throat nervously)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 63: Pretender

Blackness.

Naminé gasped as she opened her eyes. She was floating in a black void, absolutely nothing in sight for as far as she could see. Automatically she knew that she was human again, instinctually feeling all of her appendages and extremities back in their proper places and number, and with her white, yellow, black, and silver outfit adorning her body.

_Where am I?_ she thought, looking around, still seeing absolutely nothing besides her own body in the void, _what is this place? This isn't my platform._

"The moonlight can deceive you."

A tingle went down the back of her neck at the voice and Naminé whirled around. "Who's there!" she asked, calling out into the void.

There was nothing in front of her.

_Doom_

She whirled around again as the sound came from behind her, shouting, "Show yourself!" Another gasp escaped her lips as she saw a woman carrying a staff rushing towards her almost too quickly for her eyes to follow and get a good look. Naminé summoned Nobody's Pride and her shield to her hands, but they had barely appeared before the staff-bearing woman struck.

Naminé felt nothing as the staff's end struck her in the chest, and blinked hard. She almost couldn't believe it, but the woman had disappeared!

_What was that?_ thought Naminé. _How did… what!_ She opened her mouth in shock as she looked forward. The blackness was gone, replaced by a sandy shore in front of the sea; a full moon was up in the sky with stars softly shining down on her. The sea-spray licked at Naminé's stunned face, and the wind touched her hair gently and pushed it back. The shield and Keyblade in her hands felt out of place as she looked at the serene moon above her, and so she dismissed them. The waves washed against Naminé's boots, almost covering the toe before receding back into the ocean's depths.

Looking to her left, Naminé saw a boardwalk extend into the sea, leading towards a gazebo erected on a small island with large jutting rocks on two sides. There was someone standing within, looking out across the ocean. Curiosity piqued, Naminé put the sea to her right and slowly made her way over to the gazebo. As she walked she tried to get a better look at the person standing there and saw long silver hair, but after one of the gazebo's pillars obscured her view of the person for not even a second, the figure was gone. "What?" she asked aloud in confusion, rushing forward now. Sand sprayed up behind her feet until they started to plunk down on the wooden planks of the boardwalk towards the gazebo. The waves continued to roll on, unbothered by the disappearance of the woman from the gazebo or of any of Naminé's earthly concerns.

There was no trace of the figure there, but there was a pedestal near the front end of the gazebo closest to the ocean. Waves broke against the jutting rocks on either side and the moon was visible here, almost completely so. Patterns were there in the rocks as their backs faced Naminé. The moon's soft silver light came down and entered Naminé's eyes. The whole scene was peaceful; tranquil and serene. Naminé only wished that Roxas could see this with her. Her eyes went down to the pedestal and found words etched into the stone.

Her intake of breath was sharp as her indigo eyes traced over the lines carved there.

_You, Naminé, are the fourth to undertake this trial._

_None who have come before you have passed._

_What,_ thought Naminé again, reading the lines one more time, _I—I'm the fourth? But—but Thessaura said that there hadn't been a—_She stopped her train of thought and looked up again, and her eyes zeroed in on the rocks flanking the gazebo. Sick gurgled in her stomach at the sight. They weren't patterns, like she'd originally thought, there were faces in the rocks; faces attached to bodies that had become embedded in the stone and turned to stone themselves. Naminé could see pointed ears, long hair, and the depiction of a bosom on one, and the other two appeared to have been male, but all three of them had the same soulless stone eyes and open mouths forever stuck in silent screams of fear and grief. All three of them appeared to be looking right into her eyes, and Naminé felt something cold clutch at her heart as she looked into the stone eyes of her predecessors. They pierced right through her.

A cold sweat flooded Naminé's neck and back, and she tore her eyes away to look behind her, unable to take their gaze any longer. What she saw made her take a step back.

Talerith Castle in Radiant Garden stood in front of her now, the sound and smell of the ocean gone. The white walls of the castle stood tall and proud in the sunlight; the flowers and trees and other plants issued their sweet scents. Birds twittered in the trees, and everything just seemed so calm. Naminé sighed, taking in the delightful sight of it all, and then shielded her eyes as the sunlight became too bright for her for a moment. She opened her eyes again as a red glow came into them through her eyelids.

The castle was in ruins, flames raging everywhere and burning down the gardens.

"What the—!" she asked aloud, looking around at the devastation. The heat came on her oppressively, forcing her back. The sound of something cracking above her jolted her head upwards, and Naminé shrieked and ran as a piece of stonework from the castle tumbled down. It crashed into the ground just feet behind her, and its impact had her drop to her knees. "What the hell is going on?" she shouted, turning around and staring at the boulder that had almost flattened her. Naminé's eyes went past it and her pupils became pinpricks. There were bodies strewn about the castle's ruins, and there was one near to the shattered and toppled mermaid fountain that Naminé couldn't confuse for anyone else.

Picking herself up, Naminé ran right past the rocks and rubble, forcing herself to put the heat of the fires raging to her left side out of her mind as she came up to the figure, which turned out to be two, on the ground. Tears came out of her eyes and her legs gave way beneath her, dropping her knees into a pool of blood on the stone. Sora lay dead in front of her, Remembrance broken into four pieces around him, with Kairi lying just as lifeless beneath him. Only feet away lay Riku, side-by-side with Yuffie, and close by, but all by himself, lay Roxas.

"Oh gods…" murmured Naminé, grief and pain flowing through her body like nothing else. "Oh gods no. No! NO!" Her primal scream tore through everything else in her body, reverberating off of the broken stone and wood and metal all around her. She couldn't even feel the pain in her legs as her fingernails dug into them hard enough to draw blood.

_How…? How could this happen? What's going on here? They can't be dead. Roxas and Sora and Kairi and Riku and Yuffie can't all be dead! They can't! They just can't!_

"Naminé?"

Naminé's tears had only begun to flow when she looked up, tearing her eyes away from the blood on her knees. Roxas was moving, very slowly and obviously with a great amount of effort. She was already on her feet and moving over to him, shouting his name right before kneeling at his side.

"Be still," she instructed, placing her hands overtop him. "Curag—"

His hand smacked hers away just as they started to glow with green light.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he almost snarled, raising his head and giving her such a scathing look that it sent Naminé falling backwards.

"R—Roxas…" she whispered, "what are you…?"

"Why did you run!" he demanded. "We all stood together, and then when they showed up you took one look and ran! We fought on to the very end without you, but Sora and Kairi were always saying, 'don't worry, she'll be back,' right up until the moment they fell! But… you didn't come back, you ran away; you abandoned us."

"Roxas…" Naminé repeated, tears plaguing her eyes.

"Just let me die," he whispered, "just let me die here…with the friends who stood with me, not live with the pretending girl who was all talk."

"Pretending?" Naminé asked.

"You said you'd fight with everything you had!" Roxas shouted. "You told me so, and said that you loved me. If you really meant everything you said, then where the fuck were you when we died!"

_Doom_

Naminé whirled around again at the sound, but felt something connect with her neck before she'd even half-completed her turn. The pain she expected never came, as if whatever had connected had just gone right through her. A soft gasp left her lips again as her eyes took in another sight while she was on her hands and knees, this time of a large, grey, stone monument. Atop the pedestal of the monument stood a statue of Maleficent, her staff raised to the sky, with six people kneeling in front of her with heads bowed in pain. Naminé could recognize each one of them: Sora, Kairi, Riku, King Mickey, Yuffie, and Roxas. She read the plaque beneath it.

_Here stands a testament to the Dark Queen Maleficent, who conquered all in the name of darkness. Remember well, all who look upon this monument, the feeble light of Keyblades and those who wield them cannot match the darkness._

A voice spoke up behind Naminé, one that made despair rend her heart asunder. "Ah, so at last, the final Keyblade Princess is in my grasp."

"So you've won," Naminé said, not even looking behind her at Maleficent. More tears were pouring down her cheeks from Roxas' last proclamation, and the look of intense pain on his face as he made it. She'd let him down, she'd let all of them down.

"Hmph! Foolish girl, there was never any doubt."

She'd let them down. They'd died, and Maleficent had won; had covered all the worlds in darkness because she wasn't there to help them, because she'd run and chosen to live. Roxas' words ate at her from inside.

Pretender.

Abandoner.

Betrayer.

Salt water dripped onto the ground from the streams that met at her chin. "Then finish it," she said. "Finish me!"

Silence filled Naminé's ears for many seconds, and as each one ticked by she was sure that her life was about to end. She couldn't believe that this was even real, but it was. The feel of the blood on her knees, the look in Roxas' eyes, the smells… It was real. She'd talked big to Roxas, but had blown it. She couldn't do it; she'd wanted to live more than anything else, all those hundreds of thousands of Heartless that had appeared had scared her away. Now, living didn't even matter anymore. Her friends and love were dead, they were all dead.

_And it's all _my_ fault!_

"I don't think I will," Maleficent said at last.

At this, Naminé did turn around. "What?"

"You do not have the resolve to fight me," said Maleficent, "nor the strength, not without your pitiful friends beside you. Yes…the greatest punishment for you is to live in this world of darkness you helped create, with your spineless running." She started to walk away, but then paused.

"If there was one thing I thought I had finally realized that you Keyblade Bearers all had in common it was your indomitable fighting spirit, but I guess I was wrong. An enemy who would rather run than fight when the odds suddenly are against you…you sicken me more than Sora, the King, Queen, Riku, or your sister ever did. Live on then, worthless knave."

Naminé was left alone.

_Not even Maleficent wants to associate with me, not even to kill me… My life, this life I wanted to have to live, this is meaningless, worthless._

She summoned her Keyblade into her right hand, and turned it around while placing both hands on the grip. The tip was just inches from her heart. A river of tears flowed down her cheeks from her eyes, blurring the image. She couldn't go on. But at the same time, she was still so very afraid.

_I'm a selfish, whiny, backstabbing, pretending, betraying bitch. I'm not worthy of the friends I had or this Keyblade; I'm not even worthy of myself or even life. Nobody's Pride, what pride? I have none; I have nothing in this life anymore, I ruined everything I had. I should just end it…_

_And I'll see Roxas again._

Watching from a distance, a woman with silver hair and a mantle of moonlight over her silver robes—bearing a navy-blue staff topped with a hollow silver circle with several crescent-shaped spokes emerging from it—turned an eye away as Naminé finally plunged Nobody's Pride into her heart. "And so another one fails to see through them, and fails. A pity, I had…I had hoped that she would be the one."

-A-D-

_2035hrs, Wednesday, December 3__rd__, 2003 (D.I.R)  
Bayou, Mystic Bayou_

Roxas laid Naminé in a comfortable place for her body to rest while she carried out the trial. The sudden anxiety had cleared from her face, looking a lot more peaceful now that her mind and heart were wholly devoted to overcoming the trial, and Roxas stayed gazing at it for a moment.

_You can do it Naminé,_ he thought, _I believe you can._

_Here's hoping she passes,_ said the voice of his own Keyblade. _You know what happens if you fail._

_Yes,_ Roxas answered, _you reminded me again and again while we fought. To fail in there is to die out here._

Giving one last look at Naminé, he stroked her face with a froggie finger and then hopped back to their group. Louis had many, many prickers from the pricker bushes stuck underneath his tail. "Aw _chère_, I know we gots to get to Mama Odie lickety-split," Ray said as he prepared to pull another pricker out from Louis' body. He yanked and the pricker came out accompanied by a shout of pain from Louis. "But this particular extractification gonna take a while, yeah."

"Aw, poor Louis," Tiana sympathized, placing a hand on the gator's snout.

"You know what would make me feel better?" Louis asked weakly, right before Ray pulled another pricker out from him. "OW! Crawfish smothered in remoulade sauce…MERCY!"

"Just a little more!" Ray called.

"…with some Bananas Foster, sprinkled with pralines… OH MAMA!"

"How about some swamp gumbo?" Tiana asked, finding a nice-sized gourd nearby.

"That'll do," Louis compromised, right before Ray pulled out one more pricker, making the gator make an inarticulate scream of agony. Roxas winced at the sound.

"Sounds delicious," said Naveen as he started to make himself comfortable against a tree with a mushroom growing in front of him at just the right height for a frog's table. "I'll start with a pre-dinner cocktail, and something to nibble on while I wait, thanks."

Tiana playfully shook her head as she wrapped a leaf around her waist to use as an apron. "No, no, no, no ,no your royal highness," she said with a curtsey, "you are going to mince these mushrooms."

Naveen stuttered and looked at her with genuine shock. "D-d-d-do what?"

"Mince the mushrooms!" Tiana repeated. She hopped up into a plant that looked to have peppers growing in it. "Hop to it!"

"Hey Tiana!" Roxas called, hopping near the base of the plant. "What can I help with?"

"If you could get a fire going Roxas that'd be a great help," Tiana told him, ducking her head out from the leaves, a pepper already in her arms. "Hey wait a sec," she began as she glanced around him, "where'd Naminé go?"

"Oh! Uh…well she's got this thing, that she's doing," Roxas answered. He knew before even seeing Tiana's disbelieving eyes that it was lame. "Just, you know, a thing that she's got to do. Kinda girl thing…Naminé thing."

Tiana appeared completely unimpressed with his explanation. She sighed. "Well, if she doesn't get back soon enough, she's gonna miss out on dinner. Now can you get that fire going?"

Only then did Roxas realize that she'd asked him to start a fire. He beamed at the prospect. "Yes ma'am!" he said excitedly, standing up straight and giving her a good and proper salute: arm coming straight up from his side, holding for a second, and then coming back down. The whole procedure took him only a second and a half before he had hopped away, just hearing Tiana's giggle.

"Little ridiculous," he heard Naveen mutter, the frog prince holding onto a mushroom.

"Are you mincing?" Tiana asked loudly.

"Alright! Relax!"

_First off,_ Roxas thought to himself as he paused halfway between Naveen and Tiana, _I need to find a nice place for the fire, and some fuel. _He looked down at where he was sitting. _This looks like a good spot._ Smiling as he contemplated the task in front of him, Roxas took off into the bushes. He wished that he was able to actually summon his Keyblade so that he could cut some wood, but found plenty of dry sticks and twigs lying around. He took a minute to gather some up, and then strode back underneath the pricker bushes to his spot to dump them before hopping back to get more.

A few minutes later he'd gathered what he figured to be enough of a stockpile for the moment, since the pile of fuel was now almost as tall as he was when he stood on two legs, and then set about getting his fire set up. Tiana had already gathered the vegetables she was going to use in her gumbo, and was currently cutting the top out of a gourd with a rock so that she could use the gourd as a pot.

"And let there be fire!" Roxas said dramatically a couple of minutes later, sharply striking two pebbles together and causing a few sparks to flare into existence. They lighted on a few pieces of dry grass that he'd gathered, and he banged the rocks a few more times before lightly blowing on the little glowing spots on the grass that still survived. He nursed them into a flame, and gently added small pieces of fuel to them until the fire was big and strong. Tiana's _large_ 'pot' went over the fire, nestled against a tree root that also provided some shelter from the wind, already cleaned, gutted, and filled three-quarters full with water.

"Excellent," Tiana said, adding in her nicely chopped peppers along with a bay leaf and some crunched up cilantro and rosemary into the pot that still had a fair bit of its original flesh inside to flavour it. She stirred it around with a stick, and then glanced over at Naveen. He'd barely made a slice out of the mushroom she'd given him to mince. "Roxas, can you handle this for me?"

"Wh—what?" he asked, stuttering slightly and looking up at Tiana in shock. Had she just asked him to cook? _This isn't a good idea,_ he thought quickly, remembering the last time he had tried cooking. Naminé still hadn't forgiven him, and the _Hunter_'s stove was still off-limits to him. It was embarrassing; Sora could whip up a nice meal out of just about anything, like Tiana, but Roxas could barely make a sandwich without screwing up.

Tiana appeared to sense his unease, and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Just take the stick, and stir," she instructed, holding the implement out to him.

Roxas declined with a wave of his hands. "I think I'd be better suited to manning the fire," he muttered.

"No, no, no, no," Tiana returned pleasantly, in the exact same manner she had used when telling Naveen to mince mushrooms, "you are going to stir the gumbo, so that none of it will burn to the bottom of the pumpkin, alright?"

_That's hardly a question,_ Roxas thought, sighing and taking up the stick. Tiana slid off the root for him to climb up it and stir the gumbo inside of the gourd. He swirled it around a few times before glancing back at Tiana. "Hey, isn't this supposed to be thicker, like a stew?"

"Gumbo's not a stew Roxas, it's usually like a soup," Tiana answered, "a big pot of soup of whatever you can find that you just throw together."

"Ah," he returned, breathing in the smell as the gumbo started to heat up slowly over the fire. He could smell that she added something in to give it a little kick to it.

"Step aside mister," he heard her say. Glancing back, he saw Tiana approach Naveen at the root he was at, trying to cut the mushroom. She took the knife from him. "Watch, and learn."

_, sheensheensheensheensheen!_

_How did she not cut her fingers doing that!_ Thought Roxas in dumbstruck amazement. In a mere two seconds she'd taken the mushroom from being whole and minced it into pieces barely big enough to be a fingernail for a frog. Roxas glanced back at his own hands. _If frogs had fingernails of course…_

"Roxas, are you stirring?"

The frog jumped and quickly began stirring again. "Yes I'm stirring!"

He glanced back again. Tiana had given Naveen another mushroom and was now behind him, guiding his arm down and assisting him through the motions. "There you go," she said, patting him.

"You know, I've never done anything like this before," Naveen admitted sheepishly.

"Really?" Tiana asked with playful sarcasm.

Naveen rolled his eyes good-naturedly while she scooped up her minced mushrooms and began to move back to the pot to add them in. "All right, but when you live in a castle, everything is done for you. All the time. They dress you. They feed you. Drive you. Brush your teeth."

"They brush your teeth for you?" Roxas asked, moving aside as Tiana dumped the mushrooms into the gumbo and told him to start stirring again. "That's not helpful Naveen," he added after the prince nodded, "that's downright creepy."

"Creepiness at just how much they do for you aside, it was a charming life," Naveen told them, "until my parents cut me off and then suddenly, I realized…I don't know how to do anything."

Roxas and Tiana glanced at each other quickly. Neither of them had ever seen Naveen this down before as he held his head up on one wrist. "That's not true," Roxas said quickly. "You can play the ukulele. I can't do that."

"And hey," Tiana added brightly in an attempt to cheer him up, "you've got the makings of a decent mushroom mincer." She flicked a piece of his minced mushrooms back against his head with a smile on her face.

He looked up in hope. "Oh you think so?"

"Keep practicing," Tiana continued, "and I just might hire you."

"Really?"

"No."

Roxas and Tiana both laughed as Naveen groaned while she dumped his minced mushrooms into the gumbo. "Oh, come on! That was below the frog belt right there." Roxas chuckled a little more and kept on stirring. He made a sigh of contentment as the smell of the added mushrooms heating up in the soup joined in with the rest of it. This smelled good, and he helped!

"What about you Roxas?" Tiana asked suddenly. "Want to become a gumbo stirrer in the future?"

"Wh—what?" he asked for the second time, her question having taken him by surprise.

She humoured him with a slight giggle. "Well you obviously haven't really cooked before, _Sir Roxas_. Have you had a life like Naveen too, or is it more like what your girlfriend snapped at me?"

Roxas blinked and paused in his stirring, giving Tiana a questioning look. "Naminé snapped at you? What did she say?"

Tiana sighed and looked away, clutching one arm with a frog hand, as if she were embarrassed to bring it up. "She…she said that her parents had been murdered and that she'd been hurt a lot fighting the people who worked for the person who'd killed them, that it wasn't all nice like Naveen's."

Roxas sighed and looked away, continuing his stirring. "Tiana, there are things out there with powers no normal human has; not all of them are good, and not all of them are bad. Some people just want to become whole again, no matter what stands in their way; some want to keep their friends and loved ones safe, while others just want to accumulate vast amounts of wealth and power, and some others want to destroy everything for their own amusement. Naminé and I are just a few of the good guys, and she got tricked by the Shadow Man who's working with a minion of one of those who wants to destroy everything and rule the enslaved survivors. That person, Maleficent, is the one who had our parents killed."

"Our?" Naveen asked.

"Not just Naminé's and her sister Kairi's," Roxas told them, "but also me and my brother's mom, and our friend Riku's mom and dad. Naminé's been through _a lot_ in the last year, even more in the last few months, and I guess the impact of what you were implying made her explode. She was already getting a little testy recently."

"I didn't mean—" Tiana started.

"I _know_ you didn't mean to set her off Tiana, but you did." Roxas sighed and kept on stirring. "You know, Naminé, me, Sora, Kairi, Riku…we're all expected to be these perfect saviours of the universe, doing everything the powerful people above us tell us to do and save the day and beat the bad guys, with very little reward in the end besides a job well done and a world not overrun with evil, but Riku and I were each pawns of the enemy once, Kairi's been a damsel in distress twice, and Naminé was coerced into being used to hurt Sora, and Sora was used by people I used to be a pawn for. Since then, it's like we've been in this never-ending conflict, regardless of whether we do any fighting or not; the shadow of it's always looming over our heads, even now." Roxas glanced up at the stars. "I wonder how everyone's doing out there. Kairi should still be nursing that arm she broke fighting in that tournament, and Sora and Riku are each out there, somewhere, fighting."

"It sounds like your life's just been one long struggle after another," Naveen said. "Now I see why Princess Naminé got a little upset when Tiana thought that her life was all bunnies and flowers."

"It's like you've barely had any time to relax or do anything else," said Tiana.

Roxas nodded. "Whenever we do get the chance, we enjoy it as much as we can and try to put those other thoughts away. I don't have a hobby to really distract me with though; all I really know how to do is fight. I don't even know what I want to _do_ when this is all over. I've never given the future much thought before."

"Tell us about something else then," Tiana said, moving to Roxas' side and gently taking the stirring stick away from him. She raised it up from the soup and tasted that which stayed on the stick, smacking her lips a couple of times.

"My brother can cook," Roxas added abruptly. "So can Kairi."

"A Princess who can cook?" Naveen asked, awestruck.

Roxas smirked as Tiana gave him the stick again. "Well she wasn't raised as a princess, remember? Kai was raised middle-class. She fights well, but I hear she enjoys baking cookies more."

If only he knew that her infamous shortbread Christmas cookies would probably be the first thing she'd have waiting for them when they got back to Radiant Garden instead of battle plans.

-A-D-

A shadow combed through the bayou, searching this way and that for some sign of the missing frogs. It had been instructed to do what the Shadow Man had said, and so it would. The promise of all of those souls that they would receive rang through the shadow's rampant greedy hunger. But they would only get those souls if the shadow and its companions could locate those errant frogs.

Something in the water sparked the shadow's attention and it paused atop the surface, circling it. The shadow lifted up the shadow of the object, and realized with delight that it was the remains of the balloons that the four frogs had escaped on. Raising its head, the shadow gave a shrill call through swamp, alerting its companions of the discovery. A moment later it darted down the waters of the bayou, several other humanoid, animalistic, shadows following it.

They'd picked up their trail.

-A-D-

Roxas laughed at a joke Ray told, sipping the gumbo out of one of the wooden bowls Tiana had rapidly made to hold their gumbo. The whole concoction was rather excellent, and he felt that it was even more delicious because he had a hand in making it

_You had a hand in making it, _riiight_…_ the voice of his Keyblade entering his mind. Roxas flushed.

_So what if all I'd done was stir it around, I'd still made the fire it had cooked on and I'd been stirring it, right?_

_If you say so chief._

"Anyone for seconds?" Tiana asked.

Roxas eagerly held out his bowl, and Naveen stood up from his mushroom stool with a large smile on his face. "That was magnificent!" he declared, adding in a softer tone, "You truly have a gift."

Tiana appeared a little flustered at the compliment, as if she really had no idea what to make of it. Roxas gave her a pensive look. Surely she'd been praised for her cooking before with how amazing it way, so it shouldn't have been a big deal to be complimented on it.

Or was it because it was Naveen who had said it?

Tiana glanced around quickly, changing the subject. "Hey Roxas, where is Naminé anyway? I thought that you said she'd be back by now."

Now it was time for Roxas to look away. "I never said when she'd be back, Tiana, because I honestly don't know how long her… thing…is going to take her."

"Well if she takes much longer getting back, this gumbo's gonna pretty cold and we'll be long gone from here." Roxas gulped and kept his eyes averted.

_Come on Naminé, how long is it going to take you to finish? I know you can do it; the rest of us have, even me._

Ray suddenly gasped and all eyes went to him. "There she is," he said, suddenly love struck, "the most beautiful firefly in all creation."

"Evangeline?" asked Tiana in excitement, hopping with Naveen towards a lily pad on the water. Both frogs looked around in anticipation, waiting to meet the prettiest firefly who ever glowed.

Louis continued to eat Tiana's gumbo out of his appropriately sized bowl, smacking his fingers on the soup. "I wanna meet this girl. Where she at?"

"How you can miss her?" Ray asked the group gently, flying up higher. "She glowing right there in front of y'all." He was pointing up at the Evening Star, looking ever higher with star-studded eyes. "Look how she lights up the sky, ma belle, Evangeline."

Louis barked a laugh. "That ain't no fire—" but stopped as Roxas whipped his still-full bowl into the gator's face. The frog didn't mourn the loss of his soup, and promptly shushed the alligator.

"So far above me, but I," Ray continued, unbothered, "know her heart belongs to only me."

Ray continued on, saying soft sweet nothings about Evangeline, and Roxas watched from the sidelines, thinking it a little cute. Naveen quietly grabbed Tiana's hand and attempted to dance with her, but Tiana pulled away, embarrassed that she couldn't dance since she'd never done it before. Naveen batted away her polite rebuke with a simple, "If I can mince, you can dance." Before they knew it, they were dancing together in a slow ballroom waltz, Louis smoothly playing his trumpet while Ray continued on, singing softly of his love for Evangeline.

For a brief instant, Roxas saw himself dancing with Naminé instead of seeing Naveen and Tiana, and his heart ached. Quietly excusing himself, Roxas hopped into the rushes for the place where he'd stashed his girlfriend as she lay in her trance. He reached it only seconds later, and smiled softly when he saw Naminé still lying there, her face one of peace while she waged the contest inside of her. Roxas sighed and sat down next to her. She almost looked like she could be sleeping. His only regret was that they were frogs instead of humans.

Something on the ground moved close by, and he was about to glace at it when he heard a shout come from the group and Louis' trumpet had stopped playing. Looking back at the noise was his one mistake, because as soon as his attention was distracted a shadow grasped at Naminé's prone body's shadow and yanked. The female frog's body jerked with the yank, as if her shadow and her body were physically connected.

Roxas whipped around, only just catching sight of Naminé being pulled through the grass. "Naminé!" Leaping after the shadow, Roxas cursed that he couldn't summon his Keyblades to his hands, cursed that he sent Hannah away already, and cursed that he was just a silly little frog. The shadow surged across the bayou, Naminé appearing the fly through the air while the shadow had its claws on hers. Roxas now saw that she wasn't the only one who'd been grabbed; Naveen was struggling against a different shadow that had nabbed him, other creepy shadows surrounding that one. Tiana, Ray, and Louis were chasing after the one that had Naveen. The shadow that had captured Naminé caught up to the others, and they all grinned at one another in pleasure at having completed their mission so easily.

A blast of golden light slammed into the shadow clutching Naveen, and the being disintegrated. The one that held onto Naminé looked at its partner in shock just before it too was struck by a bolt of light. Both frogs dropped into the waters of the swamp. Roxas' heart seized and he shouted her name and dove into the water just as the other shadows made howls of surprised fright and started to retreat. More bolts of golden light streamed at them from above Roxas as he swam under the surface, but he couldn't care. His girlfriend was sinking and not moving, small bubbles of air coming up out of her mouth. Roxas grabbed her, and pushed up with his strong frog legs.

Air surged into his lungs as he broke the surface, clutching Naminé close and keeping her head above the water. He glanced at Naveen and the others, but none of them were looking at him. Instead they were all looking into the gloom in front of them. Roxas turned. A large, shadowy figure was coming towards them out of the mists. Roxas gulped.

The shadow then diminished, and a little old black woman dressed all in white, with a big white wrap on top of her head and a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes, came out of the mist with a laugh. She was carrying a wooden club, the business end of which was glowing with golden light. "Not bad for a hundred ninety-seven year old blind lady," she laughed, spinning her club around in her hand and extinguishing the glow by blowing it. "Now," she continued, looking down on them all, "which one of you naughty children been messing with the Shadow Man?"

Fingers pointed to Naveen and Naminé, the former having just enough humility to look guilty. Roxas heart seized suddenly and he looked sharply at the female frog in his arms. "Naminé!" he whispered urgently, terror coming into his eyes and voice.

He suddenly couldn't feel her heart.

-A-D-

_Leave a review if you wish. I probably deserve a rant or two don't I?_

_Remember, the Facebook fan page link is on my profile and the group is active. Every day I post a trivia question and I really don't care if you use it to advertise your own fics, talk about how your dragonborn was able to seduce a Tifa-look-a-like nun in your favourite tabletop rpg, or discuss whether you would prefer to ride a chocobo or a gryphon. Come on down and join the madness._

_...or, you know, gang up on me and bash me for things I've done in the fic like killing chocobos..._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	64. Boxed In Trust Escape

…_I have issues with this chapter, mostly because I hit a block while writing it. It's still good, but I just hit a block in writing it._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Hunchback of Notre Dame._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 64: Boxed In. Trust. Escape.

_1355hrs, December 2__nd__, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Town Square, City of Bells_

Rain had begun to fall only minutes after Riku, Tifa, and Leon made their escape into the crowd. Esmeralda had quietly been able to gather Aerith, Marlene, and Zack in a tent, and just as Riku, Tifa, and Leon passed it by the four snatched them and pulled them in.

"Frollo's guards are all over the square," Esmeralda told them just as Riku's pounding heart got under control again. Djali bleated and jumped onto her shoulders as she grabbed the purple blanket she sometimes used as a cloak. "It'll be difficult for us to sneak past them as we are now. Here, take these." She held out several items. They were all pieces of clothing, many of them cloaks or shawls that were of dull or dark colours.

"C'mon Marlene," Tifa said quietly as the rain pattered on the tent's canvas walls, "you need to put this on."

"'Kay," answered the girl, nodding her head and taking the brown blanket. Tifa helped the girl wrap it around herself, and Marlene giggled a little at the way the blanket wrapped around certain parts of her body.

"A nun?" Aerith asked aloud, looking at the black and white garments in her hands.

"Hey," Zack told her with a smile, "you'll still look beautiful to me." He winked, and Aerith blushed.

Within minutes everyone had finished putting on their disguises. Esmeralda was hunched over with Djali on her shoulders, a smoking corn cob pipe in the kid's mouth and a cane in the gypsy's hand. Marlene, Tifa, Leon, and Riku all looked like a normal peasant family, except with their faces covered by the large overhangs from the cloaks Riku and Leon wore, the blanket draped over Marlene, and the bonnet on Tifa's head. It took some fussing for Aerith to get into the nun's robes, but she managed it, and Zack they had given the oldest and shabbiest of the blankets and forced him to hunch and use a cane. Esmeralda gave them a quick look over from under the purple shawl, and was satisfied enough that she had done her best to make them indistinguishable. She tapped one of the tent flaps.

"Clear," said a whispered voice, before footsteps softly padded off into the rain.

Esmeralda glanced back at her motley crew. "Let's go," she said, nodding at the flap. "We make for the cathedral, but not all at once. Leon, your group can go out first; just make as if you're going to go to the church to pray since Frollo ruined the finale of the festival. Aerith, you can help Zack 'hobble' over from another direction, and I'll come in last. Is everyone alright with that?"

"Sounds like a plan," Riku said, nodding. He glanced at Leon and Tifa, and he felt a twinge in his heart even as he tried for a grin. "C'mon, Dad, Mom." Leon scowled, and Tifa almost laughed before her face fell and she gave Riku a glare.

"Wait, are you calling me an old lady, kid?" she asked. Riku gave her a guilty smile, and this time Tifa did laugh even as she playfully whacked her 'son' on the head. Esmeralda ushered them out to the sounds of Marlene's giggles, even though the gypsy herself couldn't keep a humoured smile from her face.

The rain fell down onto Riku's covered head, and he tightened the pull on the hood just to make absolutely sure that it covered up his tell-tale silver hair. Guards were marching around the town square, dispersing the remnants of the crowd. Quasimodo was gone from the platform, and Frollo was now absent as well.

"Search the area," he could hear the captain of the guard ordering. "Find the gypsies, but do not harm them."

"We'd better go," Leon murmured. "Don't make eye contact and don't look like we're in a rush to be gone." Riku, Tifa, and Marlene nodded. The brunet placed an arm around Tifa while Tifa put a hand protectively on Marlene's shoulder to keep up the act while Riku kept close, but just slightly aloof to present an attitude of not needing his 'parents' protection.

None of them were bothered as they went towards the cathedral, the guards seemingly more concerned with bothering those people who were easily identifiable of being gypsies with their flamboyant clothing. A couple of Parisians entered Notre Dame just before them, and Riku turned his head to glance back at the square as Leon caught the door. Aerith was 'helping' Zack towards a side door of the building, and Esmeralda had yet to leave the tent.

"Riku."

"Yeah," said the Keyblade Wielder, turning at Leon's voice and going inside before the man shut the door; Riku pulled his hood down a little more as he turned. He took it off a second after Leon had followed him inside, the youth's aquamarine eyes widening as he gazed at the cathedral's immediate interior. Thick stone columns stretched on until the cathedral's opposite end was in a haze, and towered until the ceiling seemed as far above Riku as the sky itself. Candelabras stood at the sides of each pillar, the light from their lit candles giving the dimly lit cathedral a glow of mysticism. The black and white chequered stone floor stretched on through every corridor of the ground floor. The low sound of a choir singing a hymn from somewhere within echoed through the chamber.

Riku didn't understand what any of the pictures on the stained glass windows were supposed to represent, assuming that they were all things relating to the god that the people of this world worshiped, but he couldn't deny that he was infinitely impressed and awed. Notre Dame de Paris certainly beat the temples of Poseidon back on Destiny Islands.

"Wow," he whispered in a hushed voice, afraid to raise it in this place, almost as though it would destroy the sanctity of it.

"This place is beautiful," Tifa whispered. Marlene and Leon nodded.

Zack and Aerith came in a minute later, and both of them quickly rid themselves of their disguises and shook the water off. Esmeralda arrived another minute or so after them. Djali hopped from her shoulders onto the floor, and together the troupe slowly strode further into the cathedral, all of them in awe.

"I never knew it looked like this," Esmeralda said.

"You mean you've never been in here before?" Aerith asked. Esmeralda shook her head.

"Gypsies don't often attend mass," was all Esmeralda said. A calm hush fell on them; then they heard a footstep. Esmeralda whirled around, suddenly drawing a sword from a man's belt and throwing him to the ground by his cape. The blond-haired Captain of the Guard crashed to the ground in his armour, and Esmeralda placed the sword she'd taken from him close to his chin.

"You," she growled, advancing while he backed away towards a pillar.

"Easy, easy," he said, his eyes flicking between the sword and her, "I—I just shaved this morning."

"Oh really?" Esmeralda mocked. "You missed a spot."

The soldier's back reached the pillar. "Alright, alright," he said, holding his hands out as he started to slide up it, "just calm down. Just give me a chance to apologize."

"For what?" asked Esmeralda. The man swiftly grabbed the sword with his gauntleted hand and kicked Esmeralda in the hip. She was knocked off her feet and fell to the ground.

"That, for example," the soldier said. Aerith and Marlene rushed to Esmeralda's side while Leon, Riku, Zack, Tifa, and Djali all forced their way between her and the soldier, glaring death at him.

"You sneaky son of a—"

"Ah, ah, ah," said the man as the gypsy stood. "Watch it. We're in a church."

"Are you always this charming," Esmeralda asked as she placed her hand on a candelabra, "or am I just lucky!" On her final word her grip tightened and she swung the improvised weapon at the Captain. Riku and the others quickly got out of the way.

"Should we help her?" Riku asked.

"Nah," Zack answered. "She seems raring to have a go at him."

"He's right," Tifa added. "So we shouldn't bother them."

The Captain started to laugh as he casually stopped the slow strikes Esmeralda was making at him with the candelabra. He seemed to be enjoying himself. "Candlelight, intimacy, music, can't think of a better place for hand-to-hand combat. Ooh!" he remarked as he was forced to block low and then high as the gypsy girl struck with the improvised weapon. "You fight almost as well as a man."

Esmeralda thrust forward with the haft of the candelabra, the soldier's sword pressing up against it as she pushed for his chest. "Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you." The man pushed back and took a few steps away from the gypsy.

"That's hitting a little below the belt, don't you think?"

"No, this is!" Esmeralda thrust for his crotch with the tri-pronged candle-holding end, and the soldier quickly got his sword down to keep it away. But Esmeralda spun around, whacking him in the side of the head with the foot of the candelabra.

He shook his head to clear it after the blow, a smile on his face. "Touché." Djali bleated suddenly and rammed him in the chest, his hard goat head and horns clanging against the armour. The Captain winced and placed a hand to the area. "I didn't know you had a kid."

"Well he doesn't take kindly to soldiers," Esmeralda answered, still holding the candelabra towards him in a threatening manner.

"Uh, I noticed," the soldier replied. He was giving Esmeralda, Djali, and even all of Leon's group a forgiving look. "Ah, permit me. I'm Phoebus. It means, 'Sun God.'" He said it with a look that meant even he didn't take it too seriously.

Riku just glanced at Tifa, a barely concealed smile on his face. The guard was such a dope for telling them that, but he certainly wouldn't have done it if he was planning on dragging them out and arresting them like he'd been ordered.

"And you are?" Phoebus asked leadingly.

"Is this an interrogation?" Esmeralda returned, unimpressed.

Captain Phoebus sheathed his sword. "I believe it's called an introduction," he told her, not unkindly.

"You're not arresting us?" Tifa asked. "After all the trouble we caused back there?"

"As long as you're in here, I can't," Phoebus answered honestly. "And I believe that if I had to really fight any one of you, I doubt that I'd be able to succeed."

"Huh," Esmeralda began, putting down her weapon. "You're not at all like the other soldiers."

"Thank you," said Phoebus, nodding his head politely at them.

"So…" Esmeralda restarted, "if you're not going to arrest me, what do you want?"

"I'd settle for your name," the Captain replied.

_Smoothie,_ Dawn said in Riku's mind. _This guy's definitely a smoothie._

_Or he's just interested in Esmeralda,_ Riku answered.

_Heh,_ Dawn replied in a huff. _If he saw me he'd be all over me too._

_He's not fawning over Tifa,_ Riku replied with a measure of finally getting one on Dawn, _and she's more attractive than you._

He could mentally see Dawn flushing and he could hear her stuttering while Esmeralda told Phoebus her name. "Esmeralda."

"Beautiful," Phoebus replied. "Much better than Phoebus anyway," he added with a slight roll of his eyes. Esmeralda smiled back at him. There was warmth in her green eyes. "And the rest of you?" he continued, still as polite as before.

"I'm Riku," said the silver-haired teenager before Leon could begin. Zack chuckled slightly at Riku's apparent eagerness to stay ahead of the brunet. "This is—"

"Leon," the gunblade-wielder cut him off, giving Riku a quick look of annoyance, "and this is Zack, Aerith, Marlene, and Tifa."

"Hi," Zack and Tifa each said while Phoebus nodded politely at each of them in turn.

Dawn was finally able to articulate a reply to Riku's comment. _You just like really big boobs you wandering eye pervert!_ Riku rolled his eyes.

_Whatever._ "I'm going to leave you two lovebirds alone," he said, giving Esmeralda and Phoebus a knowing grin, "and take a look around."

"Hey, watch your mouth there Riku," Esmeralda chastised. Riku waved it off.

"I'll come with you!" Marlene said, skipping after Riku to walk next to him. He smiled down at the kid and took her hand.

"Okay Marlene," he said. "Let's go exploring." _Okay Dawn, which way is Yuffie?_

_Oh, so now I'm supposed to _help_ you find your girlfriend after you just insulted me._

_C'mon Dawn, you know I was only joking._

_So you don't think that Tifa's more attractive than me?_

Riku considered his next words carefully. _My heart belongs to Yuffie; I think that she's the most attractive woman ever. However, purely based on observation, you are right up at the top close to her._

Dawn didn't answer him, so Riku assumed that what he said wasn't enough. Well, he wasn't going to get down on his figurative knees and grovel, so he and Marlene would have to look around the old fashioned way. They quietly passed by a congregation of worshipers, the people with their hands pressed together and their heads bowed in prayer, sitting in pews in front of a pulpit and white-clothed table. They passed them by, moving through the rows of candles in their holders, spotting statues of a woman holding a baby or other works of stained glass here and there.

_Apology accepted,_ Dawn said suddenly. _Go up that stairwell._ Riku glanced in the direction he received a mental poke towards and saw an alcove where behind a door a spiral staircase wound up the cathedral's side.

Marlene saw it too, and tugged on Riku's arm. "Let's go up there Riku," she said excitedly.

Riku smiled at her. "Alright," he said. They made their way towards the stairs, and quickly went up the staircase with Marlene darting up it as it wound through the cathedral. The two of them emerged from the staircase on the parapets on top of the cathedral. The rain had stopped and the sun was out, but the stone was still slick from the recent weather. However, that only made it look all the better in the clear light of the sun, glistening on the stones and the square beneath them. A few of the gypsy tents were still up, though they were in the process of being taken down, and the whole city seemed to sparkle in the golden light of the westering sun.

Marlene's face lit up and she leaned against the stone parapet. "It's so pretty," she said, sighing. Riku couldn't help but smile and stand next to her. He let a hand fall softly to her shoulder.

"Yeah, it is," he said, his aquamarine eyes sweeping over the city. _But it would be better if Yuffie was here, and if those guards weren't down there._ Just glancing down was enough for Riku to see that there were soldiers in black armour posted around the whole building.

_So Frollo's boxed us in,_ he mused with a trace of amusement, _guess he doesn't like us much._ The two of them stood there for a few minutes, looking out over the square and the city from the parapets of the grand cathedral. The door behind them opened suddenly, and Quasimodo the bell-ringing hunchback, hurried out of the stairway and onto the roof. The man barely glanced at Riku and Marlene before continuing along the roof.

"Wait!" a voice called from the stairs. "I'd like to talk to you!" Esmeralda emerged from the stairs, and quickly ran after Quasimodo. The hunchback was a lot faster than Riku had expected.

"I want to know that guy a bit more too," Riku muttered to himself.

Marlene heard him and looked up at Riku. "Riku, let's go make friends with Quasimodo," she said. He looked down at her, and she was giving him a face with eyes that he knew he just couldn't deny.

-A-D-

Yuffie sat in the place where she'd been hiding from the other three gargoyles, mulling over thoughts of Riku and her feelings for the silver-haired Wielder of Dawn. The words Dawn had spoken were a punch right to Yuffie's stomach, and she felt absolutely terrible.

_I love him,_ she thought again for the hundredth time. _I love him, and Dawn said that he loves me. But, why does that scare me so much? She's got no reason to lie to me. Kairi and Sora are so happy together, and so are Naminé and Roxas. They aren't moping about the maybes._ She looked down at her gargoyle body, eyes drawn to the place where her legs would have met had she still been graced with them.

If she could have curled up and placed her head to her knees, she would have. _I love him. Why can't I trust him enough to tell him?_

"Look," Laverne said suddenly from where she, Hugo, and Victor were watching for Quasimodo's return. Yuffie looked up at her voice. Quasimodo had gone down to the church level after hearing Esmeralda's voice sifting up into the rafters of the bell tower as she sang a prayer for God to help the outcast gypsies. "He's got a friend with him."

"Yeah," said Hugo. "Maybe today wasn't a total loss after all."

"A vision of loveliness," Victor said.

"The one in the dress ain't bad either," Hugo added.

Quasimodo entered the tower right next to Yuffie, but as soon as he did the other three gargoyles dropped down around him.

"Way to go Quasi!"

"Congratulations."

"We knew you had it in ya," said Laverne.

"Got the girls chasin' ya already," Hugo praised, giving him a warm smile.

"Good on you," Yuffie said, feeling that the happiness she was feeling at Quasimodo's improving situation was breaking apart her own melancholies. Or maybe she was hoping that it did, she didn't know anymore.

Quasimodo sure wasn't acting as if he was glad that there was a girl chasing him. "Actually I—"

They didn't let him talk his way out of it. "You mustn't run too fast," Victor advised him, "or she'll get away."

"Yes, I—I know. That's what I—"

Hugo interrupted him. "Give her some slack; then reel her in. Then give her some slack; then reel her in. Then give her some slack—"

Laverne and Yuffie both smacked Hugo on the head. "Knock it off Hugo," said the older gargoyle. "She's a girl, not a mackerel."

"Where are you off to Quasi?" Yuffie asked, seeing him trying to sneak off while Laverne was chastising Hugo. Immediately after she said that though, she felt that someone who wasn't Quasimodo had entered the tower and she promptly turned as rigid as the stone she was now made of.

"Here you are," said Esmeralda as she came onto the wooden balcony of the rafters in the bell tower. "I was afraid I'd lost you."

"Yes," Yuffie saw Quasimodo answer quickly. "Well, I, uh—I have chores to do. I—it was nice…seeing…you…again." He turned and groaned in frustration before rushing up some stairs that would only take him higher towards the loft he called his home.

"No wait!" Esmeralda called, quickly following him. "I'm really sorry about this afternoon…"

"Yuffie?"

The girl's mind raced even as she saw Esmeralda's kid goat race after Esmeralda. That wasn't the voice of the gypsy girl. Someone new entered the Keyblade Wielder-turned-gargoyle's stone sight and bent down to look her in the eye. Yuffie gazed into aquamarine gems, situated behind silver bangs that veiled them slightly.

"Yuffie?" a different voice asked, this the familiar one of a young girl. "You're right Riku, it does look like Yuffie," said Marlene.

Yuffie felt Riku place a hand on top of her stone head, right between the two small horns that were carved on either side of it. "That's because it is Marlene," he answered. He was still looking her in the eyes, and there was a sad look in them. "Dawn told me you were here, but I didn't know that you were like this. I'll find a way to get you back to normal Yuffie, I promise."

Back to normal? Yuffie couldn't restrain herself anymore. She animated her face at will and giggled. "Riku, I'm fine." She then stoned up again, returning her face to the same expression and inanimate state it had been just a moment before. The looks on Riku's and Marlene's faces were priceless, but nothing could beat the feeling pumping through her heart. Riku had honestly thought that she'd been turned to stone, and the tone of voice he'd used when he promised that…he truly cared for her, truly and genuinely cared!

She almost animated again and whispered her undying love to the boy in front of her, but something inside stopped her. She'd heard words spoken like that once before.

_But Riku's different!_ She insisted against herself. _He's not like Tseng!_

_Tseng was the same back then,_ the other voice said. _He was cool, and caring, and sweet, and strong, and he took __**everything**__ from you._

_But Riku's not Tseng! He's not! He's… _She stopped thinking and gazed into Riku's eyes again, the youth now smiling as if he knew what the trick she was using was. _...he's Riku._

_He's a man with an interest in you,_ the other voice continued, _just like Tseng. He'll use you; you can't trust him._

_But why can't I! I love him!_

_You said you loved Tseng too, and what happened right after you confessed?_

Yuffie wanted to slam her hands to the sides of her head and jam her eyes shut and scream at her mind to stop bringing up those painful memories, but didn't. This situation was different; completely different. There was no way that Riku would do the same thing as Tseng and his sleazy gang, the Turks, did, to her or to her father. Her father, at least, was out of anyone's reach now.

Arms went around her unmoving stone body, and for a moment Yuffie animated herself in surprise. Riku was giving her a hug. "I'm just glad that you're safe," he said.

Stone animated, and Yuffie wrapped her stone arms around the half-kneeling youth in front of her. "You sound like you missed me an awful lot," she whispered with a pleased tone.

_Maybe I shouldn't tell him right now, but his arms around me just feel so right._

Marlene gasped and flung her arms around Yuffie's wings from the back. "Yuffie!" she cried happily. The normally raven-haired ninja laughed.

"Yes, it's me," she said. "Sorry to have made you guys worry so much, but things didn't quite work out like we'd planned." Riku ended the hug and smirked back at Yuffie.

"They certainly don't," he told her. "Heartless are here, of course, and now I get the feeling that me and the others are stuck in here. Guards are posted all around the cathedral."

"Yeah, I don't think you've got enough muscle to get past them," Yuffie huffed, smiling and pushing his shoulder. Riku took the shove and insult in stride, laughing. "C'mon," she said, "let me introduce you two to my friends. Hey guys, you can stop being stone."

Victor, Hugo, and Laverne all became animate and hopped around. "Geez Yuffie," Hugo said with a slightly wary look on his face, "you know Quasi's the only one we've ever shown that we could move and talk."

Marlene was beyond delighted. "Wow, you guys are alive!" she said, coming up and touching Victor's cheek. If the gargoyle could blush, he was. Marlene smiled. "You're not at all scary, and thanks for helping Yuffie out."

Laverne chuckled and glanced at Yuffie. "Oh I like this girl," she said to her before turning to Marlene. "No problem sweetie. We comfort anyone who comes to the bell tower here all by themselves."

"Yeah, just ask Quasi," Hugo added. "He's been up here for the past twenty years, with no company besides us and the birds and that killjoy Frollo."

"_Hellooo,"_ echoed a voice from above, ringing off of one of the bells.

"And her now too," Hugo added happily.

"Miss Esmeralda seemed quite keen to meet Quasimodo," said Victor, a happy smile on his face.

"She should," Riku said, "considering what happened between them at the festival. But I wouldn't get my hopes up too high."

"Why not?" Yuffie asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Riku shrugged. "Just a feeling I got when that guard captain, Phoebus, didn't arrest us," he answered.

"Here you are!" a new voice exclaimed. "We've been looking for you."

Marlene's face brightened. "Aerith! Tifa!" The two women stepped into the bell tower, giving the gargoyles momentary looks of shock before spotting Yuffie amongst them. The sun was setting outside.

"A gargoyle?" Tifa asked. "Yuffie, I never thought you'd ever be so solid."

"Hey, what's _that_ supposed to mean?" asked the ninja-turned-gargoyle.

Aerith giggled slightly. "It's because you're always so airy and bubbly."

"_Bubbly?_" Yuffie yelped. "I'll show you bubbly flower girl." She raised her stone fist in mock aggression while a smile was on her face, but something then struck her in the back of her head. "Ow," she grumbled, placing her hand to the struck limb. "What was that?"

A flash of silver caught Tifa's eye and she knelt down. "Hey Riku, isn't this one of those summon charms you guys have?" Riku frowned and looked her way. Tifa extended her hand. Nestled on top of her gloved palm was a charm with the image of a red bandana splayed across it.

"Looks like it," Riku said. "Here, Yuffie, you have it."

"Me?" she asked, blinking as Riku handed her the charm. "Why me?"

Riku shrugged. "You don't have one yet. And besides, I don't think you'd really want me to give you Stewie." Yuffie grimaced as she remembered the toddler summon that the pair of them had, who consistently refused to return to his charm after the battle was over. She looked at the other three gargoyles as they leaned out of the bell tower in a tower themselves, with Laverne at the top and trying to eavesdrop on whatever Quasimodo and Esmeralda were talking about above them. She had one of her horns out and sticking into her ear in an attempt to gather information.

"What are they saying?" Yuffie asked.

"She said 'Frollo's nose is long and he wears a truss'," answered Laverne.

"Ha!" laughed Hugo. "Told you! Pay up!"

"Oh dear," Victor groaned in defeat, handing over some munny to Hugo.

"Chump."

"That's probably not it," Tifa remarked. Yuffie crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose slightly.

"I do wonder what they're talking about though," she said. "Oh, if only I could turn into a shadow, but I can't; not when I'm a gargoyle."

Aerith placed a hand to her chin and swayed slightly in thought. "You know, I might be able to fix that," she announced. Before she could do anything though, Quasimodo suddenly down the bell tower's exterior to where they were. The gargoyles, including Yuffie, instantly became inanimate stone again at Esmeralda's appearance. She was in Quasimodo's arms, with Djali in hers.

"C'mon," the hunchback said. "I'm getting you out of here."

"So _this_ is where you all went."

Riku looked around and saw Zack and Leon, the final members of their group, coming along the now dark parapets towards them. "Well look at this," Zack said, "the gang's all here. What's going on?"

"Quasimodo says he can get us out of this cage," Riku answered. They all looked at the hunchback.

"Quasimodo," Esmeralda said gently, "I don't think you can carry all of them down with me."

"No, I can't," he admitted, "but none of you gypsies are evil like Frollo made you out to be. I'll take you all down one at a time if I have to."

Leon shook his head. "That'd be asking too much of you Quasimodo, and the guards might see you if you keep going back and forth. It'd be best if some of us stay here in the cathedral. That way if any of the guards come looking for us we'd be able to put them on a wild goose chase around the building."

"Then who's going to stay and who's going to go with Esmeralda and Djali?" Marlene asked. Leon looked around the group again before his eyes settled on Riku.

"Where's Yuffie?" he asked. Riku nodded his head towards the bell tower behind him. The brunet nodded. "I'll stay," he declared, "Zack and Aerith too. Riku, you, Marlene, and Tifa go with them."

Anger welled up inside of Riku for Leon's apparently arbitrary decision to cut him off from Yuffie, but he nodded his head and quashed it. The others were all agreeing. "Alright," he said. "Tell Yuffie I'll see her again soon. Take my hand Marlene."

"Alright…" she said slowly, not sure of why. As soon as their hands clasped Riku swept the girl up into his arms. Marlene didn't react with a customary giggle, but that wasn't far away as she fantasized some handsome prince in shining armour carrying a blushing bride in white.

Black light pooled around each of Riku's feet and he suddenly hovered a few inches off the ground, supported by the non-light. "I'll follow you from the air," he said, looking at Quasimodo, who was staring at his hovering in surprise.

"Are you a witch?" Esmeralda asked.

"Nope," he replied. "A friend of mine is though. She's helped us out of a few tight spots." He smiled a little. "She got us into those same spots too."

Tifa came forward and stood next to Quasimodo as he carried Esmeralda. "I'll follow your lead Quasi," she told him.

"Right," Quasimodo agreed, "this way." He ran to the other side of the cathedral and jumped. Riku, Marlene, and Tifa all exchanged looks for a second before following him, Riku buoyed on his sun skates that trailed golden lines behind the black before the light faded away. The hunchback proved to be quite the acrobat, leaping from the symmetrically placed aesthetic outcroppings of stonework that lined the cathedral's sides to climbing down them using only one hand. Tifa kept the pace, gripping tightly with her hands and ensuring that she never went too fast or too far to fall off, and Riku stayed close in the air with Marlene in his arms. They reached the roofing on one of the sides without incident or worry, right next to an alley.

The guards were still posted all around the doors and they made rounds along the entire exterior of the cathedral. One was walking their way with a flaming torch held high, and there were four others almost directly beneath them. "We're going to need a distraction to get past him and keep the other guards from seeing us," Tifa said.

"Leave that to me," Riku said. He scanned the area with his eyes, looking around at the houses in the alleys close by. He spotted a barrel full of metal tools up against the side of one house. Repositioning Marlene, Riku summoned Way to the Dawn to his hand behind his back to conceal the light that came from the action, and then carefully aimed.

Way to the Dawn spun over and over in the air before crashing into the barrel and breaking its wooden boards apart. The tools dropped loudly to the cobblestone road, and a pitchfork even splashed into a barrel full of rainwater.

The noise was enough to distract the guards, who all turned at the out-of-place sound in the quiet night. A clumsy thief could be about, or really anyone who wasn't supposed to be out this close to Notre Dame at night as per Frollo's orders. "Check the alley!" the lead guard ordered, leaving his post with his men.

"Good work," Esmeralda said as his Keyblade appeared in Riku's hand again. He dismissed it and reshuffled Marlene. The five of them dropped into an alcove where a large statue stood.

"I hope I didn't scare you," Quasimodo whispered to Esmeralda.

"Not for an instant," she replied softly.

"I'll never forget you Esmeralda," he added, then turned to the others, "or the rest of you."

Tifa smiled. "We're glad for that."

Esmeralda gave Quasimodo a slightly sympathetic look before her face became one of audacity. "Come with me," she asked.

"What?" Quasimodo spluttered.

"To the Court of Miracles," Esmeralda continued quickly, now that her idea was out. "Leave this place."

"Oh no," the hunchback declined hastily. "I'm never going back out there again. You saw what happened today. No," he finished sombrely as he put a hand to the stone of Notre Dame. "This is where I belong."

Esmeralda smiled and slid right next to him, with the hunchback reacting in surprise as he tried to move away from the contact. Riku couldn't help but chuckle as the gypsy girl said, "Alright, then I'll come to see you."

"Here?" Quasimodo asked, astounded. "But the soldiers and Frollo—"

"I'll come after sunset," Esmeralda amended.

"But at sunset, I ring the evening mass, and after that I clean the cloisters, and then I ring the vespers and—" He stopped rambling as Esmeralda placed a soft kiss to his cheek. "Whatever's good for you," he finished, giving her a love-struck look.

The gypsy placed fingers to her neck and began to withdraw something. "If you ever need sanctuary," she said seriously, removing what looked to be a dream catcher that had been tied around her neck and hidden in her blouse, "this will show you the way." She placed it in his hand. "Just remember, when you wear this woven band, you hold the city in your hand."

"The guards are coming back," Tifa said. They looked and saw light coming from down the alley. They gave their goodbyes and slipped down from the alcove before running through the streets, not even giving the cathedral a parting glance.

It was only minutes into their run through the darkened alleys away from Notre Dame that Tifa broke the silence. "You're pissed at Leon," she whispered.

Riku looked at her in amazement. "How did you—?"

"Know?" she finished for him. "It's on your face. And you'd have to be an unfeeling blockhead not to be upset that he split you and your girl up Riku."

The angry tone that was in her hushed voice when she said that last bit made Riku look at her curiously as the four huddled against the side of a building, Esmeralda checking to make sure that the coast was clear before they could make the dash across the bridge that spanned the river. "You're mad at Cloud," he concluded.

"Of course I'm upset with Cloud," Tifa growled lowly. "As soon as I find him I'm going to punch him right in the face to let him know just how much of a pain looking for him has been."

"Clear."

The four stayed low as they left the alley and hurried along the road. Riku kept up his hushed conversation with Tifa. "You know, if Sora wasn't such a sap he probably would have decked me when we finally met up in Organization XIII's headquarters."

"What did he do?" Tifa asked.

"Dropped to his knees and bawled like a baby," answered the silver-haired teen. Marlene and Tifa both failed to suppress their laughter.

"You know," Tifa began, "some people would say that that's a sign that he loves you."

Riku snorted. "As if. Kairi's got that little man wrapped all the way around her finger. And by her finger, I mean her chest."

Tifa gasped. "You mean they—?"

"I have reliable information to know that they at least have gone to second base," Riku informed her. "Anything further than that..." he left his sentence hanging.

"Wow," whispered Tifa, "I never would have thought Sora had it in him."

"He's got a lot more in him than people think," Riku answered. "If he truly gets angry, not even I want to be anywhere nearby to see what would happen."

"Hm," Tifa mumbled under her breath, so quietly that she could barely hear her own words, "I don't think I'd want to be around _any_ of you if you ever got really angry."

The four vanished into the night.

-A-D-

"Yuffie," said Leon as he looked out over the city in the warm night air, "what do you think of Riku?"

The gargoyle girl was silent next to him for almost ten seconds, her eyes not once meeting those of the man next to her. "I love him," she said quietly, but firmly, "and I know that he'd never hurt me, but…" Her eyes fell to the river, seeing the water reflected in what starlight from the heavens there was. The bells of Notre Dame chimed behind her, the bell-ringer inside almost in a daze.

Phoebus had come looking for Esmeralda, and the Captain of the Guard had been emphatically shooed away by Quasimodo with Zack having the hunchback's back. Before leaving, Phoebus had apologized for trapping them there, saying it was the only way to save their lives, and he also said to them, "Tell Esmeralda she's very lucky, to have friends like you." Now Quasimodo was ringing the bells, and Yuffie knew that his thoughts, too, were on the gypsy girl who had showed him kindness when he'd never expected it from a gypsy with all that Frollo had told him of them.

Yuffie, for her part, couldn't keep her mind off of the teen who'd escaped the confines of the cathedral with that gypsy.

"But what?" Leon prodded.

The bells continued to sing behind her, but Yuffie felt chilled even in her stone body. Something she didn't often feel was in the pit of her stomach: shame. "But I don't know what he'll do when he finds out that the last time I told someone that, I—that I was…" Her voice trailed off, and for the second time that day she felt like crying but couldn't find the tears.

Leon's face was hardened stone to keep the emotion he'd felt on that day back, and he placed his arm across her back, and held her for as long as she wanted it.

-A-D-

_Summon Description: A red bandanna._

_Summon Clue: He's got street savoire faire._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	65. The Sacking of Paris

_Gya! Trying to figure out why we've got enemies as allies while they're also enemies in our dreams in 3D is driving me insane!_

_Disclaimer: Nada_

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 65: The Sacking of Paris

_2135hrs, Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Palace of Justice, City of Bells_

Frollo was in anguish. While he could hear the ringing of the bells from across the city clearly, signalling the evening's vespers, his thoughts were torn between his piety and the woman who had defied him. The fire in front of him roared beneath a large cross as he sat in a high-backed chair. Hands were clasped together, and his words flew above, but his thoughts remained below.

"Beata Maria," he whispered to the virgin mother Mary, "you know I am a righteous man. Of my virtue I am justly proud. Beata Maria, you know I'm so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd." His voice was strong, proud, and in his pride, arrogant. Frollo's eyes dropped to the fireplace, and now the pride was replaced with frustration laced with a twinge of fear as he confessed the imaginings of his eyes. "Then tell me, Maria, why I see her dancing there? Why her smouldering eyes still scorch my soul? I feel her, I _see_ her; the sun caught in her raven hair is blazing in me out of all control."

His eyes went up to the holy cross above the fireplace. "It's like _fire_ Maria; Hellfire." He could still smell the gypsy girl's scent on the sash she had wrapped around his neck when she'd danced earlier in the day, and he drew it out. His skin tingled at the touch and his nostrils flared at the scent. He needed to touch it; to rub the scent into his face. "This fire in my skin; this burning desire is turning me to sin."

The word and admission made Frollo's skin grew cold and clammy and his eyes returned to the cross instead of the sash. "It's not my fault," he whispered. "I'm not to blame. I am a man of piety and decency, not like other men. It's the gypsy girl's fault; the witch who sent this flame into me. It's not my fault if in your holy plan, O Lord, you made the devil so much stronger than a man."

He began to plead to the chaste holy mother now, if any of the saints could understand his plea. "Protect me Maria; don't let this siren cast her spell, don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone. Destroy Esmeralda, and let her taste the fires of hell, or else…" he paused, his voice catching in his throat. Hands clasped together, his head bowed in penance, daring to request this in payment for all his years of faith. "Let her be mine and mine alone."

Loud knocking suddenly interrupted him and Frollo stood, stricken with panic that someone mortal might have overheard his prayer at that moment when he seemed most weak and human. "Minister Frollo," said the guard who had knocked and opened the door, "some of the gypsies have escaped."

"What?" Frollo asked. "What of the girl?"

"I'm sorry Minister," the guard replied, "she's nowhere in the cathedral; she's gone."

Frollo ran his aged hand through his grey hair in bewilderment. "But how, I—Never mind!" he snapped. "Get out you idiot! I'll find her," he continued, turning back to the fireplace and wringing Esmeralda's sash in his hands, "I'll find her if I have to burn down all of Paris!" His eyes no longer went up to the cross, the symbol of his religion. Only anger at her escape from him dominated him, his anger and his lust. "Hellfire," he called, "dark fire, now gypsy it's your turn. Choose me or your pyre. Be mine or you will burn, you misguided martyr!" He threw her sash into the blaze, where the silk caught and burned with a bright flame.

"I commend you, Frollo."

He whirled around at the voice, but saw no one there. Suddenly the room was filled with swirling black holes, out from which popped the foul creatures that had appeared in the streets in recent days that his soldiers had been afraid to fight. Tall strong-looking ones with serrated blue greatswords held lightly in single hands, Jugglers that bounced on one foot while juggling their orbs, frog-faced ones with red skin that stood on two powerful legs, black breastplates on their chests, black bascinet helmets, that did not protect their mouths, with the visor up and a tassel of horsehair, dyed cardinal crimson, sprouting from the top were on their heads, and pointed arms like lances; all of these stood before him and as one, they turned and bowed. One of them presented him with several pairs of shackles with a note attached. _Should __you __capture __any __of __the __witches __hiding __with __the __gypsies, __use __these __on __them. __They __will __bind __their __powers __and __leave __them __helpless._

"The witches' demons," he whispered, remembering the woman who had come to him and the Captain earlier in the day. Apparently he was strong enough to have stolen control of these creatures away from those whom the gypsies harboured. "God have mercy on us all, but she will be mine or she will burn."

-A-D-

_0730hrs, Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Town Square, City of Bells_

Morning dawned warm and grey in Paris' summer, even though it was winter elsewhere. Captain Phoebus was awake and armoured alongside half a dozen soldiers as Frollo's carriage rolled up to his position in front of the cathedral. There were four mounted guards surrounding the carriage, and a dozen other troops that made Phoebus shiver inside and cringe. Hadn't his men and the gypsies who'd entered the cathedral with Esmeralda been fighting these things?

He put those thoughts out of his mind for the moment as the carriage stopped and he called his men to attention. The door opened and Phoebus saluted the judge as he exited. "Good morning, sir."

Frollo rubbed his forehead with his fingers, wincing. "Hm, morning," he replied.

"Are you feeling alright?" Phoebus asked slowly, unsure of the judge's condition.

"I, uh, had a little trouble with the fireplace," Frollo offered, still massaging his head with a weak look.

Phoebus let his eyes wander for a moment. "I see," he said, even though he didn't at all. "Your orders, sir?"

Frollo finally looked at him with clarity and purpose. "Find the gypsy girl."

-A-D-

Riku and Tifa walked slowly through the streets of Paris, both of them dressed in nondescript brown, white, and grey-blue clothing to keep attention away. Esmeralda had taken them and Marlene to the place she had called the 'Court of Miracles', a hidden village beneath the city where the gypsies were able to live under Frollo's very nose and avoid his wrath. They'd first been surprised by the number of gypsies living in the hidden place, but when they remembered the number that were at the Feast of Fools and how they'd all been able to avoid Frollo's constant purge of the people it began to make sense.

Knowing that their band was on the run from Frollo as well, the threesome was very grateful to Esmeralda for bringing them to the gypsies' secret hideout, who modestly accepted their thanks. The other gypsies within were as nice and generous as Esmeralda; ever since their group had appeared and helped her against the Heartless that had threatened the girl while she'd danced in the street they'd more than earned their good standing as warrior gypsies who wouldn't by shy about knocking around Frollo's men if it came to blows.

Tifa and Riku had then hatched their current plan. They would use the Court of Miracles as a base of operations while they searched for the keyhole, exterminating any Heartless they came across and helping the gypsies against Frollo's soldiers if they were being pushed around too much. It wasn't their place to change the entire situation with their skills.

"What do you think Marlene would like?" Riku asked, glancing sideways at Tifa as they strode past the stalls of a market street.

"Hm?" she returned, giving Riku a look.

"Well," he explained with a shrug, "since we left her behind, I think we should at least, you know, get her a treat or something."

"Hm," Tifa commented with a smile, "you want to get her cookies for being a good girl and staying where it's safe?"

Riku forced his blush down. "She's a sweet kid," was all he said.

Tifa watched Riku warmly. From what Sora had told her about him, he was a person who brooded and thought about things a lot, and was a bit of a shut-in. After meeting him however, she could say that Sora's description of him was a tad off. Having Yuffie as a girlfriend was probably turning him soft. "Well, let's go to a bakery then," she declared. Riku nodded, but the hair on the back of his neck started to prickle. There were Heartless nearby, but he couldn't hear any screams from the Parisians. Something was up.

It took only minutes for the pair to reach a building with a wooden sign hanging from above the door with the picture of a loaf of bread on it. The pleasant smells of freshly baked bread predictably greeted them, but they weren't prepared for the visual. Riku grasped Tifa's arm and ducked into an alley, their four eyes hardening at what they saw. A line of gypsies was outside of the bakery, all of them chained together with their hands behind their backs. Frollo was before them on a great black horse, the judge giving them what he probably assumed to be a friendly and enticing look as he extended his hand towards his captives. Black-armoured soldiers armed with halberds and swords stood guard alongside floating Invisibles, bouncing Jugglers, and the pair's first sight of the Frog-At-Arms Heartless. Behind Frollo was Phoebus, mounted on his white horse, Achilles.

"Why are they just standing there?" Tifa asked. "They ran rampant yesterday."

Riku barely nudged his head back towards her. "Frollo must have gotten control of them," he said. "I'm betting he struck a deal with one of the members of Maleficent's _Eximius__Septem_."

He had no way of knowing that the Septem had been recalled, or that at that moment Nixion was stabbing Lea with a knife made of electricity.

"Ten pieces of silver for the gypsy Esmeralda," Frollo said, trying to entice the information from his gypsy captives.

"Guess he doesn't care about _us _getting away," Tifa whispered, "just Esmeralda." Riku nodded and barely breathed his agreement.

None of the gypsies answered him, giving Frollo stone-cold defiance. He angrily snatched up his coins and wheeled his black stallion away from them. "Lock them up!" he snapped. Phoebus, apparently reluctantly, waved his hand. Four of the soldiers, two Invisibles, two Jugglers, and two of the Frogs-At-Arms broke from the group and began marching the gypsies through the street.

Riku and Tifa backed further into the alley. "I always knew that that Frollo was a bastard," Tifa grumbled. She stilled her breath and both of them flattened against the alley's walls as the troupe marched past.

"They'll be heading to the Palace of Justice," Riku whispered a few seconds after they left.

"Right," Tifa responded, slinking away behind him. "Let's go." Riku nodded and turned to follow her. On the other end of the alley the pair jumped high enough to land on the rooftops, and carefully paced the troupe as they ventured for the ominous-looking building.

"There's a deserted part of the road there," Riku said, pointing to a place along the way to Frollo's headquarters. Tifa nodded, and the two leapt from rooftop to rooftop, doubling back first and then traveling parallel to the ambush site before turning right and landing on the rooftops they wanted.

The soldiers were slower than they'd expected, because even with the extra movement the pair had used to get to their spot, they were still at least a couple of minutes' walk away from the ambush site. "I kinda wish Yuffie was here," Tifa told Riku. "She'd love to get the drop on them."

Riku smirked. "She'd take them all out without batting an eyelash," he answered. He could already see in his mind's eye just how she would work to take them by surprise. "But, she might forget about freeing the gypsies."

"I'll let you deal with that," Tifa said. "You can unlock those chains with your Keyblade. I'll keep the soldiers and Heartless off of you."

Riku's back glowed faintly with golden light and Dawn flowed out of it, her legs together and tethering herself to Riku's shoulder blades. "You take care of the soldiers Tifa," said the spirit, "_I__'__ll_ watch his back from the Heartless." They both nodded and crouched on the rooftop, waiting.

Just as the troupe was passing right beneath them, they struck. Riku stood first, his hand glowing with golden light. He fired an arcing black-tipped golden ray down, striking one of the Invisibles and detonating in an explosion of golden light that completely obliterated the Heartless. Roaring to declare their presence, Riku and Tifa jumped down from the rooftop, taking the bewildered soldiers by surprise as the pair fell upon them. Riku's hand shone with light as Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand, and he struck a Juggler on the head with his blade as he landed. The Keyblade carved through the Heartless like an axe splitting cheese. Tifa's fist connected with the head of the soldier closest to them at the front, and sent him straight into the ground in a state of unconsciousness. The woman rose and spun before the other could raise his halberd against her, taking him in the head with the heel of her sneaker and making him fly through the air. He crashed through a barrel and struck a wall head-first.

Way to the Dawn dug deeply into the second Invisible before Riku tapped the chains the gypsies wore with his Keyblade. At once the manacles that had kept their hands enclosed behind their backs unlocked and dropped to the ground. "You're free, go!" Riku ordered, hearing Dawn taunt one of the Frog-at-Arms Heartless that had tried to attack him with its lance-like arms, each arm as long as he was tall. The gypsies wasted no time in doing as he bid, thanking them as they ran freely down the path Tifa had cleared at the front.

The silver-haired teen then turned around fully. The remaining two soldiers had recovered from the initial shock and rallied the remaining Juggler and the two Frogs-at-Arms to them at what had been the rear guard position. Dawn swivelled around so that her front was facing Riku's front, and Tifa came up and stood next to Riku. "Hold it right there!" one of the soldiers called, levelling his polearm at them. "You're under arrest for assaulting soldiers of the city and assisting the escape of known prisoners."

"And what did they do to become prisoners?" Riku asked, reading the movements of the guards with his eyes. Their position was strong enough. With their halberds and the six-foot lance arms of the Frogs-at-Arms they had reach over him and Tifa, and the Juggler in the back would be able to send his juggled orbs out at leisure. "Did they commit a crime any more terrible than trying to make a living in a city being run by an asshole?"

The soldier on the left grit his teeth in anger. "Watch your mouth kid!"

"What are you doing?" Tifa whispered.

"Just play along," Riku told her in a hushed voice.

"C'mon," Dawn jeered, still tethered behind Riku, "you've got to admit that the guy's an ass; arresting people just because they wouldn't tell him where the girl, who stood up to him by keeping people like you from tormenting Quasimodo, was."

"He's a hideous monster!" the soldier spat back. "He should never have shown his face."

"He's human!" Tifa retorted, riled up now. "He's as human as you or I am!"

"You're not a human," the soldier fired, "you're nothing but witches!"

Riku knew then that his plan to taunt them out of their defensive position was about to backfire. If he got much angrier, he knew that he was going to charge in. "Witches, huh?" he asked darkly. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "I only know one witch, and she'd probably take that as a compliment. Now, are you going to come over here and try to arrest us, or am I going to have to come and get you?"

Keyblade beared by his ear, eyes laughing, small smirk on his face, Riku exuded arrogant confidence. Tifa's smile was similar, and Dawn added the finishing blow by saying, "Just what would that son of a bitch do to you when he finds out you couldn't even handle a bratty teenager and a woman? Maybe he'll tell you that you can't whore yourselves out anymore."

The silent right, one, surprisingly, was the one who cried out in anger and rushed them, pulling back with his halberd before lunging directly at Riku's chest. The Wielder of Dawn was already out of the way of the thrust by the time the man had started forward with the lunge, and in two steps Riku moved out of the man's limited field of vision due to the slit of his helmet. He struck, slamming the hilt of his Keyblade into the side of the man's helmet. The concussion and intense ringing from inside made the man waver and drop his weapon, and Riku slammed the helmet again as Tifa ran past. The soldier dropped to the ground like a stone.

Dawn flipped in front of Riku as he turned to his right to face the remainder, and she extended her arms out as a shield. A ball of darkness, shot by the Juggler, struck her in the chest. She flinched as it made contact with her, but the orb dissipated in an instant, and Dawn's cherub face returned to the hard and defiant expression it had held. Tifa jumped above the arms of one Frog-at-Arms, the Heartless missing her with twin pokes of its lances designed to skewer her twice at once. She landed on the ground behind their line of three, kneeling next to the Juggler. The black-haired woman rolled away from the halberd that was swung overhand in a drop of the axe-blade, and kicked the Juggler's leg at the back of the knee. The juggling Heartless wobbled and fell to the ground. Tifa's gloved fist glowed suddenly with red light, and fire swirled around her right fist. Shouting, she punched the downed Heartless in the head with her fire-enhanced fist, and the Juggler's head caved under the blow.

Riku stole to his left, stopping suddenly as the Heartless that had tried to attack Tifa turned on him, lunging with its lance arms. Riku backed away slightly, swiping at the lunges with Way to the Dawn to keep them away from his chest. For a second he thought that he should summon his acolyte armour, but then realized that that would mean nothing. Even with the magic that coursed through the metal, a lance would shear through the links. He flipped backwards, away from those dangerous lance points as the Frog-at-Arms advanced at him in its black armour. It gave a croak, and suddenly leapt forward on powerful legs, diving at Riku with its lances.

The teen's aquamarine eyes widened and adrenaline coursed through his veins, and Riku dove to the side even as Dawn covered his left side with her body. He could hear a skittering sound as the lance still struck against her back, doing as much to her with the glancing blow as if diamond had turned aside its lance-point. Riku got to his feet, wincing at the scrapes the street had left on his arms beneath the dirty-white chemise he wore. He turned, seeing that Tifa had disarmed the second soldier and punched him out, though the left shoulder of her dusty-blue chemise and brown cloak were cut by a swipe from the other Frog-at-Arms. Riku's own opponent was turning back towards him.

"Dawn."

"You got it," Dawn said, springing from his back and diving into the ground as if it were just water. Just as her sandals vanished into the cobblestone of the road, a pool of golden light formed on the ground. The pool moved swiftly across the road to be just beneath the Frog-at-Arms, who stood and stared unblinkingly at Riku from beneath its black helmet with the tassel of cardinal horsehair. Riku took a breath in slowly, waiting.

"Hiya!" Dawn shouted, rising up from the ground and grabbing the Heartless' lance-arms by the shoulders. Riku rushed forward as the lances went up into the air; six feet of uselessness. Way to the Dawn went up as Riku lunged for the weak spot above the breastplate at the Heartless' neck, made even more prevalent by the Frog-at-Arms opening its mouth and lifting its head. Movement within the neck attracted Riku's eyes for the briefest of moments and just slightly delayed his killing stroke.

The head came back down and fire belched out of the Frog-at-Arms' mouth just before Riku's blade dug into its throat. Riku yelped and jammed his eyes shut as he felt intense heat wash over his face. It only lasted for perhaps a second before it was gone, the Heartless vanishing in a puff of darkness with its crystalline pink heart rising into the sky, but a single second was enough to have Riku's skin exploding with sweat to cool it down. Dawn gasped and quickly bridged the small gap between them, patting quickly at his forehead. "Your hair's all singed and smoking!" she exclaimed.

Riku blinked rapidly, wishing his tear ducts to produce the tears to wet his dried eyes. "Worry about my hair later, Dawn," he told her. Riku coughed, and then looked at the final Heartless. Tifa was stuck in the same position he'd been in, unable to get in close. If the creature only had one lance, like a Lance Soldier, it would have been easier, but with two lance arms and fire breath they ended up being formidable enough on their own. There were also only three places where they'd actually be able to strike effectively: the legs, under the arm, and the neck or mouth.

_If __only __I __could __rip __through __the __lances,_ Riku thought. He grinned as an idea came to him. Golden light poured out of his right hand to envelop his Keyblade along the whole rim of the blade, and extended its reach by about two feet. Small curved spikes of orange light protruded from the glow, each about six inches long. He pressed his left hand to the cross-guard and clenched tightly with his fist. Roaring "Sunblade," Riku yanked back, drawing what looked to be a chord of orange light along with his fist. His Keyblade gave a roar as the orange spikes began to move, and the Keyblade shook with the sound of an engine as the spikes became a blur, moving around and around the Keyblade's edge.

Dawn shuddered. "Ooh," she whispered, "that feels _good_. I don't think Balhafa even thought to use the Dawn to make a chainsaw out of me." Riku smirked.

The revving of the engine sound made the Frog-at-Arms turn and look at the Wielder of Dawn, beady eyes staring at the Keyblade whirring with orange light. Riku charged, and the Frog-at-Arms stood its ground and thrust out at Riku with the left lance. Instead of dodging, Riku swept Way to the Dawn at the lance's point, and his Keyblade struck just shy of the centre to the right. Instead of skidding along the side, though, his blade pierced the lance's exterior, and the orange spikes of the Sunblade churned right into the metal. Sparks flew as the lance and Keyblade remained locked, and the Frog-at-Arms jerked, suddenly off-balance. Riku continued forcing his Keyblade down, and the orange spikes flared as they sheared nearly half the length of the lance off. The Frog-at-Arms turned to face the Keyblade Wielder fully, and threw its head back, preparing to belch fire at him.

It had forgotten Tifa. The woman's fist smashed into the back of its helmet, knocking the Heartless forward. Its right lance went down and got stuck between the cobblestones, and the base of the lace-arm punched into the Heartless' gut. Riku moved the few feet he needed and sliced the Heartless across the chest. The whirring Way to the Dawn tore through the Heartless symbol on its black breastplate, and the spikes wrecked havoc on the Heartless' chest. Darkness spilled out of the wound around the orange light blurring around the Keyblade, and the Frog-at-Arms croaked.

The spikes slowed and stopped whirring before receding, and Riku and Tifa stood panting in the street. The engine sound had faded, and Riku and Tifa were now staring at each other, and Dawn stood behind Riku with a contented look on her face. Riku's new technique felt like the perfect vibrating massage all over, getting all the kinks out of the particles she was made of. There was just something missing. "Rikuuuu," Dawn moaned, falling onto his back and draping her arms over his shoulders. Her legs turned to jelly, so that her head only went to the small of his back and her hands clutched at his shirt just around the front of his shoulders. She was smaller than him anyway. "Oil me."

He blinked and looked back at her, not entirely sure what he heard. "What?" he asked with a laugh. "Run that by me again please."

Dawn rolled up and down, grasping and unclenching her hands on the front of his shirt, her head and hair rubbing into his back. She mewled, "Oil me. Polish me. Make me feel even better than that vibrating did. Give me a scabbard; a nice leather scabbard to call home instead of the void. Make it black, with silver bands and bright aquamarines running down the sides."

Tifa was laughing at the look on Riku's face from his Keyblade's pleading. "Uh, Dawn," Riku told her, "you're a skeleton key. There's no sword scabbard in the world that could fit you."

"Yes there are," Dawn replied, still in that needy whimper, "there are Keyblade scabbards. Destiny had one…"

_Did you really?_

_Yes. It was nice._

"…The Cetra and Elves made them. Get me a scabbard please; a nice leather scabbard; where the oil will soak into it and make it smell nice and good."

"Hey Riku," Tifa said. "Your face is all red."

"Of course it's red Tifa," Riku grunted. "That frog just spat fire in my face! I expect to be a little cooked."

She shook her head. "Nah, I don't think it's from that," she said. The woman chuckled a bit and glanced around, tapping her finger to her mouth as she looked at the four unconscious guards. "Hm…dang it, you won that one."

Riku caught on and did a mental tally. "Yeah. I got both Invisibles, one Juggler, one of the guards, and one and a half of the frogs."

"And I got the other three guards, the other Juggler, and half of that last Frog-at-Arms," Tifa confirmed. "Five and a half to four and half." Dawn soaked into Riku, returning to being inside his heart now that he was no longer in any danger.

"We'd better get out of here before they wake up," Riku said. He suddenly eyed the scratch on Tifa's shoulder. "You alright there?"

"It's fine," she said, shrugging. "Let's go. If Frollo's looking for Esmeralda and arresting people who aren't telling him where she is it can only mean that he's planning for trouble."

-A-D-

The search for the keyhole became secondary as the pair went out from the city. Frollo had apparently given them the slip, but they heard a man telling a friend in the street that Frollo had been seen heading towards the miller's house by the river. When they arrived there, there was already a small gathering of people, including an old man with a limp and a hunched back draped in a purple shawl, smoking a corn cob pipe. The miller's thatched house stood next to his windmill, the ratty sails turning swiftly in the breeze.

"The poor miller," a woman murmured as Frollo and Phoebus entered the house, "he's never harmed anyone!"

"Frollo's gone mad," agreed a man in a hushed tone.

"Hey," Riku whispered, as Esmeralda and Djali poked their heads out from under the shawl.

"Riku," the gypsy replied, surprised at him and Tifa being there.

"Frollo's been looking for you," Tifa told her.

"…know nothing of these Gypsies," the miller's voice reached them as Frollo and Phoebus exited the house. The miller stood in the doorway, a pleading look on his face as he gazed at Frollo. He received no pity, and Frollo closed the door. He snatched a spear from a waiting soldier and placed it across the door, locking it. He then turned to Phoebus.

"Burn it."

"What?" the captain asked in outrage.

"Until it smoulders," Frollo elaborated as he mounted his black horse and took a torch from a waiting soldier. There were no Jugglers with their orbs of fire this time, only his soldiers and a half-dozen Frogs-at-Arms. "These people are traitors and must be made examples of." He extended the torch to his Captain of the Guard.

Phoebus took it reluctantly. "With all due respect, sir, I was not trained to _murder_ the innocent."

"But you were trained to _follow __orders_," Frollo answered.

Phoebus moved backwards toward the house, the torch raised as if he was going to put it to the thatched roof. He dunked it into the rainwater barrel instead.

"Insolent coward," Frollo growled. He snatched a second torch and rode up to the windmill, raising it high. The flames licked at the canvas of a sail as it swung past, and the dry wood and flax fibres caught the flame in the wind and fanned it fiercely. Fire raced up the sail to the windmill's core and set it all ablaze, and from the edge of a sail that caught it lit the thatch that roofed the house.

A woman screamed from inside, and without hesitation Phoebus leapt through the window. He kicked the door open from the inside moments later, two children in his arms, and raced out of the house with the miller and the miller's wife seconds before an arm from the burning windmill dropped onto the blazing home. Phoebus gladly handed the children to the shocked, but relieved parents. The four of them were alive, and that was all that mattered to them at the moment.

The pommel of a sword crashed into the back of his helmet and Phoebus went down. One soldier grabbed him by his cape and hauled him onto his knees, while another levelled a sword at the back of his neck. Riku, Tifa, and Esmeralda gasped.

"The punishment for insubordination is death," Frollo said calmly as he walked his horse past the about-to-be-executed captain. "Such a pity. You threw away a promising career."

"Consider it my highest honour, sir," Phoebus replied, his voice filled with pride and his face loathing. The sword went up.

Three things then happened. Purple light lit up Tifa's foot and wind blew in her hair, Riku's hand flared with white light as Way to the Dawn appeared within, and Esmeralda grasped a stone in a sash and began to swing it around over her head. Esmeralda let fly the same instant that Tifa extended stomped her glowing foot with a call of, "Demi," and that Riku rushed forward, golden flames with dark light at their core enveloping his Keyblade. The stone struck Frollo's horse, making it rear in sudden pain from the stinging sensation, a black and purple orb dropped over the guards and Heartless, forcing them to the ground as they felt their bodies suddenly weigh far more than normal. Frollo fell from his steed and Phoebus punched out the two soldiers who had nearly killed him. Riku swept past him as the Frogs-at-Arms pushed themselves to their feet. He was already on one before it had the chance to position its lances against him, and his flaming Keyblade dove into the Heartless' unprotected neck.

Riku ripped his Keyblade out, the Heartless bursting apart, and Tifa stamped her foot down again. "Demi!" she growled. Again the giant black and purple orb dropped over the soldiers and Frogs-at-Arms, crushing them to the ground. Riku quickly moved between the remaining five Heartless on the ground, cutting them as they struggled to get back to their feet. Phoebus made sure that none of the other soldiers were getting back to their feet, and grabbed a hold of Frollo's horse, still panicking after the stinging bite to its rump from the slung stone.

Riku turned his head while approaching the last struggling Frog-at-Arms, seeing Phoebus successfully mount the animal, and quickly looked back at the Frog-at-Arms. The silver-haired Wielder stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly feeling something impeding him and warmth centred around his left shoulder. The Frog-at-Arms was getting to its feet, its right lance-arm impaling Riku just to the right of the joint between his left arm and shoulder.

Then the pain hit Riku, and he gritted his teeth to keep from screaming, biting it back down to a shallow gasping grunt. He could hear Tifa gasp behind him. The gold and black flames died from his Keyblade, and Way to the Dawn vanished from his hand. The pain in his shoulder as the Heartless moved was excruciating, the torn muscles and frayed nerves being nudged by the dark metal of the frog's arm. It leered at him as it brought its left arm back, preparing to skewer him with the second lance, and then probably roast him with fire. Raising his right hand, black and red and gold flames whirled around it. "Breaking Dawn."

The fireball blasted the Heartless back, wrenching the lance from the hole it had dug in his shoulder. Blood gushed out of the wound, and Riku cried out briefly at the pain as the lance left him. The Frog-at-Arms faded into darkness, but Riku didn't notice. Forcing a hand to his shoulder to futilely attempt to staunch the flow of his lifeblood, he blinked as tiny splotches of darkness and stars appeared in his vision.

Something yanked him up and his head was in the clouds. "I got you Riku," a masculine voice that Riku knew he recognized spoke into his ear, but for the life of him he couldn't remember whose it was, "just hang on!" The world around him bounced roughly, whatever he was sitting on bucking back and forth with the swift movements of four strong legs. Riku's left hand grasped numbly onto a hard leather nub on something that felt peculiarly like a saddle, and the feel of hair was against his face. Pain drove nearly everything else away. Whistling sounds came from around his ears, immediately followed by tinkles that might have been gentle rain falling onto a roof if not for how metallic they sounded. Then there was a shout from behind him that might have been in pain, and something knocked into him. The world was spinning now, blue in front of him as the wind whistled past his ears.

Cool water splashed around him, jolting his senses and his eyes opened. The pain was still there, but the cold water seeping into his wound wakened him with its sharp intensity. For a few brief moments, he was completely conscious. Riku could see the arrow sticking into Phoebus as the man sank beneath the weight of his armour, could see the other arrows dropping into the river, much of their velocity being lost in the first few instants of striking the water line and sinking harmlessly to the riverbed.

Realizing that Phoebus would share the same fate as those arrows with all of that armour on, Riku started to swim towards him. However, the very instant he started to move his left arm, the pain from his wound doubled. The water in front of his was stained red from his leaking blood, and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was two people swimming into his field of vision.

-A-D-

Paris burned. More than a dozen buildings in the city were on fire, belching black smoke into the air and giving the skyline a hellish glow. An equal number were smouldering, all of them with the inhabitants found, falsely or not, of having connections with gypsies. Parisians mourned privately in their homes for the dead families, having been burned alive inside their homes. They didn't dare go past their front doors to vainly console the relatives of the victims; the streets were far from safe.

Quasimodo tolled the bells as he always did, though they rang hollow. Yuffie, Victor, Laverne, Leon, Zack, and Aerith gazed out sadly at the city. "I sure hope Riku's okay," Yuffie whispered, placing her soft hands against the stone of the railing. Aerith had worked wonders, turning the girl-turned-gargoyle back into the teenager she was with a powerful _stona_ spell, reverting the change the world itself had cast on Yuffie.

"It doesn't look good sweetie," Laverne mumbled, shaking her head at the city below.

"It's hopeless," Victor added, "absolutely hopeless."

"You're tellin' me!" Hugo snapped. They all looked at him to see the gargoyle playing poker with a pigeon. "I'm losin' to a bird!"

"Oh, but that poor gypsy girl," Victor crooned, "I'm beginning to fear the worst."

"Esmeralda's not one to be taken lightly," Leon reminded them, "and neither are Riku or Tifa."

"But don't say anything to upset Quasimodo," Laverne told the group at large. "He's worried enough already."

"I agree," Aerith said. She was wringing her hands as she stood behind Yuffie, "but it's hard to look out there and not be scared for them." Feet thumping on wood could be heard behind them.

"Shh," Victor said as Quasimodo began to come down. "Here he comes."

"Now just stay calm."

"Easy does it."

"Not a word."

"Stone-faced."

The hunchback came to the balcony and looked out anxiously. "Any sign of her?"

Victor began to tremble and shake, and a mere two seconds after Quasimodo's question he broke. "Oh it's a lost cause! She could be anywhere! In the stocks, in the dungeon, on the rack!" He grasped Quasi's shirt and began to sob into it.

"Smooth Victor," said Yuffie, "very smooth."

"No, he's right," Quasimodo admitted. He held his hands out helplessly. "What are we gonna do?"

"Nothing," said Leon bluntly. "There's nothing we can do, from here or anywhere, besides toppling Frollo, and that's not something we can really do."

"What are you talking about?" Zack asked. "Of course we can Squall. You're younger than me, what happened to your enthusiasm to right wrongs?"

"You think we're just allowed to go around toppling world leaders all because they're old, arrogant, bastards?" Leon asked him. "That's called meddling, which is something not even Sora or the King are allowed to do."

"Doesn't stop Sora," Yuffie said with a small smile.

"Yuffie's right Leon," Aerith spoke up. "Where would we be without him?" The brunet allowed himself a small smile.

"Hey, and like the guy with the scar said," Hugo spoke up, "I wouldn't worry about Esmeralda. She's probably three steps ahead of Frollo and well out of harm's way. And your friends too," he added to Yuffie.

"Do you really think so?" asked Quasimodo.

"Hey, when things cool off, she'll be back," Hugo told him, picking up some bread and cheese that would be Quasimodo's dinner, shared with the fugitive 'warrior gypsies'. "You'll see."

"What makes you so sure?" Quasimodo pressed. No one had ever had a reason to come back to see him, besides Frollo that is.

"Because she likes you," Laverne told him. "We always said you were the cute one."

"I thought I was the cute one," Hugo said in surprise, chomping on the bread and cheese with a bit of added wine.

"No, you're the fat, stupid one with the big mouth!" Laverne snapped.

"What are you sayin', exactly?" He was still chewing with his mouth open.

Yuffie noticed that the others were staying silent while the three gargoyles tried to cheer up Quasimodo, convincing him that Esmeralda really liked him. He held onto the Ace of Hearts. "She's gotta love a guy like you," Hugo told Quasimodo repeatedly. While Yuffie didn't disagree with what they were saying, since there was an awful lot to love in a guy like Quasimodo with how kind and generous and caring he was, the looks on the faces of her friends told a different story.

"What's up?" she asked Aerith.

The flower-girl sighed. "I think they may just be setting their friend up for a terrible heartbreak," she told Yuffie. "When we came into the cathedral, we were pursued by Phoebus."

"You mean the tin-pet in the golden armour?" Yuffie asked.

"That's the one," Zack confirmed. "Sparks flew between Esmeralda and Phoebus, especially when he put down his sword and showed her respect that no other soldier had given her." He scoffed. "What do they teach soldiers in this city anyway? How not to respect women? None of them could ever be hero material." Yuffie glanced down at her feet sadly, her brief joy at having feet again long lost amidst the turmoil down below and inside of her heart.

"Sounds like it might be different if only you'd met up with Quasimodo first," the raven-haired girl muttered. She shook her head as she felt Aerith's hand fall onto her shoulder. "It doesn't seem fair. Isn't Quasimodo allowed love?"

"Isn't Esmeralda also allowed to choose the person she loves?" Leon asked sagely. Yuffie was about to bring up a retort, but stopped as the door below creaked open and a soft voice called hesitantly.

"Quasi?"

"Esmeralda?" nearly all of them said at once.

"Quasimodo?" the voice called again, louder and even more anxious than before.

"Esmeralda?" Quasimodo called, rushing to the stairs. His face lit up when he saw her and he quickly leapt down to embrace her. "Esmeralda, you're all right! I knew you'd come back!" Yuffie crowded with the others at the top of the stairs, the smile that would otherwise have been ecstatic now bittersweet.

"You've done so much for me already, my friend," said the gypsy girl, "but I must ask your help one more time."

"Yes, anything," Quasimodo agreed instantly. Esmeralda's face grew concerned and her hand slipped from Quasimodo's as she went towards the door. Quasimodo took a step forward before stopping in shock. A large gypsy strode in, bearing the blond-haired Phoebus who could barely walk. His bright armour was gone, just a long white shirt and pants on instead.

"This is Phoebus," Esmeralda began as another figure came from behind, "he's wounded and a fugiti—"

"RIKU!"

A strangled gasp left Yuffie's mouth and she tore down the stairs, overpowering Esmeralda's explanation of the aid she required with a second, quieter, scream of the name. Pushing past Esmeralda, Phoebus, Djali, and the other gypsy she took the silver-haired Keyblade Wielder from Tifa as she dragged him in. His head was bent down and his eyes were closed. Riku's legs didn't move, just dragged limply on the stone and wood beneath him.

"What the hell happened Tifa?" Yuffie asked hysterically. "Holy shi—what happened to his shoulder?"

"New Heartless," was all Tifa said, her face showing just how much it pained her to have brought Riku here; to see Yuffie in a state like this. She didn't bother to ask how Yuffie was no longer a gargoyle. Aerith probably had something to do with it anyway. Yuffie tried to hold back a sob. Her vision was blurring with tears. Half of Riku's side was stained with his blood, and there was _still_ more leaking out.

"They couldn't go on much longer. I knew they'd be safe here," Esmeralda pleaded. "Please, can you hide them?"

"This way," Quasimodo said quickly, motioning for them to come with him back up the stairs. The two wounded were carried up by their carriers, Yuffie at first insisting to Tifa that she could bring Riku up herself only to nearly collapse backwards on the first step without the older woman's aid.

"Why is he still bleeding?" Yuffie asked Tifa in dire concern. "Haven't you dumped at least a dozen potions from Riku's bottomless potion pockets on him?"

"I only had one potion Yuffie and he didn't have any with him. Be glad it stabilized him as much as it did!" she snapped. Yuffie gave her a hurt look and Tifa sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. It was just so stressful out there getting them here." They emerged at the top of the stairs in the loft where Quasimodo lived, and he quickly gestured to an area curtained off on two sides that served as his bedroom. Lit candles were held by a statue of a hand with the wrist bent back at ninety degrees, the palm open-faced. Blankets were laid across the wooden planks, with thicker rolls of blankets of softer fabric set down as pillows. They laid the two side-by-side, and the other gypsy left to give Esmeralda some space. Tifa rose too, and gently called for Aerith. Yuffie watched her go, refusing to leave Riku's side.

Phoebus made a soft groan as Aerith settled down on her knees behind the heads of the wounded, perched atop the makeshift pillows. The blond man opened his eyes. "Esmeralda," he whispered.

The gypsy girl placed a finger to his lips. "Shh-h-h. You'll hide here until you're strong enough to move." The young woman turned her green eyes on Aerith. "What do you think?" she asked, seeing the woman examining the wound. "He was hit by an arrow."

Aerith's fingers probed the skin around it, gazing at it with the ambient light of the candles. "It isn't deep," she declared, businesslike, with little emotion, "and it's a clean cut. I'm a little surprised, actually. You said he was hit by an arrow? (Esmeralda nodded) Most arrow wounds aren't like this; they're generally not nearly as nice and clean as this one is. Usually there's a lot of ripping from barbs or the way the arrow dug in or was extracted, but this cut's nice. The bleeding has stopped, anyway. It should just have to be disinfected and then we can either close it up with healing magic or stitches and he'll be as fine as he ever was in a few days."

"I'll do it," Esmeralda said firmly. She reached around and withdrew a wineskin, pulling the cork out with her mouth.

"Great," Phoebus said wistfully, looking at the wineskin expectantly. "I could use a drink." Esmeralda didn't offer him any of the wine to drink, and instead poured it onto the wound. "Aah! Yes! Mmm!" gasped and groaned Phoebus. "Feels like a 1470 burgundy. Not a good year."

Aerith moved on to Riku as Esmeralda softly talked to Phoebus. This time her face was much grimmer. "Esmeralda, I'll need some of that wine," she said quickly, extending her hand. The wineskin was placed into it, and Aerith began dumping the contents into the hole that Yuffie could see when right through his shoulder. Riku's face winced and sweat was beading on his forehead. Aerith reached into a pack and produced a green potion bottle. Instead of spraying the contents over the wound or unscrewing the top to force it into his mouth she instead began pouring the slightly viscous liquid into the wound.

Yuffie watched silently as Aerith performed her ministrations, the brunette now muttering words under her breath in a strange tongue that Yuffie couldn't understand. She wasn't using a standard _cure_ spell that was for sure. The raven-haired kunoichi held onto Riku's right hand, doing her best not to squeeze it too tightly, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help Riku right now, and the feeling that she got after Rourke shot him and she thought he was dying on her was running through her all over again. She was frightened and terrified of her own helplessness, and felt hauntingly clear kinship with what the silver-haired teenager must have been feeling mere days ago when Sephiroth had nearly done her in. Yuffie refused to look at the thin white scar on her side.

Aerith's hands were glowing faintly with green light as she held them over Riku's wound, hiding it from sight. Yuffie placed Riku's hand against her cheek, still clasping it with both of her own. "Please," she whispered as she placed all of her faith and trust and hope in Aerith, "please be alright Riku. Please come back to me; don't leave me here alone." She was dimly aware that Esmeralda and Phoebus were sharing a tender, loving kiss, and that Quasimodo was looking on them in heartbreak, silently tearing the Ace of Hearts into two, but at the moment Yuffie didn't care for the pain her friend was in; her own pain had to come first.

"There," Aerith said at last, removing her hands. The skin had regrown, and Yuffie assumed that the muscle and bone underneath had done likewise all the way through. Tears of happiness flooded Yuffie's eyes and she flung her arms around the woman.

"Oh Aerith! Thank you!"

Aerith placed a comforting hand on the back of Yuffie's head, holding her as she wept. "It's alright Yuffie. Riku's going to be okay. But Yuffie," she added, forcing the girl back a little and looking her in the eyes, "he's still very weak, and the repaired tissue is new and raw. It's not as strong as it was before he got wounded. If he wakes, don't let him get up and move around. He needs to rest more than anything."

Yuffie nodded dumbly. At this point, it wouldn't matter if Aerith told her that Riku needed to drink water drawn from a secret spring in a mountain that gathered silver moonlight and had to rest on a bed of golden oak leaves with a fox-fur blanket in order to get better, she would do it.

Djali started to bleat anxiously, and everyone turned to look at the kid by the railing. Quasimodo gave Esmeralda and Phoebus, who had now fallen back to sleep, a quick glance before rushing to the rail. He turned back quickly. "Frollo's coming. You must leave. Quick, follow me." Aerith stood and rushed after the hunchback and two gypsies, Zack and Tifa joining her. Leon paused and looked back at Yuffie as she knelt, unmoving, next to Riku.

"Yuffie, let's go."

"Go down the south tower steps," Quasimodo told them, the loudness of his voice reaching Leon and Yuffie in the loft.

The ninja shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving him."

Leon began to growl. "Yuffie, we don't have time for this."

"I'm not leaving him Leon!" she shrieked.

He took a step towards her. "Yuffie! You heard what Aerith said, he'll be fine. Now let's go."

"Leon!" Tifa shouted from below. "Let her stay with her man! She'll be a nervous wreck the whole way back!" The scarred man glanced down behind him, and then returned to look at Yuffie.

She shook her head. "I'm not leaving him Leon," she said calmly, "not this time. This is the third time I've almost lost him. He stayed by my side the whole time after Sephiroth hurt me; I'm not leaving him again without telling him how I feel, not now."

It was then that Leon realized just how much she was in love with the unconscious youth; realized just how much she'd grown since her infatuated crush and unrequited love with Tseng. Wild birds wouldn't drag her away from him now.

He sighed at the headstrong girl and quickly came towards her. Yuffie continued to kneel, unflinching. He surprised her by suddenly pulling her into a hug. "Stay out of sight," he told her. "I don't want to lose my little sister and her boyfriend to some maniac."

Yuffie smiled and returned the hug. "Who the hell do you think I am Leon?" she asked, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie."

He chuckled. "That's right, you are." He rose and quickly started for the stairs.

"Squall!"

He turned at the name, and saw Yuffie still smiling appreciatively at him. "Thanks." All Leon did was nod before rushing down the stairs.

-A-D-

_And that's all for this one folks!_

_The Sunblade was a collab move put together by me and **Shadow Horizons**._

**_May the Grace of the Valar Protect You_**

_Shire Folk_


	66. Nightbringer's Confession

_Bit of new Dream, Drop, Distance news from Square! Looks like another new world is Pinocchio-based, and at least Sora gets to interact with Phoebus and Frollo! Woo-hoo! We get our villain! WoW Patch 4.3, Hour of Twilight, with the Dragon Soul raid, just came out too. I'm gonna kill me a dragon! There's lots of stuff going on._

_Disclaimer: Don't own it at all._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 66: Nightbringer's Confession

_2031 hrs, 32s, Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Royal Place, Radiant Garden  
Yuna_

Horns blared and crowds cheered as a red light went on in a tiny iron cage above sheets of Plexiglas. A man skating on a sheet of ice, in a uniform of purple and silver with the name 'Maags' printed on the back in silver letters across the shoulders above a large silver number '27', had his stick raised and was whooping as he skated past his teammates on the bench, pounding each of their raised fists with his own. A spotlight was on Howard Maags, a defenseman of the Radiant Garden Kings, after he'd just zipped a shot past the goalie, Eddie Belfour, of the Banora Ravens from the blue line.

Yuna looked through the booth for the auburn-haired youth who'd invited her and the other two Gullwings to the game, catching sight of her with Minyamon hopping excitedly on her shoulder as only a faintly glowing yellow blob could, with Plato the dragon fire-elemental attempting to snooze atop the raspberry beret the princess wore. Kairi was cheering ecstatically, apparently as in love with hockey now as she was enamoured by blitzball. Sitting close-by the princess was the girl's best friend, if one didn't count her boyfriend, Selphie.

Yuna's heart thumped when she looked at the brunette with green eyes and a personality as sunny as the yellow she liked to wear. She was so bright it was hard to believe that mere days ago Yuna had been completely and totally opposed to this girl; had hated her very existence for her closeness to Tidus, the young man Yuna had fallen in love with on her long journey to defeat Sin over a year ago.

Now, instead of jealousy and hatred broiling to the surface of her heart when she looked at Selphie, her heart was filled with shame at her prior actions. Her scream in Al Bhed ripped bullet wounds into her as much as they would have done to Selphie had she not gotten her shield up in time or Sora not stopped them. That was the crux of it, Sora. He'd tricked her, Rikku, and Paine into helping them fight Maleficent when she attacked Radiant Garden, back when the three were still in pixie form. Then he forced Yuna and Selphie practically to the ground and gave them the most rational way of solving the issue, while also telling them to fix it themselves or he'd do it for them. Yuna had never heard him speak so decisively before, and she knew that if he heard another peep of her and Selphie going at each other's throats over Tidus, that he _would_ fix the issue for them, and neither girl would be happy with the solution he'd come up with.

She'd been furious, both with Sora and with Selphie and Tidus, until Paine had spoken to her and she finally understood her former love's position. Being loved by and loving two women at the same time had to be the most painful and hardest position he could ever have been in because of all the emotions involved with all three parties.

Yuna had decided to try to make up with the brunette before tonight, but now just happened to be the first time since the Zeus Cup that she'd seen Selphie.

The buzzer that sounded the end of the second period came, signalling the beginning of the second intermission. Many of the others in their box seats got up and went back into the box, but Yuna was glad to see the Selphie and Kairi had both stayed, as well as Paine. Good, there'd at least be some level-headed people to witness this.

"Selphie?"

The conversation the girl had been having with Kairi came to an abrupt halt. She turned towards Yuna, staring at the girl. If there was anything Selphie would fight tooth and nail for besides her sweets, Yuna had discovered it to be Tidus. It was like suddenly realizing that she had competition for the affections of the blond blitzballer and former High Summoner's Guardian had kicked her into perpetual fight mode against Yuna. "Yes?" she asked, her voice hard and bitter.

Yuna saw Kairi's gaze shift between her and Selphie before settling just behind Yuna and giving a tiny nod. She was probably looking at Paine, and they were both probably silently agreeing to only give emotional support for their friends rather than take sides. Neither of them wanted to see fighting in the group any more than anyone else did. The mocha-haired summoner shook her head slightly, putting the pair out of her mind, and sought only the green eyes of the brunette who also had feelings for her former Guardian. "Look, can we talk?" she began diplomatically.

"What about?"

The bluntness of Selphie's reply set Yuna back a pace. "A-about Tidus," she clarified.

"What about Tidus?" Selphie asked, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not giving up on him if that's what you're implying, you hussy."

"Selphie!" Kairi hissed.

Yuna shook her head. "No, I'm not asking you to, it's just—ugh! This is just hard."

Selphie blinked in confusion. "Wait, you're not asking me to back off?"

Mocha hair went left and right again. "No, I'm not," Yuna protested immediately.

"So you're giving up on him?" Selphie asked, a bit of hope and surprise crawling into her voice. It sounded almost too good to be true.

Yuna realized she made the wrong impression and shook her head again. "No, I'm not either," she told the brunette.

"Well then why are we talking about him?" Selphie growled, now irritated. Yuna sighed. She felt like she was just wasting Selphie's time. "If you're not giving up on him and you're telling me not to give up on him, then that leaves us exactly where we are now! So why should we even talk about this?"

"Can't we be friends?" Yuna blurted out.

Selphie stared at her as if Yuna had just grown a second and third head. Even with the music in the rink and the chatting of the thousands of hockey fans inside the building, it seemed deathly quiet in Yuna's ears. The High Summoner from Spira hung her head. Well there, now it was out in the open, and she couldn't have been more blunt in asking the question could she?

"What," Selphie began slowly, "brought this on? I thought you hated me."

Yuna shook her head, refusing to look up from her knees as one lay covered by the blue and white skirt that wrapped around her right leg. "No Selphie, I don't hate you. I'm jealous because Tidus likes you too, but I don't hate you."

"Yuna," Paine said softly.

"Look, you and Sora were right Paine," Yuna shot, still staring at her kneecaps and their solidarity. She knew exactly what she would see if she looked only at them; she didn't know what she was going to see if she looked at Selphie. "Selphie and I both love him, and he loves both of us, but _Tidus_ is the only one who can choose which girl he'd rather be with. It's pointless to be enemies because of something that's out of our control. Besides, I'd rather be friends with people than hate them, even Donna, no matter how much she got under my skin or how our beliefs in our guardians differed. I'd still rather make friends that I can laugh with than enemies."

The box seating was silent for about ten seconds before Kairi spoke up. "Selphie, isn't there something you wanted to say?"

Yuna looked up to see Selphie looking in her general direction, but not meeting her eyes. "Well, that is, I feel kinda bad about the way I've been treating you too," she mumbled. "You're right, Tidus is the only person who can choose between us, and if we're both being bitchy towards each other he's going to start ignoring whatever either of us do to woo him." Their eyes finally met, and Selphie extended the olive branch with her hand. "Friends?"

"Friends," Yuna agreed, shaking the hand. She smiled. "And may the best woman win."

"Right," Selphie laughed, "may the best woman win. Unfortunately for me, Yuna, you've got a really good singing voice. I wish I could sing like that."

"You weren't _that_ bad at karaoke," Yuna replied, even though she knew she was stretching the truth a little. "But I'm sure that if we got you a Garment Grid and a Songstress dressphere for a few hours we might be able to improve your technique."

"It'll take more than a few hours Yuna," Paine told her dryly, the steel-haired Gullwing turning her attention back to the Zamboni on the ice.

"And I thought that you still wanted to be one of the Guardians, Selphie," Kairi wondered, looking at her best friend with a smile on her face. Yuna could tell that the princess was glad that she and her friend had made peace.

"I still do Kairi," Selphie said. "But even though I'm comfortable with my sword, it's not the same as my old jump rope. I'm thinking that I should switch to nunchaku, because the way they move is kinda similar to my rope. But besides that, Tidus knows a little magic that he remembered learning from when he was in Spira, and Wakka's got a bit of his own. I remember reading that there were people whose songs were magical, helping out their friends and harming their allies, and I figured that I wanted to learn to use magic that way for when I became a Guardian."

"You mean a Bard," Paine said flatly. "You've got a lot of work ahead of you Selphie."

Yuna laughed and placed a hand on Selphie's shoulder. "Don't worry about Paine, Selphie, I'll help you. It's what I do, and what are friends for anyway?" She noticed Kairi's smile slipping from her face a little before the red-head turned her eyes towards the ceiling of the building, and Yuna thought for a second that her eyes were trying to pierce the roof and see into the stars.

She almost thought that she heard Kairi murmur, "Just come back alright, Naminé, this won't beat you, and you too, Riku," but the other sounds were so loud she must have imagined it.

-A-D-

___2035hrs, Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003 (D.I.R.)_  
City of Bells  
Yuffie

"Quick!" Laverne said, animating along with Victor and Hugo as soon as Esmeralda had gone, "we've got to stash the stiffs!" The ninja nodded her head, now remembering after her short standoff with Leon that Frollo was coming, and that Riku and Phoebus absolutely could not be found here. Quasimodo started to haul Phoebus out from his bed, but Yuffie stopped him with a strong hand on his arm.

"Don't worry Quasi," she said, a smile suddenly coming to her lips, "I got this. You want to hide something, or someone, let the Great Ninja _Lady_ Yuffie do her stuff." She took hold of the bigger Phoebus with one hand, and then made a lightning-quick gesture with the other. The girl vanished in a puff of black smoke, surprising Quasimodo and their gargoyle friends. She reappeared higher in the rafters, on a platform beside one of the bells. There was no way she was going to put them beneath one of the bells with the way they amplified noise. She lay Phoebus down gently, and then poofed back for Riku.

The door to the parapets beneath them opened.

"Hurry," Quasi whispered to Yuffie. She winked, grabbed Riku, and poofed back up to the rafters. Yuffie placed Riku down even more gently than she'd dumped Phoebus, laying him a little aside from the former captain, and then quickly glanced around. There was no way that Frollo could see up to where they were hiding, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to hear them.

Yuffie flattened herself on the wooden deck between the two unconscious fugitives and minimized her breathing. Quasimodo was already speaking. "Oh! Oh, Master. I-I-I-I didn't think you'd be coming."

"I'm never too busy to share a meal with you, dear boy," said Frollo, his voice sifting up to Yuffie's ears with such fake sincerity that it made her want to vomit. "I brought a little…treat." Yuffie couldn't see what was going on, and while normally she would do _anything_ to see the events unfolding as well as hearing them, right now her priorities were to keep Riku, and Phoebus, safe.

She wasn't leaving Riku's side until he was better, no matter how much she wanted to see what was going on.

The awkward silence below ended with a particularly loud clearing of Frollo's throat. Quasimodo made an "Oh!" sound as if recalling something before his footsteps loudly began to pound against the wooden platform. Something crashed and shattered, and Yuffie winced at the sound. Quasimodo was obviously straining under the pressure of keeping up appearances while hiding two people that the man in front of him would so desperately want if he knew that they were here and alive.

"Is there something troubling you, Quasimodo?" asked the judge.

"Oh, No!"

"Oh, but there is," Frollo said slowly, confidently. "I know there is."

_Shit,_ Yuffie thought, forcing her exhale to be slow and quiet. _He __knows!_

All was quiet beneath her for several more seconds, and Yuffie could feel the tension in the air rising up to where she was hiding with Phoebus and Riku. If only she could melt all of them into shadows and sneak them out of here!

"I think…you're hiding something."

"Oh, no, Master. I—There's no—"

"You're not eating, boy."

Small muscles in Yuffie's neck moved with unnatural loudness as she gulped nervously. If Frollo found out he'd…

Yuffie paused at that thought for a moment. If the old geezer found out he'd what? Yell at them? Call for guards? Try to kill them? He was a frail old man who held a lot of political and judicial clout, surely, but in terms of physical strength and agility Yuffie was beyond positive that she had him beat, doubly so with skill at arms. For a moment she was uncertain why she was so afraid of them being found out, and then her eyes found again the red glow of the buildings still burning and smouldering in Paris.

_Because __he__'__s __so __driven __to __wipe __them __out, __I__'__d __have __to __kill __him __to __stop __him._ The thought horrified her. Yes, she'd joked to Sora about if he'd ever need anyone whacked or anything he could call on her, and she'd killed hundreds of Heartless defending Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden, but she'd never drawn her shuriken or Keyblade with the intent to end another's life before. She doubted if she could.

Her self-debate was almost their undoing, for she was so wrapped up in her own thoughts of whether or not she was mentally capable of ending someone else's life, even someone's as wicked as Frollo's, she nearly missed hearing Phoebus groan as he started to come around. The first syllable had barely left his mouth before her hand slammed over it, silencing the sound. Yuffie swore that her heart was in her throat and beating ten times _louder_ than Phoebus' agonized moan. His eyes flew open at her touch, and Yuffie gazed into them with a firm gesture for silence. It took him a moment, but his eyes lost the sudden fight impulse that they'd opened with in exchange for wary acknowledgement of the order. Yuffie removed her hand.

"What's different in here?" Frollo asked Quasimodo, still hopefully oblivious to the three above him.

"Nothing…sir," replied an anxious and somewhat confused hunchback.

"Isn't this one new? It's awfully good. It looks very much like the Gypsy girl. I know… you helped her _escape_!" It sounded as if his fist had fallen down hard against the table, sending more dishes crashing to their demise on the wooden floor. Yuffie winced again. Maybe Frollo was stronger than she'd given him credit for. "And now all Paris is burning because of you!"

The ninja could barely hear Quasi's quiet reply. "She was kind to me, Master."

Frollo's anger could not be extinguished so easily. He raved while apparently breaking all of the hunchback's wooden models of the city that Quasimodo had spent so much time and effort building and painting. "You idiot! That wasn't kindness. It was cunning! She's a Gypsy! Gypsies are not capable of real love! Think, boy. Think of your mother."

"You didn't see the way she was kissing Phoebus," Yuffie mouthed, not daring to let a whisper of breath pass her lips. She only then realized that because of the commotion she'd begun to crawl her way over to the edge of the platform beside the bells to look down onto the scene. She stopped herself quickly and returned to Riku's side. He still hadn't made a sound or noise since Aerith's healing of his shoulder.

Frollo's voice came up to them again, this time soft and comforting, and fake enough to Yuffie that it made her want to smack the man across the face with the backside of her hand. "But what chance could a poor, misshapen child like you have against her heathen treachery? Well," Yuffie's eyes widened and her ears twitched as they picked up the tiny sound of a dagger being unsheathed. Since when did an old geezer judge carry a knife on him! "Never you mind, Quasimodo. She'll be out of our lives soon enough. I will free you from her evil spell. She will torment you no longer."

"What do you mean?" asked the hunchback.

"I know where her hide-out is. And tomorrow at dawn, I attack with a thousand men, and the demons I have stolen away from the witches hiding with her are more than ready to exact their revenge."

The sound of Frollo walking away echoed up to Yuffie's position, and she glanced at Riku's healed shoulder. _So __Frollo__'__s __got __control __of __the __Heartless __that __were __able __to __do __that __to __Riku. __This __is __bad._

When the judge's footsteps had faded and the sound of the door closing behind him was no more, Phoebus got to his feet, touched Yuffie on the shoulder as she still knelt next to Riku, and started down from the rafters to where Quasimodo was. "We have to find the Court of Miracles before daybreak," he told the bell-ringer. Yuffie went to the edge of the platform and peered down. All of Quasi's models had been smashed and destroyed, even the one of Notre Dame herself, and there were the smouldering embers of one lying on the floor near him. She guessed that that one had been Esmeralda. "If Frollo gets there first—are you coming with me?" Phoebus looked first to Quasimodo, and then up to Yuffie.

Both remained silent in a pregnant pause before Quasimodo broke it. "I can't," he muttered.

"I thought you were Esmeralda's friend," Phoebus said, his tongue sharp.

"Frollo's my master. I can't disobey him again," Quasimodo retorted.

"She stood up for you," argued Phoebus bitterly. "You've got a funny way of showing gratitude." Quasimodo remained silent, and Phoebus looked up at Yuffie. "Well? What about you, girl? Are you coming with me?"

Yuffie shook her head. She would have liked to go, but Tifa, Leon, Aerith, and Zack would all be there with Esmeralda; they would be fine while she watched over Riku. "I'm not leaving him," she repeated, glancing at the silver-haired youth who was still lying unconscious.

Phoebus sighed. "I can respect that," he muttered. He returned his gaze to Quasimodo, looked at him with a bit of disgust, and then turned away. "Well, I'm not going to sit by and watch Frollo massacre innocent people. You do what you think is right."

The former guard captain left, and Yuffie looked down at Quasimodo as Hugo, Victor, and Laverne gave him judgemental and leading looks. He glanced up at her and then back to the gargoyles in annoyance. "What? What am I supposed to do? Go out there and rescue the girl from the—from the jaws of death, and the whole town will cheer like I'm some kind of a hero? She already has her knight in shining armour, and it's not me." He sighed greatly, like he was trying to expunge his irritated anger at himself and his derailed love-life from his system. "Frollo was right. Frollo was right about everything. I'm tired of trying to be something that I'm not."

"And what is it that you aren't Quasi?" Yuffie asked from above. "Because if you try to tell me that you're not a nice guy who helps people, then you're only lying to yourself." He sighed again, and then traced a finger down his palm.

"No monster lines," he murmured. He glanced at the still glowing embers of what had been his figurine of the Gypsy, and, slowly, he drew a dream-catcher out from underneath his shirt with a meaningful look. Laverne tapped him on the hump and he looked at the elderly female gargoyle. She was holding his cloak up for him. Quasimodo took the heavy woollen fabric in one massive hand, stared at it, and then said, "I must be out of my mind," before wrapping it around his shoulders and hustling out after Phoebus.

"That's our Quasi," said Laverne. She looked up to where Yuffie was. "Are you sure you're not going with them? They could use your help."

Yuffie shook her head again. "I told Leon and Phoebus already; I'm not leaving Riku." She smiled a little. "Besides, it wouldn't be very nice if he were to wake up with no one around."

"Hey, what do you call us then?" said Hugo.

"Gargoyles, pieces of Gothic architecture, strangely animate figures of one lonely man's imagination," Victor provided.

"I was being sarcastic, not asking you to analyze our existence," Hugo muttered, turning away and heading for the parapets outside. Laverne had given them both a look that said that the girl wanted some privacy. Yuffie was grateful for that. She returned to Riku's side and knelt in front of him. She didn't say anything, but simply watched him and waited for any sort of sign of waking from him.

The night slowly wore on, the fires in the City of Bells still burning.

-A-D-

Riku slowly came to, his eyes flickering as sight came to him. His surroundings were immediately unfamiliar. The last thing that he could remember was dropping into the river, and the searing pain of his… There was the pain, but it wasn't nearly as pronounced and terribly sharp as it had been earlier. Now it all seemed like a very painful constant ache.

He was awake now, that was for sure, since he could clearly feel that ache. His other limbs felt somewhat heavy, like he would otherwise have felt from just waking up. Blinking a couple of times, Riku could make out the shapes of large bells above him, with a dim glow from somewhere somewhat close lighting them, but there was a closer source of flickering light that illuminated the surrounding area, including the pale face of a girl sitting beside him on her knees. Her eyes were closed, and her head was drooping. She appeared to be sleeping.

Riku groaned a little as he shifted his head, and Yuffie's eyes snapped open. He looked into those orbs of white with their hazel and black centre and managed a weak, "Hey, ninja."

Tears welled up in Yuffie's eyes and she ducked her head, wiping them away with the back of her hand. "That's _Great_ Ninja," Yuffie softly corrected, smiling a little.

Riku frowned slightly and raised a heavy right hand up to cup her cheek. "You're crying."

She shook her head, even though her eyes were shining while she clasped his hand to her face. "Only because I'm happy you're awake."

"You're not a gargoyle anymore," he stated, his eyes roving over her face and his thumb rubbing the skin of her cheek. She shook her head, and didn't say anything. "We're in the bell tower, aren't we? How did I get here?"

Yuffie's voice choked a little as she answered. "Tifa and Esmeralda brought you and Phoebus here. You were—you were in really bad shape. Aerith worked hard on the wound in your shoulder, but it's still weak."

"I can feel that," Riku told her, glancing away slightly and moving the left arm. It felt like dead weight, but at least he could feel it. Yuffie's words came back to him and he removed his hand from her face and slowly sat up.

"Careful!" she whispered, placing her hands on his back and chest, which Riku only just realized was bare except for the bandage that had been made out of the shirt he'd worn earlier. There was a candle burning close-by behind his head, so _that_ was the closest source of light.

"Are you in any pain?" Yuffie asked him quietly.

His honest answer was yes, but Riku wasn't about to admit that to anyone. "Pain? What pain? You mean this? I'll get over it."

Yuffie rolled her eyes and shook her head disdainfully. "Riight, because tough guys like you are impervious to pain." She gently shoved his shoulder, but it still sent a very tiny twinge needling into the very centre of the healed wound. Riku wasn't able to block his grimace in time, so he ignored it. He looked around, his eyes drawn to the view outside the cathedral.

"The city's burning," he muttered to himself, awed at the sight. "Where are the others?"

"They should be in the Court of Miracles," Yuffie answered him. "Frollo told Quasimodo that he knows where it is and he's attacking at dawn with a thousand men and Heartless. Quasi and Phoebus went to warn them. I stayed behind to look after you." Her weight was suddenly pressed against him and Riku stared straight forward in shock for a few moments. She was hugging him tightly; he could feel her body shaking.

"_Don__'__t_ scare me like that again," she implored him angrily, though Riku wasn't entirely sure that she was angry. "I don't know how many times I've told you not to, but I just don't know what I'd do if you…"

He placed his hands on her back and simply held her while she clutched at his skin. "It's alright Yuffie. I'm okay."

"No you're not," she argued. "You were just speared right through the shoulder and lost a ton of blood. That you're even able to _move_ that arm even after all Aerith did is a miracle, and you lost so much blood that you'll need to take your iron pills." She started to recede, and Riku removed his arms to let her. The ninja began wiping the tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand, and she turned her head away to look towards the red-lit smoke rising from Paris. Riku watched her.

"There's something I haven't told you yet," she said after a while. "It's—hard for me to even think of it, actually, but I've been thinking about it a lot since yesterday."

Riku watched her, his curiosity piqued. _What__'__s __she __been __thinking __about? __Does __it __have __anything __to __do __with __what __she __and __Dawn __might __have __talked __about __yesterday? __What __did __they __talk __about __anyway?_

Yuffie began to speak, and Riku kept quiet to listen. "A few years ago, on Traverse Town, there was the gang that took out Heartless that showed up in the Second and Third Districts. They were called the Turks. They'd asked Leon to join a few times, but he'd always declined because he was too proud. Anyway, their head was a guy named Tseng. I'd always thought that he and his gang were really cool, the way they kept the town safe from Heartless. My father had been training me to be a ninja like him since I was little and my mother died, but he had no patience for the Turks. He told me that they were reckless hooligans and brawlers, not real warriors. But my dad never went out to fight Heartless because he was ill. He never told me what it was, but fighting his sickness left him weak. He was strong enough to train me, but he could never practice for long or else he'd get really tired and break into a coughing fit for at least five minutes, and sometimes longer. I think I was…angry at my dad for being so weak, and that's why I admired the Turks, because they looked so strong and cool."

"What about Leon?" Riku asked, frowning.

Yuffie smiled and actually looked at him. "Leon was different. He was practically my big brother. He didn't really like the Turks either, but he also didn't go out looking for trouble, so I got angry at him too for not thinking them to be as cool as I did. I started tagging along with Tseng and the other Turks wherever they went. I idolized him, hero-worshipped him; couldn't find a fault in his handsome face or in how he protected the districts. Even when he asked for small payments from people after saving them I was able to somehow rationalize that it made sense. Eventually I became somewhat adopted by the gang, and then an unofficial member. I never fought, but watched from the sidelines and cheered them on. Tseng was always quick to give me a smile, and he was actually the one who asked to take me to dinner one night.

"I was so happy that I was bouncing off the walls for a week. My dad was against it, of course, and so was Leon, and Aerith even surprised me by not wanting me to go because she'd heard that Tseng wasn't the best guy when it came to his girlfriends, but I didn't care. I had a date with Tseng." She dropped her head and shook it, drawing her knees up to her chin. "I should have listened."

"Yuffie?" The eighteen-year-old girl's body was shivering slightly as if from a chill she got remembering. She shook her head again.

"Tseng had been the perfect gentleman that night. He was cool, attractive, made gestures of protecting me, and so nice. I had no idea what was going on in his mind; only that I had totally fallen for the guy. After dinner he started to walk me home, and on the walk I confessed. I told him that I loved him." Yuffie shivered again. "He said, 'Perfect, then you won't mind if I do this,' and pushed me into an alley, gagged me, and raped me right underneath my skirt."

Some primitive beast emerged from the depths of Riku's heart and he stared in Yuffie's direction but completely past her. His eyes went as wide as possible, and he was so livid he was sure his bones would break from how much they were vibrating. His aqua eyes made a once-over of Yuffie before resuming their stare at a place somewhere to the left of her ear. That _anyone_ would prey and toy with _Yuffie_ like that, it disgusted him.

_That bastard is going to **PAY** when I get my hands on him!_

She moved, and Riku's fired up aquamarine eyes met hers for a second and he found them held by her rings of hazel. He knew she could see the depths of his anger within him. Yuffie laughed humourlessly. "Calm down tough guy, Tseng's been dealt with. You don't think Leon would just sit back quietly after that, do you? What was worse was that, at the same time he was raping me, his gang was murdering my dad."

Shock coursed through Riku at her words, and his hatred for the Turks only grew.

"Turned out they'd had enough of my dad telling them off for being nothing more than punks and not warriors when the old man wouldn't fight the Heartless himself. So, after I started clinging to them like a piece of dryer lint, Tseng came up with the plan to get me out of the way so that my dad wouldn't have anyone to defend him. He didn't count on Leon and Tifa and Cloud and Aerith and Cid being out for their blood afterwards. After they got beaten to a pulp by _trained_ warriors who could stand and fight, the police took care of them. They took practically _everything_ from me, my father, my virginity, my innocence…and my security. I can barely try on a skirt without thinking how easy it would be for somebody out for you to fuck you underneath it; it's why I wear shorts; it's a lot harder to get through them. All of them are still rotting in a jail in Traverse Town for what they did, and Leon still thinks that's too good for them."

"It _is_ too good for them," Riku growled, finding that he agreed completely with the scarred man on something. His fists were shaking. Yuffie seemed a little shocked at his continued reaction, and then hid it.

"I was fourteen then, and more naïve than I am now," she said. "But, Riku, I've been thinking about it because, I need to know for sure; I need you to tell me," she turned towards him, still kneeling while he was sitting up, and took his larger hand in her smaller ones. She couldn't meet his eyes for a second, and Riku could feel his brain stopping as a hundred queries assaulted it. "I need to know that you're not just dating me for my body; I know it sounds stupid, but I _need_ to know. I need to know that I'm not some dirty—"

Riku grasped her wrist with the hand she was holding. The girl started, looking down at their hands before her eyes returned to Riku's. "You're _not_ trash Yuffie," he whispered. "You're not. You're lovely, you're funny, you're cute and wonderful. You're a _ninja_ and the Wielder of Night. If anyone's trash, I am."

"No," she gasped, coming closer. "No, Riku, you're—"

He cut her off. "Your trust was betrayed Yuffie, but _I_ betrayed my friends. I tried to kill my best friend, all because I was jealous at how close he was to Kairi, and because I thought he'd replaced us with one glance. No matter how much they've forgiven me, how can I deserve anything after what I—"

He found his words stopping when something light pressed against his lips. Yuffie was kissing him softly. Riku was too shocked at the movement to do anything at the moment, and when the girl pulled away, he stared at her. "If you're so worthless," she murmured, "then how could I have fallen in love with you?"

A sledgehammer to his heart could not have had more impact, cutting off his anger. "Y-you what me?" he asked in disbelief.

Yuffie nodded slowly. "I love you, with all my heart. And now, I'm not afraid to be weak in front of you. I've already laid my heart bare." The candlelight was reflecting her eyes, bright and moist. He could see every detail in those dark brown rings, every speck where the colour changed or where the muscle quivered. Her breath was warm against his face, and he felt a peculiar sensation rising in his chest. It felt like his heart was going to leap right out of his ribcage and run to a mountain and begin to shout in euphoria.

He wanted to kiss her, right then and there, to kiss her so strongly that she'd _have_ to understand how he felt about her, but she said that she'd wanted him to tell her. "You have no idea how relieved that makes me," he told her, his voice soft and low like the candlelight.

She blinked, probably confused a little. "Relieved?"

Riku gave her a cocky grin before leaning in, his breath teasing her ear as he said, "I've never been one to stick my heart where it's not wanted."

Yuffie laughed. "Is certainty so necessary to guys?"

"Well I certainly know that I'm in love with you, ninja," Riku replied.

Yuffie purred. "I think I like it when you call me that, tough guy. Much better than 'Yuf' at any rate."

"This tough guy wants a kiss, _ninja_."

She obliged, and their lips finally met and melted into one another. Their feelings exploded inside them and surged into their limbs. Riku kissed Yuffie more strongly than he'd ever kissed her before, flooding her with love and passion. She clutched at him, drawing him closer to her, and Riku crushed her against his chest, playing with her hair. Soon it was almost indistinguishable whose hands were where as they roamed over each other, each fingerprint leaving a spark, and each stroke igniting a trail of fire underneath. Every kiss, nip, and suckle was a fount of sensation that drove them further in a slowly building bonfire.

There was no beginning and no end; there was no world that existed beyond them. There was no separation as their bodies merged in the night of the city of lovers, their love for one another, and the overflowing happiness that that love was returned beyond full, brought them to heaven until their physical bodies gave out and they fell back to earth, exhausted.

Yuffie cuddled up against Riku's chest, sweat coating both of them, and he wrapped his tired arm around her, kissing her lips one more time. Though her eyes were closed, the smooch was reciprocated in full measure, one small, rough, hand touching his cheek. "You're not trash," he softly repeated into the shell of her ear, "my love."

"And neither are you," Yuffie returned, still breathing hard against the side of his face and blushing. "Always remember that, my love."

They drifted off to sleep as the candle burned out, wrapped up in their warm embrace with only the bells of Notre Dame watching them.

-A-D-

"We came to warn you!" Phoebus yelled, standing on a set of gallows down in the hidden Court of Miracles, a tent city of the vagabond gypsies beneath the city and located in the old sewer system. Over a hundred gypsies were gathered around the main 'square' of the Court, where the gallows stood. Phoebus and Quasimodo had almost been hanged, framed as Frollo's spies by Clopin in a _big_ misunderstanding until Esmeralda and Tifa freed them and cleared their names. "Frollo's coming! He says he knows where you're hiding and he's attacking at dawn with a thousand men and demons!"

Esmeralda was quick to act in an attempt to hold back the panic that was settling in. "Then let's waste no time. We must leave immediately." The gypsies only began to panic further as their thoughts whirled about. Leaving the Court of Miracles, their safe haven for over twenty years? It was almost preposterous to think of it but now their hand was being forced.

"Aerith," Zack began, looking around, "let's start with some damage control."

"Right," said the flower girl. "Okay everybody, calm down. We have a lot of time until dawn, there's no need to panic…"

"Tifa," Marlene said, tugging on the barmaid's apron, "the mean judge is coming?"

Tifa sighed and looked down. "I'm afraid so Marlene."

"Where are Riku and Yuffie?"

"They're still in the cathedral," Tifa told her. "Don't worry, they'll be safe there."

Esmeralda turned to Phoebus as he and Quasimodo came down from the gallows. "You took a terrible risk coming here." She pulled him into a soft hug. "We may not exactly show it, but we're grateful." Phoebus seemed pleased at the hug, but then caught sight of the awkward look on Quasimodo's face and removed himself from Esmeralda's hold.

"Don't thank me. Thank Quasimodo. Without his help, I would never have found my way here."

"Nor would I."

Everyone turned and gasped. Frollo was standing at the entrance, hundreds of pikemen and Heartless surrounding him.

-A-D-

Riku woke slowly, not entirely sure what it was that woke him. He thought for a moment that he was still asleep when he glanced next to him and saw Yuffie sleeping there, the blankets she'd lifted from Quasimodo covering her. Then an unfamiliar sound entered his ears. It took Riku a moment to place it, but once he had he knew that it was what had woken him.

Drums.

"Yuffie, wake up," he said, rocking her shoulders gently. The ninja opened her hazel eyes slowly, and she yawned and smiled at him. The smile was quickly replaced with a confused frown at the look on his face. She sat up, clutching a blanket up to her chest.

"Why are there drums?" she asked aloud, glancing around. "And where's Quasimodo? He should be here, ringing the bells." Yuffie cast her hand about, reaching for her clothes.

Riku stood up and started to clothe himself as well. "I don't like this," he told Yuffie. "Something about this whole thing's not right." As soon as they'd finished getting dressed the pair of them quickly descended to Quasimodo's loft, where his models of the city and its inhabitants still lay broken in the places they'd fallen the night before, and went to the window. Both of them gasped.

The entire city seemed to be in the square below them, torches held high to provide more light in the early morning. A ring of soldiers and Heartless kept them away from a cleared space where a square wooden platform had been erected with a stake in the middle. Bundles of straw were being piled around the stake at the foot of a person tied to it. Nearby there were at least a dozen iron cages filled with people inside of them, the people mostly dressed in flamboyantly coloured clothing. Riku looked again at the stake, and saw the long raven hair of Esmeralda overtop of the white gown she'd been put into. Frollo was also upon the platform, reading from a scroll. His voice was loud and carried up even to where Riku and Yuffie were in the cathedral.

"The prisoner, Esmeralda, has been found guilty of the crime of witchcraft. The sentence: death!"

"Bastard!" Yuffie snarled. She summoned Flower of Wutai into her hand. "Come on Riku." He nodded and held out his right hand, but was dismayed when Way to the Dawn did not appear.

"Shit," he muttered. "Forgot to take those pills."

"Oh great," Yuffie groaned. "Well, we still have to do something!" She took off down the stairs to the exit to the parapets atop Notre Dame, and Riku paused before following her. Something to his left had caught his eye.

"Yuffie!" he called, running after her. She stopped just outside of the doorway.

"What is it?"

"Quasimodo's in chains below us," he told her, gesturing. She nodded her head and together they made their way back down the bell tower to the level below. Quasimodo was standing between two of the stone pillars that lined the front of the cathedral three-quarters of the way up. Chains were wrapped all around him—so many that it almost looked like there were more chains than hunchback—binding him to the pillars. Victor, Hugo, and Laverne were all struggling at one of the chains.

"Come on Quasi!"

"You gotta break these chains."

"I can't," he shot back. "I tried. What difference would it make?"

"How about Esmeralda's life?" Yuffie asked, coming right up to him.

"But you can't let Frollo win!" Victor urged.

"He already has," stated the hunchback.

"So you're givin' up?" asked Hugo. "That's it?"

"These chains aren't what's holding you back Quasimodo," Laverne told him sternly.

Quasimodo's scowl was equal and his tone brooked no argument. "Leave me alone."

His three friends were both stunned and hurt by his shunning of them, and Yuffie fell back a step, not able to believe her ears. "Okay. Okay, Quasi," said Hugo, "we'll leave you alone."

"After all, we're only made of stone."

"We just hoped that you were maybe made of something stronger."

The trio turned inanimate. Yuffie glanced at Riku, unsure of how to proceed due to her friend's reluctance, and Riku made a dismissive clicking noise with his tongue. "Some friend you are," he stated, moving to stand close to the edge. "Looks like it's up to us Yuffie."

"Well what are we supposed to do?" she asked. "Use a rope to swing down there and save the lady fair while I hold off the Heartless and soldiers?"

"_For __justice, __for __Paris, __and __for __her __own __salvation__…"_

"Oh would you hear him? He's _still_ going on and on."

"That's a good thing, Yuffie," Riku told her. "It means he hasn't torched Esmeralda yet."

"…_it is my sacred duty…"_

"Okay, new plan," began Yuffie. "I fly down there, save Esmeralda, bring her back here, get a kiss on the cheek for the daring and heroic rescue, then go back down there and fight them off while outnumbered a hundred to one and kick their butts. You stay up here and chuck rocks or something." Riku tapped Yuffie on the shoulder just as she finished. Quasimodo was glowering as he slowly moved towards the edge as far as his chains would allow. Frollo's voice was rousing him.

Riku whispered a reminder to Yuffie. "You can't fly."

"…_to send this unholy demon back where she belongs."_

Frollo set the torch to the straw and wood.

"No!" Quasimodo roared, straining against his bonds. Riku looked around in shock as the stone began to crack. He could hear the bells in the tower resonating as they moved as well, the entire cathedral vibrating from Quasimodo's chained strength. Chunks of stone broke off the architecture and fell to the floor, and Riku was amazed at Quasimodo's power as he fought the chains.

The fire on the platform began to spread.

Links snapped and stone shattered. Quasimodo was free. Riku had never seen an angrier face in his life than the one on the hunchback as he breathed heavily from the exertion. Then the hunchback went into action, grabbing a coil of rope, looping it around a gargoyle head that extended from the edge, and swinging down from the cathedral.

"He stole my idea!" Yuffie exclaimed, watching in awe as Quasimodo landed on the platform and tore away the ropes that bound Esmeralda with a single jerk of his wrist. Soldiers clambered up to face him, but the bell-ringer tore the stake free from its place and swung the improvised club. The men were knocked back onto the stone square, and Quasi dropped the stake and grabbed hold of the rope again. Riku could only watch with a small smile on his face as Quasimodo ran off the platform, using the rope to guide him back over the heads and weapons of the soldiers to reach the cathedral walls, whereupon he began to climb.

Quasimodo reached the giant circular stained-glass window upon the front of the cathedral and held Esmeralda up in his massive hands, standing strongly and declaring triumphantly to an enthused crowd. "Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"

"Captain!" Frollo snapped.

"Sir!"

"Seize the cathedral!"

Yuffie looked at Riku and smirked. She fingered the blue crystal hanging from her neck. "You're wrong Riku, I _can_ fly." The ninja closed her eyes, and her body pulsed with light. Energy rippled out of her, and Riku had to shield his eyes for a brief moment before he could look at Yuffie again. A startled gasp escaped his lips when he did. Yuffie had entered the first Drive Form he'd seen her in, unlike any of the others' Drives.

Wings had grown from her back, just like the others. Unlike the swan-wings Kairi sprouted or the angel wings of Naminé or the hawk-wings Sora attained, though, Yuffie's were black as night, webbed, and shaped like those of a bat. Any bit of light colour that her clothes had held before was gone. The white roses on the rim of her shirt had become dark purple, her boots were ashen-grey, and her shorts had become deepest navy. The most startling thing, however, was her eyes: where before they had been a rich hazel colour now Yuffie's eyes were blood-red crimson. "Yuffie?"

She smirked. "Don't worry, I'm still me. Meet me in my Nightbringer Form." Riku shook his head for a second to clear it then looked her over again. He smiled.

"It suits you, ninja."

She kept her smile. "Well thank you, tough guy. Now be a good boy and watch while I kick some butt." She kissed her hand and blew it to him before leaping off the edge. Riku casually ambled to a pillar that was still standing and leaned against it, a pleasant smile adorning his face.

"Frollo!" Yuffie roared, flying through the air towards the platform he was still standing on. "Tremble! Cower in fear before the Keyblade Wielder of Night!" The judge stood stock still, shocked and apparently petrified at the hellish sight of the bat-winged, red-eyed, sword-bearing teen.

The Heartless sensed the presence of the Wielder, though, and surged from around Frollo to swarm Yuffie before she could get to the corrupt judge. Jugglers tossed their balls at her, a mixture of flaming, freezing, crackling, shining, and pulsating ordinance streaking for the airborne kunoichi. Yuffie rose above them all, easily dodging the attacks. Black light flared around her Keyblade and she brought it back to her ear. "Night Flyer," she whispered before sweeping Flower of Wutai out towards the Jugglers below.

A bat-shaped wing of black light surged out from her Keyblade and struck the lead Juggler. Instantly it broke apart into a cloud of black smoke, its wisps looking like tiny winged creatures. The wisps enveloped the Jugglers before the cloud as a whole began rapidly expanding and contracting, as if a hundred tiny dark explosions were taking place amongst the wisps. The blasts ceased as abruptly as they'd started, revealing nothing but fluid remains of darkness and a dozen pink hearts floating into the sky.

Almost immediately afterwards, a large beam fell down from the cathedral, landing on Frollo's carriage and shattering it. Yuffie pulled up and stopped short for a moment, the sudden attack of Quasimodo's from above startling even her. Frollo snapped out of his shock and came down from the platform. "Come back you idiots!" He took the sword of his guard captain from the man's slack grip and directed it at several of his soldiers. "You men, pick up that beam. Archers, take that demon witch down."

"Uh-oh!" Yuffie said, seeing helmeted men in black readying bows against her. She flew down, skimming the cobblestones of the square and making a beeline for the archers. They shakily stood their ground, and let fly. Arrows sunk into Yuffie's body, ripping screams out of her as they dug into her skin. Suddenly she vanished in a puff of black smoke, revealing the arrows to be piercing a block of wood instead. The archers stared at the wood in shock as it dropped to the ground, clattering against the stone.

"Looking for someone?"

The men turned around, seeing Yuffie with her wings fully outstretched and her vivid red eyes glaring at them. Flower of Wutai was extended, enveloped in a massive shuriken of purple light. The archers scattered and fled. Yuffie spun on a dime, hacking her Keyblade down and driving away the lances of a Frog-At-Arms that was trying to attack her from behind. She slashed again while it was off-balance, knocking its weapon-arms up high, and dove in. Flower of Wutai sunk into its neck before the red-skinned frog Heartless could spit its fiery breath at her. It vanished in a cloud of darkness, its captive heart rising into the sky.

A blue sword came stabbing in from behind the destroyed Frog-At-Arms, catching Yuffie in the chest. For an instant she felt the pain before a strange sensation within her chest ignited. She clasped at the feeling and forced it out, and her entire body split apart. She could suddenly see the Invisible through a thousand different eyes as the pieces of her body reformed into hundreds of bats. _This __is __cool,_ she thought, overcome with the sensation of being hundreds of small creatures all at once. She could see everything going on with how many reverberations the squeaks of her bats were making. _Okay, __yeah, __cool, __now __let__'__s __get __away __from __that __swinging __sword._

The flock of bats gained altitude rapidly until they were behind the Invisible and several feet above its head. A red light pulsed in the centre of the flock and all the bats were sucked into it. Yuffie suddenly burst out from the light, her bat wings extended and her body streaking for the Invisible. With one slice of Flower of Wutai she cut off the Heartless' own wings, and with another she sunk her Keyblade deep into its side. The Invisible gave a soundless shriek and writhed, trying to turn around to face her, but Yuffie stayed behind it. She wrenched her blade out from its body, darkness effusing from the wound, and sent another horizontal slash at its neck. The Invisible's head was removed from its shoulders, and an instant later it exploded into darkness.

The raven-haired Wielder turned her head as a voice bellowed across the square. It was Phoebus'. "Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted our people, ransacked our city, and now he declares war on Notre Dame herself! Will we allow it?" The crowd roared and shouted, and they surged forward against the line of soldiers and Heartless that were there to keep them at bay. Yuffie smiled and took flight again.

"Yuffie!" She turned her head again at her name, and dove down with her Keyblade extended. A beam of light came straight from the tip and struck against the lock of a cage. The lock clicked open, and Leon reached out and yanked it off before Zack kicked open the cage's door. Gypsies who had likewise been freed by the Parisians held out the weapons of the 'warrior gypsies', but their hands were shackled.

"Let's just get these off of you," Phoebus said, quickly coming up to them and presenting the keys he'd stolen from the guard he'd knocked out when no one was looking. "Uh…" He looked around as Aerith held her hands out to him, the shackles didn't seem to have any keyhole or method of opening them.

Yuffie dropped onto the ground behind him. "Aah!" Phoebus shouted in panic for a second before placing a hand to his chest. "_Don__'__t_ do that," he said as he tried to calm his heart that was now racing even faster than before. "You look like a black tempest like that."

She giggled. "Well it's supposed to be scary," she answered. Yuffie hissed and bared her teeth, like a vampire, and Leon just rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Yuffie, do you mind?" he asked, gesturing his head to the shackles that bound his hands.

"No problemo Squall!" Yuffie chirped. She tapped Flower of Wutai against the bindings, and they came undone with a _click_ and clattered to the ground. Yuffie proceeded on to Aerith, Zack, Tifa, and Marlene, undoing each of their cuffs. "I can't believe they'd put these on a little girl," she muttered darkly.

"Thanks Yuffie," Aerith said, massaging her wrists. "They made me feel so helpless; those things were able to bind my magic."

"And they were _really_ uncomfortable," Tifa added. "So, how's Riku doing? Where is he?"

Yuffie blushed and suddenly found that she couldn't look either Tifa or Aerith in the eye. "Uh…Riku? He's up in the cathedral still. He's fine though, really he's fine," she added, flustered, at the looks Aerith and Tifa were giving her, "it's just he didn't take his iron meds last night so he can't summon his Keyblade because of all the blood he lost and he kinda forgot to take them anyway because of the circumstances and hey, look! A battle! What do you say we join in?"

"You're acting suspicious," Leon said, narrowing his eyes at her as he took his gunblade from the pile the gypsies had left behind when they went to join the battle. Yuffie began to sweat.

"Suspicious? I don't know what you're talking about. What's the plan?" she asked.

"I thought you had the plan," Zack said, looking down at her.

"My plan was to just pound Heartless into the dust," she said. "I thought you guys had a more elaborate one."

"I like your plan," Tifa replied, cracking her knuckles. "It's simple and easy to remember, and execute. I want to talk with you later." Yuffie gulped at the evil look on the woman's face but, without further conversation, Tifa rushed after the Parisian peasants. Within seconds she was engaging three of Frollo's soldiers simultaneously. A kick went to one's legs knocked him down near Phoebus' horse. A sword leapt for her throat. Tifa leaned to the side to avoid it, then smacked the man's wrist and grasped his arm. She spun around, getting in close to his chest, and got a better grip. With a faint smirk Tifa threw him into his comrade, knocking them both to the ground in a heap. The other soldier started to get up from the ground.

Phoebus noticed while banging the helmet of a different soldier with a stolen sword's pommel. "Achilles, sit." The downed soldier shouted in distress and stayed down in shock for a moment right before the horse sat on him.

Zack, Leon, and Aerith had already joined the fray. Yuffie was about to head back into it when she felt weight around her waist. Marlene was giving her a hug. "I'm glad you're back, Yuffie," she said, "even though you do look a bit scary like that."

Yuffie giggled. "Hey, like I told Riku, I'm still Yuffie underneath these wings and red eyes."

"You're sure he's okay?" Marlene asked. "I heard he got hurt real bad so he had to stay in the cathedral overnight."

Yuffie smiled and sighed a little. "Like I said, he's fine. Don't worry about Riku, Marlene. Get somewhere safe."

"I know. Tifa already told me."

Yuffie nodded. "Good. Now be a good girl and cheer us on. Ooh, watch this though." Yuffie turned around, facing the cathedral. Soldiers had raised long siege ladders against it and flung grappling ropes up onto the ramparts. They were scaling the walls like ants while others were striking the doors with their makeshift ram. She held her Keyblade out in front of her and it shone with black light. "Nightmare Fury," she said, and then plunged it into the ground. Shadows surged across the ground, twisting and weaving their way through the Parisians that were fighting with their pitchforks, shovels, and stolen weapons. The shadows stopped beneath those of Frogs-At-Arms, Invisibles, Jugglers, ladders, and soldiers. Clawed hands surged up from the ground, catching the Heartless and soldiers up in their grasp. Soldiers screamed as they flailed in the pitch-black claws of the Fury, dropping their weapons in terror. Ladders broke under the iron grip or the piercing claws of the hands, sending more soldiers plummeting to the ground. For ten seconds the twenty-odd six-foot-thick arms ravaged the Heartless and soldiers, squeezing some of them into submission, before slamming whatever they still had grabbed into the ground and disappearing.

Yuffie smiled down at Marlene. "Hm, that went a bit better than I expected. Okay Marlene, I need to kick some butt now." She flapped her bat wings and took to the air. Yuffie could see everything from her vantage point, and something made her make a beeline straight for the front doors of Notre Dame. The ram was making progress against the door, and so far none of their rabble had managed to penetrate the defensive line Frollo's guards and Heartless had created protecting the ram. A knot of four Frogs-At-Arms were even holding Leon back.

The Wielder of Knight raised her Keyblade to the sky. It looked like even the smoke from the smouldering buildings in the city joined with the smoke-grey shadows that coalesced around the black and purple Flower of Wutai. Frollo saw her, and this time he was not struck dumb with fright. "Maria, protect us from this spawn of Hell," he whispered.

"Shadow Lance!" Yuffie screamed, throwing her Keyblade forward. It travelled straight as an arrow towards the Frog-At-Arms in the centre, and pierced the Heartless cleanly through its obsidian breastplate even while passing through the Heartless' fire breath. It staggered back a couple of steps, staring stupidly at the Keyblade embedded in its chest, before it vanished into darkness and Yuffie's Keyblade returned to her grasp in a flash of light. She made a quick motion with her left hand, and vanished in a puff of black smoke. She reappeared directly behind another one of the three remaining Heartless, and jerked her golden-handled pearl dagger from the sheath on her waist. Silently, she stabbed it into the back of the Heartless' neck between the base of the helmet and the top of its breastplate. The creature jerked its head up before thrashing about, spewing flame and accidentally spearing one of its fellows in the leg.

Leon capitalized, raising his gunblade and shooting the just wounded Frog-At-Arms in the face. It burst apart into darkness just as Yuffie finished off her target, leaving only one of the original four. Zack came in from behind Leon, having just finished off a Juggler, and dove right for the final Frog-At-Arms. Twin lances came in for him, and Zack slipped right through them and stabbed the Heartless right through its helmet from a crouch before it could even begin to contemplate roasting him.

"Great job!" Zack said, rising from his crouch and advancing rapidly. Yuffie smiled and her bat wings vanished at the end of her Drive. Her clothes reverted to normal, and her eyes returned from being blood-crimson and became their customary hazel colour.

"Look out!" someone shouted, pointing up. Golden boiling oil was pouring down from the heads of the gargoyles lining the cathedral.

"Shadowmeld," whispered Yuffie. She vanished into her own shadow, and quickly zipped away from the intense heat of the superheated oil as the Parisians and soldiers fled from the cathedral. The remaining Heartless had no idea what their flight was for, and stared up at the golden liquid, unmoving. They burned to their deaths.

Behind the curtain of oil, right at the splintering doors, Frollo hacked his way through with his borrowed sword, slipping away.

-A-D-

Riku had done his part from the ramparts, pelting climbing soldiers with debris from Quasimodo's struggle with the chains, pushing ladders down, and assisting Victor and Hugo in the building of a catapult, which they then pushed off of Notre Dame instead of firing the payload from above. Luckily, and almost impossibly, the catapult arm still went off when it collapsed upside-down on the square, and the machine flattened half a dozen Invisibles beneath it.

With the pouring of the oil, though, the assault appeared to be dying down. The fighting was still thick below, but since no combatants could get close to Notre Dame there was little more for them to do up there. Quasimodo clapped him hard on the shoulder, probably without realizing the strength he put into it, and hurried to the room he'd placed Esmeralda in. Riku decided to join the bell-ringer.

"We did it Esmeralda!" Quasimodo cheered as he quickly opened the door. "We've beaten them back! Come and see!" Quasi waved her on and then turned around, ready to leave as quickly as he'd entered. He paused for a second at the door with a smile plainly visible on his face, and looked back. Esmeralda was still lying on the bench he'd set her down on. Quasimodo went back into the room, and Riku followed inside with a frown on his face. "Esmeralda, wake up. You're safe now…Esmeralda?"

She still made no response, even after the hunchback touched her on the cheek or placed his hand against her forehead. "Oh no," he whispered, his voice filled with dread.

Riku was quick to kneel down beside Esmeralda's head at Quasimodo's words while the bell-ringer hastily gathered some water out of a barrel with a large spoon. The silver-haired youth extended his two fingers to a spot underneath Esmeralda's jawbone right near its outer edge. While he searched, Quasimodo lifted Esmeralda's head in one large hand, which only made Riku's search harder, and poured the water over her mouth, where it trickled away. Quasimodo's eyes widened fearfully and he dropped the spoon. "Oh no." Riku sighed inwardly in irritation as Quasimodo placed the girl's head back down again. Honestly, the more he moved Esmeralda the harder it was going to be for him to…

He found it!

"She's alive," he quickly told Quasimodo, stopping the tears from falling just as they were filling up the hunchback's eyes with grief. "She probably hasn't woken up yet because of the shock and all the smoke she must have inhaled back on the stake."

"So what do we do?" asked Quasimodo.

Riku really didn't know what to do. He was no doctor; he didn't know what to do with people who had been poisoned, even minorly, through smoke inhalation. He didn't let that show in his advice, though. "We let her rest and wait for her to wake up." He clapped Quasimodo on the shoulder. "Cheer up. I'm sure she'll be alright and come around sometime soon. Why don't you stay here and watch over her? I'll take a look at how things are going outside." Quasimodo smiled and nodded.

"Sure," he said. Riku turned and began to make his exit when Quasimodo called out to him again. "Oh, Riku? Thank you." The Wielder of Dawn nodded and gave him a tiny smile before exiting the room.

No couldn't have taken more than two steps away from the door before he spotted Frollo on the balcony, heading directly for the room he'd just vacated. One hand was behind his back. "And where do you think you're going?" Riku asked the judge, loudly. He hadn't closed the door yet.

Frollo sneered at him. "So, another scoundrel has returned from the dead? My men are doing a much worse job than I realized, if they can't even ensure the deaths of an insubordinate soldier and worthless vagabond witch."

"I'm touched," Riku mocked, placing a hand over his heart. "You actually remembered me. I'd have thought that you were too hung up on your crush that you just lit on fire."

"On my what?" Frollo asked, at once suspicious.

"Your crush," Riku repeated, smirking. "Esmeralda. The Gypsy girl you fell in love with after one glance. No, wait…" Riku paused, placing a finger to his chin, "no, that can't be it. You're too old to try and marry her. Oh… that's it (he chuckled). You just wanted to make love to her. Tisk, tisk." Riku fixed Frollo with a glare that put the judge back on his heels. "You burned half of your city to the ground and attacked a holy place just because you wanted some booty? You disgust me."

Frollo was furious. His fist was clenched so tightly it was white and shaking. "You gypsy whelps! I knew I should have—" he stopped abruptly, flinging his hidden arm out towards Riku and letting the dirk he carried fly. Riku threw himself towards the wall, but the blade still grazed against his right cheek. The instant after Riku felt the cool metal snip along his skin he was once again treated to the warm rush of his blood against his skin.

"NO!"

Quasimodo was in the doorway; he'd witnessed the whole thing. He barrelled into Frollo, shoving the man down against the wall. Riku watched, casting about in his pockets for a potion of some kind to heal the new wound on his cheek. He briefly wondered if it would leave a scar. His search came up with nothing. Dang it! He must have left his potions in his jeans. He'd forgotten to put them in these brown peasant breeches.

"Now, Quasimodo, listen to me."

"No, you listen!" Quasimodo shouted back, standing above Frollo with an angry, hurt, expression on his face. "All my life you've told me the world is a dark, cruel, place. But now I see all that's dark and cruel about it is people like you! The gypsies, Esmeralda, and Phoebus are my friends. They care about me and accept me for who I am and what I look like, but you keep me here, caged, trying to keep me away from kind people like them."

"Quasimodo…"

"Esmeralda!" cried the hunchback, turning around and rushing back into the room.

"She lives," growled Frollo. From underneath his cloak he drew the sword he'd taken from his new Captain and ran after Quasimodo. Riku was just about to follow when he heard a sound come from inside the room and Quasimodo ran back out, Esmeralda in his arms. He glanced this way and that for a second before he ran past Riku and leapt off the building. Riku blinked in stunned surprise for a second and then whipped his head around as Frollo came back out of the room, the man's sword bared in front of him and his face wild and enraged.

Riku stood his ground in front of Frollo. He extended one fist downward in front of him while keeping the other at the ready. Now that he knew that Frollo had a visible weapon, he was completely on his guard.

And he wanted payback for that mark on his cheek.

"If you're looking for them," Riku warned, "you'll have to go through me."

"Brave last words, boy," Frollo sneered. He lunged, the sword leaping forward to skewer Riku through the teen's chest. Riku saw the move plainly, and twisted even while advancing to avoid it. He brought his arm around against Frollo, pounding it into the old man's chest. Frollo gasped and staggered backward only a little before swiping at Riku again. He ducked, feeling a light breeze and seeing some of hairs falling in front of his face. The old man was in better shape than he'd thought. That punch should have disabled him. Riku sent another blow in for Frollo's chest, but he backed out of the way and retaliated with another stab that forced Riku to dive back and away.

"What's the matter, boy?" Frollo asked snidely. "Can't call upon your witchy tricks?"

"I really do think that it's funny that you think I'm a witch," Riku said, "considering that you're the first person I've heard to ever accuse a man of being one."

"I will debate semantics with you after I have your severed head and ashes outside my sacred hall of justice," Frollo answered. He charged forward again, slashing at Riku in quick and broad arcs of the blade, always just too high for Riku to simply duck underneath. The unarmed Keyblade Master was forced to back away, out of Frollo's reach, but Riku quickly found himself running out of room as Frollo purposefully moved to work him into a corner. Recognizing this, and Frollo's arrogant smile, Riku quickly came up with something.

A few seconds later his back was in a corner, with Frollo holding his sword pointy-end towards Riku's neck, only about a foot away from the youth's head. "It was fun playing with you, witch boy, but now your time has reached its end. In the name of the Lord, I shall smite you down before I move on to the temptress." Frollo yelled, his sword beginning its plunge. Riku acted on the first syllable of the yell, dropping down to the ground in a swivel and kicking his right leg out. His foot connected with the side of Frollo's knee and carried onward, knocking the judge clear off his feet. Frollo's grip on his sword gave out when he fell, and Riku quickly snatched the weapon up.

"I should do the same thing," he said, now turning the blade against its owner, placing the tip inches away from the old man's skull. Frollo trembled and backed away. Riku kept pace with him the entire time. "The whole smiting corrupt people gig sounds pretty good, except for one thing." Riku raised the sword up and plunged it down, stabbing through Frollo's cloak into the cracks between the stones beneath the area between the judge's legs.

"I only kill Heartless and Nobodies, not humans," he spat, turning his back on Frollo. "Not even ones as despicable as you." He began to walk away, feeling quite good about himself, when he suddenly felt intense pain on the back of his head. Stars exploded in front of his eyes, and Riku fell to his knees. A kick on his back dropped him to the floor, and his head hurt so much he could barely open his eyes.

"I've changed my mind," Frollo said, having hit the youth on the back of the head with the pommel of the sword. "A quick death is too good for you. I shall make your execution long and painful. Quartered almost seems too good for you, but it shall be your fate. Now, the temptress."

"Son of a bitch," groaned Riku in a tiny voice. He got another kick for his trouble, this one centred on the opposite side of his bleeding cheek. Frollo moved cautiously, searching for the gypsy and the hunchback with his sword drawn in front of him. He looked down. Hanging from a gargoyle head, one hand tight around it and another arm holding desperately onto a fully conscious Esmeralda, was Quasimodo. He looked helpless, far above the pool of molten oil he'd sent below earlier.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Frollo with a wicked grin. He struck down at the gargoyle, Quasi swinging out of the way just in time. A shout came from below and the battle ceased as all participants watched with awe.

Frollo hacked his sword down again, and Quasimodo shouted for Esmeralda to hang on. Esmeralda threw her arms around his neck while Quasimodo concentrated both his arms on maintaining their balance as he swung for and gripped the next protruding gargoyle. Frollo followed as Quasi moved, always just ahead of the judge. On the fourth gargoyle they reached the other edge of the inward dip and Esmeralda clambered up behind a sitting gargoyle on the edge. Frollo was right behind, chopping down with his blade. Quasimodo pushed the gypsy out of harm's way, and the sword chipped into the back of the gargoyle instead.

Frollo was seething with anger. "I should have known you'd risk your life to save that Gypsy witch," he declared as Quasimodo stood up on the gargoyle, "just as your own mother died trying to save yours."

Quasimodo's face showed his confusion at the revelation. "What?"

"Now I'm going to do what I should have done twenty years ago!" Frollo offered, flinging his cloak around Quasimodo's head. The hunchback struggled within it, and even his strength couldn't help him when Frollo tugged. Quasi became unbalanced, and fell off the gargoyle. A shout left his lips as his head became unbound and he clutched tightly to the cloak with one hand, reaching for a handhold with the other. His grip on the cloak remained firm, and just as he was about plummet to the fiery oil below he caught hold of the stone and stayed. His near-fall, though, was the opposite of Frollo's plan, and the old judge clutched tightly to his cloak and sword as he was pulled over the railing by Quasimodo's weight. He fell further than the hunchback, and Quasi held the cloak tightly as Frollo now trailed behind it.

Riku shook his head as he got to his feet, still a little dazed from the two consecutive blows to the head, and saw Esmeralda lean over the edge and grasp for what he knew to be Quasimodo. Putting aside any other action he might have made, Riku dashed to the edge and threw his arms down, reaching for the hunchback's hand that struggled to maintain its grip with the weight of both him and Frollo pulling it down. "Don't you let go," Riku yelled.

Frollo began to swing, yanking Quasi's grip away from the stone and into Riku's and Esmeralda's hands. "Hold on," said the gypsy weakly, her strength beginning to ebb. Riku couldn't say that his own wasn't much better. The pain in his head was making it hard to concentrate. The weight suddenly seemed a little less, and then he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Frollo had been able to swing off the cloak and was now standing on one of the gargoyles. The man chuckled evilly and raised his sword above his head. The whites of his eyes were now a demonic, hellish yellow that scared Riku more than Yuffie's Drive initially shocked him.

"And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!" Frollo recited, a mad gleam in his eyes as he prepared to behead both Riku and Esmeralda. Riku could hear Yuffie, Tifa, Marlene, Aerith, Zack, and even Leon screaming his name in denial and warning below, but there was nothing he could do. If he let go of Quasimodo, he'd fall and die; if he didn't let go, Riku and Esmeralda would Perish at Frollo's hand, and Quasimodo would still fall and die.

He sighed as he stared his own death in the face. _Fuck. __Not __the __death __I __wanted._

Frollo's chop never descended, and death never came. At that moment the stone gargoyle that Frollo stood on began to crack near the base and the gargoyle tilted downwards slightly. Caught completely off-guard by the shift, Frollo fell, losing his sword in the scramble to catch hold of the gargoyle around its neck and stay up. He was staring it straight in the face as it came alive, the stone becoming red in the burning light and the eyes and mouth lighting up with eerie yellow light as it snarled at him.

The gargoyle broke free of its bindings, and Frollo screamed as they plunged into the fiery pit!

Riku's and Esmeralda's sweaty palms couldn't hold any longer, and Quasimodo, too, fell…

Only to be caught by Phoebus in a desperate lunge a level below. Esmeralda smiled when she realized that her friend was alright, and quickly ran for the nearest staircase. Riku watched her go, glancing out at the city before following her. With Frollo's demise the battle had come to an end, the soldiers putting down their weapons on both sides.

-A-D-

They left the cathedral in the new dawn's full light. The skies were clear of the smoke that had been rising only minutes before, and all of the oil had cooled down and been mysteriously washed away. Riku could only gape. It was as if the hand of a god had swept through and cleared away nearly all the evidence of the battle and the sacking of the city except from the memories of the people.

Phoebus and Esmeralda left first to tumultuous cheers, hand in hand with all four hands extended upwards in triumphant victory. Riku came second, to cheers no less with the enthusiastic crowd who recalled his juggling performance and beared witness to his unarmed combat above with Frollo. Only two seconds after he'd stepped out there was a puff of black smoke in front of him and a pair of brilliant hazel eyes looking up, and an instant later Yuffie had pulled him down to lock their lips together. Riku clutched her tightly, reminding her that he loved her with his embrace. The crowd cheered wilder then they parted, and Riku clasped her hand in his and raised it as high as it could go.

The cheering died down a little and Esmeralda left Phoebus to return to the entrance, offering her hand to someone in the darkness. Quasimodo took it, and slowly came out into the sunlight, before all of Paris. There was awkward silence in the square. The people did not hate him, not anymore, but none of them were really sure how to act. Then a little girl came forward, no fear in her eyes, and curiously studied him for a moment.

She hugged him, and Quasimodo melted at the touch.

Yuffie sniffled a little next to Riku. "Aw man," she whispered. "I'm a sucker for this heart-warming stuff." The girl led Quasi down the steps towards the Parisians, and Clopin crowed,

"Three cheers for Quasimodo!"

The crowd bore him away, the hero none of them had expected, least of all himself. Riku allowed himself a chuckle and smile as Clopin began to sing again, and then looked back up at the cathedral. He nudged Yuffie and pointed. The stained-glass window in the centre was glowing with a large outline of a keyhole. Yuffie nodded and pointed Flower of Wutai right up. Golden stars coalesced around the edge before coming together at the centre and becoming an arrow of white light that shot straight for the keyhole. The sound of a lock _clicking_ shut came to their ears and the keyhole vanished.

"What was that?" Phoebus asked as Leon and the others came up to the four in front of Notre Dame.

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with anymore," Leon said. "The Heartless, those demons Frollo was talking about, should leave you guys alone for the most part now."

"It's too bad there was no Cornerstone here though," Yuffie said.

"Oh well," said Tifa, "there's always the next place we go to, Yuffie."

"You're leaving?" asked Esmeralda. "Already?"

Aerith nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. There are other places that need our help."

"And I think you guys can handle anything that shows up here on your own now," Zack added. "You don't need heroes like us sticking around being lazy."

"You could always join the Guard," Phoebus offered.

"We're more of the freelancer type," Riku told him. A pair of rapid footsteps stopped him from adding anything else, and suddenly he was getting hugged around the waist. "Hey, Marlene." The girl said nothing, just warmly hugged Riku, glad for him to be alright. Riku placed his hand on the top of her head and glanced around. He was alright; they were _all_ alright.

"See you around," he said to Esmeralda and Phoebus, surreptitiously slinking his hand into Yuffie's.

"Let's get going," Leon agreed, turning and leading the way from Notre Dame.

Tifa quickly posed a question, though she looked at Yuffie while she did it. "So I think Riku needs his pants back, don't you?"

-A-D-

_Very late in coming, but it never hurts to remember._

_They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.  
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  
At the going down of the sun and in the morning  
We will remember them._

_**We Will Remember Them**_

_Shire Folk_


	67. Ascended Moon

_In case you guys haven't heard yet, there's a new world announcement for Kingdom Hearts: Dream, Drop, Distance! Don't know the name yet, but it's based off of the Three Musketeers (or Three Mouseketeers, I think is what Disney called it. I always get that mixed up)! Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pete still can't be kept out of this franchise even after all these games. Let's see, Mickey had one scene in KH, and Pete's first appearance was in KH2, but since then Pete's been in every game and Mickey's been in every game, and Donald and Goofy too (if only in flashbacks of Sora's memories in 258/2 Days)._

_Anywho, that's enough rambling from me. Enjoy the new chapter, and according to Fanfiction's word count, it's over 21K words! Yippee! Huge length of the old days is back!_

_Disclaimer: Nada_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 67: Ascended Moon

_2035hrs, Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Lilly pad Pond, Mystic Bayou_

"Naminé! NAMINÉ!"

Roxas shook the female frog gently, trying to elicit some response from her, but Naminé refused to move. Her eyes would not open, and he couldn't even tell if she was breathing or not. He called her once more, pleading in vain with the nonresponsive girl to open her eyes. Tears began to well in his eyes as complete fear took hold of his heart, slowly tearing pieces of it off.

Suddenly there was a large and wrinkly brown-skinned finger on the frog's chest, and Roxas looked up into the dark sunglasses of Mama Odie with pitiable hope. The voodoo queen of the bayou, if there was anyone who might be able to keep Naminé with him it was going to be her.

She looked at Naminé critically, and then her eyes went to Roxas. He couldn't see them beyond the sunglasses, but he could almost see the sorrowful look in them. "I'm sorry deary," she said in a soft tone, scooping Naminé out of his arms into one hand. "There's nothin' can be done…"

Roxas felt like his heart had just shattered. He floated, limply, detached from the entire world as his eyes swam with images of the blonde girl before she'd become a frog, before this whole voodoo madness. Mama Odie was still speaking to him, but the words were going in one ear and out the other.

She'd failed the test.

Naminé was gone. Her laugh, her smile, her hair, her eyes, her lips, her strength, her bearing, her fragility, her insane love of comic books, her artistic talent, her promise, her scent, the pure, sweet, _sound_ of her voice when she was whispering his name; all of it, gone.

_I__—__I__'__m __sorry __Chief,_ his Keyblade's voice whispered in a stutter, apparently just as shocked as Roxas. _I __really __thought __that__…_ the voice faded away, realizing that the frog either wanted to be alone, or had tuned him out anyway.

Mama Odie said something more, and a few seconds later Roxas felt someone picking him up out of the water. From the rough texture of the scales he could tell that it was Louis, and the gator placed him down on top of the alligator's head, but Roxas couldn't care. The world around him seemed cold and empty, devoid of all colour and warmth and sound.

She was gone. The gods had taken her away from him. This stupid war in which they'd all risked death to get the power, which was _already__theirs,_ that they needed had claimed her.

_This __isn__'__t __happening,_ he thought dumbly, looking up towards Mama Odie as she held onto the frog princess. _This _isn't _happening. __It __can__'__t. __Naminé __can__'__t __die._

That very sentence in his mind he found himself repeating again and again. _Naminé __can__'__t __die. __Naminé __can__'__t __die. __Naminé __can__'__t __die!_ Suddenly the lethargy that had taken hold of him was snapped as a much simpler base emotion rose to take its place, anger. Roxas wasn't entirely sure where the anger was coming from or going to—the gods, Naminé, himself, Maleficent, the Heartless, the world in general, life and how unfair and cruel it could be—but now that it was there it galvanized him into action. Roxas leapt from Louis' head and landed directly next to Naminé in Mama Odie's hand.

"I won't let you die!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, control of his voice completely gone for the moment. "I won't let you die, Naminé!" His eyes snapped to Mama Odie. "I need to become human _right__now_ so that I can go and force that Shadow Man to undo this! Can Prince Naveen kiss Naminé and turn us all back?"

"Hush now child," Mama Odie whispered, patting the angry frog on the head with a finger. "She's very far gone, but there's nothing I or the Shadow Man can do."

"What do you mean?" Roxas raged, forging his anger into a mask over his pain. "What do you mean there's nothing you can do?"

"There's _nothing_ can be done, child," Mama Odie repeated, a little more annoyed at him shouting in her face. "If it were that easy to turn y'all human, or keep her alive, then what y'all doin' here?"

A tiny bubble of curiosity within his anger stymied him. "Keep her… alive?"

"She's very far gone," Mama Odie said again, continuing to hobble on her way, "but there's still a spark of life left in her, froggie knight. A tiny spark," she added slowly, seeing the hope return to his eyes, and all the other eyes for that matter. She did not really want to smother it while still impressing upon him a sense of reality. "She can still come back to y'all, but only if she decides to. And don't think that that's a sure thing," she added swiftly, before Roxas could speak up. "She wouldn't be like this now if she was. Do you understand child?"

Roxas dropped his gaze from Mama Odie's dark sunglasses to Naminé's expressionless face. The thought that she might not come back absolutely terrified him, but Mama Odie had given him a hope, even if it might only be a foolish hope; that she could come back.

He believed in her before; he hadn't stopped now. He'd put all his faith in the tiniest amount of hope until the future was undeniably black.

"I understand Mama Odie," he told her quietly, "but she won't let us down. I know that. I _believe_ that with all my heart."

Not to say that he wasn't crazily praying to every god he knew in his mind to find a way to give her the strength she needed to do it just in the slight chance that she didn't have it within her already. He wasn't taking any chances, not now.

"Ah, here we are," Mama Odie said loudly, looking up and cricking her back. Roxas followed her gaze, and saw that way up in a tall tree there was a wooden boat that looked like it had been cast into the tree's canopy from a hurricane. "Come on up children," she said, waving to the others behind her, "an' don't worry an' ask no questions 'bout sleeping beauty here."

"Are you sure?" Naveen asked worriedly. "She doesn't look so good to me."

"What are you going to believe," Mama Odie asked, "your eyes, which let you mess with the Shadow Man, or your Mama?" Naveen began to stutter incoherently, and the group made their way up into the boat in the tree.

"I'm just so glad we found you, Mama Odie," Tiana said, hopping her way into the voodoo queen's boat home in the tree. Roxas watched her blather with mild interest. Naminé was his only concern, and he _hated_ that Mama Odie was right when she said that there was nothing he could do. "Ray and Louis here have been telling us all about you. We've been travelling quite a long way, and you can't imagine what we've been through."

"Oh I can imagine quite a bit, child," replied Mama Odie, tossing away her walking club and laying the non-responsive Naminé down on a bed of leaves. "You don't get to be 197 and blind without having a bit of a good one."

Tiana was a little taken aback at the response she got before ploughing on ahead. "And we heard that you—"

"Juju!" Mama Odie suddenly called, interrupting the waitress-turned frog. A snake dropped from the ceiling, and Roxas yelped and leapt down from the shoulders of the black woman in white. He hated snakes, _hated_ them! It made his insides squirm when the snake, Juju, began nuzzling Mama Odie's cheek. He nearly puked when she started to kiss the snake; Louis faked a gag.

"Y'all just loves your mama, don't you?" Mama Odie asked the snake, patting him gently on the head. She suddenly grabbed near his head with both hands and yanked in both directions, one hand holding firm where his head met the rest of his body and the other going down the tail. Juju went rigid as a board as his spine was cracked straight, and what he had left beyond Mama Odie's reach wrapped around her arm as a brace. She'd turned him into a cane.

"Good to see you again, Ray," she said, striding further into her home with Juju out in front of her. "How's your grandma?"

"Oh she's fine," Ray answered dismissively. He giggled a little. "Got in a little trouble for flashing the neighbours again."

Mama Odie settled down in a grand armchair weaved together, the chair sitting between two thick branches of the tree they were in. Candles with pools of hardened wax beneath them lined the limbs, and brightly coloured glass hung nearby, reflecting the candlelight. "Ooh, I like that gal's spunk," she told him, Juju placing a footrest beneath her feet.

Roxas stayed as far away from the chair and Juju as possible, staying close-by Naminé, and watched as Tiana got a little annoyed at how her problem was being derailed. She and Naveen hopped onto the armrest while the voodoo queen cracked her toes. "Mama Odie. We don't want to take up too much of your time—"

"Y'all want some candy?"

The pair of frogs looked at whatever she was offering in her hand apprehensively. "Uhh…not really," Naveen answered.

"Now, that's too bad," Mama Odie told them regretfully, taking a piece that looked like a couch button. "It's a special candy. Would have turned y'all human." With that, she popped it into her mouth and swallowed. The horrified looks on Tiana and Naveen's faces were enough to make her laugh heartily. "I'm just messing with y'all."

They smiled back, getting the joke and wondering. "How on Earth did you know that we wanted to turn back—?"

Mama Odie was oblivious to Tiana's question. She had fallen asleep. Roxas rolled his eyes and glanced back at Naminé. He was kind of glad that she wasn't awake for this. It was both amusing and painful. He wanted to return to normal as much as the others did, except he wanted to be human so that he could kick the Shadow Man's ass for putting a spell on Naminé.

Naveen carefully approached the sleeping elderly woman. "Um…" he began, tapping her cheek, "Mama Odie?"

"Juju!" she suddenly exclaimed, jumping out of her chair and causing Naveen and Tiana to leap back in sudden panic. "Why didn't you tell me my gumbo was burning?"

Roxas glanced at the big bathtub that was being heated up from below, then turned his head as Louis began to ask Ray something. "Are you sure this is the right blind voodoo lady who lives in a boat in a tree in the bayou?"

"Pretty sure," Ray answered with a shrug.

"You guys have more than one?" Roxas asked.

"The bayou's a big place," Ray answered. "Why, I could give you directionals to at least two other voodoo ladies in here, Sarge, except of course one lives under a log, and then she lives in a boat around a tree instead of in a tree…"

"Can't believe this. Got to do everything around here," Mama Odie muttered to herself, dipping her club into the bubbling bathtub of gumbo and stirring.

"Mama Odie," Tiana began, again, "if you…"

"Taste this!" the voodoo lady ordered, plunging a gumbo-covered finger into the female frog's mouth. "Well?"

Tiana cocked her head and looked up critically as she quickly processed and analyzed the taste of the gumbo. "Hit it hard with a couple of shots of Tabasco and it's the bee's knees. Now, can we…"

"Juju!"

The snake slithered over with a bottle of Tabasco sauce in its mouth and poured two shots of the hot sauce into the gumbo. Mama Odie heard the splashes without having seen her pet snake and quickly dipped her hand in. She laughed. "That's got some zang to it!"

Roxas chuckled as he saw Tiana place her head in her hand. There were still no new signs of improvement from Naminé, and the knowledge that she wasn't quite dead yet was not comforting.

"That's just what it needed," Mama Odie chuckled with a grin. "Now, y'all figure out what you need?"

"It's just like you said, Mama Odie," answered the female frog. "We need to be human," she told her, gesturing to herself, Naveen, Roxas, and Naminé. Roxas and Naveen both nodded.

Mama Odie scoffed in her face. "HA! Y'all ain't got the sense you was born with! Y'all _want_ to be human, but you're _blind_ to what you need!"

"What we want? What we need? Is all the same thing, yes?" Naveen asked, his logic seeming quite fine by Roxas' standpoint.

_Naveen__'__s __got __it __right. __I _want _to __become __human __again __because __I _need _to __use __the __Keyblade __so __I __can _kick _that __voodoo __Shadow __Man__'__s __ass __and __fight __Maleficent__'__s __hordes._

Mama Odie struck Naveen on the head with a stick. "It's the same thing? No! You listen to your mama now." Roxas looked around wildly as flamingos flew into the room and gospel music started to play seemingly from all around them. Several of the flamingos were playing tambourines, and they tossed one to Louis and a bottle cap to Ray. The pair instantly got into the music and started to play along, and Ray pulled Tiana away to dance while Mama Odie cornered Naveen on the tub. "Prince Froggy is a rich little boy; you want to be rich again. That ain't gonna make you happy now. Did it make you happy then?" Naveen smiled and eagerly nodded his head. Wealth, fame, riches, beautiful women! He stumbled backwards and fell off the rim of the gumbo tub when Mama Odie reprimanded him with a quick and loud, "No!"

Roxas' eyes widened to the size of gold coins as gold coins seamlessly began pouring out of Mama Odie's sleeves onto Naveen. "Money ain't got no soul, money ain't got no heart (She grabbed Naveen out of the pile that was coldly burying him.). All you need is some self-control. Make yourself a brand new start. I can't tell you what you'll find, maybe love will grant you peace of mind." She held him out so that he was looking right at Tiana for maybe a second before placing him down next to Roxas and the comatose Naminé, but Naveen's face was fixed on Tiana's as he saw her dancing with Ray in the midst of the music the flamingos were making. He dropped the coin he was still holding onto in shock. "Dig a little deeper and you'll know."

_This__was__so__set-up,_ Roxas realized, noting the thoughtful and pleased look that was now on the face of the frog next to him.

As if reading his thoughts, Mama Odie turned to him next. "You fight with bravery and intuition, Knight Froggy," she told him, surprising Roxas that she knew he was a knight, "and you want to fight more, but with revenge driving your sword. Did revenge ever solve anything? No! What you need you still have," she whispered, laying a hand in Naminé's comatose direction. "You're not far away; dig a little deeper and you'll know what to do."

Roxas snorted derisively. Maybe revenge had never actually solved anything, but why shouldn't it be the right thing to do? There was anger constantly simmering through his veins like a tonic that he'd been carrying for months. Maleficent had taken his new mother from his new home with Sora; she'd taken Naminé's new parents as well, and ruined many worlds already. She'd wronged everyone so much, how could he think of anything but revenge!

He looked at Naminé, and the anger stayed. She'd been wronged and hurt by Maleficent's minions too often, and so had his brother and other friends. How could he just let go of vengeance when it so strongly demanded it be taken?

As his eyes stayed locked on Naminé, they slowly softened. She didn't appear to be dead at all to his eyes; she looked like she was only sleeping quietly. Even as a frog he was ensnared by her; he saw her as she was when human at the same time, with her laugh and her smile. An old saying that he'd once heard came to his mind.

_The sword that strikes out in anger only hurts. The sword that stands in the path of hatred is the sword that protects others._

_Protect __her,_ he realized again slowly, _protect __them __all._ He didn't have to completely forgo exacting his vengeance, but he simply shouldn't let his anger guide his arm. The thought made Roxas smile.

He looked back for Mama Odie, but saw that she had left him and Naveen to go to Tiana. "Miss Froggy, might I have a word?"

"Yes Ma'am," Tiana answered nervously.

"Yous a hard one, that's what I heard," remarked Mama Odie. "Your daddy was a loving man, family through and through. You your daddy's daughter; what he had in him you got in you." Roxas couldn't make out any more of what Mama Odie began to whisper to Tiana as she and the frog began to rise into the attic of her boat house in the bayou, the attic being the actual canopy of the tree. Light shone down from above, and Roxas hopped onto Louis' head as the gator went up to follow. The frog and alligator were stunned and joyed when they reached the thick branches extending from the trunk. Whether it was Mama Odie's voodoo magic or just a trick of the rising sun's light, the entire bayou looked beautiful in golden light that sparkled and reflected off of dozens of pieces of hanging coloured glass.

"Well, Miss Froggy, do you understand what you need now, child?" asked Mama Odie.

"Yes, I do Mama Odie," Tiana answered proudly. "I need to dig a little deeper and work even harder to get my restaurant."

Roxas groaned along with Mama Odie, Ray, Louis, and a bunch of the flamingos. Tiana was denser than he had thought. What Mama Odie had been telling each of them in turn that what they needed wasn't the revenge or riches or dream they'd each wanted, it was plain and simple love. Roxas wouldn't fight to get vengeance for the death of his mother or the loss of Sora's home or for anything else anymore; his score with Tismetrx didn't matter either, he'd fight to defend those he loved.

He should have seen it months ago. It's why Sora fought the entire time.

"Well, if y'all want to be human," sighed Mama Odie, "there's only one way." She took them back down from the thick branches of the tree and into the boat to her bathtub of gumbo. Juju slithered up to her, the old woman's club in his mouth. She took it and began to stir the gumbo, chanting, "Gumbo, gumbo in the pot. We need a princess, whatcha got?"

The gumbo flashed with golden light. Suddenly there was an image in the gumbo of a girl with blonde hair sleeping in a luxurious bed.

"Lotte?" asked Tiana. "But she's not a princess."

"Yes," Naveen agreed. "Why would it not show Naminé?"

"If it were that easy y'all wouldn't be here," Mama Odie told them. "Now hush up and look at the gumbo."

The door to Charlotte's room opened in the gumbo vision, and Big Daddy La Bouff entered. He was dressed in regal reds and gold, sporting a fake black beard and poufy crown while carrying a diamond tiara on a plush blue pillow.

"That's right," Tiana said. "Big Daddy's King of the Mardi Gras parade."

"Then that makes his daughter a princess," Roxas guessed.

Naveen looked at Mama Odie quizzically. "Does that even count?"

"Yes it does," she answered, "but only 'till midnight, when Mardi Gras is over. Hop-along, you only got 'till then to get that princess to kiss you. Once she does, boom! You all turn human!"

"Midnight!" Naveen whispered to himself.

"We'd better get going then if we want to get you that kiss," Roxas declared. He looked back at the place where Naminé was lying down. He really didn't like the thought of leaving her here. He was slow with his words when he opened his mouth again. "Mama Odie, could you…?"

"Don't worry, Sir Froggy," said the Voodoo Queen of the bayou, "I'll look after her here for yah." Roxas smiled at her, and quickly hopped after Tiana and Naveen.

"What about me Mama?" Louis asked, having mostly been forgotten amidst the frogs wanting to turn human and the comatose not-quite-dead princess frog lying in a shoebox that had been made into a bed. "I want to be human too, so I can play jazz with the big boys. I want fingers and toes and a bellybutton. Not the kind that sticks out but the kind that goes in."

"Jabber Jaws," Mama Odie interrupted him with a quick hand over his mouth, "you dig a little deeper, you'll find everything you need." She went behind him and began to push him right out of her house. "Come on, come on, come on. There's a lot of river between here and New Orleans. Y'all best get to swimming."

"Wait!" Louis exclaimed, stopping them all. "I got a better idea."

-A-D-

"Are you sure about this?" Roxas asked, glancing at Louis. "This plan sounds pretty insane."

"I thought you liked insane plans," said Naveen, smirking at Roxas.

The normally blond boy gave a chuckle. "Normally I do, and I'd be fine with this one too if it was just you, me, Ray, and Tiana. But how are we going to hide an alligator on a riverboat?"

"Don't worry 'bout that Roxas," said the gator in question as he pulled up alongside the white riverboat, smoke puffing out of the smokestack as the giant paddlewheel on its stern churned the waters of the bayou. "Old Louis got it covered."

"Here we go!" Tiana declared. She leapt up from Louis' back, over the railing of the boat, and onto the walkway at the waterfront. Naveen and Roxas followed, Ray flying in above them, and then Louis clambered up with his trumpet.

They were on the riverboat, with Louis' plan being that instead of swimming all the way to the city they instead catch a ride on a riverboat making its way to New Orleans for the big Mardi Gras parade. Jazz music played all throughout the riverboat, and it sounded more and more like a great idea, so long as they could keep the alligator hidden from the hunters with guns.

No sooner had Roxas thought that than Tiana gasped and pointed to the corner of the hall behind them, where the shadows of men with long rifles were appearing. Louis panicked and froze in a strange fetal position that made him look like a box while the frogs leapt behind some metal tube with a mouth that Roxas had no idea what it was for sprouting up from the lowest deck. Roxas plastered himself against it, while Tiana and Naveen gripped one another protectively just a short distance away; Ray hovered above them.

The hunters walked right past Louis, actually being three men in lion, toucan, and aardvark costumes carrying a clarinet, trombone, and drumsticks, respectively. The lion stopped with a yelp and turn to Louis. "Man, that is one killer-diller costume!"

"Hey, gator," asked the man in the aardvark suit, "can you blow that horn?" Louis put the trumpet to his lips and blew a few notes.

_Boob-a-dooba-dooba-dooba-do-do-dooo!_

The men got chills up their shoulders as the music touched them. "Oho! Come on. Sit in with us. We're playing Mardi Gras." Louis sighed deeply as they began to walk away. Then it hit him.

He'd just been asked to jam with the big boys.

Louis wailed excitedly and rushed after them, tooting his horn the whole way. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief before he looked at Tiana and Naveen, and smirked. The two were still glued to one another. His smirk broke them apart, whereupon they gave each other sheepish looks.

Ray broke it up with a well-placed, excited, call to action. "We can't miss this! Little Louis going to finally play with the big boys!" The firefly and Tiana left their place of cover to follow the gator. Tiana paused and looked back at Roxas and Naveen, since neither of them had moved yet.

"Naveen, Roxas, you coming?"

Roxas gave Tiana a funny sort of smile and said, "We'll catch up with you later." He watched as Tiana hopped away before turning to Naveen. "So, what's your plan?"

"Wh-what?" Naveen asked, backing away slightly from the other frog. "What plan? I do not know what you are—"

"Save it Naveen, I got the same message from Mama Odie that you did," Roxas told him. "What we want isn't important, it's what we need that counts; and what we need is love. I have Naminé, so long as she wakes up, and you're thinking of somebody with green skin, brown eyes, and long, luscious legs."

Naveen sighed. "You saw through me, no?"

"It was really obvious and Mama Odie was pretty forceful when it came to making her point," Roxas pointed out.

"Ah, so true," agreed Naveen, glancing down. He gained a thoughtful expression and bent down, picking up a beaded necklace and some wire. One of the beads was white as a pearl, and the wire was in the shape of a basket. It looked like if it was arrayed just right, it could snugly hold the bead in place.

"I am in love with her, my friend," Naveen declared softly, staring at the objects in his frog hands. "I am going to marry her."

"Great, how are you going to break it to her?" asked Roxas.

"I am going to make her a ring, with these," said Naveen, "and then propose over a candlelight dinner tonight."

Roxas did a couple of quick calculations in his head. "I hope she takes it well. You guys have only known each other for two nights and two days."

"Heh, don't _I_ know it," Naveen answered. "I can scarcely believe it myself, but there was something in her eyes last night when we danced that…" He stopped, shaking his head. "I want to make her happy; to make all of her dreams come true. Why can I not say it?"

"Try practicing," Roxas answered, shrugging. He quickly added, "But not on me! I couldn't take it; it would seem too weird. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I hear Louis starting to jam with the big boys." He clapped Naveen on the shoulder before leaving. "I'll give you your space."

_If only I could find some way to show Naminé just how much I care about her too, besides words and kisses. It needs to be something special, just for her; something only I can give her._

He paused as a thought came to him. Did he really want to go through with that? Would she accept it as what he wanted it to be, rather than something else? Roxas quickly shook his head to clear his mind of the idea. The jazz music was calling to him.

-A-D-

Indigo opened, and Naminé saw her platform beneath her feet. The picture was horribly fractured beyond recognition, and the pillar itself was crumbling away and falling into the endless abyss beneath. "So," she sighed, "this is what it's like to die. I'd have thought it'd be more…less like this. This is just depressing."

_Well,_ she thought, _it__'__s __death. __Why __wouldn__'__t __it __be __depressing?_

Another tear left her eye as she brought her arms in around her shoulders. A piece of the rim fell away. "I'm sorry everyone," she whispered, "I'm sorry I ran. I'm sorry I wasn't strong. I let you all down."

"Hey! Naminé!"

She looked up suddenly, completely bewildered at the voice. "Kairi…"

"Sisterly snap the hell out of it PAUNCH!"

Naminé rolled head over heels twice before sliding to a stop, her face on the ground with the glass rubbing against the spot Kairi's fist had just struck. Naminé stared up at the red-head, dumbstruck. "Ka—Kairi!"

Kairi smirked and nudged her nose with a thumb before placing her hands on her hips with one stuck out. "C'mon Nami, what's with that wimpy look on your face? Let's see you grit those teeth."

Naminé's head shot up in annoyance at the cocky attitude Kairi was displaying with her. "What the hell did you punch me for!"

Her sister shrugged. "Hey, it worked on Sora."

"I'm not a guy!"

"Heh, could have fooled me," were the words of another voice, "you're stupid like one of us."

The blonde rose to her feet and turned her head to the right. "Riku. Hey wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

"You couldn't figure it out froggie princess?" Riku asked. "Oh man. To think, you fell for all that smoke and mirrors crap."

"What?" Naminé asked, completely uncomprehending what Riku was saying. "But—but I ran. I ran away, I left you all behind. I said all those things to Roxas about giving it my all and being with you all to the end, and then I let you all die."

"Naminé…"

She whirled around, seeing Sora and Roxas now striding to stand next to Riku and Kairi. It was Sora who was speaking. "Do you really think we would all just go and die on you like that? No little Heartless bugs are going to take us out."

"But _you__'__re_ dying on us right now," Roxas pointed out just before the platform shuddered and another piece fell away into the darkness.

Naminé dipped her head. "I'm sorry," she repeated quietly. "I'm sorry that I'm so weak."

Kairi, or Kairi's spirit as Naminé now recognized what they were, shook her head. "Naminé you're not weak. You're strong. You practically turned the Chimera into a pops—"

"You're wrong Kairi! I'm NOT strong! I know that I say I am and I act like I am all the time but I'm not! I'm not! My magic is strong, yes, but _I__'__m_ not! You're the ones who are strong, all of you! You're…you're all amazing. You can do anything, but by myself I can't do anything. I'm _nothing_ without any of you; I can't do a thing by myself."

"You think we're any different?" Sora asked quietly.

Naminé's answer was emphatic. "Yes! You're all filled with such self-confidence in everything you do. You could move the heavens and earth if you put your mind to it Sora."

The brunet shook his head. "Naminé, this may surprise you, but I don't believe in just myself anymore."

Her eyes widened. Shocked wasn't a proper enough expression, total bewilderment was much closer. "What? But…but…"

"But nothing," Sora answered. "Naminé, I can't do the stuff that I do because I'm some self-confident hero of righteousness. I can't fight the forces of darkness endlessly with a smile on my face and hoping for the best because I believe in myself. If I just believed in myself, then I would have stayed broken after I'd lost my arm, or I never would have ascended."

"And then where would he be?" Kairi asked smugly, "Without me and a little sister slash apprentice, that's where."

"Don't you believe in us Naminé?" Roxas asked.

She nodded her head. "I do Roxas, I do believe in you, and in Sora."

"That's how I can be as strong as I am," Sora answered simply. "I'm not strong because I have faith in myself, I'm strong because I have faith in my friends. I have faith in Donald and Goofy, and in Riku, and Kairi, and the King, and Roxas and Yuffie, Leon, Tifa, Aerith, Cid, Aladdin, Genie, Mulan, Mushu, Belle, the Beast; I have faith in all of them, and even you Naminé. Believing in them, and knowing that all of them believe in me, that's what makes me strong; that's what I mean when I say that my friends are my power. I have faith in myself, but I have more faith in my friends who have faith in me."

"So if you can't believe in yourself anymore Naminé," Riku told her, "then don't. Just believe in us; believe in us who believe in you."

"Would we let you down?" Kairi asked.

For the first time since Naminé had opened her eyes, she smiled slightly. "No, no you wouldn't."

"So then what are you standing in here dying for?" Roxas asked with a chuckle. "We can't exactly believe in you if you're dead now can we?"

"And we're not the only ones who'd be losing someone we believe in," Kairi added. "All the people of Radiant Garden would be losing their future queen."

Naminé looked at Kairi in shock. "Q—Queen?"

Kairi's spirit smiled and leaned back into Spirit Sora's shoulder. "Yeah, about that. Your sister doesn't want to become Queen. She wants to be a doctor, marry an innkeeper, and have about five or seven boisterous children running around driving her crazy and insanely happy."

Sora placed a hand on her shoulder, attracting her attention to him once more. "Naminé, you're awesome. We can all see that you are. _Be_ awesome, for us if not for yourself." The blonde nodded her head, finally getting it. Sora was right. She'd practically trapped the Chimera in ice! Why should she be acting like a weaksauce child now?

Kairi giggled and gave Naminé a playful look. "By the way, shh! Don't tell Kairi that I said what I said. She wants to surprise you with her plan."

"Don't worry," Naminé returned, "my lips are sealed."

"Sealed or not, it won't matter if you're dead, little frog," Riku told her.

"Why are you calling me that?" Naminé asked.

"Because you're still a frog in a stinky swamp!" Riku answered. "Nothing that happened back there to you is real!"

A shallow gasp left Naminé's mouth. "It wasn't—it wasn't real?"

"Of course not," said Sora encouragingly. "It was all smoke and mirrors illusion crap. It was all the power that you have the potential to wield, used against you. So go on back there and show that Keyblade who's boss by keeping on living."

Roxas nodded and added softly. "I'll be waiting for you."

Naminé nodded slowly, her gratitude beyond measure. "Thank you, all of you."

"Good," said Sora.

"Now go Nami," Kairi said,

"And make sure," added Riku,

"That you…" Roxas started,

"LIVE!" they all shouted. With their chorus, the entire platform came back together, bright as day and good as new. The fractured picture became whole, and Naminé could see it clearly, and the image made her smile. She stood in front of the castle in the sunlight, wearing a dress of blue and silver and a silver crown upon her head. In one hand was a long, navy-blue staff topped with a silver ring with crescent spokes, and in her other was a sceptre of gold and red.

_Queen,_ she thought. _That__'__s __right. __If __I __am __to __be __Queen, __then __I __must __be __strong. __It__'__s __not __enough __for __me __to __be __strong __though, __I __need __to __believe __in __my __friends __who __believe __in __me. __I __won__'__t __fail __now. __After __all__…_ she raised her head as all before her became white light, _I__'__m __not __just __a __pretend __knight, __I__'__m __a __real __one, __and __I__'__m __a __Wielder __of __the __Keyblade!_

-A-D-

The woman turned back towards the body of young Naminé, sensing something happening within her fallen Wielder. Despite having pierced her heart with the Keyblade, she still lived, and that will to live suddenly surged beyond everything that stabbing herself had done.

Eyes with silver irises grew wider as an explosive amount of energy suddenly surged within Naminé, the girl appearing to be surrounded by a raging opal aura as it escaped the mere bounds of her flesh. A determined and confident look was on her face, one that the woman knew she'd never quite seen placed on the girl. This one was different from every other one; this one was completely genuine.

_What __is __this?_ The woman mused. _Has __she __actually __returned __to __finish __this? __Has __she __seen __through __it __all?_

_Has she become who I was hoping she would?_

Naminé opened her mouth, shouting at a retreating figure just as she ripped Nobody's Pride out of her chest. Blood splashed out and stained her clothes and the stone beneath her, but the wound healed closed almost as soon as her Keyblade had been removed from it. "Maleficent!"

The witch stopped, and glanced back. "Hm?" Her eyes widened and she spun around, placing her staff in front of her. The green orb on top of it pulsed black for a moment, and a shell of pure darkness surrounded her as an arrow of opal moonlight as large as Naminé's torso shot towards her. The arrow struck the shell of darkness, and they both burst asunder in flashes of opal and black light, specks of the light dropping to the ground and flying into the air. "What?"

Naminé put her hands together at her side, her lips pursed into a thin line. A blue magic seal appeared in the air in front of her. "Ice Make… Gryphon!" Thrusting her hands forward, the ice gryphon soared out in a swirl of ice and snow, shrieking at Maleficent.

"What is this insolence, girl?" Maleficent asked as the gryphon streaked towards her. "Where did you get the strength to challenge me?" The ice gryphon reared up and slashed down at Maleficent with its front talons, shrieking in anger. The sorceress dodged to the side and fired a bolt of darkness into the gryphon's neck. It gave a cry of pain, and Maleficent smiled. Then it whipped its neck around, murder in its ice eyes, and snapped its beak out.

Maleficent's staff plunged into its mouth, and a ball of dark flame pulsed out from the green orb. The head, neck, and shoulders of Naminé's creation shattered at the burst, and the ice creature fell to the ground, lifeless. Maleficent smirked at it and made a noise of satisfaction. The noise changed into one of pain as another arrow of moonlight came in, smiting her in the face.

Naminé yelled as she flew on angel wings while wearing bright mail towards Maleficent, her Keyblade bathed in opal light and her shield bright in her left arm. Maleficent looked at her in astonishment for a moment before she fired a beam of purple and black light out from the orb on the top of her staff. It shot straight for Naminé, never weaving on its path and moving too quickly for the princess to dodge.

The girl's shield glowed brighter as she brought it in front of her, and the beam of darkness was deflected wide into the sky even as the force of the impact pushed Naminé to the side. "You cannot defeat me!" Maleficent roared. "It is impossible! Not even your pitiful friends could best me!"

"I _can_ defeat you!" Naminé retorted as she came in, slicing her Keyblade down for Maleficent and missing as the witch dodged. She advanced with another slash, missing once more as Maleficent kept the distance between them. "It may seem impossible, logically, sure, but I know that we know better!"

Maleficent frowned and swung her staff towards Naminé in a broad arc, slicing in front of her with a crescent of dark energy. Naminé just got out of the way, beating her wings with a powerful flap and rising above it. A quick glance behind her showed that the crescent sliced right through Maleficent's victory monument, toppling it as its weight shifted. Looking forward again, Naminé bore her shield front. The design on it glowed brightly. "Moon's Cannon." Opal light cut out from her shield in Maleficent's direction, but the dark sorceress had already conjured another shell of darkness around herself. The opal light did nothing as it impacted the shield, but the darkness that made it up flickered and vanished, revealing that Naminé wasn't where she had been before.

"Ice Make… Cerberus!"

Maleficent whirled around at Naminé's shout, only to find herself caught in one of three massive jaws of an ice version of Hades' guardian of the Underworld. Maleficent felt her staff leaving her grasp as another head grasped it, and the dog bit down hard. The staff broke, and released its latent energy in a blast that completely shattered the head that had held it. The other two heads growled loudly in anger at losing the third. "It's how Sora's rolled since the beginning," Naminé said, hovering on her wings as her now two-headed ice Cerberus gnashed its teeth while keeping Maleficent confined in its mouth. "He kicks logic and thought to the curb, and does what everyone else thinks is impossible. So I will do that too. I'm not like the other Naminé you saw here, Maleficent. She was the pretender I'll never be again; I will never surrender or run away again, and I'll never lose to someone who doesn't even exist!" With a scream she flew forward, plunging her Keyblade at Maleficent.

_Doom_

Everything around her stopped and dissolved as a wind blew from behind. Naminé was in blackness again, still holding onto Nobody's Pride and her shield with the white wings of her Angelic Form extruding from her mail-covered back. She recovered from her aerial lunging position and stood straight, now standing on a pool of opal light. Turning her head, she saw another pool of opal light form on the ground only metres away. Standing on it was the woman that she thought for sure she had seen earlier. Long white-silver hair cascaded down her head. A mantle of moonlight shone around her, and a graceful robe of silver over a grey tunic hung on her shoulders. Shapely legs were veiled by a gossamer silk gown. Her bare feet were clad in white-strapped gladiator sandals, and on her hands were two silver rings with opals inside of them. On her forehead was a golden tattoo of a crescent moon, just above thin eyebrows. Her eyes looked like the moon itself on a clear night. In the woman's hands was the staff Naminé had seen earlier. The shaft was navy, and the top was a silver hoop with several crescent spokes emerging from it.

Naminé lowered her Keyblade and shield after the woman appeared, knowing somehow that this person would do no harm to her. Her thoughts were justified when the woman nodded and a smile slipped onto her face. "Congratulations Naminé," she said, her voice an ancient, serene, echo, "you are the first Wielder of the Moon to pass the trial."

Naminé bowed her head. "Thank you, but I couldn't have done it without my friends."

The woman's smile stayed as she nodded again. "Trust in them, as they trust in you, and you will find that things aren't always what they seem." She raised her head. "I suppose that you've figured that out now, haven't you, Memory Witch?"

Naminé rose from her bow. "I have, Lady of Dreams."

A look of surprise crossed the woman's face for a moment before the smile returned, doubled. "So you know what I am and have discovered my true name as well? You truly are remarkable, Naminé."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Nine," Naminé said.

"You should," answered her Keyblade's spirit. "Good job. Most people wouldn't have pronounced my name right on the first go." She glanced up. "I believe you have a few people waiting out there for you to wake up, Master."

-A-D-

A flash of golden light greeted Naminé's eyes as she opened them, and the sensation of something dark grasping at her leg vanished almost as instantly as she became aware of it. With a yelp Naminé jerked awake, falling out of the shoebox bed she found herself in and looking around wildly. She couldn't place her surroundings at all, but she looked to be in some kind of wooden structure.

A voice came from behind her, laughing. "Got you now little shadows. Hee-hee! Didn't anybody tell you not to be messin' with your mama?"

"Wha—?" asked the frog princess, turning her head to look at the voice's source. An elderly black woman with dark sunglasses, wrinkled skin, white clothes and golden jewellery topped with a white head wrap was standing behind her, looking down at Naminé.

"Well, well," she said, "look who's decided not to give in to despair."

"Are you Mama Odie?" Naminé wondered.

The black woman laughed. "That's me alright. Now, do you understand what you need, child?"

"I need faith and trust in my friends who believe in me," she answered, "and faith in myself. If they all believe in me, then I guess I am worth something special." She gasped. "And Roxas. Where is he? I want to apologize again for being so difficult to deal with these past few days."

"He and the others went on ahead to New Orleans," said Mama Odie. "You got a long ways to go, and only a short time to do it in, if you want to catch 'em. Juju!" A snake popped up right next to Mama Odie and dropped something silver on the table where Naminé was sitting before dropping down again. "This was floating down the river earlier. Use it to catch up."

"Hey, I recognize this," Naminé said, going up to the charm that was nearly as big as her, "but how did you—? Never mind." Naminé picked up the charm with all her might and threw it into the air beside the table, and calling, "Come to me, Nebulus!" The winged astral horse burst out of the charm with a neigh and a whinny, cantering to the door before rearing up and spinning around. He checked it to a trot and a walk before stopping right in front of Mama Odie and the frog.

Nebulus snorted as he bent his neck down and looked at Naminé through glassy eyes. _You__are__one__troublesome__little__princess,_ his eyes seemed to say.

"I don't need your attitude," said Naminé, "even if you are right."

Her Celestial Steed nickered and waggled his head, as if saying, _You__love__me__anyway._ Naminé hopped onto his head and clung to the steed's neck between his shoulders. Nebulus reared and screeched, spreading his wings, and Naminé shouted, "Let's ride!" Nebulus folded his wings back in and charged the open doorway, leaping through and taking off into the sky.

Mama Odie watched her go with a faint smile on her face. The princess hadn't even noticed that when her Keyblade and magics were blocked from her before, she'd been able to summon forth the effort and magic needed to call upon the creature within the charm. "Your hearts are strong, but you're young. You've a long ways to go yet, child. Dig a little deeper that way, and you'll know why."

-A-D-

"Where are you taking me?" giggled Tiana as Naveen led her up to the roof of the very top of the riverboat's bridge.

"Oh, I just wanted to show you a little something to celebrate our last night together as frogs," answered Prince Naveen, helping her up. He smiled charmingly at her and Tiana glanced over at what he wanted to show her. She gasped. A bottle of champagne with a pink rose tucked inside of the basket stood near to a lit candle, between them overturned cups and a goblet that made the perfect setting for a romantic table for two for a pair of frogs.

Tiana's face melted and she could barely speak. "Oh! All my years no one's ever done anything like this for me." She looked back to Naveen in gratitude and laughed. A black butterfly was sitting on the front of his neck to make a very large imitation bowtie.

"It is too much, is it not?" Naveen asked her in embarrassment. He cleared his throat. "Thank you, Beaux." The butterfly flew off, mentioning that at least _he_ thought it was a nice touch. "Pretend you did not see that," Naveen told his date, escorting her to the table and acting the perfect gentleman as he helped her sit down before carrying the covered tray that had sat on his seat to the centre of the table like a professional waiter. He flipped off the lid to reveal a pile of vegetables, all neatly cut up.

"You minced!" Tiana gushed.

"I did!" Naveen said proudly. Tiana giggled at his tone and Naveen sat down. "You have had quite an influence on me, which is amazing because I have dated thousands of women and…" he stopped, noting the very put out and annoyed look Tiana was sending him. "No, like two, three, just other women. And anyway, listen." He continued to dig his hole as he began quickly searching for the way to get him out of it, the ring he'd made and placed within a walnut shell. "You could not be more different, you know? You are practically one of the guys. No, no, no. You are not a guy." He grabbed the walnut, and prayed to end this disaster right now as he stood and leaned on the table. "Let me begin again. Wah!"

The table gave way and he fell down, covered in the minced veggies. "I'm not myself tonight," he mumbled. "Tiana!" he quickly said again, grasping her legs before realizing his mistake. "Sorry, that was loud." Naveen sighed and sat down on the table, defeat deflating his chest. "This is a disaster."

Tiana was giggling. "No," she told him, picking the piece of parsley stuck on his head off, "it's cute."

Naveen chuckled slightly, shaking his head a little as he brought himself back to what he intended to do, feeling the roughness of the walnut's shell in his froggy fingers. "Tiana, I…"

"There it is!" Tiana declared, leaving his side and going to the edge. They were along the New Orleans waterfront, and Tiana was gazing out at an old building.

"Your restaurant?" asked Naveen, coming to sit next to her.

"Can't you just picture it?" Tiana nearly squealed in excitement. "All lit up like the Fourth of July."

"Yes," Naveen agreed, seeing it in his eyes. "Jazz pouring out of every window!"

"It should be elegant."

"But you've gotta keep it loose, though. Got to let it swing."

"You know a good ukulele player?" asked Tiana, as Naveen scooted closer to her, one arm casually behind her back. He looked at her in genuine surprise.

"Really? You'd let me perform?"

"I'll talk to the owner," she teased. "Owner says yes."

"Ashidanza!"

"Folks are going to be coming together from all walks of life, just to get a taste of our food," Tiana sighed, leaning back into Naveen's side.

"Our food?" Naveen asked, fingering the walnut beside him and opening it.

Tiana looked up at him in slight embarrassment. "Huh? Oh, no. My daddy. We always wanted to open this restaurant. He died before he could see it happen." She took his hand in hers, and Naveen felt the mucus begin to excrete faster. "But tomorrow, with your help, our dream is finally coming true."

"Tomorrow?" he asked.

"If I don't deliver that money first thing tomorrow, I lose this place forever."

Naveen sighed gloomily at the downtrodden look on Tiana's face as she wistfully cast her eyes to the abandoned sugar mill. It was now or never. "Tiana, I love—" She looked at him, a small smile coming in anticipation as she looked at him. Her eyes were so bright.

He couldn't extinguish them.

"—the way you light up when you talk about your dream. A dream that…It is so beautiful, I… I promise I will do whatever it takes to make it come true."

Horns began to blow, and the captain shouted that they'd arrived. Naveen stood up, gathering the walnut, and said, "I'll uh—I'll go round up the boys," before leaving.

Tiana watched him leave before burying her face in her hands. Her heart was so messed up right now; she looked to the stars. "Evangeline, I've always been sure about what I wanted, but now I…What do I do? Please tell me."

Evangeline didn't answer, and Tiana had no way of knowing that at that moment shadows had grabbed Naveen and yanked him away.

-A-D-

_Dammit_, thought Lea, waiting as evening set in on the La Bouff estate. He'd been in hiding all day near the guest house, which stood next to the main building, but there was still no sign of Harima showing up again. The Samurai Nobody had briefly told him where the Shadow Man and Lawrence had gone, so Lea assumed that Agatha was in the building, but he hadn't seen a sliver of silver since. He was petting Bast as the kitten sat on his arm. _If __that __punk __Samurai __doesn__'__t __show __up __soon, __I__'__m __gonna __have __to __bust __in __there __myself __and __fry __him __when __I __see __him __again._

Charlotte, dressed in a pink princess ball gown and wearing her tiara, was outside the front door. "Prince Naveen, darling. You better hurry up. Don't want to be late for our Mardi Gras wedding."

"Um…" 'Prince Naveen's' voice sifted through the door. "Getting dressed! Just a few more minutes, my dearest heart."

"Okay, honey lamb," Lotte replied. "We'll be waiting in the Packard. Daddy, start the car!"

Inside, Lawrence wailed, "Oh my heavens! I'm doomed!"

"No, Larry," Facilier retorted, chucking a card at Lawrence's head while his shadow quivered. "_I__'__m_ the one who's doomed. Unless we get that princess back and that frog's blood in the hayacall, our heads are all on the chopping block."

Agatha, still tied up and lying in the corner in a very uncomfortable position, was smirking. "Looks like you're running out of time, Shadow Man," she said, trying to concentrate on something other than the aches in her body from being bound by the wrists and ankles for so long. She wasn't even sure just how much feeling she still had in her hands and feet. If it had been any, she might have tried to Ice Make her way out. "Your shadows haven't been able to get Naminé or Naveen, and now you're going to—" She was interrupted by a deep rumbling of the house situated around the fireplace. The fire inside died and shadows streamed out of it and onto the walls, wailing their eerie howls of greeting. In the hand of one of them, holding him by his shadow, was Naveen. The shadow flicked the frog away, and Facilier caught him in his hat with a flourish.

The Shadow Man snatched up Naveen with a grin most unpleasant. "We are back in business, boys!" he declared, holding the squirming frog prince before the shadows. "Now go, bring back that princess, and all those wonderful souls will be yours." The shadows laughed in their howls and fled back up the chimney. Facilier chuckled and glanced at Agatha. "You were saying, servant girl?"

Agatha clammed up. If they'd gotten Naveen, while Roxas and Naminé were with him, then what were the chances of them catching Naminé now?

"Get your filthy hands off me!" Naveen shouted, struggling against the hold Facilier had on his body. The Prince of Maldonia looked up and gasped. "Lawrence!"

Lawrence chuckled evilly as he brought the hayacall closer to his prince. "Oh, now hold still, Your Eminence." He cut Naveen's finger with the hayacall, and it filled up with Naveen's red blood again. Lawrence placed the charm around his neck, and suddenly he was the taller, slimmer, and better looking Prince again. Naveen was quickly placed into a cage and locked within while Lawrence got dressed in a hurry. Facilier and Lawrence left minutes later, taking the frog with them so he couldn't escape again.

Just before exiting and locking the door behind them, Facilier turned to Agatha one last time. "Enjoy your stay here, handmaiden to the princess, since I believe no one will be back to check you out." He laughed, closing the door and locking it.

Lea heard those words from his hiding place, and waited for a few minutes after the car had left the household. Facilier had run off somewhere else, and there was nobody around. He could hear Agatha begin to call for help from inside, and figured that that was his cue.

Lea's two chakrams appeared in his hands in a blitz of fire while he went for the front door. The ex-Nobody wasted no time in trying the door, and instead hurled his weapons at the lock. Steel barbs struck against the metal and thudded into the wood. Lea snapped his fingers, and the two spoked wheels burst into flame.

"Lea!" Agatha screamed from inside. "Lea! I'm in here!"

He figured the lock had to have weakened enough from the heat of his flames and Lea yanked his weapons out from the door. "Figured that!" he shouted back, now slashing at the deadbolt he'd made bright red. "Now just hang tight while I rescue you!"

"Nothing else I can really do!" Agatha shouted back just as his chakram cut through the deadbolt. Lea kicked the door open and entered.

He bowed. "Your friendly neighbourhood Dancer of Frenzied Flame at your service, milady," he began before emerging from his bow, an egotistical smirk on his face, "got it memorized?"

Agatha rolled her eyes. "Over here, quick. They've tied up my hands and feet, so I can't get out."

"How'd you guys get caught anyway?" Lea asked, quickly going over to the servant and vaporizing her bonds with fire. She instantly began to massage her chafed wrists and roll her ankles. It took a few minutes to relate the story, but when she was done Lea was nodding his head.

"Played right into her insecurities, huh?" he asked. "So, she really wants to become Queen?"

"Yes," Agatha answered, "and a powerful wizard to boot. Now come on. We've got to find her or she'll never be able to become either."

Lea quirked an eyebrow. "You want her to be a fantastical spell-weaver?"

"I want to see her succeed in whatever she chooses to pursue," Agatha corrected him, "be it the throne, magic, or even spinning thread. Now let's get. A. Move. On!"

-A-D-

The riverboat docked even as the Mardi Gras parade was winding its way down the streets of New Orleans. Exotic floats of Arabian sorcerers, undersea kings, giant cakes, lobsters, islands with palm trees and girls wearing grass skirts and coconut bras, and just about anything imaginable wheeled before the excitement of the crowd, accompanied by their entertainers of fire-eaters, baton twirlers, dancers, and marching bands. People in costumes and masks were all over the streets, catching and wearing the coloured glass beads being thrown out by the krewes atop their floats and other entertainers, or even just each other.

It did not take very long for the companions to hop, fly, or play their way off of the riverboat, Louis leading the way in the limelight with his tooting trumpet joining the melodious music of the festival. The crowds of locals and tourists were chanting, "Mardi Gras! Mardi Gras! Mardi Gras!" It was a swinging shindig, and the atmosphere couldn't be more different from the look on Tiana's face when she met up with Roxas and Ray; Louis had continued onward with the band he'd joined, making their way to their waiting float.

"Have you guys seen Naveen?" she asked anxiously, glancing back behind her.

Roxas laughed. "You want to get rid of him already?" The boy shook his head. "Some fiancé. If this is how women react, I don't know if I ever want to propose."

"So where the ring at?" Ray asked her eagerly, rubbing his hands together.

Tiana looked at them in confusion. "What are you two talking about?"

Roxas frowned slightly. "You mean he didn't do it?"

Ray turned his nose up and his back on Tiana. He folded his arms, presenting his position as immovable. "Well if Cap didn't say nothing, I ain't going to say nothing because old Ray's sealed up tight as a drum. You ain't getting nothing out of me, no!"

"Ray…" Tiana started leadingly.

He whirled around, too excited to contain it. "Okay, Cap not going to marry Charlotte, he going to marry you! Soon as he get himself kissed and y'all turn human he going to find a job, get you that restaurant…" he stopped, realizing what he'd just said.

"Tight as a drum, indeed," Roxas told him, shaking his head with a smile, caused particularly by the overjoyed look on Tiana's face.

"I said too much, didn't I?" Ray worried. Tiana grasped him in both froggy hands and hugged him tightly.

"You said just enough, Ray! Thank you, Evangeline." Without another word, but with a giggle, she hopped away eagerly to look for her future fiancé. "He was trying to propose!" she gushed beneath the legs of the tourists. "That's what all that fumbling was about! And here I thought all he wanted was to marry a rich girl!"

"So what are we looking for?" Roxas asked. "Where are we going to find him?"

Tiana looked back at him, her smile bright as a warm summer day, "You just keep your eyes out for the biggest, gaudiest float with a Mardi Gras princess about to kiss herself a…" Her excitement died in a gasp. "A…frog."

"What is it?" Ray asked, flying up to the signpost Tiana had hopped onto. Roxas hopped up next to the female frog, and both he and the firefly gasped. There, atop a giant wedding cake before a crown, stood Lotte in a beautiful pink princess gown, clutching the arm of a regally dressed (and _very_ human) Prince Naveen. Before them both was a priest, speaking the time-told words of a wedding ceremony.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight in this fine celebration to join together this prince, and this young woman in holy matrimony."

Roxas face was falling second by second, glancing between Naveen and his own hands. "This is wrong."

"This can't be right, darling," Ray mumbled, disbelieving his eyes as his own heart bled for his friend. "And how you can still be a frog? Mama Odie, she…"

"Tiana?" Roxas asked, looking around as Ray stopped. She was nowhere near them anymore. The Keyblade Wielder looked to the firefly. "Ray, can you find her? I want to check this out. Nothing smells right here."

Ray nodded dutifully. "Count on me, Sarge," he declared. The firefly flew off, and Roxas stayed on the signpost to keep his vantage point. He narrowed his eyes at the scene atop the wedding cake, wiping away the sympathy tears that had slowly been welling up in them.

_This just isn't right. If Naveen had turned back, then the rest of us should have as well. That means that whoever's up there is not Naveen. Let's see now. When Naminé was turned into a frog, Lexai was turned into Naminé, and all of that happened through the Shadow Man. He's got to be behind this marriage too for some reason, and is probably watching it from the shadows… but where?_

Eyes scanning the buildings surrounding the parade of floats, he spotted movement against the potted ferns growing on the balcony of the church. _Bingo!_

"Naminé! Roxas!"

The frog was right about to leap off the signpost when he heard his name called, and he nearly lost his precarious balance in the process. A small smile of gratitude at his luck came to his face when he saw the mass of spiked red hair approaching. "Axel! Agatha!"

"Oh, so it is you Roxas," Lea said, extending his arms to catch Roxas. The frog jumped down and looked around anxiously.

"Where's Lexai?" he asked. Agatha looked down and Lea flinched.

"Bitch ran away," answered the redhead. "She's not on-world anymore."

"Where's Princess Naminé?" asked the girl's handmaiden. Roxas shied away from her gaze.

"She's resting right now," he evaded, "she underwent her ascension trial a little while ago and is recovering. She's safe anyway, but look!" Roxas pointed to the second-floor balcony of the church, and now they could all see Facilier looming on it.

"It's him!" Agatha growled. "We've got to stop him!" She took off, Lea following her with Roxas climbing onto Lea's shoulder.

"What's he after anyway?" Roxas asked, glancing at the wedding cake float in the middle of the street.

"He's put Naveen's manservant, Lawrence, into his scheme to take over New Orleans," Agatha answered. "That guy up there on the cake is Lawrence, and as soon as he marries Charlotte, Facilier's going to kill Big Daddy La Bouff. That'll put the entire La Bouff fortune into Facilier's hands with Lawrence as his puppet, and with that much money and power at his hands he'll be running the show here and has promised all the souls of the townsfolk to his friends on the other side. Then he's going to move on to other worlds with Maleficent's help. Naminé was his bargaining chip with Lexai, and if he gets his hands on her again…" she left her sentence hanging as they reached the front doors of the church. The nineteen-year-old shook her head. "I can't believe we're about to do this," she muttered, "so, how _are_ we going to do it?"

"We bust in, guns blazing, and take him down in a blaze of glory!" Lea declared, kicking open the door. Agatha gazed at him in shock for a moment, but quickly followed in and closed the door before too many people looked in their direction. Lea's chakrams appeared in his hands, and he held them loosely. The sanctuary was empty; not a soul stirred in the pews or at the altar.

"Up there!" Roxas urged, pointing off to their left at where the stairs were set in an alcove. Lea and Agatha nodded, and the pair set off quickly with Roxas riding on Lea's shoulder.

-A-D-

Ray found Tiana in the cemetery, hugging herself as she huddled beneath a large gravestone. The sight of her so shattered made his voice catch in his throat as he tried to talk her out of it. "I know what we seen with our eyes, but…if we just go back that way, we going to find out your fairy tale come true."

Tiana's retort was a bitter sob. "Just because you wish for something doesn't make it true."

Ray softened a little in his approach. "It's just like my Evangeline always said to me—"

He got no further as Tiana harshly interrupted him, her tongue cruelly honest in her mind as she lashed out. "Evangeline is nothing but a star, Ray! A big ball of hot air a million miles from here! Open your eyes now, before you get hurt." Stifling an angry sob, she hopped away from him.

Tears welled up in Ray's eyes as he watched her go. He turned his gaze skyward, looking up at the brilliant radiance of Evangeline. Could she really only be just that, a star in the sky? No. She was his Evangeline.

"She's just speaking out a broken heart. That's all that is." Ray's eyes hardened. He'd show Tiana. "Come on, Evangeline. We going to show _chère_the truth!"

-A-D-

"I can't help but feel humiliated," Lea muttered while Agatha glowered darkly at the Shadow Man and Roxas strained for all he was worth, all three bound and restrained in the air by shadows on the wall and held so tightly that they could barely move.

Facilier chuckled. "Now did you really expect me to be caught unprepared?" he asked. "When my friends only showed up with one royal frog, I knew that somehow the other had escaped. It would seem only fitting that she would send her knight and his cohort to rescue her handmaiden before attempting to stop me."

Roxas continued in his attempts to get free, even though the shadows holding his limbs would barely let him move. "Don't act so smug," he shot off, thoroughly disliking the feeling of being in distress, "you're _not_ going to get away with this."

"I already have," chuckled the Shadow Man. "But look on the bright side of things. You've all got front row seats to witness my teardown of the status quo and rise to power in this city. Once that's done and I've gotten hold of your princess again, you'll all make fine presents to Maleficent."

Agatha fought to put her hands together, straining with every muscle in every part of her body. "Ice Make…"

The Shadow Man's purple-orb-topped cane whacked her in the side of the head before they even got halfway there, completely breaking her concentration and sending her head lolling to the side. Lea and Roxas both called out to her in alarm, and Agatha coughed in pain. "Tut-tut-tut, we can't have any of that, now can we?" Facilier asked rhetorically, turning his attention back to the float.

From atop the cake, the reverend continued unaware. "If any of you objects to the union of these two people, speak now or forever hold your peace."

A tiny voice from inside a locked box just behind Lawrence shouted unheard, "Me! Me! I object!" Naveen shot his tongue out of the box at the wooden floor in front of his prison, using the stickiness to slowly pull himself towards his imposter. At this very moment, however, Ray flew right up to Naveen's ear.

"Do you, Prince Naveen, take Charlotte to be your wife, forsaking all others…"

"Cap," Ray whispered, "what you doing, son?"

Lawrence gasped in frightened annoyance and waved his hand by his ear to swat the firefly away, jerking his head in the process. He spotted Naveen's tongue and stomped on it.

"…and to keep yourself only unto her, as long as you both shall live?"

"What?" he asked offhandedly before realising the question. "Oh I do! Yes, I'm for it."

The reverend now turned to Charlotte La Bouff and began to ask her the same question, but Ray couldn't keep his eyes from seeing the sticky, pink tongue retreat back into the box beside the fake Prince Naveen. He flew down to the keyhole, eyeing it incredulously. "Is that you, Cap?"

"Ray! Get me out of this box!"

"I can't hear you! I'm going to get you out of this box!" Ray shouted back, readying himself to do his stuff.

"…and to keep yourself only unto him, as long as you both shall live?"

Charlotte nearly swooned as she held onto the hands of 'Prince Naveen' with her father proudly looking over her shoulder. "Oh, I do."

"And so, by the power vested in me by the state of Louisiana…"

The lock clicked; the box was open.

"…I now pronounce you man and _frog_!" shouted the reverend in total shock, scarcely believing his eyes as a frog jumped onto Prince Naveen's shoulders and yanked at a good luck charm the man was wearing around his neck. Somehow the frog was strong enough to bring Naveen to tumble off of the wooden wedding cake, eliciting gasps from everypony watching the proceedings.

"No!" Facilier growled, forcibly restraining the howl he likely would have wished to utter.

"Take that!" Lea crowed. "Your plans are ruined now."

"Shut up you!" snapped the Shadow Man, striking Lea in the cheek just as he'd done Agatha.

"Oh goodness gracious!" Charlotte called from atop the cake, looking down at her prince worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Lawrence grasped up Naveen and the hayacall, hobbling towards the doors of the church in some pain. "I just need a moment to compose myself."

"Cheese and crackers!" Charlotte exclaimed, frustrated with how wishy-washy this man was being. All it took was a kiss! Just one lousy kiss and she'd be married to a prince and become a princess for real, making her lifelong dream come true.

Lawrence burst through the doors, Naveen gasping in his fist. "Lawrence, why are you doing this?"

"As payback," the fake prince growled, "for all those years of humiliation."

Facilier strode down the stairs and out of the shadows of the alcove, snapping, "Get your royal rump back on that wedding cake and finish this deal!"

_BRUMM!_ Croaked Naveen, expanding the sack in his throat to ridiculous size and frightening Lawrence enough for his hands to slip and free the frog. Ray slipped in underneath the door just as Naveen grabbed the hayacall and slipped it off of Lawrence's neck. Instantly the man began to change from the likeness of the prince into his normal grey-haired, portly self.

"What's he doing? Stop him!" ordered the Shadow Man, roaring at Lawrence and beginning to move towards the frog. Naveen hurled the hayacall away towards the door.

"I've got it!" Ray called as he grabbed it by the thread. It was much heavier than he expected. "It got me too." He dropped to the ground, but beat his little wings furiously to pull it through the crack under the door and escape.

"You stay out of sight!" snarled the Shadow Man at Lawrence, his eyes horrifying the manservant, before chasing after the firefly. He watched Ray fly low into the crowd and whistled. His shadow minions followed the firefly.

From above on the balcony, still held by others, Roxas, Lea, and Agatha watched with interest. "Come on Ray," Roxas said, trying his best to follow Ray's progress as the bug flew for the cemetery at top speed, the shadows close on his heels. Suddenly a roar bellowed from one of the floats, and Louis was down on all fours. People were screaming that he was real as they fled in terror. Louis took off after the shadows.

"Well that's great," bemoaned Lea. "The firefly and the alligator are off to save the day while we're stuck here."

"Nyaa."

Their heads turned. Striding up to them without an apparent care in the world was the little black kitten. She leapt up onto Lea's leg, and clawed her way up to his shoulder. "Hey Bast," he said. "You mind helping us out with these things?"

She stared at his head, not even at his eyes, and time passed slowly before anything happened. The kitten half-stood, and began to bat at the spikes on his head with a paw. Lea snorted in annoyance while Roxas couldn't help but laugh. The kitten turned her head at the noise, and her slanted golden eyes gleamed. She opened her mouth, revealing her tongue licking over her sharp teeth, and crouched.

Roxas felt his skin go cold. She's going to pounce and he's her target.

Right before she made that fateful leap that would take her into her prey, Bast (or Mrs. Huggles as Roxas remembered Naminé naming her) stopped and peered into the sky. The three of them were about to follow the kitten's gaze when comets of opal light with billowing trails behind them blinded the three. The trio fell to the ground as the shadows gave shrieks from behind them, the comets having smashed into them and completely disintegrating the darkness they were made of. The kitten cried out in distress and launched herself at the closest target. Agatha gasped in surprise as the black kitten disappeared beneath her cleavage under her blouse. Looking up, Roxas gaped. Flying towards them was a winged horse made of stardust, and standing between the horse's ears was a frog.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting!" Naminé called as Nebulus came down for a landing on the balcony. The Celestial Steed regarded them regally, proudly tossing his head as if saying, _Yes,__I__am__a__winged__warhorse__carrying__a__frog__into__battle,__want__to__make__something__of__it?_

Naminé leapt down from the head of her winged horse, arms flying wide, and Roxas caught her and swung her around. A joyous smile spread on their faces and they embraced warmly, sighing in each other's arms. Roxas held onto her tightly, his throat constricting. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered.

"I know; I'm sorry," Naminé told him gently. "I'm sorry for making you worry, and for doubting myself and in your faith in me. And I'm sorry for being so difficult these past few days. Just, the Shadow Man brought up memories I thought I'd buried then offered me the world before snatching it away." She shook her head. "I was just so lost and confused. I should apologize to Tiana too…" her voice slipped away and she looked around for the first time. "Agatha!" Relief spread through her face and voice at the sight of the princess' handmaiden, free and clear.

"I'm happy to see you too, Naminé," said the nineteen-year-old, extracting the kitten from her bosom, "but we don't really have time now."

"We don't?" asked Naminé.

"Long story short, Ray stole the thing that's turning Lawrence into Naveen, and we need to keep it from the Shadow Man so Lawrence can't marry Charlotte so that the Shadow Man can kill Big Daddy La Bouff and sell the souls of all the people of New Orleans to these voodoo spirits from the other side," Roxas explained quickly as he and Naminé were scooped up and placed on Nebulus' head while Lea and Agatha got on the horse, Lea first with Agatha behind him. Nebulus turned his head back towards them and snorted at their insolence.

"Who's Lawrence?" asked Naminé.

"Not a clue," Roxas answered truthfully.

Nebulus neighed and bucked. Lea and Agatha were thrown off the back of the horse, and back onto the balcony. The winged horse snorted at them again, and before either could try to get on him again he took off. "Hey!" Lea shouted. "Get back here!"

"I'm really sorry!" Naminé shouted back as she held on to an ear. "I guess he doesn't like others riding him."

"Don't worry!" Agatha called out. "Just go and stop Shadow Man!"

Neither frog got a chance to answer as Nebulus put on a burst of speed, carrying them past the last float and already nearly at the cemetery. Now was as good a time as any, Roxas figured. "Naminé, you used magic."

"Huh?" she asked.

"You summoned Nebulus and used magic," Roxas pointed out, waving an arm at the celestial steed. "How? I thought everything was blocked by the voodoo spell."

"Uh…sheer force of will and a heart that refuses to be conquered and deceived again!" answered Naminé.

"Don't make me light my butt!" Naminé and Roxas peered down. Ray was alone in the cemetery, surrounded by a dozen different shadows on the tombstones. His big butt glowed brightly, and Ray charged at the shadows with wild screams. "I'm gonna get you! I got a lot more of me! Come here, you!" With each strike against a shadow, it completely disintegrated as easily as the ones Mama Odie and Naminé had blasted. "Ha Ha!" laughed the firefly. "Who's next?"

He didn't see the one sneaking up behind his shadow, about to snatch him up. Naminé's hands began to swirl with opal light. "Moon Missile!" shouted the Wielder of the Moon, directing her hands towards the tombstone the sneaky shadow was on. Her comet of opal moonlight burst out from her hands over the head of Nebulus. The shadow looked up at her at the last moment, shrieking in fright, before the comet collided with it and destroyed the spectre.

Ray looked up at Naminé and Roxas as they jumped off of Nebulus to get to his level. "Sorry we're late," Roxas said, noting that the celestial steed disappeared with a neigh in a mist of stardust. He gritted his non-existent teeth as he concentrated, hard, on bringing his Keyblade to his frog hands. He could feel a block there, in his head and around his heart, keeping the Keyblade back. Willing the Keyblade onward, he rammed the wall repeatedly, and felt the block weakening.

The spell's barrier broke with a flash of light as a tiny Twilight Thorn appeared in his hand, only a couple of seconds after he'd finished his sentence to Ray. _Strange,_ Roxas mused, _it__felt__like__much__longer_.

Shadows howled as a new group approached. "Go!" Ray urged. "_Chère__'__s_ got the voodoo hayacall; you can't let Shadow Man get it back!"

"Where's Tiana gone?" Naminé asked. Ray only pointed before he screamed like a maniac and flew towards the new group of shadows coming at them. Roxas tugged at Naminé's arm, and she followed after him in the direction Ray had indicated.

It didn't take them long to catch up to Tiana, but the brief reunion and Naminé's apology were both cut short when more shadows swarmed around them. Keyblades and a shield appeared in the hands of the Keyblade-wielding frogs. Twilight Thorn rippled with red light, and Nobody's Pride lit up in moonlight. Tiana held back with the hayacall in her grasp as Roxas and Naminé stood protectively in front of her, making a triangle.

Sparks flew in the cemetery. With each slash against the stone the two made a shadow that had gotten too close was obliterated. Spells of light swept out from Naminé's Keyblade nearly as often as it _chink_ed against the grave or cobblestones. None of the shadows coming at them were at all as strong as a Heartless, but they certainly were creepier and more difficult to hit.

Tiana shrieked as a very human-looking one appeared on a stone behind her, reaching for the hayacall. She held it above her head, as far away from the shadow as possible and warned, "Back off, or I'll break this into a million pieces!"

"Shadow Man!" Naminé shouted, seeing the man suddenly run up in front of them in the middle of the shadow pack. His eyes stayed on her and her held weapons for an instant before they homed in on Tiana and the talisman. His hand darted into an inside jacket pocket before withdrawing it and blowing pink dust over them.

All of a sudden a strange rising sensation came over the three as their bodies were wrapped in the pink dust and expanded rapidly, changing. With a _poof_ they emerged, and nothing could stop them from looking over the changes.

They were human again! Not only were they human again, but each was dressed far different from when they'd been turned into frogs. Tiana was in a stunning white dress with golden straps and pearl slippers, a great shawl of white mink fur around her shoulders and sides, a golden bangle on her right wrist, golden necklace adorning her neck, and a feather in styled, well-looked-after hair.

Naminé's white-blonde head was topped with a silver tiara that glittered with a shower of diamonds and eight dazzling sapphires; in her ears were her silver stud earrings; upon her neck on a thread of silver hung her necklace with its sky-blue gemstone, and just beneath the gem was the top tip of a diamond-shaped sapphire brooch lined in silver that held together the bodice of her four-part dress and acted as the centre-point for where all parts met. Around her bust was a tight wrap of cobalt; below that, lightly hugging her curves to her hips, diamond-lined and patterned navy; beneath that was a loose-fitting periwinkle that trailed to the girl's knees and parted ever wider in the front as it went down her body; and the final part of her dress was sky-blue and melded tightly with her bosom underneath the wrap at the top but flowed freely as it passed her hips to end just above the tips of her toes. It would take very sharp eyes or the lifting of the dress to see the one-inch navy-blue heels Naminé had on her feet. More diamonds were studded throughout the cobalt wrap, navy bodice, and periwinkle sleeve. All the silver and gems in her ensemble made her glitter in the moonlight like a midnight maiden.

Roxas was dressed now in a black suit with grey pinstripes. His jacket was double-breasted and done up only at the top button, the lapel was notched and had a red carnation boutonnière inserted into its left side, and a single v-shaped vent cut out of the back; the black-as-night waistcoat beneath the jacket contrasted well with the maroon shirt Roxas wore underneath; the wine-red tie threaded in black and steel lines was tied in a Windsor knot. Thin black socks were on his feet, slipped into shining black dress shoes with a square toe. Upon his head, covering over three quarters of his golden spikes, sat a black pinstriped fedora to match the suit beneath.

The blond boy's eyes, however, belonged to Naminé as he breathlessly gazed at her. In the soft moonlight that bathed the whole area, her diamond-studded blue dress and silver tiara bedazzled him. He'd never seen her so lovely before.

All around them the cemetery lit up with golden-orange light. Suddenly they weren't in the cemetery anymore, but in a fancy restaurant. Posh red curtains covered the windows, and people in formal dress sat at circular tables with elegant vases of calla lilies as centrepieces. A giant crystal chandelier assisted the wall lights in providing light to the golden-brown place with jazz music playing in the background. Naminé and Roxas found themselves at a table, and while Roxas put away his Keyblade for the moment in confusion, Naminé gripped hers even tighter even while she dismissed her shield. Tiana was standing in the middle of the floor before the stairs that led to the second level of the restaurant, looking around in confusion and wonder.

A man with his back turned was playing a ukulele close to the piano, and Tiana started hopefully towards him. "Naveen?" The man appeared not to notice her at all, and continued playing his ukulele and dancing on the spot to the rhythm of his music. He turned around slowly, though, and his glasses and moustache quickly marked him as decidedly _not_ Naveen.

Roxas glanced around a moment longer before his eyes settled on Naminé again. She was scanning the area anxiously, but even the worried look on her face couldn't detract from her appearance now. "Naminé," he spoke to break the silence and attract her attention, which he quickly got in a heartbeat, "you look beautiful."

The girl blushed and a smile came to her face even as she shook her head. "This is what I was going to wear to the masquerade ball," she told him. "I'm glad you like it, but Roxas, this is—"

Her words were halted when Shadow Man suddenly spoke up to all three of them. "Now isn't this a whole lot better than hopping around the bayou for the rest of your life?" he asked them, lounging on a chair and holding a filled flute of champagne in his hand. He sipped from it. "Or running around the galaxy, never knowing when darkness is going to undo you or cash in your life's chips?"

"Shadow Man," Tiana whispered. Roxas and Naminé looked at each other, each of them dressed elegantly. There was a little bit of truth in what he had said pulling at each of them. The romantic atmosphere of the whole scene, and only them in it instead of a universe to save hovering over their shoulders, it was certainly something that on some plane both of them wanted desperately. Naminé screwed her eyes shut and placed her Keyblade firmly on the table, nearly upsetting the vase of lilies. Roxas eyed the weapon, and he took a deep breath.

Duty's call was stronger than what he wanted.

Facilier chuckled as he rose from his seat. "Got to hand it to you, Tiana," he said in his charming, melodic voice as he shuffled his tarot cards in the air between his outstretched hands. "When you dream, you dream _big_." Out from his hand of cards came the tiny poster of a restaurant the young woman had kept as a child, the words _Tiana__'__s__Place_ written in blue on the upper right corner. "Just look at this place. Going to be the crown jewel of the Crescent City! And all you got to do to make this a reality is hand over that little old talisman of mine."

Naminé stood up purposefully from her table, grasping Nobody's Pride firmly. She was about to call out to Tiana when the older woman took a step back from Shadow Man, holding the hayacall closer to her body. "No. This is not right."

Roxas slowly rose while Naminé spoke. "That's right Tiana," she said strongly. "Don't listen to him. This is all an illusion. None of it is real and if he has his way, none of it will become real."

"Don't listen to her," Facilier said in calm, soothing tones as if he were talking to a distressed child. "She doesn't know anything about your struggles anyway, being the princess that she is. Nobody knows more about what you've sacrificed than you, darling." He flicked his hand, and suddenly her friends from the morning at _Duke__'__s_ were floating in the air in a pink swirl.

"_Girl, all you ever do is work."_

"_I told y'all she wouldn't come."_

"Think of all those naysayers who doubted you," Shadow Man continued, waving his hand again and issuing another haze of pink dust that swirled around Tiana's head.

"_You ain't never going to get enough for the down payment."_

"_A__little__woman__of__your__…_background_,__you__'__re__better__off__where__you__'__re__at.__"_

"And don't forget your poor daddy," Facilier threw in the kicker, opening a curtain to show a small house in a row of identical ones at night, a car loaded full of black workers pulling up to the door for one man to get off and labour up to the door, cracking his bones wearily. "Now that was one hard-working man. Double, sometime triple shifts. Never letting on how bone tired and beat down he really was."

"_Daddy!__"_ a much younger Tiana exclaimed, appearing in the vision. The man's face brightened right up from the downtrodden expression it had previously held.

"_Hey, babycakes!"_

Roxas and Naminé were by Tiana's side now too, looking past her shoulders at the scene Shadow Man's illusion was showing them. Both of them smiled slightly at the joyous looks on the young family's faces, and threw away Shadow Man's next words. "Shame all that hard work didn't amount to much more than a busted-up old gumbo pot and a dream that never got off the back porch. But you? You can give your poor daddy everything he ever wanted. Come on Tiana," Facilier leaned in to her ear and whispered. "_You__'__re__almost__there_."

Roxas and Naminé watched as Tiana's hand holding the talisman slowly lowered towards Facilier's. Naminé's hand grew whiter on her Keyblade, but she calmly whispered to Roxas, "Be ready to act on my signal."

Roxas shook his head, seeing the reflection in Tiana's eyes in the window. "We won't need to," he told her.

The young woman spoke, as if to herself, while her hand hovered inches away from Shadow Man's. "My daddy never did get what he wanted. But he had what he _needed_. He had love," she declared, turning on Shadow Man and hoisting the talisman high out of his reach. "He never lost sight of what was really important."

"Easy with that," Facilier pleaded, half-hearted attempts at grabs towards the talisman fleeting from his fingers. "Careful."

"And neither will I!" shouted the elegantly-dressed waitress, flinging the hayacall to the floor.

It stopped just before it struck, held in place above the floor by what appeared to be nothing, until they saw that Facilier's shadow had grabbed it in its hand. The shadow itself chuckled and Facilier laughed as the hayacall rose into the air and was deposited in the man's real hand. Shadow Man pointed at all three humans, twisting pink dust swirling out from his fingertip, and the entire illusion around them dissolved as the three of them became frogs in the cemetery again. Shadows pounced from nowhere, holding down Roxas and Naminé, and Shadow Man pressed his cane into Tiana's stomach to pin her down so he could gloat to her face.

"Y'all should have taken my deal," he said. "Now your friends are going to become a nice present for a nasty piece of work, and you'll be spending the rest of your life being a slimy, little frog."

Laughter came from a pair of lips, but it surprisingly wasn't Facilier's, it was Naminé's. The man looked at her in complete shock, unable to comprehend how she found anything about her predicament even remotely funny. "Oh it's not slime, Dr. Facilier," she explained, "it is mucus. And just like frogs, you know nothing of us Keyblade Wielders."

"Oh really?" he asked, his smile returning as he recognized that even with her tiny Keyblade still in her frog hands, she was still restrained and pinned by her own shadow, unable to move anything but her mouth. "And just what do I not know about them?"

"You can never keep one down for long," she answered. "We'll always escape every tight spot we're in. Like right now."

"Hmm?"

Naminé closed her eyes. "Make your dreams reality, Sehanine."

Nobody's Pride became a flare of white light, illuminating the whole area and burning away the shadow that had been keeping Naminé restrained through its manipulation of her own shadow. The Keyblade extended in length until it was a bit longer than she was tall, still veiled by the light. Naminé hopped onto her feet and brandished the glowing weapon before her in two hands. The light surrounding the weapon shattered like glass and fell away in a frost mist, revealing a long, navy-blue staff topped in a silver, crescent-spoked ring. Facilier's face showed his surprise, and two more of his shadows leapt out from hiding to bind her again. Naminé wouldn't let them, whirling around and spinning her staff. The silver crescents sang as they scythed through the air, whirling white mist flowing out from the spinning weapon and creating a barrier around the frog Naminé. The two shadows struck their hands against it from the ground and shrieked, their clawed hands dissolving upon contact with the dissolution rapidly advancing throughout the remainder of their bodies. A sharp ringing noise came from another location, Naminé now behind Roxas and bringing down the shadow that was still holding him. He watched in awe as she twirled her staff twice more in front of her before bringing the butt end crashing to the ground.

_Doom_

The ground beneath them shuddered and cracked. Yellow light seeped out of breaks in the stonework, and suddenly the street in front of Facilier but between him and Tiana gave way. The cane that Shadow Man had been using to keep the last frog pinned down clattered to the ground before falling into the pit. A dull sound rose up as it bounced off of something on its way down, and out of the glowing depths of the earth something rose. The first sign of it was of a human skull, completely devoid of all flesh or muscle, with eye sockets bathed in yellow light. The skull was gigantic, and the skeleton just kept rising until its feet were hovering above the pit, the head now twenty feet in the air above.

It craned its neck down at Shadow Man, and wailed from behind its yellow eyes.

"Tiana, now!" Naminé shouted, breaking the girl out of her horrified trance. She looked away from the skeleton and shot her tongue from her mouth. Facilier didn't even notice the loss of weight from his palm, fixed on the skeleton wailing over him, reaching now to grab him.

Tiana smashed the hayacall.

Shadow Man's face became even more horrified as purple, pink, red, and green trails of sparks whirled all around and the scatting of drum beats entered all of their ears. "NO!" he shouted, leaping away from the grasping hands of the gigantic skeleton and gathering up the pieces of the broken talisman. "How am I ever going to pay back my debt?"

Voodoo masks, their eyes ethereal purple lights, broke out of the tops of tombstones around them, dancing in the air as they approached Facilier. Roxas, Naminé, and Tiana leapt into hiding as Shadow Man helplessly called out, "Friends!" in a trapped voice.

"_Are you ready?"_

"No!" he answered, looking more forlorn and desperate than he'd ever looked before in his life as his friends on the other side descended upon him. "I'm not ready at all! In fact, I got lots more plans."

"_Are you ready?"_

"This is just a minor setback in a major operation," Facilier pleaded. The giant skeleton, now adorned with a dozen dolls and shrunken, severed heads, grabbed him in one big, bony, long-fingered hand with a very quick movement. He screamed. "Soon as I whip up another spell, we'll be back in business! I still got that froggy prince locked away!" He looked into the yellow eyes of the skeleton, possibly hoping that he might find more mercy from it than he would from his 'friends'.

The skeleton grinned.

"I just need a little more time," begged the voodoo man hopelessly. A large, unadorned stone suddenly turned into the giant mask, the leader of his 'friends'. Facilier screamed, and the skeleton began to wind up as the mask's mouth with its jagged teeth opened, showing a whirling portal of green light within. "No, please! I promise I'll pay y'all back! I promise!" The skeleton hurled Facilier towards the light, and his shadow was caught by the shadows that emerged and they assisted the screaming man toward the horrors that awaited him. The mask's mouth slammed shut.

A giant flash of green light flooded the cemetery, and when it was safe to open their eyes again the three frogs saw nothing different in the cemetery from when they had first entered it, except that the blank stone now had a horrified bust of Facilier's top-hat wearing head carved onto it and his name chiselled in below. The voodoo masks and dolls were gone. The skeleton was gone, as were the signs of it breaking up from the ground.

Naminé sighed and her staff flashed with light as it shrunk and became a sword once more. The frog girl nearly swooned and Roxas caught and steadied her. Their eyes met, and silently they asked and answered all the questions posed at that moment; from the answers came their smiles of relief. Now all they needed was for Naveen to kiss Lotte, and it would all be over.

The church bell chimed a quarter to midnight. At the same moment, a crow flew off into the night.

-A-D-

By the time the three made it back to the church, hiding behind a wall so that they wouldn't get stepped on, Lawrence was being led away into a police car under the order of Big Daddy La Bouff, the fake prince babbling about how it was all the Shadow Man's fault. Lotte was at the doors of the church, frog Naveen standing in front of her with Lea and Agatha behind him and acting aloof. Bast was playing in Lea's hair.

"Goodness gracious," she said, wearily placing a hand to her forehead. "This is so much to absorb. Let me see if I got this right. If I kiss you before midnight, you and Tiana, and this fellow named Roxas and this filly named Naminé will turn human again (the clock moved to mark 11:58)? And then we gonna get ourselves married and live happily ever after, the end!"

"More or less," Naveen shrugged. "But remember, you must give Tiana all the money she requires for her restaurant. Because Tiana, she is my Evangeline."

Roxas saw the aforementioned female frog's face slowly work into a smile while Naminé elbowed him quizzically and whispered, "Who's Evangeline?" Roxas smiled knowingly and pointed to the first star on the right.

"See that star? That's Evangeline, Ray's girlfriend." For a moment, Roxas thought that Naminé was going to say something damning, but then her arm slipped around him, snuggling up to his body as she looked at the bright star.

"She's beautiful," she sighed.

Charlotte had continued without them. "Anything you want, sugar," she told Naveen, finishing the application of fresh lipstick. "Pucker up, buttercup."

Naveen never looked less enthusiastic to kiss a pretty blonde in his life.

"Wait!"

Tiana's shout stopped them moments before the kiss would have happened. Naveen looked behind him, eyes widening. "Tiana?" Roxas? _Naminé_?"

"Tiana?" repeated Charlotte, catching sight of her best friend as a frog for the first time.

"Don't do this," said the waitress, hopping right up to Naveen while Roxas and Naminé only went so far as Lea and Agatha.

"I have to do this," Naveen answered her. "And we are running out of time."

Tiana snatched his arm as he tried to go back to Lotte. "I won't let you!"

"It's the only way to get you your dream!" he insisted.

"My dream?" Tiana queried quietly as Naveen reluctantly turned away from her. "My dream wouldn't be complete without you in it." Naveen turned back, a funny smile on his face. Tiana shrugged helplessly. "I love you, Naveen."

_Aww_, thought Roxas, Naminé, Lea, and Agatha simultaneously.

Naveen stood on both feet and offered his hands to the female frog. She graciously took them to stand up herself. "Warts and all?" asked the Prince of Maldonia.

"Warts and all," answered a waitress of New Orleans. They rubbed their cheeks together in a soft nuzzle, the intimate touch more than enough to physically reinforce their own words to one another.

Charlotte was sniffing away tears. "All my life, I read about true love in fairy tales and, Tia, you found it! I'll kiss him. For you, honey. No marriage required." Charlotte gently removed Naveen from Tiana's embrace and brought him towards her lips on the palms of her hands.

The bell tolled midnight before their lips could touch. Charlotte looked up in distress. "Maybe that old clock's a little fast." She kissed Naveen. Nothing happened, so she kissed him again, and again and again. It didn't matter though, her reign as Princess of Mardi Gras had ended at the first chime. Lotte looked like she was about to completely break down and cry as she set Naveen back down. "I'm so sorry."

Lea groaned. "So what now?" He glanced down at Naminé. "Hey, why don't you give it a shot?"

"No," Roxas said instantly.

"But," Naminé replied, "we won't know if we don't…"

"Mama Odie already said that it wouldn't be that easy," Roxas told her, sighing, "and I just don't want to see another guy kissing you, alright?"

Agatha giggled. "Possessive much, Sir Roxas?"

He sighed exasperatedly. "I was possessive and jealous when Naminé was simply going gaga over beefcake Armstrong. I'd probably chuck Naveen into a pit of snakes if he kissed Naminé."

Just then, Louis called out to them all. "Tiana! Naveen! Roxas! Naminé!" Looking up, the four frogs hopped to where the alligator was running towards them, something cradled in his hands.

"Louis, what is it?" asked Naveen.

The panting gator took a breath before answering. "Shadow Man done laid poor Ray low."

The frogs gasped slightly in shock. "Ray," Tiana whispered.

"He's hurting awful bad," Louis told them, his voice croaking slightly. The gator leaned down, unfurling his claws and revealing the firefly. His butt's light was very weak.

Roxas could feel his heart bleeding and he placed a hand on Naminé's shoulder, knowing that she would instantly be trying to come up with the most powerful healing spell in her arsenal, even if it would end her life to cast it. His hand on her shoulder brought tear-rimmed eyes to his and he gently shook his head. She seemed blurrier than she should have.

"Hey, _chère_," whispered Ray in a weak rasp, "how come you're still…"

"We're staying frogs, Ray," Tiana told him gently. Naveen placed his hands over hers.

"And we're staying together," he added.

Ray nodded slightly. "Oh! _Très__bien._ I like that very much." His breathing hastened, and his next words he seemed to struggle to get out. "Evangeline likes that too."

Ray's eyes closed; his light faded out. The clouds in the sky opened over the city and rain began to fall, even the heavens weeping for their loss.

-A-D-

Roxas and Naminé refused to leave until after the funeral for Ray. They told Lea and Agatha that they'd find another way to restore their human forms; Merlin would probably know how to reverse it.

The funeral was a silent, sad affair. Ray's body was placed in a leaf and sent floating down along the river of the bayou, Louis playing a solemn tune on his horn to accompany the lilies the four frogs sent downstream with their friend. No words were spoken; for all their grief was silently shared between the four frogs, alligator, and all of Ray's relatives. The leaf floated away, into the mists.

Nothing could have prepared them for what happened next.

The sky, which had begun to part the clouds soon after they had returned to the swamp bearing the terrible news, suddenly lit up with white light. A cloud drifted away from where it had been covering Evangeline, and there was suddenly a new star just to her left, shining almost as brightly as she did.

"Whoa!" Roxas exclaimed in a hushed whisper. He leaned back as he looked at the pair of stars again. "Whoa," he said, an unexpected revelation dawning on him.

Naminé sensed the shift in his tone and looked at him. "What is it?"

Roxas pointed at Evangeline. "Doesn't Evangeline look familiar to you?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

"We flew towards it, once," Roxas told her.

Naminé peered at Evangeline for a few seconds before her eyes opened wide. "No way! She looks just like the second star to the right…"

"…and straight on 'till morning," Roxas finished with her.

Evangeline was Neverland, and Ray was the guide to find her.

Ray had been guiding them the whole time they'd been in the bayou! It all made _PERFECT_ sense now!

"Roxas? Naminé?" The pair immediately dropped what they were thinking about. Tiana had called them. "I know that you were about to leave really soon," she said, "but, would you mind staying just a little longer? Naveen and I have decided to have Mama Odie marry us at dawn, and we'd like you to be there for it."

One quick glance and Naminé answered for them. "We'd be delighted."

-A-D

The bayou was beautiful in the golden light of dawn. Mama Odie had picked the grandest and most spectacular tiny island in the river amidst the tall trees, small trees, flowering water plants, and young willows to marry the two frogs, now even more happy that even Ray was together with his Evangeline in the end. Songbirds, flamingos, turtles, deer, opossums, other frogs, and even herons were in attendance along with Louis, Roxas, and Naminé; the two frogs and alligator composing the wedding party with front-row seats in the water and on lily pads.

With the golden light streaming in, Mama Odie cried out to all present, "And so by the power vested in me (she laughed), by myself, I now pronounce y'all frog and wife." The smiles on Tiana and Naveen's faces couldn't have been brighter. Mama Odie waved them on. "Get to it, Hop-along! Give your lovely bride some sugar!"

Naveen did, and when he kissed his blushing bride gold light spread from his lips and surrounded the two kissing frogs and also leapt out to envelop two that were watching on lily pads. Roxas and Naminé felt themselves surprised and overcome by the strangest sensation for several seconds as their eyes were blinded by the golden radiance around them, throughout which they could hear Mama Odie laughing.

Suddenly the light was gone and they splashed into the water of the bayou, the river now feeling a lot wetter than it had a short while ago, and a lot _heavier_. Roxas opened his eyes as he felt the weight on his arm feeling like fabric more than water, wet fabric.

He was human again! Naminé was human again! And both of them were sopping wet compared to the now-human bride and groom!

Roxas looked at Naminé again, blushed, and removed his purple cape. He handed it to Naminé while averting his eyes. "Here."

"Huh? Why?"

"You're wearing white and you don't have a bra on."

Naminé made an 'eep' noise and quickly put the purple fabric in front of her chest as she and Roxas stood up fully in the shallow waters. Naveen and Tiana were now looking at them and each other in amazement. "W-We're all back," Tiana stuttered, her beaming face breaking what had before been as bright as possible a smile.

"Like I told y'all," explained Mama Odie, "kissing a princess breaks the spell."

"Once you became my wife," reasoned Naveen, "that made you a—"

"A princess," Tiana told him with a bow. "You just kissed yourself a princess."

"And," Naveen told her warmly, "I'm about to do it again."

Roxas frowned, glancing between them and Naminé before sloshing over to Mama Odie. "Hang on. You said that since we were all part of the same spell, that kissing a princess who was already a frog wouldn't do anything, that that was too easy."

"Hm…did I?" asked the voodoo queen, tapping her chin with her finger.

"Yes you did, you…" Roxas stopped as it dawned on him. He laughed incredulously. "You were bluffing the whole time! All it would have taken was for me to kiss Naminé a second time and BAM! We would have all turned human again!"

Mama Odie chuckled. "Well, now that would have been too bad," she said, extending a hand towards the now happily-married couple. "Then y'all would have missed this."

Roxas sighed. The Voodoo Queen was right.

White light shone from the trunk of the tree on the island Tiana and Naveen were kissing on, and the light formed a pattern in the shape of a keyhole.

"Arbitrarily appearing keyhole number one," Naminé laughed to herself as she whipped out her Keyblade and sealed it. "Looks like keyholes like to appear whenever people's emotions are high."

"And that means it's time for us to go," Roxas told her. Naminé nodded.

"You will come back, won't you?" Tiana asked.

"Of course we will," answered the blonde princess.

"We'll need to have a real date at that restaurant of yours," Roxas added.

Tiana laughed as Naveen pulled her into a hug from behind. "We'll reserve the best table in the house for you," he said. The two Keyblade Wielders nodded in appreciation and walked off, soaked, hands clasped. Roxas pulled Naminé behind a tree, and the two beamed up to the _Hunter_.

-A-D-

"Sup?" Lea asked as the couple appeared in the transporter room. "Oh, you're human again."

"And you're soaking wet!" Agatha exclaimed.

The pair shook their heads, hands still clasped. They hadn't yet realized it, but for the most part they'd been up since dawn the previous day. Tiredness was only now starting to set in. "We're going to bed," Naminé said. "Wake us at lunchtime."

Lea grinned. "That'll be a while then." When Roxas and Naminé paused and looked at him, he jerked a thumb at a wall clock in the hallway. It read that it was just past eleven pm.

"Huh?" Roxas asked in disbelief, going right up to the clock.

"Timeways are still messed up," Lea said. "Or maybe they're supposed to be messed up. It's winter in Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, and Destiny Islands, but it looks like spring down there in Mystic Bayou, right?"

"I don't want to deal with this right now," Naminé uttered. She pulled firmly on Roxas' hand, still in hers, and he followed before he overtook her on the way to his, now 'their', bedroom door. It opened with a _whoosh_, the bedside table lamp turning on as they entered, seemingly on its own.

The moment the door closed, Naminé gently pulled on Roxas' hand to turn him around. Her hands left his and went to his face instead. Without a word she initiated a passionate kiss, slowly pressing him towards the bed. Roxas didn't hesitate for a single beat. For a while, both of them had thought that they'd lost each other forever; there was no way they were going to let this new night pass without treasuring the time to share it together. Roxas pulled back from the kiss, taking Naminé by her lily-white hands and gazing into her eyes. There was nothing but love and desire within them. He led her onto the bed-covers, a much more comfortable place to kiss, and it was only there that he realized something.

She'd dropped his cape to the floor the moment they'd entered the room, and their clothes were still wet and making their movements uncomfortable. Something would have to be done about that, and Roxas felt like they were going to do something about it _very_ soon.

-A-D-

_Princess and the Frog is completed! And about time too, in my opinion._

_Link __to __Naminé__'__s __dress, __done __by __**Krystal **__**Lily **__**Potter**__, __is __up __on __my __profile. __Also, __if __we __have __any _really _talented __artists __reading, __the __scene __where __they __get __changed __due __to __Facilier__'__s __dust, __I__'__d __even __commission __Naminé __at __that __moment __as __described, __with __the __moonlight __bedazzling __her __and __looking __like __a __midnight __maiden. __That__'__s __right. __I__'__d __**pay **__for __a __picture __of __that._

_Anywho, I hope y'all enjoyed it!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	68. They Are Coming

_Shire: "Okay, so I'm sorry that I haven't updated in about a month and a half. A lot of stuff has been going on and the chapter's also been cut into two because of the length. I must admit that several things have been keeping me from my writing, and I'm going to sing you a little ditty from one now."_

_(An acoustic guitar appears in Shire's hands and he begins to strum it)_

_Shire: "We drink to our youth, to days come and gone, for the Age of Aggression is just about done. We'll drive out the Stormcloaks and restore what we own. With our blood and our steel, we'll take back our home. Down with Ulfric, the killer of kings. On the day of your death we'll drink and we'll sing. We're the chil—"_

_(A girl Shire's age with short sea-green hair rushes in. In her hands are the grips for two elbow blades that Talim uses)_

_Goldpen: "SHUT UP SHRIMP! Stop singing songs from Skyrim you tool!"_

_Shire: "Whoa now. Where'd you get Talim's elbow blades?"_

_Goldpen: "I made them, fool! Why do you think I'm in metallurgy and want to be a weaponsmith and direct stage combat?"_

_Shire (With a nervous glace to the reading audience) "Uh, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, Lord of the Rings, Fullmetal Alchemist, or anything else that shows up in this that has already been trademarked or patented or copywritten by somebody else. And when Sovngarde beckons every one of us dies."_

_Goldpen: (Rushing forward) "Stop singing songs from Skyrim you idiot! And give me back my guitar!" (Punch, slice slice!)_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 68: They are Coming

_0203hrs, Friday, December 5th, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Talerith Castle, Radiant Garden  
Kairi_

She woke with a start, her chest heaving, sweat rolling down her face and soaking her shirt. She felt hot, from her face to her chest to her legs, and her comforter and other blankets didn't help at all. The princess blinked in the semi-darkness, seeing the red glow coming from above the canopy of her four-poster bed, where Plato was sleeping. Well, he might not be sleeping now, given that she was awake and he undoubtedly would have felt the fear that was still racing inside with the pounding of her heart. Sora would have felt it too.

_Sora…_

She remembered the night before, when she'd had another nightmare. She had seen the soldier Amber Kelsey, the one she and Sora couldn't save with their magic, die beside her, and then terrible shadow-things that Kairi couldn't describe or even remember raced after her. All she could remember was that they had hellish red eyes and terribly sharp-looking claws, beaks, and teeth, and that all of them were hulking creatures that stood over twenty feet tall.

She had seen them again tonight in her dream, at the forefront of legions of Heartless, skeletons, ghouls, zombies, and strange creatures with green scales and orange eyes that she really couldn't describe. Behind them all was a towering shadowy figure of a man, exuding a white and silver aura behind him shaped like a raven with raised wings, the aura only casting the huge man into further shadow. His eyes pierced her, and with that single glance she knew that she was doomed, but as she began to fall she heard words spoken to her in two voices, one harsh and the other comforting.

"You are needed."

Her crimson-clad head shuddered as Kairi recalled the harsher voice much more clearly than the kinder one. She thought she'd be chilled, but her blood was pumping fast through her body through a racing heart, flushing her skin with the heat of her blood. Whatever that dark figure had been, it had terrified her beyond anything else she had ever seen or imagined. It scared her more than even the thought of losing Sora did.

_What was that thing?_ She wondered, putting a hand to her chest and pushing herself back so that she could sit against the pillows. Kairi already knew that she wouldn't be getting much more sleep tonight, unless she could get that image out of her head. _What were those black shadows and those green things? What am I needed for? What was that nightmare about? It wasn't too much like the others; at least I didn't watch Naminé get tentacle-raped by Anti this time, or see Riku…_ She shuddered, remembering that one even though she didn't want to. She did not want to remember seeing Riku's broken and bleeding body being paraded around in front of Maleficent like some macabre trophy of victory, all while Naminé was being abusively raped by the demonic creature Anti had become.

_No, these are just nightmares. They're just dreams; they aren't real. My mind is playing tricks on me. This guy doesn't exist, and neither do these shadows or those green things. I'm sure that if the nightmare lasted longer, I would have dreamed of them raping me, which is really freaky. Urgh, it doesn't mean anything. People dream about random, crazy stuff all the time, right?_

Despite Kairi's rational thoughts that made her relieved that she was now awake, she still couldn't quite shake the eerie feeling she was getting. Her dreams had been dark lately, as if Menelmon's death in her arms had triggered a release of the worst part of her imagination, the part that could completely terrify her. Menelmon coming back and hatching from her digiegg as Minyamon seemed to have done absolutely nothing to stop them.

She checked the dimly glowing red lights of her alarm clock. 2 a.m. _I am so not getting to sleep again if I keep worrying about this thing._

Without a shred of guilt in her mind, Kairi took a deep breath and removed her sweat-soaked shirt. It was getting really uncomfortable, and the chill that was overtaking the heat as she calmed down and her heart's pounding lessened to a normal pace was undesirable. Her thoughts turned to more pleasant things to draw them away from the recent nightmares; Kairi's mind turned to Sora.

"Sora," she mumbled, closing her eyes and imagining him being here with her. He had been, in a way, the night before, and she could still feel his arms around her if she tried. His presence alone had been enough to comfort her, and bring nothing but pleasant dreams for the remainder of the night.

Her eyes opened when she recalled the details of those _pleasant_ dreams. Her heart started to race again at the thought of them, and she quickly glanced around for her shirt but couldn't find it anymore in the gloom. She could feel her nipples hardening from the imaginary stimulation her mind had just shot through her body.

"No, no," she mumbled to herself, bringing all the blankets up and over her half-naked body to conceal her from the world from the neck down and warm it up as the air began to leech her body heat. "You don't need to be thinking about that. You're going to see kids today Kairi, _kids_! You can't be touching yourself now just because you want him. Oh!" Kairi grumbled in frustration and pulled her arms out from underneath the blankets, raised her head, grasped the pillow behind it, and placed it to her face as she dropped her head back onto the mattress.

"This isn't fair!" she whisperingly wailed into the pillow. "When he's with me I want him to touch me but I don't want him to do me, and when he's not here I want him to flat-out fuck me silly when I don't even know how it really feels! Uhnn! This is _so_ confusing! Why can't my body and my hormones make up their minds?"

_Because I'm a sixteen-year-old girl with a good-looking boyfriend who means the world to me_, she answered herself.

"But I'm not ready for sex," she argued back with the pillow. "Or, maybe my body says I am, but I'm not, I don't…I shouldn't…" She buried her head in the pillow even further. She'd thought for the longest time that she'd always wanted to save her first time for her wedding night; a wedding that she was beyond confident would be with Sora. However, ever since Sora had touched her breasts in Middle-earth to warm her body up, her body and mind had been challenging that ideal. Looking back on every act they'd committed Kairi felt like she was cheating herself that she was getting kicks out of it when she felt like she should be waiting until there was a ring on her finger.

On the other hand, it all felt _wonderful_. She had never really tried to stop him, and she had initiated some of it too. The way he made her feel when he was whispering to her, kissing her neck or breasts, digging his fingers into her; the way he called her name when she did what she wanted to his own body, kissing his own nipples, massaging the muscles in his chest and shoulders, wrestling with his tongue while her breasts pressed against his chest, stroking his…

"Oh fuck it." She put her pillow back behind her, completely covered her body and head with the blankets to form a cocoon of warmth, stripped herself for better access, and buried the memory of the nightmare in a wave of sensation directed towards the young man she was in love with.

Minutes later Kairi still lay completely cocooned underneath the blankets, panting and sweating and wiping her fingers off on the sheets. She could smell herself on sticky hands she couldn't see, but the exertion of bringing herself to climax was enough to tire her and lull her into a dreamless sleep as she brought the drier soft blankets closer to her bare flesh, Sora's name leaving her lips with soft and quiet mewls.

-A-D-

_0630hrs, Friday, December 5th, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
Talerith Castle, Radiant Garden_

"Your Highness, it's time to wake up."

Kairi groaned as she felt the rocking through the blankets. "Ten more minutes," she mumbled, keeping her head mostly underneath the blankets. The lights were on, and they were painful to her dark-adjusted eyes.

The female servant, Kairi was sure that this one's name was Natalie, persisted. "I'm sorry Your Highness, but you need to get up. You're going to Keila Elementary School this morning, remember?"

Kairi shifted, still half-asleep and desiring to return to full sleep. "Ugh, yeah I remember." She froze suddenly at the feel of the sheets on her hips, on her sides, on her thighs, on her bosom. Recognizing the state of her attire, non-existent, and gripping the blankets tighter she turned her head, keeping her eyes mostly shuttered to block the hurtful light.

"I'm awake and getting up," Kairi told her, "so could you make sure breakfast is ready while I change?" Natalie nodded her ash-covered head and bowed out of the room. As soon as the door was closed Kairi summoned Crowning Flame to her right hand and pointed it at the door. A beam of light left the Keyblade's tip and locked it fast. That done, the princess dismissed her blade and flung the covers off of her body, wincing as her bare skin was suddenly assaulted by the cooler air. She waited for half a minute as she sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light, before getting up.

The sound of rushing flame entered her ears and Kairi squealed in surprise as she felt the back of her waist and top of her ass begin to feel really warm. Spinning left and out of the path of the flame she looked up at the canopy of her bed and saw Plato sitting there comfortably. She could see the grin on the fire elemental's dragon face.

"_Feeling nippy this morning, my Queen?"_ he asked. Another puff of smoke left his nostrils. _"I could warm you up further if you like?"_

"_I'm getting dressed Plato,"_ Kairi answered him, eyes never leaving him as she went to the dresser, Minyamon hopping onto her naked shoulder. The princess rubbed the digimon on the head with a finger, Minyamon crooning in pleasure at the affectionate motion.

"_You enjoyed your sleep, I take it,"_ Plato continued as Kairi grabbed clean underwear and other clothes and began to get dressed. There was a screen in the room, but Kairi hadn't ever taken advantage of using it; she had a door, why did she need a screen too? _"Thinking about the Keyblade's Chosen Master again, were we? You don't have to answer; I can smell your pheromones all over the bed."_

She was glad that he hadn't brought up her nightmares, but his mention of her…'pheromones' all over the bed still made her blush in embarrassment. At least it wasn't Garda or Kensworth who knew, and it's not like she was really caught when the person who found her out was bonded to her.

"_I wonder how the servants are going to react when they have to change the sheets," _Plato continued, drawing it out.

Oops. She hadn't thought of that. _New rule Kairi, masturbate in the bathroom so you can hide it better._

"_Too late to worry about that now Plato," _Kairi told him, putting on a black high-waisted skirt to go with the violet blouse she had donned. _"If they care, it's their problem and secret to keep."_

Plato snorted and rolled his eyes before looking at the princess' attire after she placed her beret on her head. _"You're not going outside wearing _that_ are you?"_ he asked. _"It's practically winter; you'll freeze your legs off unless I'm wrapped around you like some sort of belt."_

"_I'll be wearing my snow pants until I get to the school,"_ Kairi answered, _"and besides, I will be in a carriage."_

"_A non-heated carriage unless you count me, my Queen,"_ Plato reminded her.

Kairi smiled and turned to him, placing the baby Minyamon back on her shoulder. _"Are you offering to come and keep me warm, then?"_ she asked.

"_Of course!"_ replied the elemental dragon as he raised his head. Plato stretched and flapped his wings three times to gain some height off the bed before silently (as silently as a constantly burning tiny fire could be) gliding to the top of her head. He perched on her beret, his neck extending a short distance past her forehead while his foot-long tail draped down and brushed the left side of her neck. _"No idea what sort of trouble a young girl like you could get into without me around. You've done a lot of dangerous and silly things, my Queen."_

"_And I'm probably going to do more,"_ Kairi laughed as she moved towards the door, still unable to hear how her own voice was rasping and hissing with a touch of a fiery crackle, _"with you or without you."_ He returned her chuckle, and she could feel his playful amusement emanating from him.

-A-D-

_0730hrs,  
_Highwind_, Lanes Between_

Sora yawned and stretched as he woke underneath his flame-patterned sheets on his bed in the _Highwind_. It felt like _ages_ since he had slept in this comfortable bed, and it almost felt as good as the bed he'd used to have back home. Without his home on Destiny Islands anymore, though, this ship or his aunt and uncle's place were probably the closest things he had to one now. Now if only Kairi could be with him.

It had taken him a while to get to sleep. First they had started off immediately for Amestris, but not long after that they came into contact with this _huge_ ship that looked like it was comparable to the size of the _Avenger_, except it looked like a giant ball with fins on the lower sides. On that ship was the Grand Councilwoman of the United Galactic Federation, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy spoke to her for over an hour. It seemed that they had known about Hämsterviel and Gantu, and were on their way to _Ohana_ to deal with them in their own way when they'd gotten a message from Cobra Bubbles that Sora was on the world, and he would likely take care of it. Their mission had then changed to meeting the Keyblade Master instead.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aiwemon, and Jiminy told the Grand Councilwoman about everything that had happened on _Ohana_ regarding Stitch and Hämsterviel. She assured him that they would take Hämsterviel and Gantu into custody, and (after Sora explained to her the situation they were currently in) promised that she would do everything in her power to help them combat the Heartless and Maleficent. It came with a sobering warning not to expect too much, though, as nearly all of the hundred and twelve worlds that composed their federation were under Heartless attack from Maleficent and the council members would see their own defence as more important than Radiant Garden's.

After that exchange, he was finally able to drag himself to bed. Just waking up now, remembering all that had to be done still, made Sora struggle with waking up and getting out of bed as he yawned and stretched.

_SKEEEEEE!_

Aiwemon leapt to his feet and crushed his wings against the sides of his head. "Sora!" he whined, wincing.

Fully awake from the banshee wail of the metallic scream, Sora stopped moving his automail entirely. "I'm sorry!" he said quickly, rising and raising his hand in what he intended to be a calming gesture. "Don't worry, we're getting it fixed today!" Aiwemon whimpered, but nodded his head.

"That noise _really_ grates on my ears," he said.

"I know; I'm sorry," answered Sora in apology. He sighed. There was no way he was getting back to sleep this morning. "C'mon, let's have some breakfast and figure out what we're going to do." Keeping his left arm as motionless as possible, which wasn't all that hard as it didn't move freely anymore, he pushed off the blankets and got to his feet.

The galley was empty when he entered, but that changed minutes later while he was tucking in to a bowl of childish cereal that he still enjoyed. Goofy entered, saying, "Morning Sora, Aiwemon."

"Morning Goofy," Sora replied. "How long until we're at Amestris?"

"I think just over an hour," the goof replied before yawning.

"Good," Sora said, "then I can finish breakfast, get dressed, and have a conference call with the others to tell them what I found out from Maleficent."

-A-D-

_0740hrs,  
_Hunter

Roxas blearily opened his eyes, momentarily at a loss for where he was. Yesterday seemed to be something out of a dream. Naminé wasn't gone, they'd beaten the Shadow Man, and the curse that had turned them into frogs had been reversed by Naveen and Tiana's marriage. He'd almost never been happier in his life than when Naminé had come flying out of the gloom into his arms, however that moment had quickly been topped.

His eyes registered with the tiny amount of light in the room what was in front of him, and his body could feel her warmth next to him. He sighed contentedly and snuggled his body closer into Naminé's, enveloping her as they spooned. Her soft white-blonde hair rested against his cheek, and her skin was warm and soft underneath his hands. One of them lightly cupped a naked breast underneath the blankets, while a second held her gently just beneath them, wrapped around her abdomen. Their bodies were practically merged, and Roxas sighed happily as he remembered the night before.

Naminé groaned and shifted a little, waking herself from her slumber. Roxas could feel her movements as he held her, and Naminé barely made his hold any less of one as she twisted around so that their eyes could meet. "Good morning my princess," he whispered. He moved to kiss his girlfriend.

The princess did not deny him, kissing him back with love and tenderness. "Good morning my ravishing knight," she replied when they separated, and then gave him another kiss while running her fingers up and down his sternum. Roxas chuckled, and Naminé immediately followed his throaty laugh with a slightly embarrassed giggle.

"I'm amending my statement," he whispered into her ear. "Good morning my _sexy_ goddess."

"I don't really think someone who was a virgin until last night can really be called a sex goddess Roxas," Naminé replied, even though she was gushing.

He kissed the side of her neck. "She can be when she's as lovely as you," he whispered before proceeding to kiss the same spot on her neck again. "Besides, it's not every day my girlfriend practically comes back from the dead and then begs me to make love to her."

"Hey, I did not _beg_," Naminé told him off, though she was giggling, "I was just completely not averse to the idea of doing it last night." She sighed, still running a finger up and down his chest. "Roxas, is this going to change things? Is this going to change _us_?"

He removed her from the hug he still had her in and clasped her hands with his own. In the semi-darkness lit only by the red light from the digital clock and the small soft lights in the ceiling, they could still see each other's eyes. "Naminé, I can't promise that things won't change, but I won't stop loving you or think any less of you because we had sex. You're the Wielder of the Moon and a Princess, but I see you as permanent in my life as the Sun and a woman I would gladly live eternally to protect even the memory of. I love you, and won't leave you."

He could hear her sniffle and she bent her head in underneath his neck. "Thank you Roxas. I love you too, just in case I didn't say it often enough last night." He chuckled.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked, some concern making its way into his voice. "You're not hurting…down there, are you?"

"I'm a little sore," she replied, glancing down at her pelvis and smiling in the darkness, "but no, nothing really hurts. Mmm, I don't think I'd even mind a second round right now."

Roxas' eyebrows rose and he deciphered the look on his lover's face as genuine, and he smiled wickedly when he felt Naminé's creamy and soft hand brush against his hardening erection. His arousal only intensified, as her smile grew all the cuter as she blushed in the dark.

She. Wanted. Him. Now.

"I think I'm up for round two too," he told her, placing his mouth to hers and inserting his tongue. She moaned into his mouth while his fingers moved down towards the space between her legs.

The door _whooshed_ open and light from outside streamed into the room. The pair jumped a figurative mile as Lea shouted, "Wakey-wakey lovebirds!"

"Time to get up Your Highness," said Agatha as she appeared in the doorway next to him. "We need to alert Radiant Gard—" she stopped, jaw dropping slightly as Lea began to laugh hysterically at the looks on Roxas' and Naminé's faces.

The servant slapped the lights on full and barged into the room, suddenly appearing ten feet taller. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!" she shrieked as Naminé' yelped and dove underneath the covers, hiding her head and the breasts Roxas was sure the pair had caught sight of. Agatha quickly glanced around the room, spotting all of the twosome's clothes scattered around the place. "Holy shit," she said, running her hands furiously through her hair.

"Wow Roxas," Lea laughed. "I had no idea that the first thing you two would do when sleeping together was to _actually_ sleep together."

"Shut up Axel!" Roxas shouted as his face burned and he kept the blankets locked, keeping Naminé safe underneath the covers. This was it. Their lives were over. They'd never get to have that second round and Radiant Garden would fall, all because the mad servant girl/handmaiden was going to _murder_ them in their bed.

"Please don't kill us Agatha," said Naminé's muffled voice from somewhere in the bed.

The nineteen-year-old slowly began to laugh. "I'm not going to kill you," she said, her laughter nowhere near as full as Lea's had been and riddled with embarrassment. "It's just, _that_ was a big surprise. Don't worry Roxas, I'm not going to freeze your dick off either. Just, wow. Just wow, so you two had a nice night, eh? How was it Naminé?"

"Agatha!" Naminé whined, and Roxas was sure that her entire body was flushing red.

"Way to go Roxas," Lea spoke up. "This almost brings a tear to my eye. My little Roxas is all grown up and getting laid."

"Shut _up_ Axel!"

"Pretty soon they'll be getting married and Naminé's tummy's going to grow real big and Roxas is going to be a daddy," Lea sniffed, "and I'll be the amazing uncle Lea that lets the kid play with matches and discover how wonderful fire is. Agatha, do you have a tissue?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Could you two please leave so that I can get changed?" Naminé mumbled from beneath the blankets. "Or at least pass Roxas my underwear?"

"What, you mean this sexy black thing?" Lea asked, looking at her panties. "Damn, these are nice Naminé. And I don't see a bra either; Roxas, you're one lucky s.o.b, got it memorized?"

The blond Keyblade Wielder was currently trying to make his friend's head explode with his mind since Lea and Agatha seemed to be completely unwilling to leave the fucking room so that he and Naminé could correct their nakedness and appear for breakfast with _decency_; decency that would now be forever denied them!

"Well, don't worry Naminé," Agatha said, still with a bit of a laugh, "nobody is going to hear about this from me, especially not Lord Ramius or Kensworth. What happens on the ship stays on the ship, right?"

"Thanks," Roxas and Naminé said in perfect unison while Lea handed Roxas Naminé's underwear, or while Roxas snatched it from his friend's hands and Agatha gave the girl a matching bra she found in a drawer. They'd dried overnight.

"Just hope you guys used protection," Agatha added as an afterthought, turning to leave.

Roxas felt his eyes widen a little as that little thought crossed his mind. The handmaiden paused and looked back. "Oh Light you didn't did you? Naminé, how long ago was your last period?"

Naminé was silent.

"Nami—?"

"_HO SHIT!_" the princess half shrieked, jumping suddenly out of the blankets and racing to her handmaiden, ignoring Roxas' yelp as he rushed to cover himself, and nearly tripping over her own feet. "It was eleven, twelve, days ago! Do morning after pills really work? Do we have any? When's the earliest a pregnancy test will let me know if I'm positive or not? Ah," she stopped, placing a hand above her pelvis. "Actually, that does hurt."

Roxas snapped his fingers at Lea, and his friend passed him at least his boxers and a shirt while Naminé assaulted her elder with questions. "Plan B," Agatha said quickly, apparently noting how he was quickly making himself a quarter-way decent like her princess, "follow me. It should work. I mean, it says that it has a seventy-five percent success rate at keeping women in their second week from conceiving, so we might want to wish for a little bit of luck."

"Naminé, I am so stupid," Roxas said as he quickly followed them, his girlfriend almost going into panic mode but wincing a bit as she moved. "I mean, really stupid. Lea, hit me because I'm an idiot." Lea grinned and punched Roxas hard in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"No," Naminé said firmly. "We were both stupid. Stupid and horny teenagers too thankful to still be alive and to have the stupid curse removed to care! Agatha…" she began slowly, beginning to sober a little, "what's going to happen if I still get pregnant?"

"Well…" her handmaiden replied slowly as they entered the bathroom that the young woman knew the ECPs were in, as well as her own supply of _her_ birth control pills, "if you do get pregnant, then Roxas is likely going to have to run for his life, you'll probably be disowned and your claim to the throne invalidated by parliament, your knighthood might get revoked, and you'll be shamed for a long while for having a fling outside of marriage. Or, they'll keep everything real quiet, make you have an abortion and pretend that it never happened, but watch the two of you like you've got spotlights on you and giant bull's-eyes painted on your backs. Those are likely the worst case scenarios." She handed Naminé the pill and a glass of water.

"And best case?" Naminé asked anxiously, looking at the pill.

Lea answered, closing his eyes and waving his hands around his face as if he were a mystic. "I hear wedding bells in the imminent future and see you two kids at the altar exchanging vows."

Naminé and Roxas shared quick, scared, looks with one another before Naminé quickly swallowed the pill her handmaiden had given her and drained the glass of water. "Now what?" Naminé asked, eyes flicking up and down.

Agatha shook her head and blew air out of her mouth. "Now, uh, we wait. If you skip your next period we should probably try a few pregnancy tests, don't worry I'll get those when we get to Radiant Garden so nobody will know, and…yeah."

"Roxas," Lea added, "I've got, like, two boxes of condoms. I won't notice if some vanish mysteriously."

Roxas sighed loudly and placed his hand gently on Naminé's shoulder. She didn't cringe or react unfavourably to the touch, instead placing her hand against it. He could almost feel how grateful she was that he was standing there behind her. "Thanks guys," he said softly before giving a light chuckle to try and lighten the mood. "I guess we're pretty lucky to have two people like you with us."

"You mean people crazy enough to walk right in on you right as you were about to 'get it on' again?" Agatha returned, giving the blondes a humoured look. The pair blushed, further when Naminé realized again that she was only in her underwear (she honestly hadn't noticed). "Don't worry Your Highness, Sir Roxas, your secret is safe with us. Now, breakfast, and I'm sure you want to get dressed before we tell Princess Kairi to begin any preparations she can make for this force that's coming for Radiant Garden."

-A-D-

_0740hrs,_  
Roadster  
_Riku_

"Good morning sleepyhead."

The silver-haired Keyblade Wielder opened his eyes slowly, finding a beautiful pair of hazel eyes lying right above his own. There was a light on in the room, giving him everything he needed to see his girlfriend's face. She was straddling him from above the covers, and his eyes momentarily strayed to her low-cut top before returning to her face.

"It's not morning; I'm still asleep," he replied, smiling at her. "But you're pretty enough to be the real you."

"Butter me up all you want, you aren't getting any right now," she told him. "I'm too tired from being so _badass_ yesterday."

"Meh, you were okay," Riku told her, shrugging his shoulders. Yuffie leaned back slightly, insulted.

"Okay? _Okay?_ I was awesome!" the ninja returned. "Far greater than you were, mister tough-guy-who-forgot-to-take-his-iron-meds-from-getting-beaten-up."

"You distracted me," retorted Riku, smiling. "But don't worry, I won't hold it against you, ninja, this time."

"Oh you'd better not hold it against me," Yuffie grinned. She leaned in and whispered into his ear. "You enjoyed it too much to hold it against me."

Riku leaned up slightly, and toned his voice into a throaty whisper. "You're dying to kiss me," he accused. She tenderly admitted it, dropping onto his lips with her own with the softness of a butterfly's landing on flower petals. She began whispering into his ear in between kisses, and Riku smiled at her words as the pairs of lips kept meeting one another. Oh yeah, _this_ was the life. _This_ was what he'd always wanted out of a relationship. He could not have been happier right now than to be giving her his love, and having it _reciprocated fully_! Any romantic feelings he'd ever felt for any other woman had been instantly vaporized two nights previously.

The door opened and Riku turned his head away from Yuffie's slightly, growling, "We're busy."

"Oh no you're not," Leon replied.

Yuffie looked around at the man with the scar on his face. "Oh yes we are Squall. Go bother Rinoa or something while Riku and I intimately celebrate our love." She turned away and instantly proceeded to kiss Riku again. He felt his heart leap in his chest at her touch and eagerly returned to lavishing her lips with his own affections, trying to blot out whatever Leon was saying.

"Celebrate later," he told the pair sternly. "We need to figure out which world we're going to next."

"Hey great ninja, could you massage my shoulders for me?" Riku asked, completely ignoring Leon. "I think I'm getting a kink in one."

"Sure thing, tough guy," giggled Yuffie, removing herself from straddling him so that Riku could sit up. He did so, showing Leon with a barely restrained smirk that his chest was bare. Yuffie looked at him, approving this fact, and went around to his back. She immediately began to press her fingers into his shoulders, moving the muscles in tiny amounts with her rubbing. "Ooh, you're right. These babies are _tight_. Hm, I think I'm going to have to work on them for _quite a while_ to get them to loosen up."

"If you could pay a bit more attention to the left one that'd be great, thanks," Riku told her. He sighed, lifting his head to the ceiling. The feel of Yuffie's ministrations on his shoulders, especially the one that had been so brutally injured two days ago and was now more tender and weaker than the other, felt heavenly.

"Alright, I can take a hint," Leon grumbled from doorway. He held a finger out to them. "Breakfast, fifteen minutes. Got it kids?"

"Fifteen minutes, got it Squall," Riku told the man. "Mmm, damn that feels good, ninja."

"You're not such a tough guy after all, are you, tough guy?" Yuffie giggled playfully, still working on his shoulders with her fingers. He had no idea how Yuffie was so good at this, but _damn_, she gave wonderful shoulder, neck, and back massages. It probably had something to do with her just being ninja. Leon left the room, and Riku groped around for a remote. He was able to reach it, and clicked a button on it. Instantly a stereo in the corner came to life, and it began to play an upbeat song, _The Way You Make Me Feel_ to be exact.

Yuffie swayed back and forth while massaging her lover's shoulders, Riku grinning perpetually as the pair sang along to the song in low voices that gradually increased in volume until they were completely drowning out MJ, acting like goofs in private. Life for them was good.

-A-D-

_0900hrs,  
Keila Elementary School, Radiant Garden,  
Princess Kairi Talerith_

Kairi, Plato, Minyamon, and the kids were having a _ball_! Her cookies had been a smash hit with most of the three hundred children in the school, having gone to each of the classrooms and distributed them along with Principal Tyler Johnson. She'd briefly visited with each of the classes as she went up from kindergarten to grade six, and then went right back down straight to the kindergarteners and first-graders, who had all been gathered and told that she was going to read them a story.

Some of them had had other priorities. Plato and Minyamon were such curious creatures that the kids just _had_ to play with them, and both her familiar and digimon partner were more than happy to play with the children. Plato amused himself and the kids by spewing jets of flame from his mouth or just by flying around in a lazy circle, while Minyamon blew bubbles or bounced, rolled, or otherwise cuddled against the tiny faces of the children.

For those who _did_ want to be close to their princess rather than her magical menagerie, they all hushed and sat in a semi-circle around her as she sat on a big chair compared to their little ones, and read them a story. Kairi was enjoying herself, watching them watch her with awe and rapt attention while she read words from the pages that some of them had yet to learn how to even begin to decipher. She could also have attributed part of her smile to that she was reading one of her favourite books of all time to them, and she did.

"And he did hear a sound rising over the snow," she read. "It started in low. Then it started to grow. But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! And look," she added, pointing at the drawing, "there's the Grinch and Max all confuzled by the merry sound." She smiled wider at a couple giggles at the unfamiliar but funny term she'd used and continued on. She's have to thank Sora for introducing her to Tigger, even though when they first met he'd bounced her on her chest and pressed down her 'pillows'. She thought it was funny, an innocent, naïve bouncing tiger had touched her breasts before even her boyfriend had.

"He stared down at _Who_-ville! The Grinch popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!" She turned the page.

"Every _Who_ down in _Who_-ville, the tall and the small,  
Was singing! Without any presents at all!  
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!  
Somehow or other, it came just the same! And there's all the _Whos_ standing hand-in-hand, singing," Kairi added in an aside before turning the page.  
"And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,  
Stood puzzling and puzzling: 'How could it be so?'"

Suddenly Kairi felt a strong familiar tugging on her heart, like something was trying to pull her inside. Instantly she could recognize it as Naminé's pull and that they were having a heart-to-heart meeting in their special chamber, and Kairi fought back bitterly and resisted. She was at her favourite lines of the book; she would _not_ be forced to stop reading because they wanted to talk to her.

-A-D-

Sora watch the egg chair that Kairi normally sat in expectantly as the seconds ticked by. A small frown began to develop on his face as Kairi didn't appear. "You sure that you're reaching out to her?" he asked Naminé.

"I am," she insisted, "but she's not coming."

"Wait, she said she's not coming?" Riku asked curiously.

"No, but she's really resisting the pull," Naminé answered. She flapped her arms uselessly. "Sora, is there anything Kairi would be doing that would be making her say no?"

"Uh, I don't think so," he answered truthfully. "I think she might have that thing at the school today, but I can't really remember."

"What thing at what school?" Yuffie asked, now having her own chair and seat with the group on the golden platform with the image of the Kingdom Key decorating the centre. "What could be so important to keep her from this? What is so important anyway?"

"I can't remember," Sora answered instantly.

"Load of help you are," Roxas grumbled. "The one person who _really_ needs to hear this and she's not showing up."

A burst of light appeared on the platform and Kairi appeared, fuming. Sora was immediately captivated by her look: a violet blouse and black high-waisted skirt that showed off a tasty (but tasteful) amount of leg, with her raspberry beret perched lopsided on her head. "Alright, I'm here," she snapped. "I was right at 'It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags!' Now what is _so_ important that you tried to interrupt me reading 'It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags' and the rest of _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ to little kids?"

"Death to all and to all a good night," Roxas answered heavily.

Kairi blinked at him. "Okay, that was weird. Now that you have my attention…" she moved her hand in a circular motion and sat down with a sigh. "Sorry about bitching guys."

"It's okay," Sora assured her, leaning over and placing his right hand on her left knee. "But, we're in a load of trouble." He could feel Kairi stiffen.

"What sort of trouble?" she asked, her indigo eyes sweeping over him. "Wait, why's your automail turning… orangish?"

"I'm pretty sure I was dumb and it's rusting," Sora told her. "So I need to go see Winry to get it fixed, but that's not the bad thing."

"What is the bad thing?" Kairi asked.

"Maleficent's moving to attack Radiant Garden," Naminé told her. The red-haired girl whipped her head around to look at her, Riku and Yuffie copying her actions.

Roxas spoke up. "She's got over two hundred thousand Heartless on their way along with two thousand orcs from Sauron, two hundred minotaurs and dwarves from the White Witch, and another five hundred of Nod's soldiers with probably a large number of their vehicles. Oh, and, uh, I think maybe four hundred or so of those Heartless are of the Charr variety."

Kairi's head whipped over to him now, and then Sora added softly, "They'll be there on Sunday." Her eyes bugged out before she leaned back in her egg chair, slumping as the magnitude of the situation struck her.

"Sunday," Riku muttered. "That doesn't give us much time." The others nodded, but stayed silent.

"So…" Kairi said after a heavy minute. "What's our plan?"

"Get the fuck back to Radiant Garden and hold it," Yuffie replied earnestly. "I'm not losing my homeworld again. I'm not going to watch a world get destroyed again."

"We can't," Kairi mumbled in a daze, "there's too many. Two hundred thousand…" She frowned at her own words before anyone else could say anything, and smacked her forehead. "What am I talking about? Get a grip Kairi! Of course we can do it; we can do it because we have no other choice! So what if the _Starlight_ went out ten hours ago with three other ships and just about everybody for their final final tests and drills? We gotta do it."

"We will," Sora assured her firmly. There wasn't any doubt in his voice or in his face. Kairi caught his eyes, and he nodded his head. She'd said it right. They'd do it because there was no other choice. Radiant Garden was a symbol of their, of _his_, victory over Maleficent; all of them knew it. She'd taken the world when it was weak from betrayal, and he'd beaten her and taken it back for its people. If she were to conquer it again despite all of their efforts, then everything everyone had worked so hard for would have been in total vain.

"I'm going world-side in a minute or so to see Winry about this arm," he told Kairi, "and then I'm thinking of hitting everyone I can reach for any aid they can spare. I'll be back Saturday afternoon at the latest, I swear."

"We're already on our way back," Naminé said. "And you may find some help arrive before we get there. You can thank Roxas for that. We also already told Asterix, Obelix, Max, and PJ. Those in the _Boar_ are on their way back, and Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Iago, Carpet, and Genie are on their way in the _Sultan_. Aladdin said they'd pick up Belle and the Beast too. Aurora's coming along with Prince Phillip too, but the others said that all of their worlds are getting hit and they can't be spared."

"That's nice," Kairi groaned, rubbing her eyes with her hands. She was silent for a few seconds, absorbing everything that had been said. "First," she said slowly before quickly running through her next words, "I need a fucking drink and then I'm going to figure out what I'm going to say to the war council."

Naminé blinked before looking at Kairi in shock. "A drink! Kairi, we're underage! You can't drink!"

"I need a drink!" the crimson-haired princess declared. "There are over two hundred thousand enemies on my doorstep and we're not prepared and I'm the one who's got to go into that war council and give them the news. I'm getting a fucking drink! Just get your asses back here pronto, I need you."

With that, Kairi vanished.

Naminé folded her arms over and pouted. "That sure wasn't very nice."

"She's got a point," Yuffie told the blonde. "She _is_ the one who has to tell the bigwigs, 'Uh, guys, call everybody back, 'cause we're fucked'. I don't want her job."

"I do."

Sora watched Naminé's face after she said that, noticing that Riku and Yuffie were doing the same. "Naminé?" he asked.

"I want to become Queen," she declared. "I want to lead Radiant Garden. I want to serve it, protect it, and make it great."

"Hmm, that sounds like a good plan, Naminé," said Yuffie, nodding slowly. "I'd love to see what you do with it…_except_ that we need to get through this little situation first, and then the whole war that's going on."

The blonde's face fell slightly as she remembered. "Oh yeah, that." She added something in an undertone and glanced at Roxas, but Sora didn't catch what she had said.

_What's up?_ He asked, looking at his twin.

_Call me. I'll tell you then,_ answered Roxas. There was a fair bit of anxiety in his voice, but also an underlying excitement that just intrigued Sora's curiosity.

"Anyway," Sora broke in, "I'm gonna go see Winry now, and you guys do whatever you can, and I'll see you in Radiant Garden tomorrow." He waited until they'd all said their goodbyes before removing himself from the room with a simple thought.

-A-D-

When Kairi opened her eyes it was to see the entire group of children that had been gathered around her to hear her tell the story looking at her with concerned or curious looks. At the moment she opened her eyes, however, they all jolted back a little bit at the sudden sign of awakening. A sad smile came to her face as she looked at all of them, all so young and full of promise.

A sudden light from the side of the room drew her attention, and she saw Minyamon surrounded by golden light. The little digimon, who so far had said nothing but her own name or a variation of it, declared loudly, "Minyamon digivolve to, Luinmon!" The girl who had been holding Minyamon looked at the ice-blue head that was Luinmon in complete and total shock. "Hi there," the digimon said. "I'm Luinmon, what's your name?"

"Re-Rebecca," the girl replied hesitantly, not used to the digimon speaking at all instead of gaily laughing.

"Hi Rerebecca," Luinmon said pleasantly, smiling. "You've got a funny name."

The girl flushed while several of her nearby friends, and amongst those who had just been watching in awe, began to laugh. "No, my name is Rebecca," she clarified, "not Rerebecca."

"Oh, that makes much more sense," Luinmon answered, still smiling. "Why didn't you say so in the first place, Rebecca?"

"You startled me," the first-grader insisted.

Luinmon looked at her in bewilderment. "But Kairi doesn't get startled, do you Kairi?" The ice-blue head glanced to her right, and suddenly her eyes lit up upon seeing her partner.

"Luinmon," Kairi whispered.

"Kairi!"

"Luinmon!"

The pair leapt for one another, Kairi upsetting her chair and not caring that it hit the floor with a loud _bang_! Luinmon was in her arms in a second, the two of them with their eyes closed and smiles threatening to tear apart their mouths. "You're back," Kairi whispered, feeling the warmth of the ice-blue digimon's body against her arms.

"And together we can make me Menelmon again," Luinmon told her, snuggling into Kairi's shoulder. Kairi nodded, embracing her partner tightly. There was more in her heart than just the thought of seeing her digimon partner's In-Training level again, but the realization that she had really, _truly_, come back. Luinmon's presence was much more than a welcome thing; it was the budding flame of the life Kairi had briefly feared Maleficent had snuffed out like so many others. Hope came back to Kairi, rather than a sense of dutiful dread.

Two hundred thousand? Kairi nearly laughed. No matter what, they would rise from the ashes again and again and again.

However, Kairi didn't wish for there to be any ashes necessary for them to rise from at all. She pulled away from Menelmon slightly, and looked at Plato, who was hovering in place in the middle of the room. "_It's time to go,_" she said. Plato nodded his head, and flew across the room to land on top of Kairi's beret. She looked down at the kids, all of whom were now assembling around her.

"I'm _really_ sorry," she told them. "I know that I said you'd have more time with me, but I really have to go now."

The chorus of disappointed _awws_ heaved guilt onto her, and she let it show and didn't brush it away. "Why Princess Kairi?" asked a little boy from the kindergarten class. "You were going to read us more Christmas stories."

"I know, and I really am sorry," said Kairi, looking directly at him, "but while I was…sleeping there…I was actually talking with Sora, Sir Roxas, Princess Naminé, Lord Riku, and Lady Yuffie."

Their eyes all lit up and looked at their princess in awe. "You were talking with Sora?" several asked.

"Are you going to marry him?" said one girl, asking Kairi the question that made her blush a little.

"Someday, I'm sure of it," she replied, smiling. "But Sora and the others told me something very important; something very important about Christmas this year."

"What?" the kids asked. Even the teachers who had been watching and listening to her had raised their voices. Kairi eyed them all momentarily before returning to looking at the kids.

"That we have a lot of work to do and very little time to do it in," she said, "or else we'll all be celebrating Christmas in Traverse Town." Many of the children had returned to Radiant Garden from Traverse Town, and the seriousness of the situation was suddenly impressed upon them. The entire room was silent, and Kairi sighed and started to make her way out.

"Go get them Lady Kairi."

She paused and turned her head at the quiet voice. One of the kids was blushing and giving her a shy smile, seemingly a little embarrassed at speaking out. His smile was enough to bring one to her own heart and face, and she nodded her head.

"Yeah, go get 'em Lady Kairi," whispered another, seeing her nod.

"You can do it," another urged.

"You're the best."

"Nobody can beat our Princess! Dragon Knight! Dragon Knight! Dragon Knight!"

Plato chuckled as the chanting of 'Dragon Knight' followed them out of the classroom and down the halls. _"Perhaps you should show them the 'Dragon Knight', my Queen,"_ he suggested.

"_Perhaps I should,"_ Kairi agreed with a smile. _"But, I should really save my energy."_

Kairi quickly placed her jacket on from where she'd hung it on one of the coat racks outside of the classroom and made her way down to the door, many of the kids following in her wake just because she was the princess. Kairi emerged from the school, took note of her guards and chocobo-drawn carriage outside, and quickly told them that they'd be heading back for the castle.

From inside the carriage she gave the kids one last glance and smile before taking off towards the castle. Soon they were completely out of sight, and Kairi's thoughts drifted. She groaned and rubbed her eyes as she contemplated the situation that they now found themselves in.

"Over two hundred thousand!" she whispered. "I need a drink before I tell them!"

"_Are you sure, my Queen?"_ asked her familiar. _"After all, Sora once defeated a thousand Heartless single-handedly. I am sure that dealing with this will not be too much trouble."_

"Kairi, what's he saying?" Luinmon asked.

Kairi looked at Luinmon as the digimon sat on her lap. She gave the ice-blue ball a soft smile. "He's buttering me up and telling me that two-hundred thousand Heartless aren't a problem for us," she said with a smile.

"Two hundred thousand?" Luinmon asked. "Ha! Bring them all on. I'll send them all packing as Thorondomon."

"_And I'll do my share,"_ Plato offered, landing on Kairi's head.

"Plato, Luinmon, I think you're each missing the point a little," Kairi said, even though their confident attitudes were getting to her. "But, thanks. We'll do this, he have to. Losing isn't an option."

"So what are you saying?" Luinmon asked as the carriage bumped and rolled. A chocobo kwehed outside as the bird and its rider shifted a little on the slippery road. "Are you saying that we can't win?"

"It's just going to be hard is all," Kairi told the digimon.

They were mostly silent for the rest of the trip back, though Kairi did wave out of the window to several people who called and waved after the carriage. Once safely inside the castle's warm wall, she slipped into the dining hall. Only a couple of staff were inside, eating a late breakfast at one of the tables, and three members of her guards, eating with the staff. None of their heads turned, so she was safe for the moment, and Kairi quickly closed her eyes and cast her light spell that turned her invisible be wrapping every particle of light that would otherwise strike her and reflect back around her in unbroken lines as if she was never even there.

_Now, where do we keep the liquor?_

-A-D-

When Sora opened his eyes again, he was in the _Highwind_'s lounge, sitting comfortably in the armchair near the bookcase. Aiwemon, Donald, and Goofy all looked at him as he glanced up. "Done?" asked the digimon.

"Yeah," Sora replied. "Kairi, Riku, and Yuffie know now, and Roxas and Naminé already knew. Actually, they knew more than I did, but they knew."

"Good," Donald said, "now let's get that arm of yours fixed. You can't fight Heartless very well if it won't move."

Sora nodded, and together rose with Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon, the bird digimon landing on his right shoulder as he always did. The three filed down the hallway to the hatch and exited into the bright early sunlight lighting the town of Resembool. In front of them was a yellow house with a patio both in front of the front door and immediately above it at the second floor. A sign in front advertised the Rockbell's automail business.

The one with the automail glanced quickly at his companions before striding up the stairs and reaching the door. He knocked, and waited.

The door opened several seconds later, and at first Sora couldn't see who it was that answered the door, but then his eyes were drawn to the point of a spire of light purple hair and his eyes quickly went downwards to the elderly face of Pinako Rockbell, the woman dressed in her white smock and green dress. She looked up at him from behind her round spectacles, a smoking pipe in her mouth. "Ah, Sora. Nice to see you. What brings you to our neck of the woods?"

Sora blushed and looked away slightly, ashamed of what had become of the fine automail that she and Winry had made for him. "Uh, I've kinda got mechanical troubles with my arm," he admitted, looking back at her to gauge her reaction. She stared at him for a few seconds, making him feel even more uncomfortable.

Pinako took a drag from her pipe and blew out the smoke in a short sigh. "Well, let's have a look at it then. Come in. Good to see you again, Donald, Goofy."

"Howdy Pinako," said Goofy.

"How's life?" Donald asked, coming in and shutting the door behind him.

"Oh not too bad," Pinako said. "We've been keeping busy. Winry!" she called up the stairs. "We have a customer."

"Be right there granny!" the voice of the young woman carried down to them. About a minute later, when Sora was sitting at the Rockbell's table with Pinako examining his arm, the blonde teenager came down the stairs. Winry was wiping her hands on a rag, dressed in a white shirt and black skirt, with her long yellow hair tied into a tail behind her back. She saw Sora sitting at the table and her eyes looked at him quizzically for a second. "Hey Sora, what's—"

She gasped as her eyes fell onto his arm. "AH! What did you do to my automail!" she cried, rushing up to it. "Look at all the rust, the dirt, the grime! What have you been doing!"

Sora winced under her horrified look. "Uh, swimming in the ocean."

Winry looked at him, not impressed at all. "You went swimming in salt water?" she asked plainly.

"…Yeah…"

_Tchk!_

"Ow!" the Keyblade Master yelped as Winry rapped him on the top of his head with her wrench. "What was that for?"

"You rusted my automail!" she returned. "I pulled an all-nighter to get that ready for you and two months later you're back and it looks like you haven't been caring for it at all. Now we're going to have to take it apart and scrub all the rust off, clean it, and put it together again. I bet you haven't oiled it once."

"I didn't _get_ any oil Winry," Sora argued, "and you never showed me how to oil it to begin with." Pinako glanced from Sora to Winry, and the girl's anger suddenly deflated under her grandmother's glare. She laughed nervously and rubbed her chin with a finger.

"Well, I guess you'd better get started then," said Pinako, looking between Sora and Winry. "And Winry, make sure you show him how to care for it this time."

-A-D-

Captain Hartman was smiling as he looked down at the creature across from him on the bridge. "Yes, I've heard about you," he said, amusement in his voice as he smacked a rolled up piece of paper in his hand in a steady rhythm. The paper in his hand contained orders _supposedly_ sent by Fleet Admiral Kago and meant for Admiral Pennant, who commanded their squadron from the _Starlight_ along with Vice Admiral Lars aboard the _Enterprise_ and Rear Admiral Nevecnova on the _Nexus_, directing them to cancel the final tests for the _Starlight_ and other new vessels in the fleet as well as final drills for their fighter and bomber squadrons, and instead head off into the depths of the lanes towards the worlds to combat the enemy.

The message had been written really well, except that it was delivered by a warrior mounted on a chocobo who had smacked the captain in the face when he asked the warrior who he was and why he was riding a chocobo onto the bridge.

"I am terribly sorry for this, Captain," Mulan apologized, bowing before the officer.

"I'm not," Mushu said. "These guys are messing with our shot at getting a piece of the action."

"So you felt it necessary to forge orders?" Mulan whispered anxiously.

"I'd do anything to keep my girl's reputation as a war hero," Mushu answered.

"It's quite alright," Captain Hartman answered to the Chinese warrior's apology. "I'm just glad I was able to intercept this. It made my day a bit brighter." He looked at Mushu, and handed the scroll back to the dragon. "You never could have fooled us with this. You can't get written orders like that on a gummi ship, little dragon. If Fleet Admiral Kago were to give us orders, this phone beside me here would ring, and then—"

The phone beside him began to ring. He glanced at the phone, then at Mushu and Mulan (both of whom appearing just as surprised as him), and then picked up the phone. "Captain Hartman." He was silent for a few seconds before covering up the mouthpiece and turning to a nearby naval lieutenant. "Get me Admiral Pennant."

-A-D-

_1100hrs,_

Naminé had thought that they were lucky.

When they started for Radiant Garden there were absolutely no Heartless ships impeding them. They didn't get pulled out of warp by a mysterious force, and there was _just_ enough food aboard to keep their growling stomachs to a minimum. While the thought that she still might have gotten pregnant from the night's activities with Roxas was still on her mind, Agatha assured her over and over again that they'd done all that they could to counter conception and that it was now completely out of their hands, so worrying about it was useless. During the flight a Samurai appeared aboard with a message from Harima. The host of the Samurai had arrived in Radiant Garden and was acting under orders from the princess, though Harima's message did convey that she was acting a little odd.

Naminé had thought that they were lucky when they made it to Radiant Garden just a little past lunch. She had thought that they were lucky when they saw the _Roadster_ and _Boar_ drop out of warp around the world just moments after they in the _Hunter_ did. She'd thought that they were lucky when a huge ship, the likes of which she'd never seen before, arrived in the system just a minute after their three ships did, followed immediately by thirteen smaller vessels, including the _SCS Judicator_, and another massive ship. The first one Naminé could see had a sphere in its front, with a purple moon emblazoned on the upper half behind white fire whereupon a white dragon stood. The word _Starlight_ was written along the side of the ship's white-silver hull.

The other massive ship was roughly in the shape of a triangular pyramidal prism, coloured for the most part in midnight blue and grey. The bow and side edges were all rounded, and the bow of the ship rounded near the bottom to come down to its base, giving it a low-lying protrusion that might have looked like a nose from the side. Along the sloping sides of the ship stretched rounded, pillowy, extensions, and on the top (which was really more of a long rectangle with points than a straight line) a glass-looking dome rose above in an airfoil shape. Many pebble-like bumps like the large ones that dominated each side riddled each side and the face on the bow of the ship, with others just in front of the dome and just behind the dome. Naminé could just make out from this distance that each of those tiny pebbles contained at least one battery. The bottom half of the stern was dominated by the ship's engines, massive gummi blocks that were constantly emitting a fiery red glow as they propelled the ship forward, and above the engines the prism ceased its downward slope and extended to cover the top and sides of the engines with a protective shell, also riddled with the small battery-holding nodes along with its own apparently-glass dome. Along the side, right near the top beneath the airfoil dome, in bright yellow letters was the ship's name, _Unity_.

Lea whistled as tiny Arrow fighters warped in alongside the fifteen much larger gummi ships. "Well, what do you know? We _do_ have a fleet."

Naminé had thought that they were lucky that the majority of the fleet arrived the same time that they did. She had thought that they were lucky that all of their pieces were reassembling in Radiant Garden so quickly

There was one thing, however, that turned all of this apparent 'luck' upside down when they reached the world's surface. The downfall of Naminé's 'luck' wasn't that the Heartless had attacked, which they hadn't, or that the defence system had gone haywire, which it hadn't, or that the Samurai were sitting around doing nothing, which they weren't, or that Nod agents had infiltrated the city and had attempted to blow up the castle, which, again, they hadn't. Instead, it was the girl-who-shall-remain-nameless flying around in the air on flaming swan wings carrying an orb of fire in her left hand and having a whale of a time!

Kairi, they all discovered, had a very low hard liquor tolerance. Apparently she'd had a few beers while invisible, and for whatever reason she was able to drink them like water. Beer did zilch to her system, but once one of her guards (after she'd explained the situation) poured her a shot of rye whiskey Kairi was off unhinged. According to Colonel Mustang, Kairi had kicked open the door, strode into the war room with a drink in her left hand, went up to the table and declared, "We need to recall the fleet. The bitch is sending over two hundred thousand Heartless after us and we're not losing the Garden to her again. I've got three thousand Samurai outside waiting for me to tell 'em what to do, and I'm going to have some of them post themselves as scouts miles beyond the northern wall while the rest can get boulders ready on the cliffs lining the canyon that leads into it. You all can figure out the rest, I've gotta fly to take a look at things while waiting for Nami and Sora to show up, bye," and then immediately left the room before anyone could recover from the shock.

She was flying above and looking at things, just with the eyes and skill of a drunk bird who was able to shoot fire out of her left hand whenever it felt a bit nippy. To Kairi, it was _always_ nippy.

The blonde princess, however, did not know all of that at this moment. All Naminé knew as she stood out on the flight line, staring up at her sister, was that she'd never seen Kairi acting totally crazy before. Remembering what Kairi had said, Naminé correctly assumed that she was drunk.

_Kairi!_ She yelled. _Get down here!_

The flaming-haired Princess stopped in the air and looked around for a moment before apparently spotting Naminé on the ground while the larger ships were just starting to descend. Kairi flew down, and bowled Naminé over in a hug. "Nami! Hey, I'm so glad to see you! Quick, come with me, I've got cookies for you and everybody! Oh, Roxas, thanks for sending the Samurai. I still can't hear them, but they write really well. I've got some of them posted as scouts as far away as a day away and the rest are all working on stuff up on the cliffs."

"They're working on what?" Roxas asked.

Kairi laughed and blew air out of her mouth. "Oh, just rolling boulders and stuff up to the edges of the ravine. Nasty surprise for the Heartless and whatever else is coming at us if they decide to go that way since I don't think even that many Heartless can coordinate portals enough to try and enter the city proper. They'll probably bump into each other so much that they'll get knocked off into different exits." She suddenly gasped loudly. "RIKU!" She flung her arms around the tall silver-haired Wielder, nearly knocking him off of his feet like she'd done with Naminé.

"Great to see you too, Kairi," Riku answered, gently putting her back onto her feet.

"I knew that whatever hurt you wasn't going to get you!" declared Kairi. "I just knew it! Sora and I had felt it that time when you got shot, and it didn't do you in then and I just knew that whatever happened wasn't going to do you in now, but it did feel a bit weird before I went to bed that night that I felt a little bit of—"

"You mentioned cookies?" Yuffie reminded her, pointedly cutting Kairi off.

The princess' eyes lit up and she dropped out of her Fire Mage Form, revealing herself in a snow suit. "Oh! Right! Cookies! This way!" With a wave of her hand Kairi created a portal of light so large that it enveloped her, Naminé, Yuffie, Roxas, and Riku. The blonde princess looked around a little in the starlight-filled corridor. It wasn't entirely what she expected. Naminé gasped in surprise as Kairi grabbed hers and Riku's arms and yanked them forward the dozen metres to the exit portal. When they emerged, they found themselves to be in the massive dining hall of the castle. Five of the tables were laden with Christmas cookies (a good deal of them Kairi's shortbread ones) and jugs of milk. "Cookies!" Kairi shouted roughly, already unzipping her ski jacket.

Naminé almost felt bad laughing. Her sister was drunk, and her brain looked to be running at a million miles a minute. Kairi suddenly got a thoughtful look on her face and she turned around. "First, why aren't you guys eating my cookies yet? Second, what are we going to do? I've been thinking up plans, but I know that I'm drunk so some of them are probably bat-shit over the moon crazy."

"Well the rolling boulders off the top of the cliffs onto the Heartless isn't a bat-shit insane plan," Roxas comforted her as he went to get a cookie. He stopped for a moment. "Is that Christmas music I hear?"

Immediately, Kairi burst out singing along to the song, as if she'd just realized it was playing. _"I don't need to hang my stocking there upon the fireplace. Santa Claus won't make me happy with a toy on Christmas day. I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you."_ The others couldn't help but stare at Kairi for a moment while she sang, but then she grabbed Yuffie and started to dance with her. Her drunken randomness was infectious as Naminé started to laugh. Despite everything that was coming for them, Kairi appeared to have forgotten it all and gotten carried away in the moment and the music. Yuffie got into the swing of things and spirit of the season, dancing with the drunken princess and singing along with her, and Naminé couldn't help but join them when the ninja grabbed her arm and forced her into the group.

The moment the song ended, Kairi got a little pensive even as Naminé heard the starting lines to another song playing through the loudspeakers. Kairi then struck her fist into her palm. "That reminds me, I need to go to the apothecary. Gotta jet; see you later!"

"Kairi wait!" Riku said, casting his hand out towards her like a side-cast of a rod. The redhead stopped the instant his hand clutched her upper arm, like he'd rendered her completely powerless. He gave her a sharp look, and used all of his added size over her to his advantage. "I don't think you should be going out while you're drunk like this."

"And why not?" Kairi retorted, insulted that Riku was intimidating her like this and trying to refuse her.

"You're drunk, duh," was his response.

"What were you going to go to an apothecary for anyway?" Yuffie asked.

"Oh, I was going to blow all of my munny on potions and ethers and crap like that," Kairi answered.

Naminé giggled. "Oh, is that all? I can just have Aga—" She stopped, apparently realizing something. "Hey, guys, did we have time to tell anyone that Kairi abducted us, or did we just leave Agatha, Lea, and everybody else hanging without a word?"

"We left them hanging," Roxas replied. He snapped his fingers and a Samurai appeared in a silver swirl and knelt before him. "Nephtys, go to Lea and tell him we're already at the castle. If he asks how, tell him Kairi abducted us." The Samurai nodded and vanished. "There. That's taken care of."

"Kairi was still right though about the potion shopping," Riku said. "Roxas, why don't we go get the med supplies while the girls stay here? I have a feeling that we're going to need them."

"Hey, why leave us behind?" Kairi asked obstinately. "It was _my_ idea, after all."

"Because you're drunk," Riku repeated. "And just from what I've seen, you'd get distracted and buy a whole new wardrobe instead of a potion."

"You're right, I would," Kairi admitted. "Alright then. I hereby decree that Riku and Roxas will get the potions and ethers and such. We girls can play catch-up. I want to know _all_ about what you've been doing while I was back here, nursing a poor, broken arm and bruised ribs."

Kairi's arms wrapped around Naminé and Yuffie, and the blonde suddenly felt trapped. The look on Kairi's face made her more than a little nervous. She had been _going_ to tell her sister about what had happened between her and Roxas, of course, but she'd never expected nor wanted to do it when Kairi was drunk. There was an element of unpredictability in Kairi's current condition that made Naminé more than anxious.

The red-head would have nothing of it, and dragged the other two out of the dining hall, after ensuring that they'd completely loaded up on cookies, of course. Kairi's room was only a few minutes away, but as soon as they'd reached it Kairi dumped the pair onto her pink bed. There came a rasping hiss and suddenly a tiny dragon made entirely of fire flew onto Kairi's head, Luinmon bounding up onto her shoulder from the vanity a second later.

"Welcome back Kairi," said the digimon. "How was flying? Learn anything new?"

"I learned that it's not a great idea to do it while drunk," answered Kairi. "Now, spill, what have you guys been up to?"

"Kairi," asked Yuffie, pointing, "what's with the dragon?"

"There's something familiar about it," Naminé said, looking at it curiously. It was triggering something in her memory, but she wasn't quite sure. She snapped her fingers. "That's the dragon Roxas made to convince Edward that magic was real."

The fire dragon began to rasp and hiss for several seconds, seemingly with an air of annoyance, and Kairi giggled. "Now, now, Plato, she didn't mean anything by it. Naminé, Yuffie, this is my familiar, Plato. He's not a little fire conjured by Roxas, either, he's a fire elemental. Well, technically he's not even a 'he' but an 'it', but 'it' sounds far too impersonal so since we named him Plato I've stuck to calling him a him even though he's not one because elementals don't have genders. Wait a second." She turned to Plato, and suddenly her voice switched into crackling hisses and rasps. Plato responded with a series of his own, and Kairi suddenly blushed and looked away. "Forget I asked. So…who wants to go first?"

Naminé reluctantly began first, relating to Kairi, Yuffie, Luinmon, and Plato everything that had happened since they'd parted ways several days before. She kept the fact that she had slept with Roxas a secret, since she didn't feel ready to impart that information to her sister and friend when one of them was drunk. Kairi then gave her story, telling the pair of the attack during her speech, Soronmon being reborn as a digiegg, the snowball fights, hockey game, skating, and touring the _Starlight_ and bonding with Plato.

Yuffie was halfway through her tale when the door burst open, startling all of them. "HA!" Tifa shouted, pointing at Yuffie. "Finally cornered you, Yuffie!"

"Tifa!" gasped the ninja wielder. "What are you doing here?"

Tifa slammed the door behind her with her foot. "I told you that I wanted to talk to you later, but you kept giving me the slip. So…" the woman got an evil smirk on her face, "you gonna tell me what was going on between you and Riku when you were holed up in the bell tower that night, just the two of you, _alone_…?"

"Wait, what?" Naminé asked. "When did this happen?"

"Ooh, me likey," Kairi added, grinning at Yuffie while propping her head up on her elbows as the red-head lay on her bed. "So Yuffie, tell us. I don't think you've gotten to _that_ part yet."

The blush on Yuffie's face spoke volumes about the information she was about to impart. Naminé had no idea that the conversation would soon take a horrible turn and leave her in the same spot; she'd half-forgotten that when they were this close to one another she and Kairi could hear any loud thoughts the other unconsciously projected. Her own night-time activities with Roxas the previous night were about to fall under heavy scrutiny.

-A-D-

_1200hrs,_

After having purchased over a hundred and thirty thousand munny's worth of potions, Hi-potions, and ethers for all six of the group, Riku and Roxas had returned to the castle to find the girls—now including Tifa and Leon, not that Leon was suddenly female—pouring over a map in the war room with King Mickey, the generals, Garda, and other commanders they had met not even a week previously.

"A Samurai came back," Naminé told them, barely looking up when the pair were led in, "said that they'd found the army Maleficent was talking about."

"What?" Roxas asked quickly. "You mean they're here already?"

"Not quite," Colonel Mustang said. "Apparently they've arrived a few days' march away to the north. They're slowly streaming out of numerous portals, according to the Samurai, and it'll take them a while to assemble and bring their larger vehicles and massive numbers through."

"How long is 'a while'?" Riku asked promptly, coming to the table.

"The Samurai identified twelve portals," Kairi began, pointing at the small dots that were on the map in pencil. "They also watched for a while and calculated that it was taking the Heartless a rate of a minute to get a hundred of them through the portal, even at a mob pace with the little ones. There were already a couple thousand filling the area they were entering, though."

"We've run some calculations based on that and the information the Samurai provided us earlier on the size of the force coming and we've deduced that it'll still take them over a day to finish gathering, and then it will still take more time to organize a proper marching order. We have time still to plan our defence," General Berger, from Twilight Town, added. "Although," he admitted, "unless another one reports in, we have no way of knowing if they're just going to wait until they've formed up to march or if they're going to come here in a steady stream after a decent-sized group has amassed."

"The northern wall and the ravine entering the vale up north is the most secure location and the direct route from where they are to us here," Garda said, dragging his finger across the map. "The Heartless are also too far south of Woodburg and west of Windy Plain to have appeared in order to raze them. We have to be prepared for anything here."

"The ravine's also too thin for them to use their numbers effectively," Lord Ramius pointed out, tapping it on the map. "There's too many of them to fit through quickly, and anything big that they've got will have to come one at a time. It's an effective choke point."

"On the other hand, with their numbers if we try to hold them at the choke point they could just swarm right through, disregarding losses, and proceed to fill up the plateau without opposition," Garda theorized.

"Just let me fly over them and roast them," Kairi growled. Plato on her shoulder rasped something, and Kairi muttered a retort back in Ignan.

"There is merit to that," Garda said before Radiant Garden's Defence Minister, Holly Lauken, could interject with an argument based solely on her being the heir and that they couldn't risk her. "You shouldn't go alone, though."

"There are a few of us that can Drive into forms that allow us to fly," Kairi reminded him.

"But how long will the Drive last for, Kairi?" Riku asked. "I know that I've never tried to stay in Horizon Form and fly around for as long as possible, so I'm sure I'll run out of energy and need to rest before it comes to that. I don't think I can skate as fast as you can fly either."

"I was the first to Drive after Sora, before Kairi even," Naminé spoke up. "I can keep up with Kairi."

A palm slapped down on the table. "Absolutely not!" barked Holly Lauken, the woman's bright blue eyes snapping cold as ice behind the glasses held up on her eagle-beak nose and high cheekbones. Even the woman's crisp brown hair was bristling. "One Princess is one thing, but risking both of you on this is an unacceptable risk that the Garden will not permit."

"I agree," Leon said, startling Kairi and Naminé. Nobody spoke for a second and Leon continued. "However, it isn't the Garden's place to authorize their actions."

"They're the successors to the throne," said Holly. "The pair of them should be protected if the monarchy is to be preserved."

"They're Keyblade Wielders," King Mickey stipulated. "Their duty to the worlds also needs to be considered and they have their own powers and friends to protect them."

"And right now Radiant Garden needs the strength of its two Keyblade Knights," Kairi insisted, eyes firm and daring, "and doesn't need to be coddling them because of their blood."

"Ah," an unfamiliar voice spoke up, "blood. And whose blood would this gathering be discussing?"

Riku turned, along with the others, and saw a new figure standing in the doorway. His face was vaguely familiar in the back of his mind, but for the moment Riku couldn't place it. The one standing there was a young man into his adult years at roughly twenty-one years of age. He was tall, just slightly taller than Riku stood, and his face was definitely an attractive one. Well-groomed black hair coveted his head, leaving his face full and maple eyes bright. He stood straight, carrying himself with an unconscious air of easily-wielded, comfortable authority. His clothes were fine, mainly red with patterns, layers, and embroidery of black, purple, and gold. The man was clearly a young noble out of any child's picture book.

Garda nearly gasped and quickly inclined his head in respect. "Prince Alexander. It is an honour but, if I may ask, what are you doing here instead of remaining on the Islands with Duke Naivus?"

Riku could see Kairi's head whirl between her master and the prince, obviously never having heard him speak like this before and wondering suddenly what the implications of the Crown Prince of Haressus being here would be. Even though she was probably still drunk, Riku expected her mind to still be somewhat functional.

"Prince who?" asked Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.

The young man bowed with a flourish. "Prince Alexander III, son of Alexander II, King of the Kingdom of Haressus of the world of Destiny's Enclave." He rose. "Destiny Islands is a very small part of our kingdom, rather separated from the rest of the realm and all lands around it. In fact, we consider it little more than an occasional vacation getaway, but current events are causing that outlook to change." The Prince looked at the Chief Guardian. "Ah, Chief Guardian Garda, I was told I would find you here. The Duke and I were riding, about to attend another one of these 'blitzball' games your people are so fond of, when the most marvellous thing flew out of the sky towards your Guardian building on Straca. It was easily the length and half again of my father's pool back home and three times as wide, so the Duke and I just had to see it up close. The men, if some of them could be called that, proclaimed that it was the 'Destiny Islands' Ship _Ocean_', and that she was picking up the last few Guardians that would be travelling across the stars with their comrades already gone. I wished to know where they were going, so I stated my name and position and intention to board. His Grace, the Duke, was against it, of course, but I reminded him to whom he was speaking and he went along with it, making sure that I knew that he would not be answerable to my father."

"So you came aboard the _Ocean,_" King Mickey stated rather than asked. He smiled. "Welp, the more the merrier. I'm King Mickey, monarch of Disney Castle. Welcome to the world of Radiant Garden, Prince Alexander." The mouse king extended his hand, and the prince shook it.

"A pleasure, Your Majesty," he said, bowing courteously. Riku watched him carefully, and he noted that his fellow Wielders did too, especially Kairi and Naminé. A prince was a prince, after all, and while Kairi and Naminé could both be exchanging thoughts with their flickering glances about this one's dashing good looks, they were sure to be worried. Princesses like them didn't often get the marriages of love they would like, and compared to a crown prince of a large human kingdom, Sora's standing as an illegitimate prince to a pride of lions was suddenly a stain of mud on the other's boot.

For the first time, and probably not for the last, Riku was glad that his princess, Yuffie, _wasn't_ a princess by any stretch of the imagination.

"Now then," Alexander began anew, "whose blood was being discussed when I interrupted?"

"Nobody's," Garda answered swiftly, turning his grey eyes back to the map. "We were discussing blood in general, as in how much blood are we willing to risk sending out a pre-emptive strike while our enemies are assembling."

"Do we have to send Kairi and Naminé in, though?" Roxas asked quickly, the blond likely making sure to keep the subject of his own girl's heritage under wraps. "Couldn't we ask for an Arrow squadron to make a strike or continue reconnaissance instead of the Samurai?"

"We could," said General Solomon, "but we'd have to be prepared for large numbers of Heartless or Nobody ships to also attack the fleet in the Lanes outside of the world, and my own ships have not yet arrived with the group. However," he tapped his finger repeatedly on the map. "If we _were_ to send the Arrows in, it could pin down Nod's troops and tanks as they tried to make their way out of the portals as well as blowing away Heartless."

"Wouldn't at least _some_ anti-air Heartless be present, though?" asked General Howell. "After what Sora and the others did in their Arrows when the Heartless were working for the Grey Men, I'm sure that they wouldn't just sit back and let themselves get blown up from the sky."

"There are flying Heartless," Riku reminded them. "Air Pirates, Battleships, Wyverns, Aeroplanes, Surveillance Robots, and that Jet Heartless that Naminé talked about being here once."

"Cannon Guns were also trying to shoot us down when we fought Rourke in Atlantis," Yuffie added. "They could have evolved further, too."

"Sending Kairi and Naminé would also be a red flag," said Leon. "Remember, the Heartless can sense and fear the Keyblade. If they went out there, every flying Heartless would be on them in a heartbeat."

"What about having the B-40 Ajaxes fly in with Arrows providing cover?" Holly Lauken asked the generals. "That would protect the slower, more powerful bombers from aerial Heartless while also doing more damage than what the F-105s could do."

"Brilliant idea," announced Commander Nebula. "Didn't expect _that_ from a politician; now why didn't I think of that?"

"Permit me," Alexander started, drawing their eyes again, and this time his tone showed that he'd had enough of being confused, "but someone should probably explain to me what is going on."

"You just decided to leave your vacation and take part in our war, Your Highness," Garda answered, regaining his gruff tone.

"The war?" Alexander asked, astounded. "No, I left that—"

"Not _that_ war, _our_ war," Garda repeated, "the war against Maleficent and the darkness."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Riku waved his hand and looked back at the map. "Somebody else give him the abridged version, please. We've explained things too many times."

"Don't worry Riku," said King Mickey. "I'll tell him what he needs to know."

"Right," Colonel Mustang started again. "So we're agreed then, an Arrow squadron to perform recon and harry them while we prepare defences instead of the princesses?"

Prince Alexander III paused at the door King Mickey was leading him through and turned back, suddenly even more interested. "Princesses?"

_Shit_, thought Riku. _We've got to find a way to distract him from them, and fast._

"Kairi," Garda said quickly, looking at her.

"Yes, Master?" she responded.

He smiled suddenly, something Riku really hadn't seen much of, and chuckled wearily. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? Call me 'dad'."

Kairi fainted.

Luinmon squealed as the girl fell, the digimon held in the young woman's arms, and Riku and Roxas both bolted towards her, neither fast enough to catch her before she could hit the floor. Fortunately she fell backwards, so she didn't smash her nose open on the table or the floor and spill her life-blood all over the carpet.

"Kairi! Kairi!" called the digimon, nudging the girl's non-responsive head with her ice-blue body. "What's the matter? Wake up."

Tifa quickly intervened before anyone else could come up with an explanation. "I _told_ her she shouldn't have come here while she was drunk," the long, black-haired woman said, kneeling down to pick her up. "A bit too much stimulation and information overload and she finally passed out."

"I'll help bring her to her room," Garda offered, taking a step towards the woman. Tifa nodded her head and the two passed King Mickey and Prince Alexander, Luinmon bounding after them and Plato flying overhead. He hissed at the prince as he neared the royal's head, and got a satisfactory flinch out of him.

Not so much bothered by what had just transpired as he figured he should have been, Riku looked at the map again; looked in detail at the area just to their north in the wide-open area at the mouth of the ravine, barred by the great northern walls erected in ages past. There was room enough in those roughly five square kilometres of space between the wall and the front of the ravine to encamp an army. He recalled fighting against Naminé just beyond the wall inside of it, and how the girl and her handmaiden had trained in it, enduring the frigid elements under the guidance of the Ice Make mage, Ur.

There were probably still a number of craters close to the wall that he and Naminé had made when they'd faced each other, hidden under the snow.

"Lord Ramius," Riku queried, breaking into the silence that had continued after the prince's and Kairi's removal from the room, "you're used to this weather; would you call the snow an advantage or disadvantage?"

"A prime disadvantage for both sides," the Marquess answered. "It requires more energy to move through snow, tiring you before battle even begins and tiring you quicker as you make your way from opponent to opponent. The snow's whiteness can also partially blind you for a while, even without the sun shining, leaving you vulnerable and unable to properly gauge depth. One step can send your foot plunging through feet of snow off a drop after the wind makes it all settle in an even blanket over uneven terrain."

"So that means that the Heartless could fall into pits as easily as we could?" Riku asked for clarification.

"That's correct."

Riku looked at Naminé. "Hey Nam, you remember when we fought on Wartime Battlewatch?"

She nodded, only a tiny wrinkle knitting her forehead between her eyebrows. "Yeah."

"Do you remember all the little potholes we made when we were shooting at each other?"

"You mean potholes _you_ made when you were shooting at _me_," she corrected him. "I think I can see where you're going with this."

"Pit traps," General Berger summed up, taking a pencil to the map. "As many as you can make, in these areas." He made three moderately-sized ovals on the map, one in front of the entrance to the ravine stretching east-west, another south and west of that oval heading north-south, and a third south and east of the first oval also north-south. Three-quarters of the way to the side and before the points of intersection between the two north-south ovals and the east-west oval he marked two 'x's. "Forward defence posts," he explained. "They'll come through the ravine entrance, see our forces, and fall into the pits. They'll have to go slow to avoid stepping into any sudden drops, and in the meantime archers, mages, and rifles from the forward posts and up here on the heights can pick them off."

James Solomon tapped his finger on the map. "Wait, what if we block the pits in this front section and leave the others as a surprise?" All looked at him and waited for his elaboration. "Cover them with wooden lids, and rig explosives underneath them with remote detonators. When the Heartless and Nod are surging out across the plain towards the wall and our forward posts, we detonate them. Anything underneath the lids will be blasted and those that can't stop in time will fall into the pits."

"I like it," said Roxas. "How deep do you want the pits?"

"Thirty feet should work," said General Berger. "Anything dropping that far, if it doesn't die, is going to end up crippled. Plus, if we can catch a few of the tanks James says Nod will be bringing to the party, that's a few less tanks in the fight."

Lieutenant Hawkeye sighed. "The only problem is that it's going to take some time to dig the pits, even with Keyblade Wielders on the job. That's frozen rock."

"Sora and I once cut through skyscrapers that were being hurled at us," Riku pointed out, "in _single_ blows." He chuckled. "A little rock shouldn't be much problem."

Colonel Mustang's voice rang out sharp. "Lieutenant, you're forgetting the resources we have available to us."

"Sir?"

He glanced back at her, a cocky smirk on his face. He rubbed his fingers together. Jolts of lightning coursed around the white glove with a red transmutation circle printed on its back, and a flame erupted in the air a few inches off. "We have a State Alchemist. Fire isn't the only thing I can work with, you know."

"Then we'll go and check with Kairi to see if she's up yet and up for it before going out there," Naminé said. The generals nodded their heads, but one voice spoke up.

"Are you sure you should be going?" asked Holly Lauken. "It is cold and the terrain is covered in snow."

Naminé almost laughed. "I trained with magic out in that snow while I was almost naked until the cold mingled with my magic and fused into my body. I'm practically dancing at the chance to run around in it again; even this room feels a bit too warm for my comfort." With another smile at the stunned look on the face of the elected official, the blonde princess exited the room with Riku, Roxas, Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and Agatha Quin.

-A-D-

Consciousness jolted into Kairi like a bolt of lightning. Almost the moment her eyes opened she sat up on her bed. She regretted it seconds afterwards with the way the world swam in her eyes, but she fought through it.

"Kairi! Are you alright?"

A groan left Kairi's lips at the loudness of Luinmon's voice. Her head ached. "Ugh…" was all she felt capable of uttering at that moment. The alcohol clearly hadn't left her system yet. "Yeah, I think I'm alright," she added after a few seconds, "but I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt that Garda told me to call him 'Dad'."

"I did."

The red-head looked up. The Chief Guardian was there in the room, along with Tifa, Yuffie, Naminé, Riku, Roxas, Ovan, Agatha, and Kensworth. For a brief moment Kairi felt a twinge of being crowded and shuffled backwards on her bed beside Luinmon and Plato, but the moment passed and Riku sat down on the side of her bed.

"Are you alright?" he repeated the digimon's question.

"What the hell?" Kairi asked, ignoring Riku's comment and looking at her trainer. "Why ask me to do something like that?"

"Because," he answered in his normal tone of voice, further ignoring the look that Ovan Ramius was giving him, "I don't want to see Prince Alexander getting any ideas about you and him in his head."

"Is he that bad?" Naminé asked. Garda shook his head.

"No. He's actually quite a charming and pleasant young man; he would make a good suitor for many girls his age, and not just because of his royal blood. However, he is used to getting what he wants, and Sora makes Kairi happy. I don't want that punk prince tearing you two apart."

"So you _do_ think Sora's good enough for me," she said before the words could be stopped.

Frowns filled the room. "Girl, why would you think that I wouldn't think that boy good enough for you?" he asked.

Kairi blushed and began to stumble over her words. It was out in the open now, so she might as well fess up. "I..uh, well—you see, uh…(sigh) your opinion's important to me," she mumbled.

"Then that makes this easier," said Garda in a quiet tone that few could hear. He cast his eyes about with a sharp glare. "I would like to have a moment alone with Kairi, please." The others in the room saw his look and began to file out. "Wait. Lord Ramius, Kensworth, you two can stay."

The two mentioned men looked at each other in surprise while the others gave them inquiring looks. Naminé and Riku each gave Kairi a quick hug before exiting the room last, leaving the auburn-haired girl with her familiar, digimon partner, and the three men. Her beleaguered mind was buzzing with anxiety as to what was going to happen now.

-A-D-

_1315hrs,_

"…and that's that," Winry said, finishing wiping the rag on the last screw before putting it in. Sora's automail left arm gleamed on the table between the two. "There we go, good and clean as new."

"Hey, thanks Winry," Sora told her, wiping his hand on a discarded towel. He had oil all over his hand, pants, and shirt, not to mention smudges on his face and neck. The Keyblade Master was sure that he was going to need a long shower after this to get completely clean.

"No problem Sora," she replied. "I saw a few scratches on there too, though. Guess you've seen a bit of action since we made that for you. Your right arm also looks to be a bit longer than it was before, but right now the size difference isn't too great. I guess that the next time we see you, though, we'll have to make some length adjustments."

Sora nodded. "Sounds good." Winry turned to him.

"So, wanna get hooked up again? Feel it moving?" Sora nodded, and Winry carefully picked up the arm. She paused and looked at Sora curiously. "You know, it was really strange when we went through the automail with you after installing it. Nobody's ever been able to _feel_ it or through it before, and control over it hasn't been that instinctual in anybody I've ever seen or heard. Even Edward took a few months to get controlling his new arm and leg properly down." Sora shrugged helplessly and Winry shook her head before a sympathetic smile touched her face. "Granny! We're all set!"

The pair left the workshop and Pinako blew a stream of smoke out from her mouth. "Alright then, let's get to it." She got Sora to lie down on the couch while Winry and Pinako prepped the automail, inserting it carefully into its spot in the plate implanted onto his left shoulder. Donald, Goofy, and Aiwemon gathered around at a safe distance, Aiwemon landing on the couch above Sora's head. All of them were sweating slightly in anxiety; none of them could forget Sora's screams when they'd first performed the surgery.

"Ready?" Winry asked.

"Just do it," Sora answered, trying to relax for the pain that he knew would come and only tensing up in the process. Winry and her grandmother shared a look as they stood on opposite sides of his shoulder, each of them with hands prepared on clamps that would bind the arm to the plate and connect the circuits to his nerve endings. Pinako gave a tiny nod, and she and her granddaughter snapped the clamps down.

Sora's face instantly buckled and a sound deep in his gut struggled to claw out past clenched teeth. His nostrils flared as he inhaled and exhaled rapidly. He worked his lungs at a feverish pace, and tried to take his mind off of the enormous pain he was in and replace the oxygen in the blood that was now rushing through his system a hundred times faster than it had been seconds before. A blocked howl still made it past Sora's lips and teeth while his brain exploded with signals of sensation and pain from his left shoulder.

A minute into his struggle with the intense pain, Sora blacked out.

-A-D-

_So this had originally been two chapters, but due to the length and my beta's kind suggestion it has been split into two._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	69. Gathering of Allies

_Part 2 of the insanely length last chapter! I hope you all enjoy it._

_And, holy crap. It took me only about five days to go through watching every episode of Digimon Tamers. All 51 episodes of them. I call it __**far**__ better than Adventure 02, but not _quite_ as good as Adventure 01. One thing that I will forever hold against it compared to 01, was that Ryo and Davis were both in it. Sure, Davis didn't actually appear like he does in 01 (he makes a brief cameo in the convention centre that Myotismon's taken over), but Davis narrates Tamers, and he plays Takato's surfer dude cousin. In 01, he's mercifully silent. In Tamers, he won't shut up. The number 1 comment on episode 49 (or 50) is, "Davis is actually speechless? It's a miracle!"_

_Anyway…_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, Asterix, or anything else that shows up in here that somebody else already makes money off of._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 69: Gathering of Allies

"_Alright Black Knights, let's get to it,"_ chattered the voice of Captain Skoranta in the radio. Seifer nodded his head with his usual cocky attitude.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, double-checking his instrument panel. Everything seemed to be in proper order, so he looked forward towards the Arrows in front of his in Hangar 4 of the _Nexus_. "Let's get this over with and save their asses. Damn blondie, acting like he needs _our_ help."

"_Second Lieutenant Almasy, no man is an island, not even Keyblade Wielders,"_ his flight lead said, not for the first time. _"Jane, you're my number two."_

"_Sir,"_ acknowledged Lieutenant Zot from the next Arrow over.

"_Black Knights, take off,"_ came the order from 2nd Black Knight Gummi Fighter Squadron's CO, Colonel Sova.

"_Roger that,"_ 2nd Lieutenant Billy Bishop agreed. Seifer watched as the CO's gummi ship roared out of the hangar bay, followed by his flight leader's, Lieutenant Jane Zot's, and Bishop's. Captain Fred Zot (Jane's older brother and Seifer and Fuu's section leader)'s gummi fighter lifted off of its landing gear and began to accelerate towards the hangar exit. With an eager expression on his face, Seifer disengaged his own landing gear and followed his flight out of the _Nexus'_ hangar bay.

Tearing his eyes away from the bright, shifting auroras and nebulas that were scattered throughout the dark lanes between worlds, Seifer followed closely to Captain Zot's tail. He glanced behind him and to his left, seeing Fuu in the cockpit of the fighter between the two sides of their wedge. He knew that the rest of the squadron, comprising twenty fighters in total with their CO and XO included, were taking wing behind them, falling into their own flights.

"_All Knights report in."_

"_Knight two standing by."_

"_Knight three standing by."_

"_Knight four standing by."_

"_Knight five standing by."_

"_Knight six standing by,"_ radioed the captain in Seifer's flight section, signalling for the next in the chain, Seifer, to report in.

"Knight seven standing by," he reported.

"_Knight eight standing by,"_ followed Fuu. Each member of their squadron reported in until all twenty of their fighters had affirmed that they were ready.

The whole process took just over a minute from the time Colonel Sova took off, and Black Knight Squadron was now flying towards a large ship that was similar in design to the one they'd just taken off from. Star Command's carrier _Hornet_ was mostly in the shape of a half-disk, with a large, blocky tower that towered above the 'deck' from the straight edge of the disk. Eight large hangar bays were built into the blocks, four above and four below the disk, with numerous smaller bays scattered around the disk's rim and a final, massive hangar in the very centre of the half-disk's base.

Seifer could already see the lights on the twelve ships flying around off the carrier's port side. Three times as large as his Arrow, with swept-back wings positioned at the top of the bomber, not-quite perfectly cylindrical fuselages, with a fire cannon emplacement beneath the cockpit, two on the front, one up-top between the wings, and a further one pointed up at the tail's end, the B-40 Ajax was bigger, heavier shielded, and far slower than Seifer's speedy Arrow, but could certainly muscle its way into tight places and still get back alive. It didn't have the versatility of lasers along with cannons, like his Arrow did, but it definitely had something that would never fit on his fighter.

Each B-40 Ajax carried within their bomb bays eight highly powerful Meteor bombs. When dropped, a single one would detonate at impact and deliver a piercing blast of pure arcane energies to anything caught within a sixty-foot radius sphere, its strength dropping significantly after that point.

"_Good afternoon Black Knights, are you the ones escorting us Angels?"_

"_That we are."_

"_Then let's get this party started. Those Heartless are in for a rude awakening down below."_

Black Knight Squadron surrounded the twelve bombers in three flights, with one above, one in front, and one to the rear of the Ajaxes. Seifer thought for a moment about the comment made by the bomber squadron's leader. Angels, that had to be 6th Hailing Angels Bomber Squadron, and that meant that Yazoo was piloting one of those bombers with his crew.

Together, the thirty-two gummi ships descended into Radiant Garden's atmosphere, becoming dots of white and grey in the blue skies above the clouds. An icing sugar powdered forest of evergreen trees mixed with stalwart groves of the chilled and naked deciduous stretched far beneath them for many hectares, rolling over and under hills and covering the cliffs of blue stone.

They flew on, high, high above those distant treetops, only visible through the breaks in the clouds below them. The landscape beyond the expanse of forest changed as the trees dwindled away into an open plain of snow, the wind whistling across the drifts far below and lifting the snow into its welcoming arms only to carry it for as long as the snow wished to remain airborne.

Seifer heard several swears over the radio as they looked a little further forward at that plain.

"_Holy fuck!"_

"_Look at 'em all!"_

"_The boys on the ground are _so_ boned."_

Seifer almost couldn't help but agree. His Arrow flew perfectly straight, but only because all of his limbs were frozen at the sight stretching out over the plains below. They couldn't see the portals the Heartless and others were streaming out of at this distance, nor could they make out many individual creatures, but they could certainly see the _very_ large mass of foes slowly gathering in the snowy fields. Parts of the land that was otherwise the untouched white of winter were ink-black with Heartless bodies.

Now Seifer knew why the blondie had asked for help; as great as Roxas, Sora, and all the others were this was simply too big for them.

"_Cut the chatter,"_ ordered Colonel Sova. _"Black Knights, keep a sharp eye out for anything coming after us, but we may have to _slightly_ change our orders."_

"_Knight Leader, this is Angel Leader,"_ spoke up the same female voice that Seifer'd heard when they'd met up with the bomber group, _"we're starting for our targets now. Perhaps you'd like to provide a distraction for us when we begin hailing them with our angel fire?"_

"_Copy that, Angel Leader."_ The commander didn't have to say a word to his pilots; all of them knew what that was going to entail. Seifer couldn't conceal a grin.

They were going to hit those Heartless _hard!_

The seconds ticked by as the groups flew closer to the mass, still so high above that they'd appear as nearly invisible dots. Seifer waited, his mouth watering and his palms becoming sweatier as his maniac grin widened. The bomb bays of the Ajaxes opened, and the bombers fanned out further.

Bombs began falling. The order came, and Seifer and all nineteen other Arrows pointed their noses down, punching their throttles to take them to the ground as screaming darts of death.

The Heartless never even knew what hit them while it was still ongoing. Bombs had dropped into their midst without warning, blasting tiny Heartless into atomic shreds with detonations of golden arcane energies with racing, purple, magic lightning. Arcs of blue lasers and cannon-fire had stormed out of Arrows as they dive-bombed the hordes, flying so fast that none of the few aerial Heartless even had a chance to react at all before they'd been blasted away. Seifer buzzed the top of a Behemoth, spraying the giant purple Heartless with blue-cannon fire while his lasers were lancing the glowing horn. The creature roared in pain as the cannons penetrated its hide that was impervious to most direct strikes until the glowing barrier around its horn was beaten down. More lasers and cannon-fire sprayed in from the Arrow behind Seifer's, Fuu's, and the beast went down onto its knees as the horn's barrier gave in. With one last spray in its face, the Behemoth made a final wailing moan before collapsing completely onto a heap of Shadows, obliterating all of them before it too descended into darkness.

Seifer laughed into his radio, looking back at the dying Behemoth, and nearly missed Fuu's panicked shout from behind him, but he did see her terror-stricken face. _"Seifer!"_ Looking forward, Seifer's eyes bulged and he quickly split-off from Captain Zot's Arrow and rolled slightly to the right before pulling up on the stick, swerving up and right of the rear end of a Groundshaker Heartless that had been sent along with the horde. He bit back his swear as he stared at the massive Heartless, almost not understanding how he'd missed seeing that thing, or the seven others like it. Two Meteor bombs struck it while he was staring at the massive Heartless, and it became covered completely by the spherical golden firestorm of released magical energy, Seifer could hear a chilling roar of defiance against the bombs' ravaging energy. Three beams of white lightning shot out from behind the giant shamanistic monkey, seeking one of the fighters swerving around or the bombers high in the skies, but the three lightning beams struck nothing, not a single gummi even near where they'd streaked out into the sky. The Groundshaker collapsed onto the ground when the spherical blasts faded away, the foliage on its back completely burnt away or still burning in the case of the few trees growing out of it. The Shaman on the titanic Living Bone rolled off, and when it struck the ground its head split into three pieces before the entire Groundshaker melted into darkness.

Pilots of Black Knight Squadron whooped at the titanic Heartless' fall, their twenty Arrows buzzing the area and peppering the force below them with their guns and lasers while the remaining Meteor Bombs fell into the Heartless army, annihilating more Heartless than Seifer could count in seconds.

But there were _far_ more Heartless down here than Seifer could count, far too many. All too soon the radio blared to life with Knight Leader's voice, ordering them that the bombers had dropped their payloads and they'd all overstayed their welcome. Seifer wanted to stay and keep blowing them up; these bastards had attacked his town for Light's sakes! Reluctantly, though, he ascended through the clouds and found Captain Zot's fighter to form up behind.

"_So many,"_ Fuu's voice lifted onto the radio, the only words she'd spoken besides calling his name and reporting in. Seifer dared to look back. There were still five Groundshakers standing, and he couldn't tell anymore just how much of a dent they'd made in the enemy, if they'd made one at all.

-A-D-

"Moon's Shadow!"

Naminé's shout reverberated in the cold, bright air in the open stone field behind the cliffs to the north of Radiant Garden. The image of the circle she had drawn with her Keyblade became the picture of the full moon. The craters and seas in its surface then became covered over in black light that spread to the rest of the circle until it resembled the dark side of the moon, and a cylinder of black light splurged into the ground beneath. Nobody's Pride shone with opal light and Naminé stabbed the base of the black cylinder. Cracks and shafts of light formed all around the circle until it shattered all at once, the ground where the cylinder had been taken away with it.

The blonde princess peered down into the hole she'd created. "Well, that's _almost_ as deep as we need them. Roxas! Riku! Yuffie! How are you doing?"

Roxas stabbed his Keyblades into the ground, Twilight Thorn and Oblivion both vibrating with red light. He worked them in small circles in front of him until the lines connected. At the moment the circles were completed, the earth around him cracked and heaved and Roxas leapt into the snow above stable terrain. The rocks disintegrated as red light poured out of the ground, lifting up the debris and tearing it apart in its light. "I think I'm good," Roxas called, shaking snow out of where it had gotten into his hair.

Riku blinked forward, slashing his Keyblade lightning-fast into the ground. He opened his eyes, and a large crack formed where Way to the Dawn had passed. Riku repeated the process three more times, slowly readying himself before each strike. The youth's breath became visible clouds in front of him. Once all four slices had been made, creating a large square cut out of the stone, Yuffie leapt into the air above him and hurled a purple-lined Flower of Wutai down at the centre of the square. Her Keyblade sawed into the rock and disappeared beneath it, though its purple glow could still be seen for several seconds. Suddenly the rock layer cracked and broke apart, caving in and dropping until a substantial pile of rock and dirt lay ten feet beneath the top of the pit.

"Wait, dirt?" Riku asked himself. He jumped down into the pit, nearly losing his footing on some of the frozen, slick rocks, and stood up to examine the walls. "Hey guys!" he shouted. "The blue rock layer's only about two feet deep, the rest is soil!" Yuffie poofed down into the hole with him, and then poofed them both back above it.

"Thank you, Riku," said Roy Mustang as he traced an alchemic circle out on the stone with a piece of chalk, "that makes my work easier." He finished his circle, inspected it to make sure he'd drawn it perfectly, and then placed his hands on the edge. Blue lightning skittered across it for a moment before the entire circle was filled with blue light. The whole thing vanished seconds later, revealing a perfect hole in the earth. "Make sure you don't set off any sparks in the area," he told the group at large. "I'm transmuting each hole into pure oxygen. Until a nice wind blows in, this whole area's going to become one big bomb. Make sure you also don't inhale too deeply."

Soldiers watched from farther away as they shovelled mounds of snow together to create snow drifts in the places identified by General Berger, using the snow to create defensive barriers. Some packed the snow in further while others drove wooden stakes into the tops and sides. Paths to the gates were slowly being shovelled out to permit faster access to the forward positions. Samurai teleported in to where Roxas was on occasion, filling him in on their enemy's position.

The Arrows and Ajaxes were doing their jobs, but the Heartless just kept filling up the holes the runs made. By the third run they'd gotten wise, and now they were fighting back against the allied assault from the skies. So far no gummies had been lost, or even had their shields moderately depleted, but it was only a matter of time until their air and anti-air numbers would swell to the point where an aerial attack would be suicide.

In the meantime, they prepared; the Wielders and Colonel Mustang creating their pit traps, and the soldiers erecting their meagre fortifications.

Naminé crushed a blue cube to her head, feeling rejuvenated as the ether's energy washed over her body and sank into her limbs and mind. They'd created about a half-dozen pits each so far, and many more still needed to be created before explosives were placed in the ones in front of the ravine's exit. She was a bit surprised that Kairi had yet to join them; and considering that they were blasting open holes in the ground just so that they could cover them up and blow them away again in a few days, she was sure that the fire-loving redhead would have been down here in an instant to melt rock and dirt into a deep pit of sizzling goo.

The blonde princess stood and glanced at Riku, the silver-haired youth trying not to show that he was shivering even beneath the thick jacket he'd put on. "Do you think it'll be enough?" she asked.

"No," Riku answered, "but it'll slow them down and take a few of them out, and that's all we're really going for, isn't it." She nodded, agreeing with his statement.

"The less energy we have to use up fighting the weaklings, the better," Yuffie said, readying Flower of Wutai as it swirled with purple light. "You can bet that the members of her _Septum_ are going to be giving us all hell." She leapt up and hurled her Keyblade into the rock again.

Far behind them, just able to see the purple light from the top of the battlements, more soldiers and engineers were climbing up the grey stone walls from the steps hewn into them. Men and women dusted the snow off of the catapults and ballistae mounted on the tops of towers and holdouts, checked their wooden beams and ropes, and went about the work of fixing the neglect they had suffered in the last several months and years. All of them needed to be adjusted and re-sighted, and the soldiers answered the call with lengths of bright orange flagging tape to mark out the measurements needed.

The work went on for the remainder of the afternoon and continued on into the early nights of winter. When there was no more light to see by, torches were lit far away from the pits and magelights were cast, the baubles of light hovering in the air wherever their casters sent them. The grey wall was lit with an eerie icy-red glow from the mixed sources of light. By seven, Riku, Roxas, Naminé, Yuffie, and Colonel Mustang had done all they could. Nearly two hundred deep holes were scattered all throughout the rough square kilometre of space that General Berger had encased with the ovals he'd drawn on the map, and the group tiredly trudged back through the snow to the gate, watching as more men, women, and anthropomorphic creatures erected their palisade along the edges of the pit area, creating a corridor that led towards the main gate.

Riku quickly glanced back at the exit from the ravine. "How wide is it in there?" he asked.

Yuffie shook her head. "Wide enough for four chocobos to comfortably run beside each other for the most part, I think. They shouldn't have a problem getting through, even with those tanks I've heard about."

Roxas laughed. "I think they will when boulders start dropping on their heads." They were closing on the gate now, and carefully made their way past more soldiers who were erecting the end of their barricade roughly fifty metres in front of the gate. Fire was spewing out of wands, staves, and hands as mages in the group fire-hardened the hewn ends of stakes while others kept working at shovelling snow into heaps, and a few with pickaxes worked at deepening the craters that were left as the aftermath of Riku and Naminé's battle. A few familiar voices called their names (beyond the customary greetings and salutes that they were granted), and they saw that the group right in front of them was Abel Company. All it took was an invitation to hot chocolate and cookies when they were finished, and the whole company started working even harder than before, especially Selphie, Pence, and Hayner.

They found a carriage waiting for them inside the shelter of the secondary wall, and they hurried to get inside and back to the castle. Though Naminé was the only one of them who didn't feel cold, they'd been out for nearly the entire afternoon and were cold, tired, and hungry; looking forward to a hot meal and drink at the castle.

Kairi was waiting for them in the entrance hall with Luinmon and Plato. "_There_ you are," she said, mock annoyance in her voice, "I've been waiting for you guys for over an hour now to eat. Come on, let's have supper." None of them were able to answer her just yet. Colonel Mustang politely excused himself with a rare chuckle of amusement and hurried away with a smirk on his face, while Naminé and the others could only stare at Kairi. The redhead only seemed to get more annoyed at them and began tapping her foot and folded her arms over her chest. "Well?"

"The hell are you doing in a _maid_ outfit Kai?" Riku asked, the first to get his voice out of his throat."

"And why didn't you come help us earlier?" inquired Roxas, glancing away from the girl now in a black maid outfit with a large white apron. "I thought blowing stuff up was right up your alley."

"It is, Roxas, but I wasn't about to go out there while I was drunk and end up blowing half of you up too, so I stayed back, mostly, and drank water, went to the bathroom a lot, and generally waited out the alcohol. I'm paying for it now, though. And to answer your question, Riku, I got it for Sora. How do I look in it? Do you think he'll like it?" She cupped her hands behind her back and half-turned away, glancing coyly back towards them.

Naminé raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not still drunk, sis?"

Kairi wrinkled her nose at Yuffie and stuck her tongue out slightly before turning her attention back to Riku and Roxas. "Well? What do you think?"

"I don't know if Sora's into maids," Roxas offered, "but you do look pretty cute in that, Kairi." Riku nodded his head.

"Pretty cute?" Yuffie asked. "She'll knock Sora dead and have him going hubada hubada hubada yaba-daba-doooo! But are you really that desperate to get laid after finding out that both your sister and I did within twenty-four hours of each other that you'll resort to maid café cosplay?"

Naminé blushed and looked away with a hand held to her face. "Please don't say things like that out loud Yuffie, okay." Kairi attempted to glare Yuffie down, but it was difficult to do so when Yuffie had her arms folded with an amused little grin on the corner of her face. Roxas and Riku both stared at Yuffie for a second before glancing at each other, pointing fingers to each other's girlfriends. After a second or so, identical knowing smirks appeared on their faces and they bumped fists.

"I'm getting a new respect for you Roxas," said Riku.

"Me too," agreed the blond. "And who'd have thought? Sora and Kairi have been doing randy stuff with each other the longest yet we've all beaten them to the plate."

Luinmon looked up from where she sat in Kairi's arms. Thanks to Jasmine and Belle, she knew all about the subject the humans were talking about, but still didn't quite see its importance. "Kairi, are you sure you're not trying to have sex with Sora? You guys do do a lot of stuff together, but you always seem like you're having fun and are happy about it, so I guess it's okay if you are." Plato rasped something in Ignan to his bonded companion.

"Would you guys shut up!" Kairi shouted, red in the face. "I'm _not_ trying to get Sora to have sex with me! I just got this as a 'three months together' present for him! Have any of _you_ remembered them since they've _all_ passed?"

The company froze and each partner's eyes found the other before hanging in shame. "I'm sorry," was the collective agreement.

"Human relationships sure are a pain," Luinmon muttered to herself.

"I agree," Naminé groaned. "But they can be worth it. Why don't we all forget about this whole conversation and go upstairs and eat like pigs? Then you can tell us about what it was Garda wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, and you can pretend like Riku didn't just find out that Roxas slammed his cock into you," Yuffie whispered with an evil grin.

"I told you not to say it out loud when there are other people listening!" Naminé whispered back. "And you're one to talk!"

"But you had fun, see? It felt good, see? You want him to take you again, see? Before the big fight even, see? You're a whore, see? A Roxas-whore, see?"

"And you're a slut, see? A slut for Riku's manhood, see? You want him between your legs, see? Want him to eat up your cunt, see? And while he's eating you, you want him to stick his fingers up your ass, see? And after that, to fill you with his seed, see? You want him to give you his babies, see?"

"And you want Roxas in you, see? You want him to plug you hard, see? Want him to plug you so hard you'll stay plugged until your firstborn son comes out, see?"

Roxas and Riku slowly backed away from the blonde princess and the raven-haired ninja. "This is getting a little uncomfortable right now," Roxas muttered.

"I agree," said Riku, "and I'm not sure whether they're actually insulting each other or having some kind of weird 'only girls understand this conversation' moment. Who knew Naminé knew dirty words?"

"Oh you wouldn't believe how dirty her mouth can be at times," Roxas whispered. Riku seemed to consider that for a second before shaking his head.

"Why don't we head up for supper before this gets even crazier?" he asked the blond.

"I'm with you on that," Kairi said, inching her way over while Naminé and Yuffie glared at each other with foreheads pressed tight to one another. Their upper and lower teeth were grinding against one another, and you could almost see lightning shooting from their eyes as auras visibly appeared around them, a jewel-white opal in Naminé's case, and dark purple in Yuffie's. "I think they're just having fun, but you never know."

"Good," Roxas said, "now why don't we get out of here before they turn on us?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry," added Luinmon.

Kairi smiled. "Okay." She bent her arm down and made a slight bow. "Right this way, Masters."

Riku grinned and raised his eyebrows a bit. "Oh yeah Kairi, Sora's _definitely_ going to like this."

_-Five minutes later-_

"Okay," said Naminé, still in her hushed whisper, "so we're agreed?"

"Yes," Yuffie answered with a nod of her head. "The one who can have sex with their boyfriend more times between now and New Year's is to win the crown of 'Best Keylover of 2003' and the bet of two thousand munny. Special note: it is not mandatory that you become a whore about it; only perform the act when comfortable."

"You are on," Naminé agreed with an evil grin that Yuffie shared as they shook hands. "Those two aren't going to know what hit them. You sure they aren't going to think less of us for this?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Kairi might, but think about it. They're guys, we've given them sex, and we're going to give them _more_ sex. Are they really going to think less of us for wanting to be with them so much that we'd create a contest about it?"

"I guess you're right. So how am I supposed to get on birth control like you are? I don't want another scare like this morning if we're doing this."

-A-D-

_0622hrs, Saturday, December 6th, 2003 (D.I.R.)  
December 6th, 1418 (S.R.)  
Rivendell, Middle-earth_

Sora yawned loudly as he stepped out of the portal of light into the darkness that was blanketing the elven city of Imladris. The late-rising Sun had yet to raise her head above the high peaks of the Misty Mountains to the east, leaving everything in the gloom of early winter that had been able to penetrate Rivendell. Although it slowed the approach of winter and made it milder not even the power of the Elves could keep winter at bay completely.

Aiwemon flew out and the portal closed just behind the small digimon. Jiminy came out of Sora's pack, the youth noticing that his clothing had changed back to the last garb he'd worn while here in the small elven city, the same outfit he'd worn when he and Kairi had ventured into Bree that evening and met the Hobbits, Strider, and Barliaman Butterbur. Sora felt a little guilty about leaving Donald and Goofy with the _Highwind_ to go back to Radiant Garden, picking up anyone they might have thought useful, but he also knew that Donald at least might not help his case when he went to Lord Elrond to ask for help.

He'd woken up a few hours after he'd passed out from the pain, and quickly worked to limber up a bit. Sora'd paid for the cleaning done and for a couple of rags and the lubricant he'd need, and then truly slept, already knowing that he'd need his rest for the long haul through the portal to come to Middle-earth.

"Ah, Sora! How're those infernal birds of yours?"

The youth couldn't keep a smile off of his face as he saw the owner of the voice, striding towards him through the courtyard. "Gimli! Just the person I wanted to see."

The dwarf came up to him and bowed slightly, which Sora returned. "What is it?" asked the son of Glóin.

"Does your axe still thirst for battle?" asked Sora. Gimli's eyes gleamed.

"My axe _always_ thirsts for battle," he answered. "More of those shadowy Heartless?"

"And orc-necks to cleave I'm sure," Sora added.

"Then I must get my axe," Gimli returned. "I shall eagerly await your return from this spot so we can be underway." The dwarf was already on his way away from Sora as he spoke his parting words. The Keyblade Master just shook his head with a smile and walked away. After watching Gimli when they were on Destiny Islands and they were fighting the Legionnaire Heartless, he could think of few people without Keyblades better to be watching his back.

Granted, Gimli had to look up to see anything _other_ than Sora's back, but still…

"Now," Aiwemon said, looking around, "where's Elrond, and where's breakfast?" Sora, the bird digimon, and Jiminy all looked at each other.

The Sun had not yet crested over the Misty Mountains to bring her warming rays to the land below when they finally did find Elrond Half-elven. The Elf-lord of the Last Homely House east of the sea was in a study, discussing something or other with Gandalf. Sora did not know what they were talking about, though he guessed it might have had something to do with the Ring, and he had no time to ask when both Gandalf and Elrond looked up at his entrance.

"And so the Keybearer returns," said Elrond. "I take it you have news you wish to impart."

"Uh, yes," Sora answered. "I'm not really sure how I should put this, but a very large force of Maleficent's is heading for Radiant Garden and it would be a lot of help if you could spare any of the Elves of Rivendell to help us defend it. My brother's Samurai told us that hundreds of Sauron's orcs are part of the attacking army, and as he is the Enemy of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, it only makes sense that the Free Peoples should help us from other worlds fight him just as Kairi, our Digimon, Jiminy, and I plan to help Frodo and Strider and Boromir and all Middle-earth from Maleficent and the Heartless. So please, lend us your aid Lord Elrond."

Gandalf nodded at Sora while Lord Elrond continued to look at him passively, the elf-lord's eyes piercing him and seeming to gaze within Sora's heart. "He speaks truly, my old friend," said Gandalf. "And a Keyblade Bearer, especially the one who bears the Keyblade that he does, does not seek the aid of other worlds lightly."

"This I know Mithrandir," said Lord Elrond, "and I am afraid our young friend here has come to the wrong place in his search. It has been said by others that my might in Rivendell is in wisdom and not in weapons, and much of that is true here. Many of the elves that might have aided you I sent out to discover any news of the Enemy and his movements here in the North, and they are only just beginning to return. My sons I would send to battle with you, for they are skilled and strong, but the task I set them is great and the lands they ride dangerous, and they have yet to return.

"And still, Rivendell I must think of as well. Agents of the Enemy came to our very doorstep, though we believe that they have been forced to return to their master, empty and shapeless, and so will not trouble us here again for some time yet. The power I command will not be able to stand against the full might of Sauron, should Gondor fall and his armies march north. How much more vulnerable might my city be if all the people I send away to fight in your battles do not return?"

"Should Radiant Garden fall, then we can expect that Sora and his princess will not be returning," Gandalf countered, "and that their enemy will have won. With her victory, our own chances of success grow fainter, and the men of Gondor and Rohan in the South will be beaten down, and the woods of Lórien and Mirkwood will fall to shadow, and Dale and the Lonely Mountain will be consumed. The North will fall next, and all that remain in Rivendell will either perish or fly West to the Sea and so leave this world to its dark fate."

Elrond was silent for a time, thinking. At last he spoke. "You would both counsel me to do the same, so this I will tell you. I believe, in the end, that you are right. Let it not be said that the Elves of Rivendell turned down their friends when darkness spread. I remember some of the Keyblade Wielders that have emerged in Middle-earth and others from other worlds that have come here exploring, adventuring, and seeking counsel. I shall send word out at once, Master Sora, and though the number may not seem much and while we are not as strong as we once were the strength of the Firstborn is still not to be doubted."

Sora couldn't help but bow deeply. "Thank you, Lord Elrond."

The elf-lord smiled, but behind that smile his ageless face seemed to have gained a tiny wrinkle. "You appear hungry and weary. Go. Rest and avail yourself of food and drink. I shall call on you when my people have assembled."

"Thanks again," Sora thanked once more. His stomach then grumbled rather loudly.

"We really appreciate it," Aiwemon added from Sora's shoulder. "C'mon, let's go get some food! I'm starving."

"We stopped for a snack while we were looking for Elrond," Jiminy reminded the digimon.

"Yeah. Your point?"

Sora made his way back from the room he was in to one of the dining halls he remembered he and Kairi had eaten in. He passed the gardens along the way, and noticed that Gimli had already returned there and was waiting for him. The dwarf was openly wearing his dwarf-made hauberk of closely-knit metal rings. A steel cap rested under his arm, and he wore a maroon surcoat over the mail. The dwarf's double-bladed battleaxe was resting against his knees, and he snatched it up and sprang to his feet when he saw Sora, crowing a loud "Ho!"

The Keyblade Master waved him off. "Not yet Gimli," he said, a new smile rising to his face. "Elrond's raising Rivendell; the elves are coming too."

"Good! Now we can see if all those stories of their prowess are true or just usual elvish bluster."

"I remember Glorfindel really gave those Black Riders a scare when we first came to the Ford," Aiwemon said. "They didn't want to be anywhere near him, so I think the stories are true." Gimli just grunted and Sora went along with it. Neither of them had seen the elf in action at the Ford, since Sora had already dived into his heart to face down Anti for mastery of himself and Gimli had been in Rivendell already, or was nearly there himself. Sora wasn't sure when he and his father Glóin had arrived at the House of Elrond and hadn't bothered to ask; it was enough that the dwarves were here.

"Anyway, we're getting some breakfast while the elves get ready," Sora started up again. "Would you care to join us, Master Dwarf?"

"I might as well," said Gimli. "I remember how long it took us to go through the last one of those mad things you and Kairi conjured up."

They entered the hall soon afterwards, Sora having made a call on the way to let Kairi and the others know that he would be bringing the elves. Already numerous elves were eating quickly as they rushed though their morning meal so that they might answer Elrond's muster as quickly as they were able to. None of the hobbits were present, though there was one man already sitting and looking quite perplexed at the strange activity of his hosts.

Sora grinned when he saw who it was. Though he had never seen the man fight, Boromir was big, strong, and sure as heck seemed valiant and capable. It did not take much convincing to get the son of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, to agree to come with them into battle. Boromir remembered the Council of Elrond when Sora and Kairi wielded the Keyblade against one another, and was eager to see it when it was put to use against their foes.

-A-D-

_1600hrs,  
Radiant Garden_

"Here's the exit," Sora declared, his face just a tad red from the quick march that he and Glorfindel had set Elrond's host at. Aiwemon swooped down and checked his speed to Sora's, hovering around Sora's armoured shoulder. Upon seeing the interlocking lames of steel plate, mail hauberks of steel, helms, pauldrons, bracers, and blue cloaks arrayed on the three hundred Elves of Rivendell that Elrond was able to muster—each one of them armed with glittering swords with a faint curve, pointed teardrop shields, and powerful longbows with quivers nearly bursting full—Sora felt a felt a fair bit underdressed considering that it was he who had asked for their help, and so had summoned his Keyblade Armour onto his body. Boromir alone of the company was not heavily armoured, having not travelled with much gear of war on his journey to Rivendell, but a shirt of mail was found for the warrior of Gondor to go over a padded jacket while steel bracers bearing the design of Gondor's White Tree and Seven Stars guarded his wrists. A round shield with a large steel boss riveted to the back was on Boromir's back, and a big broadsword with an elegantly simple steel pommel was sheathed at his hip.

"Humph," grumbled Gimli, "and about time too." Sora glanced down at the Dwarf, and while Gimli was unable to see the boy's eyes due to Sora's helmet's interference, Sora could see plain as day that there was an eager sparkle in Gimli's. Sora felt safer, knowing that Gimli was on his side.

Sora reached the swirling mass of silver-white light at the edge of the starlight-lit corridor of light first. He waited for a second as the 'representatives' of each race came to stand next to him. Glorfindel led the Elves under Elrond's name, with Gimli the Dwarf and Boromir the Man. Aiwemon landed on Sora's shoulder. "Alright," Sora said, looking up at both Glorfindel and Boromir before glancing down at Gimli. "Let's go find Kairi or Naminé." He turned, and exited the portal, the other three on his heels.

Thirty archers and twenty men and women with drawn swords were waiting fifteen metres outside the portal. Sora barely had time to catch his bearings and see that he'd landed the exit portal in the snow-covered gardens near the Castle Postern before a snort and a flicker of light drew his gaze towards a voice that had began to speak.

"Hey Sora, you're late."

Naminé was seated on Nebulus, the princess arrayed in her Acolyte steel mail and bronze bracers with a new tabard proudly displayed on her chest, showing a white dragon spewing white fire in front of a light-purple-pink full moon. Her blue-tinted shield was strapped to her left arm as the hand held Nebulus' reins, while her Keyblade was grasped in her right.

Boromir was already in the act of drawing his heavy, stalwart sword when Sora raised his towards the man's chest and looked right at Naminé. "Hey Naminé. So what's with the welcoming committee? Did I do something to upset Kairi? I'm sorry. I said afternoon but it's getting on towards evening."

"No, we were expecting you to take a while," Naminé said, shaking her head. "We're here because of what's next to you." Sora turned to look at what it was Naminé had mentioned.

A portal of darkness was swirling not three metres away from the portal of light.

"Whoa!" shouted Sora, spinning around and taking a few steps back in surprise. He certainly hadn't been expecting _that_! "Are they here already?" he asked, glancing back at Naminé. "I thought we had more time!"

"What is this?" Boromir asked, drawing his sword and shield in earnest now. "We should never have followed you. You have led us to mysterious doom."

"You'll get used to it," Gimli told him, acting for all the world as if this was old hat to him. The dwarf hefted his axe and stood ready close to the portal.

"We _do_ have more time," a different voice said from behind Sora, "it's just that we have no idea what's coming through this."

"Riku!" Sora said, turning slightly and seeing his friend striding past Nebulus, the silver-haired teen wearing his own mail and padded shirt. The brunet grinned under his helmet. "Well, now that you're here, I'm sure we can take down absolutely anything that comes out of this thing. Glorfindel, you can start leading your men out." The elf-lord nodded his head and dashed back into the portal of light. Within moments, he and his kin began to march out in rows of two. The sight of them coming into the snow of Radiant Garden in their beautiful armour awed and stunned Naminé's fifty warriors, and left even her and Riku a little slack-jawed for a moment. Golden light flared at Sora's left hip and the slithering hiss of a sword slipping out of leather whispered into the Postern.

Riku looked at Sora and gaped. "What the heck is that?" Before he could answer, Dawn burst out of Riku's body and dashed right to Sora's side. Her hands snatched at the object girt to his belt, holding it with almost fangirl reverence and wide eyes to match.

"This is a Keyblade scabbard!" she exclaimed, holding up the mahogany-leather sheath with steel bands and inlaid emeralds and sapphires. "It'll hold any Keyblade within, no matter what it's shaped like, and it's supposed to be amazingly comfortable." She stared at Sora. "Grand Master, where'd you get this!"

Sora gave her an amused shrug while he held Remembrance in his right hand. He could feel the sword's sentient spirit chuckling at the other Keyblade's amazement. "Lord Elrond just kinda gave it to me from an armoury in Rivendell."

"Sora, who are these two?" asked Boromir, the big man keeping close to the armoured brunet with an eye watching the dark portal in anxiety. The son of the Steward's sword was still gripped tightly in his hand.

"This is my best friend, Riku, and Dawn, the spirit of his Keyblade, Way to the Dawn. Dawn is the only Keyblade spirit who can manifest herself in the physical world and interact with us at the same time her Keyblade form is wielded. Riku, Dawn—hey, stop fondling my scabbard,—this is Boromir, son of Denethor the Steward of Gondor."

"Nice to meet you," Riku said, nodding at the Gondorian.

"_Need_," Dawn moaned, still clutching the scabbard and staring hard at Riku. "_Need_."

"I know I promised you one, Dawn, and I swear I will find a way to get you one."

"_Need_."

Sora jerked the scabbard, but it still remained tight in the Keyblade Spirit's grasp. "You mind letting go, Dawn?" Gimli, Glorfindel, Naminé, and Naminé's fifty soldiers watched the whole scene with amusement, while Boromir and some of the elves that had already assembled with bows drawn and strung glanced between the three in bewilderment.

"I will get you a scabbard Dawn," Riku told her again, "now please let go of Sora's."

"_Need_," she reiterated. "Fight him for it."

"What?" Riku and Sora said simultaneously.

"_Sora,"_ Kaze's voice entered into his head, _"tell Dawn that Cosmos and I are willing to fight her tooth and claw to retain this scabbard. She's _not_ getting it!"_

"My Keyblades say 'no', Dawn," Sora told the female, grasping the Keyblade's hand as she held onto the scabbard. Instantly her eyes shot up to meet Sora's, a startled and stunned look overtaking her. He was a little perturbed by the way her eyes were meeting his even through the helmet, but at the moment she was being annoying enough that he couldn't care. "Now let go."

Surprisingly, she obediently let go of the scabbard. "As you wish." Riku's eyes widened as the silver-haired youth realized just what Dawn had meant when she told him that Sora was master of _all_ Keyblades. Although, that still didn't stop Dawn from looking back at the scabbard longingly and muttering, "I wants one," under her breath. Sora released his hand from hers and gasped.

"Something's coming through!" he exclaimed. Riku's right hand flared with light and Way to the Dawn appeared within his grasp. Nebulus snorted and stamped a hoof on the ground before screeching a neigh and taking off vertically into the sky so he could hover above the others.

"Stand ready!" shouted the princess down to her troops. Glorfindel had no need to relay the order into elvish, as the fifty elves already assembled snatched arrows from their quivers and drew them back in a single fluid motion while others that had just come out drew swords and beared shields. Boromir stood anxiously, awaiting whatever it was that would come out of the mass of darkness, while Gimli hefted his axe in eager anticipation.

A man walked through, one empty hand held up in a gesture of goodwill. "I wish to speak to the twin Princesses of Radiant Garden!" he declared. Sora relaxed a tad while he looked at the man who had emerged. He was dressed in plated golden armour over boiled leather, aquamarines glittering in the middle of his breastplate, on his belt, and at the tops of his golden boots. A golden cap was fitted snugly on the man's head above his short-trimmed brown hair. In his left hand rested a shield with a purple face and golden rims circling it like a ram's horns, and in his right was a sword with a golden guard and a double helix blade that sprouted a tongue of flame in the centre. His brown eyes were firm above his neatly trimmed beard, and while he stood strong, tall, and firm, there was a hint of weariness and desperation in his voice.

From behind him, a few more figures emerged. There was a man with jet-black hair and a black beard that traveled around his chin and his upper lip. He was garbed in a sleeveless coat that went from his shoulders to his knees. It started in a robin's egg blue, and slowly developed into a deeper, darker shade of blue. Under his coat was a tanned shirt with a maroon belt and golden belt buckle holding up his forest green pants and in his arms rested a longbow. Beside him came a woman with blonde hair done up in two buns on the top of her head. Her raiment was of light shades of blue and white, together making a light battle dress of soft fabrics while she wielded a short purple staff about four feet long with petal-like sheaves building towards the head. Standing next to her was a bald man in light coloured robes with a dark chestnut shirt underneath his cream vest. Tattoos adorned this man's head and muscled arms that held a granite coloured staff. Lastly a woman with jaw-length blonde hair wearing steel plate with a black chest piece and mismatched pauldrons on her shoulder came out. Two axes were in her belt. She looked around quickly, eyes lingering on Sora, Riku, and Naminé for a moment, before settling on the back of the head of the first man who came out. Beyond the first man in the golden armour and the one with the bow and bear, who each looked young enough to be in their early thirties, the other three all appeared to only be in their early twenties.

The blonde woman with the staff kicked at the packed snow on the ground a little, revealing a little of the cobblestones beneath. "Hm, so we go from crumbling cities and a barren wasteland to a cold, winter wasteland. Maybe the Shiverpeaks would have been better after all."

"This city seems to be anything but a wasteland," the older man with the bow chided her.

Naminé tapped her horse on the neck and Nebulus came down to earth, his astral hooves thumping on the snow-covered stones. "I am Princess Naminé of Radiant Garden," she told the first man who had spoken. "My sister Kairi is busy at the moment. Who are you and why are you here?"

The man looked straight into Naminé's eyes. "I am Prince Rurik of Ascalon."

"Ascalon," murmured Sora. He recognized that name from somewhere, but it was completely eluding him. He glanced at Riku, seeing that his friend was looking at him quizzically as if he too couldn't place where he'd heard it before.

"My kingdom has been ravaged by the Charr," Prince Rurik continued, unabated. "They brought down our Great Northern Wall two years ago, and all of Ascalon was changed forever in an event we call The Searing. The sky rained fire, and ponds and streams became pools of bubbling tar and rivers of sludge. There's nothing green and wholesome there anymore. My people and I have just come from our capital city of Rin, which was just sacked by the Charr armies hours ago, which grow even more terrifying with how many of them have become pitch black and fearless, and even more ferocious than before. My father, King Adelbern, refused to see that the war and our kingdom are lost, and so my men and all the people behind me have come here, seeking a new life free of the Charr."

"What people?" asked Boromir. "I see only you and four others."

The blonde woman turned to look at Boromir instead of her Prince and said sharply, "The ones in the portal behind us, dummy. Like everybody wouldn't freak out when an _army_ suddenly showed up in the city."

"Cynn, calm down," said the man in blue with the bow, turning towards the blonde with her hair done up in buns.

"How can I be calm, Aidan?" she asked bitterly, stomping her foot. "We Ascalonians have lost _everything_ to the stupid mutts. _I've_ lost everything! Surmia and my family are _gone_! Rin is gone! Our country is lost!"

A hand was placed on the girl's shoulder. She glanced up at the bald man in cream robes. "That's true, Cynn," he said, "but we're still here, Dwayna be praised, and we can start anew. If it weren't for Devona coming back to us who knows how many more of our friends and people would have died?"

Cynn looked away from him. "Many more, Mhenlo, and it makes me so angry I want to drop a firestorm on top of a Charr's head."

"You may get the chance," said the axe-wielding warrior in a voice that sounded familiar to Sora. "It looks like they're gearing for war here. Perhaps this world wasn't my best choice? Twilight Town might have been more appropriate."

Sora took a pace forward and looked beyond Price Rurik to give the warrior a questioning look that she likely couldn't see under his helmet. "You were the one who created the portal?"

She smiled. "Wow, is that you Sora? I certainly didn't recognize you in all the armour. But I guess it makes sense that it's you, with Aiwemon on your shoulder."

Gimli looked up at Sora as he stopped, frozen for a moment in uncertainty. "Do you know _everyone_ Sora?"

"I don't think that I know her Gimli."

"But she does seem familiar," Aiwemon added. The woman tisked.

"Mind Crush."

And just like that, Sora, Riku, and Naminé all knew who it was that stood in front of them. "Cossex!"

"Devona, once more," the blonde replied. "So, Your Highness, will you accept Prince Rurik's request?"

"I would in a heartbeat," Naminé replied, "but unfortunately it's not entirely up to me to decide. Right now that's Parliament's job until Kairi and I turn nineteen and one of us becomes Queen. I think that they're still sitting right now, so I can take you, Your Highness, to speak with them. When you tell them that you have brought your refugees with you, I'm pretty sure they'll be forced to agree." She finished that sentence with a smile. "How many people did you say you brought with you?"

"I haven't," answered Prince Rurik, "but now that you ask, I can say that I brought with me the Ascalon Vanguard, numbering at two thousand strong, and nearly four hundred men and women of various guilds; alongside them are the majority of our people who have survived the Searing. I don't have an exact number, but at a rough estimate I would guess there are approximately nine thousand men, women, and children."

Sora's eyes bulged unseen beneath his helmet and he felt like he was staggered. Two thousand soldiers, four hundred guildsmen, and nine thousand other refugees? The majority of the people of an entire war-torn country? Where was Radiant Garden going to put them all, especially with winter here?

Naminé's eyes had widened considerably as well, and she choked back an exclamation. "I'm sorry, that surprised me a little. We're all just a little distracted at the moment, since we're about to be attacked by our own enemies."

Cossex, no, Devona, spoke to the blonde princess. "Maleficent's attacking?"

Sora shook his head. "Not yet, and not her personally, as far as we know. We're expecting the army she sent to be here in the morning, though."

Cynn rolled her eyes. "_Greaat_. We go from being attacked by Charr to being attacked by Heartless. I love how everything just keeps getting better since the Searing."

Prince Rurik turned around, forestalling any more comments from her. "My friends, we knew that this would not be easy, whether it was crossing the Northern Shiverpeaks and securing the aid of the Deldrimor Dwarves on our way to Kryta, or trusting in Devona's words about the people she'd met while she was away. If the price we must pay for a new home is to help defend it, then so be it. I will gladly fight if it means we are granted shelter here from the Charr."

"Dwayna's Light shines on us," said Mhenlo, the Monk.

Naminé turned Nebulus ninety degrees. "Captain Beagle, find birds for Prince Rurik and yourself. We're going to Parliament."

"Yes, Your Highness," said the captain of her guard. "But what about the refugees and everybody else?" he looked at the Elves under Glorfindel's direction, Boromir, Gimli, and Devona and her friends.

"I think it will be in our best interest if we inspect the wall Sora has spoken of," Glorfindel said to the captain. "If you can have one of your people lead us there that will be sufficient."

"I can take you," Riku offered. Sora then placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Uh, Riku, I need you for a bit."

Riku shrugged and turned back to the tall elf. "Sorry, it looks like I can't take you." Glorfindel only smiled.

All that came after was just the haggling of details. The Elves would go to the wall, Rurik's Ascalon Vanguard and the Heroes of the guilds would be split between the castle in the north and the refurbished castle down in Villain's Vale where the army had had their headquarters while training had been ongoing. Ascalon's refugees would at least hold up there and in the training camp for the winter or until the decision was made on what to do with them.

Gimli and Boromir stayed with Sora as Naminé rode off with the prince and all the others began going their own ways, with the refugees and soldiers of Ascalon emerging from the portal. Riku turned to his best friend and asked, "So what was it you needed me for? It's cold out here."

Sora took his helmet off and hissed slightly as the cold air stung his nose and cheeks. "I need you to come flower shopping with me."

Riku's expression said it all.

-A-D-

"What the smeg is going on here?"

Kairi couldn't help but shake her head at Roxas' question. "I'm not sure," she answered, "but whatever it is, it's either wonderful, or utter madness. Helia's having a field day trying to cook."

The two Keyblade Wielders were currently in the castle's dining hall, a hall that was approaching pandemonium at this point. Already eating with them had been several of their friends from across companies with their preparations completed as much as possible and now enjoying some well-earned hot food, and the other Princesses of Heart who had been able to arrive (Jasmine, Belle, and Aurora; with Aladdin, Abu, Iago, Beast, and Prince Phillip). The sight of the Beast had been enough to make many people panic, but Kairi, Jasmine, and Belle had assured everybody that he was friendly and Beast did as much as possible to be as non-threatening as he could. Asterix and King Mickey sat with them as well, as did Donald and Goofy, who had arrived without Sora (to Kairi's disappointment).

The number and diversity of people entering the dining hall was staggering to the two Destiny Island natives. Asterix, while not bringing the _whole_ village back with him, had brought at least Chief Vitalstatistix, the druid Getafix, the blacksmith Fulliautomatix, the fishmonger Unhygenix, the bard Cacofonix, the elder Geriatrix, Vitalstatistix's two shield-bearers, and a dozen other men of the village of indomitable Gauls. Cacofonix had proposed to sing an epic ballad for their arrival in the castle of Asterix's friend, and when the first few ear-cracking notes had escaped his mouth and been dragged out of his lyre clouds appeared _inside_ of the hall and began _raining_! Fulliautomatix smashed the Gaul with the terrible singing voice on the head with his hammer. Obelix had then believed that they were starting a good old punch-up, something he hadn't participated in for a too long.

It had been at that moment that a number of Elves of Rivendell and Duke Barradin (Prince Rurik's second-in-command of the Ascalon Vanguard) and some of the members of the Vanguard came into the hall and were nearly caught in the ruckus. Almost immediately after them entered Prince Alexander, who looked shocked and awed at the sight of the tall elven warriors and the appearance of the soldiers of Ascalon.

"Should we go stop them?" Menelmon asked Kairi (the digimon had digivolved while she slept last night).

"They'll get it out of their system soon enough," Getafix said slowly as he approached their table, stroking his long beard. "They always do. Ah, look, they're done." Chief Vitalstatistix was bellowing at him men, halting their fighting completely, and suddenly his two shield-bearers dropped him from his shield, at which point he began pointing and yelling at the pair. They only glanced at each other in confusion. The other members of the village began walking away from each other to the tables where soldiers of the United Forces were already eating (or they would have been eating, had their mouths not gone completely slack-jawed as they stared at all the new arrivals). Obelix was still holding two men in the air by their ankles.

Kairi then blinked and squinted for a second before her eyes widened joyfully. "Hey! The Elves are here! That means Sora's back." She beamed at the rest of the table, and smirked at Roxas. "He's so going to wonder what you're doing in a suit."

"What are you talking about?" Roxas asked her dismissively, straightening his tie. "Suits are cool. Besides, Naminé said I looked good in my suit back in Mystic Bayou." He looked at her critically. "You should get a suit too."

"I like ballroom dresses," she told him. "I don't need a suit." The redhead wiped her mouth on a napkin and pushed herself off of the heavy wooden bench at the table. "I'm going to see Sora. I'll catch up with you all later." With a smile on her face and a spring in her step, the Crown Princess of Radiant Garden crossed through the crowded dining hall, pausing only when she reached the Elves. She racked her brain for those words that she'd remembered hearing months ago, and recited in her mind several times over the last several hours since learning that Sora was bringing the Elves to fight. A few gave her a courtesy glance, but for the most part they were slightly staggered by the magic lights in the brackets on the walls and hovering in the air to light the hall, and by the Christmas music that was still playing (if one strained enough over the babble in the room to hear it) and paid her no mind.

"_Mae govannen,_" Kairi said anxiously, sure that she'd screwed up her pronunciation. They were the only two words she could remember out of all that she'd probably heard while in the Hall of Fire and in snippets of elvish conversation. They were also the only two words that had been translated for her, as far as she could remember, so she held onto them as tightly as she could.

Hearing her voice suddenly speak their tongue, more than two dozen of the elves looked at the girl. Kairi blushed at the sudden attention, but the elves smiled kindly at her. "_Mae govannen, mellon,_" said the closest elf to her, the elf removing his helmet and placing it in the crook of his arm. His voice was so high and musical that Kairi felt her heart sigh and relax at the joyous tone. "You are Kairi?" he asked. "Princess of this world and mistress of the Keyblade and Sora, correct?"

She nodded her head, blushing anew at the thought of being Sora's 'mistress'. "Yes, I am, and close enough."

"Then I say again, well met friend," he said gaily. "Your world is…strange and intriguing."

"Yes it is," Kairi admitted, recalling how strange Middle-earth was to any other world she'd been to. "I'm sorry, but I need to go see Sora. I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am for you all to have come."

"Elrond Half-elven does not deny aid to allies in their time of need," the elf said. "I wish you the best of luck in your search for your friend." Kairi nodded and moved past him and the other elves to leave through the double doors of the dining hall.

She didn't quite make it, this time delayed by Prince Alexander. "Princess Kairi," he greeted, bowing and kissing her hand before she could stop him. "Have you already eaten, my lady?"

"Yes," she answered politely enough, also taking her hand back, "and I was about to leave, Your Highness." She grimaced inside. It had been impossible to conceal that she and Naminé were princesses for long, and Prince Alexander had found out sure enough. Now it seemed like he was trying to court her.

"How was it?" he asked her.

"It was good," Kairi answered honestly, while inside she was thinking, _please move, now. _She could just see the entrance hall beside his shoulder.

"But aren't all of your friends still at the table?" he wondered in confusion, seeing everybody at the table she had just come from. "I had thought that you would still be with them until you were all done."

"Well something came up," the redhead told him. She suddenly beamed and ducked past him. "Excuse me, talk to you later!"

-A-D-

Sora, Riku, Aiwemon, Boromir, and Gimli all entered the castle's warm, lit halls through the big double doors at the front. Their faces were red and chilled but Sora was happy. Thanks to a little guesswork between Riku and himself, Sora had come up with a bouquet of flowers for Kairi that he was sure were her favourite. Riku mentioned that he might as well just get roses, but Sora insisted that he had to get Kairi's favourite flowers no matter what.

"Think she'll like them?" the brunet asked the silver, half-indicating the nine large pink stargazer lilies wrapped up in his gauntleted hand.

"Dude, you've asked me that question eighteen fucking times. She's going to like them."

Boromir was looking up. "What is that sound?"

"…_Have a holly, jolly Christmas; and when you walk down the street…"_

"Oh that's just Christmas music," Sora answered without thinking. "Hey wait, that's Burl Ives, awesome song to come back to."

"Sora…" said Riku.

Gimli frowned slightly. "Burl Ives?"

"He's the singer," Sora told the dwarf.

"I didn't hear him on your music player," Gimli grumbled.

This time Riku nudged Sora when he said his name. "Sora."

"Yeah?"

Riku pointed and chose that moment to follow the song. _"Oh ho the mistletoe, hung where you can see. Somebody waits for you,"_ Sora was already gone, set on a collision course with his girl as Kairi waited for him under a sprig of floating mistletoe with her hands behind her back, _"kiss her once for me."_

"Happy three months, Kairi," Sora said softly as he approached her, holding out the flowers. Kairi gushed.

"You remembered!" she said. "And you got me stargazers. How'd you know they were my favourite?"

"Well," he replied with a bit of a shrug, "Riku helped, a little." Kairi giggled slightly as she took the lilies and sniffed them deeply. She sighed, then looked up and smiled at him. Her arms folded around Sora and she kissed him gently. It didn't last more than a couple of seconds, a greeting Sora found hardly satisfying given how crazily he missed her over the past few days.

His look of disapproval only made Kairi laugh more. "Tell Riku that one was for him," she told him. Suddenly she gripped Sora by the mail coif around his neck and tugged him closer, "and _this_ is for you."

BAM! Here was the kiss Sora wanted to give her as her body melted against his armour. He held her firmly, pressing her mouth against his as they kissed with their passion again and again. They informed each other through deep breaths, heavy whispers, and soft kisses just how much their hearts had ached at their separation.

Riku had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed as he inevitably led Sora's dwarf friend and man acquaintance up the side steps past the golden mermaid fountain to the place where the Keyblade Master and Princess of Heart were engaged in their intense barely verbal conversation. He clapped both of them on the shoulders simultaneously. Neither of them reacted the way he'd anticipated, jumping back from one another as if they'd just been struck by lightning. Instead, they only stopped kissing and continued gazing into each other's eyes.

"Yes, Riku?" Kairi asked.

"We haven't eaten yet," he reminded her.

"That's true. Come on Sora. I'll be you, Aiwemon, and Gimli are hungry. When I heard you were coming, Gimli, I made sure that we had some malt beer stocked for you."

"Splendidly done, my lady Kairi," Gimli laughed. "Lead on! Fill our bellies and quench our stomachs, and regale Boromir and myself with tales of your adventures since last we met!"

"It would be our pleasure," Menelmon told the dwarf, sweeping her wing down in a bow. The fire dragon perched on Kairi's head rasped something that almost seemed like a chuckle and snorted smoke out of its nostrils. Gimli and Boromir both reacted with surprise, shouting and jumping back a pace.

Kairi and Sora only laughed as they went into the dining hall, their hands clasped together firmly. Riku watched them go, and placed his hands over his ears as a great cheer suddenly sounded from within at Sora's entrance. _Of course_, thought Riku, _he's the hero they've all—well, I guess not _all_ now, what with the Ascalonians, Gauls, and Elves here—heard of and seen, even more than Kairi or the rest of us. Just seeing him before the battle with a smiling face and his princess in his arms will raise their spirits._

_I want his scabbard,_ Dawn stubbornly reminded Riku.

_Give it a rest sis,_ Destiny sighed.

Dawn's reply was immediate. _Oh, you can shut up Destiny! You at least _had_ one!_

Riku tuned out the now bickering Keyblade-siblings and turned instead to the one person he hadn't quite noticed hanging around the doorway to the dining hall. Prince Alexander had been watching the whole exchange between Sora and Kairi and then stepped to the side as they entered. "What's eating you?" Riku asked.

The Prince looked at Riku and then glanced into the hall, presumably at Sora and Kairi. "I take it that Her Highness, Princess Kairi, is dating that boy, then?"

Riku nodded curtly. "Yeah, that's right. Her sister, Princess Naminé, is dating Sora's brother, Roxas."

Prince Alexander appeared thoughtful at that. He then nodded his head a little, and a funny grin came onto his face. "Well, my sister's going to be disappointed then."

Riku raised an eyebrow at the young man.

"She _hates_ how I refuse to chase after the ladies at court who are already taken," said the prince.

-A-D-

_This is as good enough an ending point. It got **way** too damn long. So much has happened in this chapter, yet at the same time, so little has happened. Either way, the next one we get busy._

_I don't think I really need to translate the small bit of Sindarin in this chapter, but I will anyway._

**Translations:**

_Mae govannen, mellon. _(Elf One [Really, I don't care to name him right now]. Sindarin. "Well met, friend".)

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	70. Sooner Than Expected

_JapanRules555: I thank you for taking the time to click the review button, but I would appreciate it if instead of telling me that I should check out somebody else's fic, you would provide feedback on what you think of my own writing. I will look at **The Secret of the 327****th** eventually, but I have only just recently finished watching Digimon Tamers, and that fic is 207 chapters long with over 2.3 MILLION words in three years of writing. Including the fifteen rewritten chapters and **Garden of Snow and Ice**, before this chapter I had 153 chapters and 1.84 MILLION words after close to five years of writing, to put things into perspective between that Tamers/Clone Wars crossover fic and my own. So please, forgive me if I don't check it out right away, and also forgive me if I have no way of telling you whether or not I am checking out this recommended fic because you did not leave an e-mail address I could reach you at or submit a signed review with a registered penname on the site._

_P.S. What do you think of **The Annals of Darkness** since you have read up to the current chapter? What are your likes and dislikes of the story? Do you like the plot or dislike the plot? What are your thoughts on the several subplots I've got going, such as Heith's meeting with Terra, Aqua, and Ventus; this Library of Ages that Maleficent is searching for; the Prince of Destiny Islands appearing; or even just the sexual overtones that have been thickly poured over recent chapters like gravy on mashed potatoes next to a nice roast tenderloin, rubbed with Montreal Steak Spice; with steamed asparagus, sprinkled with salt, pepper, and a bit of margarine, on the side?_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_

**_ANNOUNCEMENT!_**

_As you may have noticed, the title has changed. At the conclusion of the Battle for Radiant Garden, I shall be re-starting **The War**, once again. I apologize, and recommend you place me on author alerts if you have not already done so._

_AND NOW, FOR THE DISCLAIMER!_

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Guild Wars, Asterix Comics, Final Fantasy, and just about everything else are registered trademarks of their respective owners. This is for entertainment purposes only._

_I would also like to put down a reminder. I will **not** be writing lemons. Whenever it looks like I may be on the verge of getting more and more explicit, remember that you will never see a lemon written here. Either I'm going to cut, like I did with Roxas and Naminé; fluff over with creative use of descriptive language, as per Riku and Yuffie; or, well, you'll see._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 70: Sooner Than Expected

"So Kairi," asked Yuffie, "what was it that you wanted to wait until Sora was back to tell us about?"

Kairi broke from the kiss she was giving Sora, stopping the slight exasperation of everyone else who had gathered in her room (being Naminé, Roxas, Riku, Yuffie, Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Hayner, Olette, and Pence) at her dragging them up there only to have to watch her make out with her boyfriend. "Alright," she said, huffing out what remained of her used air supply in the single word. The auburn-haired princess took another two breaths to steady her body as she sat on the side of her bed, taking a look at the group as a whole. She took another breath.

"Gardasaddiewatoadobe."

"Kairi slow down," Sora told her with a bit of an amused grin. "We can't understand what you're saying." She sighed, and took one more breath.

"Garda told me that he wants to adopt me."

"What?" asked Sora, "Are you, are you serious Kairi?" She nodded her head.

"Well that's great!" Selphie exclaimed. She laughed and leapt onto the bed, hugging her best friend. "You're going to have a dad again."

"Yeah, great," Kairi said, biting her bottom lip.

Riku and Sora picked up the anxiety sign immediately. "What is it?" Riku asked, pushing Selphie slightly out of the way so that he could sit closer to his friend. "Are you unhappy?"

Kairi shook her head. "No, I am, I think. It's just…I guess I'm in shock and don't really know how to take it." She placed a hand to her chest. "It's been a few months now, and so much has happened since then, but the pain of losing them is still there. It's also weird. Both Ovan and Garda have offered to take me in now, Ovan because he's my godfather and Garda because he was my master and cares about me. I just don't know what to do. Would running into the arms of one of them, so soon after them dying, upset mom and dad?"

Menelmon placed a wing against Kairi's cheek. The girl reacted to the soft touch of the feathers with a bit of apprehension. "Kairi, they care about you," she said, "just like Keys, Riku, your sister, friends, and I do."

"We all want you to be happy, Kairi," Sora told her. "And so do Garda and Lord Ramius. Besides, when all this is over we're going to have to go back to school, right?" He pulled off a silly grin. "You're going to need someplace to crash and complain about homework while not doing it."

"Hey!" Kairi retorted, giving him a shove. "Who are you thinking of when it comes to not doing homework, you lazy bum? Besides, I can't seem to recall you knowing where you're ending up."

"We're going to our aunt and uncle's place," Roxas reminded her, "remember?"

"Oh yeah," Kairi said slowly. "Forgot about that."

"I guess Sora's going to be doing a lot more complaining about homework then," Tidus sniped. "All those extra chores on the ranch are going to keep him too busy to do it."

Sora didn't seem too perturbed when he said, "Crap, I forgot. We _will_ have to do ranch work. Man, guess that lie I told is going to end up coming true after all. And I'll be taking Rei on as an apprentice too." He looked at Kairi with an apologetic face. "How about we make Monday and Friday nights our date nights?"

"Sounds good to me," she answered. Sora kissed her. A few seconds later, she sighed. "So, who should I go with? Garda, or Ovan?"

"That's up to you, Kairi," Naminé said quietly, folding her hands together in front of her, "but I know that when all's said and done and Maleficent's gone, that I'll be staying with Ovan." Kairi looked at her. "He's been good to me," Naminé explained, "and helped me out a lot. Besides, I…I hope you're not mad at me Kairi, but I want to become Queen later, so that I can really help Radiant Garden, protect it, and make a difference. Lord Ramius can prepare me for that."

"You want to become Queen of this place?" Wakka asked. He shivered. "Not something I'd want. It's too cold, yah?"

Naminé shrugged. "Cold doesn't bother me."

Kairi just shook her head. "I don't really want to think about the future right now. We're hours away from the biggest battle we've ever fought in; are we ready for it?"

"You're right about it being hours away," Roxas said. "One of my Samurai came back about an hour ago after it got dark. They're heading this way, full steam ahead."

"If we're worried about being ready," Yuffie began, "why don't we head to the war room and go over the plan and our preparations one more time?"

Hayner nodded. "Sounds like a good idea to me," he declared. "Besides, a little cog in the machine like me would like to know the grand scope of the plans rather than my own itty-bitty part."

Roxas smirked. "Aren't you just an enlisted man, sergeant? Isn't your own itty-bitty part the only thing your brain can retain?"

"Says the bonehead who can't count past ten without taking off his socks."

"Just because that's true in one dimension doesn't make it true in this one."

Selphie stood up. "Hayner's got a point though," she said, "I would like to know more of what the plan is than just what us few in Abel Company are going to do."

"Us few?" Sora asked. He began to count out loud. "Let's see, we've got me, Kairi, Riku, Naminé, Roxas, Yuffie, Asterix, and King Mickey, so that's the eight of us with Keyblades and there are about ninety of you in each of your companies. Who's few again?"

"Stuff it, Sora," Selphie retorted with a roll of her eyes. "You know what I meant." She got up and off the bed, motioning for the others still on it to follow her.

"And when we're done," Aiwemon added eagerly, "we can stuff our faces. I'm hungry."

Sora laughed. "But you just ate!"

"Yes, and…?" his digimon inquired leadingly. Sora shook his head and chuckled a little more. Just as he was about to leave the room, Kairi called for Naminé to wait up for a second. Still in his armour, for a reason that couldn't have been worse than that he'd simply forgotten to take it off, Sora led the way for the rest of them up to the war room.

"What do you think Kairi wanted to tell Naminé?" Yuffie asked, walking backwards after Sora. The brunet's face twitched.

"Probably that Kairi won't stand in her way," he replied.

-A-D-

A small pot of hot chocolate and _large_ pot of freshly brewed coffee were already in the war room ahead of them, with King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, General Solomon, Mayor Magellan, General Berger, Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye, General Howell, Commander Nebula, Fleet Admiral Kago, Asterix, Obelix, Chief Vitalstatistix, Getafix, Glorfindel, Boromir, Gimli, Prince Rurik, Devona, and Garda. Thankfully the room was still large enough to accommodate everyone even after Sora's group arrived, though the Keyblade Master felt that it was getting a little crowded. Outside of the room were several guards, who let them in without question, and inside were a few nameless aides.

"Ah, Sora, good," said King Mickey as Sora entered the room. "I take it you'd like the full rundown on what's going on?"

"That would be nice, Your Majesty," Sora answered with a nod of his head.

"I hear you took out the darkness Maleficent had planted in Hämsterviel and Gantu," Urophi Magellan said. "Nice work."

"Thank you," Aiwemon said. His eyes widened. "Ooh, cookies too."

Sora chuckled and tapped his digimon partner on the beak. "Go and have some." Aiwemon rubbed Sora's cheek affectionately with his own before taking wing to the table holding the refreshments.

"We'd better have someone bring another plate or ten of those up," Riku advised them. "Those digimon sure can pack food away."

"We'll remember that," Prince Rurik said, glancing at Devona only to see her smiling at the digimon that was over at the table.

Getafix nodded his head as well. "Since I'm sure you'll want to get all the rest you can tonight, and because I'll need all the time I need to prepare my magic potion, we should let you know the situation."

"Right," General Berger, who seemed to have been given full command of the United Forces ground troops, agreed. "Here's how it is. The last of Sir Roxas' Samurai that were shadowing the enemy have come back. It's about twenty-hundred hours now, and according to what the Samurai were writing down, Maleficent's strike force will reach the canyon by o-eight hundred tomorrow, advancing from the north."

"We've had to stop making air strikes on them in the last six hours," Commander Nebula put in. "We still haven't lost any gummies, but there's something that they've got in the air that none of our pilots feel at all confident flying against as long as it's in the air. It keeps changing shape and a voice issues out of it, insulting them."

"Is it a Heartless?" Naminé asked. Commander Nebula shook his head.

"It doesn't appear so. Apparently it's mechanical of some nature, but no one could identify it."

"The strange flying contraption aside," Asterix said, "the bombing runs did manage to do some crucial damage. Apparently they had a number of very large Heartless called 'Groundshakers' in the mix."

"Groundshakers!" blurted Sora. "Are you sure?" Asterix nodded. "Did the bombers get them?"

"They did," Admiral Kago answered.

Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Good," he muttered, sinking into a chair at the large circular table. "Good."

"What's good?" Kairi asked, walking into the room with Naminé, Menelmon, and Plato. Both girls were beaming, and as soon as Menelmon saw Aiwemon gorging himself on cookies, she flew over to join the other digimon. Sora saw Garda and Kairi share flickering glances for less than a second before she came towards him.

"The Groundshakers that had been with the army were taken out," Sora answered, pulling out the chair next to him so that Kairi could sit in it. He saw the smile on Kairi's face and asked an unspoken question. _I take it she approved._

_She took it better than I expected_, Kairi answered with her smile and a glance at Naminé. "Okay, I'll bite," she told him, "why is that good?"

Jiminy was the one who answered her, popping out of Sora's hood and pulling out his journal. "The Groundshaker was a giant Heartless that attacked the Pride Lands, and was made up of dozens of Scar's ghosts." He produced a picture from the journal, one that specifically showed the size difference between the Groundshaker and lion cub Sora while he and Simba had been fighting it.

Kairi's eyes widened. "Holy Hera," she murmured.

"It was almost as big as Pride Rock itself," Sora explained to the group at large, "at least up to the promontory, which makes it _really_ big, Hayner, and it could probably leap over the cliffs and reach the wall in three or four jumps, and then thrash the wall without even looking at it. Two of them could probably level the whole city."

"But you beat one?" Selphie asked. Sora was sure she didn't state it outright because of how much he was building it up.

"Yeah Simba and I beat it, but I do not want to fight another one of those things again. That fight was brutal, and those stupid fire spells that monkey on its back shoots out really suck. I do not want to fight something that's a thousand times my size again."

Boromir appeared stunned.

"What remarkable power the Keyblade must bestow to its wielders," he mused to himself. "To think, that such a weapon even exists, and is coming to Gondor's aid."

"It's all in our hearts, dude," Roxas said, "the Keyblade just lets us access it."

"By the way, what's with the suit?" Sora asked.

Roxas proudly put a hand up to fiddle with his tie. "Because I look awesome in it," he replied.

Riku leaned over from where he was sitting on Sora's other side and began to whisper, "Five hundred munny says he actually believes that."

"You're on," Sora whispered back, "I'm betting Naminé told him he looks good in one." Riku nodded his head and the two straightened up. "So besides these Groundshakers that were already taken out, thank the gods, what other Heartless are we expecting?"

"A lot of different kinds of them," Goofy answered him.

"But you can bet there'll be Darksides and Behemoths in with them," said Donald, "and a bunch of other nasty ones we've fought before."

"And the Charr Heartless," Naminé reminded them all. Prince Rurik growled.

"Will my people ever be rid of them?" he asked no one as he placed his hands heavily upon the table, seething at himself. "I led my people here to escape the Charr, and now you say that the worse black kind is coming here as well?"

"They're Heartless, and that's just the shape they're takin'," King Mickey assured him. "They aren't the real things and they won't be sticking around after we've defeated them. Your people have nothing to fear about a true Charr invasion of Radiant Garden. They don't exist here." The Prince of Ascalon growled a little more, but he nodded at Disney Castle's King.

"Besides that," sighed Roxas, "it's pretty much the same as what I told you a couple days ago. There's the Heartless, and then there's a bunch of Nobodies, whatever Orcs are, Nod soldiers, and some dwarves and minotaurs from the White Witch."

"Dwarves!" snapped Gimli. "Why are my kinsmen aiding the enemy?"

"Different dwarves, Gimli," Sora said quickly. "Not dwarves of the Lonely Mountain, evil dwarves following the White Witch of Narnia." Sora paused and looked at King Mickey. "Right?" The King nodded in assent. Gimli made a noise of satisfaction, and then growled.

"My axe will cleave their heads from their necks," he declared.

Sora glanced at Kairi. "Want some hot chocolate?" he asked quietly. She nodded, so he got up from his chair. He glanced at General Berger. "What do we have on our side then?"

"As far as ground forces go," he answered slowly, "we have about eight thousand now from Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, and Destiny Islands combined. General Solomon, General Howell, and Colonel Mustang's troops have yet to join with us, so we can't count the thousands they'll be bringing. Of those eight thousand most of them are infantry, with twelve-hundred others mounted on chocobos and another three hundred in our own Felix and Cavalier tank squadrons."

"Are the tanks ready?" Kairi asked quickly. "I remember I went by them a few days ago after inspecting the _Starlight_, and we sure didn't have close to a hundred tanks."

"We have a few ready now," the general replied, "but they'll be staying out of the fight, though we could use them. The drivers and gunners just aren't familiar enough with them. They need more time."

Sora plopped two marshmallows into two separate cups of hot chocolate and briskly returned to the table, along with a couple of shortbread cookies. Aiwemon and Menelmon now followed him back, having eaten a large portion of the cookies laid out. "No tank support then," he sighed, passing Kairi her mug of the brew, "but I heard that we've got catapults on the walls, so that'll help a bit. This seems a bit strange, fighting with magic, swords, bows, guns, catapults, tanks, and aircraft all at the same time."

General Solomon chuckled. "Don't I know it? It's like every single modern and archaic weapon are coming out to face one another in battle. God help whoever thinks a small shield can stop a tank round."

"Did you make these?" Sora asked Kairi in an undertone, having taken a bite of a cookie. She nodded her head. "They're fantastic! Great job!" Kairi smiled at the praise and gave him a complimentary kiss on the cheek.

"What else?" Riku asked.

Commander Nebula spoke up now. "We suspect that there'll also be a small fleet of Heartless and Nobody ships arrive to coincide with the attack of the ground forces below, so we won't be able to count on additional support from the Arrows and Ajaxes, or from any of our ships coming into the world's atmosphere and bringing their guns to bear on the ground."

"But as for the rest of the ground," General Berger continued, "Chief Vitalstatistix and his band of warriors are here, Prince Rurik and his two-thousand strong Ascalon Vanguard, the four hundred guild Heroes of Ascalon, three hundred of the Elves of Rivendell that you brought here, Sora, one dwarf, an extra sword from some place Boromir here calls Gondor, and Roxas' three thousand Samurai. All told, we number at roughly thirteen thousand seven hundred…"

"…against their two hundred thousand," Urophi Magellan finished solemnly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "All our preparations and planning and organizing, all of our time training and building, all of the money and material spent and still to be spent, is all of this wasted when she has forces of this size readily at her disposal?"

"We have the Keyblade and the Princesses of Heart helping us," Asterix reminded them. "And we can't forget our druid."

"No, I daresay you can't," Getafix said with a shrewd smile. "The Heartless haven't had much stomach for my magic potion in the past, and they will get a bellyful of it once again."

Roxas growled and everything became silent again for a few seconds. He blurted out, "The bombers had to have done _something_, though, right? I mean, besides taking out the eight Groundshakers? They were making attack runs all afternoon yesterday and even did a night raid!"

A puff of blue smoke suddenly appeared in the room, and Merlin stepped out and began to babble. "Oh, I hope I'm not late, am I? Was I interrupting anything important being said? Ah, where are Sora and the other—oh! There you are!"

"Merlin?" Sora asked, his eyes locking onto the wizard. "What is it?"

The wizard smiled mischievously. "Well, a few weeks ago I had a run-in with your doctor, Sora, who told me that there is a certain, ahem, affliction, that affects magical abilities every so often, and that all of you are acutely aware of its effects."

A stab of rage at that incongruous flaw in their physiology flew through Sora's mind for a moment before he nodded his head. "Yes, what about it?"

"What flaw?" General Solomon asked sharply. "I wasn't told that magic had a flaw."

"It's… kinda embarrassing," Kairi answered slowly, and immediately began sipping her hot chocolate to forestall having to say what it really was.

"What is it?" Selphie asked quietly, patting Kairi on the shoulder. "C'mon, you can tell me." Kairi shook her head, and Plato rasped something from atop the raspberry beret on her head. Kairi retorted something in the same crackling hiss tone.

"Well it's embarrassing and it's not embarrassing," Riku said, rubbing the back of his head.

Yuffie smirked. "Yeah, because it kept you out of the fighting in City of Bells," she said.

Aiwemon glanced at Sora from his shoulder. "I don't think you've even really told me about this," he said. Sora coughed and didn't answer.

"So…" Roxas said leadingly, rolling his hand over and over.

"Ah, yes," Merlin began again. "Well, after having pondered the predicament, and conferred with Cid, and briefly examining the Atlantean power crystals that Riku, Max, and Yuffie have (Riku and Yuffie each looked at the crystals around their necks that were supposed to provide longevity, healing, and a power source and wondered when Merlin examined them, while they were sleeping?); the two of us have come up with a solution for you all." He removed his wand from within his robes and came over to the circular table. White sparkles emerged from the tip as he waved it around counter-clockwise rotation, turned it into an infinity loop after the first full rotation, and made a clockwise circle after the loop before repeating the whole process, backwards. All the while he was saying, "Higitus Figitus migitus mum, prestidigitonium!"

Silver bracelets appeared within the sparkles, dancing in the air in front of Merlin's wand. First came one, then a second, and then a third bracelet was jingling against the others as they danced in front of the wizard's wondrous waving wand. More came every other second until nine were prancing against one another. Coloured light glittered off of the single coloured gemstone in each of the bracelets, all nine adorned with a different jewel. Merlin finished the summoning of the bracelets with a rap of his wand above them, ending the sparkles with one final exclamation of, "Higitus Figitus migitus mum, prestidigitonium!"

The bracelets, however, refused to stop dancing in the air.

Merlin frowned. "Stop," he commanded, rapping his wand down again. "Stop it! Stop! Stop! Stop! If you don't cease moving this second, I'll melt you all down and have a jeweller make navel rings out of you!"

The bracelets shuddered and collapsed onto the table.

Merlin harrumphed. "There! That's much better. Now, Sora, these bracelets, when worn, will continuously provide a sort of magical infusion inside your bodies that will…oh, the whole explanation of how they do what they do is rather complex, and only Naminé here is beginning to gain an understanding of just how more complex magic actually works. Suffice to say that what these bracelets will do for you when they're worn is to ward off the effects of iron deficiencies in your blood, by ensuring that those deficiencies never occur at all, no matter how much blood you lose."

"So in other words," Riku surmised, "we won't have to worry about taking a supplement pill when we think we've lost too much blood or when the girls are menstruating—hey, don't hit, Yuffie! We just have to wear the bracelet."

Merlin nodded his head. "That's correct. Give us another month and every member of our combined forces should have one just like these. Now, for each of you." He lifted his wand again and the bracelets began to float limply in the air. "Sora, you get this nice one with the sapphire, and I particularly like the cut of the gem. Kairi, the garnet one here is for you; we felt it suited your hair best. Riku, this one with the aquamarine is yours; couldn't do much about that scratch on the side there, but we felt the gem matched your eyes. Yuffie, you get the onyx one, Cid liked it the best. Um, Roxas, this one here with the fire opal, yes that's the fire opal, is yours. Naminé, you get the lovely light amethyst. Your Majesty, King Mickey, this one with the diamond is yours. Ah, Asterix, for you is the emerald bracelet."

Sora noticed that one bracelet was still hovering in the air and pointed that out to Merlin. The wizard chuckled, and sent the final bracelet zooming towards the brunet. "I recall hearing you say that there was a ninth Keyblade Wielder, wasn't there? Some little girl back home on Destiny Islands called Rei? Cid and I worked hard on this last one, and it became my favourite. The blue zircon stone in it, I believe, looks rather a lot like the waves off the shores of Bermuda, so it should look like the oceans of the islands you come from."

"Yes," Kairi said as Sora moved it around in his hands so the stone could catch the light. She sighed, and leaned into Sora's side. "It really does look like the waves back home."

"Thanks Merlin," Sora told him, nodding at the wizard. "Thanks for these, and I'll make sure Rei gets it."

Merlin nodded back. "No trouble at all my lad. Now, I believe you were all talking strategy, and I must be off. I need to ensure that those enchantments on the walls are still working. We don't need them to be crumbling to pieces after standing strong so long all because of a few high-impact explosives now do we?" A cloud of blue smoke engulfed the wizard, and he was gone.

Kairi sighed and looked at the map that had been placed on the table. "Talking strategy? No, we've being going over how much we're totally fucked." She groaned again. "So what's our plan again?"

"Lining the tops of the canyon are four units, two on each side, at different positions along the way. Each of them have piles of rocks and boulders readied near to the edge. When the enemy's passing by, they'll drop the rocks onto their heads, hopefully killing a lot and slowing them down while they're at it. We also have units stationed in the forward posts to goad the Heartless into coming after them first when they're finally out of the canyon," General Berger said, pointing at the two spots. "When the Heartless get close enough, the mined pit traps will all be detonated and wipe out a good portion of them, hopefully. After that, they are to make a fighting retreat behind barriers back to the wall where they will join with a sizable group in front of the gate. They'll then hold that spot and defend the gatehouse to the last man while arrows, stones, and spells rain down from the walls. Everyone else will be behind the wall."

"Where's the cavalry going to be?" Roxas asked.

"Dismounted," Garda declared. "We're better off having them on the walls with the archers than mounted. If the wall looks like it will be breached, we'll mount up and smash any that make it through with flanking charges while the rest of the infantry hold them back."

Sora nodded. "So, it sounds like you have all of your people's positions figured out. Where do you want me and the other Wielders?"

"Asterix and I have already decided to be in the left and right forward posts," King Mickey told him. "With two Keyblade Wielders already so close, the Heartless will head straight for us and fall right into the trap. With us being there, we'll also give the others a fighting chance to make back for the wall."

Kairi tapped Sora's leg. He looked at her. "We could start at the head of the main group by the gate," she suggested. "We're likely to be in the thick of things anyway, so why not start at the front?"

Her reasoning sounded right, so Sora said, "Sounds good then. Although…"

"Hm?"

"What is it Sora?"

Sora tapped his finger a couple of times against his arm. "If even just three of us waited at the edge of the canyon, we could probably keep the whole damn army back for days as they made their way at us to fight. Then we wouldn't risk the whole plain in front of the wall filling up."

"And what happens when you tire out, or they evolve, or Nod starts dropping artillery rounds on you if they've brought artillery?" General Solomon asked. He shook his head. "No; our plan is as sound as we can make it. We don't need to have our strongest pieces pointlessly sacrificing themselves."

Asterix looked up at the ceiling. "I seem to recall a tale of how three hundred Spartans at Thermopylae held back a Persian army of over a million men, and how even after the Persians found a way through the mountains to attack their rear they still held them back for three days to give the rest of the Greek army time to escape and bring news to their home cities."

"Thermopylae is ancient history," said General Solomon. "It may have taught us several lessons, but with magic, high-power explosives, and flight now playing a factor we can discredit it."

"So in other words," Roxas began with a bit of a hungry look on his face, "we should just do what we do best, fight until we drop. I like it. It's simple. I'll be taking two hundred of my Samurai into the van with us, and the rest I'll have behind the wall to help out if they breach. Does that sound alright with you?"

"Sounds great to me," answered Hayner. "I'm glad those guys are on our side." Roxas smiled at him.

Commander Nebula also smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I think that that's everything then. We've done all we can, and briefed you enough on how we want the battle to start. There's a saying, though. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Once the mine traps have blown, improvisation is going to be our best option. Master Sora, since none of you actually have a command—although Princess Kairi and Princess Naminé are co-commanders in chief of Radiant Garden—we've sent it down the chain of command anyway that if any of you with Keyblades want them to do something, they are to fully cooperate with you."

"That is great, that is wonderful, thank you," Yuffie said. "Now we know that if any of us are about to unleash some kind of huge magical energy blast that could get somebody or a lot of bodies killed if they were in the way," she looked squarely at Sora and Riku with a smirk on her face, "we can tell them to run and they'll do it."

Commander Nebula laughed. "Now, you all should probably rest up; you have a big day tomorrow. Sergeants," he looked at Hayner and Tidus, "I think it would be best if you two led the way in getting back to your companies. Now's not the time to be acting your age."

"Yes sir," Tidus said, nodding. He grinned at Sora and Riku. "See you guys tomorrow on the battlefield." The Keyblade-wielding pair nodded enthusiastically. The youth all got up from their seats and slowly began to leave the room. Sora and Kairi remained seated for a few seconds as Riku and Selphie got out of their chairs on either side of them. Aiwemon and Menelmon flew back from the now empty cookie plate, after having returned to it without anyone's notice, to the couple. Kairi sipped her marshmallowy hot chocolate.

"So," Sora said to his girlfriend as he glanced at a clock. "It's almost eight, and I'm not tired enough to sleep. What do you think we should do?"

"Rudolph starts at eight," she told him. Sora's eyes brightened.

"Let's go watch Rudolph then," he declared. Boromir frowned at the unfamiliar name.

"What is Rudolph?"

The couple looked at him in total shock.

"_What?_" Sora asked. "Could it be you've never heard the story of Rudolph? Well pull up an ice block and lend an ear!"

"Gimli," called Kairi, "you've heard of Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen; Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen…"

"…_but do you recall_," more voices than just the main couple sang together as Sora and Kairi took Boromir and Gimli by the shoulders, "_the most famous reindeer of all…_"

Plato rasped exasperatedly from atop Kairi's raspberry beret—the kind you buy at a second-hand store.

-A-D-

As it turned out, all of the main six decided to watch Rudolph together, joined willingly by Agatha, Lea, Aiwemon, Menelmon, and Gimli, and unwillingly by Boromir. Kairi had removed Sora's armour and had him change into jeans and a blue t-shirt so that she could snuggle against him on the couch, right next to where Yuffie was sitting on Riku's lap.

The big Gondorian could hardly believe his eyes and ears as he uncomfortably shifted on the comfortable chair that they had placed him in. The fact that what looked like a cloth deer stuck inside of a box was speaking and singing to him was highly unnerving to him, but what worried him even more was the so-called Keyblade Wielders.

He had witnessed Sora and Kairi's short-lived duel in front of the Council of Elrond. The tales about their battle prowess he'd heard from the dwarf, after he'd returned from Destiny Islands with the pair, proved them to be more than adequate when it came to the quality of their sword-arms; although he still doubted the girl's to an extent. The only women warriors he'd ever heard tales of were the Shield Maidens of Rohan, but he'd supposed that he'd bear witness to her skill in the coming battle. And Sora, Sora still had that strange arm of his; that left arm made solely of metal that Boromir could scarcely keep himself from looking at.

Battle was coming. Swords were to cross in the morning, blood would be shed with honour, and glory won in victory or defeat. Boromir had grown to manhood in the shadow of Mordor, Gondor always at war with the servants of Sauron and his allies, the wicked men of Rhûn and Harad among others. Battle was common to him, and the song of battle stoked his heart to act. Although he knew none of the men who would stand with him come morning, he felt the need to see to them, encourage them, walk amongst them and raise their spirits with just his presence. At home, wherever he went men's heart's lifted. As the heroes of these people, Boromir had assumed that these youth would be doing the same.

Instead, however, they were hiding themselves within this castle, acting as if there were no danger on the horizon! Sora was nearly a man by Boromir's standards and by word of mouth had already fought in battle hundreds of times. What had happened to the fiercely pounding heart that he had witnessed right as they'd left the strange starlit corridor, the battle-lust he'd seen in the boy's eyes when he crossed swords with the crimson-haired vixen in Rivendell?

_He has so much power dwelling within him, within all of them, but they sit here and do nothing, as if nothing were occurring! Perhaps the Keyblade makes mistakes in those it chooses._

Distrust slowly welled up within him. They were just youths. They acted upon whims. Sora vowed to fight to his last to defend this world, but now he and his friends sat here in comfort watching a pretend reindeer rather than assist the watch upon the wall. The Mouse King and the short blond man knew more about duty than these six did.

How could Elrond's wisdom have failed so? How could he place his trust in these youth that seemed more interested in their romantic exploits, needless chatter, and frivolous flirting than in the defence of all they hold dear?

Boromir wondered if the hand that wielded the Blade that was Broken would be just as weak as these.

-A-D-

It was almost nine by the time Rudolph was over, and Kairi had wrapped her arms around Sora's midriff and put her head into the crook of his right shoulder, leaning comfortably into him while she hummed the title song through the credits. There was a broad smile on her face, and how could there not be? It was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for crying out loud! To miss watching it every Christmas season was a personal sin for her. It was either luck or fate that it had been on tonight, when the people she cared about were able to watch it with her together.

Santa on the screen was bellowing, "Merry Christmas" to the audience, and Kairi turned her head slightly and kissed Sora on the cheek. He looked at her with a smile, and Kairi looked past him to check out his left side. The automail was gleaming. "So what did Winry say about your automail?" she asked.

Sora chuckled and rubbed the top of his head with the metal appendage. "She hit me with her wrench for swimming in salt water and then for not oiling it and cleaning it. Only after I told her that she never taught me how to she was sympathetic."

"You need to oil and clean that thing?" Roxas asked.

Yuffie smirked. "Well Kairi, I guess you've found a new duty: oiling Sora." Kairi blushed.

"Mm," Naminé began, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind doing that at all." Laugher rumbled out of Riku's and Gimli's bellies.

"Hey, why don't we get away from these clowns?" Kairi asked her boyfriend in a hushed whisper. He nodded. Kairi took the lead and got off him, and then took his hand and gently tugged until he was walking next to her and out the door.

"Yeah Sora!" Lea crowed. "Get some!" Kairi gave the former Nobody the finger, which only caused everyone in the room who understood the gesture to laugh harder, and the twosome left the room, only Plato following Kairi. Aiwemon and Menelmon had said something about wanting to watch the show that was on afterwards to see what it was about.

"So," Sora started slowly, "just what did you have in mind?"

"Huh?"

"For us to do?" he clarified.

Kairi removed her hand from Sora's and stopped. Kairi only half-turned to look at him and then blushed. She began to bite her bottom lip almost without noticing it and stopped, pushing her fingers together instead. Kairi had gotten the idea into her head a couple of days ago, since they were dating after all and it _was_ something that they could do for each other while also being relatively tame. They'd already seen each other naked and done other things with one another before, so comparatively it was _very_ tame but, all the same, it was still somewhat different.

Plato evidently sensed her unease before Sora did. _"Are you sure you aren't trying to lead things to a different ending?"_ he asked in his hissing crackles.

The Princess didn't answer, because it had crossed her mind that what they were, hopefully, about to do might just lead to coitus. She hoped that it didn't, even after finding out that she and Sora were the Keyblade couple that had yet to go all the way with each other. She was comfortable with where they were, and just being with Sora again helped to remind her that she didn't need to go quite that far with him yet. Besides, she could still always stop Sora and say no if things started to heat up, but she sincerely believed that they were comfortable enough with each other's bodies that naked didn't automatically equal having to perform sexual acts with one another.

"Well I," Kairi began, still not looking at Sora's eyes, "well I was hoping that we could take a bath together. I could wash your back for you! I'm sure that your automail's not as flexible as your right arm, so there are bound to be spots that you miss when you're washing; and you could show me how Winry taught you to oil and clean your automail too."

When Kairi finally did look up at Sora's face, to his credit he was blushing too. She thought it was cute. "Are-are you sure?" he asked. "What if we get caught?"

"Then we tell the truth and pray to Hera and Aphrodite that we don't get roasted," Kairi answered bashfully, "but at least we'll get roasted together if we do."

Sora nodded. "Alright, but, uh, Kairi?"

"Yes?"

"Could I, maybe, wash your back too?"

Kairi giggled and wrapped her arm around Sora's. "It's a deal."

-A-D-

Nixion watched the portals passively from just outside of the tent that had been set up for him and the other Nobodies of Maleficent's Eximius Septem. There hadn't been any activity from within them for almost a day now, the swarm having started for Radiant Garden as soon as they exited the portals. Sauron's orcs had picked a fight with a few of Jadis' dwarves and Minotaurs, but the fighting was put to an end by Xarcs and Xokor before too many of them could kill each other.

The tent flap opened and Lexai stepped out. All she was dressed in this time was a baggy grey t-shirt and black shorts, and looked as though all she'd done for the past two days was lounge around. "What are you doing, watching the portals for?" she asked. "Nothing's coming through, though I wonder why they're still there."

"Because something is coming through, number five," Nixion returned casually. "Several somethings, in fact, courtesy of the Brotherhood, that will make this evening far from restful for our foes."

"Why keep them from sleeping?" Lexai complained. "If we keep them up all night from whatever surprise of yours this is then they won't be in top form to fight us tomorrow. I want a fair fight."

"We seek only to do our Mistress' will, not to fight with honour or fairness," Nixion announced darkly, turning around and regarding her. "You would do well to remember that, Lexai."

"Yeah, yeah," she said flippantly, moving the flap to return into the tent and escape the winter air.

Nixion turned away again to watch the portals. "Xokor!" he called. Moments later the other Nobody emerged from the tent. "Should the Wielders give us trouble tomorrow, you know what to do."

Xokor smiled. "I shall wait until they're in the proper position to remove them from the board. When does the game begin?"

The portals pulsed for a second, and suddenly twelve elliptical flying saucers swooped out. The heli-planes emerged so close to the ground that the remaining snow was immediately melted or flung far away before the Banshees could gain altitude and zoom quietly to the south. Close-by, the sound of mechanical parts shifting and grinding against each other could be heard, followed closely by the roar of a twin-engine fighter taking into the sky above Nod's bombers.

A smile graced Nixion's face. "Now." He raised his hand and created another portal to his front. "Tell the others to pack up. We're leaving."

"As you wish," agreed Xokor with a grin. "Knight to Queen's Bishop Three. Your move, kids."

-A-D-

"This is nice," Kairi said quietly, "just the two of us together."

Sora nodded. "Yeah," he agreed in a pleased sigh, "it is." The feel of the soap suds and sponge that Kairi was using to wash his back were really nice too, he believed. It was quiet here, in this giant bathroom with what seemed more like a pool than a bathtub in it, with a shower adjacent to it. The silence was comfortable, though Sora felt like he had to break it. Even though the pair had stayed in contact through the communicators, they had been apart for several days and needed to catch up at some point.

"So," he began, "I heard that you got really drunk yesterday." Kairi laughed a little behind him.

"You heard about that then?"

"When you kidnap your friends and demand that they eat your delicious shortbread cookies, I find out about it," he answered. "And I'm glad that there were still some of those cookies left for me tonight."

He could feel her hair as she groaned and leaned her forehead against the back of his neck. "You don't have to say that I kidnapped them. I don't get it. How did I get so drunk? I only had one shot of rye."

"I heard you also had a few beers beforehand," Sora said. "Maybe that did it?"

Kairi began scrubbing his back again, rolling the sponge around his shoulders and drawing a contented moan out of Sora. "But I wasn't feeling _anything_ from those three. It's like after Gaston practically poisoned me with the amount of beer he shoved down my throat. I just don't feel them."

Sora couldn't help but laugh, and he was sure that she was either scowling or smiling behind him. "You can laugh, but the next time we're at the _Pony_, you'll see. I'll drink half of Butterbur's stock and not be drunk at all."

"Alright, you've got a deal," Sora said. "Hey, when this battle's over and we're taking the Elves back to Rivendell, do you want to take the Road to Bree and do that?"

Kairi stood up and Sora could hear her footfalls against the cool, wet, tiles. "Do you think we'll have time?"

"If we fly or Flash-Step most of the way, maybe. Or we could ask for horses, though I don't think Elrond will give us them just so we can ride all the way to Bree to settle a bet." Sora gasped as a whole bucket of water was unloaded on top of his head. He spluttered as he got some into his mouth.

"There," Kairi said smugly, putting a hand on his head. "You're all nice and _clean_." She laughed while rapidly rubbing her hands through his hair. His spikes popped back up and she curled some fingers through them. "And your automail's all nice and _shiny_. Are we going to have to oil it because we got soap all over it?"

Sora fought her off and backed away to look up at her. He had to say, he really enjoyed the sight of every inch of Kairi's body unveiled for him to look at, and she was probably enjoying being able to feast her eyes on every bit of his own too, given the way she was looking at him at the moment. "I think we'll be fine," he said. "It's not like I've been mud wrestling or something with it. A quick rinse and it should be fine. Oh gods, you would not believe how many times Winry hit me on the head when we were cleaning it."

"Why?" Kairi asked.

"Well, after she'd taken it off, we put it in a tub of fresh water just to rinse it and scrub some of the rust off of the exterior. I did not realise just how dirty it got inside of my jacket and when we were training with Kisuke. The water turned brown."

Kairi giggled and came around to behind his left side. She knelt down and put her hands on his automail, half-leaning over it so that turning his head would practically cause him to smack into her breasts. Sora figured that she probably did that on purpose too, and wasn't sure whether he should love her or curse her. "Well, no chance of it turning the water brown now," she said, rubbing her hands up and down the shining steel. "We could probably just give it a quick rub-down with the oil then, right? Hm? What are you staring at Sora?"

"Uh, well...there's nothing else that I can really answer this with; I'm staring at your boobs."

She leaned back, planted herself firmly behind him, and then hugged him so that the back of his head was squarely squashed between them. "You like them?"

"That question is moot, Kairi," said Sora in a higher register than his voice normally was in, "you already know I love them." The wonderful pressure against the back of his head was suddenly removed, and Sora turned around to see Kairi sitting with her back to him. The red-head looked back at him, one hand coming to clutch at her hair.

"Want to do me now?" she asked.

_HELL YEAH!_

"I meant washing my back you perv!" she laughed. "Sponge and suds are over there."

Sora laughed back at her and ignored that desire. They had taken a bath together, had splashed each other repeatedly in the bathpool (as Kairi and Naminé called it), and had already done a good share of kissing and fondling. Now it was actually washing time, not adult playtime.

He began to wash her back, and they kept up the pointless conversation with questions and answers to how Kairi was and what she did while she was recovering from the injuries she'd received from the Zeus Cup. Kairi replied pleasantly enough. She'd baked cookies and went to give them to the shops in the mall so they could give them out as free samples, actually using the cookies as payment for a snowsuit in the process. She'd gotten involved in a small snowball fight that had snowballed until it was a _huge_ snowball fight that got so much attention three senators came to her while she was talking to Sora at eleven 'o clock at night—he remembered that. Had a press conference to resolve that issue the morning afterwards, and was attacked at the very same press conference by Heartless that were even able to kill Soronmon and revert her down into a tiny little digiegg that Tron found. Afterwards, it had been nothing but meetings, inspections, road hockey, going to a hockey game, trying and epically failing to learn to skate, even with Garda's help, and more meetings. The biggest thing, besides Soronmon dying and coming back, in her mind, though, was Plato choosing her as a master to bond to.

Sora had just reached her waist when he felt something strange begin to take over him. The sensation itself wasn't strange, but the sudden emergence of it was. Kairi had been naked in front of him for almost a half-hour now, so why was he suddenly getting incredibly turned-on and kissing the back of her neck.

Kairi gasped, and Sora swooned as if the touch of her skin against his lips was a powerful love tonic. His hands left the sponge entirely and his right reached around to grasp at a breast, fingers lightly pinching and twisting at the hard nub on it. Sora nipped the side of her neck with his teeth while metal fingers ran through smooth white-blonde hair, and he heard Naminé moan, "Roxas!" in a heavy breath.

Wait, what?

Sora scrambled back from Kairi, now seeing the auburn hair dark with moisture sitting with her back to him, and stared at her in total confusion. His breath came in raggedly, and he raised his right hand to his eyes. Why on earth had he been thinking of Naminé just then? "Kairi…?"

"You were halfway through saying Naminé," she said slowly, turning around halfway to look at him. There were still soap suds all over half of her back. "You were saying Naminé."

"You said Roxas," he answered shakily, "and it looked for a second as if you had blonde hair, and... I feel like I want to do things to Naminé."

"Hold up!" Kairi said, raising a hand. "For whatever reason, you're right. I _did_ say Roxas just then." They stared at each other, and then simultaneously the couple looked towards the doors that led back to the bathroom's little hallway.

"They couldn't be, could they?" asked Sora.

"It would explain why we're suddenly horny but not for each other," Kairi said. She got up, turned on the showerhead, and rinsed off while Sora pressed the button to drain the bathpool.

"Let's give them a piece of our minds," he said irately. "And what are they thinking anyway? Do they really need to waste energy they need for tomorrow on sex tonight?"

They dried, threw their hair up in towels, dressed in their night attire of t-shirts, tank tops, and flannel pyjama pants, and strode purposefully into the corridor towards Roxas' room as it was the closer one. Roxas and Naminé weren't in there, so they tried Naminé's door.

Neither teen could hear a sound from outside of the door, nor could the sense the former Nobodies inside the room. Kairi suddenly pushed Sora against the door and tilted her head up to crush her lips against his. Her tongue stormed into his mouth, engaging in furious battle with his. She moaned while grinding her body into his, and broke the kiss to plead, "Please….Roxas."

Sora gripped Kairi's shoulders firmly and held her back from his mouth. Her face kept flickering between her own and Naminé's in his eye, and the constant shifting was making it so very difficult to resist the pining mewls she was making. It was almost as if two girls were begging him instead of just one.

But Kairi wasn't begging his name, she was calling Roxas' instead, and that wouldn't do.

A loud hiss roared into his ears and flame almost singed his nose as a jet of fire flew between their faces. Kairi leapt back, completely shocked, and she stared at Sora as if she'd never seen him before. More rasping and hissing filled the corridor as Plato circled down to land on Kairi's towel-covered head, the irate look on the fire elemental's dragon face giving the complete impression of him berating Kairi in the fiery tongue. Kairi quietly replied something back, and then turned to Sora with an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry Sora," she said, "I didn't mean for that to happen again."

He shook his head. "It's okay. Let's just stop them before we get any more episodes." Kairi nodded her head and they turned at the end of the hall, Plato flying along behind.

"They're probably in one of the other rooms," Kairi figured, "that way they wouldn't be caught accidentally."

"Room at the end?" Sora asked, turning the other corner.

"Most likely. I think I can feel Naminé in there too."

"They're so in trouble," Sora growled. "I like having fun with you Iri, but I don't want to do it just because Roxas is leaking his Naminé lust into me."

"Same here," replied his girlfriend. "I am definitely not going with Ovan now. If this is going to be common, I don't want to be close enough to go into heat every time Naminé's doing it with Roxas." They reached the door, now hearing interesting sounds coming from within. Kairi gave three hard knocks on the door, hard enough that the door shuddered on its hinges, and shouted, "We're coming in there in four seconds whether you're ready or not!"

Sora took a deep breath and noticed Kairi biting her bottom lip.

Four...

Three…

Two…

One…

Sora opened the door.

Naminé and Roxas were inside, on the bed, underneath rumpled white covers. Both of them had faces that were flushed red. While Naminé had her head half-covered by the sheets and was looking like she really didn't want to do anything but disappear, Roxas was easily identified as annoyed. Sora could feel his former Nobody's irritation at the interruption pulsing off of him in waves. Both blondes' clothes were scattered about the room, and Sora had to quickly check where he was putting his feet to avoid stepping on Naminé's bra.

"Hey," said Roxas, glaring at the pair in the doorway, "what's up?"

"This isn't what it looks like," Naminé said meekly, trying to draw further back into the bed and pillows.

Kairi closed the door behind her as she entered after Sora. "Cut the crap Nami. We know that it's exactly what it looks like." She sighed. "You two need to be a lot more careful."

Sora caught Roxas glancing at an end table where there was a discarded wrapper. Roxas spoke into his mind. _What's she talking about?_

"We're talking about the link between us," Sora told him aloud. "We still share a link, remember? We can still share thoughts and feelings, and right now you two weren't closed off; you were leaking your need for each other into us."

Naminé looked at them first in surprise, and then a hand left the sheets and went up to her mouth. "We were accidentally turning you guys on?" she asked. "I'm really sorry, Kai."

"That wouldn't have been quite so bad if it didn't make us hallucinate into thinking that Sora was Roxas and that I was you, and calling your names instead of our own," Kairi told her sister.

Both teens that now had their coitus interrupted looked away, ashamed.

Naminé apologized again. "I'm sorry, Sora, Kairi. I won't let it happen again."

"Sorry," Roxas muttered. "I'll try to keep a handle on it next time."

Sora and Kairi nodded at Roxas and Naminé, and the blonde girl's blush increased as she took another breath. Her head looked like a ripe, blonde, strawberry. "Um, if you don't mind, could you two leave the room now?" The couple not in bed with each other blushed crimson. "Just please don't tell anyone else about this; it's bad enough that Yuffie and Tifa know."

"Uh, right," Kairi replied, embarrassed. They _had_ just walked in on the two after all. "We're going no—"

The castle shook and the muffled sound of a boom penetrated the room's walls and door. Plato rasped something, and Kairi said, "I'm not sure."

"What was that?" Sora asked. He looked at the naked pair, found the decency to blush again at the act he and Kairi had just interrupted; and said, "Get dressed." He opened the door without another look at the pair and left the room, knowing that Kairi was following behind him. He could feel the embarrassment coming from her too.

"I can't believe we just barged in on my sister and your brother having sex," she said.

"Well, at least it didn't happen at a drunken party and you didn't announce to everybody that they were doing it," Sora answered her with a bit of a light-hearted grin. The castle shook again and the sound of an explosion came to their ears again, this time much louder.

"We'd better suit up," Kairi said. Sora nodded. He concentrated for a second, and his body flashed with light before he was completely encased in his plate armour. He turned to Kairi and gaped when the light that was covering her dissipated.

She was adorned with plate armour that covered her from neck to toe, formed entirely to her body shape. The breastplate that covered her chest in the shape of a heart was as red as her hair, with silver-toned steel ribs on either side of her upper abdomen. Flexible maroon was shaped all around her beneath red-rimmed gauntlets and silver-rimmed spaulders. Curving out on either side of her hips, seeming almost more as a visual enhancer than added protection, were two more added plates rimmed in silver with the same dark maroon-red paint in the centre. A small chain connected the two hip-protector plates in the middle, hanging the yellow stone she'd always worn on her neck between them. Steel-shod boots the same colours of the rest of her armour went a foot up from her ankle before ending with spires of silver, reaching up the sides of her calves, from a ring of red. Across her back draped a wide cape of ruby-spun metal, and though the skin-hugging maroon suit underneath seemed more soft leather than metal, it was as sharp and resilient as hardened steel. Across the back of the cape the colour changed from the ruby of its interior; its background was red as a vermillion sea, and emblazoned across the wide centre was a white dragon breathing white flame, the Crowning Flame Keyblade horizontally underneath it. Lining the edges of the cape were golden flowers. Upon her head was her helmet, shielding her face completely in maroon, silver, and scarlet; and a ruby pixane protected her neck. Two crimson metal fins were attached to either side of the helmet right at ear level, curving up, back, and down until the points were around her jaw, making them look like the curved horns of a bighorn sheep or some other great and powerful beast.

"Whoa," Sora said, admiring the look. "Hey, take your helmet off for a sec." Kairi obliged, smiling at the look she was sure was on Sora's face. He paused for a second, holding his finger in the air. "All we need is to get you a Keyblade scabbard like mine, and you'll be the _hottest_ warrior-princess I've ever seen."

Kairi giggled and replaced her helmet. "Thanks Sora, and might I say, you make a rather knightly prince yourself." A door behind them opened, and Roxas and Naminé exited, armoured now in their rather plain—now that Sora looked at Kairi's and his own armour—Acolyte chainmail. Roxas' and Naminé's jaws dropped at the sight of Kairi fully protected in her own set of plate. Sora smirked underneath his helmet, but the smirk was clearly evident in his voice.

"Let's go."

-A-D-

_So, yeah, it's about fracking time this war heated up isn't it? No, I'm not talking about the heat between characters either, but when you've got teenage battle couples realizing that their lives are in serious risk I think they're a bit more prone to act spontaneously._

_That's all from me for now. I hope you enjoyed it. Battles approaching at sub-Warp speeds, unfortunately, because they must be written to the high standards that you have, naturally, come to expect from me._

_Again, put my on author alerts in case you have not already done so._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	71. Where's Our Pie?

_I debated on this chapter for a long while, but went with my Beta's advice in the end. Thanks be to the Beta!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own it. Now let's get on with it!_

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 71: Where's Our Pie?

_2145hrs, Saturday, December 6th, 2003  
Talerith Castle, Radiant Garden_

Bright light and loud noise greeted Sora as he rushed out the big double doors of the castle. A few soldiers who had beaten them outside were rushing around, and one was standing still and pointing at the sky. Sora quickly looked up and barely saw a grey disk against the sky in the darkness of the night, and then it was moving away. Fires had flared up in the courtyard where he stood, and at least two of the trees in the gardens had gone up in flame.

"Hey!" Sora shouted as he approached the soldier who had been looking up at the shape in the sky, "what's going on?"

The soldier turned around, revealing a female cat standing on two legs. "I'm not sure," she said quickly, the adrenaline in her own blood rushing through as certainly as it was entering Sora's bloodstream. "But I think we're under attack. I saw one of those saucers drop green things that exploded when they hit the ground."

"How many are there?" Naminé asked, coming up next to Sora.

"I saw at least four, Your Highness," the cat soldier answered.

"We should head up to the battlements on top of the castle," Kairi advised them. "We'll be able to see more from there."

"Right," Sora agreed. He glanced at Aiwemon, and the bird digimon took off of his shoulder. Menelmon followed suit into the cold night air. The cold, however, did nothing to bother Sora or Kairi, covered in their full suits of magic Keyblade plate armour, like the inside of the suit was climate controlled to protect them from the elements as well as their enemies.

"Start up a water brigade," Kairi told the soldier as she summoned her Keyblade. "Get those fires out!"

"Yes, Your Highness," the soldier stutteringly answered. Sora looked at Kairi while the soldier scurried away, and remembered. This was probably the first time anyone had seen her in this armour, himself and the other Keyblade Wielders included. The only way anyone could tell it was her would be her Keyblade and her voice, if you'd listened to the girl's voice often enough to completely memorize it. Oh yes, and the dragon made of fire that was curled up around her shoulders, watching the skies.

Plato suddenly rasped something, and Kairi jerked her head away from the top of the castle towards the south. "Get down!" she shouted, now already tracing a sigil of light in the air. "Radiant Light, protect us, Divine Guard!" She placed Crowning Flame flat against the mark in the air, and the group was surrounded by a honeycomb bubble shield of golden light.

"Why are we—" Roxas began to ask before his words were cut off by the ripping sound of an explosion just outside of the barrier. Sora's eyes were struck blind for a few seconds by the intense light of the blast that the two missiles Plato and Kairi had seen caused.

"What the heck shot those?" Sora shouted over his deafened ears.

"It looked like a plane!" Kairi shouted back. Her shield dropped, leaving flames licking at the ground and people rushing to the impact site to see if they were alright.

Naminé shoved a hand into her pockets. "We need to get off the ground! Come to me, Nebulus!" Her Celestial Steed burst out of the charm she'd tossed into the air, neighing in encouragement. Just as the winged astral horse appeared, Sora saw another two of those disks fly by, and he heard the muffled sound of an explosion to the north behind the castle.

_Bombers,_ he thought. _They must be Nod's. I'm not letting them bring down the castle!_ He turned to the others just as Nebulus clopped onto the road and kicked away a chunk of rock the missile had blasted out from the road, flames still licking at it.

"We're alright!" he shouted to the people that were rushing towards them, and then added to his friends, "I'm going up top." Without waiting for a reply, Sora jumped into the air and Flash-Stepped three times in rapid succession to reach the castle's parapets.

King Mickey and General Solomon were both there ahead of him, along with at least thirty soldiers with staves or ranged weapons. Solomon turned when he heard Sora land on the wall. "They're Banshees. Near-silent stealth helicopter-bombers armed with proton bombs. The wards on the walls and just their own strength seem to be holding, though." A few fireballs and bolts of lightning lit up the night as the mages that had reached the castle's top cast their spells at the attacking bombers. A Banshee was coming for the castle and one of the fireballs hit it on its left side, but the fireball might as well have been the force of a punch for all it affected the bomber.

Sora heard a thin shriek of "Keen Sight!" on the wind and saw two small blue beams streak out of what a moment ago looked like only a dark patch of sky, and strike the same bomber on its right side. A tiny fire started on the surface, but it quickly went out as the aircraft continued to whizz towards the castle, evading the fireballs and lightning bolts being cast by the few mages. Kairi landed next to Sora, and Nebulus flew down onto the parapets a second later, Roxas and Naminé both riding the horse.

The Reverse Kingdom Key appeared in King Mickey's hand, and the mouse king twirled it around for a second before pointing it at the Banshee and shouting, "Pearl!" An orb of blue light as big as King Mickey himself whirled out of the blade and joined the continuing rush of magic being launched at the Banshee, and it struck the bomber just beside the cockpit's glass window. King Mickey's Pearl smashed into the structure of the craft, leaving a gaping hole in it that leaked fluids and rained metal shards. A fireball ignited the fluids draining from severed tubes, and half of the bomber went up in flame as it veered away from the castle. Thick black smoke churned out of the roiling fire before the Banshee crashed into the snow-covered stone, two hundred metres to the northwest of the castle.

Whoops and hollers cheered the downing of the Banshee, but only seconds later three more soared overhead, and flashes of light could be seen a few kilometres further north at the wall. At the same time, a snake-like voice from above shouted, "Prepare to be annihilated, puny insects!"

"I think there's twelve of 'em," Mickey told the four Wielders who'd reached the keep's walls. "And I don't know what that is. Where're Riku and Yuffie?"

"They went back to their apartment in the city," Naminé answered.

"Then it looks like this is our show," Sora declared. "We are not going to lose!"

The Crest of Valour hanging around Sora's neck began to glow with bright silver light, and Sora extended his limbs as power exploded out of him. Holes formed in his armour and cape around his shoulder blades and out of his back grew two hawk wings with white-gold bones covered in silver feathers. The Wielder of Twilight's silver cape flared with hard golden light and the pattern of the seven-pointed star of Valour appeared across the back where the light touched. Sora drew Remembrance from the scabbard on his left hip with his right hand in a flash of light, and the Keyblade flared with light as it changed shape and keychain into the Kingdom Key. In front of Sora's left hand Remembrance appeared again in another flash of light.

Next to him, Kairi had already become enveloped by swan wings of fire, the emblem of her own Crest (a radiant star over a full moon) appearing in navy lines on the front of her gauntleted hands. In her right hand she gripped Crowning Flame beneath the golden-red wings that guarded the white grip, and in her left she held onto a pulsing orb of fire. The fiery quality her hair had taken on couldn't be seen underneath her helmet, but the curved horns that protruded from the sides were wreathed in scarlet flames.

Naminé dismounted from Nebulus and summoned Nobody's Pride and her shield to her hands. The sky-blue gemstone that hung from her neck glowed brightly, and the light left it in two arcing beams of blue. They struck the princess in the back, and Naminé's eyes widened as she gasped, "Angels in flight!" A bright flash of white light spewed from her body, and when the light faded two large white wings had sprouted out of her back. Her new white tabard was edged with golden laurels, and her blue-tinted shield bearing the Nobody emblem became white with the emblem now shining gold. The bronze bracers and greaves on her wrists and shins had become gold, and the chainmail over her padded shirt was now white on gold too. Duelling gloves of unspoilt white covered her slender hands to a hand's breadth beyond her wrists. No cape adorned her back.

Sora looked at the three of them, Roxas still sitting on Nebulus and looking both embarrassed and glancing at Naminé in her Angelic form out of the corner of his eye. _Wings_, thought Sora, _the new Drive Forms each of us, except Riku, have gotten have given us wings. But Roxas doesn't even have a Drive yet, does he?_

Roxas glanced at Sora from atop Nebulus. _No, I still don't have one._

_When you do, hope that it gives you wings, because the rest of us can all fly._

_Have I ever told you before that I hate you guys?_

Sora laughed, and Naminé quickly came to her celestial steed, softly placing a hand next to the horse's nose. "Nebulus," she commanded firmly, "carry Roxas with your wings. Don't let him fall."

The horse snorted and nodded its head. The castle shook beneath them as another bomber soared in from the north, dropping three green proton bombs at the keep. One hit the ground before the walls, and the other two struck the north face of the castle.

"Let's go!" Kairi shouted, flapping her flaming swan wings and taking into the air. Plato hissed and flew into the air beside her, and Menelmon swooped down from above just as Sora, Naminé, and Roxas rose into the air beside her.

"Good luck kids," General Solomon muttered, giving them a salute. He turned to King Mickey, and the monarch nodded. Together, they turned to those who had arrived at the top of the castle. "Keep casting! We can't let them destroy the keep!"

"What is happening?" a new voice asked as several others emerged from a tower door onto the roof.

"We're being attacked from above," King Mickey answered, barely glancing at the newcomers. He readied his Keyblade in front of him, the tip glowing with light again, and prepared to cast another Pearl.

-A-D-

"There's twelve of them," Menelmon said, "including the one King Mickey and the others brought down."

"Alright," Sora said. "Let's go to work."

"Menelmon, you'd better digivolve," Kairi advised. The small ice-bird digimon nodded her head in agreement.

"Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

Soronmon screeched in challenge as she took form from the light that had enveloped her Rookie stage. A few beats of her massive wings had her higher than the three humans who'd grown wings and the one riding the winged horse made of stardust.

"There!" Roxas shouted. "Three of them! Up above us!" Sora followed Roxas' finger and saw them, maybe four hundred feet above where they were currently flying. The Banshees were heading north towards the wall. They were so quiet in the air it was a miracle Roxas had looked up to spot them in the first place. Something else moved in Sora's vision and he turned his head slightly to centre his sight on it. Two more Banshees, a hundred feet lower or so, heading straight for the castle.

"Roxas! You and Naminé follow those ones above us; Kairi, Soronmon, and I will take care of these two!"

"Why are you sending us two against three and you three against two?" Naminé asked, glancing at him in the red light Kairi's wings were dimly casting them all in.

"Because I believe in you," he answered simply enough. Naminé looked at him strangely for a second, so Sora continued. "We also haven't seen where that plane that shot that missile at us went, so it could still be around here. I want to make sure it's not still attacking the castle."

"Gotcha!" Roxas said with a nod. "Hiya! Let's go, Nebulus!"

The celestial steed snorted and turned to stare at Roxas through one glassy eye in response to his kick.

"Uh, please?" Nebulus neighed and tossed his head, rising to pursue the fleeing Banshees.

Naminé chased after her horse and knight. "We'll get 'em Sora," she called back confidently. "See you when we're done at the wall!" Sora nodded his head and returned his attention to the two Banshees that were still approaching him, Kairi, Soronmon, and Plato; he almost forgot about the tiny fire dragon.

"I've got left, you get right!" he shouted.

"On it," Kairi replied with a grin. The fire orb in her left hand was pulsing and the flames began to swirl around her arm. From underneath Sora and to his left, two lightning bolts and a bolt of ice shot past, all of them missing the Banshee in front of him. Sora stood upright and flapped his wings backwards to bring him to a stop, holding Remembrance tightly in his right hand. The Keyblade glowed with twilight.

"Snare Dart," Sora murmured. He threw the Keyblade at the Banshee, and from the silver crown pendant keychain a silver chain glowing icily extended into Sora's hand.

"Polar Chill!" shrieked Soronmon from above, and icicles rained down towards the Banshee he'd targeted. All but one missed, however, the first one snagging itself deep into the right side. The Banshee slowed slightly and wobbled at the hit. Remembrance then struck the Banshee when it was only fifty feet ahead of and below Sora, and it stuck into the helicopter right in the middle. Sora grasped the chain firmly as it yanked him along at the quick pace of the bomber, and he climbed his way back to his Keyblade.

"Flare Ball!" Kairi shouted from somewhere else, and though Sora couldn't exactly see where she was, he did see the other Banshee falling to the ground in pieces after an explosion took it apart.

Sora grasped hold of Remembrance again as he reached the hilt and folded his wings in tightly against his back, riding the bomber on its way to attack the castle's walls once more. From this angle Sora could now see that he was glad Merlin had seen to the wards. Several large cracks had developed along the north face, and small pieces of white rubble littered the ground; if Merlin hadn't, the wall would likely have come down by now. Chocobos that had fled the stables were kwehing in panic as they ran amok through the snow, stable hands trying to restrain and corral them.

Chunks of ice, fireballs, and lightning bolts streaked towards the Banshee. Several of them struck, and a flare trailing its fire behind it actually splashed Sora in his helmet and pushed his head back a bit. Cursing a little at the aim of whoever did that, he started raising the Kingdom Key skyward while keeping a grip on Remembrance. "Strike of Zeus!" A thick yellow thunderbolt stormed out of the sky and struck his Keyblade. The Kingdom Key grew hot and bright as electricity hummed and crackled through the blade, the yellow lightning shooting up and down the weapon. Sora forced himself to stand, his wings catching the air and wanting to either drag him back or snap as he held onto the hilt of his other Keyblade. He plunged the Kingdom Key into the Banshee.

A deafening _BOOM_ filled his ears as the lightning discharged, frying every electrical system in the bomber and briefly magnetizing every piece of metal before it continued down to hit the ground below. Three holes his length in radius burst out of the Banshee in various places. The metal ripped and tore in the air, and thick black smoke poured out of the holes as fires started. Finally giving in to the pressure on his wings, Sora let go of Remembrance and fell back. He hovered in the air, slowly flapping his strained wings to keep him airborne while the bomber dropped like a stone to plough the ground, and then the aft portion exploded. He quickly swerved to the right as a propeller blade nearly struck him.

"Blizzard's Bite!"

Sora looked around for the shout from Soronmon, and ended up catching sight of Aiwemon as the small bird digimon reached him. "That was great Sora!" his partner said, slowing to a stop in front of the digidestined. "Wish I could have taken the one I was attacking down."

"Nonsense, you did great," Sora told him, still looking around a little. He spotted Soronmon high up, and far lower was the Banshee she'd just attacked, a chunk of it falling steadily to the ground covered in ice and the rest spiralling towards the cliffs.

_There's another one! Trailing smoke!_

Taking a deep breath, then let it out slowly, Sora focused. Remembrance returned to his hand in a flash of light. The cold air in the night gathered around Remembrance, slowly at first, and then began to build up speed as it rotated around and around the moon-silver Keyblade. A shell formed around the front, and the wind became a cyclone behind it, raging so quickly that it was almost wrenching Sora's Keyblade from his one-handed grasp.

"What are you up to?" Kairi's voice asked. She'd flown towards him without him even noticing.

Sora didn't answer her, and didn't break his concentration. He formed that drilling cyclone into a point behind the shell that kept it contained, and then forced another layer of air to still and create a second shell, further whipping up the air behind it into a second spinning cyclone. He'd even accidentally drawn some snow into both whirling drills of air, so it looked like Remembrance was sheathed in a snowstorm. "Storm Lance!" he roared, and hurled the Keyblade at the limping Banshee. It moved fast as an eye's blink, pierced the Banshee from the underside and burst out the cockpit's ceiling. The bomber stayed on course for a few seconds, and then began to list starboard before degrading into an out of control descent. It hit the rocks with a boom.

"Nice," Kairi said, bobbing her head up and down in time with the beats of her wings while Sora huffed a few times, "very nice. Lightning and wind; taking out two of them. Very nice. Very, elegant destruction. I made mine go boom in midair."

Sora laughed. "Yes. If mine were elegant, your own had the romantic charm of a thousand candles exploding into fireworks." Kairi and Aiwemon laughed as well, and Soronmon started to fly lazily towards them, the great eagle nearly invisible against the dark sky, only the starlight lighting her form. There was no moon.

"You see any more?" Kairi asked. Sora shook his head.

"King Mickey and Soronmon said there were twelve, but it looks like they were split half and half between the wall and here. Any sign of the plane, or that thing that called us insects?"

"Nada," she answered. "Think Roxas and Naminé need our help?"

"They also have a few thousand people manning the wall to help," he reminded her.

Kairi nodded. "Right, they're fine. Let's go help round up those chocobos." They turned and flew back towards the castle, descending to the ground. Cheers came from above them when they got within earshot, and at least one horn blew when Sora and Kairi touched down.

"We rule," Sora said slowly as the sound went to his head.

-A-D-

They'd been able to wrangle up about nearly all of the chocobos with the stable hands and members of the cavalry squadrons—including both Sade and Sikora, who complained about the cold but were amazed by their cousin who seemed to keep getting stronger and stronger—by the time Roxas and Naminé returned from the wall. Almost as soon as both of them touched down, Riku and Yuffie arrived, wanting to know what had happened. The wreckage still burned in the night, and small bands of the Ascalon Vanguard and United Forces cavalry were clearing away the debris from the bombing.

"Looks like you guys have been busy," Yuffie said dryly, her eyes glued to the burning hulk of the Banshee Sora had struck down with lightning.

"Yeah," Sora answered. "Looks like Nod's got aircraft. They came to bomb the wall and castle."

"Hm," Riku murmured, glancing at the castle's walls. "They didn't do as much damage as they'd wanted though. Good thing you guys were here."

"Yeah, good thing," Naminé agreed in a sigh. She passed a hand through her hair and took a couple steps away, looking towards the wall to the north. "But, they did do some. Nobody's dead, thank the gods, but we're going to have to go into battle tomorrow without a few of the siege engines we'd had. Two trebuchets and a ballista were completely wrecked, and at least thirty people back there are injured."

Aiwemon smiled. "Look on the bright side though. Thanks to you guys, more people didn't get hurt."

Kairi laughed a little. "That's true—" She stopped when a loud screech tore into their ears, and Yuffie's attention was finally turned away from the burning hulk of the downed Banshee.

"What's that!" she shouted, clamping her hands over her ears and turning, like them, to the source of the noise. A chocobo was writhing on the ground, shrieking and squawking in pain. One of its legs it was kicking frantically, and the other it kept huddled close and still.

They were on the bird immediately, almost as quick as the stable hands and cavalrymen. "Back!" shouted Cartel Charger, the castle's stable master, as he waved people away who were getting too close to the bird. The furious kicks of the one leg, plus the tall and muscular brown-haired man's deep voice, was enough to keep several of them back, including half of the Wielders but for Sora, Kairi, and Naminé; though even the girls held back a step behind Sora.

"What's it look like?" he asked Cartel, never having met the man before and not even knowing his name.

"If you gave me a minute to examine it, Master Sora, I could tell you," the man answered, annoyed at the ridiculous question.

"It's okay. Shh. You're alright," Sikora whispered soothingly as she held the chocobo's head. "You'll be alright. Shh." Slowly, the bird's movements became less erratic. Its breathing stayed rapid and heavy, the chest rising and falling in large volumes, but the chocobo evidently realized that they were there to help it instead of hurt it, and let Cartel and Sade get close to its injured leg.

"Broken," Sade said simply.

"Yes," Cartel agreed. "It didn't break the skin though, and looks like it is incomplete too."

"Where's the break?" asked Sora.

"Upper leg, right here."

"Curaga."

Green light flowed out of Sora's gauntleted right hand as he held it above the chocobo's leg. Vines of magic tenderly wrapped around the injury, and Sora might have just imagined that he'd seen the bone shifting underneath the skin.

He removed his hand. "Magic can't fix bones entirely," he said, "or at least cure can't, but that should help the chocobo recover faster and easier."

Cartel nodded. "Thank you." He turned his head. "You there! Yes you four! Stop standing there gawking and get over here! We need to move her inside out of the cold! Careful now; we don't want that leg hurt any worse after Master Sora's just cast a spell to help heal it."

The stable master supervised as Sade, a hand who'd been close to Cartel, and the four men he'd called over (one of them actually a man-sized pig) lifted the injured chocobo and began carrying her over to the stables. Sikora followed closely, and Cartel let them go on their own, apparently trusting in his boys and the two children of Gyshal Green Ranch.

"Cartel," Kairi said suddenly, "I need a mount."

"What for?" Sora asked before the stable master could answer her.

"I'm going north to help," Kairi answered him. "Naminé said that there are injuries."

Riku placed a hand on her armoured arm. "Don't go, Kairi," he told her. "There are others there who know how to heal. They don't need you."

"None of them are as good as me," she retorted, and Sora knew that she was right about that. None of them could have gotten as good as Kairi. She'd healed completely a lot faster than he'd thought she would, after the injuries she'd gotten from Cho'kal.

"Even so," Riku continued, "you shouldn't just go and heal them straight away without letting the others try."

"They could die!" Kairi countered earnestly. Sora couldn't see the expression beneath her helmet, but he knew she wore one just as fierce as her helm. He sighed, drawing Kairi's attention to him. "Sora, back me up here!"

"Sorry Kai," he said softly, "but I'm siding with Riku."

"What!" gasped Kairi.

"Other people need to learn how to heal injuries too, Kairi," he told her, picking his words carefully, "and we can't afford using the energy to heal everybody when we need it to fight tomorrow."

"Hypocrite!" Kairi snarled, gesturing towards the ground where the chocobo has been. "Then what was that!"

"That was _one_ spell on the _one_ injured thing that we know of around the castle," he answered, just as cautiously as before, "and I plan on going to bed so I can be rested tomorrow morning. It was one, not thirty."

He could tell that Kairi was fuming when she stormed past him, heading back to the castle. Menelmon shouted, "Kairi!" and quickly flew with Plato to catch up with the armoured girl. Sora sighed again and took off his helmet, wincing as the chill in the night air stung his face.

"She's pissed," Yuffie stated.

"I hate it when she's mad at me," Sora murmured.

Riku clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You're right, though."

"That doesn't make it better," answered the brunet.

"Kairi knows that he's right," Naminé told them, "but it's only making her angrier."

"If they both know Sora's right, then why is she so angry with him?" Aiwemon asked.

"Because Kairi wants to help people until she's bone tired, so long as anything she does can help them get better," Naminé said to the digimon. "I think it really started when I asked you and her to see to the wounded when the Maw was attacked, Sora."

"I think so too," Sora agreed. A third sigh escaped his lips. "Now to hit the sack like I said. I'll see all of you in the morning."

By the time he'd reached the third floor he had gotten tired of answering people's questions and getting clapped on the back for a job well done on the defence. All he wanted now was some sleep, and hopefully the chance to smooth things over with his girlfriend. He had been given a room, to be sure, but he hoped that he wouldn't be sleeping alone again, even if Kairi's room was bedecked in pink.

He opened his door, and was surprised to find the lights already on and Kairi waiting for him with only her helmet and gauntlets removed. They stared at each other for a good five seconds before Kairi said, "Help me out."

"Huh?" asked Sora.

"Of this armour," Kairi clarified. "I can't get it off without help. Whatever magic we use to summon it doesn't exist to de-summon it, remember?"

"I thought you wouldn't be speaking to me," Sora told her with a slight grin as he entered and closed the door behind Aiwemon.

"I'm not," Kairi told him, "I'm ordering you as a princess orders her prince around or as a knight orders her squire."

"Oh?" Sora asked, still smiling. "Well if that's the case, maybe I should pull the Grand Master rank you guys have given me on you and have you help _me_ out."

"Keys has you there, Kairi," Menelmon told her with a smile.

Kairi grumbled and shook her head. Her hair dropped in front of her face, and whatever water had still been in her hair after their bath had long since evaporated after she'd driven into her Fire Mage form. "Just help me out of this, please?"

It was quiet as Sora worked to remove the pieces of armour from her body. Because the Keyblade armour they'd been bestowed was so fitting and protective, it was also very difficult to find the seams to all the pieces so that they could even be removed. He wished that there was a way to make it vanish as easily as there was one to make it appear, but Sora had to admit that it looked good when it was all put on a stand.

"I'm not mad at you," Kairi said suddenly as Sora detached her breastplate from the backplate. She had only the simple grey tank top she'd put on after their bathing had been interrupted.

"I thought you weren't speaking to me," Sora repeated. Kairi unhooked the chains around her hips and got her belt off.

"Say that again and maybe I won't," answered Kairi. "I'm not mad at you."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not; I'm mad that you and Riku are right," she countered. She was pouting at him and waggled her hips a little as Sora worked to remove the rest of her armour from over her pyjama bottoms. She lifted the pixane over her head. "I'm used to getting my way when it comes to you two, so when you're right and I'm not completely right it annoys me."

Sora chuckled quietly. "I apologize for being so subservient to your wishes, Ojou-sama."

"Stop that," she chided him jestingly. Sora laughed again, and pressed his lips to the back of her neck. He could feel her shudder. "Why is it that you almost never grow a pair or put your foot down when it comes to me?"

Sora leaned in close and wrapped his still armoured arms around her chest. He'd been able to remove the full greaves from her legs, leaving her in her tank top, pink pyjama bottoms, and metal boots. He placed his mouth close to her ear and blew gently against the shell before whispering, "It could be because I love you."

Kairi exhaled shakily and turned her head slightly so he could see an indigo eye. "You're a real Romeo when you want to be, lazy bum."

Sora smiled. "Could Juliet help Romeo remove his armour?"

"Juliet certainly could, and she could also coax Romeo into sharing his bed with her?"

"Juliet could certainly try."

Kairi turned around fully. She held Sora's face in her hands. "And how much coaxing would Juliet need to convince dear, sweet, Romeo?" She leaned in and captured his lips with her own.

About a minute later they parted, and Sora answered, "Just a little bit more."

"Humans are weird," Menelmon said, not for the first or last time. Aiwemon bobbed his head in agreement, and fluttered over to Sora's shoulder while he and Kairi shared another kiss.

"Sora…"

"Yes Aiwë?"

"I'm hungry." Sora chuckled slightly and he and Kairi parted.

"Alright then, just let Kairi help me get this armour off, and then we'll go and find you a snack, okay?" Aiwemon nodded his head.

"Me too Keys!" Menelmon added. "We can't go to sleep on empty stomachs now can we?" The humans just laughed again, and Plato rasped exasperatedly.

The removal of Sora's armour took a good deal less time than Kairi's, mostly because Sora had worn it several times and they both knew where the connectors that attached all the pieces together were. His stomach rumbled while they were taking his armour off, which made Kairi laugh for at least a half minute, prompting him to challenge both Aiwemon and Menelmon to race him to the second floor dining room in the hopes that there'd be food there.

Kairi stayed behind for a minute as the three left the room at a rapid pace. Plato watched her from the canopy of the bed as she left Sora's room. Her bare feet padded along the plush carpet in the middle of the marble hall, hardly making a sound. It was dark in the hall, no lights lit and no moon outside to shine through the east-facing windows, so Kairi created a small bauble of dim light to hover at her shoulder and light her way to her room's door.

Crowning Flame appeared in her hand as she came to a chest in the room, and she tapped the locked box's lid to free it. Dismissing her magic weapon, she knelt down and lifted the flat lid. Kairi took a few items from the box, placing them gently on the carpet next to her, before closing the lid again. She assembled them on the lid of the box, and created a small flame on her fingertip to light the two sticks of incense. By the light of the bauble and flame she could make out every feature of the ivory figure, from the wrinkles in the robes she was garbed in to the feathers of the owl on her shoulder.

Roxas' figurine of the Egyptian Protector Goddess, Bastet, was no secret amongst them, but not even Naminé or Sora knew that she had asked Riku to get this for her after the tournament. Neither Sora, Riku, or her were very religious; occasionally saying a prayer here or there when Island convention called for it, but after the events that had happened towards the end of the Zeus Cup, Kairi decided to put a little more faith in the immortals, and hope that they favoured them enough to listen.

"Gracious Athena, I don't know if you'll listen to a Keyblade Wielder's prayer, if my words will reach you on Olympus, or even if I'm speaking the right words. The Islands worship Poseidon and the sea-gods, but you probably know that, so I don't know any written prayers to you and all…gosh, I'm rambling now aren't I? Let me start again. Athena, we go to war tomorrow morning, and it has come upon us tonight already. Guide our sword-arms, and raise our shields high with yours that we may be protected. Guard Sora, Naminé, Riku, Roxas, Yuffie, King Mickey, Asterix, Garda, Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Anar, Isil, Kia, Jeffery, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Charlie, Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Cid, Aerith, Leon, Vincent, Zack, Lea, Agatha, Barret, Lord Ovan, Sade, Sikora, and the rest. Keep them safe from harm, and let their strength be enough to overcome any challenge tomorrow. Give us the strength to survive our greatest test so far, and the wisdom to keep us on the right path no matter what may happen, please."

The incense smoke wafted up from the two sticks, only fluttering in her breath. There came no sound or sign that she could discern, the night remaining as quiet as it had been before she'd begun speaking.

_I hope that helps,_ she thought after a minute of silence in her room, the smell of the burning incense rifling through her nose and the statue unchanging in the quiet of the night. Kairi extinguished the incense sticks and replaced their stands and the ivory statuette in the chest. She left the room almost exactly as she'd entered it, the only change the aroma of her plea.

"_You're putting your trust in your gods now, my Queen?"_ asked Plato upon her return. Kairi sighed and looked up at him.

"_There's no harm in a little faith,"_ she replied quietly. _"We've known for a while now that we can't do all this by ourselves. I believe in Sora, and have confidence in myself and my friends, but it doesn't hurt our chances to believe that the gods will help us get through this too. They aren't human, and have powers beyond our comprehension."_

"_But you and your friends aren't exactly human yourselves, now are you, my Queen?"_ Plato countered. _"Long life, greater strength, endurance, and pain threshold; the ability to unlock the power that dwells within your heart; magic; and powers beyond the comprehension of some; there are many who might name you Goddess as well, my Queen."_

Kairi chuckled a little at her familiar, but her reply was to herself. The image of the Keyblade Graveyard she had seen when Thessaura gave them a brief history of their legacy appeared in her head. Thousands of Keyblades stuck into the ground, the weapons of the Wielders who had died and were waiting to choose new masters to replace those who had fallen. _We die much easier than gods though._ Kairi shook her head. "I'm going to go find Sora and our digimon. Maybe I could use a late-night snack too."

-A-D-

_0535hrs, Sunday, December 7th, 2003_

It was still very dark and cold when Capt. Jonas Hurt shifted in his position atop the ridge. He had ten men with him, six of them not even men and four of the opposite gender. All twenty-two eyes had been watching the way north for the last several hours in shifts, though sleep was hard to come by after the disks had flown overhead and flashes of light appeared in the south. None of the disks returned the way they'd come, however.

An hour ago, the Captain was sure that his eyes were not deceiving him. The darkness to the north was not the black of the night; it was darker than pitch, and far more solid than shadow. The enemy had arrived.

They were just reaching the mouth of the ravine now, a twisty snake through the cliffs that wound ten kilometres in an eight kilometre stretch. At four stations along the way rocks would be dropped down to inhibit enemy advancement, though with the way Shadows moved it probably wouldn't impede them too much. Captain Hurt's was the first such post, just a short ways inside the ravine.

It was still very dark, and their position could not be seen from the mouth of the ravine. "To the pile," he ordered in a whisper, and his troops moved out with him. Nyan knelt over the edge, watching with her cat eyes, while he and the others placed their backs against the piled boulders and braced their hands upon the levers. Nyan raised her paw.

Sweat rolled down his hands and soaked into his leather gloves as tension mounted. The sounds of the marching hosts of dark creatures filled his ears: the small noises some of them made, the footfalls of the Shadows and others with feet, the clacking of Armoured Knight's pointed legs on the stone road, throaty growls of the bestial Charr Heartless, snarls and wicked shouts from creatures he'd never heard and couldn't see, and the rumbling creak of machinery.

The paw fell.

As one the ten of them hurled their weight against the levers underneath the pile, and for a few moments it looked as though nothing would happen as the metal barely bent. The rocks then began to shift, and the metal pushed more away as the force on the fulcrum grew, and within seconds the whole pile of boulders began to tumble down the cliff face into the gathering darkness below. Small squeals and a few roars of surprise pierced the deafening crash of the rockslide that buried the road below in an uneven pyramid twelve feet high and ten feet across.

"Back to the city, now!" Jonas ordered in another whisper, and they headed away from the cold and rock as quickly as they could, hoping only that they would stay confused long enough to let them escape. A muffled _thu'um_ reached his ears a minute later as they rushed through the snow, followed by the booming crack of rocks exploding.

-A-D-

_0600hrs_

"Urgh," moaned Yuffie as Riku went to answer the ringing of his communicator. "It's too early for this. Can't we tell Maleficent to attack us in three hours or so? It's not even light out yet."

Riku smiled at her not-even-clothed form beneath the blankets. They'd known better than to spend half the night awake in bed, but his girlfriend had reverted to the clothing she used to sleep in when he and Leon had first gotten her this apartment: none. "What's it like Sora?"

"_They've gotten past the second rock slide. We need everybody here now."_

Riku nodded. "Got it. We'll be there as soon as we can." He pressed his thumb down on the 'END' button and looked at Yuffie. "Well, you heard the boss. We'd better get dressed and moving."

Yuffie groaned and rolled over in the bed, grabbing all of the blankets and wrapping herself into a cocoon that even encased her head. "Five more minutes," she sighed. "It's too cold outside."

"It wouldn't be cold if you weren't naked," Riku said with a grin as he grabbed the blankets around Yuffie's feet and pulled. She resisted, of course, so he was only able to yank them down to her shoulders. Yuffie squealed.

"How are you _not_ cold? You're only in boxers for crying out loud!"

"Because I have titanic pectoral muscles bulging with masculinity that make me immune to the effects of temperature," he replied, deadpan.

"Oh yeah? Well your nipples look like they're as hard as mine from the cold so you can take your pectoral muscles of masculinity and shove them up your ass."

"Do you want to kill Heartless, and defend Radiant Garden while you're at it, or not?"

"Oh, you're making me answer that question huh?"

"Well you're being as lazy as Sora and Kairi right now, so yeah."

Yuffie sighed again in dramatic fashion and threw the thick, cozy, and warm blankets from her body. "I suppose so, so long as you can control yourself to keep only your eyes on my tits and not your hands."

Riku came to attention and clasped a clutched fist to his heart in a salute. "On my warrior's honour, I shall not molest you Lady Yuffie," he grinned wolfishly, "for the moment."

Dawn emerged from Riku in a flash of light as Yuffie put on underwear. She had decided to tempt him further in her 'worse-than-naked' form. "His warrior's honour's worth ant spit if you ask me," she told Yuffie while Riku cupped a pair of hands to his nose and quickly went about getting changed. "He's agreed to oil and polish me and get me a scabbard, and he still hasn't done either thing."

_Dammit Dawn! Destiny, can you help me out?_

_What would you like me to do? I can't take corporeal form beyond my Keyblade form, so if you'd like me to appear in sexy underwear like my sister you're out of luck._

They were all toying with him now, all three of them. Curse women and their inane alliances.

-A-D-

The streets were dark and cold when Riku and Yuffie left the apartment. Streetlamps and lights left on outside buildings and houses were the only illumination. The sky that had provided what light it could from the stars was clouded over with masses of grey, small white snowflakes lazily drifting down from them.

The pair had already donned their armour and tucked the white tabards bearing the Star Seeker Keyblade design tightly into their belts above the chainmail. Thick grey cloaks were wrapped around their shoulders with the hoods pulled up; the wind wasn't much, but it was chill and froze their ears. They thanked for the padded wool shirts beneath.

Riku exhaled loudly, a cloud of frosted breath leaving his mouth. "I will be very glad when we're done here so I can get out of this damn cold."

Yuffie almost pouted next to him. "What? Don't like it here?"

"It's fine when it's not fucking winter." He stamped his feet, and suddenly they became encased in black light. "Come on, let's get there fast." Riku pushed his legs, and began rollerblading quickly along the street. The black light turned to golden trails behind him, illuminating the path of his Sun Skates.

"Hey, wait up!" Yuffie squawked, making a quick gesture with her hand. She disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

-A-D-

Sora had not yet appreciated the size of the number of people that had come to their aid when they'd asked for it, however silently in most cases. Naminé's plea before government had been open enough, but the rest of it had all been carried out by King Mickey, Leon, Mayor Urophi, Commander Nebula, that weird SV show host, and other friends they'd all made along the way. All the talking had been talk of numbers, numbers that in his head seemed both many and few.

Now, looking at the walls as he, Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Naminé, Yuffie, Boromir (it had been funny watching the son of the Steward try to mount and command the bird), Agatha, and Gimli rode on seven chocobos and Nebulus, he understood better.

Along the whole length of the first wall, and partially along the second line set two-hundred metres behind the three-metre thick bulwark closest to the ravine, lines of defenders stood shoulder-to shoulder. Atop the battlements of the square, circular, and sloping half-circular towers and gatehouse stood even more at the ready, looking small beneath the tall beams of trebuchets and piled stones. Ballistae manned by their engineers were prepped and ready, dozens of tall bolts piled in barrels beside. Behind the main wall and beneath the arches supporting the secondary massed the thousands of others who'd pledged their support to the defence of the light of the worlds.

Helmets gleamed in reflected torchlight. Scattered shouts and commands came from every corner of the encampment, and the entire area was scurrying like insects whose nest had been disturbed. Chocobos snorted and bucked while their handlers worked to get them under control. Samurai Nobodies waited patiently in complete silence in a silver bock separate from the rest, while men and women of the Ascalon Vanguard in their maroon armour consorted with guild members, all unsure of their place amidst the people of Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, Disney Castle, and Destiny Islands who had already fought and died together. Some he saw huddled together on their knees, praying, while others practiced knife and sword drills or were casting defensive enchantments on themselves and the people important to them. One knight of Disney Castle Sora saw constantly adjusting his armour, ensuring that it was fitted properly and not a piece left forgotten.

The restlessness worked its way into Sora too while his eyes raced back and forth, scare able to begin the folly of attempting to count them all. They rode past a long line of men in front of Getafix's cauldron, brave enough to accept a ladleful of the druid's magic potion that granted the drinker superhuman strength. Enough men in line turned their heads and saw who was riding past, recognized the uncovered faces, and shouts and cheers of "Master Sora" "Sir Roxas!" "Master Riku!" "Lady Yuffie!" and "Princess!" leapt freely from their mouths.

Gimli shifted from his position in front of Sora on the chocobo, while the youth stammered, "There's so many of them."

"I never thought that we'd be fighting beside so many others," Kairi admitted. "I'd never dreamed I'd be in large battles worthy of songs and tales."

Yuffie laughed. "Well, once you and Sora start making babies, I'll be sure to tell them that their mommy and daddy played bit parts in them compared to the Great Ninja Lady Yuffie."

Gimli grunted beneath Sora, but before he could speak a rider came hurtling through the open gates. Catching sight of Nebulus first, the rider directed his mount towards their line, and reined in just in front of them. "Princesses!" he gasped.

"Yes?" Kairi and Naminé asked as one.

"They've blown away the fourth rockslide," he told them. "They are not far now."

"Good!" Gimli said.

Sora urged his chocobo forward a couple of steps to attract the rider's attention. Suddenly a little unsure, he stuttered a syllable before he gained control of his voice. "A-alright. Tell King Mickey—"

"Your pardon Master Sora, but His Majesty is already aware," the rider declared. "Wielder Asterix as well; both of them are waiting at their positions already. I'm on my way to inform General Berger."

"Carry on then," Sora said, and the rider nodded. His chocobo bellowed "_Kweh!_" and he rode past them. Sora set his chocobo on at a quick walk and turned to his friends. "Alright guys," he said, "this is it. We're defending Radiant Garden from Maleficent's army, again."

"Do you think we should give a rousing speech?" Roxas asked.

"If anyone should do it, it should be Naminé," Kairi announced.

Riku frowned a little, and looked at the Dragon Knight. "Why Naminé?"

The blonde was the one who answered him. "Because I will be Queen of Radiant Garden."

Agatha glanced uncomfortably between Kairi and Naminé at the bold statement of her lady. Boromir started, his hands wrestling with the reins of the exotic mount. "Is not Kairi the heir to the throne of this world?"

"I am," Kairi said, "but when Maleficent is defeated I'm abdicating my claim to it. A castle and throne aren't what I want."

Sora smirked a little but said nothing. _No,_ _a cave decorated in childhood drawings is your castle and a bent paopu tree's your throne, Kairi._ He saw Roxas give him a glance.

"Naminé," Agatha asked in a voice that could barely be heard over the din. "You'll become our queen?"

"You might not want to talk about that in public just yet," Yuffie advised her. "We've got a long ways to go yet."

Kairi nodded. "True." Plato rasped something from around her shoulders, and Kairi said. "Aw, thank you Plato; that's so sweet."

"What did he say?" Gimli asked.

"That I'll always be a queen to him," she answered with a light blush, barely visible in the torchlight.

"You're more than a queen to me Kairi," Menelmon swiftly added. "You're my partner."

_Someone's a little jealous of Plato,_ Sora thought, amused. He stroked a finger on Aiwemon's head. "Don't worry buddy, nobody could replace you."

"As if anyone could!" Aiwemon answered happily. "I'll admit that you're strong Sora, a lot stronger than the others, but sometimes even you humans are hopeless without us Digimon around."

A path was made for them as they rode forward slowly, the masses of soldiers close to the gate parting for their mounts. Out from the press stepped someone who looked like a female bear, a blonde woman, and a man. It was only when they got closer that they realized that both the man and woman they recognized as Prince Rurik and Devona, while the female bear had silver oak leaves attached to full plate armour, and also wore a cape of royal purple trimmed with gold. Her cape was clasped about the neck by a golden brooch in the shape of King Mickey's seal; it was exactly identical to the cape clasped at Roxas' own neck!

"Hail Sir Roxas Dual Blade," the other Knight of Disney Castle proclaimed as the riders stopped before the three, "and well met to the rest of you, Your Highnesses, Sora, Riku, Yuffie."

"Hail Lady, uh…" Roxas trailed, completely unsure of the other knight's name.

She chuckled throatily, the bear's growl in her voice. "Lady—or Lieutenant Colonel, whichever you prefer—Repsy, Commanding Officer of the 1st United Regiment at your service. We're the lucky bastards who are going past the wall with you today."

"And us," Prince Rurik declared. "A hundred of the Vanguard will be going out with you as well."

"Several guilds have asked for the honour of striking the first blow," Devona said, "quite aggressively in some cases. Many of them are already out there, joined in the defence of the outposts and snow embankments."

Sora swung down from the saddle and helped Gimli down as well. He looked at his friends, all of them now off of their mounts and watching him. Nebulus had disappeared into Naminé's charm. "Where are Glorfindel and the Elves?" Sora asked.

"Up there," Lady Repsy said, pointing. "He said that they'd be best suited to be positioned where they can do the most damage with their bows."

"Alright," Sora said with a nod. "Okay guys, this is it. I know that there's a lot of them, but if we all stand together I'm sure we can do this."

"Only because losing is _so_ not an option," Yuffie muttered.

"Potions?"

"Check."

"Ethers?"

"Check."

"Manly fighting spirit?"

"HOORAH!" Roxas suddenly roared, his voice being joined in moments later by dozens of others. He laughed afterwards, joining in the amused laughter of Naminé, Riku, and Yuffie. Kairi frowned at Sora and raised her eyebrows. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Womanly fighting spirit?"

"Kairi gonna burn things," she said in her best troglodyte voice, which got more smiling groans than laughs.

"Damn right she's going to burn things," Riku muttered. He shoved Roxas' shoulder. "Are you sure your buddy wasn't a bad influence on her when he kidnapped her that time?"

"You're just upset because you're no great shakes at magic," Kairi told him smugly.

"I don't need magic," Riku said. "I can beat any one of you in a straight sword fight."

"Except for me," Sora reminded him.

"And me," added Roxas.

"We're putting that to the test again later," Riku promised both of them.

"You sound confident in your skills for one so young," Boromir remarked. He turned away from Riku and looked down at Sora. "Sora, I have fought in many battles. I will show you the quality of Gondor, if you and your friends will prove yours to me."

"Your words speak that you doubt them, Boromir," Gimli said sternly. "Cast it aside! You'll not find better warriors anywhere than the ones in front of you."

"Perhaps," he answered, "but Gondor needs not for younglings to die defending it from the Enemy because their sword-arms are weak."

"Don't worry Boromir," Sora assured him, "we won't be biting the dust anytime soon."

"Good," Lady Repsy said with light humour. "Shall I take you to the front?"

Naminé waved her hand as a horn blew behind them and all around became an even more frantic blur of activity. "Lead the way."

"Aiwemon, fly ahead," Sora said. "Come back the instant you see them coming."

"Menelmon, Plato, you too!" Kairi urged.

-A-D-

King Mickey's grip tightened on his Keyblade. He could feel them coming; they were close now. The King looked behind him at the two-score of knights he'd brought with him to the outpost. All of them wore set and determined looks behind their helmets, and the members of three different guilds by the patterns of their cloaks paced eagerly in robes, leathers, and metal armour. The United Forces man who held onto the detonator for the pit trap covers glanced down at the King. A shout from the sky made King Mickey look up.

Aiwemon, Menelmon, and Plato were far above them, and they were just now wheeling back towards the wall.

"Are you ready?" King Mickey asked them all.

-A-D-

Familiar faces awaited them behind the front embankment in front of the gates. Mulan, Mushu, Lea, Donald, and Goofy stood waiting for them. "Howdy Sora," greeted Goofy, "how are you doing?"

"My nose and ears are freezing," the brunet answered, "and I feel as though my eyelashes are icing over. Beyond that…bit nervous."

"No worries Sora," Donald said. "We'll get 'em. Maleficent hasn't stopped us before."

Sora smiled at the encouragement. "Right. Thanks guys." He placed his helmet on and sighed. "There, that's a bit better."

"That's what friends are for," Mulan agreed.

Kairi shuddered for a second. She could feel Plato's anxious excitement flow into her and his projected image of the Heartless flooding out of the final bend towards the last straight section of the ravine. "They're here," she whispered.

"I just hope everybody's ready for this," Mushu said in a low tone.

"They are," Naminé assured him. Mushu shook his head.

"I dunno, none of them could finish my task." Mulan sighed and shook her head in her hand.

"You gave them an impossible task," she scolded him.

"I'm sure one of them could have done it!" he argued.

"What did you ask them to do?" Riku asked.

"First you must cross the Chasm of Fire, dodging the Fire Scorpions of Halcyon III. Then you must cross the Bridge of Death, answering the Bridgekeeper's three questions without being thrown into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. After that, you must make your way across the plains of Nektar, battling through seas of creatures spawned from the bowels of Diablo, until you reach the sacred Stone of Pure Spirit. At the Stone of Pure Spirit you must defeat the awesome dragon known as Jirdag—whose claws are so sharp that you won't feel being cut for five minutes even after moving, and whose breath is so hot it melts entire planets—while scoring 100% on Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce on Expert difficulty in Guitar Hero 3. Once Jirdag has been defeated, you must go to the Tim Hortons buried within the Stone of Pure Spirit, and get me a winning 'Roll Up The Rim' large double-double. With the Timmy's in hand, you must travel back here through the Kingdom of Ackaluhekythain, rescuing the Princess Velina and defeating the Dark Lord Bubbles and his Sorcerer Warmage, Bob. Then, you must return here, with the winning double-double still naturally hot, not warmed by fire, magic or microwave, and without having spilled a single drop of my coffee. Only then, when I have my coffee, shall you obtain the +5 Awesomeness Mahogany Staff of Malchior VII that grants the ability to breathe lightning, cupcakes, fire, and bend the fabric of the universe itself and be acknowledged for passing the test; because you know that if that cup doesn't at least hold a free coffee under the rim you'll have to do it all over again just to get me another Tims. Any questions?"

"Oh, so an average Tuesday then?" Sora asked.

"What's Roll Up The Rim?"

"What the heck is Tim Hortons?"

"Can you even spell Ackalyhuwhatsit?"

"But I've never even _played_ Guitar Hero!"

Kairi sniggered and glanced at Sora. She stifled a yawn before speaking. "Would I then be the Princess Velina?" she asked.

"No," Yuffie chortled. "You're the one who gets Sora's +5 Mahogany Staff."

"Mahogany." Roxas repeated while Kairi and Sora both blushed.

A shout carried on a chill north wind reached Goofy's ears and he turned to look into the sky. "Hey look Sora, Aiwenmaw's comin' back."

"Aiwemon, yah big palooka," Sora corrected him before Donald could. The duck mage gave Sora a stunned look for a second, disbelieving that the boy had stolen his line. Goofy laughed at the familiar words while Aiwemon plummeted out of the sky, his body type keeping his dive faster than even Plato's.

"Sora! They're here!" he shrieked, still a long ways up.

"Then it's time you digivolved!" shouted the male digidestined. A much closer Aiwemon nodded and began to glow with white light as Sora's digivice spewed its own light and screamed.

"Aiwemon digivolve to, Ohtarmon!"

The ground thundered behind the fortified snow embankment as the eight-foot Champion dropped hard to earth, his knees bent low and almost buckling underneath him. The digimon's mace was tight in his clawed hand and he and Sora nodded at each other. Sora donned his helmet. Plato came down a second later, and rasped something at Kairi who replied in the same crackling, hissing language, before he wrapped his fiery body around her shoulders. Menelmon descended last, and she and Kairi shared a nod. The girl turned her head back and barked a command even as her digivice began to scream like Sora's had. "Close the gates!"

"Menelmon digivolve to, Soronmon!"

Many of those who had yet to see the Champion forms of Aiwemon and Menelmon looked at the digimon pair in awe and Boromir, who had only seen Ohtarmon (and even then only for a few seconds), gazed at the giant ice eagle with a slack jaw. The gates closed behind their host with a droll _doom_. Each person shuddered for a moment at the sound; the sound of their doom closing in all around them.

-A-D-

"They come for us, Your Majesty," said one of King Mickey's knights, positioned at the crest of their snow embankment with the King and the soldier bearing the detonator. Heartless were now swarming out of the ravine: Shadows, Neoshadows, Armoured Knights, Lance Soldiers, Soldiers, Fat Bodies, Surveillance Robots, Rapid Thrusters, Rabid Dogs, and at least ten other types of smaller Heartless; most of them heading straight for his position and Asterix's.

"You're ready with the detonator?" asked King Mickey.

"Don't worry Your Majesty," said the soldier in a relaxed attitude, the waves of Heartless not fazing him in the slightest, "the Zekester's got it covered."

-A-D-

The wind whistled in the early morning dark past Kairi's ears. She grabbed her helmet in her hands and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, rubbing off the icicles forming on her eyelashes. She yawned again, keeping her from placing the helmet onto her head for a few more seconds. Kairi shook her head, blinked twice, and looked at Sora. "Sora, hit me."

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm falling asleep; hit me so I stay awake."

Sora rolled his eyes under his helmet. "I told you that staying awake reading 'cause you were nervous was a dumb idea."

"Hey, you wanted to go downstairs, force your way into the kitchens, and bake a lasagne because you were nervous and still hungry; and that's even more insane." Sora shrugged, and lightly slapped Kairi's cheek with the back of his gauntleted hand. The cold metal was sharp against her skin, but the touch wasn't as stinging as she felt it needed to be. "Bit harder."

Instead of slapping her this time, Sora poked her just underneath her cheekbone and kept pushing while her head moved from the pressure. It started to hurt. "Ow, ow! Okay, I'm good, I'm good!" she declared waving his hand away. She smacked his helmet with the back of her hand, causing Sora to laugh.

"You two must be mad," Mushu said, sighing at them. "Do you think smacking kids on the cheek makes them better fighters?" The pair just shrugged, amused.

The helmet went on a few seconds after that, Kairi now grateful that her face was out of the cold and warming up. She had her tongue roam around the inside of her mouth, her cheek now hurting a little from the prod of Sora's cold finger, though that still didn't help with the shadowy gloom around her in what little torch and magelight there was. She snapped her fingers as well as she could with her gauntlets, and small baubles of white light came into existence in her right palm. With a thought she sent one to each of her friends to hover behind their left shoulder.

"Thanks Kairi," Roxas said, nodding at the helmeted girl.

Yuffie gave Kairi an awkward smile from beneath the hood of her cloak. "While I appreciate the thought, could you dispel mine, please? The night is my ally after all."

Kairi snorted under her breath. "Oh right, derp." The light winked out.

-A-D-

"Gee, you might want to think about pressin' that button right about now," King Mickey said hastily, looking right at 'the Zekester'.

"Don't worry, don't worry," he replied, "I got it." The Heartless were no further than twenty feet away, arrows from the few bows in the group easily finding marks in the mass, when his thumb jammed down hard on the trigger.

-A-D-

The ground beneath them all shook. Pillars of rock and snow with dark wisps writhing in their core could be seen beyond the embankment. The mines had all been blown, which meant that the others would be engaging the Heartless in any second.

Sora swept Remembrance out of its sheath in a flash of light. He nodded at Donald and Goofy.

"Well, guys," he said, looking at the others, "we came here to kick ass and eat pie, and I don't see any pie, so I guess we're gonna have to kick some ass instead."

"And ask the Heartless we kill where the fuck our pie is!" Yuffie added.

-A-D-

_The last chapters of the newly renamed **Light's Growth** are coming up all. I hope you're prepared to have your minds blown._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	72. The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 1

_I can say that I've spent a lot of these past months thinking about how this battle's going to go, but it would taste a lie to say that I've been working on it the whole time. You can all thank The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble) for kicking my ass into writing mode last month to get this project back on track._

_Now then, let's get to the epic battle._

_Disclaimer: Nope._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 72: The Battle for Radiant Garden: Part I

_0748hrs, Sunday, December 7th, 2003_

King Mickey looked up from where he lay in the snow, staring up at the dark sky. The sun still had yet to rise into the cloudy heavens, but even if it had and there were no clouds he was sure the snow and dust currently falling down on him from the mines going off would have been an effective block. His ears rang with a constant whine that drowned out everything else, even the crashes he knew the chunks of falling rock should produce. The king's back ached slightly, but he blinked and shook his head in an attempt to clear it; he knew that he was fine.

"On your feet!" he shouted, though he couldn't hear his own voice beyond a distant-sounding muffle. He re-summoned the Reverse Kingdom Key to his hand as he stood up and went to the top of the embankment. A few rocks had lodged themselves firmly into the snow-pack that they'd made in constructing the primitive defence, and a small number of stakes had been wiped out or dislodged.

The Heartless were still coming. A fair number fell down into the pits, but those whose paths did not take them across the voids in the ground continued straight on until they did come across a pit. Even so, a trickle of the flood was on its way across a clear path, and King Mickey was not sure how long it would take until the Heartless understood that falling fifty feet wouldn't help them get the hearts they sought.

Blue light swirled around the tip of his Keyblade, forming an orb there in front of it. The orb grew swiftly until it was the size of his head, and the King batted it off with a swing of his weapon. The pearl shot straight for the lead Soldier that was closest to getting at them, whorls of blue light swirling around the magic ball, and smashed right through the Soldier to hit the next three Heartless behind it before the pearl vanished. Crystal hearts floated up into the sky even as more Heartless came forward.

King Mickey glanced sideways as an elementalist in flowing purple robes came up to stand next to the king. The man's wand was held close to his chest, and another object he held in his left hand. "Chew on this!" he shouted, now extending his wand towards the trickle of Heartless. He shouted a word that Mickey didn't catch, and a comet of fire arched out of the tip of his wand. The fireball slammed into two of the Heartless in the line, blasting them back and into oblivion.

More men hastened towards the position at the top of the stake-ridden embankment of snow. Swords banged on shields and jeers were shouted at the oncoming Heartless. A few flaming arrows flew over the king's head and the elementalist who was standing beside him launched a smaller flare spell. The arrows struck into the Heartless right at the front and exploded, bits and pieces of their flaming debris scattering into the ones around it. The flare struck a Neoshadow dead on, but three Armoured Knights charged right through its disintegrating body and fanned out, having woven through the lines between the pits.

King Mickey raised his Keyblade high, blue light gathering at its golden point. He swept it out in front of him, and five small orbs of light streaked out from the blade. The King ran forward and down the embankment with his meagre barrage leading the way, and behind him rushed his knights, Solomon's man, the Ascalon Vanguard, and the few warriors of Ascalon's guilds that had joined them at the front.

The battle was joined.

-A-D-

Arden Wolfwatcher dipped his arrows into his jar of prepared incendiary. He gave the Heartless in front of their embankment a glance, calculating the amount of time it would take for them to reach the warriors being led to the fight by the Keyblade Wielder, Asterix, and the indomitable Gaul's village chief, Vitalstatistix. Nodding slightly to himself, the ranger removed his handful of arrows and tapped their tips on the edge of the jar, so that some of the excess liquid still clinging to the arrowheads would return to where it could be used later. The ranger stood up, the cold air padding against the moss green bandana he wore around the lower half of his face. His brown and evergreen jacket and breeches hugged tightly to him in winter's chill, but the cold didn't bother him with the wolf's fur lining his jacket had. A short half-skirt of evergreen-coloured scales wrapped around his hips to further protect his buttocks, and boots with what looked like sticks and reeds strapped to the front guarded his shins.

He nocked an arrow to his Poisonous Nevermore Flatbow's bowstring and drew back swiftly. He let the arrow fly just as Asterix bellowed, "By Toutatis!" as he and his countrymen charged at the fore against the mass of black Neoshadows that had come upon them. Arden's arrow kindled in the air as it flew, the liquid he'd doused it in lighting mid-flight. It sunk deep into the head of the Neoshadow he'd aimed it at, and the Heartless fell back for an instant, writhing at the burning missile lodged into its skull, and then vanished in a cloud of darkness. Arden's arrow disappeared in a flash of light, and he suddenly felt its weight returning to the quiver on his back above the blood-red and black cape of his Guild, bearing the silver dragon crest of the Legion of the Blessed.

"Gotta love that, don't you?" he muttered to the archer next to him, a fellow ranger of his Guild, referring to the arrow returning to his quiver.

"You said it Wolfwatcher," he agreed, loosing his own shaft, tipped in poison. Arden motioned outward with his hand, and a shaggy grey-furred wolf that stood chest-high to the man charged from beside him towards their foes. Fang howled as he tore through the snow to get at the Heartless, and Arden launched another arrow that lighted with flame in midair. His arrow reached an Armoured Knight just a moment before Asterix and his kin did, but that didn't stop the Wielder from passing the Indomitable through the Heartless even as it was beginning to stumble back a step. Arden reached for another shaft to draw forth, but he felt his fingers go slack in awe.

Asterix, Obelix, Vitalstatistix, Fulliautomatix, Unhygenix, Geriatrix and the dozen others who had come from among the village of Indomitable Gauls on Amorica's coast were cleaving a solid path through the Heartless seemingly without resistance. They were like the finest scythe in the hands of a master farmer cutting down stalks of wheat, or a lake gushing from a broken dam.

"BY TOUTATIS! BY BELENOS!"

_Or, just like a bunch of rowdy battle-hardened barbarians fortified by a druid's potion to grant superhuman strength._

Shaking his head, Arden's fingers grasped another prepared arrow by the fletching and brought it to his bowstring. Fang's claws and snapping teeth were tearing the darkness out of a Neoshadow, and now in the flickering light amidst the indomitable Gauls he saw four others wearing the cape of Legion of the Blessed. The familiar _thrum_ of the string of his bow releasing its payload sounded, catapulting his kindled arrow straight into the head of a Neoshadow that was about to attack the right side of one of his guild mates. Illeria Brightmantle glanced back at him, lifted her longsword up in thanks, and promptly turned back around and bashed her shield into an Armoured Knight's head. The warrior/ranger's cougar-like pet Melandru's Stalker, Orwell, roared from beside her and swatted a Soldier in the face with a paw as big as the Heartless' head.

"Shouldn't Illeria be cold in that?" the ranger next to Arden, Vex Longspear, asked while drawing back another arrow.

Arden's eyes flickered onto Illeria's backside, seeing what he knew to be underneath their guild cape. Creamy white skin from beneath her leather and chain protected bust until her waist, and what was essentially just a leather loincloth guarding the sides of her hips, pelvis, and buttocks. The only other gear protecting her body were her shin-high steel boots, bracers, spaulders, and leather cap with a metal ring around it.

Arden poured his strength into his next arrow, sending the projectile right for the chest of a Lance Soldier and putting the Heartless right on its back before an axe put it out. The ranger reached for another one of his arrows, surveying the chaotic battlefield in front of him. The Gauls were still as effective as they were at the first meeting, cutting the Heartless to pieces in less than seconds. A Large Body bounded into Obelix, and the big Gaul's bulk bounced it back. Obelix hefted the Heartless up in one meaty hand, slapped it hard in the face, and then threw it back where it had come, crushing no less than twenty other Heartless underneath it. Asterix was rushing through the crowd, slicing Heartless left and right with his Keyblade. Wherever his blade went, a heart rose out of a cloud of darkness. Nothing seemed able to touch him.

But, that wouldn't last for long, Arden knew. More and more Heartless were crowding around the Keyblade Wielder. He swiftly nocked two arrows to his bowstring, and sent them plunging into the bodies of two Surveillance Robots hovering in the air. He was a little too late, though, as both Heartless had already fired their red lasers at the Wielder. Arden needn't have worried, though, for before the bolts were even halfway at Asterix's location the blond Gaul was already surrounded by a reflect spell's shield. Fireballs rained from the sky into the Heartless as one of the guild's elementalists let her Firestorm spell fall, and blue healing magic from the hands of the monk Talon Harper seeped into a wound another guild member had just sustained on his shoulder.

A tiny smile graced his face as he loosed the last of his prepared arrows. They were holding them back.

"Wolfwatcher!"

Recognizing the voice of Legion of the Blessed's Guildleader, Violet Bearclaw, a woman in azure robes with fire rolling off her palms. "Yes?" She answered by pointing her finger directly west, and Arden shifted his gaze away from the northwest where Asterix was. His smile vanished. Heartless were pouring past the holes that riddled the battlefield, heedless of those that fell into them. The majority were heading straight south towards the wall, while the ones on the flank were turning directly east to break the thin line linking their post to the force at the wall.

If that line fell, they'd all be completely isolated and lost.

"Illeria! Stefan! Vex! Talon! With me!" he shouted. Arden whistled, and Fang turned around and yelped, rushing to the ranger's side.

"May Balthazar's might guide your arm and Dwayna's Light guard you," Violet Bearclaw murmured to Arden, before turning aside and beginning an incantation. Arden waited another second or two for the warriors Illeria and Stefan to catch up to him, Vex, and Talon, the animals Fang and Orwell in tow.

All Arden, an officer of the Guild, had to do was point, and the grips on their weapons tightened. "We're going to keep this line to the gate open as long as we can," Arden told them quickly. "They're not cutting us off to surround us."

"Easier said than done," Stefan remarked.

"And it will be harder with every second we dawdle here," Illeria returned. She nodded at Arden confidently, and then jumped off the embankment and rushed towards the south with Orwell beside her. "For Great Justice!"

"Here we go," Stefan muttered. He let loose a roar and charged right after the female warrior, the woman already swinging her sword down at a Neoshadow in a powerful attack before the Heartless could harm the elementalist it was targeting.

Vex was crooning soft words over his arrows in a swift prayer to Melandru and Dwayna so that they would fly faster, while Arden rushed after his friends, dipping his arrows into his incendiary potion while he went. Fang howled and charged ahead, teeth snapping in his jaws. The wolf leapt onto an Armoured Knight, bringing the Heartless down to the ground so that Fang could rip and tear the foe to pieces with his powerful canines. Right next to him worked Orwell, the great cat snarling and swiping at a Soldier with its claws.

Illeria spun around as arrows and spells flew into foes left and right, her shield blocking against the cursed weapon of a Lance Soldier, a couple of sparks skittering off the contact. Her hot breath steamed in her face while red light from a nearby exploding fireball lit up the bronze-armoured Heartless in front of her. Crying out, she slashed down with her sword, severing the armour and skin of its body. Acting almost as if it couldn't feel the blow, the Lance Soldier took her by surprise and just got underneath her shield, spearing her left side with its signature weapon. Illeria let out a gasp of pain as she felt her skin rip and tear and hot blood stream out of the wound, and not for the first time she wondered why it was that she had chosen to get Corwen to craft her this Gladiator armour set that left so many spots on her body unprotected when the armour she'd previously had was much more efficient.

Gritting her teeth through the pain, she roared, "For the Legion!" Illeria parried away a further stab of the Heartless' lance and her riposte found its mark deep in its chest. The Lance Soldier cringed for a moment or two, and then vanished in a cloud of darkness. Illeria took a couple of steps back, cringing as she brought her shield-arm close to her bleeding side. Stefan and the two ferocious animals moved in front of her, and the nearby elementalist finished the chant she was intoning. An orb of lightning shot out of the staff she was carrying, blasting a Surveillance Robot into oblivion.

"Hey, thanks for the backup," the elementalist, whom Illeria now suspected to be one of those Aeromancers, elementalists who primarily used air magic, she'd heard about. "It was getting pretty dicey over here." Illeria nodded her head knowingly and raised her sword to the sky, tracing a pattern in the air and offering a silent prayer to Dwayna. White motes emerged from the tip of her sword and spiralled around her for a moment, and she felt her side stitch itself back together as her healing signet took effect. Worry eased from her mind for a moment as a ring reminiscent of the one floating around the elementalist surrounded her. It took less than a glance to recognize Talon's Shielding Hands enchantment for what it was. With an eager shout she rushed back into the fray, hacking away with her sword with reckless abandon, knowing that for the next few seconds at least she was protected by the monk's prayer. Lightning struck one nearby Heartless a couple seconds later before leaping to two others, blasting them all into dark clouds. Stefan blocked the boxing-gloved hands of an Aerial Knocker with his round shield and bashed the Heartless back a bit, giving room for Vex's arrow to take the fiend in the side.

The ranger smiled only slightly and nocked another one to his bow string. There were _plenty_ more Heartless where that one came from, and from his vantage point, watching their monk Talon actually using one of his smiting prayers to assist in fighting them. Vex turned and quickly launched his arrow right into the head of a tiny Minute Bomb coming straight for him and Arden. He'd known that the line was thin from the beginning, but he hadn't realized before that it was this thin. The fighting had barely been going on for eight minutes, and already he was wondering if they should begin the retreat to the wall.

Shaking his head, the ranger reached back for another arrow and swiftly put it into a Rapid Thruster's yellow head, noticing a small orb with an antennae floating nearby. He frowned slightly, staring at the device as it flew over the battlefield.

"Vex! Focus!" Arden shouted. Shaking his head, the other ranger quickly drew another arrow.

-A-D-

In a building in the heart of the city, the word DUCK on the building's front in large golden block letters, at least a dozen men and twice again as many technicians were monitoring eight separate screens, each one a feed from one of the eight sphere cams they had floating around and recording the ongoing battle. Wartime Battlewatch was watching and broadcasting the battle live.

Neo Silverman muttered, "Keep it on camera one," with his eyes flickering back and forth between the eight different monitors. The monitor of that specific sphere camera was currently recording King Mickey and eight of his knights, fighting as a tight unit and providing a shell of defence for a half-dozen rangers and elementalists behind them, the heroes of Ascalon still on the embankment. The Heartless were drawn towards the king's Keyblade, putting a lot of the pressure on the mouse monarch and his knights. Each knight held their shields close, protecting the flanks of their ruler, and stabbed out with shining white swords that glowed with magic while King Mickey stood at the head, cutting Heartless down with quick cuts and thrusts of the Reverse Kingdom Key.

"Neo, camera four!" Perry called urgently.

The one who had given Riku his own bobble-head doll and been made an honourary Keyblade Wielder swiftly switched from watching the first screen to the fourth. "The Heartless are about to hit the Princess' positions," he murmured to himself. "Oh shoot! Look at camera six! Those are Behemoths, aren't they?"

"Camera seven shows Wyverns starting to fly in."

Ultimo brought a hand up to his ear. "General Berger, airborne Heartless and Behemoths are on their way, and your vanguard's about to meet the enemy. Your valley is full." He lowered his hand from the earpiece. "They're about to clash with the vanguard; switch to camera four and keep it close on the Keyblade Wielders."

-A-D-

Sora lay on his stomach, peering over the edge of the embankment at the Heartless rapidly approaching them in the gloom. He could see Neoshadows, Armoured Knights, Soldiers, run-of-the-mill Shadows, and right in the forefront were at least two dozen Assault Riders across the line leading the charge, gold-tipped lances leveled and ready.

The Wielder of Twilight grinned underneath his helmet and tightened his grip on his Keyblade. He looked back at Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Riku, and Yuffie, his eyes passing over the many others gathered. "You all know what they're going to do," he said, and nodded at his Keyblade. "We're the ones they'll be swarming the most, the Keyblade being a beacon of fear, after all. Whatever you do, don't get completely isolated. There are thousands of them out here after all, and we all know how dangerous they can be. Stick close to your partner."

"Do you mean fight beside your lover the whole battle?" Yuffie asked with a bit of a smirk and a lick of her lip.

Sora rolled his eyes underneath his helmet. "I didn't intend it that way. Just, whoever you're tag-teaming with at the time, watch each other's backs."

"This is going to be big and hectic," Kairi added. "So just watch yourselves," Sora could tell she was smiling sweetly at him even though he couldn't see her face, "right, Sora?" He gave her a slight nod, glanced back at the field of approaching Heartless, and then gave her a more pronounced nod.

"Give the signal."

Crowning Flame burst into Kairi's right hand in a flash of light and she pointed it straight up. A bolt of brilliant red fire surged into the sky.

"_Leitho i philinn!"_

A curtain of arrows flew overhead from the wall, the Elves of Rivendell releasing the shafts with the deadly accuracy their race was famed for. Sora watched as all of the Assault Riders went down in clouds of darkness, as well as a good portion of the front line. More arrows rained down from above, plunging into Heartless of all types, swiftly joined by balls of fire, lightning, and ice. He could not hear the creak of wood and rope, but the sight of boulders one and a half times a Large Body's size soaring through the sky and javelins as long as a man piercing through four Heartless before coming to rest in the ground were heartening.

A deep breath in, and Sora slowly released it, looking only at his friends and love. He could see nothing of Kairi's face behind her horned helmet, but even with the fierceness of her armour she looked so beautiful and precious in his eyes. Plato's fiery radiance and her own bauble of white light lit up her armour with mesmerizing patterns. To think, that at one point he would have fought tooth and nail to keep her from adventuring with him, and now he could think of few people he would rather have at his side.

Sora's heart quivered, pounding loudly in his ears and turning his body into a taught bowstring, ready to spring forward and release its deadly payload.

Ohtarmon was silent apart from his breath, and was not even swinging his mace around in his clawed hand.

Donald waved his staff in front of him a couple times.

Gimli stomped his feet and repositioned his axe.

Goofy stared straight ahead, his shield held loosely at his side.

Soronmon stretched her massive wings.

Yuffie had leaned close to Riku and stretched onto her tiptoes, giving him a light peck on his ruby-red cheek while murmuring something in a low tone to him.

Roxas nodded at Lea and summoned both his Keyblades to his hands.

Mulan loosened up, rotating her sword in her wrist while Mushu snorted a tiny puff of flame.

Naminé already had her blade and shield out, and tapped the shield with her Keyblade. The cold metal made a ringing note.

Boromir stood silent, his sword and shield in his hands.

Agatha tugged at her hair.

The bowstring loosed.

Sora leapt over the embankment, roaring an inarticulate sound of challenge at the horde. The first thing he saw was a Neoshadow, leaping right for him between the wooden stakes lining the other side. Sora swept Remembrance across his body in a swift arc, catching the Neoshadow in the chest right underneath the arm that was swiping down for him. Remembrance tore through the Heartless' body, leaving the two pieces to vanish into darkness. Behind him, his friends and allies followed Sora's lead, shouting challenges and insults to the Heartless while they leapt into the fray. Donald and Goofy were suddenly at Sora's side, Donald shooting a lightning bolt into the head of a Shadow from his staff while Goofy rammed an Armoured Knight square in the chest with his shield.

"Deciding Swing!"

The world lit up around Ohtarmon as his glowing feather-spiked mace's baseball swing connected solidly with four Armoured Knights, blasting all of them into nothingness. The air behind him surged and a shriek filled his ears.

"Polar Chill!"

Giant icicles rained down from Soronmon's beating wings, stabbing into Heartless just as much as the arrows that continued to rain down from the wall and archers in the vanguard did. Clouds of darkness surged into existence from the mass of Heartless where before there had been solid bodies, only the shattered remnants of watermelon-sized pieces of ice remaining to mark where they fell.

Naminé threw her shield in front of her while Kairi stood beside the blonde princess, words coming out of the redhead's mouth in a familiar chant to both of them. The blonde snapped her fingers just as her shield was about to strike against an Armoured Knight. Daggers of ice formed around the spinning shield, turning it into a whirring projectile of icy death. An arrow bounced off the shield even while it was cutting through the Armoured Knight and two Soldiers.

"…rain down upon my enemy. Flame Style 22, Skyfyre!"

Kairi's back arched as her intonation finished, and the evocation took effect as dark clouds swirled around above them. Red flashes lit them like hidden lightning, and the large meteors of Kairi's spell rained down besides the smaller similar castings of Ascalon's pyromancer elementalists all over the field. Twenty yards ahead of where Sora currently stood, the fireballs smashed Heartless and the stone road and terrain to pieces.

Naminé's shield flew back to the princess of ice and she slipped it back onto her left arm, spinning around and dropping to one knee to block the twin laser blasts of a Surveillance Robot with it. Kairi now leapt into the air, and skewered the metal body of the Heartless with a single thrust of Crowning Flame. She returned to the ground and threw Crowning Flame from her grasp, fire igniting all around it. The Keyblade wreathed in fire flew around the girls in a half-circle, destroying or pushing them back while Naminé placed her hands together. "Ice Make… Serpent!"

Crowning Flame returned to Kairi's hand just as Naminé's ice serpent burst out of her hands. It hissed coldly at the foes in front of them, and lunged forward with frozen jaws extended. Plato flew off from Kairi's shoulder towards an Aerial Knocker and belched a stream of flame five times the tiny elemental's size. The Heartless withered in the intense heat and burst apart in darkness.

"One!" Gimli crowed, pushing through the darkness that had been a Lance Soldier. "Two! Three!" he shouted, his axe having just cleaved through two Soldiers foolish enough to be pressed against him. The Dwarf of The Lonely Mountain raised his axe up and chopped it straight down, cutting deep into the head and neck of an Armoured Knight. "Four! Can you keep up, Boromir, or is the quality of Gondor slipping?"

The Gondorian had no answer for Gimli, for he had yet to swing his blade. The very sight of the Heartless was something completely new to him, with their completely varied sizes, shapes, and colours. Beyond that, he realized that his skepticism for Sora, Kairi, and their friends had been stronger in his heart than he'd realized. Yuffie was vanishing and reappearing in plumes of black smoke almost faster than his eyes could track, and her Keyblade was shredding Heartless to pieces with vicious backstabs. Roxas' twin Keyblades were nearly a blur, flickering in and out of sight as they plunged into darkness and came out again, visible by the pink glow from the crystalline hearts and the orb of light floating over his shoulder. Riku's left hand glowed perpetually with golden light, and Heartless couldn't seem to get near him as he blasted them left and right with black-tipped golden rays of light.

And Sora, Sora was a genius with his weapon and his magic. Guarded by the duck and dog, he spearheaded their defensive offensive, driving through the Heartless seemingly effortlessly. His sword rose, fell, and swept across the teenager's body with precision, always striking, never resting. Fire, lightning, ice, wind, and silver light streamed out of his Keyblade unpredictably; his friends to his side didn't slack either: bashing, pummelling, and magicking their foes to death. All around where Sora or his friends were the line advanced far more swiftly than in any other area, even the mass of silver where Roxas' Samurai weaved and cut with their array of curved swords, never once taking a hit or slowing while in contact with the weaker Heartless.

Boromir stayed standing in shock as he saw a different Heartless, black as jet, taller than any man he'd seen, floating in the air on tiny wings, and carrying a serrated sword as long as he was tall, swooped in towards him. Boromir's stout heart quaked a little. Only the Nazgûl had frightened him so.

The sword rose, prepared to cut, and Boromir snapped back to himself and raised his shield. The downstroke never came, someone nearby shouting something. The Invisible was stuck in a position that implied that it had just been struck, and then it faded into darkness suddenly. Standing where it had been, or rather, _beneath_ where it had been, was Gimli.

"Nine," the dwarf repeated with a grin. He rapped Boromir's shield with his axe. "Are you going to stand there with yer mouth open all day or are you going to get some fighting done? They need every sword, axe, and bow out here working!"

Boromir fumbled, humbled at the dwarf's life-saving work and reprimand. "Right," he reminded himself. "The call of duty and fellowship with brothers-in-arms must be met." Raising his horn to his lips, Boromir let loose a mighty blast from it, shouted, "Gondor!" and skewered a stunned Neoshadow through the chest with his sword.

Sora didn't even need to duck underneath a Lance Soldier's weapon at the horn call of Gondor. His spirits lifted and he let out a joyous shout while the Heartless all around him seemed to quiver in momentary fright at the sound. He raised his left hand. Lightning bolts flew from each of his fingertips, striking against the Heartless' body and making sparks skitter into being all over the bronze. He amped up the weak thunder spell he'd used and a surging blast sent the Heartless back to the darkness. All around him, Donald, and Goofy were enemies, and each one pressing forward from the masses behind them. There was barely any space between the mindless Heartless for any of them to attack properly! It was cutting the grass with an extra-sharp…

"Why have they stopped?" Goofy asked suddenly.

Sora paused, his helmet lit by the pink light from two crystal hearts floating upwards. "What are you talking about Goofy?"

"They ain't movin' anymore Sora," the goof pointed out. "Look, they aren't even attacking _you_ anymore." The spiky-haired brunet seriously paused and half-lowered his Keyblade. Goofy was right. Even with the trebuchets, ballistae, archers, mages, and elementalists still dropping ordinance onto them, the Heartless in front of them weren't moving an inch. Not even their desire for the hearts of the Keyblade Wielders seemed to be enough to make them budge.

The hairs on the back of Sora's neck stood up. "I don't like this," he said. Crunching metal boots and a small warm flutter in his heart signalled the arrival of at least Kairi at his back, and he could feel the others bearing Keyblades all gathering with her.

"What's up with them?" Roxas wondered.

"Shouldn't we just take it as a blessing and kill them easier with them not attacking us?" Kairi asked, cocking her head towards her boyfriend. "Sora?"

"I haven't seen them act like this, ever," he replied. "I've got a bad feeling about—"

UF soldiers and members of the Ascalon Vanguard suddenly passed them, cutting into the Heartless mob with joyous abandon while missiles from the wall continued to rain down. "Your Highness," Lady Repsy asked as she approached, "why have you and your companions stopped? They're just waiting for us to slaughter them."

Sora turned around. "Because _they_ _stopped_," he told her. "They have six Keyblade Wielders standing right in front of them and they aren't moving a muscle when they outnumber us over ten thousand to one."

"Sora's right," Yuffie added, "that's freaky."

The bear from Disney Castle looked like she was about to open her mouth when another came up to her. "Lieutenant Colonel, ma'am! Our sides are breaking apart and falling back."

"What? Already?" the knight asked seriously. Sora snapped his head to the side as the first screams he'd heard that day entered his ears. His eyes rose to the sky, and he took a step back as he saw the flights of Wyverns filling up the slowly lightening sky, followed by three massive Heartless Sora had never seen before. They looked as big as mans-of-war, but in the shapes of triremes. Rectangular buildings sat on their sterns, and where the oars should have been were holes in the ships. How they flew in the air was beyond Sora, but they did.

"What are those things?" Riku asked.

Something launched from the holes in the floating triremes.

"Never mind that," Naminé said, "what are those?"

They flew in to join the flights of Wyverns, Heartless that were much smaller than them. They were smaller than even Rapid Thrusters. Their bodies were conical in shape, dark purple in front with the Heartless Emblem on its top, and a rim of black cherry near the back. Four small wings stuck out of the rim near to tiny yellow dots, and behind it emanated a violet glow. Together they made a curtain that nearly blanketed three whole octas of the overcast sky.

The ground shuddered under Sora's feet, and he lowered his gaze from the airborne Heartless. Behemoths were slowly approaching, and with them he could see Heartless piling on top of one another to become hulking pillars of bodies even taller. The towers became enveloped in mists of darkness as their bodies merged, and Darksides now strode alongside the rhinoceros-like Behemoths. Beneath them all, diminutive in comparison but towering above the other Heartless stood the ranks of black Charr.

Sora took all of this in within a couple of seconds, and suddenly the fodder began fighting again. A few more screams rent the air as arrows whistled in above Sora's head, and someone shouted "Scorpionkin!" A second later there was an explosion from somewhere to the right.

"Puny humans!" a cruel voice shouted from above. "I'm going to kill all of you!"

Riku and Yuffie's eyes widened at the voice. "It's Starscream!" The pair became enveloped by golden and black light as they both Drove, and Sora balked in surprise at Yuffie's new look. "Sora, we're going up!" Riku said.

"Yeah, we've got business with that bucket of bolts!" Yuffie added. They prepared to leave when Sora snapped his arm out and clutched Riku's shoulder.

"Hold on a sec, I'll go with you. Kairi, go look after those people who were just hit; I know you want to. Roxas, Naminé, go all out. Donald, Goofy, keep Kairi's back safe. Ohtarmon, smash them all. Lady Repsy don't have your people do anything rash, just hold them back and try to give us in the sky as much support as you can."

Nods followed, and Sora wrapped himself in Twilight that became his wings while his armour shifted into the colouring of his Valiant Form. "Let's go!"

-A-D-

"Admiral Kago! A message from General Berger!"

The officer from Star Command turned at the aide who was approaching with a phone in hand. He snatched up the receiver and held it to his ear. "Talk to me George."

"_We have inbound aerials clogging up the sky. It looks like Sora, Riku, and Yuffie have taken wing to fight them along with the snow eagle but they'll need help."_

"Understood." The grey uniformed officer placed the receiver back down on the phone and strode a few paces further on the bridge, looking out into the lanes between at their ships. The _Unity_ was their pride and joy, stationed close to the fore and in the middle column of the fleet. To the left he could see the powerful cruiser the _SCS Peacemaker_, with the corvette _DIS Ocean_ above it. On his right was the _SCS Judicator_, and between them were the frigates _TTS Fox _and _SCS Jericho_. "Scramble the Arrows. They need—UH!"

The bridge rocked slightly and the man nearly lost his footing. "What was that?"

"Explosion off the port bow!" a hand called. "Shields held it back, but where did it come from?"

"RADAR is scanning, Admiral, we're picking up multiple Heartless signatures, and they're big ones!"

"Just perfect," Kago muttered. "Bring them up on the main monitor!"

"Aye, sir."

A screen flickered to life, and against the backdrop of a purple vortex opening in the depths of the lanes four large blue, black, yellow, and red faces were appearing. Slowly they emerged from the portal, and it looked as though the faces were the prows of large rectangular vessels. Their mouths were open, and violet light was gathering in one of them. From the eye sockets and sides of the others many smaller craft were exiting. Each one of the big vessels looked to be larger than even the _Unity_.

"Sound GQ and get every squadron and mini-ship out there."

"Aye-aye, sir."

"Helmsman, bear fifteen degrees portside."

"Fifteen degrees to port, aye."

"_General Quarters! General Quarters! This is not a drill. This is not a drill."_

"Sir, Lieutenant Commander Harper of the _Peacemaker_."

"Put him on the monitor too."

Admiral Kago frowned and glared at the ships on the monitor beside the appearance of the commanding officer of the cruiser. "I'm sorry, General, but it looks like we're going to have our hands full up here."

-A-D-

The Indomitable cut through the neck of a Charr Charot, ending the large Heartless' curse-casting ways before it could send pain reeling into the minds of another one of Asterix's friends. The pint-sized Gaulish warrior bounced off the shield of the Blade Storm standing next to it and leapt higher into the air. Green light swirled around his Keyblade and Asterix spun it around his head in three circles before he himself did a front flip. Grasping the hilt with both hands, the Keyblade Wielder of Gaul planted the sword with its tip down directly in front of him, and plummeted to the ground. An Axe Fiend swung its weapon for him, but just missed the Gaul's brown-shoed feet. Asterix's Keyblade plunged straight through the Heartless, filling his yellow moustache with pink light from its heart, before it bit hard into the frozen stone beneath his feet upon landing. Twelve pillars of emerald broke out of the stone and flared up around him, ten of them catching Heartless in their midst and obliterating them, before quickly rushing away for roughly twenty feet, hewing down foes and breaking stone in their light.

With a jerk of his hand, Asterix wrenched his Keyblade out of the stone. "We keep whittling them down, bit by bit, but there's no end to them! Not even the war seemed this bad."

"Asterix!"

He turned at Obelix's voice and saw his friend carrying two Large Bodies by their heads, using the large Heartless as makeshift clubs. Close to Obelix was Chief Vitalstatistix, the chief still being carried by his two shield-bearers. "Chief."

"The demons went around us," Chief Vitalstatistix announced. "They're attacking the lines back from both sides and heading straight south for the wall."

"They're cutting us off, you mean," Asterix reasoned. The Vitalstatistix nodded glumly. "Then I guess it's time to call the retreat, don't you think?"

"Retreat?" Obelix asked. "Aw, but I was having so much fun! These Heartless are crazy! They keep coming back for more!"

Vitalstatistix ignored the larger, err…well-covered Gaul, and nodded to his bearer on the right. The man reached towards his pants and grabbed a goat's horn. He blew three blasts of the same high note, and replaced the horn. "Good luck, Asterix," Chief Vitalstatistix said.

"Good luck, Chief," answered Asterix.

Repositioning his sword in his hand, the Chieftain of the Village of Indomitable Gauls that still held out against the invaders and made life hard for the legionnaires garrisoning the fortified Roman camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum, and Compendium roared, "By Belenos!" and charged south on the shield carried by his loyal shield-bearers.

Asterix flicked his Keyblade, reducing a Neoshadow that had tried to catch him unawares into nothing but darkness, and looked towards a Behemoth that was on its way towards them. "Obelix, would you do the honours?"

The big Gaul slammed the two Large Bodies he had been carrying together, turning both of them into tiny puffs of black smoke. "You want me to get that one Asterix? All to myself?"

The small warrior leaned back on his Keyblade and examined his nails. "It's all yours." With a short, gleeful clap of his palms and exclamation of "Oh goody," Obelix was frolicking off through the hordes of Heartless, casually slapping them thirty yards with the backsides of his meaty hands. Asterix watched him go and then turned around, eyeing the three score of Heartless surrounding him.

The Indomitable shone suddenly with white light, and Asterix raised an eyebrow while a small grin surfaced on his face. "Oh?"

-A-D-

"Twilight Entrapment!"

A hoop of silver light that Sora had just completed drawing in the air above the glowing seven-pointed star of valour widened and descended quickly into the throng of aerial Heartless scouring the skies around him. Every Heartless the ring touched suddenly stuck to it, like flies to the strongest of flypaper. Within seconds the entire ring was covered in Wyverns, a few Aeroplanes and Air Pirates, and a whole contingent of the tiny little guys that had flooded out of the massive Cruiser Heartless, still floating in the sky.

The ring of Twilight suddenly contracted, binding everything it had captured in the middle of the hoop into one big ball of vainly struggling Heartless. Sora clapped both Remembrance and the Kingdom Key together in his hands and pointed them straight above him while he began to spin around and around, silver sparkles radiating off of his wings. A star of green light began to shine at the tip of his Keyblades, the only sign of anything beyond the whirling blur of silver. Yellow lasers blasted out of the tiny yellow lights on the miniature Blast Flyer Heartless as they flew at Sora at high speed, but the yellow pinpricks of energy simply bounced off of his wings and scattered throughout the air, striking other Heartless instead.

Sora directed his spin, and drove down with that star of green light leading his silver twister. "ZEPHYR DFA!"

He speared right through them all, and left an explosion in his wake that turned every Heartless within ten and three wing beats of the ring into tiny clouds of darkness with released hearts drifting slowly upwards. Sora panted beneath his helmet, still glad that he hadn't made that one as strong as he normally did. He'd cut through all of them easily enough even with having dropped the strength of that combo's finishing move, but that was still the third death-from-above he'd delivered in the last ten minutes.

Sora groaned as one of the Blast Fliers struck him in the back, right between his wings, and detonated in an explosion that sent him tumbling through the air for a few seconds before he could correct himself. His armour wasn't even scratched or dented from the blast, but he'd still felt the force of it strike his body beneath.

That had been the third time he'd used Twilight Entrapment and Zephyr DFA, and it still felt like he hadn't done anything but scratch the mammoth that was Maleficent's army.

Growling more to himself out of frustration than at the Heartless who'd just committed suicide against his back and really didn't do anything besides push him, Sora enveloped the Kingdom Key in lightning and sent it spinning through the air away from him with a large mental push, and then spun around himself and parried the blue-glowing fist of an Air Pirate with the flat of Remembrance before stabbing the Heartless through the head.

"Sora WATCH OUT!"

He turned around at the sound of the voice screaming in the air and saw a jet plane flying straight for him and already spewing bullets! They struck against his breastplate and ricocheted right off in a clanging uproar, but Sora howled beneath as what felt like fifteen rapidly thrown punches laced with darkness pummelled his chest. The plane passed him a second later, and Sora could swear that he heard chuckling coming from it. He turned his head, glaring at it, when Yuffie flew in close to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll be okay," he told her, wincing even as the words left his mouth. Damn, why did darkness have to _hurt_ so much now? "I thought you and Riku were going to do something about that guy?"

The Kingdom Key came spinning back to hover near him even as Yuffie grimaced and opened her mouth to speak. "We're trying Sora, but Starscream's on another level than what he had been before. Starscream couldn't hit anything worth shit back then. Maleficent must have powered him up too, and it doesn't help us that we keep getting bogged down by these things!" She spat the last word out as she turned slightly and levelled Flower of Wutai at shoulder level. A jet black beam of light, shaped in the form of many bats, burst from her Keyblade and split into five, each stream of bats stabbing through a Heartless and continuing on in a straight path for fifty yards, skewering anything they passed through, before dispersing and fading away.

Sora growled underneath his helmet, looking right into Yuffie's currently blood-red eyes. A Flare from an elementalist below took out an Air Pirate that had been coming in towards them, and in its light Sora said, "Try harder!" He turned his head and caught sight of Soronmon flying haphazardly through the sky, more than a dozen Wyverns on her tail. His eyes flickered and trailed Starscream, the Deceptacon now firing another missile at their ground forces. "Shit!"

He'd only just begun to futilely race towards the missile on his wings when a bubble of golden light suddenly surrounded the area it was on course towards, shielding the group beneath from the attack as the missile detonated on contact with the light. The bubble fell away, revealing eight racing fireballs streaking into the sky in Starscream's flight path.

"That'd be Kairi," Yuffie remarked with a smirk, though it faded when only one of Kairi's fireballs actually struck the Deceptacon, and the impact only made him wobble slightly before he veered off. "Alright boss, me and Riku will try harder to bring the robot down." She took off on her bat-like demonic wings, and Sora couldn't help but shiver again as he watched her fly away for a couple seconds, the ninja-Wielder slicing apart Heartless with her Keyblade with ease.

Never-ceasing movement out of the corner of his eye caused Sora to turn around once more. White-blue lightnings coursed out of Remembrance in a crackling torrent, blasting a rank of Blast Fliers to pieces in front of him. Beyond them, Sora could see more of the little ones and Air Pirates flying out of the three Cruisers. Below several Behemoths roamed across the battlefield, and two of them were getting closer to their front line rather quickly.

_Dammit,_ Sora thought while fishing out an ether and crushing it over his head,_ we're going to have to get rid of those Cruisers first or we'll be even more overrun with these guys than we are already._

An explosion of white light suddenly attracted his attention even while no less than fourteen more Heartless came swarming at him through a sudden hail of arrows fired from below. Sora directed the Kingdom Key forward with his mind while tightening his grip on Remembrance, silver wings flapping to keep him hovering in place. A Wyvern came right on top of him, raking its claws down at his breastplate and scratching uselessly at his armour. Sora grinned underneath his helmet and slid Remembrance's tip almost leisurely through the Heartless' throat; at the same time, the Kingdom Key skewered two Air Pirates together as it flew around and around, slicing at the Heartless around its master.

But still, that sudden burst of white light, Sora couldn't help but wonder what had caused it even while he quickly ascended to deny another Blast Flyer from striking him with its secondary laser attack. A practiced Strike Raid from Remembrance kept the same Heartless from ramming him and exploding like nearly half a dozen others of its type had done since they'd first appeared.

Wait, something was coming out of that light, and heading straight into the air for the Cruiser closest to it. Sora couldn't make it out from this distance but, whatever it was, it was small, moving quickly, and glowing with white-gold light.

"Reflega," Sora half-muttered, the barrier forming around him while he narrowed his eyes curiously at the small, streaking, glowing thing. More than one Blast Flyer struck his magical shield and exploded, but none of the force made it through as Sora kept the shield up without breaking a sweat; and the Kingdom Key was still flying all around, hewing Heartless down with abandon.

The light pierced the Cruiser's darkness-coated wooden sides, parts of the hull near the impact breaking apart and raining down for a couple of seconds before vanishing as wisps of dark purple. It only took a few seconds after that for the whole Heartless to crack in two, and suddenly that light was breaking its way out of the bow and heading straight for Sora even as the Cruiser's large heart began to rise higher into the sky and cast a pale pink light down on them all.

Sora collapsed his spell-shield and sent the gathered arcane energies scattering all around him in explosive blue balls of light. Wyverns, Aeroplanes, Air Pirates, Surveillance Robots, and more of those gods-damned Blast Fliers bit the dust all over the place. Another four Air Pirates just beyond the range of his spell's counterattack were already flying in towards him, the Heartless still mindlessly swarming the Keyblade Master.

Suddenly, he wasn't there. The four Heartless paused for a brief moment, confused, when Remembrance was suddenly carving them up from behind and the Kingdom Key was racing for their fronts. Sora had Flash-Stepped behind them in an instant. Now only four pink hearts were rising into the sky.

_I can't even think as to how many that makes,_ Sora noted privately.

"Well met, Sora," said Asterix.

Sora nodded, then blinked and whirled around. Floating in front of him was the small Gaulish Keyblade Wielder, glowing faintly with white light and armoured fully in bronze and silver Keyblade-style plate with a jade and oak coloured cape on his back. "But, but how do you have—?" Sora started to ask before the other Wielder interrupted him with a laugh.

"I'm a Chaser and fought in the Keyblade War, remember? You really should have realized this earlier, Sora." Asterix glanced around, and Sora noticed a golden explosion of light in the distance off to his left; it looked like Riku and Yuffie were making some headway against Starscream at last. Asterix flourished Indomitable in front of him. "You've done a great job up here Sora, but they need you on the ground more. I'll handle those Cruisers and these ones."

Sora nodded his head graciously. "Alright, I'll leave it to you then." Without further ado, he snatched the Kingdom Key into his left hand, turned, and dove straight for the ground; he didn't even stop as an Aeroplane tried to block his way and shoot at him, just shot right through the hail of bullets and speared through the Heartless with both Keyblades.

-A-D-

Crowning Flame smashed against the chitin-plated exoskeleton of a Scorpionkin directly in front of Kairi, the girl directly between the Heartless' scythe-arms. Its armour crumpled slightly underneath her stroke, enough to keep the Heartless from swinging its scythes at her again. However, the arching tail from its back with the bulbous acid-spewing mouth quivered and directed itself to face squarely at her head.

"No you don't you piece of trash," Kairi muttered darkly under her breath. Her body flickered for an instant as she Flash-stepped to being in the air right behind the stinger. Hefting Crowning Flame in both hands, the Wielder of Light brought her blade down hard on the joint between the stinger and tail. Light spewed out of her Keyblade, starting at the hilt and shining brightest at the point of contact between the Heartless' body and her weapon, and suddenly her Keyblade had severed the stinger from the tail. A pus-like purple substance spewed out from both sides while wisps of darkness came off from the tail, all of the pus just missing the princess.

Instantly the Heartless began to thrash and writhe in pain, squealing in distress. Kairi's booted foot connected briefly with the tail and she was just able to use it to push back and perform a flip. Her left hand left Crowning Flame, and Kairi's fist filled with white light. She exclaimed wordlessly in righteous fury, thrusting her hand towards the Scorpionkin's body, and a spear of light exited her open palm and brought doom to the creature of darkness.

Kairi crashed back to the ground, her back connecting with a pair of Armoured Knights that had been fighting against one of the soldiers that were fighting alongside her up and down the line, though she _had_ passed them and surrounded herself with enemies quite a few times now.

Their forward line wasn't so much a line anymore as it was a swamp of men, women, partially humanized animals, Nobodies, and Heartless. The front portion consisted of a thousand different skirmishes between the combatants, while getting closer to the gates showed more and more of Heartless that had slipped past the fighting getting overwhelmed by the press of the rearguard. Both flanks of the road were in full retreat to join up with the bulwark in front of the gate, and east and west across the valley the wall was under siege.

Kairi dryly realized that things were going about as well as they possibly could, given the circumstances and odds.

The soldier and the one standing next to him were quick to finish off the Heartless she'd fallen onto while Kairi rolled off. Both muttered a quick thanks to her and were then silenced as Plato breathed a short column of fire into the air, enveloping the Blast Flier that had been heading on a collision course for the three of them. "_Thanks, Plato_," Kairi rasped.

"_You're welcome, my Queen_." Kairi looked further down the masses of Heartless, inwardly flinched, and turned towards the two soldiers quickly.

"Are either of you hurt?"

"No, Your Highness."

"Good," she replied, "keep me covered for a few seconds while I work up something." Both nodded their heads and kept their swords ready and shields close. A few Neoshadows were already converging on their location, but all Kairi needed was for them to hold them back for a few seconds. "Flames of Light that burn in my heart, rise up from the ground and illuminate this deep darkness that surrounds us. Become the weapon of the champions of Light who sit on their nine thrones. Burn with the strength of the four winds behind your graceful strokes. Flame Style 43, Torching Brands!"

Crowning Flame became embroiled with golden flames, and Kairi plunged it straight into the ground beneath her feet. Her limbs weakened as a good part of her energy left her to fuel the stronger Flame Style, but not enough to leave the Princess of Heart helpless. One of the Neoshadows was backing away, dazed after the soldier on the left had bashed it in the face with his shield. Golden light pulsed down Crowning Flame's blade and into the ground. The staggering Neoshadow lit up the world around them, now overwhelmed by one of nine pillars of golden fire that had surged into being from beneath the surface, abruptly ending nine private duels in favour of the United Forces and their allies.

The columns of fire collapsed into themselves, becoming nine straight and plain longswords of golden fire. Kairi shouted for them to strike, and strike they did. Heartless all around were felled by the nine swords of golden flame; cutting and swooping and stabbing through the darkness until their energy was spent.

The fifteen oncoming Charr Heartless hadn't stood a chance.

A loud, and familiar, cry of pain came from somewhere close to Kairi's left, and she turned away from the two soldiers with a nod for them to be careful. Grabbing for one cube from her stash of ethers, Kairi raced towards the familiar voice who had screamed only seconds before. She crushed the cube over her armoured head, and nearly shuddered in pleasure as warm energy seeped back into her muscles and eased her somewhat fatigued mind.

"Deciding Swing!" roared Ohtarmon as she passed him, his glowing mace striking against the guard of a Berserker Nobody and flinging the creature backwards. A Lance Soldier came rushing towards her, but before it even had a chance to attempt to pierce her armour and make a shish-kabob out of her a Samurai Nobody hacked it down from the side with its twin katanas. The Nobody turned and parried the downwards slash of a Charr Axe Fiend's weapon and backed cautiously out of the way of its much larger opponent. Kairi almost flung a spell or her Keyblade at the Heartless, when out of the corner of her eye she saw another perform the deed for her. Jasmine's left hand was glowing with white radiance, and she brought it forward and sent a beam of light blasting towards the Axe Fiend's head.

Kairi ducked and slid underneath the light, still moving towards where she'd heard the scream. Getting back on her feet, she stabbed hurriedly at a Thunder Wielder Nobody that had converged on her. Somehow her Keyblade connected with its body while both of its thunder blades missed her. Kairi barrelled through it, pushing the staggering Nobody out of her way, and Plato blasted it in the face with a deluge of fire from his mouth. A nearby Mesmer from Ascalon was confronting a quickly approaching Wild Dog, standing still and appearing to be in the middle of an incantation. Swearing under her breath, Kairi adjusted her course slightly to take her towards the woman, but just before the Wild Dog's pounce would have ended with its teeth snapping into the mesmer's side her eyes snapped open and tongue stopped wagging. Instantly purple light covered the Wild Dog and it dropped like a stone to the ground while wisps of darkness rose off of its body, all of its energy burned away. Almost casually, the woman struck it down with her staff.

Putting away her surprised relief, Kairi hurried onward, and finally came across where the scream she'd heard had originated. Selphie and Olette were both facing against a Scorpionkin, Olette creating a blue-tinted barrier around her and a Selphie who was hissing in pain while the Scorpionkin continued to attempt to cut through the protect spell with its scythes. Kairi dismissed Crowning Flame with a quick flick of her wrist and brought both of her hands up close to one another. Sparks crackled between her fingertips while red flames formed in between her palms. "Flare Ball!" she shouted, hurling the crimson fireball straight for the Scorpionkin. The Heartless was only halfway through turning towards her when her spell exploded on contact with its chitin hide, and completely tore its body away.

Olette dropped her protect spell hesitantly as Kairi approached, and then smiled grimly and nodded when she finally realized that the warrior beneath the horned helmet was indeed Kairi. Plato was almost a dead giveaway. "Selphie!" Kairi shouted, dropping onto her knees while the girl lay on her side. "Gods, are you alright?"

The brunette shuddered a little, her arm cupped against her side. A slash from the scythes of the Scorpionkin had gotten under her shield and sliced into the left side of her abdomen. The breastplate and backplate had both been cut shallowly, and there was a tear in the girl's chainmail that rested underneath the granite grey jacket and wool shirt too. "It's not too bad," Selphie muttered. Kairi gave her a look, and Selphie winced. "Okay, so it doesn't look pretty, but I'll be alright."

"Not without healing," Kairi told her firmly. "Olette, hold them off of us. I'm going to patch you up Selph." Smiling gratefully, her best friend nodded her head while Olette readied herself.

Kairi took in a deep breath and traced her hands in the air in front of her, remembering the few things that weren't related to combat that Crowning Flame had taught her privately. Motes of white and golden light flickered into existence in the air where her fingertips danced until there were a half-dozen of each of them. Spidery threads of light linked them, forming a triangular glyph in the air that bore the image of a bell. "Ring for me, Bell of Amos. Bestow your gift upon mine friend in need."

Even in the chaotic noise of the battle, where stones still crashed to the ground, giant Heartless roared, weapons shrieked, and combatants shouted and screamed Kairi and Selphie could still hear the chiming of the bell. Warm banana-coloured light emanated from the bell and enveloped the wound on Selphie's side. The brunette looked at it in wonder as the skin came back together smoothly and the leaking blood flowed back into her. This was care and healing far different from the tingling, stitching sensation of a cure-derivative spell; this was healing of the light.

It felt magnificent.

Kairi leaned back on her knees, blinked a few times underneath her helmet, and looked back at her friend's side. The clothing and armour was beyond her skill to repair, but the wound on Selphie's side was gone as if never inflicted. "How's it feel?" she asked her patient, smiling unseen.

"It feels great! Thanks a million Kai!" Selphie snatched up her sword and shield.

"Uh, this doesn't look so good girls," Olette said suddenly.

"Why what is—oh shit," Kairi replied.

Five Darksides and a Behemoth were practically right on top of them.

"Well," Selphie sighed and shrugged. "We're fucked. Nice knowing you guys."

"Kairi!" The girl looked up at the call of her name, and smiled.

"Not yet we're not!" she shouted, running towards her doom. Crowning Flame appeared in her hand, the blade burning up and down from hilt to tip. "These Heartless can prepare for trouble."

Sora cut through a Wyvern that tried to intercept him as he dropped to the ground, his wings disappearing as he ended his Drive. The Kingdom Key disappeared in a shimmer of light, while Remembrance became covered in swirling air and sparked with lightnings. "And make it double." He rushed alongside Kairi, both of them charging the closest Darkside while all of the bosses turned their attention to the duo. It raised its fist, but the pair ignored the limb swirling with darkness and instead leapt onto its legs, each of them cutting and slashing as wind, lightning, and fire flickered through the darkness with each strike.

Kairi leapt to the hollow heart in its chest, hacking left and right with her flaming weapon. "To protect the worlds from devastation," she said with a grin, turning slightly to grab Sora's hand as he leapt up. She strained, tightened her grip, and threw him higher.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," Sora continued, reaching the glowing yellow eyes of the giant Heartless. He smirked, and stabbed Remembrance right between them. Lightning and cutting wind splurged from his Keyblade, and blew the Darkside's head into a hundred shreds. He and Kairi both dropped to the ground, facing the four remaining Darksides and the Behemoth with eagerness and excitement overriding anything else.

Bolts of fire streaked out of Crowning Flame wherever Kairi directed it, the youth's movements fluid and graceful while Sora kept pace, hurling spears of wind at her firebolts and flaring them to new size while accelerating them. "To announce the wonders of truth and love," Kairi laughed, hurling firebolt after firebolt at the boss Heartless.

"To extend our reach to the stars above." Their joined elements had the Darksides staggering backwards, trying to protect their precious heads and bodies from the unrelenting assault.

"Kairi."

"Sora."

All four Darksides fell backwards, fading into darkness. Sora spun his Keyblade above his head, urging it to whirl faster and faster until a cyclone of wind had formed around it. Kairi dismissed Crowning Flame and placed her hands close to one another, yet another fireball forming and spinning around in her hands. "Team Keyblade blasts off at the speed of light!" she shouted.

Sora continued to spin his Keyblade above his head. "Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" He ceased spinning his Keyblade and hurled it down, turning the excited air above him into a whirling tornado. Kairi unleashed her held fireball into the tornado, and instead of being snuffed out, grew to ride the entire whirlwind. The entire battlefield was lit by the firestorm tornado; the creation sucked in aerial Heartless from all over, scorching them into ash, while it ripped apart the stone beneath and melted what remained of the snow while advancing on the Behemoth.

The boss Heartless vanished, howling, within the inferno.

Sora and Kairi looked expectantly at Plato while their Inferno Tempest slowly shrank and whirled out of existence, still doing considerable damage to their foes, though. The fire elemental snorted. "_No,_" he rasped to Kairi. "_I'm not saying it._"

"_But you're ruining our Limit Break!"_ Plato merely snorted at Kairi's exclamation.

"Fine," she and Sora both snapped, and promptly leaned back-to-back and crossed their arms, looking smugly at the destruction their Limit had wrought. "That's right."

A hundred metres away, Roxas facepalmed through a grin.

Selphie came up behind both of them and tapped each on the shoulder. "Could you two _not_ act crazy while fighting for once?" she asked, her exasperation lost amidst her laughter.

-A-D-

Nixion turned to Xokor, the remains of the cyclone of fiery death now fully removed from the field of battle. "Send in Nod and the others."

-A-D-

_I changed a couple things up. This is now probably four parts instead of three. With Lady Luck on my side, all of these parts will make it to you this month._

**Translations**

_Leitho i philinn! _(Glorfindel. Sindarin. "Release the arrows!")

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	73. The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 2

_Anybody remember that quote from Anne Lamott I gave you guys way, way back? Well, I'll give it to you again._

"Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it. Nor do they go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff warm-up sentences and then find themselves bounding along like huskies across the snow. One writer I know tells me that he sits down every morning and says to himself nicely, "It's not that you don't have a choice, because you do—you can either type or kill yourself." We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time. Now, Muriel Spark is said to have felt like she was taking dictation from God every morning—sitting there, one supposes, plugged into a Dictaphone, typing away, humming. But this is a very hostile and aggressive position. One might hope for bad things to rain down on a person like this."

_This is somewhat how getting these battle chapters out has been feeling like. It's great writing them when the writing comes, but it's been like pulling teeth._

_Oh, and a little something came out that you all might have heard about…it's nothing really, just a game called KINGDOM HEARTS: DREAM, DROP, DISTANCE! Oh yeah! Totally awesome! Got me pumped and eagerly waiting the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3!_

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 73: The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 2

Neo's eyes widened as he took a look at camera six's monitor. "Uh oh," he muttered. "That's not good. _That's_ not good. Quick, somebody tell the general that Tick Tanks are moving in!"

"What are those?" Ultimo asked, pointing his finger at the screen. Three vehicles were moving out of the canyon behind the tanks, each of them twice as tall and three times as long. They were completely rectangular, and each of them bore a long cannon barrel as long as the whole vehicle and looking to be wide enough for a man to stand inside it, hunched.

"Those certainly don't look good," Jake agreed. They watched as the vehicles came into formation behind the tanks at the base of the cliffs. Suddenly they pivoted around so that the exit of the barrels pointed at the cliffs, and metal arms extended from the sides and bent at their joints to clutch the ground firmly. The long barrels flipped up and pointed into the air, now being directed towards the wall.

Neo gulped. "I think those are artillery. Perhaps we shouldn't show our viewers what's going on on camera five."

Ultimo nodded his head. "Yeah, tell that one to our commentator."

-A-D-

"Say Kairi," Sora made mention, Remembrance slicing downwards through the body of an Armoured Knight that was standing in front of him, "there's something that I forgot to mention to you last night."

"Light, give me power; strengthen my sword," the girl muttered with her back to him. Crowning Flame shone with a pale white glow, and Sora felt Kairi take a step forward and to the right, cutting off the attack of an oncoming Charr Blade Storm with her own sword. The two blades clashed twice more, each meeting heralded by a flash of white light and a retreating step from the much taller Heartless, and Kairi's Keyblade clanged against the Heartless' shield as it was brought up to block. "Yeah, what's that?" she asked.

"I noticed something while I was washing your back," Sora told her, swinging around suddenly and unleashing a blast of lightning from Remembrance's tip. His spell was blocked by the Heartless emblem on the Charr Heartless' helmet, the lightning being sucked in by the emblem which then began to glow. It growled menacingly for a second, and then stopped as Kairi, who had ducked in underneath the larger Heartless' body while it was distracted, stabbed her palely shining Keyblade up through its chin.

A blast of fire went through her blade to char the Charr, just for good measure.

"HA! And what did you notice, baby?"

Sora blushed lightly underneath his helmet and glanced around while the fallen Heartless' faintly glimmering released heart rose into the air above them. A Large Body was charging straight for him, quickly being followed by a trio of Legionnaires marching abreast. "You have the silky smooth back of a goddess."

"Aw, that's very sweet of you Sora," Kairi purred, sizing up the grouping coming towards them.

"Oh, and you have a bit of acne."

"SON OF A BITCH!"

Sora ducked back for a moment, almost sure that his eyebrows were being singed _through_ his helmet and doubly confident that when he next looked none of those four Heartless would be there. He could hear Kairi panting next to him from the exertion, and he didn't look until she spoke again. "Where?"

"The back of your right shoulder," he answered. Predictably, the Heartless had been completely roasted.

"I knew it," she growled. Kairi stamped her foot. "I _knew_ that cream she sold me wasn't working!" Kairi reached into the hip-pouch she was wearing for one of her ethers. Crushing the blue cube against her head, she sighed and shuddered as energy returned to her limbs.

"Ready for another round?" Sora asked her, glancing around. The quagmire of single fights had continued unabated, though now it appeared as though more of their allies were hanging back or ganging up on the Heartless, leaving the very front of the opposition to himself, the princesses, Roxas…

"Deciding Swing!"

…and Ohtarmon.

Kairi glanced at him, and he could tell that she was bringing up a smile underneath that horned helmet of hers. "What? That automail of yours slowing you down? Just try to keep up James."

"You'll be the one left in the dust, Jessie," Sora teased, swinging Remembrance casually in broad arcs in front of him.

"Must you two be so crazy?" Selphie asked, brandishing her sword and shield as she came to stand next to the pair.

"If they weren't, they wouldn't be who they are," Olette replied, now up on Kairi's left.

"Aren't you two in separate companies?" Kairi asked. "What are you doing here together instead of with your own guys?"

"What are you talking about Kairi?" Olette replied, nodding her head. "They're right behind us." A boulder loosed from one of the wall-mounted trebuchets crashed into the earth thirty feet to Sora's left, crunching an Invisible underneath it, and he glanced back for just a second. Several soldiers were disengaging from the fights and coming to their position, Ohtarmon thundering along ahead of them. Sora could even see Tidus and Hayner making bee-lines for them, Tidus flanked by two young women Sora was sure he didn't know.

A silver arrow whizzed past his helmet, and the Keyblade Wielder of Twilight turned around and saw it plunge into the chest of an Assault Rider that was charging, twenty feet away. "What are you doing standing still like that Sora?" Kia huffed, coming up to stand with the gathering soldiers around them. "I thought that you were better than that."

"He is," Mulan put forward, suddenly beside Kairi with Mushu on her shoulder, "he just gets distracted when Kairi's around."

"I'll second that," Jasmine giggled.

"Kid's still has a long way to go until he's worth his salt," Cid teased.

"Hn," Leon agreed. Tifa laughed and cracked her knuckles while Aerith casually checked her staff for dents, Cid ran a whetstone across the tip of his spear, and Vincent reloaded his triple-barreled pistol.

"Ha! Come on you bastards!" Barret roared, pumping his right arm. "Like we're gonna let you fools take out our world again. Ain't that right, Spiky?" He grinned at Sora.

"I don't know Leon," Zack said knowingly, giving Sora and Kairi a backwards glance over his shoulder, "the kids have got some skills."

"Where have you guys been!?" Sora shouted, looking around at the motley crew that had assembled with surprising stealth all around him and Kairi.

"Oh, we've been around," Belle answered, leaning against Beast with the butt end of her halberd resting against the stone.

"You just haven't been paying attention," Aladdin teased.

"I'm sure he would have if all of us had been throwing out giant fire tornados," Prince Phillip added, Aurora nodding her head next to him.

"Seriously," Kairi asked her fellow Princesses of Heart, "where have you all been hiding?"

"Your shadows," Aurora answered simply, holding her simple longsword of light forged in the same style as Phillip's own blade. "But that's not so important now. We've got a lot of Heartless still to fight off, right?"

"And all of you just turned this spot into a feast of tasty hearts," the major commanding Easy Company reminded them.

"Good!" a gruff voice announced. "Then they'll be coming straight for my axe!" Sora looked down at Gimli as the dwarf strode up to him. "Forty-three." Sora just shook his head slowly.

"Sorry Gimli, but I haven't been keeping count. I'm probably over four hundred by now."

The dwarf let out a low whistle before barking a laugh. "Not getting into any scoring contests with you, then."

Boromir's eyes bulged, and he mouthed 'four hundred' incredulously. Sora chuckled slightly at the eager look that replaced his surprised expression, and turned away from the group now surrounding him and Kairi. Two more Darksides were slowly striding forward, flanking the body of another Behemoth, all above what probably amounted to a swarm of Armoured Knights. "You ready for the next wave, Ohtarmon?"

"Never been more ready in my life Sora," the Champion assured him. Sora grinned at his partner digimon, then turned towards the Heartless and charged. Kairi shouted gleefully next to him, her Keyblade flashing out to her side as it shone palely. A great roar went up from behind them as close to two hundred fighters rushed after them, boots stomping on the stone ground and armour clinking as it moved. Sora's eyes involuntarily tracked fireballs and arrows that were hurled over his head at the Heartless they were fast closing with, and a slight grin came unbidden to his face when plenty of the Armoured Knights fell.

But there were still plenty more left for him.

Sora travelled the twelve metres still separating him from the Heartless in the blink of an eye with a quick Flash Step, surprising the first of the Armoured Knights with his sudden appearance. They never even got a moment to react, Sora's long Keyblade arcing out in a broad cleave that hewed three of them down instantly. By that point, Kairi was already next to him, hacking through one's guard with a quick slice of Crowning Flame. Sora smirked through a pair of diagonal slashes that took out an Armoured Knight each and threw his arms out, releasing a burst of energy as he Drove. Suddenly his armour's colouring changed, crimson and black becoming dominant over the previously gold and silver, and the long, serrated Fenrir Keyblade entered Sora's left hand. Heartless staggered back a pace, the explosion of energy more than sufficient to daze them for a moment, and Sora loosened. "Think you can keep up with me Iri?"

A similar pulse of energy nudged him from behind and Sora felt his body shrinking into a tiny ball and whizzing into his girlfriend's backside. He was genuinely surprised for a moment as complete darkness overtook him, and then the world brightened as it came back into focus, except his perspective was suddenly from circling three hundred and sixty degrees centred around Kairi's.

_Whoa,_ he reasoned, _so this is what it must have felt like for everyone else._

_I guess so,_ Kairi's voice sifted into his mind, and he realized that her previously majorly red armour was now bumblebee yellow and black. _How does it feel? I mean, this is our first time doing this._

_It's not as tight in you as I expected,_ Sora answered, consciously realizing that he really had no presence besides a consciousness, his additional energy being used to provide the boost for Kairi to use a Drive that months ago had required him to take in two allies' energies. _Pretty roomy, actually. Did not expect the first time to be like this._

He could hear Kairi's mental giggle at him. _I'm glad you like it and that this little product of our late-night scheming worked. I had wondered what it would feel like, taking you inside of me, but this just feels so good! I can feel your energy flowing through all of my limbs, and the Oathkeeper hovering next to my left hand is begging for release!_

_Then why don't you get started on making the most out of our time together and we can see how many more sex jokes we can make about this? _Sora asked her cheekily. A wave of amused assent came from his girlfriend, and Kairi plunged into their foes, both of her Keyblades ripping and tearing through Heartless like they were only paper before her blows. Fireballs whirled around the armoured girl, blasting Heartless to smithereens, and right when she was in the thick of them all, surrounded on three sides, she raised both of her Keyblades to the sky and shouted, "Gather!"

A swirling vortex of purple, electric blue, and white appeared above the female Keyblade Wielder. Heartless were pulled into her powerful Magnet spell's grip, their feet leaving the ground or sources of aerial propulsion failing to keep them away. At least fifty Armoured Knights were drawn together from all around, joined by a haggard flight of Blast Fliers that had flown down to assault her and Sora's assembled band. Pieces of armour crunched together as their bodies spun around and smashed into one another, almost half of the whole group being destroyed from the pressure alone, until Kairi leapt up into the trap. Crowning Flame and Oathkeeper whirled around as the girl rolled, spun, and flipped in the air, the two white Keyblades sheathing themselves again and again in the darkness that emerged from their fallen foes.

The Magnet spell dispersed, leaving only a column of hearts floating up into the sky and Kairi dropping back to the ground. Her feet had barely been in contact with the ground for a second before the Keyblade Wielder was rolling and jumping back into the swarm of Armoured Knights, both of her Keyblades flashing back and forth in graceful arcs.

_So I was thinking,_ Sora told her.

_Always a dangerous past time of yours._

_Ha, ha. So I was thinking…Roxas and Naminé have gone all the way._

_Uh-huh._

_And Riku and Yuffie have done it._

Kairi's lips formed an evil grin even while her body became a spear that drove through three Armoured Knights that were all spinning around on the ground, trying to hack at her legs. _Are you trying to ask me why we don't just go ahead and de-virginize each other together?_

Sora couldn't help but 'rub' the back of his 'head' sheepishly, even though he was nothing but a heart and soul in symbiosis with his girlfriend at the moment to assist in her badassery._ Well, I didn't really plan on putting it _that_ way, but…_

_Sora, sweetie, please don't tell me that you're giving into peer pressure that doesn't exist._

_You can't tell me that the thought hasn't gone through your head either,_ Sora retorted, not unkindly. Kairi raised Crowning Flame up in her left hand, blocking the slash of an Armoured Knight before having the Oathkeeper stab it through its chest. _You know what we've done and do together. We sleep with each other, we cuddle, we just shared a bath last night. I like it when you do that thing with your tongue and you can't seem to get enough of—_

Kairi's cheeks were flushing now, and she couldn't help herself but stop in her tracks and cross her legs together a little. "Firaga!" she cried out, probably trying to drown out the words Sora was saying in her head with the roar of circling flames bashing and burning Heartless into wispy dark ashes. Sora smirked, knowing that she could feel his smugness at her sudden embarrassment. _Yes, well…we really, aren't in any sort of position to try and get rather intimate, at the moment, now are we? And besides, wouldn't it look bad if we started doing…things…on the battlefield instead of fighting the enemy?_

The thought suddenly occurred to Sora, and if he had a mouth it would have been watering like a lake at the visions he was conjuring up. He mentally shook his non-existent head. _No, I didn't mean like right now. I meant…arrgh! This is frustrating but how can I put it tactfully?_

Kairi couldn't help but giggle, and the way that she'd decapitated an Armoured Knight and then kicked its head into another Heartless to stun it before the head could vanish like she'd kicked a blitzball was also somewhat amusing. _Sora, unless you're insulting me, just go ahead and say it._

_Alright,_ he answered with an aggrieved sigh, _but don't say I didn't warn you. I love and want you, Iri. I think that you're the hottest and most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on and I want to take you and make you mine, all night long until the sun rises._ Sora stopped there, practically biting his tongue to keep out the rest of the stream of words of all of the things he felt like doing with her from escaping his thoughts and entering hers.

Kairi was silent for a moment, though her body still went through every motion of combating her foes, even dropping lightning onto five Heartless' heads.

_Kairi?_

_I-I'm flattered Sora,_ she replied haltingly at last. _It's just…my that was bold of you._

_It was; I'm sorry._

_No, no, don't be sorry. It just took me by surprise a little. I know that we've had a little dirty talk every now and again but that was just a bit surprising because, well, we really haven't done much all _that_ often. If it's any consolation Sora, I want the same thing._

If he had ears at the moment, they would have perked up. _Really?_

Kairi leapt backwards, blasting four Armoured Knights into oblivion with her Flash Arrows. _Really. Thinking of you and the things I wanted you to do to me kept me up at night while you were gone. It's just…you're right, this is hard to say. I just want our first real meaningful time together to be, you know, special._

_I know,_ Sora sighed.

_Wait, I'm not finished,_ Kairi urged. An Armoured Knight almost struck her backside with its blade, but couldn't after it staggered from a blast of flame Plato loosed from his maw. Kairi contemptuously turned around, glared at the Heartless, and stabbed it through its chest. Sora could feel her sudden blush and nervousness as she continued speaking._ How about, when we're done with this battle, and if you're still up for it, and we've been able to get away from prying eyes, I let you…_

Sora's non-existent eyes bulged out of their non-existent sockets and his non-existent tongue instantly began to waggle in an uncontrollably dog-like manner while imaginary saliva pooled and slobbered out of a mouth that wasn't there. _DONE!_

Kairi giggled in reply. _I'm not really surprised, but you know,_ she ventured to tell Sora, _I'm a bit surprised those Darksides and Behemoth haven't tried anything against me yet._

_They have Iri,_ Sora answered, _you've just been enjoying me too much to notice that they're distracted._

_Huh?_

Kairi turned around, momentarily reprieved, and noticed that a hailstorm of arrows and spells were being launched for the heads of the Darksides and the Behemoth's horn. All three large Heartless were stepping back, massive arms held up and a gargantuan head bowed, doing all they could to try and protect their vital regions. Kairi grinned and jumped into the air, and then spun around to take her straight for the closest Darkside's head. The arm batted towards her, and missed as Kairi just barely managed to guide her body over it. Another centimetre and her boot would have been clipped by the Darkside's swing, ruining her entire plan. Kairi brought both of her arms up, one hand grasping at Crowning Flame and the other guiding the magically tethered Oathkeeper. Both blades began to glow dully with yellow-orange light along their lengths.

"Flame Style 30, Vengeful Cleave!"

She hurled both of her arms down as she passed into the path of her allies' fire, slicing into the head of the Darkside in an X pattern. The heated glow of her weapons vanished as her weakened impromptu Flame Style struck uselessly. An arrow stuck itself in her cloak, and a shard of ice shattered against her side before Kairi began her descent. She twirled in the air as she came down hard, slamming into yet another Armoured Knight and cutting it down with her kneecaps buried in its back.

A vicious roar nearly broke Kairi's eardrums apart and the downward slice of a halberd next to her brought Kairi's senses straight back to her surroundings. The Beast tore through three of the Heartless in a single swipe of his claws, and Belle bent down slightly and offered her fellow Princess of Heart a helping hand back to her feet. "Hey, save some for the rest of us, why don't you?"

Sora grinned inside of her as Kairi got back to her feet. _Wow Kairi, I don't think you managed to kill it._

"Give it time," she chided gently, Plato nodding his head next to her helmet.

Flames exploded inside of the Darkside's head. Its yellow eyes burst apart as torrents of fire rushed out of them and the tendrils wrapped around its chin and forming its hair smoked and withered. Purple light formed in the heart-shaped hole in its chest, looking as though the Darkside was trying one last time to send balls of dark energy hurtling towards the beings bearing the strong hearts it craved to devour.

_Wow, that's powerful,_ Sora observed, _but without a chant? How's it that strong without a chant?_

_What does Master Form do for you normally, Sora?_ Kairi reminded him. _It boosts your speed, strength, and the strength of your spells. Me using a Flame Style without a chant in Master Form is the same as me performing the chant normally. The same is true when I'm in Fire Mage Form, because they're _Flame_ Styles._

Sora saw through Kairi's eyes as she turned around, witnessing the fall of the Darkside before it could fire off its final blast. She casually plucked the arrow out from the cape across her shoulders, and then she looked up sharply as a sound and sight came that should not have. Sora couldn't help but gasp along with her.

The Behemoth and second Darkside were going down, explosions striking their bodies from behind. Further bursts of light and heat and sound erupted in the air above them, taking out airborne Heartless that were still creating a slowly thinning blanket.

_Kairi, end the Drive._

"Yeah, I think I will," she agreed cautiously, closing her eyes. Her body emitted a brief sparkle of light and Sora felt his strength and body return to him. The ground crunched wonderfully beneath his metal boots as gravity reasserted itself over his heart, body, and soul. He was still in Valour Form.

"Sora, what's going on?" Beast asked, watching carefully as the giant Heartless collapsed against the ground.

"I'm not sure," he answered, his words partially blocked by an explosion above them as a Wyvern suddenly burst apart, not a single sign apparent for what had caused its death. "RIKU!"

Seconds later, the silver-haired Keyblade Wielder was standing on a pool of golden light above Sora, Dawn hovering in the air next to him on her wings of light and darkness. "I don't know what's causing it," he answered before Sora could even ask, "and Starscream bugged out the moment Asterix took out the second Cruiser. Apparently things were getting too hot for him."

"Riku watch out!" Dawn shouted suddenly, flinging her arms around him and completely shielding his body with her own. Another explosion occurred in the air, right where Riku and Dawn had been standing, and Sora watched as the pair shot towards the ground faster than he could blink. This time, just before the explosion, Sora could have sworn he heard a _thu'um_ sound from behind where the Heartless had fallen.

"What's happening?" Belle asked frantically, quickly cutting down a charging Armoured Knight with her halberd. "Where are those explosions coming from?"

Sora shook his head, and turned it to his right as men screamed as something exploded at their feet and blasted them backwards or into the air. "Tick Tanks!" Kairi shouted, pointing with Crowning Flame. He cursed as he saw a whole line of the vehicles approaching, their main cannons directed straight for their line. Fire spurted from the front of the tanks, and he felt and heard tiny _ping_ noises as bullets struck harmlessly against his armour.

"Shields up!" somebody yelled, and all United Forces members within reach who had one quickly ducked behind them, attempting to protect as much of their bodies as possible from the machine gun fire. A shriek filled the air above them, and Sora turned his gaze skyward to see Soronmon flying in.

"Polar Chill!"

Sora cursed again as he watched her barrage of icicles bounce uselessly against the metal bodies of two of the tanks. Three of the tanks halted, and their barrels began to move in an attempt to target the giant ice eagle. Another barrel boomed and launched a shell towards them.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Kairi shouted, dismissing her Keyblade and tracing a sigil with fingers that flickered as quickly as lightning. A dome of golden light appeared around her, and thankfully the shell struck it instead of anything or anyone else. The dome dropped, and Kairi was down on one knee.

"Kairi!"

"I'm alright Sora," she replied, gently removing his hand from her shoulder after he'd placed it there. "I'm alright, but you'll have to play aggressor this time." Kairi stood. "Belle, Jasmine! Aurora! Naminé! Channel your light through me; I'm going to put a shield up in front of us all."

Jasmine slashed through a pair of Armoured Knights with her glowing scimitar. "Are you sure you can handle that Kairi?"

_Even with our help you might not have enough,_ Naminé added.

"Just trust me!" Kairi shouted back, confident that Naminé would still hear her as she already had. She didn't have to see the affirming nods of her fellow Princesses of Heart; Kairi could already feel them beginning to channel their light at her. Several voices were filling the air with their screams of pain as bullets found their way into bodies in the few places left unshielded.

The light of the Princesses was filling Kairi as it all flowed in warm golden-white currents through the air towards her. Anyone who had a moment's pause of breath to look found himself or herself enraptured at the sight of the lines of pure light that weaved in the air, constantly radiating the warmth of a loving embrace. Kairi muttered, "Sora, go now," and then began to chant in low tones and words that Sora couldn't catch, but understood enough to be Quintessence.

"Ohtarmon," Sora called, "let's go!"

His digimon partner crashed through an Armoured Knight to stand next to him. Silver light was flaring up around Sora. "Right beside you! Let's take them together! Ohtarmon digivolve to…"

His body started to grow, so that instead of eight feet he stood at a towering ten feet tall. Ohtarmon's beak shrunk so that it was now inside of his helmet, which melded slightly to fit the point of his mouth. His armour turned from grey to gold, and his helmet sprouted two small swan-wings pointing up towards the sky. The seven-pointed star of Valour became imprinted in the golden helm's centre. A cape formed around his shoulders and swept down the length of his body, its width encompassing him from the exterior of one leg to the exterior of the other; it was edged three inches deep with golden thread, and the cape's interior was an invigorating red. Light flared in by his left arm and clawed hand, and the digimon grabbed hold of the red tower shield that was forming there. Embossed in the blazing red shield's centre was a silver three-pronged crown, and behind it was the picture of a diving hawk with outstretched talons in white paint. A sword sheathed in red leather with a golden and jewelled hilt appeared strapped to his left hip. Light shone in front of him, and the digimon's right hand came out and grasped at the light, and withdrew from it a long silver lance. He swept it back with a flourish, and his green eyes opened from behind the helm as wind stirred the cape at his back and light shone from behind. "…_MaltaOhtarmon_!"

The twosome charged forward as fast as their legs could carry them, the ranks of Heartless completely gone to the torrent of machinegun fire spewing from the Tick Tanks. Bullets harmlessly went _ping_ against the armour both of them wore, and more cannons blasted shells from their barrels. A shell exploded in the stone not six feet to Sora's right, but already a dozen strides behind the Crown Star Wielder of Twilight. He and MaltaOhtarmon were moving too quickly for the tick tanks to track their movements, and the machinegun fire was just too ineffectual against Sora's magic-infused Keyblade Armour and MaltaOhtarmon's Chrome Digizoid.

But the line of tanks was long, and not all of them needed to be concentrating on their two opponents. Barrels still _boomed_ with loud _thu'um_ sounds and launched shells into the defenders of Radiant Garden, drawing piercing screams or ending them, and forcibly causing hot blood to flow out into the freezing air.

Olette felt her strength wavering as the protega spell she and five other mages of her section were generating was hit twice more by shells from the barraging tanks, and she watched helplessly as a fireball thrown by a pyromancer of the Ascalon Vanguard splashed uselessly against the front of one of the red and black tanks. Suddenly she heard a voice she recognized as Kairi's shout, "Kírië!"

A bright flash of light came from what looked like a star standing somewhere off to Olette's right, the focal point of the light the Princesses of Heart were emitting. A white and gold beam leapt into the sky like lightning, and burst apart with a loud _crack_ a hundred feet up. The shower of light that followed the noise unfurled like a curtain and traversed the sky above Olette's head as fast as a sonic shockwave. Heartless caught above were suddenly vaporized as the curtain rammed through them, and the curtain of golden light fell right to the ground.

Olette glanced around fully, her eyes widening. An explosion struck the curtain not fifty feet in a direct line from her head when looking up at a forty-five degree angle and the curtain of Light didn't waver or buckle in the slightest. Olette looked back and squinted at the brightly shining figure she knew to be Kairi, the girl with her head bowed and hands together as the light of her fellow princesses wrapped and flowed around and through her before heading up into that column that charged her curtain. Kairi had successfully created an umbrella of light that had completely surrounded their vanguard in front of the gate. No Heartless could get through, and it looked as though none of Nod's powerful weapons were able to penetrate the barrier either.

More explosions hit the barrier, but they were at an angle too severe to have been fired from the tick tanks. Olette's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. They couldn't have been caused by any of the aerial Heartless that she'd already seen, could they?

"Nod must have some form of artillery."

Olette jumped at the voice. Standing close by, his eyes up and surveying where she had, was King Mickey with his golden Keyblade in his steady grip.

"Your Majesty?" Olette asked, surprised a slight understatement. Major Akkan and Lady Repsy both approached.

"How are—?"

King Mickey stopped the Major. "All of us are behind the Princesses of Heart's shield or the wall now. Nobody beyond Sora and a few others are past it. Nobody we'd be able to get to in time anyway." Olette could hear the bitter pain in his voice, and lowered her head sadly.

"Forrest!"

"Sir!" Olette replied immediately, hearing Lt. Winters' voice coming from her right. He was some distance away, but she could hear him plain as day.

"We've got wounded and need your magic to help!"

"Right away sir!" she answered, tightening her grip on her staff and rushing towards the officer. Major Akkan nodded his head at King Mickey and commanded Easy Company to gather close from where they'd scattered to.

Lieutenant Colonel Repsy looked down at her monarch. "How many did we—?"

"Most made it out," he answered, "but…" King Mickey's voice shuddered slightly, "Pykes and Coots weren't so lucky." He shook his head and looked up at his knight. King Mickey gave her a half-hearted smile. "Come on; we've got a bit of a breather right now thanks to Kairi and the other Princesses. Let's help out the wounded."

Sora raised his right hand, pointing Remembrance right at the base of the tick tank closest to him. A surge of lightnings surrounded the Keyblade, the white-blue light so bright that Sora could barely look at his own weapon before he unleashed its power at the tank. Bolts connected to the metal plating and wheel wells, the lightning turning the metal golden-red with the intensity of the heat being delivered. More bolts followed, too many to count and too quickly to even attempt a basic one at that. One second the tank had been there, and then two seconds afterwards the lightning had eaten through its armour and ignited the fuel compartment. A muffled burst of sound struck Sora's ears behind his helmet, and the tank's innards suddenly became enveloped in fire that belched black smoke into the air.

The hatch at the top of the tank opened, and men in black body armour emerged, coughing a little and rushing to escape the flames and smoke coming from their burning vehicle. Sora charged forward with his Keyblade beared for only a moment, not even a full second, before stopping. They weren't Heartless or Nobodies. They were people; men made of flesh and blood who had hopes, dreams, and families of their own. They were more or less just like him.

"Shining Lance!"

MaltaOhtarmon plunged his lance into the cold stone ground, and an orb of white light formed above the grip. It broke apart, becoming a dozen pointed shafts of light, and half streaked for one tank while the other six took for another. The arrows of light slammed repeatedly into the tick tanks, slowly drilling holes into them and making their armour resemble Swiss cheese. One of the tanks exploded and turned into a bright fireball before becoming a dully flaming, smoking, hulk.

Horror filled Sora, watching as the men who'd evacuated the tank he'd fried still coughed up from the smoke and hearing the screams of one man who was trying to get out of the top hatch of the tick tank that had just burst aflame; the man's legs were on fire. He shoved his helmet off and dropped to the ground beside his tank and began rolling left and right, trying to smother the flames.

Sora Flash-Stepped directly beside the man and lowered his hand. "Here, let me help you."

The Nod soldier shouted in surprise and drew his sidearm, leveling it at Sora's head.

Time slowed down to a crawl as Sora nearly crossed his eyes, peering down at the barrel of the pistol pointed squarely at the space between his eyes. In the blurry distance he could see the soldier's eyes, filled with pain and anger. Everything was moving at one-tenth the speed it should be moving at; even the sounds were distorted in Sora's ears. All of Sora's attention was directed towards the gun pointed at his face, and the slowly curling trigger finger of the man who held it.

Sora did not think about what came next. He was barely aware of his own actions as pure instinct overcame him. All he could recall of the next second was the very loud _BANG_ sounding in his right ear and the feeling of slight resistance as his right arm shoved forward. It was only when he realized that Remembrance felt heavier than he recalled that he understood what he'd done.

Remembrance now lay embedded in the chest of the man who had just tried to kill him, a pool of hot red liquid forming beneath the man and lining the silver metal of Remembrance. The soldier's eyes had gone blank and he wasn't moving anymore, even as small flames still burned at his legs.

-A-D-

The golden barrier wavered slightly as Kairi's concentration lapsed. A stinging dart had just struck her heart as she realized that something terrible had just happened to Sora.

-A-D-

_So that's the end of this part, now I have an announcement to make. I had originally intended to keep one a secret for a while, but here we go._

_Some, (okay, a bit more than some) of my time has been taken up by a second, non-AoD related fic that I've been writing. A few of you may know it and have even started reading AoD because of it. This fic is called **Guardians of Magic** and is over on a little site called FIMfiction dot net. It's a major crossover between Kingdom Hearts and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Shire Folk style. Yes, I am a Brony, so you can take that at face value and figure out what this may or may not mean for **The Annals of Darkness** in the future. Squeal/run away if it so pleases you. I have also begun to post **GoM** up here as well._

_Now I am open to your thoughts/opinions/comments/queries/suggestions as always, and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the remainder of **Light's Growth**._

_And Twilight Sparkle is best pony!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	74. The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 3

_Disclaimer: If you think I own Kingdom Hearts, go kiss an orc. If you think I should own Kingdom Hearts, French kiss it. I'd never be able to get the rights to everything I'd want to cross it over with._

-A-D-

**The War**

Chapter 74: The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 3

_0951hrs, December 7th, 2003_

Riku blinked his way back to conscious awareness, momentarily alert only to the coolness in his body and the dull ache in his back and head. A second later everything came back to him, and he sat up straight and grasped the hilt of Way to the Dawn.

"Glad to see you're awake again," Dawn's voice came to his ears. He glanced at the spirit of his Keyblade, Dawn currently whirling her staff around in a circle in front of her to deflect the bullets of an Aeroplane Heartless that was attempting to strafe them. The Heartless flew past, and Riku's left hand became enveloped in golden and black light. He fired one of his trademark Rays off at the Aeroplane, and didn't bother to watch it obliterate the Heartless in a golden blast; there simply wasn't the time.

"What hit us?" he asked, leaping up next to her and running Way to the Dawn through a lunging Neoshadow.

"They've got tanks," Dawn answered simply.

"Oh," Riku replied through gritted teeth, "well that explains the pounding in my head." A sudden sharp pain stabbed at his heart, and Riku turned his head as he heard a loud _thu'um_ sound followed almost immediately by an explosion against a very large nearby veil of golden light. The barrier wavered a little, but then came back strongly. Riku barely noticed, instead feeling only fear from what he'd just understood in his heart.

"Sora's in trouble," he announced. "C'mon! Let's go!"

"Right!"

Still more Heartless were in front of them, separating the pair from the Tick Tanks Riku knew Sora was near. Golden light flowed from his right hand as he gripped Way to the Dawn, and enveloped his Keyblade to give it spikes and considerably lengthen it. He reached at the cross-guard with his left hand, and with a mighty roar of, "Sunblade!" he yanked a chord of orange light away. The light of Dawn moved with a blur as the Keyblade began to vibrate in his grasp, emitting a roaring sound of its own that set the hairs on the back to Riku's neck to tingling.

His chainsaw of Dawn ensnared the falling sword of an Invisible, and cut through it like it was made of butter. A further slice of his Keyblade that left trails of golden light in its wake cut the larger Heartless in two. Riku felt Dawn return to his body as he advanced, hewing Heartless down in the wake of his elongated and roaring Keyblade. A Legionnaire stabbed at him with a spear, and Riku met the stab with one from Way to the Dawn. His Sunblade chopped the spear to pieces as the two weapons met, and he drove his Keyblade through the Heartless' armour and body until it was sticking out the other side. The Heartless burst apart, leaving only a pink heart to light his face along with the brightly glowing Keyblade, and Riku kept moving.

An explosive force struck his back, sending Riku stumbling forward a few feet even though he felt as though he'd simply been shoved, and he looked over his shoulder. Eyes widening slightly, Riku rolled to his right, just avoiding the other three suicidal Blast Flyers that had attempted to join the first in bombing him with their bodies. They swerved, just missing the rocky ground, and came for Riku in a straight line from the front. Smirking, Riku threw his Keyblade in a glowing Sunblade Raid, Way to the Dawn roaring through the air as it sawed through the three Heartless effortlessly, and then took off the head of a Neoshadow standing behind them.

Riku wasted no time, rushing forward and summoning his Keyblade back to his hand while they faded. Eight more shells had struck against the barrier of golden light in the time he'd taken already. His breath left his mouth in a hot cloud in the chill, and he wondered why the grey sky hadn't lightened much yet. Surely the sun should have risen by now, even with the official start of winter still two weeks away. Loud howls reached Riku's ears, and for the moment he paused in sudden anxiety. He hadn't seen the Worg Heartless Kairi had described encountering in Prince Alain's Castle, but he could tell that the four-foot tall light-purple wolves with the Heartless emblem running up their snouts and needle-like fur were more than likely them.

And now at least twenty of the creatures were bearing down on him from the north, rapidly.

"Dammit!" he shouted. "I don't have time to waste on you!" The lead Worg was almost upon him by the time he finished his exclamation, and Riku ducked underneath the leaping figure, slashing up at its belly, and missing his mark. The better portion of the Heartless' tail dropped to the ground, roughly severed by the Sunblade, before melting into darkness. Riku quickly raised his left hand, firing a Ray of Dawn into the second Worg. It blasted the Heartless in the side of the cheek in a golden explosion of light, turning the Worg aside with a smoking hole in its head before it vanished in a cloud of darkness. Riku cried out as the third Worg got to him, the creature's body dropping him to the ground as it collided with him. Riku swung Way to the Dawn desperately, and the Heartless scampered off of him as his still violently vibrating Keyblade cut into its flank. Another dropped onto him before he could rise, the Worg crashing into him with its backside and prickly pelt forward.

Riku winced as the needle-like strands of fur got between his mail rings, punctured the padded shirt beneath, and pricked blood from his chest in over a dozen places before he felt Dawn pushing them back out from within. _Sorry,_ he heard her apologize. _I didn't think that they'd get through._

_Neither did I,_ he replied, swinging Way to the Dawn as best as he could. He yelped in surprise as he felt his right arm get crushed underneath another Worg, and then felt intense pressure midway up his left forearm as another Heartless bit down on his armoured arm. Teeth tried to crunch through the steel and pierce the flesh beneath, and suddenly Way to the Dawn was out of Riku's grasp and the roaring of the Sunblade gone with the swipe of a claw against his hand.

_DAMMIT!_ Riku screamed, feeling true fear for the first time this morning. He gasped in pain as another pair of jaws clamped down, this time on his right thigh, and this time they did draw blood as they tore against his pants. A Worg's head appeared in front of his eyes, upside down. It was the first; the one he'd cut the tail from.

_Riku now!_ Dawn begged. _We won't last if you don't unleash me now!_

_Sis is right, do it!_

_If I do, I might not make it to Sora in time!_

The Worg's teeth curled into a wicked smile, and the one that had latched onto his leg started ripping with its teeth. The motion barely got anywhere, Dawn hastening to bolster the defence of that part of Riku's body as much as she could from within, but it still made Riku see spots from the pain it inflicted.

_Fuck it, Riku! You're not dying on us right now! Your friends need you to live!_

Way to the Dawn appeared in his hand again in a flash, and Riku bellowed through the pain, "Protect everyone, Adamasimilis Virgini!" Way to the Dawn flared brightly with orange light, pushing back the Worg Heartless directly on Riku and forcing them to make a ring around him, all of their heads bowed against the painful light. The light flooded over Riku's body, slowly crystallizing him from his heart outward. Within seconds he had become an orange-gold citrine golem, the tears in his body completely healed and replaced with crystal. Way to the Dawn had exchanged its mostly-demonic look for the precious one of Heaven's Jewel; the guard being composed of curved columns of spiked diamond, glittering with rubies on the inside, and the blade that left this hilt of jewels a simple grey rod ending in a blunted citrine gemstone, though the key-tip was two small angel wings forming the shape of a heart. Riku's hand gripped a blue handle, and the keychain that dangled from it was a radiating sun.

Riku returned to his feet, feeling stronger and sturdier than ever before. The Worgs rushed at him again, but this time the needles that made their pelts shattered against his chest and the battering felt as though tiny insects were attempting to knock him over instead of large wolves. Riku swung Heaven's Jewel in a broad arc, and sent two of the Worgs flying backwards through the air with deep wounds in their sides from the key-tip of orange quartz. Darkness leaked out from the wounded Heartless, and the entire pack renewed their assault.

_It's futile,_ thought Riku, swinging Heaven's Jewel once more and starting to walk towards the place where he _knew_ Sora was. Three hearts rose into the dark sky behind him. Riku plunged Heaven's Jewel into the ground, and a second later, jagged formations of orange crystal emerged from the earth, growing with lightning speed and glistening in the magelight still hovering close to Riku's shoulder. The Worgs stopped in their movements, finding that being completely impaled by sharp crystal spines constituted a total detriment to their agility.

"Riku!"

He turned his head at the voice, continuing to slowly move towards Sora's location. Yuffie was flying above him, still in her Nightbringer Form. "You alright, Riku?"

"I'm fine," he answered, "but can you tell what's gone on with Sora?"

"I don't—WHOA!" she shouted, swerving out of the way just before a round fired from one of the tick tanks would have struck her in her side. She weaved around erratically, continuing her explanation in a hurried rush. "I don't know! He and MaltaOhtarmon are pinned down by the tanks and I can't get close, but it doesn't look like Sora's doing anything!"

_Sora's not doing anything? There are Heartless all over the place and he's not doing anything!? That cannot be good._ "Is he hurt?" Riku asked, trying to hurry.

"I coul—" she stopped mid-word, turning into a flock of bats just before a shell could strike her. Her bats scattered, letting the shell fly harmlessly through the space she had occupied, and reformed into her body a few seconds later. "—dn't get a good look. There was smoke and fire, and his digimon was blocking him."

"Go get Roxas or Asterix!" Riku ordered. "We'll all see what's wrong and get into the barrier." Yuffie nodded wordlessly and flew away.

Riku trudged forward, violently punching an Air Soldier that got too close to him without even turning, all the while praying silently that whatever had befallen Sora, they would make it in time to save him.

-A-D-

Yuffie dove desperately, avoiding a missile she noticed at the last second. A motorcycle, a _motorcycle_, had just fired a rocket at her! This place was getting too dangerous too fast. She needed to find Roxas or Asterix, and then figure out what the hell was going on with Sora.

The barrier shuddered again as another round of shells struck it. The golden light continued to waver for another couple of seconds before returning to its former brightness and solidity. Yuffie had an idea as to what was generating it, and she was really glad that it was there, even if from her vantage point she could see that the rest of the wall was under light attack.

She ceased her forward momentum and swerved backward a little, making way for the Wyvern that had come her way. It raked at her front with the claws on its hind legs, just missing as a further flap of Yuffie's wings increased the distance between them. Yuffie's reach, however, was longer, and she cut down at the Heartless' left wing with Flower of Wutai. She missed the bone at the top, but ripped a good part of the webbing out. The Wyvern wobbled, trying to maintain altitude and putting attack lower on its priority list. Yuffie capitalized on the opportunity she had created, and this time successfully severed the Wyvern's left wing from its body. Darkness leaked from the wound and it shrieked while its flight degraded into a doomed spiral.

Fear hit her hard as bullets flew right in front of her nose, so close that her eyes almost saw them rush past and she could smell the hot trail they left in their wake. Survival being a key factor, Yuffie quickly split apart into hundreds of tiny bats. She descended upon them, a wave of dark-furred winged rodents of the night. A very different fear from the one she had experienced filled Nod's light infantry, and they scattered before the dark cloud of bats. No amount of terrorist or military training could have prepared them for something like this. Yuffie laughed from a hundred different mouths, and directed the horde she was made of to scatter.

Find Roxas or Asterix? Why not both?

-A-D-

Fortunately for Yuffie, the last two Keyblade Wielders outside of the barrier being projected by the Princesses of Heart were together on the ground, Asterix fully covered in his own set of magic plate while Roxas fought alongside in his Acolyte chain and Obelix fought as he always did. The Oblivion and Twilight Thorn twirled in Roxas' hands, hewing into Heartless left and right, while the much shorter Crazy Gaul darted from target to target, never stopping in his movements. Obelix brawled, smashing and 'punishing' the crazy Heartless with his massive fists and superhuman strength.

The Indomitable proved it was indomitable in Asterix's hands. A Charr Blade Storm Heartless was the Gaul's current opponent, and Asterix was almost casually putting it through its paces. Once, twice, three times their swords met, the Heartless trying to crush the tiny Gaul with what it assumed was its superior strength granted its massive seven-point-five foot frame. Asterix responded with blows from his Keyblade made through simple flicks of his wrist. The Charr's sword fell again, and missed as the Gaulish Keyblade Wielder zipped to the side. Chunks of blue rock puffed into the air as the sword chipped into the ground where Asterix had stood, and suddenly Asterix was now on the sword and leaping up at the Heartless. He slashed from left to right with the Indomitable, his sword unfortunately getting intercepted by the Heartless' round shield. The Blade Storm shoved out its shield, pushing back at Asterix. The Gaul responded differently, hopping onto the rim of the shield and momentarily using it as a stable platform for his next attack. The Indomitable found the Blade Storm's neck with little difficulty, and the Heartless dropped to the ground before bursting into a cloud of darkness lit by its released heart.

Obelix, meanwhile, had a Large Body in his grasp by its leg, and was fully utilizing its armoured belly to bash back the swarms that were around him. He was giggling like mad, enjoying watching a small platoon of Legionnaire Heartless crash apart like when he did this with _real_ Romans! The only difference was that real Roman soldiers didn't vanish after he'd hit them. They did get rather colourful though. It was too bad that these Heartless didn't bruise.

Roxas ducked underneath a trio of fireballs, conjured into the air and fired at him from a floating Bookmaster. He ran forward, and the Bookmaster frantically flipped through pages in his massive spellbook, searching for that which it wanted. Finding it, the Heartless' hands quickly began going through the motions of spellcasting. A large chunk of ice appeared in the air just in front of it, and the Heartless dropped its hand. The chunk of ice began to fall, right into Roxas' path.

Recognizing the imminent danger but disregarding it, Roxas dropped onto the ground and slid on the frozen rock, dismissing his Keyblades and bending backwards until a lesser person's muscles would have snapped from being too inflexible. His eyes chilled as they became filled with a vision of crystal cold for just a moment, and then the ground shuddered just behind his head as the ice touched down. The Bookmaster was directly above him, and Roxas summoned his Keyblades back into his hands and stabbed upwards. The swords shredded the magical tome, and Roxas scrambled to his feet, hacking away at the body of the Heartless magician. The Heartless body was suddenly surrounded by motes of blue light, and Roxas watched in fascinated disgust as the wounds he'd just inflicted healed and its tome was repaired. Pages flipped with a wave of the Heartless' hand, and another fireball formed in front of the Heartless as it floated backwards.

A Wild Dog suddenly raced in underneath the Bookmaster and tackled Roxas to the ground, snarling and snapping its jaws while Roxas fought to keep its teeth away from his head. He could feel its putrid breath on his face and couldn't help but inhale the stench. Both Keyblades were out of his hands and around the Heartless' muzzle. He could feel the skin of his fingers give way and leak droplets of blood onto his face.

The squeaks of many bats drowned out the noise of the much closer Heartless, and suddenly the Wild Dog ceased movement and became wisps. Yuffie hissed in pain and her torso lurched forward as she stood over Roxas, the Bookmaster's fireball slamming into her armoured back. Her left hand left Roxas' sight as she furled her wings against her body and whirled around faster than Roxas had figured would be possible. She let three kunai fly from between knuckles, and each one found their mark in the Bookmaster's body. Disappearing in a puff of black smoke, Yuffie reappeared right behind the Bookmaster with wings outspread and red eyes glowing. The darkness around them seemed a little darker now, and Yuffie's eyes a little brighter. The Bookmaster didn't even have time to turn around before Flower of Wutai had run it through, and Yuffie yanked her Keyblade out of its vanishing body. She raised her weapon to the air, and smoke-grey shadows coalesced around it, hiding the Keyblade from view. Yuffie whirled around again, shouting, "Shadow Lance!" and hurled the Keyblade towards the Charr Overseer that had healed the Bookmaster Roxas had previously injured. Her Keyblade pierced the tall Heartless through the head, and the Overseer and its staff collapsed to the ground before both vanished in clouds of darkness.

Yuffie sauntered quickly over the Roxas and offered her hand with a smile. "C'mon, get up Mr. Knight of Disney Castle. Can't have you sleeping on the job."

Roxas took her hand and got to his feet. He wiped his hands of the blood leaking from them onto his pants. "I had it handled," he insisted. "I was two seconds away from taking them out."

"Suuure," Yuffie answered. Flower of Wutai flared with black light. "Nightmare Fury." She twisted around and plunged her Keyblade into the stone beneath her feet. Shadows surged on the ground from her Keyblade, Roxas only really able to see them thanks to the bauble of light hovering near his shoulder, and stopped underneath the shadows of the ring of Heartless that surrounded their small group.

Asterix and Obelix turned to look at Yuffie while her six-foot-thick arms of Night held reinforcements at bay. "Yuffie, glad to see you," Asterix said, coming towards her. She did a momentary double-take, having never seen him encased head-to-toe in the bronze and silver armour similar in style to Sora's and Kairi's, and then shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"Something's up with Sora, isn't there?" Roxas asked her, giving the ninja a knowing look. He'd felt it in his heart, same as she and the others had. Yuffie glumly nodded her head.

"Yes, but we don't know what," she answered. "All I know was when I did a fly-by after I felt it, he wasn't moving and MaltaOhtarmon appeared to be guarding him."

"Where is he?" Asterix asked.

"By Nod's tanks; close to the Princesses' shield," she answered. Asterix's armour became surrounded by a faint white nimbus, and his body floated into the air. He grasped Obelix's hand, enveloping his large friend in the same light.

"Hold on and don't panic," he told Obelix, who nodded his head gleefully at the prospect of flying. Yuffie looked at Roxas, and grabbed hold of him before he could protest. Given the situation, however, that wasn't very likely. The two who could fly took into the sky, heading south through the air, with a ballista bolt whipping past them.

-A-D-

MaltaOhtarmon shouted in pain as he crouched close to his partner, a shell having just struck his great red tower shield. Four Tick Tanks had surrounded them in a half-shell, with him and Sora backed against the burning relic of the tank Sora had destroyed, and each of the tanks had ground its rear half into the earth to act as makeshift defensive cannon emplacements. Each had its main cannon aimed at the pair, and MaltaOhtarmon was frantically moving back and forth, attempting to defend Sora with his shield and armour.

"Sora, come on!" he shouted, scuttling forward and shifting the focus of his shield to the tank on the right. "We need to get out of here or fight back!"

Sora made no response, the digidestined continuing to stare emptily at the treads of the tank he'd torched.

A shell blasted into the hatch of the tank that was protecting their rear, making the vehicle slide twenty feet backwards and flip onto its side with a violent screech. Sparks showered over MaltaOhtarmon and Sora, and even more flames surged from within as another muffled explosion came from inside the burning tank.

Sora still didn't move; he didn't so much as flinch.

"Sora we have to go!" MaltaOhtarmon shouted. "What are you doing? It's too dangerous here!"

Another cannon barrel went _thu'um_ as fire and a shell spewed out of it. The shell struck the Ultimate's shield, and MaltaOhtarmon's left arm went wide as he lost his tight grip on it. The severely dented tower shield clattered to the rocky ground, a good fifteen feet away, and slid even further. MaltaOhtarmon took up his lance and quickly raised its point to the sky, whereupon he stabbed it into the earth shouting, "Shining Lance!" An orb of white light formed above the grip. It turned into a dozen arrows, and each of them traced paths in arcs towards the Tick Tank on the middle-right that had just fired. The light peppered and smashed at the underbelly of the vehicle, cutting through it by the seventh arrow. On the final strike something within exploded, and the top quarter shot into the air with the cannon spinning around and around.

Another cannon fired at him, striking MaltaOhtarmon right in his gold-enameled breastplate. He howled in agony as the pain thundered through his chest, his armour now dented against his torso and blackened. Another shell struck him, and the Ultimate's lance was left in the ground while he briefly regained the ability to fly. The underside of the flaming Tick Tank removed that ability, and MaltaOhtarmon dropped to the ground.

Wincing in extreme pain, MaltaOhtarmon looked up and stretched out a hand towards Sora, who hadn't moved even with his exclamation. His voice came to him, strained, and only able to generate a whisper. "Sora, please get out of here." What strength he had left ebbed from his arm, forcing his hand and head back down to the cold, hard, ground. Golden light covered his body, and a moment later Ninquemon was peering helplessly at his partner through bright green eyes.

Three turrets trained their guns at the motionless Keyblade Master. Sora's hair waved in the slight breeze that was blowing. The chill wind nipped at his nose and cheeks, and ice crystals were forming on his eyelashes. His breath exited his mouth in visible clouds. The light from the hovering orb by his shoulder lit up his cheek and glanced off of his armour, giving the cold metal an almost ethereal shine about it. Nothing bothered Sora; nothing caused him to move even the slightest.

He didn't even seem to be aware of the existence of anything at all, not even himself or his imminent death.

-A-D-

Far away from the battle, but hardly removed from it, a tall woman in a blue breastplate over a periwinkle blue dress, with a blue owl perched upon her shoulder, watched a pool of water held in a pillar of cloud closely. The water didn't reflect her own image and the golden sky above, but instead showed the battle unfolding in Radiant Garden, and particularly it revealed Sora's kneeling catatonic form.

Athena turned away from the scrying pool, becoming a whirlwind as she transformed into a Little Owl, barely thirty centimetres tall, and she quickly flew away from the pool. She rose as she flapped her tiny wings, reaching a throne made of clouds where Zeus was sitting within seconds of her transformation. Her body morphed again, switching from owl to goddess within a half second. "Father let me go down there!" she demanded.

Zeus sighed with reluctance. "Athena…"

"They are in peril, father," she insisted firmly. "If the Wielders fall, Maleficent will cover not just their worlds but all of them in darkness. She will march on Olympus."

Zeus still showed his hesitancy to deny her in his voice and words. "Athena my daughter, the people of Destiny Islands are under your uncle Poseidon's charge."

Athena stomped her sandal on the cloud floor in anger. "I do not see him here, father!" she spat. "I do not see him watching history being carved in blood once more. The boy, Roxas, does not even acknowledge him, with his idol to Bastet of the Lower Kingdom in Egypt. What's more…" her voice softened, and she turned back slightly towards the scrying pool. "The girl, Kairi, she prayed to me, father. She prayed to keep him safe. She is seeking faith and my favour, father, and I wish to give it to her and her friends."

The King of the Gods of Olympus smiled at his eldest daughter. It was in moments like from his children, especially from Athena, that he prided himself the most. "You care for them," he spoke.

"You do as well," Athena answered with a smile of her own. "You favour Sora, do you not?" Zeus nodded his head.

"That I do," he told her, rising from his throne. He slowly strode towards his daughter, his face one of tender support. "However, I do not think we need intervene just yet. Let us watch a little more, Athena, and see what we will see."

"But father—!"

"Hush, child, and watch."

-A-D-

"Eternal Buckler of the Dawn!"

Riku barely made it in time, reaching Sora just before the cannons fired. Heaven's Jewel transformed with his shout, becoming the massive shield he'd held but once before. The shield was thick, and no matter what colour it appeared at the time to the onlooker there were clear designs upon it with a ring of crystal scarlet spikes that fanned out like the rays of the Sun set around the furthest protrusion, which was that of a woman's face. The shield gouged a massive rent in the earth in front of Riku, expelling rocks and dirt in wide arcs to the sides of the shield. All three cannons fired their ordinance, and the shells pounded against Riku's defence. The explosive attack didn't so much as scratch or leave a scorch mark against his shield, and Riku could barely feel the vibrations from the impact. When he compared it to Renji and Hihiō Zabimaru's Hikōtsu Taihō, the three Tick Tanks' attack felt like nothing at all.

"Sora what's wrong?" he shouted, looking back at his friend. Sora was just as Yuffie had said, completely unmoving and oblivious to the world. Ninquemon was crawling his way over to his partner's side. "Come on Sora, talk to me! What's wrong!?" His shield vibrated as more shells pounded into it. "Give me something to work with, Sora, or you're going to get killed!"

Sora whispered something in a low murmur.

Riku spoke again, glad that his best friend was responding in some way and so allowing a bit of calm patience into his voice. "Okay, what was that Sora? I couldn't hear you."

The brunet became mute once more.

"Dammit," Riku hissed under his breath, feeling his shield shudder again under additional hits. This was only the second time he'd ever used it, and it left him with no weapon to use besides energy attacks, but he had no way of knowing how much power he'd be able to put into those, given how defence-focused his Shikai was. He didn't even know how long he'd be able to keep his shield out in order to protect Sora. "Come on Yuffie. I need you now."

"Shadow Lance!"

He couldn't see it, but it sounded as though a god had answered him with Yuffie's voice. Asterix dropped down behind him, and immediately went to Sora. "What happened?" he asked Riku, the silver-haired Wielder staring for a second at his appearance. Riku tried to ignore the muffled sound of explosions and Yuffie, Roxas, and Obelix fighting the transformed Tick Tanks.

"I don't—" Riku ceased answering as Ninquemon reached Sora's side.

"Sora, tell us what's wrong," the In-Training digimon pleaded.

Asterix shook his head. "Not now, not here," he said. He raised his voice to be heard by the others on the opposite side of the shield. "Pack up! We're getting behind the barrier!" Asterix grabbed Sora, Ninquemon, and took hold of Riku. Riku's Eternal Buckler shrunk and morphed back into Heaven's Jewel, and he and all those that Asterix had hold of became surrounded by the same faint white light that came from Asterix's armour. The tanks that had been assaulting them were smoking hulks, and Asterix quickly flew over for Obelix to grab onto his foot. Yuffie picked up Roxas, and they all flew back towards the domed curtain of light.

"Behind us!" Riku shouted, watching as what looked like a hundred Blast Fliers started to swarm towards them. Tiny yellow bolts of energy streamed from the oncoming Heartless, lighting up the area of the sky Riku was looking at like the sun had finally risen.

"Polar Chill!"

Riku looked up, and watched as Soronmon let loose a barrage of icicles directly into the path of the oncoming lasers. The tiny bolts of yellow light struck against the ice, cracking some, but mostly bouncing off and streaking in all directions, effectively nullifying the attack while the icicles continued on their downward path to stab and skewer a score of Heartless.

The barrier was in front of them now, and Soronmon shrieked and banked, wheeling around to join them. Asterix landed, and he led the way into the veil of light. It was a strange sensation, Riku noted, like submerging his hand and then his whole body into a vat of warm pudding, but coming out clean on the other end.

Soronmon entered last, shaking her ruffled feathers and shuddering for a moment, probably at the experience of crossing the barrier. Riku slowly plodded past a line of Samurai stationed only a few metres away from the edge of the guardian spell, turning and looking back at the throngs of Maleficent's horde massing just outside while eight Samurai appeared in swirls of silver and escorted them in further. Now all that remained of their vanguard stood behind the veil.

The Heartless were pulling back, retreating from the wall and their barrier. What remained of Nod's Tick Tanks formed a semi-circle perimeter around the front of their barrier, and continued to bombard it. Motorcycles like the one that had fired at Yuffie dotted the line between them, while infantrymen crouched in front, armed with machine guns or shoulder-held rocket launchers. They opened fire as well, but every projectile launched crashed uselessly into the Princesses' veil.

_How long will this reprieve last?_ Riku thought.

-A-D-

Xokor strode up to Nixion, something that one might consider a smile on his face as he approached his commander. It wasn't necessarily something that one would think he would be displaying, considering that their initial attack had failed in wiping out those who were holding the gate against them, and Nod's tanks had proved ineffectual in destroying the wall too.

"Report," Nixion growled.

"A few thousand losses, roughly two percent attributed to their mines and pit traps, with another fifty-seven percent to the Keyblade Wielders and probable seven percent to that golden shield they've erected in front of the gate. Boss-level Heartless numbers have been decreased by an estimated eight percent. Enemy resistance was initially light, but is very heavily concentrated around the gate and all along the wall." Xokor replied emotionlessly. "The wall is also impervious to attack. Ancient magic appears to have been protecting it for many years, and it has been recently fortified. The Brotherhood's artillery and tank rounds have been turned away by an invisible barrier, and the defenders manning it are relentless and deadly. All attack by airborne Heartless has been repulsed, with minimal damage inflicted to the defenders."

"And Starscream?"

"Briefly engaged with the Wielders Riku and Yuffie, whom he had encountered before, Sora, and attacked enemy ground forces, but retreated when another Wielder in armour became airborne and destroyed the Cruisers."

Nixion scoffed. "Useless Decepticon. I wonder why he even joined our Dark Queen in the first place if he simply runs." He turned slightly, looking towards the golden barrier of light from his vantage point on the cliffs. Beneath him, Nod's artillery continued to fire at it, but the barrier did not fall even while explosions occurred all over its face. "What of that barrier?"

"It's an energy shield, being projected by the Princess Kairi and powered by her fellow Princesses of Heart. Heartless are vanquished the moment they come in contact with it and weapons of all types strike uselessly against it. However, it appears as though slower-moving physical objects, such as people, can walk right through it without risking harm."

"Good," Nixion answered. "The orcs have been getting impatient."

-A-D-

Kairi gave a start as Roxas and the others came into view, leading a very drained-looking Sora. His face was almost as white as snow, and he stumbled on more than half of his steps. People muttered to themselves as he went past, worried whispers flowing through the ranks like lightning. He said nothing, looked at nothing, and Kairi was mostly confident that moving was a mechanical action, happening only because he was being led forward. If he wasn't, she was sure that Sora would simply have collapsed and stared at the ground in front of him.

The pit in her stomach deepened when she saw that it was Ninquemon in his arms, looking battered and dead-tired. Ninquemon, when just twenty minutes ago he'd digivolved to MaltaOhtarmon.

What in the name of Athena had happened out there?

She almost started to take a step forward when Alcezeran's voice spoke to her. _No! Keep concentrating. This barrier protecting us all is your spell. If you lapse in your concentration, it will falter and collapse. Your friends will assist Cosmos' Chosen._ Grudgingly swallowing and nodding, Kairi forced away thoughts of Sora.

However, they hadn't gotten far away from Kairi when King Mickey found them, still very much within earshot of her. "What happened!?" he asked in alarm, seeing Sora's pale complexion. Mickey darted right to them as they set Sora down.

A fluttering of wings was the only warning Kairi had before a light weight dropped onto her shoulder. "I don't know what happened to him," Menelmon informed her partner, "but I would like to find out."

Kairi sobbed. It felt like Sora was broken; how he still hadn't responded to any sort of plea for answer. She couldn't bear the stress right now, not bear it and maintain her shielding spell. "Menelmon, get them away from here, please. I can't handle this right now."

Menelmon nearly dropped from her perch in shock. "But Kairi—"

"Menelmon, _please_!"

Giving her partner a sad sigh, Menelmon agreed and fluttered off. Kairi turned her back to the group, forcing herself to look back towards the north. She couldn't see her foes clearly anymore, as she and the other Princesses of Heart had been able to expand the borders of her veil since they'd first enacted it, but she could feel their assault continuing.

"Can anyone do something about that artillery?" she asked loudly.

Close to Jasmine, Aladdin heard Kairi's question, and an idea popped into his head. "Genie!"

"Present!"

Turning to the big blue guy, Aladdin posed the same question as Kairi. Genie saluted. "One artillery battery going down, down, down. Up, up, up, and away I go!" He spiralled up and out through the barrier, vanishing in a blast of blue sparks and purple smoke.

-A-D-

_1047hrs_

Glorfindel turned as a porter came up onto the wall, three large baskets bursting with arrows strapped to his body. The tall Elven lord nodded his head at the man. "Our thanks."

"Not a problem at all," said the porter, laying down the baskets he had strapped to him. He sniffed, breath exiting in a plume of mist. "They're probably not as good as the ones you had with you when you came; never seen arrows quite as good as yours, I haven't, but they'll probably do for you."

Glorfindel picked one up as the rest of his company came over to refill their quivers. His fingers traced lightly over the wood, ghosted over the head, and he thumbed the fletching. Nodding in satisfaction, he told the porter, "That they will," and swiftly twirled the arrow around twice in his fingers while it went up into his quiver. Seven more he allowed himself to take, leaving the rest for his companions to acquire.

The porter nodded, watching with something akin to awe as the Elves replenished what they could of their ammunition. He shook his head, trying to get his mind off of their armour of brilliant interlocking steel lames, and looked instead at the golden barrier that surrounded them. Kairi and the Princesses had done them a service when they had created it, extending the barrier all the way back to the gatehouse. The earlier plan had been abandoned, and the gates were open. Wounded were being borne out on stretchers, and fresh reserves from the Ascalon Vanguard and Guilds—desperate to prove themselves worthy allies—were marching in. The porter had to look away from the traffic for a moment. This was the first time he'd seen battle; the first time many of them had seen battle despite the attack on their camp those few weeks ago, and the sight of some of the wounded was enough to turn his stomach.

He shivered, rubbing his gloved hands up and down his chest before patting his arms. He looked up to the sky and stood next to Glorfindel, acutely aware of the height difference between himself and the taller lordly elf. "I'm glad for this spell," he announced. "They sky has been too dark this morning for my liking. Sun should have come up an hour ago, but it's still grey and ugly."

Glorfindel peered at him curiously. He blinked twice, and then glanced between the sky and the man, attempting to reconcile various pieces of information into a coherent idea. "The sun should have risen?"

"Yes," the man said with a nod, "but look. No clouds, no stars, but no bright blue sky. Just a dark grey blanket like nothing I've ever seen before." Glorfindel gave him a hard stare, and the porter felt like he was about to quake in his boots, when suddenly the elf-lord turned away from him and peered past the edge of the barrier.

"The Enemy is here._ Telir_ _yrch!"_ he cried. The Elves sprang into action immediately, snatching up every last arrow the porter had brought with him and following Glorfindel through the gatehouse and down the stairs.

-A-D-

Genie hovered high above Nod's artillery, sitting down in the air and wondering what it was he should do. Al had asked for him to do something about the artillery, but there were still those tanks and the weapons all these other guys the Brotherhood had brought to deal with. None of them were really nice weapons, so how should he make them nicer?

Genie snapped his fingers and shot higher into the air excitedly. "Idea!" He zipped down, faster than Nixion or any of the high-ranking Nobodies could react, and started rapidly firing magic from his fingers. He only needed one fly-by of the artillery, and then quickly moved on to the rest of Nod's troops and vehicles near the front. Genie laughed at the expressions he was sure the soldiers were pulling when they looked around themselves now. He twirled around in the air, releasing explosions of fireworks in his wake before returning to the barrier, leaving behind the Brotherhood and their much nicer weapons.

Every artillery shell, every round for the Tick Tanks' main cannons, every bullet and missile, hundreds if not thousands of rounds of ammunition, had all been turned into cute kittens and puppies. The men freaked out, the critters freaked out, the men freaked out some more, some of the men went "D'aww", and animals that didn't get adopted right then and there made a break for the beacon of goodliness that was brightly glowing to the south. There was milk, food, warmth, and shelter from the cold there, they could feel it.

-A-D-

Glorfindel directed his company to move to the front with haste while he himself stopped, only a little because of the baby animals rushing past his ankles. The group of youth he'd seen were surrounding the boy he'd first met on the Road, travelling with the Dúnadan and the Periannath. Sora was slouched on the ground, unmoving and unresponsive to the questions his friends were asking him. Gimli the Dwarf crouched close, and Boromir of Gondor stood nearby. Neither was any surer of what to do with the boy than his much closer friends.

Four quick strides forward on light feet brought him towards the armoured teenager, and the others parted hastily and uneasily. Nobody spoke to him, but nobody stopped him from kneeling down and laying his hands upon Sora's shoulders either. The spark was gone from Sora's eyes, and Glorfindel felt his heart weep at the weight that he could feel upon the boy's kind heart.

"_Tíro nin. Lasto nin,_" he spoke softly.

Sora moved.

Glorfindel removed his helmet and placed it carefully on the ground next to him. The elf positioned his finger beneath Sora's chin, helping the youth finish raising his head to look straight into his eyes. "Glorfindel." Sora's voice was faint, and wracked with pain, though there was no wound upon his body.

"You have lost your innocence, little one," said the elf, kindly, as Sora's friends drew closer. The brunet's head trembled as he nodded it slightly. "I know what it is you have done. Your heart is troubled and speaks clearly to me. It is alright to be afraid."

"Sora?" Riku asked.

"I _killed_," he whispered. It might have been to Riku, but Sora's eyes never left Glorfindel's. "I killed a man, a human. I'm a…"

"You are no murderer, little one," Glorfindel said firmly, but never losing that same kind tone in his fair voice. "You did what you must. If not, then you would not be here now to be healed in heart and mind."

"Healed?" Mushu asked.

"But I—" Sora began. Glorfindel shushed him with two fingers upon his lips.

"_Lasto nin_," he chided gently. "Listen to me. You have a strong and kind heart, Sora. You have been merciful to the enemies you have fought in battles past who were not Heartless or Nobodies, and kind to those who showed you kindness in return. Never forget who you are, but remember now that you are a warrior, and when warriors clash they kill."

"But I never wanted—"

"What you wanted could never have been," Glorfindel told him. "You saw, you knew, but you did not accept it. There were people, living people like yourself, who had willfully sided with the Enemy. You have been sheltered and guarded your life and on your adventures from death, but that has ended. You must face it, Sora. You need never like the necessity of taking another's life from them, but you made your choice to stand and fight for your belief, and those opposite us have made their own choice. The man you slew chose his fate, and had you not slain him he would have done the same to you, and, perhaps, may not have been burdened by the same guilt."

"Are you saying it was alright for me to kill him?" Sora spat.

"I am saying that he risked his life for the world that he wished for, while you risked yours for the world you wish for," Glorfindel assuaged. Some of the spark was returning to Sora's eyes; the elf's words a balm for the boy's wounded heart. "And… I do not believe that a world covered in darkness where its people live as slaves is something that you desire."

Sora shook his head slowly, and at last tore his eyes away from Glorfindel's. "Your Majesty, Asterix, have you ever…?"

"Many times, during the Keyblade War," Mickey sighed. "These hands have been clean of the blood of others for a very long time, Sora, but they were once covered in them."

"I never knew that," Riku said. Mickey smiled grimly.

"And you never woulda guessed, either," he replied.

"Sora, I know this must be hard for you, since Heartless and Nobodies can't really be called alive and they don't leave a body behind," the King continued, "but Glorfindel here is right. You can carry the lives of the people you've killed for the rest of your own, but it won't change the fact that they were fighting to create a world that you didn't want to have a part in, and that sometimes stopping them means actually killing them."

Mulan knelt next to Sora. "Sora, remember when Shan-Yu came over the Great Wall, and attacked all of China? Remember how he and his Heartless burned and destroyed the village in the Tung Shao Pass?" He nodded his head. "What if, instead of Heartless, they had been men?"

"But they weren't," insisted Sora.

"What if they were?" Mulan prodded. "And what if, after one came to after you had knocked him out, he attacked you again? And again? And again? And wouldn't stop attacking you in every way he knew until you were cold and dead in the snow, with your blood staining the side of the mountain crimson from a deep wound through your heart? Would you continue to dance with him, or keep him from killing you and killing the people you cared about by stopping him permanently?"

Glorfindel recognized the moment of truth in the finality of the voice of the woman with almond-shaped eyes. A harrowing minute passed, and Glorfindel recognized that her question had not been directed to Sora alone. His brother and each of his closest friends all had their heads bowed and eyes closed, pensive looks etched upon their young faces.

Finally, an answer.

"I would kill, in order to protect that which I hold dear."

"And if there were a hundred such men, or a thousand?" Asterix asked.

"Then I would kill a hundred or a thousand men, or die trying to," Sora replied gravely.

"And I would help him," Riku joined in.

"So would I," said Roxas.

"And me too," Yuffie added.

"How would you know that you could?" Boromir asked quickly. "Your words and voices say so, but deeds speak louder than all the words ever spoken have."

"We have seen death," Riku supplied. "And if Sora, the nicest guy I know, was able to find it within himself to kill another sapient creature, then I know that when the time comes I will find my Keyblade wet with blood too. We've already had this discussion now, so I hope that I won't be burdened by guilt when my time comes."

They all went quiet as a new sound entered their ears. War horns blew in the air with an unfamiliar and harsh song.

"I know those horns," Boromir murmured.

"Your time comes swiftly," Glorfindel said. He grasped his helmet and firmly replaced it upon his head adorned by golden locks. "Foes approach."

"Foes?" Ninquemon asked.

"_Yrch!_"

"Orcs!" Gimli shouted, a wicked smile coming onto his face. "I knew there was a reason for my axe to be here! Come, Master Sora, come and witness the vile filth of the Enemy, and assist me in hewing the necks of his ruthless tools."

"As you say, Dwarf, his armies are ruthless," Boromir agreed, "but today they face mighty foes." He grasped the Horn of Gondor and raised it to his lips. Boromir let loose a mighty blast from the horn until he was winded, and even Glorfindel felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and his heart thunder in his chest. Great cheers rose up from the warriors all around them. From those close to the Samurai at the front to the ones lining the wall, the hosts of the free worlds cheered.

Sora was up on his feet, his eyes set and an easy smile on his face. He turned to his digimon partner, and the smile slipped. "I'm sorry, Ninquemon," he apologized, dropping down and hugging the digimon tightly. "I'm sorry I worried you so much, and I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

"It's okay, Sora," Ninquemon replied earnestly, "that's what friends are for. I know you'd have protected me just the same."

"Still…"

"Sora, it's okay. I'll wait behind the wall if you'd really like me to. Maybe I'll get a snack too while I'm at it." Sora chuckled weakly and nodded dumbly. When he pulled back, there were tears in his eyes.

"You go and do that, you bottomless pit." Ninquemon giggled at his digidestined partner's words, and bounced off for the gate. Straightening himself, Sora wiped his eyes and looked at his friends. His helmet returned to his head in a flash of white light, and with another flash and the soft hiss of metal escaping leather he drew Remembrance from its scabbard. "Lead the way, please, my lord Elf."

-A-D-

Kairi's eyes shone brightly within her helmet as she saw Sora striding past her with Glorfindel. She had heard it all, every word. It was rather unfair, because the powwow had taken place close enough to Naminé that the blonde was able to relay every bit to her sister, even after Kairi had explicitly told Menelmon to make sure they took him away from her so that she could concentrate on maintaining her shield. Somehow, though, she had managed to concentrate enough on the task at hand that it hadn't fallen yet.

"Sora!" she shouted. He turned, and she could feel their eyes meet.

"I—I'd stand with you too," she confided. "I wouldn't want anything to tear you or anyone else I love from me ever again."

"I know," he answered honestly. He turned back towards the north, and Kairi returned her concentration to sustaining the shield. She could feel the strength the others were sending her slowly ebbing, so she lessened the burden from their shoulders and took on more herself. Vast amounts of Light had already been expended to create it, and even though maintaining required only a fraction of the power, it was still quite draining on her internal reserves of magical and Light energy. If she cut herself, the keystone, from the shield, then it would fall as Alcezeran said it would. It wouldn't fall immediately, though, like he'd been trying to impress, but after absorbing too much energy or enough time had elapsed it would still have dissipated.

However, every additional moment that it was up was another moment that prevented the Heartless from attacking and more of their army from being hurt; another moment for her friends to rest. Those were moments that Kairi felt the shield's maintenance was worth.

-A-D-

_So, funny story. A few days ago, Friday night to be exact, some of you who frequent the fan page on Facebook came across a preview of the chapter that I posted up. Very soon after I posted that, I promised to update the fic Monday evening (or, I suppose, very early Tuesday morning depending upon your time zone if you live east of me). Here's a secret. As of Friday when I posted that, it was all that I had. Since August 17th, when I last updated, that was all that I'd been able to write, and everything after the first scene with Riku has come since then._

_I guess all I needed was a little very-real promise to you to light my pants on fire; that or listening to The Avengers and The Return of the King: Special Edition the entire time._

**Translations**

_Telir yrch! _(Glorfindel. Sindarin. "Orcs come!")

_Tíro nin. Lasto nin._ (Glorfindel. Sindarin. "See me. Hear me.")

_Yrch!_ (Sindarin. "Orcs!")

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	75. The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 4

_Disclaimer: …Why don't I have a TVTropes page yet? What more do I need to do to get one?_

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 75: The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 4

_1055hrs_

Kia raised her head at the horn call of Gondor, her spirits lifting dramatically. They had sunk low, almost an hour ago now, when Sora had been led through the barrier with his face white as a sheet and completely silent. The whispers had shot through the ranks like wildfire, and it was a terrible thing to hear that her friend was acting like a zombie without any sort of explanation forthcoming.

Add that there was still an army just beyond that veil of golden light, and the light of hope dwindled in her heart.

"Why are we putting our faith in him?" whispered April Winchell, a private and fellow archer in Kia's own section, when their sergeant, Elle Marshall, had wondered aloud how much longer they'd last with Sora behaving as he was while their section sat down for a rest.

Kia looked at April, whom she had always seen as a friend ever since they'd been together in George Company, incredulously. "What do you mean?"

"Why are we putting our faith in him, in any of them?" the nineteen-year-old clarified. "Of all the Keyblade Wielders, the only ones I feel I can trust are King Mickey and Asterix. They're all strong, but when have Sora or the Princesses really proven that we should follow—"

"Shut up," Kia growled.

April blinked at the other archer beneath her celeta helm, eyes quickly going over the girl's yew longbow with its silver vine motif and white quiver magically filled with tan-coloured arrows traced with silver vines like the rest of her weapons, while recalling that she only had a handful of her own arrows left. "Oh, that's right," she snarled, "you're one of his friends. Of course you'd stand up for him."

Kia silently fumed and glared daggers at Winchell, daring her to continue speaking. April Winchell did.

"When have they done anything to prove they're anything but children with power?" she asked venomously. "_Princess_ Kairi threw a temper tantrum at the mall because she was being treated like a princess, and then went and started a huge snowball fight for what? Shits and giggles? And last night you guys were, what, hanging out and watching Rudolph?"

_Actually, that was Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, Hayner, Olette, and Pence who'd been hanging out with them_, Kia thought darkly, but still didn't answer. Anything she said would just be giving Winchell more ammunition.

"Why weren't they with us last night?" April asked. "Keeping watch; being ready. They're our strongest pieces and the best Heartless slayers in this whole damn army. All _eight_ of them! So why were only _two_ of the eight here? Why should I care to follow someone who obviously doesn't care abou—?"

An arrow lodged itself into the stone right beside her left boot.

"You can stop right there," Kia told her with an angry snarl, nocking another arrow to her bowstring. "You have no idea what they've gone through; what they're still going through." April unsheathed her dagger, eyes flaring in outrage. She knew that she'd never be able to match Kia in archery, but she was the other's better when it came to the dagger.

"Fire another arrow in my direction and this goes through your neck!" she spat, her words laced with venom. Kia flinched inside but drew back to her ear in one fluid motion.

"Insult Sora again and you'll never get the chance!" she challenged, aiming right for April's exposed left eye.

Every boot was on the ground now, surrounding the two archers and struggling to get Kia's bow and April's dagger out of the females' hands. "That's enough!" shouted Staff Sergeant Knightly, pushing his way towards the two. Unlike both archers, he was tall, strong, and had seven more years than April Winchell's nineteen behind him. Kia's bow was wrestled out of her grasp, even as she lost her hold on the arrow and it landed, tinkling, against the stone by her feet.

"She started it, staff sergeant!" she began immediately, pointing an accusing finger at her junior in rank (by one) if not in age.

"I don't give a fuck who started it!" snapped the staff sergeant. "I ought to frogmarch you both right up to Major Akkan so you can lick the dirt from his boots before he sticks them in your asses to boot you out of the army. Luckily for you, we need every able-bodied man, woman, and kid—" (he sent a disparaging look Kia's way, and she bowed her head) "—with the will to fight doing so, so I'm not going to, but I want an explanation out of both of you. Now!"

Kia glowered at April, and found her gaze met. They both turned their heads back to the staff sergeant and, at almost the same moment, spat out answers.

"She was insulting and doubting Sora!"

"She was defending people who don't have a hope of leading us!"

"One at a time!" roared the staff sergeant, quelling them both before they could even put in another word. The rest of the company was gathering around, finding something of interest here in order to occupy their minds before they had to face the Heartless again. Easy Company had gotten off lucky, none dead or with hearts stolen, but there were still more than a dozen who'd been wounded with more than a small cut or bruise. "You!" he said, "Private Winchell! You go first."

Glared sideways at Kia, April looked up at their superior. "I can't place my trust in the Princesses or in Sora's leadership, staff sergeant. They're kids, and all they've shown is their willingness to behave frivolously and ignore the responsibilities that they should be fulfilling. It feels to me as though they're treating this whole thing like a game, or just something that sidetracks them from whatever goofy or romantic thing they're going to do next."

She levelled her head, but kept her eyes up towards the staff sergeant. "I joined because I wanted to protect my home, staff sergeant, but I won't follow them until they show me more than a fancy magic sword and a few spells."

What startled Kia most wasn't the way she said it all, but the way that several people were nodding their heads in agreement. She spotted Olette, Jeffery, Tidus, Anar, and even Rai's faces in the crowd, praying that they were disagreeing.

Anar. Stupid, dense, oblivious, pretty-boy, sun-god, charmer, heart-breaker Anar, was nodding too with a small frown adorning his masterfully sculpted features.

"Like the one protecting us all right now?" Kia commented snidely, hoping to win something back. She received a withering glare from the NCO for her troubles.

Staff Sergeant Knightly sniffed in the cold air and set his gaze on April Winchell. "You've said your piece?"

"They're powerful, but I haven't seen a lick of real leadership out of them. Yes, staff sergeant, I'm done," she answered.

"Good," he replied. He turned. "Private First Class Kia, your turn to vent."

Kia swallowed the acidic comments she wanted to spew and drew a lengthy breath. "Yes, staff sergeant." She gave herself a couple of seconds to try and cool off, considering the amount of angry blood in her cheeks no matter what temperature this stupidly cold world was currently at.

"Sora is my friend," she said quickly, her heart skipping a beat in the anxiety she was trying to fight down, "Kairi too. I've known them since elementary school. Ever since the Keyblade came, Sora's been fighting. He fought when my world had its heart taken by the Heartless, he fought hundreds of Heartless to protect the worlds of friends that became dear to him, he fought to rescue Kairi when she was practically a lifeless puppet, he fought to save Riku when he was possessed by Xehanort's Heartless, and he fought to restore the worlds taken by the Heartless and to keep Organization XIII from screwing around with our worlds. He fought so hard and for so long with no thoughts of fortune or fame at the end, the only reward at the end he wanted was to be together with Riku and Kairi on Destiny Islands. Sora didn't want followers, armies, or titles; he didn't want to become a leader, he just wanted to save his friends, and I don't think he fully understood the burden that he'd been given along with the power to protect the people he cared about."

"And that's exactly why we shouldn't follow him!" April countered. "He's a kid who can't han—" Staff Sergeant Knightly sharply raised his hand towards her.

"You said your piece!" snapped the non-commissioned officer. He returned his attention to the best archer in the regiment. "Go on."

"Thank you, staff sergeant," Kia said. She faltered for a moment at having been interrupted. "Kairi also wasn't raised a princess, so how is she supposed to know how to act as one? Everything in their, in our, lives has been fractured and twisted." Kia winced outwardly and dropped her head. It felt like a hand was squeezing her heart and she unsuccessfully stifled a sob. "Has it really only been three months? Has it been just three months since our home island was wiped out?"

"What does that have to do with—?"

"Because Sora, Kairi, and Riku lost their parents and the home they'd worked so hard to come back to in one day and night!" Tidus snarled, coming forward and gripping Kia's shoulder in a tight display of solidarity. Olette and Jeffery rushed to join him in supporting Kia, who now felt like her legs were going to give out. Her father and mother had both lived though that day and night of hell on earth, and now her father was still with the Guardians, except that he was one of those that had stayed to protect the transplanted people of Felra on Dunash.

Three months, though. Just three months!

"After everything Sora and Riku went through, every challenge and hardship to get back home," Kia continued, "_everything_ they worked for, it was in vain! Maleficent took their homes and families from them three months ago! Just three fucking months! And now look!" she cast her arm out, tears freezing on her eyelashes. "You expect teenagers who had just won it all and then lost it all to lead men and armies flawlessly, when they have no real experience in leadership? You're insane if you think that they should become lords and ladies of legend in only a couple of days, or weeks, when the pain is still so fresh and bitter. Sora drowned himself in self-doubt until he couldn't even summon the Keyblade anymore. Kairi went mad and offered herself up to try and keep the rest of everyone out of harm's way and nearly died from her decision. I don't know about the others, but Riku was with us on Felra, and he has to have been tearing himself up inside because he wasn't able to protect his home. The only comfort and solace they've found is with each other and us, their friends."

"Sora will lead," Olette said firmly. "He and the others will come around, and be just as knightly and royal as they should be, but give them a little time, please."

"The guy's pretty good, y'know?" Rai said.

Staff Sergeant John Knightly raised his hand, and glanced around at the other staff sergeants he noticed before spotting the XO with surprise. However, Captain Kol just nodded his head and blinked his freakishly large owl eyes. SSG Knightly looked back between Pvt. April Winchell and PFC Kia, who still had Sgt. Tidus, PFC Jeffery, and PFC Olette Forrest standing with her. Three of the four survivors of the Battle of Felra that had been placed in their company, and all four of them had fought in King Mickey's assault on The Castle That Never Was before it had been known that Maleficent had abandoned it. There was hardship and loss deep in their eyes, but there was a spark, a glimmer of something more.

"I don't want to hear anymore badmouthing of the Keyblade Masters or Princesses," he declared. "Like you said, Private Winchell, they're just kids with power. Could you have done any better if you were in their place? Give them the time they need to grow up, even if they need to grow up faster than they ever should have had to." Knightly turned away, noting the grateful smiles that blossomed on faces.

Maybe they were naïve in their belief, but Knightly figured that by the end of today some doubts may be able to be put to rest. After all, if it hadn't been for the Keyblade Wielders and Princesses of Heart, they'd still be fighting or they'd all have been overwhelmed by now.

Captain Kol was approaching him!

"Sir!" the staff sergeant greeted with a salute.

"That was a very noble thing you did, staff sergeant," the captain told him, dropping his salute.

"I want to give those kids a chance, sir," he replied. "To go from losing your home and parents to being told you have to lead an army to victory or the entire universe gets enslaved or ruined in only three months when you're just barely sixteen? That's a hell of a thing to be put through."

He paused, and looked towards the golden barrier surrounding them. "Sir, the shelling. It's stopped."

Captain Kol blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes. "Hoo, now there's a sight for sore eyes."

A stampede of adorable puppies and kittens ran past.

When Kia saw the puppies and kittens, she laughed. Even though the last time she'd done so was when Sora and Kairi had been acting like idiots imitating Team Rocket, it felt like it was the first laugh she'd had in a year. "I don't know what to make of this," she giggled, watching as they all ran past her.

"And I'm not sure I know what to make of that," Tidus said, pointing. Kia turned to follow his finger, and her eyes widened to see the column of Elves quickly marching in the opposite direction. All quieted as the eyes of every member of Easy Company, and indeed, all the men and women and anthropomorphic creatures around beheld the Elves of Rivendell moving to the front.

_Chum-chum, chum-chum_

"What's that sound?" Olette asked, tilting her head. It was low, and scarcely heard, but it was there, and growing louder.

_Chum-chum, chum-chum_

"Marching," Tidus answered, turning around and looking back to the north. He couldn't see anything, though. The Elves were in the way, the golden light was more translucent than transparent, and the tanks were still arrayed around the shield, blocking a good portion of the view.

_Chum-Chum! Chum-Chum!_

Another sound joined that of the marching now, horns blowing harshly on the wind. Its song grated on their ears, and promised cruel and painful death. Kia felt her knees buckling again at the sound of the horn, until it was drowned out by another. Long and loud did Boromir blow his horn, and courage replaced fear as the Horn of Gondor's song thundered into Kia's heart. She couldn't help herself, and cheered wildly. At that moment, she felt like a superhero. She could do anything! She was the best archer in the regiment, no, the whole army!

And then Sora strode by, with Glorfindel the elf-lord just ahead and King Mickey and Asterix behind, surrounded by Riku, Roxas, Yuffie, and his friends from other worlds. His helmet was on, hiding his face, but she could tell just from the way he was walking that a heavy burden had been lifted from his heart. Remembrance gleamed in his hand and his armour shone in the light of the bauble hovering beside his shoulder. Unwavering confidence was in his every step.

"Sora!" Tidus shouted.

He turned his head and chirped. "Tidus! What's up?"

"What's going on?"

"Orcs come!" Gimli, son of Glóin, answered. "There's plenty of orc necks to cleave, and may the best dwarf win!"

"Orcs?" Jeffery asked.

Yuffie shrugged. "No clue."

"But we're gonna fight them anyway," Sora added. "We're not going to lose Radiant Garden, not now." He turned and quickly continued on his way. "Hey, wait for me guys!"

"Sora wait!" Tidus yelped. Sora stopped and turned back.

"Yeah, Tidus?"

Kia saw Tidus' jaw clench and he was silent for a few seconds before he spoke, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the marching of many feet.

"Listen, we were talking earlier…" Tidus began, and let his words slip away before starting again. "Are you doing okay?" Kia got the impression that Sora was staring at them all, and she was almost certain that she could feel his eyes piercing hers even through the one-way visor of his helmet. Slowly, Sora sighed and came closer until he was just a couple feet away.

"I hadn't been," he whispered, voice barely audible. "I'd never really killed anybody before."

For a second, Kia's heart froze, and her eyes filled with the sight of an arrow leaving her bow and flying straight and true into the heart of a Nod soldier. The weather was wet and stormy, the night cold, and the perpetual fear that something terrible was happening to Kairi had been with her then.

Then it was gone, and her heart unclenched, and she rushed forward and enveloped Sora in as tight a hug as she could give him. He didn't move, and she could practically feel him stiffen in surprise through the pieces of metal separating them, but Kia didn't care.

"It's okay," she told him. "You'll be alright. I know it hurts. It hurts a lot, but the pain just means that you're human." Remembrance vanished from his grip and appeared within the sheath on Sora's hip. His arms went around her, and Kia realized that shudders she'd unconsciously been making ceased.

"And you'll be alright, too," Sora replied, his voice somewhat strained as he attempted to give her the same comfort she had been trying to impart. Tidus, Olette, and Jeffery all quickly wrapped themselves around Kia and Sora too, and the archer took in a shuddering breath as emotions rose up to lodge in her throat. Their solid display of friendship and love was making her misty-eyed.

"More than that," Jeffery posed cautiously, "how are you doing, about what happened to the Islands?"

Sora took a deep breath while Kia hastily worked to wipe her eyes of tears. It was still freezing out here, and she didn't need frosty eyelashes. The Keyblade Master exhaled, though no visible cloud of mist escaped his helmet. "I'm not sure if I'll ever really be at peace with it," he said slowly. "It's still too soon. And even though Cossex, err, Devona, is on our side now and betrayed Maleficent to help me and Kairi escape and did her best to clean up the destruction, there's still a part of my heart that won't quit being angry at her. I try to keep it buried, but it's still there, burning.

"However, about my mom," he gave a tiny laugh, "I'm alright. I know that she's proud of me, and she lives in you (he rapped a gauntleted knuckle on Jeffery's helmet, and then the others'), she lives in me," he tapped his heart, and then turned his eyes skyward as his voice softened and he sang in a tranquil melody, "she watches over everything we see. In every creature; in every star; and in my reflection, she lives in me."

"I'm glad," Olette declared. "I'm glad you feel that way. I'd wondered…" she broke off, and Sora shook his head.

"Don't worry guys," he told them. "I'm not going to rush off to meet her in Elysium. I'll see her again one day, but not yet; not yet." Sora shook his head again, sniffed, and they all backed away again to regain personal space. He drew his Keyblade from its sheath in a flash of light. "Now, we've got some orcs to kill." He rushed off.

"Kia."

The archer turned, and saw April Winchell holding Kia's bow out to her. Kia took it, and noticed how the other archer was giving Sora's retreating form an appraising look. April met her gaze at last, and offered a reconciliatory smile. "I'll give them a chance," she said. "I'm sorry; I was afraid that…"

Kia smiled and hugged her elder as another voice yelled out, "Easy Company! Form up! Swords in front, archers and mages behind!"

"You're forgiven," said Kia. "Now come on. Maybe you'll prove that you can actually use that bow of yours."

-A-D-

"The orcs alone will not be enough," Xokor said. "Do I have permission to implement my plan?"

Nixion turned his head and surveyed his underling. "I had assumed that you were going to." Xokor smiled.

Lexai cracked her knuckles together, flames sprouting over her purple gloves as she grinned. "Good. I was wondering when we were going to get a piece of the action."

-A-D-

"So," asked Sora, "what can we expect?"

"The foulest, stinking, festering, ugliest brutes you'll ever see," Gimli snarled. Sora nodded slightly, not entirely sure of the description the dwarf was painting, and double-checked their positions. Only about four hundred metres south of him was the gatehouse, and a hundred metres to his north was the edge of the barrier Kairi was generating with the help of the other Princesses of Heart that had come. The barrier spell was spherical in its shape with Kairi at the origin, and they had brought close to a thousand men, elves, and Samurai Nobodies within the enclosure to replace their losses in the initial encounter.

"They will likely come at us as one mass," Boromir said, "and seek to drive us back to our gates. Do not underestimate them. Orcs are as strong as a man and savage like none other."

"Stronger than men," corrected Glorfindel, "and longer-lived, too. They were bred in savage mockery of the Firstborn in the darkest pits of Morgoth's realm long ago. Some say that they were Elves once, in their beginning, Elves that had been captured and long tortured until broken and twisted. Now, however, they are tools of the Enemy, driven only by hate. Do not trouble yourself with slaying them, Sora, and show them not the slightest mercy, for they will not hesitate to run you through with it."

"So they're strong and will come at us hard," Riku surmised. "_Greaaate._"

Sora looked up and down the line again. They were all arrayed together, five deep and two hundred long. He stood next to Glorfindel and his elves, an entire section of the line that stood tall and proud above all the others. Close by to Sora's left, interspersed with the companies of Lady Repsy's forces, were Roxas and a hundred of his Samurai. Asterix, King Mickey, and the Gauls were mixed in with the forces of the Ascalonians who had come, and Riku, Yuffie, Donald, and Goofy all stood with Sora in a knot of his friends from across the worlds. Loud barking suddenly entered his ears.

Aerith gasped close by, and Tifa whispered, "What _are_ those?" in shock. Sora whirled his head back up front, and his irises shrunk as he saw just what was charging past the breaks in the tanks towards the barrier.

"Wargs!" Boromir shouted, taking one step back to make his footing more secure and bringing his shield forward. "Orcs on wargs! The line cannot crumble!" Sora switched his stance to prepare himself as best as he could for a charge, but he couldn't quite remember the Combat Mastery lesson on what to do when being charged by a horde of greenish-grey-skinned humanoid creatures armed with vicious-looking swords and axes riding ferocious hyena-wolf hybrids; likely because there _hadn't_ been such a lesson!

Sora looked back. He could see Kairi standing all alone directly behind him, her head bowed and hands together as the light flowed around and up from her into the sky. They couldn't let Kairi fall under attack and her concentration break. It was likely that she'd become hard-pressed to ever begin to cast the barrier spell again.

"So Gimli," he began, "what do you think of a count reset?"

"Beg pardon, lad, but I'm afraid I don't follow you."

"We start anew, from zero," Sora clarified, "only counting orcs and these wargs."

"Agreed, on one condition," Gimli said with a glint in his eye. "_No. Magic._"

"Deal."

"Sora you can't be serious," Prince Phillip protested. "You not using magic is like cutting off your arm." Sora chuckled.

"Well it's a good thing that that's already happened. Archers and mages ready!" he shouted impulsively, seeing the charging warg riders only moments from entering the barrier, with a host of orcs running on foot behind. Sora winced inside and wished that his voice hadn't cracked while he shouted the word 'mages', but it had. His call was repeated along the line, King Mickey's, Asterix's, and Lady Repsy's voices all joining in. The creak of the bows of three hundred elves drawing back joined those of dozens more archers and rangers while staves and hands lit up with crackling flames or chilled more than they already were with frigid ice.

Orcish war horns blew as the warg riders passed through the golden barrier as though it were not even there, and the riders shrieked cries of bloodlust.

"FIRE!"

A volley of arrows, some gunshots, and magical firebolts and icicles surged from their line towards the wargs and their riders. Soronmon flew above it all and rained a storm of icicles down. Wolves tripped and fell as arrows found their bodies, hurling their charges forward onto the hard stone. Dead orcs dropped from their seats with arrows and ice piercing chest, head, and throat alike, or with a gunshot wound to the chest. More orcs screeched as fireballs struck against their bodies and burned them, but still more than four dozen kept on riding.

No sooner had the volley been sent than Glorfindel calmly roared a command, and the elves replaced their bows with their long glittering swords that were subtly curved and brought their pointed teardrop shields to bear. They were only moments soon enough, for the surviving warg riders had only needed a handful seconds to close the hundred metres between the line and the barrier. Remembrance was out of its sheath in a flash of light, and Sora had only a second to look at his blade before they were upon them.

Time seemed to freeze for an instant. He saw every detail of the charging warg and orc closest to him, the wolf-like creature coming down towards him from a pounce. Sweat glistened on the brown fur that covered its hide, drool dribbled down from pointed teeth revealed from an evil snarl, and claws from its front paws were outstretched. The riding orc had its gleaming sword raised, a jagged device with three slightly curved teeth running along its edge that by all rights shouldn't be there and made the weapon look even more vicious. A shirt of mail covered the orc's torso underneath a leather jerkin, with its shins guarded by a skirt of scales, and a cap of battered iron with crudely cut-out holes for the orc's eyes was on its grey-skinned head. Charcoal black hair seeped out from its skull, and green eyes peered at Sora in savage delight. There was nothing in the eyes of either creature that showed anything other than the will to fight and kill.

The moment passed, and Sora twisted away from the warg's snapping jaws and parried the orc's thrust with a slap of his Keyblade. The warg landed just past him turned around for a second bite at Sora, with the orc ready for another shot at the Keyblade Master. Gimli roared next to Sora and charged forward two steps, his axe falling. Dwarvish craftsmanship was superior to that of Mordor's forges, and this fact was proven again as Gimli's axe cut through the orc's armour and bit deep into its side. Sora joined the Dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, and thrust his Keyblade forward. He could feel Remembrance cutting apart the links of the chain worn by his foe, the magical weapon reminding Sora of its quality, and for the second time that day Remembrance drank the lifeblood of Sora's foes.

The warg snapped its neck to the side, striking Sora's breastplate and knocking him back, Remembrance's silver blade stained black in the blood of the orc. It lunged forward with open maw prepared to crush down on Sora's armour, and its snarl suddenly became a whine when a sword thrust into its hide and punctured a lung. Riku held Way to the Dawn tightly as red blood flowed down the metal of his Keyblade.

"That one counts as mine!" Gimli told Sora in a tone that brooked no argument.

At the same time that Sora had been jumped by the first warg rider, another had crashed into the line very close by, bowling Leon to the ground. Claws raked at the gunblade wielder, and Tifa hissed as the rider's sword grazed against her side while she leapt out of the way. Barret roared and brought his right arm forward, and the gun built into it blazed into life. Bullets raged from his mechanical limb to rip through the orc's armour and tear into the warg's flesh, even as Yuffie appeared behind the orc in a cloud of smoke and sunk her Keyblade into its back. The orc jerked and twisted where it sat, painful impacts joining with the sensation of being brutally stabbed through the back, until a second later it went limp.

Sora flashed the ten feet to Tifa's side in an instant while Zack helped Yuffie roll the warg's body from atop of Leon. Aerith quickly went to him while Sora asked the female fighter if she was alright.

"It just grazed me," she insisted. "I'm fine."

"Be mindful," Boromir said quickly. "Orcs often douse their weapons in dreadful poisons. Even a scratch could mean your doom." Tifa stiffened. Her face betrayed a sudden onset of fear and she called for Aerith.

"Tifa," said Zack, "I know that you're a fist-fighter, but I think this time you should probably take a weapon."

"Yeah," she answered slowly as Aerith placed her hands over the scratch Tifa had received. Golden light left the last Ancient's palms and bathed the shallow wound while Leon returned to his feet. Tifa took up the sword the orc had been carrying, and her face was grim as she held it.

Yuffie was staring at her Keyblade, eyes taking in the sight of the black blood glistening over the blooms of purple flowers on its sides and the shuriken key-tip. She almost dropped her Keyblade in shock when her eyes came to the body of the orc that lay unmoving on the ground amongst their feet. Riku quickly came to her side and clapped a hand to her shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

The girl blinked unsteadily. "I think so," she murmured, "though I kinda feel like I want to throw up too." She looked to the body of the warg that he'd slain. "You?"

"No time to reflect!" Roxas shouted. "The rest of them are almost here."

"Damn them!" shouted Sora suddenly, pointing in the opposite direction. Three warg riders had broken through the line at a different point, and all three were bearing down on Kairi. He summoned an orb of white light to his palm, and shouted, "Kairi heads up!" into it. Sora hurled the light away, and it shot towards Kairi at a pace the wargs couldn't hope to match. He turned back towards the north, and found the orcs nearly upon them.

-A-D-

Kairi jolted as she heard Sora's voice suddenly shouting in her ear, and she opened her eyes and raised her head. She had tried to tune out all other sound while she'd been concentrating on maintaining her spell, but maintenance was no longer an option.

Crowning Flame appeared in her hands in a glimmer of light as the Dragon Knight and Princess Royal of Radiant Garden danced back three steps. The lead warg rider's sword descended and Kairi's long white Keyblade rose to meet it, both blades ringing out to signal their meeting. Kairi twisted away from the second rider's sword while both he and the first and third rode past, and she thrust her left hand at their backs. "Flash Arrow!"

One orc fell with an arrow of white light piercing his back, but three wargs and two orcs turned around and charged her again, the riderless warg snarling and snapping its jaws at her midsection. She avoided its gnashing teeth, but felt a heavy blow fall down upon her left shoulder as one of the riders got its strike through. Hissing as her arm fell somewhat numb, Kairi stabbed forward with Crowning Flame, sinking her blade into the side of the beast.

She could feel every ripple of its muscles and the slowing thud of its heartbeat as she clutched onto the creature, her body pressed right up against it with her Keyblade buried through to the hilt. Only a second did the feeling last before she ripped her Keyblade out again, and turned around just in time to duck another swinging sword. Kairi straightened up again, and quickly brought her Keyblade up to block a second stroke from the orc's weapon. He hacked down again, leering at her as she stood defiantly in her splendid armour, and Kairi noticed as their blades connected once more that the orc's was slick with red liquid.

Another blow connected with her armour, this time striking her helmet on the back of her head and staggering her as her ears thundered with terrible ringing and left Kairi with a pounding in her head. She gritted her teeth through the pain and rolled away just in time to avoid the snapping teeth of a warg. "Flames that rise from the ashes and fly into the sky, become my weapon and my blade. Flame Style 8: Burning Match!" Embers flickered around her blade, lighting up the faces and bodies of the orcs and wargs in a red glow that made them appear only more menacing, and Kairi quickly scratched her Keyblade on the stone beneath the closest warg's abdomen. The embers around Crowning Flame flared before vanishing, and suddenly crimson fire burned in a column beneath the warg.

Unbridled fear momentarily overcame Kairi as the warg and orc both snarled instead of shrieking in pain, and the warg pounced on her. Powerful jaws clenched down on her left shoulder, and she could feel the teeth grating against the metal of her armour even as the weight pressed down on her stomach and the heat of the burning red flame washed against her. Kairi's nostrils filled with the smell of roasting flesh. She swung her Keyblade wildly in panic, utter terror at the situation overriding her usually collected mind. The jangle of metal on metal scraped through the screams in her ears, and she only now realized that some of those screams were her own.

The jaws biting her shoulder suddenly went limp as the warg crashed down on her completely, and the orc above rolled off of the warg and landed right next to her head. Kairi looked at it for a moment, and almost felt sick as she saw scarlet flames still licking at its body. Its chest had been hewn open many times, black blood gushing onto the blue stone it lay upon, and it looked as though part of an arm was missing. Only then did she notice that Crowning Flame was painted with black and red. Her eyes widened, and it finally came to her that she had taken life now too.

A snarl punctured her blood-spattered helm close to her left ear, and Kairi turned her head to find herself face-to-face with the muzzle of the third warg and its rider; and she was pinned down.

_Kairi you need to calm down,_ Naminé interjected before even more panic could settle in. _I'm on my way. Just calm down and hold on!_

The orc came down from his mount, grinning devilishly at her as he held his sword in his right hand. He chuckled something in his own tongue, a sound that grated on Kairi's ears, and raised his sword up in preparation to strike swiftly and surely against her neck.

For a moment, Kairi tried to struggle against what felt like eight-hundred pounds keeping her down, but then she ceased and looked up at the orc that was now kneeling by her shoulder with its sword raised.

_I'm going to die now,_ she thought, lightning quick. _Wait, I'm going to die __**now**__? Like __**this**__? No fucking way! I promised Sora I wouldn't, and I won't!_

"Not like this!" she shouted, bringing her right arm back and punching the orc in the head with the hilt of her Keyblade. He staggered back, and even though it was a chore to raise her left arm she did, pointing it at the warg. "Fire!" A fireball as big as her fist shot into the warg's open mouth, burning the beast's throat, tongue, and the roof of its mouth. It yapped at her in pain, so she sent another fireball in after the first, and a third struck the warg full in the face. Kairi then made a jet of flame leave the same hand, putting out the warg's eyes and bathing the creature's head in her righteous anger. Blood vessels began boiling and popping underneath blackening hide, and it swayed on its legs while giving what amounted to a whine for the first time.

A sword swung down, knocking Kairi's arm back to the ground and forcing it numb from the elbow all the way to her fingertips. Her flame sputtered and died. Hissing under her breath, Kairi tried swinging her Keyblade at the orc again, but this time it was prepared and caught her forearm before she could bring her blade to bear. The orc kicked Crowning Flame out of her fingers, and prepared to do what it had been going to do from the start.

It looked up at the pounding of hooves, and gave a strangled shriek before a sword sliced through its armour from chest to neck, and it dropped to the ground just behind Kairi's head.

Naminé jumped down from Nebulus and immediately rushed to Kairi's side. "Are you alright?"

"I should be fine," she answered, "but help me push this thing off!" It took them a few seconds, and Kairi strained her left arm as much as it would allow her, but together they were able to roll the warg's burned and blackened body off of her. Huffing and feeling her hot blood pumping through her veins, Kairi stood up and glanced around. At first she felt sick and more than a little shocked, seeing proof of her deeds by the bodies of the three orcs and wargs. Heartless and Nobodies had always vanished, but these would remain behind as testament to her feat.

Naminé was looking at the black blood that stained the silver metal of Nobody's Pride. "I didn't think it would be that easy," she admitted in a sigh before casting her gaze down to the orc she'd slain.

Kairi was about to answer when the light from above that bathed their battlefield flickered suddenly. Their heads shot skyward, and Kairi's eyes widened in horror as the barrier began to dissolve, revealing a dark sky behind the golden light. Kairi cried out in dismay, and clasped her hands together over her chest and started chanting. Naminé placed her hand over Kairi's own, drawing her sister's attention, and shook her head.

"It's too late, Kai, and the rest of us don't have the strength left to rebuild it." Kairi shook Naminé's gentle hand off, and spoke even quicker. A flaming aura of white light surrounded her, and when she shouted the word 'Light' in the language of the ancients a pillar of blinding light once more shot up from her body. It reached the zenith of where the dome had previously topped and expanded from there, repairing the dissolving holes in the barrier and causing the whole curtain to pulse strongly with light.

Kairi drew breath heavily, and she felt her eyesight flickering. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground with Naminé kneeling over her and calling her name. The cold air bit at her cheeks, and she realized that her helmet had been removed. "N—Nami?"

"Don't scare me like that again!" Naminé pleaded, reaching down and gingerly putting her arms around Kairi's shoulders. Naminé rubbed her cheek against Kairi's, and the redhead clutched fiercely against her sister.

"It will hold for a little longer now," Kairi answered slowly, "but I don't have enough Light left to renew it when it comes down again."

"You really are something else, you know that?" said Naminé.

Kairi took an ether out and crushed it against her head. She felt some of her strength return from the blue cube's energy-giving properties, but deep within was a tiredness that the ether couldn't restore. Light was a far more precious and powerful resource than mana; only time and sleep could fully replenish it. "I don't like losing battles on principle," she replied, "and especially not when the stakes are so high."

Naminé helped Kairi to her feet and brought her over to Nebulus. The celestial steed stomped and shook his head towards the north, looking very much like he was spoiling for a race. "Come on," Naminé said, "let's get to the fighting. I'd rather be with everyone else when that barrier goes down and the Heartless flood us again."

-A-D-

"Five!" Sora shouted, pulling his Keyblade out from the orc he'd just run through. Its body fell onto the unmoving ones of two others' nearby. He stepped back as another orc came rushing forward, its sword swinging down towards him. Sora flicked Remembrance up, halting the advancing sword, and quickly hacked it down from above. The orc's arm went down with its sword, leaving it wide open. Sora gave its chest the heel of his boot, the metal of his Keyblade Armour crunching against the dark plates of iron that made up the orc's cuirass. The orc crashed into another one coming up from behind, sending both spinning and sprawling to the ground. Sora quickly moved forward, deflecting a blow from another orc with his doubly protected left arm before Gimli shoved past Goofy to sink his axe into that orc's chest. The Keyblade Master came upon the downed orc and thrust his Keyblade into the creature's neck.

"Seven!" shouted Gimli.

"Darn it, I'm at six!" Sora answered, taking a step back and quickly looking around. Roxas had just slain another one of the orcs with three quick slices and two following thrusts from his two weapons, and Yuffie appeared beside Sora to plunge her dagger into the forehead of the other orc who had stumbled when he'd kicked his. One of Roxas' Samurai easily parried the sword of a different orc, while a second one leaned in beneath the other's elbow and lunged with its katana, impaling the orc upon its blade. An elf fell as one of the orcs made it past its guard and struck the warrior hard on the side of the neck with a spiked mace, but its victory ended as Glorfindel pierced the side of its own neck with his sword. Donald retreated five steps from an advancing foe before turning around and blasting the orc back twenty feet with a lightning bolt to the shoulder. Mulan ducked underneath the vengeful approach of one and its two axes, before bringing the sword of her ancestors up, slapping at the wrist that held onto one of the weapons. Her blade bit into the appendage but did not sever it, drawing black blood and an enraged snarl. The orc reared its uninjured arm back to strike her across the head with its other axe, but Mushu stood up from her shoulder and blasted the orc with fire. Mulan took her opportunity with gusto, and plunged her blade into its body until the rings of its chain broke beneath the point of her blade and let it skewer the orc until it reached the chainmail on the other side. Tifa even had taken two out with the sword she'd pilfered from the fallen rider.

There were few orcs left around them now, as even though there had been twice as many orcs as their entire line, when the two met the orcs were scarcely eight deep to their five after the wargs had charged.

"Eight!" cried Gimli, his axe cleaving the neck of one last orc, just as Vincent shot another one in the head from point-blank range with his tri-barrelled pistol, Cerberus, and Boromir blocked the blow of another with his shield, right before Riku came in from behind the orc and slashed at its side.

Only fifty metres away, however, Sora saw a lance of fire shoot out of the sky and into the ranks of the orcs pressing against another part of their line. Nebulus dove down, Kairi and Naminé both riding upon the winged astral horse, and a sheet of icicles followed the flaming lance at high speed. He saw Kairi leap from Nebulus, still likely fifteen feet from the ground, and crash into the ranks of the orcs and vanish from sight. Soronmon flew in above, screeching to the winds and sending a blast of cold in the shape of her head down into their foes before a bright light suddenly emerged from within the enemy line. Soronmon glowed golden and raised her head, giving a loud shout that reverberated in Sora's ears and filled his heart with the knowledge that his girlfriend was in capable hands and would be perfectly alright.

"Soronmon digivolve to…"

Soronmon's body shrunk from the massive eagle she had been to eight feet tall, and her legs, which had been hunched beneath her, straightened as her centre of gravity rose and her spine became more upright. Her claws vanished, to be replaced by the five toes of human feet. Winged white heels slid onto her feet, and fabric the softest possible pink created a pant leg for her right while leaving her left bare up to her mid-thigh. The feathers on her abdomen vanished, revealing humanoid skin and a woman's body, covered to her bellybutton by a baby-blue breastplate with the emblem of Kairi's Crest of Virtue, a brilliantly radiating star over a full moon, engraved on its front. Her wings remained, but instead of the snow-white feathers they used to be they instead became closer to yellow gold, and arms and hands now became the wing-joints, making the feathers flow down from the arm like a hanging curtain. A golden ring was on one finger of her right hand. A pink choker lightly wrapped around her neck, and her face no longer resembled that of a bird's, becoming a beautiful woman's. There was a mark on each cheek, a golden tattoo at the cheekbone of a heart. Three ice-blue feathers curled out of a grey and gold headband crossing her forehead, and long tresses of perfect strawberry blonde hair fanned out behind her head. Her brown eyes opened as white and gold light streamed behind her, and she spun around on her heels, gold and white sparkles flying about her as her wings moved. _"…Thorondomon_!"

Their line surged forward at the point where Kairi had landed with Thorondomon to aid her, and Nebulus wheeled off in the sky to travel to another point, an ice gryphon bursting into existence and joining the celestial steed in the air. Both the pegasus and the gryphon glittered in the golden light cast by the barrier around them, but a worrying thought came to Sora. If Kairi was now actively participating in the fighting, then she couldn't be maintaining the protection spell.

_How much longer is the barrier going to stay up?_

"Lord Sora! Lord Sora!"

A little unaccustomed to being called a lord, or even still a master, Sora turned around in slight surprise as a man mounted upon a chocobo rode up to where he and his ragtag (but unquestionably highly effective) band were positioned. "Yes?"

"Orders from General Berger," the man said quickly. "The enemy are amassing for another assault and he wants your strength behind the wall. All our force is to retreat."

Indignation boiled up within Sora, even as the clash of metal on metal and the shouts and screams of battle continued to sound from close-by. Retreat? Now? When they still held mastery of the field?

"We still hold this area," Sora protested. "That barrier could come down at any minute but we still hold here. If we retreat that lets them go right up to our gates."

"I'm just relaying the order, milord Sora," said the soldier. "If it means anything to you, I agree. But, the gates are strong, and well-defended, and since they are massing for another offensive it is only a matter of time until your force is overrun, so I can also see what the general is saying."

"If I may, Sora," said Boromir, "walls and gates are impressive, but mean nothing without men to defend them. A thousand more behind them makes our defence far stronger than a thousand in the field in front."

Sora turned away, looking back out past the barrier. The messenger was right, the Heartless and Nobodies were coming closer to the barrier, and in the forefront of them he could see Charr Heartless standing next to Invisibles, Assault Riders, and even stocky and hairy minotaurs that he was certain were _not_ Heartless. Like nothing else he wished to charge into their ranks and hack them down, defending all the helpless people of Radiant Garden behind him doing so, but…

He wasn't alone, or with just Donald and Goofy, or Riku and Kairi. There was an army here now, complete with a command structure in which he was just a part of. He still wasn't sure where he fit in within that scheme of ranks and positions, but if he acted rashly now, his decision could needlessly cost hundreds of lives. They hadn't taken the wall on their last assault even at positions where they were right against it, flying in, or firing at it with artillery. They were not going to take the wall now if his friends were behind it instead of in front of it.

"Pull back," he said.

"Sora?" Aladdin asked.

"Fall back!" Sora repeated, louder this time. "Behind the wall!" He turned to the rider. "Uh, relay General Berger's order to Colonel Repsy and let her know I'm complying; she should be down that way." The man nodded and urged his chocobo in the direction Sora gave him. Sora carefully avoided stepping on the leg of an orc corpse and turned his eye to Gimli.

"Well, Gimli," he said, "it looks like you beat me this time."

"So it does," said the dwarf, "but this battle's not through yet, and I'd wager you're becoming more a man today with every minute." Sora pondered Gimli's words for a few seconds and then nodded his head, realizing that his friend was right.

"Gimli, if you can, I want you, Boromir, Glorfindel, and the elves to hold the gate while the rest make it back through. Donald, Goofy, can you, Leon, and the others help cover their retreat?"

"Roger that, Sora!" Donald squawked while Leon, Zack, and Tifa all nodded firmly. Sora nodded back.

"Riku! Roxas! Yuffie!" he shouted as Gimli turned away to make for the gate with Boromir and the elves. The other three gathered around him and Sora turned to where Kairi and Thorondomon were, right where the fighting was thickest. "Let's help clean things up out here."

-A-D-

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	76. The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 5

_Alright, let's get cracking. New part to the battle! What part am I at? 5? Oh man, I probably still have two or three more parts to go after this with a lot more stuff to happen. This has been the longest battle I have ever written and it might stay that way even with Helm's Deep, Gondor (Osgiliath + Minas Tirith), and the Black Gate to go._

_Kairi: (wiping some of the blood off of her armour) "Well, we're back again here, after another hundred reviews."_

_Sora: "This is, what, the twelfth one we've done now?"_

_Riku: "Sounds right, yeah. Twelve hundred reviews, twelve of these little disclaimer shorts, at least for this part anyway."_

_Yuffie: "Do you really think we should have left the battle, though? I mean, it's just a little disclaimer."_

_Shire: "Battle's on pause, Yuffie."_

_Yuffie: (eyes bulging) "You can put it on pause?"_

_Shire: "I'm God as far as your universe is concerned Yuffie, so yes I can put the battle on pause. All I have to do is write it being on pause and it is."_

_Kairi: "So, then if we want something to happen, all that needs to be done is have you write it and it happens, because you're the storyteller?"_

_Shire: "Absolutely."_

_Sora: "So why aren't we in Lothlórien yet, or at least Moria, like you promised your beta? You said you'd be that far along by Christmas."_

_Kairi: (in undertone) "Of 2011…"_

_Shire: "Because we're still here, at the Battle for Radiant Garden."_

_Naminé: "But if you're the storyteller, and whatever you write down happens, then you could just write that they're in Moria and BAM, they are."_

_Shire: (incredulously) "What, and _skip_ this whole battle and how they get there?"_

_Yuffie: "What's the big deal? We're gonna win anyway."_

_(beat)_

_Yuffie: "We do win, right?"_

_Shire: (nervously) "I'm not at liberty to discuss the outcome of this battle."_

_Kairi: "We lose! FUCK! Fuck you, Shire Folk! Fuck. You."_

_Shire: (hastily) "That all depends on your definition of winning and losing, Kairi!"_

_Riku: "Either we win, or we lose, Shire, which is it?"_

_Shire: "Every heard of a Pyrrhic victory?"_

_Naminé: (blinks in confusion) "Pyrrhic victory? What's that?"_

_Riku: (through clenched teeth) "It's where one side wins, but the battle was won with such a high cost they might as well have lost. Is that what our situation is, Shire? Are we going to win, only by the skin of our teeth, and then have a whole campaign to go through with barely anyone on our side?"_

_Shire: "I do not own Kingdom Hea—"_

_All: "ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!"_

_(Everyone can hear laughter, as Goldpen and Krystal Lily Potter are ROFLing in the background)_

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 76: The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 5

_1114hrs,_

For a few seconds, Kairi regretted leaping from the back of Nebulus to land right in the thick of the spread-out battalion of orcs that had met their battle line. Even if her spell had roasted three of the orcs from within their armour as she descended, dropping in to find herself surrounded by orcs was not one of her smartest of moves.

Especially considering how much trouble she'd had fighting against three warg riders, it _certainly_ wasn't one of her smartest choices.

The orcs fell upon her like moths to a flame, as if the intimidating nature of her entrance and armour simply compelled them to engage her in combat. Kairi batted away a swinging sword with a quick semi-circular rotation of her Keyblade before following through with the motion. She lunged forward, and speared the orc cleanly through the sternum with her thrust. She could feel Crowning Flame strike and shear bone as easily as it did the battered iron the orc wore.

Quickly yanking her Keyblade out, she turned around to face another. She dove into a roll to her right, just narrowly avoiding the massive swing of a battleaxe being carried in two hands by another foe. A hand axe swung for her and missed as she rolled. She rose to her knees, hacking left and right at the legs of the orcs closest to her, and they dropped to the ground in pain as her Keyblade bit into their flesh. Kairi struck for the throat of the nearest falling foe, and her stroke found its mark so cleanly and with such strength that the neck was cut right through and its head was on the ground before the rest of its body.

Holding in bile that suddenly tried to rise through her esophagus as she realized that the orc she'd just slain was most certainly deader than dead, Kairi whirled around, slashing out with her Keyblade and releasing a crescent of fire. The swinging battleaxe cleaving through the air towards her halted and retreated as its holder backed away, burned. The orc now howled in rage, and raised its mighty weapon high above its head.

_Gods, I'm surrounded. I can't take on this many at once. Somebody—_

"Blizzard's Bite!"

_Soronmon!_

"Soronmon!" Kairi shouted, hope leaping into her chest and giving her the strength she needed. Lifting both arms with the strength of a titan, she struck her sword against the falling blade of the orc's battleaxe, and Crowning Flame flashed and cut the axe's head in two. Swinging her Keyblade back around to her right, Kairi followed through to her left, and the strong orc's guts were now steaming on the cold stone at its feet. Her crest, buried beneath her armour, began to glow brightly.

"Soronmon digivolve to…"

Soronmon's body shrunk from the massive eagle she had been to eight feet tall, and her legs, which had been hunched beneath her, straightened as her centre of gravity rose and her spine became more upright. Her claws vanished, to be replaced by the five toes of human feet. Winged white heels slid onto her feet, and fabric the softest possible pink created a pant leg for her right while leaving her left bare up to her mid-thigh. The feathers on her abdomen vanished, revealing humanoid skin and a woman's body, covered to her bellybutton by a baby-blue breastplate with the emblem of Kairi's Crest of Virtue, a brilliantly radiating star over a full moon, engraved on its front. Her wings remained, but instead of the snow-white feathers they used to be they instead became closer to yellow gold, and arms and hands now became the wing-joints, making the feathers flow down from the arm like a hanging curtain. A golden ring was on one finger of her right hand. A pink choker lightly wrapped around her neck, and her face no longer resembled that of a bird's, becoming a beautiful woman's. There was a mark on each cheek, a golden tattoo at the cheekbone of a heart. Three ice-blue feathers curled out of a grey and gold headband crossing her forehead, and long tresses of perfect strawberry blonde hair fanned out behind her head. Her brown eyes opened as white and gold light streamed behind her, and she spun around on her heels, gold and white sparkles flying about her as her wings moved. _"…Thorondomon_!"

The Ultimate level digimon descended quickly to Kairi's level, and kicked an orc in the jaw with one of her heels. It staggered back, and Kairi turned around and swiftly plunged her Keyblade into the orc's torso. Above, Naminé turned Nebulus around and she and her horse travelled to another part of the battle, and a voice shouted from above but could barely be heard by Kairi's ears.

"_My Queen!"_

"_Plato, where have you been!?"_ Kairi hollered, ducking underneath an orc's swing. "Firaga!" A fireball burst out from her Keyblade, striking another orc dead centre and launching it backwards into three others.

"_The enemy masses against us!"_ Plato replied, descending to land on her shoulder. _"Outside the barrier they prepare for another assault."_

"_Well that's just __**perfect**__!"_ answered Kairi as she dodged again. She cut up, knocking away the orc's weapon, and spun around. Crowning Flame sliced cleanly across the orc's neck and with a faint gurgle the creature toppled backwards. Plato opened his mouth and a jet of flame raced out of his maw. Orcs backed away from the stream of fire, and Kairi dropped to her ground and placed her hand against the stone. "Gaira!" Three thick stalagmites burst from the blue rock of Radiant Garden in a tight concave shell in front of her, shooting six feet into the air and impaling the orcs immediately beneath them through their hips while pushing those behind back.

Kairi turned her back on the small wall she'd just created, giving herself a little piece of mind that she wasn't totally surrounded now.

"Holy Smite!" shouted Thorondomon, raising her hand. Light shone from her palm, and twelve arrows of golden light spiralled outwards and lashed out at their foes. A dozen orcs fell to the cold stone, never to rise again, and those still nearby were now wary of the two facing them.

-A-D-

"Come on men! The Princess needs our help! It's time to go into battle and win glorious victory! Today is a good day to die!"

"Wait! I think today is actually a good day to retreat!" Grif countered. "Can't we push dying off to next Tuesday? Or how about a week from Friday?"

"Why don't we leave dying as an open action item and all come up with suggestions next meeting?" Simmons asked.

"No!" Sarge shouted even as one of the Ascalon Vanguard next to him received an orc's axe to his neck, splashing the sergeant with crimson. "It has to be today! For our ancestors! To the Princess! Charge!" Turning around, Sarge bashed the butt of his shotgun into the head of the orc. The creature staggered back from the blow, and Sarge kicked him in the chest before he levelled his shotgun at the orc's head and turned it into stroganoff.

"You just got Sarged."

Crying wordlessly, Simmons and Grif joined their sergeant by firing their pistols into nearby orcs, while Donut drew a sword and charged with a scream. He plunged it deep into an orc's torso, commented in disgust at the smell, and drew his blade out. Orcs dropped around them from their wounds, and another recoiled several feet as it fell, its guts spewing out of the hole in its chest from Sarge's shotgun blast.

"Take this!" shouted Grif, firing two rounds into one orc's head. "And this!"

"Yeah!" Simmons cheered as he took down another. "Suck it blue! I mean orc!"

Fireballs rained from the sky as two pyromancers dropped them onto the orcish horde, and in a great clamour of noise the defenders of Radiant Garden doubled their efforts against the orcs of Mordor. A gryphon of ice shrieked in the sky, dove, and tore at their foes at the front with its talons. The line surged, reaching with bloodied swords to get to the princess and her partner who fought surrounded.

"By Toutatis! By Belenos!" crowed Vitalstatistix and the Gauls, charging forward with superhuman strength. They orcs could not stand before the ferocity of the indomitable bearded people, and Asterix's Keyblade and Fulliautomatix's hammer dealt crushing death wherever they went.

"Retreat!" came a shout. "Retreat! Fall back to the wall! To the wall!" Some paused, wondering if they had heard it properly, but then saw the messenger shouting from his mounted position on his chocobo.

Lady Repsy and King Mickey added their voices to the din. "Pull back to the wall!"

"But the princess!" some roared in protest.

Sora, Riku, Yuffie, and Roxas ran past, Keyblades in hand with each one glowing with different light, and six Samurai quickly behind. Sora's armour was red and black, and he held the Fenrir in his left hand. "We'll get Kairi out!" Sora shouted as Nebulus landed in front of him. "Just get back to the wall! We'll cover you!"

"Well, you heard the Keyblade kid, men," Sarge said, turning around, "it's time to run like crazy!"

"You mean retreat?" Simmons asked. "I never thought I'd hear you say that Sarge."

"We're not retreating! We're advancing, towards future victory! Now get those pretzel sticks you call legs in motion and get advancing!"

Naminé flicked Nobody's Pride out to her side, and rode at the head of the group of Keyblade Wielders. Nebulus' hoof-beats were like thunder on the stone, and his whinny a cry to war.

"Breath of the Mountain, Wind of the North; Sea of snow-filled Pine and Lake of Ice, bestow your strength upon me and let all learn of your power. Ice Style 31: Tree of Frost!" Naminé bellowed. Nobody's Pride turned ice-blue, and she hurled the Keyblade straight for the closest orc. The Keyblade stopped moving halfway there, a spear of ice as thick as her chest growing rapidly from the blade. The ice split into three, six, now twelve pointed trunks, branching out from Nobody's Pride like the branches of a tall spruce from a fat crown. Fifteen orcs died with deathly cold ice piercing through them, and the spawn of Mordor began to quail as Naminé rode into their midst. Nobody's Pride reappeared in her hand in a flash of light, and one orc fell with its skull split in two, and another dropped from a chop of her Keyblade to its neck. Nebulus neighed and reared, flashing his hooves out and flapping his wings, and stomped down on the torso of another orc. Bones snapped as the celestial steed completely crushed the orc's ribcage between the weight of its hooves and the rock beneath.

Sora and the others fell upon them then with a ferocity that could not be matched by any save the indomitable Gauls. Sora, Riku, and Roxas struck quickly as they met their foes, with Sora and Roxas carving their orcs open like Christmas turkeys with their two swords. The six Samurai Nobodies waded gracefully into battle with the orcs, their silver katanas and wakizashis slicing through armour and biting at flesh that bled black. Riku avoided the thrust of the orc he rushed and met it with one of his own. Way to the Dawn plunged deep into the orc's bowels, and Riku withdrew it quickly and finished the job with a stab up through the orc's chin. He pushed the body off of his sword, letting it fall bloodily to the stone, and slashed another one across the chainmail it wore. Way to the Dawn didn't _quite_ cut the chain all through, but the orc staggered past him with a line weeping blood on its chest and its breath gone. Riku swiftly turned and stabbed it through the back of the neck.

A puff of black smoke appeared at his back, and Yuffie lunged forward with a wild cry at the orc trying for Riku's back with a spiked war hammer. Flower of Wutai pierced its neck, and the hammer fell from dead fingers to clatter on the bloodstained ground. Black light was around her Keyblade, just as surely as orange-gold surrounded Way to the Dawn, silver around Remembrance and Fenrir, opal-white Nobody's Pride, and blood-crimson enveloped Twilight Thorn and Oblivion.

Yuffie removed her Keyblade and leapt into the air above the orcs below. She brought Flower of Wutai back, noticing the heat rising off of the hot black blood on her blade and shuddering for half a second. More shadow coalesced around her sword, and she shouted, "Night Flyer!" The crescent of black light from her attack sliced downward, and when it broke apart it looked as though the orcs affected were being eaten by the bats the light became. They shrieked in terror and threw down their weapons, running back through their ranks. The shrieks ended in short order as the bat-like shapes of Night began exploding.

The Keyblade-Wielding ninja dropped back to the ground just behind and beside Sora after he beheaded two orcs with one clean slice of Remembrance so quickly that it looked as though he hadn't even touched them. She frowned, and tapped the side of one head with Flower of Wutai, and couldn't help but smile a little as it slid right off its severed neck.

"RAH!" bellowed Sora, bearing both blood-stained Keyblades at his sides, poised and ready to keep up the fight. Nebulus reared again and shrieked, Naminé raising her own Keyblade into the air as it shone palely. His shout and her stance were loud and beyond intimidating, and the orcs before them broke and fled; and with cries of battle-lust they gave chase, cutting, stabbing, and slashing at the backs of the orcs. Naminé's gryphon flew in from behind them, raked at three with its talons, and then picked another and carried it up fifty yards before dropping the squealing orc.

They nearly ran right past Kairi, and if it wasn't for almost running into a barrage of fireballs from the sky that pounded and roasted the routing orcs they probably would have. "Kairi!" Sora shouted, removing his helmet and immediately going to her as he ended Valour Form. The cold stung, but cold was totally temporary when your girlfriend's first experience with magic had turned her into a pyro.

"Sora!" she shouted back, hurling off her own helmet and meeting him halfway. Their left arms went to each other's shoulders with hands reaching for cheeks while their sword arms wrapped around the other's waists. They kissed each other in blessed relief.

"You alright?" Sora asked, pulling back for a moment.

"I'm covered in orc blood and a bit achy where the orcs riding the big-ass wolves hit me; it'll probably bruise, but I'm okay," she answered. She flinched slightly at the touch on her cheek, but only because the metal was cold.

"Don't worry Keys," Thorondomon assured him, floating close-by, "we're both fine."

"Good," Sora said with a nod. He glanced behind him and then returned his gaze to Kairi. "Let's get back to the wall. General Berger ordered a withdrawal."

"Sounds good," Kairi said with a relieved sigh. "I could use a bit of a break."

"Uh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, Kairi," Naminé said. Nebulus shifted back, his astral flanks shuddering and breath steaming in the air. The Samurai stood around the group, unmoving, and bearing their katanas in the middle stance, while the orcs' retreat slowed to a halt at the harsh scolding of one of their number. There were still a thousand of the wretches, and only thirteen stood against them.

"Normally I don't like running from a fight," Roxas began, "but—" there was a sound like the peal of thunder, and a golden flash like lightning. They all looked up, and watched in horror as the golden barrier started shattering to pieces like breaking glass. Only darkness ruled the sky beyond. The orcs watched as the light surrounding the field dimmed as the dome shattered, and heart-stopping malevolent grins came to their faces as they welcomed the fall of the light. "—I think I can make an exception this time."

"Run!" Riku said, slowly turning, "RUN!"

The dome was gone now, and the routing foes had regained heart and charged. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Yuffie, Thorondomon, and the six Samurai bolted, running as hard and as fast as they could towards the gate. Their faces were lit only by the baubles of light floating close to some of their shoulders, the fiery red glow of Plato, and the soft blue and white lights that defined Nebulus' body and followed in his path. It was still a long way to go with over four hundred metres to sprint, and the orcs were right on their heels with Heartless, Nobodies, and minotaurs right behind. Their lights made them perfect targets.

And they were tired. Even after nearly an hour's break from the fighting, the mental strain that had been on all of them from Sora's blue screen of death state hadn't permitted their bodies to get much rest, and both Kairi and Naminé had been channeling their energy into maintaining the shield. Even with all the adrenaline pumping through their bloodstreams and the sporadic use of ethers, it wasn't enough to keep them going at full steam.

"Hurry! Faster!" Yuffie shouted, pumping her legs and keeping her eyes locked on the mass of soldiers quickly retreating through the gate. Howls rang from behind them, joining in the harsh cries of the orcs.

Naminé turned her head around as she rode on Nebulus, and her eyes filled with momentary fear. "More wargs!" She checked Nebulus, turned him around, and rode to the back of their group.

"Naminé!"

"Keep going!" she shouted back. The princess jumped from her horse and placed her right fist into her left hand close to her chest. "Ice Make…Spikes!" Naminé thrust her hands onto the frozen rock beneath her, and ice-blue lines of frost rapidly spread out from where she knelt. Twenty yards away the frost sprang up from the ground at shallow, moderate, and sharp angles in spikes as thick as a bodybuilder's arms, and in a strip thirty metres wide. Naminé quickly got back to her feet and turned to mount Nebulus again, but the horse was now glowing with golden light. Sighing in recognition of how much time out he'd spent, Naminé pulled out the charm that held him, and her horse went back into it. "Great job Nebulus," she whispered warmly, clutching the charm close to her heart. Naminé dismissed her shield and Keyblade, and began running after the others. The barks and yelps of the wargs and the sounds of breaking ice followed behind.

Even as Naminé was covering their back with her wall of icy spikes, the road between them and the gates began to shift as the rock cracked. Barely seen wisps of darkness flowed out from the ground, and it caught all of them by surprise when the rock suddenly crumbled and gave way, and four Scorpionkin climbed out of the holes to block their path.

"Not now!" Thorondomon cried in anger. "Out of our way! Wings of Light!" Thorondomon became nearly horizontal facing the four Scorpionkin, and she spun rapidly with her arms outstretched. Flecks of gold and silver light removed themselves from her wings, and shot forward like tiny sparkling diamonds. The bulbous mouths that replaced stingers on the Scorpionkin spat gooey purple acid at her, but it was cut and blown away by Thorondomon's attack. She kept up her spin, the blankets of feathers that hung from her arms concealing her form as they continued to release their tiny knife-lights. Silver and gold sparks struck at the chitin of the Scorpionkin, breaking it, cutting into the Heartless' softer body beneath, and making them bleed darkness.

The moment her attack ended, leaving the Scorpionkin without much of their armour, Kairi, Riku, Sora, and Roxas all took on one each, driving their Keyblades through the heads. Explosions of darkness surrounded them, slowly being lit by the pink light of rising hearts.

"Come on!" Naminé yelled, catching up. Thorondomon glowed with golden light, and shrunk down into Luinmon. Kairi caught the little digimon in her arms and raced to the front.

"I'm sorry Kairi," Luinmon apologized, "I ran out of energy."

"It's okay Luinmon; you did great," Kairi reassured her partner. "Don't worry, the gate isn't much farther now."

"Assault Riders!" Yuffie shouted. "Assault Riders and Berserkers behind us!"

"Perfect!" Sora shouted angrily, almost halting as he turned around. Silver wind spiralled around Remembrance, and he threw it out in a slash towards the charging Heartless and Nobodies that had managed to overtake or pass the orcs. "Twilight Zephyr!" A sickle of silver wind howled out of his Keyblade, raising the dust of the snow around and behind. The snow joined with the silver light, and the wind increased in strength and size until it was a swirling wall of blowing snow and light three metres thick. The lead Assault Riders passed into the wind, but it took them nearly five seconds just to move those three metres, and when they came out darkness was leaking from each in over a half a dozen places.

_Only a hundred metres now,_ Riku thought, hearing the calls coming from the men watching from the wall. _We can make it!_ Arrows and ballista bolts were now flying down from the walls to harry their pursuers. Stones flew above their heads, launched from the few wall-mounted trebuchets. The elves were all through the gate now, as well as a large portion of their force, but Kia and a small group of archers from their vanguard stood close to the edge of the eastern gatehouse tower to hold until the last possible moment. Riku could practically see their thoughts from their actions. Nock, draw, loose. Nock, draw, loose. Nock, draw, loose. A silver arrow flew over his head every couple of seconds, but he didn't have the time to check to see if she was hitting anything.

Fifty metres away from the gatehouse, an explosion suddenly occurred right in front of Kairi's feet.

She tripped.

Luinmon flew from her hands, Plato flew past without immediately realizing it, and the Samurai ran past at Roxas' quick urging. Sora and the others called Kairi's name and quickly went to her side, helping her climb to her feet. "You good?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Kairi insisted. She ran forward, and was promptly thrown back onto her ass as she ran into a wall.

"What the—?" Sora exclaimed, stunned. He ran to the spot Kairi couldn't get past and punched. His fist connected solidly with a wall of force that shimmered pink. He gasped, "A barrier!"

"No!" Yuffie whispered, looking at the gate. It was so close. They had been _so_ close! All six of them whipped their heads around, and saw the advancing hosts of darkness running gleefully towards them. Yuffie couldn't help but take a few steps backwards until her back brushed against the barrier and couldn't move any further.

"Kairi!" Luinmon shouted, bouncing towards the barrier. She rammed her little body into it, but bounced right back. Plato flew up to the shimmering wall of pink and breathed fire against it. His flames all parted while the barrier shimmered, not a wisp making it through.

Tears welled in Kairi's eyes, and she looked away from her partner. "Luinmon, Plato, go."

"But Kairi—"

"GO!" Kairi screamed, her entire body shuddering. Luinmon chocked back a sob and bounced for the gate as quickly as she could. Plato rammed against the barrier, but it was just as effective a wall against the elemental as it had been to the digimon. Rasping in sorrowful disgust, the tiny dragon turned and followed Luinmon to the gate.

All six of them had their backs against the barrier, but their eyes were all down at their feet. A barrier, right when they were _this_ close to getting to safety. The darkness above hung heavily about them, and their enemies approached like the shadows of doom.

"Looks like this is it, guys," Naminé murmured softly. "And I don't even get to celebrate my first Christmas with you guys."

"Don't say that, Naminé," Sora told her quickly.

"But at least you won't die a virgin," Yuffie added, winking at her.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Oh, you just _had_ to go and bring that up," she snapped.

"Touchy, touchy," Yuffie giggled.

"You're a total hypocrite, you know that?" Kairi retorted.

"Hypocrite, _moi_?"

"Need I remind you?"

-A-D-

_"You're worried about us!" Yuffie asked incredulously. "Riku and I are probably the tamest couple here! I'm more worried about overhearing you and Aerith going at it or walking in on you two while you are! And if you should be worried about anyone, be worried about those two!" Sora was acutely aware of the finger that Yuffie was pointing at himself and Kairi. "They're only about three months into their relationship and they've already… if it keeps up, by March they'll be humping each other like rabbits in heat!"_

-A-D-

"Like I said," Kairi fired triumphantly while Yuffie's face glowed, "you accuse us of being the raunchiest of the six of us, and who's the only one who can keep her legs closed? Oh, that's right, me."

"Kairi, don't take out your sexual frustrations on Yuffie and Naminé," Roxas shot at her. "It's not like it's a huge deal whether you and my brother have slept with each other or not. There's nothing wrong with dying a virgin." Kairi nearly screamed through her teeth, but stopped as Sora placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We're not going to die," Sora said quietly. "None of us are going to die. We'll pull through this, just like the last few times Radiant Garden was attacked by thousands of Heartless. We'll make it through, and when there are no more Heartless here to fight we can all take a day off. Or maybe a week. I think a week-long vacation is in order when we're done here."

"There are still so many of them, Sora," Yuffie murmured. "It looks black."

"So what?" Roxas laughed. He spun his two Keyblades around in his hands in a confident display. "One of them is worth less than the dirt beneath our toenails."

"Yeah, we should get rid of that dirt!" Kairi added. "Nami, Yuffie, when this is over, let's go to the spa and get our feet done."

"It's a date!" Naminé agreed.

"It's not over until we're dead," Riku agreed with a grin. He surprised them all by suddenly grabbing Yuffie, spinning her around, and planting a heavy kiss on her mouth. Her arms fell to her sides, fingers going numb and her body completely limp while her heart started to tap dance in her chest from the intensity. He removed his lips from hers, and smirked at the blissfully fulfilled look on the girl's face. Riku continued to hold his limp girlfriend gently, and turned to look at the horde while Yuffie whispered something in a dreamy haze. "AND I SURE AS HELL DON'T FEEL DEAD YET!"

-A-D-

"Riku, that was… ugh," Tidus moaned into his hand.

-A-D-

"Get out your potions and ethers," Sora told them, after a good chuckle. Even if all their boasting was simply arrogant bravado to will away the fear eating at their hearts, he'd try and keep it up until the very end. "This won't be our last stand, but just in case it is… then let's take so many of them with us that it'll be a cakewalk for the others to finish everything off!" Sora grasped three ethers from a hip-pouch, and crushed them all at once over his head before quickly popping off the top of a potion and chugging the foul-tasting liquid in one go. All of them followed his lead, and seconds later as the horde surrounded them on three sides completely unimpeded (as the arrows, bolts, and other missiles fired simply struck the barrier and dissipated or dropped to the ground), all six of them were practically vibrating with energy and bursting with mana.

Sora swept Remembrance out of its sheath in a flash of light and bellowed, "Shine your Radiant Light, Cosmos!"

"Envelop our enemies with the holy flame, Alcezeran!" Kairi roared, calling Crowning Flame to her hand and extending it towards their enemies.

"Protect everyone, Adamasimilis Virgini!" called Riku.

"Make your dreams reality, Sehanine!" whispered Naminé, holding Nobody's Pride up close to her mouth.

Light blazed around all of them in the darkness, blinding everything that looked at where they stood, and when the light faded Kairi stood with dragon wings and forearms flaring with white fire. Golden horns protruded from her head. Riku was crystalline. Sora held onto Cosmos, and Naminé clutched at a staff.

"How many summons have we got?" Riku asked.

"White Fang and Bahamut," Sora answered.

"I've got Nebulus and Sunny," Naminé said, "but Nebulus has earned his rest." Roxas looked at her queerly.

"Sunny?" he asked. "Who's Sunny?"

"Hmm? You mean I haven't summoned her yet?" Her friends shook their heads. "Oh, well I guess you're going to see her then."

"Stewie," Riku added, "though I'm not calling him."

"And I have Ordona and Excalibur," said Kairi.

"_DON'T SUMMON HIM!_" everyone exclaimed.

"Why not?" Kairi bristled. "He could annoy them to death."

"They're Heartless."

"Damn! That plan won't work, then."

"Um, guys," Yuffie said nervously, "they've totally stopped moving."

Every single Heartless, Nobody, orc, minotaur, and short, stubby dwarf from Narnia had them completely surrounded in a crescent around the barrier. Aerial Heartless floated in the air, larger boss-like Heartless that had been encountered before hung back in the ranks but were still discernible in the darkness that overshadowed everything.

"What are they waiting for?" Kairi asked. She snorted a laugh. "For us to charge?" Dark mist rose up from out of the ranks of Maleficent's hosts, spreading out from the army and closing the distance between them. "What's that?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Roxas said, gripping Twilight Thorn and Oblivion tightly. His fingers itched from the cold, but the cold feeling he got from that mist was a far worse chill. The mist stopped halfway between them and the horde, and grew. Soon it rose above their heads, whirling around and around and growing ever larger as it took shape. The shape of the mist was beginning to resemble a humanoid, though its legs appeared to be forming a little on the spindly side.

The girth of the legs didn't matter much to Sora at the moment, though, because the form the mist was rapidly solidifying into kept getting bigger, and bigger, and _bigger_, until it stood a full thirty metres tall, taller than even the imposing gatehouse towers. The Heartless' head formed, revealing a much larger Invisible Heartless' head complete with the Invisible's purple horns that left the shape of a heart between them. Underneath its somewhat thick neck was a muscled black-furred torso, with thick, strong arms gripping a black tower shield bearing the Heartless emblem on its front and the Invisible's serrated blue sword, all scaled to size for the Decimator.

_THAT THING'S FRIGGIN' HUGE!_ Roxas telepathically roared to Sora. _The sword's wider than we are tall!_

For a few seconds, Sora stared, dumbfounded, at the Decimator as the Heartless stood in front of them. He reached back and swung Cosmos behind him without taking his eyes away from the gargantuan Heartless. The barrier was still intact. He gulped.

"All summons," he whispered. "All summons NOW!"

Trying to swallow their fear, hands fumbled and reached around, grasping for the necessary charms. The Decimator decided not to give them the time necessary, however, and raised its sword high in the air above its head, preparing to strike.

It came down far faster than any of them expected it to.

-A-D-

The gates were shut. Besides the six Wielders of Power, every member of the United Forces vanguard that still lived was behind the wall. Thousands of swords, bows, and staves stood upon the ramparts at every level and tower. Eyes peeked out of arrow slits; ammunition for ballista and trebuchet loaded with the men manning the siege weapons standing ready at the firing mechanisms; weapons were gripped over-tight in the hands of their wielders. The dark gloom cast over everything made the magelight and torches that much brighter.

Every eye was fixed on the Decimator and the six brave young souls standing in front of it; so close, yet so completely outside of their help. They appeared to shine with pale light against the deep darkness beyond, or perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

"Is there anything we can do?" Rikku asked, glancing at King Mickey. The entire group of friends unaffiliated with the different companies of the United Forces stood together atop the battlements of the eastern gatehouse tower, looking down at the scene below them.

"Watch," Rinoa said.

"…pray," added Aerith,

"…and hope," Yuna finished, while King Mickey stayed silent.

The entire wall hushed as the Decimator raised its sword high above its head, and their collective gasp was the rustling of leaves as wind whipped through a forest canopy when the sword suddenly descended. The air screamed as the massive blade rushed towards the six standing before the gigantic Heartless, and the resulting shock from when it impacted the ground was strong enough to make knees quiver from their positions on the battlements and cause the chocobos stabled a short distance away from the second wall to snort and shiver in discomfort. Rock heaved and split beneath the blade, and dust leapt to the sky, caught in the wind generated by the impossibly quick movement of the giant weapon. It had moved as swiftly as if the Heartless and its sword were the size of an average human.

Dust filled the air where the six had stood, leaving absolutely no clue of their fate.

The Decimator began raising its sword out of the cleft in the earth it had created, and a figure shot into the sky beside it, removing itself from the dust. White flames poured out from the figure's arms, lighting up the area around it and revealing leathery yellow-coloured wings sprouting from its back. Kairi's flame jets raced out for the massive Heartless, but were completely blocked by its tower shield.

A sudden blast of wind blew the rest of the dust away, revealing the other five to be alive and well on the ground, and though Riku was prone he was slowly getting back to his feet. Sora shouted something indistinguishable from this distance and they saw a quick lance of golden energy leap from his Keyblade and stab at the Decimator, though it broke apart in a splash of light as it, too, was held back by the Heartless' tower shield.

"They're okay!" Donald shouted, relief spreading through his face.

"Do you think they can beat it?" Goofy asked, glancing nervously at his companion.

"Are you kidding?" Donald replied. "This is Sora and Riku, Goofy; no problem."

"I don't know about that," Barret wondered aloud. "It's a mighty big son of a bitch."

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Donald quoted.

"Well," Leon said quietly, watching as the Decimator swung its sword through the air and missed Kairi as she rose to avoid the massive blade, "let's hope that it does. If they can't do it, then I don't know if the rest of us can."

-A-D-

_Sorry for another cliffhanger everybody right before the boss battle, but I promise you that I shall devote the entirety of the next chapter to said battle and make it as epic as I possibly can._

_Decimator Heartless courtesy of __**Infinite Freedom**__._

_Thanks to __**Krystal Lily Potter**__ for being an excellent and patient beta._

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


	77. The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 6

…_yeah. It's late, the last one was on a cliffhanger, and I've had a lot of other projects and things going on. I know that this one is the longest-running and demands my attention the most, but I just wasn't able to give it that. And I'm not actually sorry because I was fulfilling my role as a true, true friend instead. After all, a true, true friend helps a friend in need..._

_In grand other totally unrelated news...KINGDOM HEARTS 3! KINGDOM HEARTS 3!_

_In somewhat related news, there is now a TVTropes page for the series! Find the link on my profile! Also, you can find a link to a page with descriptions and pictures of the ships featured in this chapter there as well._

_I also got a bit of help on this one as __**Shadow Horizons **__repaid the favour and helped me out by writing some bits in here. Can you guess what's mine and what's his?_

_Disclaimer: This part in the Battle of Radiant Garden is brought to you by air. Without it, I wouldn't be alive to write it._

-A-D-

**Light's Growth**

Chapter 77: The Battle for Radiant Garden, Part 6

_1120hrs,_

"_Watch yourself, Two! you've got one on your tail!"_

"_I waxed one!"_

"_A group is heading for the _Peacemaker_! Black Knights Four and Six with me! Let's take them down."_

"_Cripes, they're everywhere!"_

"_Shoot those bombs down! Shoot them! SHOOT THEM!"_

"_It's no good! I can't shake him!"_

"_Hang on, buddy, I've got 'im!"_

"_This is Paladin One; that big one's gunning for the _Starlight_! White Knights clear a path for the Angels to rip it to shreds!"_

Fuu grinned slightly and jammed her finger down on the trigger, pulling her fighter up and dropping her speed in order to keep the tiny Heartless ship in her sights. _You're not getting away from me!_ A twin line of blue from her cannons lit up the space in front of her as her nose followed the Heartless before two blasts made a direct hit and lit the Heartless up in a bright blast of fire.

Quickly glancing at her sensors and targeting computer, Fuu chose her next target and immediately set about bringing it into her line of sight. The enemy she'd selected was close to a kilometer away and somewhat difficult to see, but it didn't matter; with the Arrow's speed, she'd catch it in no time regardless. She switched over to her lock-on lasers, and the targeting computer lit up as it made the calculations necessary to lock onto both the Heartless and another one close to it. Just over a second later she had a lock, and Fuu pressed the trigger once more. Two blue beams of light arched out from underneath the F-105, and they spiraled through space before striking each of the Heartless ships. Her targets became just two more fireworks in the bright skies above the world.

"Black Knight eight, two bogies down." She turned her head to ten o'clock. Blue lasers fired from White Knight squadron were causing the smaller Heartless vessels to fill the black sky with bright dots of red fire. Beyond she could see the colossal Heartless ship that Paladin One, the squadron leader of the White Knights, had talked about. It was larger than all of their ships, even the _Avenger, Starlight, _or _Unity_; and shaped like two great biremes joined together by a horizontal bar close to their sterns. A torso and a head rose out of the bar, looking like a very pompous and fat captain of a ship. Massive cannons were on their decks, lobbing bombs towards their fleet. Fortunately the bombs from the Vengeful Galleys were slow enough and large enough for them to be noticed by the gunners onboard their ships (and that the bombs were painted bright pink might have had something to do with it) and were shot at and detonated before they could impact, but the numerous smaller cannons that the Vengeful Galleys possessed were sending beams of lazed light straight for the _Starlight_. So far, the _Starlight_'s shields appeared to be holding.

Her eyes narrowed. "Eight, attacking big one," Fuu declared. She angled her Arrow upwards and hit the thrusters, accelerating. Her targeting computer locked onto two more of the small fry, and she zapped them without altering course and opened up a stream of blue fire from her guns. Fuu slowly spun her Arrow around as she ascended, and blasts of fire lit up space in the line of her fighter's cannons. Even without purposefully targeting them she was blasting them away, there were that many Heartless.

She'd seen what it was like on the ground when they'd been escorting the Angels on their bombing runs. It almost felt worse up here. Everywhere she looked she could see Heartless ships and their own, milling about. The space ahead of her was filled with bolts of red, blue, purple, gold, and rings of white. The furious scrap between their fighters and the forces of darkness had no bounds as far as she could see. What had at one point been the almost unquestioned domain of Nobodies, the Heartless had taken over with a vengeance, going so far as to almost exactly duplicate the design of the Nobodies that had at one point patrolled the Lanes Between during the time of the Organization. Now that both were under Maleficent's command, it was almost impossible to distinguish between Nobody and Heartless out in the space between worlds.

Bolts of red light streaked past the fuselage of the starboard side of her fighter, and Fuu banked to the left and looped around. Whatever enemies had been pursuing her shot past her, being unable to bank and turn quite as quickly as her Arrow could, and Fuu lined up her sights with the deck of the larger Heartless ship. She couldn't even make out the other individual fighters or bombers in the area, but she could see the Destiny Islands' corvette _Ocean_ making a run at the deck of the portside galley, firing all forward batteries. Scattered explosions from direct hits from her more powerful Fira and Gravira cannons lit up the deck, and one cannon shattered into fragments of metal and darkness from a torpedo charged with arcane power striking it right in its centre and exploding in a beautiful conflagration of magical energies, before the _Ocean_ banked slightly to the right and pulled up to get out of the enemy's fire.

Fuu let loose, twin blasts of blue fire firing from her cannons, and arcs of light from her lasers. They punched at the deck of the same side that the _Ocean_ had just razed and slammed the darkness-infused metal of the giant Heartless' body, for all the good it appeared to do. Her Arrow just didn't have enough power to give its Fire and Thunder gummies any punch against this behemoth of a ship.

Flashing red and green light caught Fuu's attention. The _Ocean_'s structure was being covered by a bubble wrapping of green octagons, the visible representation of its shields as the red energy projectiles of at least two dozen of the tiny Heartless fighters struck them.

"Black Knight Eight," Fuu reported in, "_Ocean_ besieged. Aiding."

-A-D-

The ship rocked beneath her feet as the shields took another few hits. Lieutenant Commander Arisexis kept her balance and stood behind her helmsman on the bridge as he piloted the _Ocean_.

"Crap," he said, pitching the corvette to starboard and taking her up at an even sharper angle. "You know, if I knew punching through to the giant one was going to cause this, I would have let the _Fox_ go in first!"

"Save it, Sophatos," she told him. "Just keep us alive."

"Aye-aye, Commander," he replied without taking his eyes from his screen. The _Ocean_ went into a graceful arc and spin as he brought the nose back around towards the fleet. The pack of white Knight Heads (which Arisexis at one point noted with curiosity that they bore the Heartless emblem as opposed to that of the Nobodies, but right now really couldn't care) followed behind their movement, blasting streams of red cannon fire towards the ship's stern.

"Watch the fire coming from the Vengeful Galleys," Arisexis reminded him. Sophatos didn't answer his senior Guardian, but she noted the evasive motions that he was putting the ship through. "Engineering," she called out, "how soon until you get the Comets back online?"

"Give us another twenty seconds and we'll have them back, kupo," replied Pashmina, the moogle's voice coming in over the com. "The damage they took during our push through was more than we thought."

"Hey Soph," shouted Mitsuken from his console. "Could you maybe try to _not_ steer us into every one of their shots?"

"You just concentrate on shooting at them," Sophatos fired back to the gunner, "unless _you_ want to be the one flying the ship against ten billion Heartless!"

From the bridge, the _Ocean_'s commanding officer was privy to seeing their cannons fire into the thicket of Heartless that were all over the space between them and the fleet. There were numerous explosions in the lanes between as the enemy fell victim to their weapons, but many more flashes of red and purple hurtled their way.

"That pack of Knight Heads are still on us, Soph," said Oxnard, watching their sensor screens.

"Yeah, I noticed," the pilot bit back, as the shields suffered from another barrage from the pursuing Heartless. "Get off my back, I know that they're there too."

"Hey, wait a second," Oxnard added suddenly, "a bunch of them just vanished. Now the rest are scattering."

Arisexis furrowed her brow slightly, not that the good news wasn't welcome. "Why would they do that?"

"Commander," piped up her communications officer, a younger man named Dapan out of Twilight Town that had been assigned to their ship only a week ago, "getting a signal from a F-105 from Black Knight squadron. Patching it in."

Arisexis paced a little, but kept her eyes forward. The voice of the pilot came onto their communications channel and played out through the bridge speakers. "Ocean_, Black Knight Eight. Assistance? Over._"

"Accepted, Black Knight Eight. Can you keep these Heartless off our backs for a few seconds? Over."

"_Roger,_" the female pilot's voice came back with confidence. "_Black Knight Eight, out._"

"Alright," Lieutenant Commander Arisexis said, a small grin coming to her face. "Divert power to the forward shields. Soph, run her straight and true, we're gonna smash right through that forest of fighters! Pashmina, the Comets?"

"Online in two seconds, kupo!" the moogle's voice replied. "Online!"

"Mitsuken, Isomachos, pick your targets and fire," commanded the lieutenant commander.

"Aye-aye ma'am!"

Bright flashes of red and purple struck against the _Ocean_'s front shields as it flew towards the thicket of dogfighting Heartless and Arrows. _Ocean_ retaliated, four lasers firing from the top of her midsection out of the two installed Comet gummis, and powerful blasts from her six Fira and two Gravira cannons every second. The Heartless struck by the flashes of blue and purple never stood a ghost of a chance, but there were more. That was the story being repeated across this battlefield and the one below them.

There was always more.

"Commander, forward shields are down to half strength!"

"Ocean, _this is Angel One, do you copy? Over._"

Arisexis glanced at Dapan for half a moment before addressing the bomber squadron leader. "We copy you, Angel One. Over."

"_We're en route to the Vengeful Galleys and coming in hot, _Ocean, _but the White and Black Knights haven't gotten the way clear yet. Any chance you can assist? Over._"

"We're on our way back from an attack run ourselves and the bastards aren't letting us go back there without a fight," Arisexis answered quickly, "but we'll do what we can. _Ocean _out. Isomachos!"

"Taking manual control of Comet gummis, transferring Gravira control to Mitsuken. Already acquiring proper targets, Commander," the other gunner answered, checking his screens with a knowing grin and tapping at interfaces. "There you are, Angels... your flight path is about to get a little easier."

Arcing blue homing lasers streaked out from the Comet gummis atop the corvette's middle, four beautiful and graceful beams that struck down the Heartless that had been targeted with cruel efficiency. Isomachos kept it up, manually firing the comets every other second as they charged and dispensed their energy. The lieutenant-commander watched through the window as the bombers of 6th Hailing Angels opened fire from their mounted guns, shooting at anything and everything that looked like a Heartless, while her own ship's gunners made sure to clear out as many as they could too.

"Aft shields down to forty percent! Forward shields failing!"

"Sophatos, punch it! Get us to the _Starlight_!"

"I'm _trying_, but..." There came a loud _thud_ that reverberated through the corridors of the corvette, cutting off the pilot's words.

"What was that?" Arisexis asked, looking past the open bulkhead to the bridge at the very fore of the ship. Two more thudding noises joined the first. "Lily!"

"Shields are still operational, Commander," Lily, the _Ocean_'s systems overseer, informed her. "Whatever those were, they weren't weapon impacts."

"Ocean,_ Black Knight Eight. Grapplers! Can't stay with you!_"

"Grapplers!?" Sophatos exclaimed. "Well that explains why I'm suddenly finding the ship so damn sluggish!"

Arisexis took in a deep breath and let it out. This was her first engagement aboard a gummi ship. The same for all of the _Ocean_'s twelve crew, seven of whom including her were right here on the bridge. She'd known from the moment that the first of the giant Heartless appeared up here in the Lanes that they might not make it through this first battle, but...

"If they're this close, watch out for Heartless that might appear inside the ship," she said, taking a few steps towards the entrance to the bridge. "Sub-Lieutenant Lily, try to maintain the _Ocean_'s shielding as long as you can. Divert power from the weapons gummis if you have to, just keep our shields up. Petty Officer Second Class Sophatos, just keep us moving forward. Even if it's at a snail's pace. Seamen Mitsuken and Isomachos, try to give us a clear path ahead. There are still lots of enemies in our way. Petty Officer Second Class John Dapan, let the admiral know of our situation. Lieutenant Oxnard, stand with me."

"Aye-aye, Lieutenant Commander!" chorused the bridge crew.

Arisexis flung off her uniform coat to display the steel plate that covered her chest but left her arms bare. Two wands were strapped to her hips, and a short sword was sheathed on her belt. "I am Lieutenant Commander Arisexis, Captain of the _Destiny Islands' Ship Ocean_ and an A-rank Guardian! Chief Guardian Garda himself hand-picked me to captain this vessel, and it and her crew will not be defeated while I still stand!" She drew both of her wands and spun them around in her fingers like a gunslinger. "Come and get us you sons of bitches."

-A-D-

"Admiral Pennant! Receiving a distress call from the _Ocean_!"

The admiral cursed inside. "Show me the _Ocean. _Bring her up on the main screen." Admiral Pennant grimaced at the scene when the techs complied. _Ocean_ was struggling to move forward, three Grappler Heartless clinging to her hull and attempting to drag the corvette backwards towards the closest of the four Mighty Prows that had emerged in the Lanes before the massive Vengeful Galleys did, and more Grapplers and smaller Nobodies were flying around the _Ocean_'s exterior. However, they weren't flying around like agitated hornets, so much as they were staying in formation like they were flying escort. At the same time, the Vengeful Galleys was firing on the vessel.

The situation looked incredibly bleak for the corvette. Unless they got immediate support it was likely a goner. Admiral Pennant felt a stab of guilt hit him. He'd ordered one of their corvettes to make a run on the Galleys to get a measure of their effectiveness, and the eagerness of _Ocean_'s captain and crew to take on the assignment had led him to send her in. Now she was floundering and in terrible danger of being overwhelmed and lost. However, even if that was the case, they now knew that even a Corvette-class of capital ship could damage that behemoth of a Heartless. They only had a handful of the corvettes, though, out of all sixteen vessels that were under Admiral Kago's command for this engagement.

Only sixteen large vessels, and all of them were smaller than the five giant Heartless that had appeared to lead the assault on their fleet; not even the ImpStar Deuce replica _Avenger_ was as large.

_We cannot afford a loss today. We lose our presence in the Lanes, and we will lose this war. Every ship counts!_

"Get me _Fox_ and _Egret_," Admiral Pennant declared.

"Sir!"

He only had to wait a few seconds before the commanding officers of both ships were on the screen. "Commander Briggs, Lieutenant Commander PadQuack. Pull your ships out of engagement with the Mighty Prow you're in with and get in there and rescue the _Ocean_. We're not losing a ship in our squadron! Not today."

"Aye Admiral," said the _TTS Fox_'s captain, Commander Briggs, "but what about the Mighty Prow? We disengage and it'll go wild."

"You stay in there too long and it'll go wild," Pennant countered. "Even combined your ships aren't even a third its size, and the _Ocean_'s under attack from the Vengeful Galleys, and that's even bigger. Leave that Mighty Prow to us."

"Aye-aye, sir!" both captains replied and saluted, though PadQuack's was slightly difficult to understand due to his quacking nature of speaking, being a duck after all.

"Good. Pennant out." The images of both officers vanished from his screen, and very shortly the sight of a human female officer was on the screen instead.

"Admiral," greeted Captain Alicia, the commanding officer of Destiny Islands' cruiser, _Calypso_.

"Captain Alicia," Admiral Pennant began. "Break off from any current engagements and assist _Fox_ and _Egret_ in rescuing the _Ocean_. Give that Vengeful Galleys everything you've got."

She grinned. "Aye-aye, sir."

-A-D-

Explosions of golden arcane energy lit up the decks and bows of the Vengeful Galleys as the meteor torpedoes launched from the Hailing Angels bomber squadron struck home. Racing purple magic lightning zapped at the Heartless' body from within the clouds of golden light shredding the darkness away. The figure at the stern between both galleys of the Heartless flailed its arms around like it was in at least a bit of pain.

"Ha ha!" crowed Angel One. "Looks like we hurt it, boys. Give it another! Fire numbers 2, and 3!"

Within seconds, twelve more, and then a further twelve, torpedoes plunged into the lanes, heading straight for the giant Heartless that was only a few kilometres away now from the _Starlight_, and both of them were heading straight for one another. All around its body were hundreds of tiny Heartless, Nobodies, scores of Arrows, and the grappled and struggling hull of the _Ocean_, the corvette under the duress of constant fire from the portside and deck cannons of the Vengeful Galleys. Its shields shuddered green under every hit, and it crawled through space so sluggishly that even the massive Heartless was beating its speed.

The Heartless body on the Vengeful Galleys seemed not to notice the diminutive corvette it was alongside, though it still attacked it regardless with waves of red bolts of energy from dozens of its smaller cannons. It reeled from the second wave of torpedoes that struck its bows and ravaged the decks, eliminating eight of its gargantuan cannons that were each as large as the struggling corvette. It clenched its fists, and suddenly a slit opened up in its black body. A red eye peered out, and red lightning began to crackle around it.

"Whoa! What the heck is that thing?"

"Sir, should we fire a volley at it?"

"I don't want to tempt it," Angel One replied. "Angels, break left! Break left!"

Only a few seconds later, a thick laser fired from the red eye, cutting a path through the Lanes between directly in front of the eye's gaze. Explosions popped in space as the beam cut whatever it touched. Two of the Ajaxes in 6th Hailing Angels Bomber Squadron got enveloped by the red light and their shields gave out so quickly they might as well have not had any. The rest of the squadron was privy to the brief terrorized screams of the crews before they were eternally silenced.

"The HELL was that thing!?"

"REX! Sir, they got Rex and Donalley's crews!"

"How are we supposed to fight against something like _that_?"

The slit closed again on the eye, and the Heartless thumped its chest with its fists like it was celebrating a victory. A wide blast of purple struck its right side, followed by a large number of small explosions and blasts of blue, cutting its celebrations short. Almost directly at 9 'o clock to the Hailing Angels was the over six-hundred metre long cruiser _Calypso_, firing for the Heartless body right in the middle of the Vengeful Galleys with its forward-facing Graviga and Firaga cannons and missile batteries. The trails of many meteor torpedoes travelling through the lanes towards the Heartless dreadnought could also be seen, but behind the _Calypso_ and heading straight in to join the confrontation was the Mighty Prow dreadnought the cruiser had been slugging it out with. Even as the _Calypso_ came in to join the fight against the Vengeful Galleys, its hull vibrated green as its shields took fire from waves of red light from the Mighty Prow.

Waves of red light filled the space as the hundreds of small cannons on the starboard side galley of the dreadnought targeted _Calypso_'s payload of torpedoes, and many of them began exploding still hundreds of yards before reaching their target. Still, two of them got through and blasted that side of the Heartless with explosions of gold and purple, rending cannons and scarring the tiny piece of the side which they'd struck.

"Alright Angels," declared Angel One, "we'll mourn our friends later. Right now we've got bigger fish to fry. Let's give that big ugly son of a bitch everything we've got and then head for home to rearm."

-A-D-

The _Calypso_ changed its bearing even as Angel One was speaking. Thrusters lit up its sides and front to swing the ship around and bring it broadside to the Vengeful Galleys, though even at full length the _Calypso_ was still only a quarter the length of the dreadnought.

"Captain, we'll be alongside her in six seconds."

"Very good," Captain Alicia said with a nod of her head. "Damage to shields?"

"Overall shields are at eighty-seven percent strength and holding," reported one of the crew. "They're hitting us with a lot, ma'am, but much of it seems to be of very low energy output."

"Keep an eye on it regardless and let me know the instant they start falling below seventy percent," said the _Calypso_'s captain. "Prepare portside guns for bombardment and I want speed one-third forward. What's the status on the X9s and Meteors?"

"All batteries and tubes on standby ready to fire."

"We're alongside, Captain."

Captain Alicia nodded her head. This was certainly different from the ship she had previously commanded, a two-decked sloop that patrolled the Islands' coastal waters, but being broadside her target was something she actively sought.

"Open fire! Full broadside on the Vengeful Galleys and the bow of the Mighty Prow. Priority targets are their deck cannons. Give them everything you've got, men!"

-A-D-

"Sir, the _Calypso_ has engaged the Vengeful Galleys."

"Wonderful," Commander Briggs said. "Tally-ho! Fire the main guns at her port and signal the _Egret _to commence the rescue operation."

"Aye-aye, Commander!"

"And keep an eye out for that Mighty Prow we left behind. I don't want her on our stern biting at our arse."

-A-D-

Fuu saw everything in her Arrow just after she shook off the last Grappler trying to take her down. She was above the Vengeful Galleys by over three kilometres, inverted so that it appeared to be above her instead of below, and somewhere close to amidships. The _Calypso_ was on her nine o'clock, firing blue and purple blasts from her broadside firaga and graviga cannons that lit up part of the starboard of the Vengeful Galleys in bright explosions of colour as weapon emplacements exploded and the Heartless' body took damage. Meteor-class torpedoes rocketed through space from the cruiser, exploding on contact with the gargantuan dreadnought. On the _Calypso_'s opposite side, the head of the Mighty Prow that came after her was receiving the same treatment, and the cruiser's missile batteries launched warheads as soon as the next payload was ready, using them and the dozen computer-controlled A-Wing shaped mini ships as the ship's countermeasures to the tiny Heartless and Nobody fighters that were buzzing around it.

The Heartless dreadnoughts weren't taking it lying down, however. Giant cannons lobbed Heartless bombs towards the _Calypso_, tiny energy cannons fired bolt after bolt of red plasma, and what looked like massive manned scorpions on the decks launched javelin bolts of purple. _Calypso_'s shields took all the punishment, and still the cruiser kept on firing.

While it was receiving all the attention from the Vengeful Galleys and the Mighty Prow, Fuu saw the _Fox_ swoop in from four o'clock, blasting at the bomb cannons and heavy blasters on the Vengeful Galley's portside, while the _Erget_ came in lower and faster, specifically targeting the grapplers that had attached themselves to the limping _Ocean_. _Egret_ slowed down and stayed close to _Ocean_, blasting away the grapplers, while _Fox_ passed underneath the portside galley. Fuu could still see its Thundara lasers striking from beneath the dreadnought as it made its pass before looping back around above for a second attack run, this time targeting the Heartless body bridging the two sides of the Vengeful Galleys.

Warning alarms beeped and Fuu found her fighter rocking violently from a blast just to her left side. She cursed in her head and quickly spun her Arrow two-seventy degrees clockwise before breaking right, bolts of red light passing by in the space she had just occupied. She didn't have time to spend watching the capital ships battle it out. Her role as a fighter pilot in this melee was simple: Space Superiority. Eliminate the Heartless and Nobody fighter craft to provide cover for their bombers and capital ships.

Fuu cast her gaze around for a moment and spotted the _Ocean_ again, with the _Egret_ swooping around it, both of them on a course that would take them away from the Vengeful Galleys, even if that course also wouldn't be taking them towards the _Starlight_, their dreadnought immobile over ten kilometres directly ahead of the portside galley of the Vengeful Galleys and exchanging fire with it. An almost invisible smile graced her face when she spotted the shapes of a dozen Knight Heads approaching the two corvettes, and she dove down to return to the fray.

-A-D-

Lightning blasted out of the wand in Lieutenant Commander Arisexis' right hand, searing right through the torso of a Neoshadow and frying the systems of a Surveillance Robot that had boarded the _Ocean_ when the Grapplers had gotten hold of their ship. Oxnard lunged forward, his weapon finding its mark and stabbing the other Neoshadow in the shoulder. It attempted to stagger backwards, away from the naval lieutenant's faintly glowing spearhead, but Oxnard kept it in place long enough for his CO to bring her other wand to bear. A scorching ray of fire emerged from the wand's tip and almost instantly covered the six-foot distance between the wand and the Neoshadow's head.

Oxnard panted as the Neoshadow's body vanished, leaving the corridor clear again. Fighting in this narrow space just off of the bridge was easy with an enchanted spear as his weapon, but he and the LCdr. had been at it for the last ten minutes.

"Status!" shouted Arisexis.

"We've got a small fire near the sleeping quarters in sector G, but the suppression system's been activated, and hull breaches in sectors C, E, and F!" Lily called.

"Sector G?" shouted Isomachos. "Aw man! I've got my limited concert edition Pyro Basalisk albums in there!"

"You're worried about your dumb spheres at a time like this?" Sophatos yelled from the helm.

"Hey, those are vintage autographed spheres from twenty-three years ago at their Volcanic Rock tour at the base of Mt. Scaa'ta! They're worth more than this ship is!"

"I highly doubt that!"

"They are to me!"

Arisexis half-turned to look at the gunner. "Don't forget that right now this ship is your life, Isomachos! It goes down, you go down with it." She placed a finger to the earpiece in her right ear. "Engineering, how do things look down there?"

"Ted's wounded, but we've repelled all Heartless that have tried getting in here," came the reply. "However, if we don't get out of this pressure cooker real soon the girl's going to blow more than a gasket on us."

"Soph!"

"Working on it, Commander," answered the pilot, "but these Grapplers..."

The ship shuddered suddenly, and a groaning sound echoed through the corridors.

"Hey, that's _much_ better," Sophatos said brightly. "Commander, the ship feels like she's free and clear of them now."

"Commander!" Dapan announced, his voice bouncing around the bridge like an over-excited puppy, "reinforcements have arrived! The _Fox _and _Egret_ are here!"

"Patch me in," Arisexis commanded even while Sophatos momentarily groaned about non needing to be rescued by a bunch of city slickers. "This is the _Ocean._"

"_Good day, _Ocean_, this is your rescue party speaking,_" said the voice of the _TTS Fox's _Captain. "_The forecast for today calls for explosions, Heartless, and equipment going on the fritz, as usual. You will find the _Egret _more than accommodating to guide you through the muck._"

Sophatos looked out through the viewport to his left, and smiled. "Yep, I see her pulling alongside."

"_Come on _Ocean_,_" quacked PadQuack, "_let's get you out of here._"

-A-D-

Lieutenant Jameson Rook slid to a halt as the deck of the _Peacemaker_ shook violently below him. Another Heartless ship must have slammed into the hull which meant another boarding party. The Lieutenant spun on his heel as the ship's onboard computer confirmed that a boarding party was now on Deck Three, not too far from where he was. Sure enough, he could hear the sounds of battle already echoing down the corridor as a squad of Space Rangers did their best to repel the intruders.

Rook took off as fast as he could in the direction of the fight, doing his best to avoid trampling the moogles and LGMs fleeing in the opposite direction. He arrived in time to witness a fellow Ranger being run through by an Invisible's blade. The Heartless' weapon easily tore through the poor bastards' enviro-suit, showing no signs of being stopped by the armor. The Ranger's eyes met the Lieutenant's for just a brief moment before his body vanished in wisps of dark smoke, leaving only a floating, pink crystalline heart in his place.

The Invisible watched for a moment as the Heart was surrounded by darkness and faded away. Then it turned its gaze to the Lieutenant. Rook didn't miss a beat. Both of his arms snapped up and a pair of blindingly bright red lasers fired from his wrists, blowing holes clear through the Invisible's head. The Heartless was thrown backwards toward the breach in the _Peacemaker_'s hull.

Rook pursued it, keeping his wrist lasers focused on the Invisible's body until the beast finally was reduced to little more than a cloud of black smoke. The Lieutenant wasn't given time to relax. A Neoshadow burst out of the ground at his feet, knocking him off balance as it slashed at his chest plate with its long claws. Fortunately, a Neoshadow's claws weren't nearly as effective as an Invisible's sword could be. The Heartless quickly met its end with a laser shot through its torso.

Looking up from his fading foe, Rook quickly took stock of the situation. A Hunter-Class Heartless ship had pierced the _Peacemaker_ and anchored itself with its four massive arms. An environment shield had automatically activated around the Hunter, preventing atmospheric loss in the corridor. That would need fixing as soon as possible, or another boarding party could easily get in, or even a stray energy blast from the battle raging outside of the ship. Behind him, the other Rangers and marines present at the impact site were mopping up the last few Heartless that the Hunter had brought on board.

Rook flicked open the panel built into his left wrist and activated his communicator. "This is Lieutenant Rook. I need a toss and patch squad down in Section Thirty Two of Deck Three. We've got a Hunter hitching a ride and leaving a pretty wide hole exposed to weapons fire." A bright red glow filled the corridor as Rook spoke. His eyes went wide a split second before the cannon fire from a nearby Mighty Prow struck the Hunter.

Those still in the corridor were thrown into walls as the concussive force of the cannon fire and exploding Hunter rocked the _Peacemaker_. Rook groaned as he struggled to right himself. He glanced back at the damage left by the impact. Two Rangers were run through by debris and others seemed to be either disoriented or completely unconscious.

"Very exposed to weapons fire!" Rook snapped into his comm unit. Hunter's gone, but we need that patch crew and a med team down here, now!"

"Copy, Lieutenant. Repair team Seven and a medical squad are en route to your location," a woman answered, obscured by static slightly. "Someone get those portside weapons back online! Hunters inbound!"

Rook spared a glance out of the gaping hole in the _Peacemaker_'s hull. Sure enough, no fewer than a dozen or so Hunters were heading straight for the undefended cruiser's portside. Each one had their four arms narrowed into a point as they spiraled ever closer at dizzying speeds. The nearest Hunter slowed as it reached firing range and opened its arms wide. A torrential rain of violet laser fire launched from the Heartless ship, hammering the _Peacemaker_'s side relentlessly. The other Hunters weren't far behind each preparing to fire as they drew nearer.

"Everyone out of the corridor, now!" Rook barked. Stray shots penetrated the field trapping the atmosphere in the damage corridor, one managing to reduce another Ranger to an unrecognizable chunk of melted armor and burnt flesh. "Move, Rangers!"

-A-D-

Captain Heartman saw Admiral Pennant heave a sigh of relief when they were informed that the _Ocean _and _Egret _had escaped from the Vengeful Galleys, with the _Fox _and fighters from 2nd Black Knight and 4th Starfighter Squadronscovering their retreat.

"Orders, Admiral?" asked the captain.

"Maintain current position," Pennant said. "If we move, it leaves _Nexus _and _Enterprise _open to attack from that dreadnought."

"Captain! I'm detecting a large energy signature coming from the Mighty Prow off the _Calypso's _starboard side!"

"Bring it up onscreen."

The officers on the bridge all looked up as the main screen showed the Mighty Prow Heartless opening its mouth, with a bright sphere of violet light glowing in the blackness within. The light's intensity increased until it was painful to look at, and suddenly Captain Heartman felt a very real chill run down his spine.

The light shot forward in a beam, too fast for the human eye to track its progress, before it struck the _Calypso_ directly on her starboard side. The cruiser's entire starboard became enveloped by a field of green and violet light, each of them vying for dominance in the battle between the Mighty Prow's laser face and _Calypso_'s shields. Scattered explosions around the edges of the feud lit up space as Heartless ships were caught in the release of energy.

A great tongue of fire suddenly flared out of the _Calypso_ as the beam won the struggle, but ceased being emitted from the Mighty Prow almost an instant after it succeeded in penetrating the shielding on the cruiser.

There was a pause before someone, at that moment Captain Heartman couldn't identify who, said, "_Calypso's_ maintaining course and bombardment of the enemy dreadnoughts. She's not going down that easily!"

"Sir, the Vengeful Galleys is doing something...odd."

"What is it?" Admiral Pennant asked, striding towards the bridge bunny at her station. The frigate _Jericho_ was now swooping down at the Vengeful Galleys from above, firing cannons, missiles, and lasers at the starboard galley, and having her shields receive a few heavy punches from bright purple javelins and the Heartless bombs fired out of the giant cannons while some of the Heartless' other weapons still tried to hit the retreating _Fox, Egret, _and limping _Ocean_. A squadron of Ajaxes flew in from behind the duo of corvettes and frigate, launching their torpedoes and firing their guns while Arrows buzzed around at close range, engaging the Heartless fighter craft.

"It looks like the...captain of the Heartless' hands are changing. Pulse lidar scans are confirming that not only is the shape changing, but it appears that the _material_ is changing as well."

"The material?" asked the admiral. "Aren't all Heartless made of solid darkness?"

Flustered by being asked by the _Admiral_, the young woman quickly tried to explain. "Well, yes, but the darkness takes different forms of matter. The majority of their ships have the consistency and reflectivity of ceramics and metals, while that captain between the two halves of the Vengeful Galleys is, was, of flesh-like properties."

"So what are those hands like now?" Pennant asked.

"Well sir, they've grown about two-point-five times larger than they had been, making them as large as one of our _Fox_-class frigates, and they appear to have become primarily wood."

"Wood?"

Before she could answer the admiral, both of them gasped as the 'hands' suddenly burst out of the Heartless' arms, and their shape continued to change once freed in the Lanes.

"I recognize those," Pennant grumbled as three masts were raised and canvas unfurled in space. Though he had never seen them personally, he had reviewed all documentation that they had on known Heartless and Nobody types that appeared in the Lanes Between that they had. "Those are Pirate Ships." Seconds later, as the Pirate Ship frigates and the _SCS Jericho_ started to duke it out at knife-fight range directly between the two galleys of the Heartless dreadnought, the red eye appeared again in the Vengeful Galleys' Captain's body.

"Captain! Reading another large energy buildup from the Vengeful Galleys!"

"Lateral drift to port at maximum speed!" Heartman ordered. "Get us out of the line of fire!"

"Aye-aye, Captain!"

"Re-route all shields to the front!" he added. "Just in case we can't evade in time, I want that super laser to meet the full strength of the _Starlight_'s defenses."

"The enemy is preparing to fire their primary weapon."

"Brace for impact!"

All hands prepared for potential impact, but their preparations turned out to be unnecessary as the laser fired and a bright explosion lit up the space directly in front of the Vengeful Galleys. The _Starlight_'s crew could only stare in horrified awe as gummi blocks and shards of metal scattered in the wake of the bright fireball several kilometres away.

"Admiral..." one of the bridge crew said in a quiet voice, "we've just lost the _Jericho_."

"Survivors?" asked Admiral Pennant.

"Impossible," she replied in a choked voice. "It happened too quickly. The dreadnought's super laser completely overcame their shields in a second and ripped right through to the drive core. There's no way anyone aboard could have survived that."

Captain Heartman felt a stone plummet into his heart at her words. All hands lost. Over four hundred personnel aboard her, wiped out in an instant by this monstrosity.

"Admiral!" another piped up quickly. "The _Calypso_'s breaking off from the Vengeful Galleys!"

"Detecting another rise in energy signatures from the Mighty Prow engaging _Calypso_. Oh, shit, is it going to fire again!?"

Thinking quickly, Captain Heartman called Admiral Pennant. "Admiral, with your permission I'd like to do something crazy."

"If you think it will help right now, then by all means go for it," replied Pennant, his face currently white as he removed his hat.

"Signal for _Nexus_ and _Enterprise_ to withdraw to a safe distance and recall the mini ships," Heartman ordered. "Give me the range to the Mighty Prow and point us at her midships."

"Twelve-point-seven klicks."

"Have the missiles ready. Torpedo status?"

"All launchers are ready and awaiting the order to fire."

_Starlight_'s captain grinned. "Good. Fire all torpedoes at the Vengeful Galleys immediately." He spoke into the ships' broadcast intercom. "All hands, prepare for Warp jump."

"Prepare for _what_?" shouted the helmsman.

-A-D-

"Fire's out, Captain!"

Alicia nodded her head and wiped the blood trickling down her forehead from her eyes. The Mighty Prow to their starboard side had taken them all by surprise when its mouth had opened and it fired its super laser at the _Calypso_. It had shaken the entire ship when the violet laser pierced their shields and seared a hole in decks five and six, blowing away one of their missile batteries and three of their torpedo tubes while at it. Captain Alicia herself had banged her head on a chair when it happened, earning herself an unseemly gash just beneath the bangs of her blonde hair.

"Good," she replied. "Containment fields are still active?"

"Aye, Captain."

"Location of the repair crews?"

"They should be patching up the holes in the interior now, Captain," came the answer, "but we're going to need a shipyard repair team to really fix the damage to the exterior."

"Captain, the _Jericho_ just blew up!"

"What!?" Alicia shouted in shock. She turned her gaze to port, and was greeted with the close-up view of the red laser from the Vengeful Galleys slicing through the middle of what had been the _Jericho_ as the frigate's parts burned and scattered in all directions from the force of the detonation of its core before the laser cut out.

Alicia held back the tears that threatened to storm down the walls penning her brown eyes. "Fifteen degrees down angle and thirty degrees to port. Get us away from that monster."

"Aye-aye, Captain."

The _Calypso _picked up speed relative to the Vengeful Galleys and turned away. The dreadnought's starboard galley was still over three times the cruiser's size, and if it weren't for the super lasers each of them were equipped with, Captain Alicia felt sure that even with the disadvantage, her _Calypso_ could have gone toe-to-toe with the Vengeful Galleys and manage to come out on top.

"Captain! Reading a large energy signature coming from the Mighty Prow ahead of it! It's preparing to fire its laser again!"

She couldn't withhold her gasp this time, and gritted her teeth. "All power to forward shields, now! All hands, brace for impact!"

Despite her order, the entire crew on the bridge stared upwards at the head of the Mighty Prow at the bow of the Heartless, looking straight at that swirling ball of brightly glowing violet light that any second now would...

The Mighty Prow heaved as it split in two suddenly, and the view from the _Calypso_'s bridge was filled with the engines, portside wing, and aft end of the _Starlight_ as their dreadnought exited from a sudden warp jump almost directly above the Mighty Prow and on a steep downward angle at high speed. The spherical bow of the ship didn't so much split the Mighty Prow in two as it did completely crush the decks into one another like the world's biggest rocket punch and cause the Heartless to buckle and snap as the two opposite sides attempted to fold upwards in order to maintain their current position. _Starlight_ then launched the missiles that had been loaded into her batteries, and thirty-six arcane warheads plunged into the structure of the Heartless while all of her cannon and laser weapons systems activated at once. Forty-eight fire cannons arranged into twelve quad cannon batteries, sixty-two fira cannons in eight quad batteries and thirty individual emplacements, forty-six firaga cannons arranged in eight dual cannon batteries and thirty separate guns, thirty-four graviga cannons in a similar arrangement with eight dual cannon batteries and eighteen separate, and twelve thundaga-class class lasers ripped into the Mighty Prow's broken hull from all four sides of the _Starlight_, and it didn't even take twenty seconds for the Heartless dreadnought to explode in a thousand different coloured lights.

Alicia held back her triumphant cheers even while the bridge crew went wild, but she allowed the tears to fall as relief swept up through her body and made her knees feel weak. Never before, not even when going up against two three-decked pirate vessels armed with full rows of cannon, had she felt the fear of imminent death this closely.

"Did you see that?" someone asked exuberantly, "the _Starlight_ just rammed that dreadnought to oblivion!"

"Hyahh! Captain! Reading three large energy signatures identical to the one from the Mighty Prow the _Starlight_ just took out."

"Where?"

"Seven kilometers off the portside galley of the Vengeful Galleys. They're engaged with the the _Unity_'s battle group!"

"Bring it up!"

Captain Alicia felt her throat become dry as a desert and her skin cold as ice as soon as the visual came up on the monitor, and immediately regretting giving that order. The same was true aboard _Starlight_, _Ocean, Judicator, Fox, Egret, Arrow, Nexus, Enterprise, Hornet_; aboard the bridges of the _Peacemaker, King Mickey, Sleipnir, _and _Unity_ where they could see it happening for themselves; and the cockpits of every Arrow and Ajax that happened to be turned that way at that moment.

The remaining three Mighty Prow Heartless had the _Avenger_ between them, and there was nothing anyone could do as it in all of its power got caught by the three beams from the enemy dreadnoughts. Not even the _Avenger_'s shields and hull strength could save her from a simultaneous attack from the three dreadnoughts, and the Star Destroyer went up in a giant ball of flame.

-A-D-

_I'm at a KISS concert, suckers!_

_**May the Grace of the Valar Protect You**_

_Shire Folk_


End file.
